First game of the series, the Twins trailing the Sox by 1/2 game in the Wild Card race. Chicago: 75-52. Minnesota: 74-52.
Lineups
Minnesota Twins
Name POS AB AVG HR RBI OBP SLG VORP
Castillo 2B 472 .388 3 45 .344 .369 13.8
Punto 3B 310 .313 0 33 .396 .410 18.5
Mauer C 416 .361 10 73 .437 .522 59.0
Cuddyer RF 416 .276 18 86 .361 .510 26.7
Morneau 1B 451 .317 32 110 .372 .590 44.4
Hunter CF 412 .274 19 65 .346 .464 20.5
White DH 241 .224 3 25 .252 .303 -18.4
Tyner LF 145 .317 0 9 .349 .345 0.0
Bartlett SS 210 .348 1 20 .412 .452 20.5
Chicago White Sox
Name POS AB AVG HR RBI OBP SLG VORP
Podsednik LF 431 .260 3 42 .331 .367 -5.6
Igushi 2B 443 .287 13 53 .346 .415 18.7
Dye RF 424 .325 37 99 .390 .651 57.5
Konerko DH 450 .309 27 89 .381 .540 37.6
Pierzynski C 411 .299 10 45 .337 .416 13.2
Crede 3B 440 .295 27 84 .330 .415 23.0
Gload 1B 99 .283 1 12 .314 .384 -0.2
Uribe SS 361 .247 15 58 .273 .443 2.9
Mackowiak CF 214 .299 4 17 .376 .407 11.0
Pitchers
Name IP W L ERA WHIP K/9 AVG VORP
Radke 155.1 12 9 4.35 1.41 4.75 .307 23.3
Vasquez 151.0 11 8 5.13 1.35 7.39 .268 12.7
Sox Sans Slugger
With Jim Thome out for the series, the White Sox are without one of their biggest offensive threats. Thome's numbers have been solid all season, although during August he hasn't amassed the RBI totals you'd expect him to. South Side Sox are of the opinion that his replacements in the lineup will even out the production they've been getting from Thome as of late, but I'm not sure how this is possible. Even if Thome were 0-for-his last two weeks, you can't pretend that a replacement level player is going to shoulder the load of a .294/.413/.615 hitter with 36 homers and a 54.1 VORP.
At least, it evens things out offensively. The Minnesota lineup now carries as much punch as the Chicago lineup.
Go Twins.