2007 Chicago White Sox season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Chicago White Sox
season = 2007
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = American League Central
y2 = 1994
Uniform
ballpark = U.S. Cellular Field
y4 = 1991
city = Chicago, Illinois
y5 = 1900
owners = Jerry Reinsdorf
genmanagers = Ken Williams
managers = Ozzie Guillén
television = CSN Chicago
WGN-TV and Superstation WGN
WCIU-TV
radio = WSCR
WRTO (Spanish)|

The Chicago White Sox' 2007 season started off with the White Sox trying to re-claim the AL Central title, an achievement they last achieved in 2005, when they went on the win the 2005 World Series. They failed to win consecutive AL Central championships when the Minnesota Twins won it in 2006. Notable events include Mark Buehrle pitching a no-hitter on April 18, 2007.

On 2007-08-10 closer Bobby Jenks retired his 38th consecutive hitter, Ichiro Suzuki grounding out to third, to tye the American League record for most consecutive hitter retired in a row, set by David Wells between 1998-05-12 and 1998-05-23 with the New York Yankees. It is currently the fourth-longest streak in Major League Baseball history. The Major League record is 41, held by Jim Barr set with the San Francisco Giants over two games on 1972-08-23 and 1972-08-29.

On 2007-09-16 Jim Thome hit his 500th career home run with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 9 - 7. Thome is the first player in club history to hit his 500th career home run while in a White Sox uniform.

The Sox, this season, started out with a bullpen who quickly coughed up leads. Then, when the bullpen got its act together, the Sox altogether stopped hitting, with a team batting average of below .250. José Contreras, the undefeated-streak man from 1st-half 2006, has become a 16-loss, 6.13 ERA monstrosity. The Sox are currently in last place after a four-game sweep at home at the hands of the Red Sox and have put hope on hold, seemingly, until next season.

While results for the White Sox 2007 season did not end in a playoff berth, things look positive for 2008. The return of Joe Crede and money to sign free agents, along with bounce-back years from some hitters, will make the Sox contenders for the AL Central in 2008.

3B/OF Josh Fields and CF Jerry Owens made great impressions in the 2nd half and will likely join Jermaine Dye as one of the AL's better outfields.

Starting Pitchers Buerhle, Garland, Vazquez, along with Closer Bobby Jenks, form the core of a soild pitching staff. Veteran Jose Contraras and young lefty John Danks are the likely back end of the rotation, with challenges from youngsters Lance Broadway, Heath Phillips, and Charlie Hager.

2007 off-season

The 2006-2007 offseason stirred up controversy among Sox fans. First, on November 16, lefty reliever Neal Cotts [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cottsne01.shtml] was sent to the Chicago Cubs for reliever David Aardsma and prospect Carlos Vasquez. This was the first deal between the crosstown rivals since the Cubs traded pitcher Jon Garland for White Sox reliever Matt Karchner in the middle of the 1998 season.

A deal that involved trading Garland to the Houston Astros for outfielder Willy Taveras and pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh was reported to have been agreed upon, but general manager Ken Williams backed out of the trade at the last minute, due to health concerns for Buchholz.

Williams traded first baseman Ross Gload to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Andrew Sisco.

On December 6, starting pitcher Freddy García was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitching prospects Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez, who was initially traded to the Phillies by the White Sox in the Jim Thome deal a year prior.

Even more controversial was the December 23 deal that sent highly-touted starter Brandon McCarthy, along with outfield prospect David Paisano, to the Texas Rangers for pitching prospects John Danks, Nick Masset, and Jacob Rasner. To some, it seemed as if Williams was sacrificing the present for the future in these deals.

The Sox also signed free agent catcher Toby Hall, signed free agent outfielder/first baseman Darin Erstad, and signed (currently ) #2 starter Javier Vázquez to a 3 year, $33 million contract extension.

Regular season

eason standings

Game log

Opening Day Lineup

Pablo Ozuna, lf

Darin Erstad, cf

Jim Thome, dh

Paul Konerko, 1b

Jermaine Dye, rf

Joe Crede, 3b

Tadahito Iguchi, 2b

A.J. Pierzynski, c

Juan Uribe, ss

José Contreras, p

Current roster

References

*Game Logs::1st Half: [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/schedule?team=chw&season=2007&seasonType=2&half=1 Chicago White Sox Game Log] on ESPN.com:2nd Half: [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/schedule?team=chw&season=2007&seasonType=2&half=2 Chicago White Sox Game Log] on ESPN.com
*Batting Statistics: [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/stats?team=chw Chicago White Sox Batting Stats] on ESPN.com
*Pitching Statistics: [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/pitching?team=chw Chicago White Sox Pitching Stats] on ESPN.com

External links

* [http://www.whitesox.com Chicago White Sox Homepage]