Matching up with the White Sox

Keeping the ball in the park has
been a real plus for Liriano.

The conversation was about pitching matchups, and specifically if it's really a good idea to have left-handers Francisco Liriano and Brian Duensing face the heavily right-handed White Sox.

Paul Konerko, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rios, Alexi Ramirez, Carlos Quintin, Gordon Beckham, Andruw Jones — the left-handed "power" for the South Siders in this Year-Without-Thome is A.J. Pierzynski, Juan Pierre and Mark Kotsay, which is to say they have none.

Into the stats we go:

• Liriano against Chicago this year: Four starts, 24.1 innings, 4.07 ERA, 2-0.
• Duesning against Chicago this year: Four games, all in relief, seven innings, 1.29 ERA, 2-0.

Brian Duensing is 3-0, 2.40
for his brief career
against the White Sox.

Duensing really hasn't been that good against the White Sox; he's given up nine hits in 25 at-bats, a .360 batting average. But it's all singles.

And that's really the key to both Liriano and Duensing. Liriano has allowed just four home runs all season (172.1 innings), Duensing seven (107 innings). One of Liriano's homers allowed was against the White Sox.

If Liriano and Duensing can continue to keep the ball in the park in that South Side launching pad, they'll be OK against even the right-handed White Sox.

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Poll results: We had 64 responses to my Rookie of the Year (AL) question. Thirty-one (48 percent) picked Austin Jackson; 22 (34 percent) Danny Valencia; nine (14 percent) Neftali Feliz; two (3 percent) John Jaso; and zero (0 percent, if you were wondering) Brendan Boesch.

I threw Boesch into the mix solely because Dick-n-Bert gave him the award back in July.