If the White Sox have any hopes of making the playoffs this season they need two things to happen. They need to play well against the AL Central teams and they need to start winning more at home. Coming into Monday's game the Sox are just 6-11 against the division and are 19-20 at home. No better time to start improving both records then right now. Monday the Sox open a stretch of 19 straight games against AL Central opponents and the first seven wil be at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Sox welcome the Kansas City Royals to town Monday to begin a three-game series. The Sox and Royals have only met twice this season and split the two meetings.
Mark Buehrle will get the start in game one of the series against the Royals. Buehrle is 6-5 on the season with an ERA of 3.65. The Sox lefty has had a lot of success against Kansas City in his career. Buehrle is 21-11 overall against the Royals.
Jeff Francis will take the ball for the Royals Monday. Francis is 3-9 with an ERA of 4.79 on the season. The Royals lefty has struggled recently. In his last three starts, Francis has an ERA of 7.04.
The forecast at the time of first pitch is temps in the low 80's under partly cloudy skies. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 CST. The game can be seen on CSN.