The 2011 Chicago White Sox season was the club's 112th season in Chicago and 111th in the American League. The 2011 White Sox schedule was revealed at 7:00 pm Central Time on September 14, 2010 along with every other team in Major League Baseball.
Offseason On December 2, 2010, the White Sox signed a new slugger Adam Dunn from the Washington Nationals for a 4yr/$56M contract. On that same day, the Sox also re-signed A. J. Pierzynski to a 2yr/$8M extension. Six days later, the Sox resigned Paul Konerko to a 3yr/$37.5M extension. With Dunn, Konerko, and Pierzynski, there is a 5% chance that the White Sox will win the 2011 World Series. On December 15, the White Sox acquired RHP Jesse Crain from the Minnesota Twins and offered a 3yr/$13M deal. On January 18, the Sox acquired RHP Philip Humber off waivers from the Oakland A's. One month prior, the A's claimed Humber from the Kansas City Royals.
In addition to acquisitions, the White Sox also traded away some players, including Scott Linebrink to Atlanta Braves on December 3, and J. J. Putz to Arizona Diamondbacks on December 7. Bobby Jenks, who was non-tendered by the White Sox, has agreed to sign with the Boston Red Sox on December 16.
Transactions 12/03/10 – Signed free agent DH/1B Adam Dunn and re-signed C A. J. Pierzynski 12/08/10 – Re-signed 1B Paul Konerko 12/20/10 – Signed free agent RHP Jesse Crain 01/10/11 – Signed free agent LHP Will Ohman 01/18/11 – Claimed RHP Philip Humber off waivers from the Oakland Athletics 01/19/11 – Signed free agent 3B Dallas McPherson 02/03/11 – Signed free agent OF Lastings Milledge 06/13/11 – Claimed LHP Leyson Séptimo off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks 07/05/11 – Signed 1st round draft pick from 2011 MLB draft OF Keenyn Walker, assigned to Great Falls Voyagers 07/27/11 – Traded RHP Edwin Jackson and 3B Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Jason Frasor and RHP Zach Stewart 09/29/11 – Received Osvaldo Martínez and Jhan Mariñez from the Florida Marlins as compensation for Ozzie Guillén, who agreed to a four-year contract to manage the Miami Marlins in 2012
Regular season
Season standings American League Central
American League Wild Card
Record vs. opponents
Detailed records and runs scored/allowed Opponent Home Away Total Pct. Runs scored Runs allowed AL East Baltimore Orioles 1–3 3–1 4–4 37 42 Boston Red Sox 1–2 3–0 4–2 32 30 New York Yankees 0–4 2–2 2–6 20 51 Tampa Bay Rays 3–1 1–3 4–4 33 26 Toronto Blue Jays 2–1 1–3 3–4 25 34 7–11 10–9 17–20 147 184 AL Central Cleveland Indians 5–4 6–3 11–7 91 81 Detroit Tigers 3–6 2–7 5–13 62 111 Kansas City Royals 4–5 3–6 7–11 74 91 Minnesota Twins 3–6 6–3 9–9 65 55 15–21 17–19 32–40 302 340 AL West Los Angeles Angels 0–3 2–3 2–6 27 38 Oakland Athletics 4–3 2–1 6–4 43 43 Seattle Mariners 2–1 5–1 7–2 41 19 Texas Rangers 3–2 1–2 4–4 27 26 9–9 10–7 19–16 141 128 Interleague Arizona Diamondbacks 0–0 2–1 2–1 15 8 Chicago Cubs 2–1 2–1 4–2 18 18 Colorado Rockies 0–0 2–1 2–1 11 9 Los Angeles Dodgers 2–1 0–0 2–1 21 11 Washington Nationals 1–2 0–0 1–2 9 11 5–4 6–3 11–7 74 57
Roster 2011 Chicago White Sox Roster Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Manager
Coaches
(third base) (bullpen) (bullpen catcher)
Season summary
Composite inning summary
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Runs scored 68 85 71 78 73 68 80 73 40 14 0 4 0 1 Runs allowed 84 54 70 91 79 121 69 59 58 14 1 2 1 5
Opening Day lineup 1 Juan Pierre LF15 Gordon Beckham 2B32 Adam Dunn DH14 Paul Konerko 1B51 Alex Ríos CF20 Carlos Quentin RF12 A. J. Pierzynski C10 Alexei Ramírez SS22 Brent Morel 3B56 Mark Buehrle P
Monthly summaries
April The Sox opened the 2011 season at Cleveland with a 15–10 victory over the Indians on April 1. It was the first time since September 7, 2007, that the Sox won while allowing 10 or more runs. The Sox had their first 2–0 start since 2005 with an 8–3 win over Cleveland. In the third game of this series in the 4th inning, Alexei Ramírez bunted into a 3–4–6 triple play. It was the first time that the Sox hit into a triple play since 1978. The Sox went on to lose this game 7–1. On April 5 at Kansas City Royals, the Sox scored four runs in the first inning but they would not hold on to the lead. The Sox played for 12 innings until the new Royals batter Melky Cabrera hit a walk-off single to score the former Sox player Chris Getz to suffer their first walk-off loss of the season. Last season, the Sox did not suffer their first walk-off loss until July 18 at Minnesota. After the loss, Adam Dunn had his appendix removed and he'll miss five games, but he told Ozzie Guillén that he wants to play sooner. The next game against the Royals, the Sox trailed 5–0 going to the 7th inning. In the ninth inning, the Sox took the lead 7–6 by scoring four runs against the Royals closer Joakim Soria, but the Royals tied this game up in the bottom half. Then the Sox scored three runs in the 12th inning to take the victory 10–7 over the Royals. However, the Sox committed four errors in this game.
The Sox had their home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5–1 victory on April 7. Edwin Jackson struck out 13 to set his new career high and most strikeouts by the White Sox pitcher in the home opener in club history. In next game for the first eight innings, the Sox led 7–4. In the top of the ninth inning, the Sox committed two errors which led to five unearned runs including a three-run homer by Dan Johnson off of Matt Thornton. The Sox would lose the game 9–7. That was their first win of the season for Rays. In addition, in the top of the ninth inning after Johnson's home run, the Rays took their first lead of the season after going 62 consecutive innings without lead. It is now the most consecutive innings without lead of any team of all time. The Sox would then go on and win the final two games of this series to take three out of four from the Rays with the final scores of 4–2 and 6–1. The next series against the Oakland A's, the Sox lost two out of three with the only win being a walk-off home run in 10th inning by Alexei Ramírez in Game 2. In both losses, the Sox led going into the ninth inning only to give up runs to tie the game and lose in the 10th. For the first 12 games this season, the bullpen allowed 12 runs including 6 unearned runs in the ninth inning to lead the majors. They led the majors with 6 blown saves in 7 opportunities. In the next series, the Sox got swept by the Angels at home for the first time since 2005. The Sox finished 4–6 on the homestand.
The Sox avoided a four-game sweep by beating the Rays 9–2 behind Gavin Floyd on April 22. Then the Sox were swept by Tigers at Detroit, including being scoreless twice. The Sox split the series against the Yankees at New York, including two straight plays by Brent Lillibridge off the bats of Alex Rodríguez and Robinson Canó to end the game on April 26. The Sox finished their 11-game road trip 3–8. The Sox lost the first two games of the four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles to finish April with a 10–18 record.
May The Sox opened the month of May with a 6–4 loss to the Orioles. Then the Sox avoided getting swept by beating the Orioles 6–2. Then on May 3 against the Minnesota Twins, Francisco Liriano no-hit the White Sox. Liriano threw 123 pitches with six walks and just two strikeouts. Prior to this game, Liriano had an ERA of 9.13, which is the second highest ERA before the no-hitter since 1913. After the no-hitter, his ERA dropped to 6.61. It is the Twins first no-hitter since Eric Milton threw one on Sep 11, 1999 against the California Angels. The Sox went hitless for the first time since Aug 26, 1991 when the Royals' pitcher Bret Saberhagen threw against them. The Sox lost again 3–2 on the next day to Minnesota to have the worst record in MLB at 11–21.
Then the Sox went on to the west coast in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Oakland, finishing 6–3 in that nine-game road trip. During the road trip on May 11 at Los Angeles, Jake Peavy started the game for the first time since July 6 of last season when he tore his lat muscle, also against the Angels. He went 6 IP 7 H 4 ER 4 K in no decision as Sox defeated Angels 6–4 in 10 innings. When Peavy added to the starting rotation and Philip Humber is too good to be moved to the bullpen, the Sox used the six-man rotation. On May 15, Mark Buehrle outdueled Trevor Cahill as Sox defeated Oakland 4–3.
The Sox went back home splitting a two-game series against the Rangers and swept the two-game series over the first-place Indians, including a three-hit shutout by Jake Peavy in the first game of that series in his second start of the season. On the next night, the Sox lost the first game of the series against the Dodgers after giving up a home run to Russell Mitchell in the 9th inning by Sergio Santos which tied the game at 3. Until Mitchell's homer, Santos did not allow a run this season, he went 20 scoreless innings. Then the Dodgers scored three runs in the 10th to beat the Sox 6–4. The Game storm betts was go but his mom got a speeding ticket day before on way home from school Meanwhile, the Sox won the final two games against the Dodgers to win their first interleague series of the season. The Sox lost two out of three at Texas. In the second game of that series on May 24, the game was in a 2:58 rain delay, but the Sox took this game 8–6 in 9 innings as the game ended at 1:27 am CT. In next series at Toronto, the Sox took the opener by a final score of 3–1 by scoring two runs in the ninth inning. In the third game of this series, the Sox tied the game up at 8 in the ninth inning. In the Sox half of the 11th inning, Brent Morel hit a lead-off double but the team did not score. In the Blue Jays' half of 14th inning with starter Gavin Floyd in relief, a leadoff hitter Corey Patterson hit a walk-off homer which ended the game with a final score of 9–8. The Sox suffered their fourth walk-off loss of the season. In the finale of that series, John Danks gave up 9 runs in 4 innings. The Sox went on to lose 13–4 and Danks was then 0–8 with a 5.25 ERA. With the only win in that four-game series coming in the opener of the series, the Sox had lost seven straight games in the finale of a four-game series when they won the opener and lost the next two dating back to the start of 2007 season. On Memorial Day, the Sox took Game 1 of the series at Boston with a final score of 7–3. In Game 2, the Sox defeated the Red Sox 10–7, as the White Sox bullpen allowed 6 runs in final two innings. The Sox finished May with a 16–13 record.
June Continuing the series at Boston starting in May, the Sox played the finale of the series at Boston looking for a second consecutive sweep at Boston, and then they did. The White Sox defeated the Red Sox 7–4 to win their seventh straight at Fenway Park, their longest since 1958–59 when they also won seven straight. The White Sox have also won 13 of their last 15 contests against the Red Sox overall. Over the last 15 games, the White Sox have outscored the Red Sox 88–50 during that span.