Who says we don't have an ace?

That was about as dominant a game as it gets, and Chris has been dominating since early June. Now a 2.31 ERA over his last 14 games.

Tonight his fastball was exploding as it reached the plate and the curve was jaw dropping. He was almost unhittable.

Every team has an ace.

Ace- "A team's best starting pitcher". (mlb.com)

That was about as dominant a game as it gets, and Chris has been dominating since early June. Now a 2.31 ERA over his last 14 games.

Tonight his fastball was exploding as it reached the plate and the curve was jaw dropping. He was almost unhittable.

The national media says we don't. And they will continue to say it will kill us in the post season because we can't match up pitching wise blah blah.

And I will continue to disagree with them. I'll take our rotation over anyone in the AL right now including Oak. Deep and talented. Confident every time a pitcher takes the ball at this point.

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Every team has an ace.

Ace- "A team's best starting pitcher". (mlb.com)

Yeah, I see you started a thread making this point, while I was writing the OP. Feel free to pursue your point in that thread. My point here is I'm comfortable matching Tillman against some other team's top pitcher, even the playoff-bound teams. He's on fire.

Semi-related, but I was pretty surprised when I got the Sporting News Fantasy Baseball Guide this January and both Chen and Gonzalez didn't even get a write-up. There were 662 scouting reports but neither was deemed worthy of mention. I'm not surprised anymore when the baseball universe doesn't pay much attention to our starters.

Yeah, I see you started a thread making this point, while I was writing the OP. Feel free to pursue your point in that thread. My point here is I'm comfortable matching Tillman against some other team's top pitcher, even the playoff-bound teams. He's on fire.

Good point.

If it looks like an ace, walks like an ace, and pitches like an ace, who cares if it doesn't quack. Of course this White Sox team is a sorry looking bunch.

They can hit though. Haven't looked like it the last two nights though

The national media says we don't. And they will continue to say it will kill us in the post season because we can't match up pitching wise blah blah.

And I will continue to disagree with them. I'll take our rotation over anyone in the AL right now including Oak. Deep and talented. Confident every time a pitcher takes the ball at this point.

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13th in starter ERA. 28th in FIP. 25th in K/9. 28th in BB/9.

Better than the Rays, Tigers, A's, Mariners, and Royals rotations? Nah.

13th in starter ERA. 28th in FIP. 25th in K/9. 28th in BB/9.

Better than the Rays, Tigers, A's, Mariners, and Royals rotations? Nah.

I agree we don't have the best rotation in the league, but screw FIP. I've been watching great starting pitching for three months now.

What do those numbers look like with Ubaldo removed from the equation though?

Just as an aside, but how nice is it to ask "what our numbers would look like if we removed" a guy with a 4.83 ERA and the ability to dominate! Wasn't too long ago we were asking the same question about guys like Brian Burress, Rich Hill, Steve Trachsel, etc.

I do. Chris needs more consistency if he wants to be recognized as an ace. His overall stats for the past few years aren't extraordinary, especially considering the defense he's pitching with. Because he goes through ace-like stretches and then loses it and looks like a bum for a while. That's the difference between him and guys like Kershaw, Hernandez, and Scherzer right now.

I do. Chris needs more consistency if he wants to be recognized as an ace. His overall stats for the past few years aren't extraordinary, especially considering the defense he's pitching with. Because he goes through ace-like stretches and then loses it and looks like a bum for a while. That's the difference between him and guys like Kershaw, Hernandez, and Scherzer right now.

His ERA is there. His stuff is getting there. His FB tonight was a huge improvement over what we were seeing earlier in the year. The one thing that still needs to improve to be in the league of Price-Scherzer-Kershaw is the efficiency to challenge hitters and go deep in games. He has exactly two complete games in his career.

I agree we don't have the best rotation in the league, but screw FIP. I've been watching great starting pitching for three months now.

I don't know what I'm watching anymore. This is not supposed to work. Strikeouts are at an all time high in the game and somehow the Orioles staff pitches pretty well with a flyball staff that doesn't strike anyone out in front of a mostly mediocre outfield defense in a park that increases homers. I can only attribute it to infield defense that mostly makes up for it, coupled with some sort of magic pixie dust that further suppresses BABIP.

Fluke or no, it's fun to win. I'd just be curious how this rotation would look pitching in front of say, Cleveland's defense.

Yeah, I see you started a thread making this point, while I was writing the OP. Feel free to pursue your point in that thread. My point here is I'm comfortable matching Tillman against some other team's top pitcher, even the playoff-bound teams. He's on fire.

I know we are playing the 2004 White Sox, but the last two nights we have gone up against top starting pitching and beat them fair and square....even discounting imploding bullpens. That is a good sign.