What A Long, Strange, Horrible, Painful, Road Trip It's Been

I know that I don't generally do statistical breakdowns here at Foul Balls, but that doesn't mean I don't pay any attention to stats. I mean, I'm no sabremetrician who gets into fist-fights over VORP or BAPIP or anything, but I do study them quite regularly.

Now that the Sox have finished their six-game road trip from hell, and return to U.S. Cellular where they take on the Twins tonight, I thought I'd take a look at some odd numbers from the trip.

Now we all know that the Sox offense has been absolutely horrible as of late. You don't need stats to see that, but the reason I worry about this team getting back into the race is all the great efforts they're wasting from their starting pitching.

How often do you see this happen?

When the White Sox started their road trip, they had a team ERA of 3.86. They return to Chicago tonight with an ERA of 3.64. That's right, the White Sox actually lowered their team ERA .22 points over the last six games, and they went 0-6. Over the six games they allowed only 14 earned runs in 48 innings for an ERA of 2.62.

And, I repeat, they lost all six games.

As for the offense?

They managed to hit only .170 on the trip (32-for-188), lowering their already league-worst batting average from .245 to .232. A thirteen point drop in six games.

No wonder this team is so much damn fun to watch!