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Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 11, 2010 ) Chi. White Sox 10, Chi. Cubs 5
The last time the Chicago White Sox saw Carlos Silva, the veteran right-hander couldn't get anyone out.
A new team and a new league have made the veteran right-hander unhittable.
Perhaps baseball's biggest surprise this season, Silva carries his unbeaten record in 11 starts into Saturday's game as the Chicago Cubs face the White Sox.
Silva's dominance is especially shocking considering the awful numbers he put up in his last four seasons in the American League when he was 29-47 from 2006-09.
Silva went 24-29 for the Minnesota Twins in 2006 and 2007. That mediocrity earned him a four-year, $48 million contract with the Seattle Mariners, a deal that became the poster child for what's wrong with baseball's free agency system.
Unfortunately for the Mariners, Silva was even worse when pitching in the Pacific Northwest. He went 4-15 in 2008 before injuries limited him to eight games last season - when he finished 1-3 with an 8.60 ERA.
The Mariners traded Silva to the Cubs for outfielder Milton Bradley in the offseason, a deal that seemed like swapping one bad contract for another. While that ended up being the case for Seattle, where Bradley hasn't hit and has been again plagued by off-the-field problems, it hasn't been that way for the Cubs.
Silva has reached some lofty company so far this season. He has become the first Cubs starting pitcher to begin a season with an 8-0 record in 100 years when King Cole went 8-0 in 1910. Cole, as historians will recall, finished 20-4 that season.
The last time a Cubs starter posted a 9-0 record came in 1967 when Ken Holtzman finished the 1967 season with that exact mark.
Silva, who is 4-10 lifetime against the White Sox, held the Pittsburgh Pirates to one run in seven innings in his last start.
Mark Buehrle is coming off a rocky outing against the Cleveland Indians in which his offense bailed him out for a no-decision. The left-hander lasted three innings and was pounded for six runs.
The low point came when he gave up a three-run homer to rookie catcher Lou Marson. The home run was the first of Marson's career and could be the last for a while. Marson was sent to the minors Friday when the Indians called up prized catching prospect Carlos Santana.
The White Sox won the first game of the Windy City series Friday by a 10-5 score.