Inside the Numbers-White Sox Starters

The White Sox are now riding a 5 game winning streak, and have won 9 of their last 10 ball games.

The reason behind all this?

Same thing as last season, starting pitching.

We all remember last season in the ALCS when Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia, and Mark Beuhrle pitched 4 consecutive complete games to get to the World Series. This offseason the Sox added even more depth to the rotation by trading for Javier Vazquez from the Arizona Diamondbacks, all while still having young Brandon McCarthy ready to take a spot.

Well the last five games we have truly seen what this White Sox pitching staff can do. Let's look at the numbers.

• Mark Buehrle 8.0IP 5H 2R 2ER 2BB 4K 2.25ERA
• Freddy Garcia 5.0IP 4H 4R 3ER 6BB 3K 5.40ERA
• Jose Contreras 7.0IP 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 6K 0.00ERA
• Jon Garland 6.1IP 6H 1R 1ER 0BB 3K 1.42ERA
• Javier Vazquez 8.0IP 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 7K 0.00ERA

Totals 34.1IP 18H 7R 6ER 10BB 23K 1.57ERA

One thing to keep in mind is that the 34.1 innings is of a possible 41 innings. (Freddy Garcia's performance was a rain shortened game. 5 innings) That's 83% of the teams innings pitched by the starters.

Also Garcia's numbers don't tell the complete story. Freddy pitched very well for the first 4 innings, but then had to pitch in a downpour for the 5th. The rain wasn't going to stop, and the umpires (correctly) did not want to call the game when it was so close to being official. Unfortunately for Freddy it's hard to grip a baseball when it's soaking wet, and his control suffered for it. Of his 6 walks, 5 came in that 5th inning, along with all 4 runs.

Contreras pitched an absolute gem giving up one hit over 7, while today Vazquez went 6.1 innings before surrendering a hit.

That hit?

A cheap little swinging bunt down the third baseline by Doug Mientkiewicz that just wouldn't roll foul.

You take a dominant pitching staff like the White Sox have, add a terrific defense led by third baseman Joe Crede, and a lot of runs scored courtesy of Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, and what you get is the team that has to be considered the favorite to win the World Series again this year.

The Mets are off to a great start, but their starting rotation isn't proven once you get past Pedro and Glavine. It's doubtful that their rotation can keep up like this all season.

The White Sox' main competition will be provided by the Cleveland Indians, who are the second best team in baseball. What the Sox have that the Indians don't though is 5 dominant starting pitchers.