The battle for the Crosstown Cup between the Chicago White Sox (18-21) and the Chicago Cubs (15-22) will begin on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field at 2:20pm EDT.

Philip Humber (1-2, 5.77 ERA) will take the mound against Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 2.89 ERA).  Humber had his best start in quite some time.  He threw a solid 6 2/3 innings in Kansas City giving up just one run.  And while Humber’s season has been a roller-coaster ride, Samardzija’s season has been very consistent.  He has pitched very well this season.  In his last three starts he is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA.

Both pitchers have little experience against their opponents.  On July 2nd of last year Humber threw seven solid innings allowing no runs and struck out four in his only career appearance against the Cubs.  Samardzija has thrown 3 2/3 innings against the White Sox, all from the bullpen.  I have always liked Samardzija and rooted for him even though he pitches for the Cubs because he is from Notre Dame whom I also root for in college football.  So I am happy he has done well, but I will be rooting for him to struggle tomorrow.

So what are the storylines?  No more “Ozzie” and “Sweet Lou.”  Both teams are in rebuilding phases.  So what do we look for?  Just a good old-fashioned rivalry between two teams who don’t like one another….yes.  It will be must watch television for a true White Sox or Cubs fan because you don’t want to miss moments like we see above.  LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

The White Sox did enough to get the win today by the final of 6-1 over the Angels, but they need to thank the sunshine for its help.  Yes, the sunshine.

With one out in the top of the 4th and a 1-0 lead the White Sox got some help thanks to some errors by the Angels.  Dayan Viciedo looked like he hit a routine fly ball to right field to Mike Trout, but Trout lost it in the sun and Viciedo advanced to second base.  That would start a rally.  C.J. Wilson would walk the next two batters to load the bases.  Then Adam Dunn would collect two RBI on a single to right-center that would allow that error to score.  That would end C.J. Wilson’s day.  He walked three batters a career-high six batters on the day and also hit a batter.  He would leave throwing just 3 2/3 innings.  Then the sunshine would come into play again.

(Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

Paul Konerko would hit a routine pop-fly to 2nd that should have ended the inning.  But Howie Kendrick didn’t have his shades on his eyes, instead they were on his cap.  He lost the ball in the sun, Alejandro De Aza would score, and that would give the Sox a 3-0 lead.  Wilson’s final line on the day would be allowing 4 runs (one earned) on four hits, six walks and three strikeouts.

(Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

That lead was enough for Chris Sale as he threw 5 1/3 solid innings allowing just one run on five hits, walking one and striking out seven.  That one run allowed was a solo shot by Albert Pujols to deep center.  I am telling you now…Albert is heating up!  Sale would collect his 4th win of the season thanks to a little more offense later in the game against the Los Angles bullpen.

(Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

Dayan Viciedo would hit his 6th homer of the season in the 8th and A.J. Pierzynski who was 3-for-5 on the day collected his 26th RBI on the season in the 9th.  It was Pierzynski’s 2nd RBI of the day who also gave the White Sox an early 1-0 lead with an RBI in the 3rd inning.  The White Sox bullpen shut the door to earn the series split thanks to good efforts from Nate Jones, Matt Thorton and the recently reinstated from the DL, Jesse Crain.

In other news because Crain was reinstated, the White Sox placed Eric Stults on waiver wire.  He was claimed by the San Diego Padres today.

With the win the White Sox move to 18-21 on the season.  They now head to the north side of Chicago to take on the rival Cubs in a 3-game set.  They are still 4 1/2  games behind Cleveland (22-16) in the AL Central who pulled off an amazing rally over Seattle today.  They did gain a game on Detroit (18-20) who lost today.  They are now just 1/2 game behind the Tigers.

The White Sox may have awoke a sleeping giant.

(Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Albert Pujols struggles have been well documented this season.  But last night for one swing he looked like the Albert Pujols of old.  We know he won’t struggle like he has all season and he will break out.  In the bottom of the 3rd inning with runners on 1st and 3rd Pujols hit a ball to deep center field that landed in the rock fountain and gave the Angels a 4-2 lead.  It was just his 2nd homer of the season.

(Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

The White Sox were never able to rebound after that and Gavin Floyd struggled through the entire outing.  He threw six innings, allowed 7 runs on 10 hits, walked one and struck out four.  Not only did he give up the 3-run blast to Pujols, but he also gave up a 2-run shot to Vernon Wells that gave the Angels a 7-2 lead.

(Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

The White Sox offense was held in check all night.  Other than scorning two runs in the 3rd they really had no offense to speak of.  Those two runs were scored because of a Dayan Viciedo solo homer that tied the game at 1-1 and RBI single by Gordon Beckham that gave the White Sox a brief 2-1 lead.  Ventura put the hit-and-run on the play with Alejandro De Aza on at 1st and it worked very well.  Sadly however, Ventura didn’t have many other opportunities to be that aggressive.

(Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

The White Sox were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the game.  Los Angles starter Jerome Williams threw eight solid innings allowing two runs on 10 hits, walked none and struck out five.  Although he gave up 10 hits, eight of them were singles, and there was not much of a threat put against him as he got the White Sox to ground out quite a lot.

Hopefully today will be different…

What kinda scheduling is this?  The White Sox (17-20) just finished a five game home stand against Kansas City and Detroit, now they are traveling FAR west to play a two game set with the Los Angeles Angels then coming right back to the north side of Chicago to play the Cubs for three games.  Really?

No they will not be driving route 66, but this is just an odd trip.  Normally a west coast trip is a few games against the Angels, A’s, or Mariners.  Or maybe the Giants, Dodgers or Padres are included if we are in Interleague play.  But two games?  The game tonight is at 10:05pm EDT and then tomorrow’s game is a day game at 3:35pm before coming home.

It will be a brief trip for Chicago, but hopefully a good one.  They will be facing a struggling Angels team (16-21) that many, including myself expected them to not only make the postseason, but perhaps win it all.  Oops.  But I didn’t expect Albert Pujols to start the season hitting just one homerun and a .212 batting average to this point.  The Angels just fired hitting coach Micky Hatcher, so I guess they hope that will help.

They will face a good pitcher in Gavin Floyd (3-3, 2.53 ERA) for the White Sox who has been hot as of late with a 2-1 record and a 1.26 ERA over his last for starts.  His opposition on the mound will be Jerome Williams (3-1, 4.19 ERA).

In Thursday’s day game the White Sox will start Chris Sale (3-2, 3.08 ERA) against C.J. Wilson (4-3, 3.42).  Both pitchers are looking to battle like they did in their last starts on the mound.  Sale had a rough go through five innings of work allowing three runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out three.  He didn’t get much run support for his effort and was dealt the loss.  Wilson pitched against Texas on Saturday and gave up two runs on 5 hits through 5 2/3 innings walking three and striking out four and got the win.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Through the first five innings of yesterday’s afternoon game with Detroit, Chicago was in complete control.  They had built up a 6-0 lead and had knocked Detroit’s starting pitcher Max Scherzer out of the game.  Jake Peavy was also in control on the mound.  Although he had allowed five hits and a walk though the first five innings, he had some great help from his defense turning double plays and throwing out runners at home.  Then it all fell apart.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

In the 6th inning the Tigers sent 11 men to the plate, had one single, one double, three homeruns, two batters were hit in the inning and they also drew one walk while scoring eight runs.  Jake Peavy faced seven men in the inning before being pulled.  Peavy was responsible for six of the runs and would get a no-decision.  Will Ohman who relieved him in the inning would get the blown save and the eventual loss thanks to Austin Jackson blasting a 3-run homer to give the Tigers the 8-6 lead.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

I was at work and was unable to see the game.  But I got an update on the game from a co-worker when the game was 6-2 because Miguel Cabrara had just hit a 2-run blast to give the Tigers their first runs.  I said to him, “Hopefully they hold on, it just depends on how long Peavy can go and how many pitches he has thrown.”  Let’s just say I had a feeling that it could go bad.  And it did.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Tigers added two more runs in the 7th to give them a 10-6 lead.  Those two RBI singles off of Nate Jones would prove huge as the White Sox would try to rally in the 9th.  Jose Valverde would enter the game for Detroit in the 9th and retire the first two batters easily.  Then came the 2-out rally.  Paul Konerko would single to left.  That would be followed by a double to center by A.J. Pierzynski that moved Konerko to 3rd.  It was Pierzynski’s 5th hit of the day.  He was 5-for-5 with 3 RBI in the game.  Rios would get the count to 3-1 and Valverde would exit the game there due to injury.  Rios would be walked by Octavio Dotel to load the bases.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The tying run was now at the plate in Alexei Ramirez.  Ramirez would hit a double down the right field line to bring two runs across to score.  The game was now 10-8 and the winning run was at the plate in Dayan Vicideo.  Viciedo would hit a rocket that would go all the way to the wall in right field, however it would settle into the glove of Brennan Boesch to end the game.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Hawk Harrelson, the White Sox television broadcaster, and known “homer” lost it.  You could tell he was upset.  I was too, but more with the fact that we blew this game.  It should have never gotten to this point.  But I have to give the Tigers offense their credit.  The power hitters they have got them this win.  It also drops the White Sox to 17-20 on the season.

What a big comeback win.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

John Danks is certainly thankful because he was terrible on the mound last night.  He didn’t last very long.  In fact, it was just three-plus innings.  By the time he exited the pitching mound he had allowed five runs on nine hits, walked three batters and was responsible for the two men left on base in the top of the 4th inning as the White Sox were down 5-2.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Danks gave up three runs in the first inning thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Prince Fielder and Delmon Young.  Adam Dunn the White Sox get two runs back in the bottom half of the first when he blasted his 11th homer on the season into the stands.  But in the top of the 3rd Danks would surrender two more runs because of a bases loaded walk to Jhonny Peralta and a sacrifice fly by Garald Laird.  It seemed like it could have been MUCH worse too.  John Danks ERA now jumps from 5.89 to 6.46 after this terrible outing.  Many fans including myself know that he is better than this, however, we are certainly upset about the amount of money he was given in the offseason because as of now he doesn’t deserve it.

(Brian Kersey/Getty Images)

Thankfully for Danks though he would get a no-decision on the day thanks to the pitching of Zach Stewart and the White Sox bullpen and also the bat of Dayan Viciedo and company.  It was a team effort to rally against Detroit last night, but Stewart and Viciedo defiantly stood out.

Stewart entered the game for Danks inheriting his two runners with no outs.  He would strike out Delmon Young, get Ryan Raburn to fly out to short right field and get Brennan Boesch to ground out into a force out at second base to end the inning.  In the 5th after walking Jhnonny Peralta to begin the inning, he would induce three ground balls, all for outs to end the frame.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Then entered Dayan Viciedo.  He would rocket line drive home run to left field that would quickly leave the ballpark to cut the lead to 5-4.  Stewart would retire three more batters in the 6th before Viciedo would strike again in the bottom half of the frame.  Luke Putkonen would enter the game for Detroit to replace starter Drew Smyly who had his worst outing in the big leagues yet, however he would get a no-decision on this day.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Vicideo would come to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the 6th.  He would hit a ground ball single right back through the middle that would score two runs and give the White Sox a 6-5 lead and advance Alexei Ramirez to third.  Brent Morel would collect an RBI on the following at-bat with a single to left field to give the White Sox a 7-5 lead.  The comeback had been completed.  Now it was up to the pitching to shut down Detroit the rest of the way.  And that they did.

Stewart would begin the top of the 7th on the mound but he would surrender his first hit in the game on a single by Ryan Raburn.  That would bring a call to the pen of Hector Santiago with Stewart exiting the game to a rousing ovation from the crowd.  Santiago would walk the first batter he saw, but would come back to record the final three outs of the inning, including a strikeout of Austin Jackson to end the inning.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Matt Thorton would pitch the top of the 8th striking out Ramon Santiago for the first out.  He did surrender a single to Miguel Cabrera, but he would get Price Fielder to ground into a double play to end the inning.  In the 9th Addison Reed would enter the game trying to get his third save of the season.  He would do just that as he would get Alex Avila to ground out to first with the tying runners on base.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

It was a solid team win and a huge effort to beat a division opponent.  The White Sox improve to 17-19 on the season and will look to sweep Detroit in the brief tow-game set with a win today as Jake Peavy takes the mound in an afternoon game.  LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Detroit vs Chicago.  Tigers vs White Sox.  Red Wings vs Blackhawks.  Lions vs Bears.  Pistons vs Bulls.  In all four major sports, you could consider these teams a rival with one another.  So tonight will be no different than any other night for these teams when they clash.  There is a history.  There is bad blood.  The fans of each team don’t like the other.  It will be good.

Beginning tonight at 8:10pm ET the Chicago White Sox (16-19) will take on the Detroit Tigers (17-17) at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago for a brief two game set.  Tonight’s pitching matchup will feature John Danks (2-4, 5.89 ERA) for Chicago and Drew Smyly (1-0, 1.59 ERA) for Detroit.  Danks has struggled against the Tigers throughout his career.  He has a higher ERA against them than any other team he has faced more than once.  He will look to try to tame a Tigers offense that is just loaded with weapons.  In their career against Danks, the current Tigers lineup has an average of .302 against him.

Danks’ opposition on the mound, Drew Smyly on the other hand has been great in his rookie season in the majors.  Although he has just one win in six starts, he has given up a total of six earned runs in those starts leading to the best ERA in the American League.

If the White Sox are going to win this one, they will have to score more than a few runs against Smyly.  We know that the Tigers offense has a ton of power, so the White Sox cannot afford another low scoring effort.  Of their 19 losses, in 14 of them they have scored three runs or less.  They are a terrible 1-14 when scoring three runs or fewer on the season.

Game 2 of this set will take place on Tuesday afternoon at 2:10pm ET.  Jake Peavy (4-1, 1.89 ERA) will look to continue his brilliant season thus far against Max Scherzer (2-3, 5.73 ERA) who has looked better as of late.  Over his last three starts Scherzer is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA after having a terrible first month of the season.

Jake Peavy has been just as good all year.  He has a quality start in every outing this season and has the second lowest ERA in the American League after Smyly whom the White Sox will face off against in game 1 of this brief two game set.

I am not sure if I will be able to see either one of these games until after they are over because I have a doctor’s appointment later this afternoon and then I have to work tomorrow afternoon while the second game is taking place.  So, I am hoping the White Sox can win both or at least get a split.  Either way, I am sure a report of the games will come soon.  Hopefully the White Sox will not fall any further back against either Detroit, whom they trail by 1 1/2 games or Cleveland whom they trail by 2 1/2 in the Central Division.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

That is a lot of runs to give up for a bullpen.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Through the first six innings of this game the White Sox had a 1-0 lead.  Philip Humber had pitched a great game.  He had allowed no runs on four hits to that point then came the 7th inning where it all unraveled for Humber and the bullpen.  Humber got the first out of the inning but then walked Alcides Escobar.  After getting the second out, Humber would exit the game being responsible for the runner on base.  Matt Thorton would enter the game, walk Jarrod Dyson then throw a wild-pitch that would advance the runners.  Johnny Giavotella would then hit a double just inside the right field line that would score both runners and give Kansas City the lead.  Matt Thorton would be charged with a blown save and the loss and Humber would get a no-decison despite his great effort.  His final line was allowing one run on four hits, walking three and striking out seven through 6 2/3 innings.

(The Associated Press)

The day would not get better for the bullpen, it would get much worse.  In the 8th, Nate Jones would allow a solo homer to Jeff Francoeur, his first of the season, to give the Royals a 3-1 lead.  Then came the 9th.  Addison Reed would begin the inning and would not get close to finishing it.  He would walk Escobar to begin the frame.  Then after a double by Humberto Quintero, he would intentionally walk Jarrod Dyson to try to set up the force out at any base.  But A.J. Pierzynski would be charged with a passed ball that would score the leadoff walk.  After striking out Johnny Giavotella he would intentionally walk Alex Gordon to try and set up the inning-ending double play.  Yet Reed would hit Billy Butler to bring home another run to make the score 5-1.  Jeff Francoeur would then hit a rocket to third base that was somehow stopped by a diving Brent Morel, but Morel had no play at any base and a run would score.  Addison Reed would finally exit the game with the score 6-1.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

Eric Stultz would enter the game and the Royals would continue to score.  Can we have Jesse Crain back soon please?!?!  Eric Hosmer would ground into a force out at second base but a run would score on the play.  Irving Falu would then single to center driving in Billy Butler to make the score 8-1.  That was followed by an RBI single to right field by Alcides Escobar who began the inning with a walk to make the score 9-1.  Humberto Quintero would finally ground into a force out at second for the final out of the inning, but the damage was done.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

The White Sox had this one and couldn’t come through in the end.  Humber was great.  And the Sox even caught a break when Kansas City Royals starter Danny Duffy left the game after facing just three batters with an apparent elbow injury.

(David Banks/Getty Images)

His replacement Luis Mendoza did a great job in relief however allowing just one run on seven hits, walking two and striking out four through 5 2/3 innings to get the win.  The only run he allowed was in the 3rd on an RBI single by Paul Konerko.  The White Sox were just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position while leaving 10 runners on base in the game.  The loss drops their record to 16-19 on the year.

Today on this Mother’s Day at 2:10pm EDT the Chicago White Sox (16-18) will take on the Kansas City Royals (12-20) in the finale of a three game set where each team has won the first game by a score of 5-0.  Chicago will send Philip Humber (1-2, 6.83 ERA) to the mound who has struggled as of late.  He is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA in his last three starts since his perfect game back on April 21st.  In that stretch he has allowed 20 runs on 21 hits in just 13 1/3 innings.  His last start may have been the worst of his professional career.  He lasted just 2 1/3 innings allowing eight runs on nine hits against Cleveland.

Thankfully Humber will be going against a pitcher in Danny Duffy (2-2, 4.00 ERA) who has made five starts and has yet to get past the 6th inning in his last three starts.  Hopefully the White Sox bats will hit Duffy much better today than they did Hochaver last night.

Who knows maybe the power of pink will help.  If you watch any Major League Baseball today you will see the color pink all around the stadium.  Pink bats, gloves, wristbands, and perhaps even shoes may be seen on many of the players today in honor of Mother’s Day.  There will also be a reminder to the fight against breast cancer as all the players will be sporting the breast cancer awareness logo on their jersey today.

I cannot say that my mom contributed much in my love for the game of baseball, but she always did encourage me in my passion for sports and writing.  So today this one goes out to you mom.  I love you.

One day after shutting out Kansas City 5-0 on Friday night, the Chicago White Sox were shut out by the exact same score of 5-0 on Saturday night.  In this game the White Sox were hardly able to get any runners on base as they had just three hits and four base-on-balls through the entire game.

(John Gress/Getty Images)

Kasas City starter Luke Hochaver was brilliant, allowing just three singles and a walk through his seven innings pitched.  He had great control and was able to strike out five while getting 8 groundouts in the game.  The White Sox defiantly saw the good side of Hochaver as in his three wins (and one no decision) he has looked like an ace pitcher.  He exited the game retiring his last 11-batters faced and deserved the win.

(John Gress/Getty Images)

The same cannot be said for Chris Sale.  He returned to the starting rotation last night and after a lengthy 56-minute rain delay, he looked rusty on the mound.  In the first inning he threw 42 pitches, allowed three runs to score, gave up 4 hits, walked two batters and had an error committed behind him in a wild first inning.  To begin the frame, Sale walked the first two batters of the game which is never a good sign.  He then allowed a single by Alex Gordon to left to load the bases, followed by a single over the head of Alex Rios in right that scored just one run and could have easily scored two.

It looked like the White Sox may have caught a break there, but Gordon Beckham would give it right back on the next play.  The ball was grounded right too him as he was drifting toward the 2nd base bag.  He stepped on second and had an easy throw to first to get the double-play but Beckham air-mailed the throw which allowed two runs to score on the play rather than just one.

(John Gress/Getty Images)

With just one out the Royals would once again load the bases on back-to-back singles by Eric Hosmer and Irving Falu.  Thankfully though Sale was able to get out of the inning allowing no more runs to score after he got the final two batters to fly out to left field.  Sale would settle down in the remainder of the game and get through five innings before he would exit the game having allowed three runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out three.

(John Gress/Getty Images)

Unfortunately though, on this night the runs Sale gave up in the 1st would be enough for Kansas City to win this one.  The Royals would tack on two more runs in the game in the 8th inning.  One was charged to Will Ohman who gave up a single to Irving Falu and then advanced him to second on a balk.  He exited the game there.  Zach Stewart came in the game and allowed a RBI double to Alcides Escobar and then an RBI single by Humberto Quintero.

This was not the kind of game the White Sox were looking for but hopefully today’s game is better as they look to collect a series win.  Thankfully both Cleveland and Detroit lost last night so the White Sox did not lose any ground in the division.