Mark Buehrle is a finesse pitcher who throws a low-nineties fastball and an occasional cut fastball. His best pitches are his curve ball, really good change up, and his sliders (he has two.) He's got a good pick off move and he's hard to run on. He works quickly and throws strikes. He also, generally, logs a lot of innings for the White Sox. He can be very good but if he's having a bad day, all bets are off. The problem isn't getting hits (as a strike thrower, he's bound to give up some) but stringing together a series of them. And while he doesn't give many free passes, he will give up home runs.
Jose Contreras is scheduled to pitch the second game of the series on Saturday. At the moment, he hasn't been activated from the disabled list where he landed with an elbow problem. He throws a lively fastball and a wicked splitter. The problem for Contreras has been that sometimes the pitches move too much. He doesn't have the greatest poise on the mound when things are going poorly and, in the effort to throw strikes to get an out, ends up getting hit hard. In his AAA start, he gave up three runs in the first inning but then threw four shut-out innings. He didn't reach his pitch count of seventy-five through five innings.
Gavin Floyd has the game on Sunday. Floyd is a pretty solid pitcher with three solid pitches. He throws a mid-nineties fastball, an excellent change up, and a pretty good curve ball. And while he does occasionally struggle with his command, he doesn't give up many runs or too many hits. He is easier to run on, though. He struggles against lefties.
John Danks takes the ball in the last game of the series. Danks throws a low-nineties fast ball, an excellent change up, and a pretty good curve ball. Danks is good. He's done a good job of aiming for the strike zone this season and while in the past he had issues with leaving the ball up in the strike zones (leading to home runs), he seems to have figured out how to keep the ball down.
The White Sox have a potent offense. Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, and Jim Thome are their best hitters. Joe Crede is on the disabled list with a bad back but could possibly make it back for the series (his replacement Josh Fields has struggled, so they've been playing Juan Uribe at third.) Orlando Cabrera has a team leading eighteen steals and he's also the hardest to strike out. Jim Thome has the most strike outs and the most walks (tied with Nick Swisher at sixty-seven.) They do make a considerable number of errors-though even with Crede out, the number hasn't really gone down.
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