The Twins and White Sox had their first meeting in early April shortened to two games because the White Sox bullpen was tired of cold weather. The two teams ended up splitting the low scoring series. Both teams have lost five of their last seven, but the White Sox have just ended a five game losing streak with 2 wins over the LA Angels. They sit next to each other in the standings, each a growing distance (now about 4 games) from the hot Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.

The pitching match ups for the series will be:

• Tuesday: Javier Vasquez (2-1, 4.02) vs. Boof Bonser (0-1, 4.55)
• Wednesday: John Danks (0-4, 5.02) vs. Ramon Ortiz (3-2, 3.23)
• Thursday: Jose Contreras (2-3, 4.88) vs. Carlos Silva (2-2, 2.75)

The Twins hope to get back on track by "knocking out" A.J. Pierzynski and the White Sox.

Despite control problems, Bonser is coming off his 2 most effective starts of the season. He'll need to get his walk totals down though, because eventually they'll start to take their toll on the scoreboard. Ramon Ortiz is coming off his worst start of the season; was it just an isolated rough start or was the month of April too good to be true? Carlos Silva is coming off his most successful start of the year, despite losing the game to the White Sox by a score of 2-0.

For the White Sox, Contreras has been hit or miss. He's walked nearly as many (16) as he's struck out (17) this year. Javier Vasquez has hit a rough spot with 9 runs allowed in his last two starts. John Danks is still looking for his first big league win despite not pitching too terribly. The White Sox have averaged just 2 runs/game when Danks starts.

As a team, the White Sox are batting just .222 with Paul Konerko batting a shade below the Mendoza line and Joe Crede batting just a hair above it. 2006 MVP candidate, Jermaine Dye is looking much less feaful this season as well. Not surprising, Ozzie Guillen had something to say about it:

When asked if perhaps Gardenhire didn't feel the need to waste Santana against the stagnant Sox offense, Guillen said: "That's a good idea. The way we swing the bats, we face a Cy Young every day." Source: Joe Cowley - Chicago Sun-Times

Both teams need to start winning to keep Cleveland or Detroit from running away with the division. The Twins will see both teams in the coming week, so now's as good a time as any to get the bats warmed up. While Joe Mauer will be on the DL, Michael Cuddyer should be returning to the line up.

White Sox Blogs

In general, the White Sox blogosphere seems to be as dead as their team. These were the few active (posts within the last week) White Sox blogs I could find.

• South Side Sox
• Sox Talk
• The Bard's Room