The White Sox continue their
march to the top of the AL Central Monday when they take on the Kansas City
Royals and arguably the worst starting pitcher in baseball in Kyle Davies.
Kyle Davies has been dreadful for the Royals and is 0-7 with a 7.25 earned run average in his last eight starts -- all Kansas City losses. Davies failed to right the ship in a 6-4 loss to Detroit on July 6, when he was reached for five runs and nine hits in six innings. It was his second start since coming off of the disabled list.
He is 1-8 with a 7.74 ERA in 11 starts this season and 0-3 in five trips to the Kaufman Stadium mound. The right-hander has made eight career starts against the White Sox with a 4.87 ERA.
Davies has allowed five or more runs in five of his last 10 starts. His strikeout to walk ratio is an ugly 35-23. Essentially Davies is the worst starting pitcher in baseball and if it were any team besides Kansas City, then he would not be in the majors. Yet Kansas City has essentially been a minor league team for years and year after year they make no effort to field a winning team. They only continue to pitch Davies in hopes that if he has a couple good starts they could convince some other team to take him before the trade deadline. If the Royals are unable to trade Davies, which they likely cannot, then he will be sent down to the minors. With that being said there are likely only a couple more chances to make the essentially free money that comes with fading Davies.
The White Sox send ace Mark Beurhle to the Mound Monday. Buerhle has been the opposite of Davies this season. He has allowed three runs or less in 10 straight starts. In his last five starts he has walked six and struck out 22 batters.
Chicago has won each of Mark Buehrle's last four starts, and the lefty sports an impressive 2.10 ERA in his last five outings. He has faced the Central-rival Royals 49 times in his career, going 21-11 with a 3.66 ERA in 47 starts.
The White Sox took two of three and just failed to finish off the sweep against the Tigers over the weekend. The White Sox outscored the Tigers, 13-2, over the first two matchups before dropping a 4-3 decision in Sunday's series finale.
After a miserable start to the season the White Sox have been steadily climbing their way back into contention in the AL Central and enter the day just 3 1/2 games out of first.
After a red-hot start to the season the Royals find themselves back in familiar territory, last place with little to no hope of getting out of the basement. The Royals dropped three of four to Minnesota this weekend and this looks like a throw away spot as they send out Davies to get shelled again.
These are two teams and two pitchers headed in very different directions. I believe the White Sox have the talent to come back and win this division while anything but a last place home for the Royals would be miraculous. I Took the White Sox Monday in what seems to be a complete and utter mismatch
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