Chicago series

KC somehow managed to salvage the final game of the TB series but I'm sure most of you thought they were going to lose after the Pena home run. It's ok to admit it, I thought it too. So what's the reward for beating the first place team in the East? How about coming home to take on the first place team in the Central. In a three game sweep earlier this year the Sox outscored KC 21-11 and with their pitching we may see more of the same.
Here is how the two teams match up:

Team	Record	AVG/OBP/SLG	OPS+	ERA	ERA+
Royals	40-50	.262/.318/.387	87	4.60	92
White Sox	51-37	.262/.335/.439	105	3.41	126

That is just domination across the board (except for batting average, which proves how useless that stat is) as the Sox are first in the AL in ERA and fourth in runs scored. In other words they can pitch AND hit, KC is not doing either particularly well.

I asked our old pal Andrew Reilly from the 35th Street Review some Royals/Sox related questions and he was kind enough to answer.


1. What Royal (if any) would you want playing for the Sox this year?

My initial, only-half-joking answer was Ross Gload, since his .268 average is actually higher than both Sox first basemen have put up thus far, but Nick Swisher seems to be coming around (finally) and Paul Konerko is a notorious half-season player. That said, you can never have too many lights-out relievers, and against all odds the Royals have just that in Joakim Soria. With Bobby Jenks threatening to pull a David Wells, Soria would make for a nice ninth-inning insurance policy even though we all know Soria is also the superior closer this year to begin with. In any other season I'd say David DeJesus, but Carlos Quentin is possibly the best overall left fielder in the American League right now.

2. What Sox player do you wish was playing elsewhere?

The White Sox faithful are going to kill me for saying this, but my first reaction is to vote Nick Swisher off the island, if only because his awful first half absolutely killed the Sox. It's true Jim Thome and Paul Konerko haven't fared much better, but their slow starts were mostly expected. Ditto for Juan Uribe, although Alexei Ramirez has been outstanding in his place. Sans Swisher, the Sox have Brian Anderson in center field whose .240 average isn't much to bow before, but at the same time Anderson didn't have to go on a tear to get it to even that low a number. Swisher will most likely be key to the second half, but if he'd come out of the gate as the .260 hitter Oakland shipped to Chicago, the Sox' lead could be at least another five games larger.

3. Whats the ETA of Ozzie Guillen's next outburst?

With all due respect, the Sox don't play another remotely serious contender until the series at Detroit July 25. In the meantime, the Sox will go 3-3 against both the Royals and Rangers, including the wrong kind of sweep in Arlington. In a July 24 , 2008 interview with John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press, Guillen will take some shots any four of Jim Leland, Kenny Rogers, Dave Dombrowski, Ford Motor Company, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, and the town of Ypsilanti, MI. This in turn will cause Sox players to forget they were just trounced by the dregs of the American League and allow them to pull away from the division in time to get trounced mightily in the ALDS by, oh, we'll say Tampa Bay. Believe.

I am almost certain that 100% of KC fans would trade Gload for Swisher.
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 I know some fans were disappointed in the 3-5 road trip but considering that KC always plays poorly at Baltimore and at Tampa Bay I think 3-5 is acceptable.