Three games does not a corner turn.
Inevitably, Ozzie Guillen was asked if his team has turned the corner after the Sox swept Minnesota in Minneapolis for the first time since 2004 on Sunday.
Did the Sox not turn the corner three days ago, when they were beaten to a pulp by the Yankees to lose their sixth game in a row? That was turning the corner and running into a bat-wielding motorcycle gang in a dark alley.
If turning a corner means starting a new trend for the rest of the season, yeah, the Sox certainly appeared to turn a corner against Boston and New York. Six games isn't a decisive trend, but it's a lot more trend-like than three games.
And that's all the Sox have done. Win three games in a row. Sure, it's against a team that has thoroughly dominated the Sox for the last few years, especially in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. But Minnesota's third-order victory total is last in the AL Central. Pythagoras, knowing nothing about baseball, would say the Twins are a worse team than the Kansas City Royals.
That's not to diminish what the Sox did this weekend. There existed a strong possibility the Sox would head to Baltimore as a fourth-place team just given their horrific record against Minnesota since 2009.
If the Sox turned a corner this weekend, it was in sweeping Minnesota. If anything, this weekend will hopefully go a long way toward washing away the stigma facing the Sox in games against the Twins.
And, obviously, it would be nice if these three games were the start of a trend that saw the Sox march back over .500 in Baltimore and eventually climb within striking distance of first-place Detroit.
We'll know if a the White Sox have a turning point once it's already passed. So for right now, no, the Sox haven't turned the corner. Hopefully, though, we can say in a week that the Sox indeed turned the corner in Minneapolis.
Leyland changed the order of Detroit's rotation so Verlander pitches the finale of this week's 3-game series against Cleveland.
If Detroit's rotation then remains in the same order (and Detroit has but one off day from mid-August to mid-September), then the Sox will not face Verlander in any of our 6 remaining games with them. However, Verlander will face Cleveland in 4 of its remaining 12 games with them.
Also it appears we will miss Felix Hernandez in our 3-game series with Seattle.
Every little bit helps.
Posted by: Buford | 08/08/2011 at 12:34 PM
If Leyland changed the order for the Indians series, why couldn't he do so against us as well? Verlander is a horse.
Posted by: rhubarb | 08/08/2011 at 02:26 PM
He's probably not going to change it again unless there's an injury -- although if the Sox blow by Cleveland and get to within a game or two of Detroit, maybe he'll re-think that strategy.
Posted by: JJ -- White Sox Beerleaguer | 08/08/2011 at 04:48 PM
Verlander last pitched Aug 6 and was scheduled to pitch again on Aug 12 because of an off day on Aug 8. So Leyland merely moved him up one day to return him to pitching every 5th day which would be the finale of the 3-game series with Cleveland.
If Verlander pitches on 3 days rest, he would pitch against us Sep 4 but would not pitch vs. Cleveland Sep 5-6-7. Nor pitch vs. Cleveland Sep 26-27-28 unless he pitches again on 3 days rest in the interim.
Leyland's conundrum : Verlander vs the Sox or Cleveland and potentially pitching him on 3 days rest twice in Sep.
Posted by: Buford | 08/08/2011 at 05:04 PM
Verlander *can* throw on three days rest, though, I have to figure.
Posted by: JJ -- White Sox Beerleaguer | 08/08/2011 at 05:07 PM