The Chicago White Sox's Upcoming 10-Game Roadtrip

To start things off, I'd like to send my thoughts and prayers to Texas and anyone else that is affected by the Hurricane and the heavy rain that stretches across the county.

As I sit here on the porch and watch the rain fall onto the already flooded ground, I begin to think about how the White Sox lead has fallen, just like the rain is falling in front of me. 

We’re in a weekend where Friday night’s Sox game was postponed to Saturday for a straight doubleheader (which is unfair to the people who bought tickets to the Friday game—subject for a later time), and then on Saturday they had those games postponed to Sunday and one to a later date, and the lead in the division fell to a tie. 

Sunday could lead to a swing in division momentum. If the White Sox can't—at the very least—split the series, the panic button should be pushed. If they get swept in the games tomorrow, that will give the Twins a chance to push the lead up to one-and-a-half games, and if they can avoid the brooms on Sunday, the White Sox have at least the chance to stay tied with the Twins atop the Central.

The absolute best-case scenario for the Chi Sox is to sweep the doubleheader and have the Twins lose their rubber game in Baltimore. The Sox could then end up with a one-and-a-half game lead in the division.

As a White Sox fan, I am obviously wishing for the later of the scenarios, but I would be happy with at least being in the lead by ourselves. As the Sox come off two extra days of rest, they should get to the park tomorrow just worried about taking things into their own hands and taking care of business. 

Unfortunately for the White Sox, they leave the windy city for games in three of the toughest places for them to play in. The Sox have not exactly called New York City their second home.

As the first series of a brutal 10-game road trip, at the worst time of the year for the Sox, they head to the Big Apple. We’ll just go back over the last four seasons that the White Sox have played the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Sox are 5-13 over that time span, according to Chicagowhitesox.com. That’s a winning percentage of 28, over the last four seasons, which is not very good. The White Sox have four games with them, coming up Monday through Thursday, which are going to be huge for the Central Division.

As of Sunday morning, the White Sox are sending Buehrle to the mound for game one of the series. The biggest question that should be on the minds of White Sox fans right now should be (and I note that I am a HUGE Mark Buehrle fan): Which Mark Buehrle will show up for the game?

Is it the Buehrle that gave up seven earned runs in one-and-two-thirds innings in Cleveland, the Buehrle that has given up more than four runs four times in the last 10 games? Could the Buehrle of 2005 make an appearance and be the ace of the staff that he is?

Do remember that his last two starts have resulted in less one run in 13.1 innings, which were against the L.A. Angels and the Toronto Blue Jays (which the Blues Jays are one of, if not the hottest team in baseball).

If Buehrle expects to go into Monday night’s start and expect to come out on top, he’s going to need to establish the cutter on the right-handed batters, making them jam themselves. He’ll also need to establish his fastball early, in order to make his change-up effective.

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