The Chicago White Sox have dealt with injuries throughout the 2011 season, using a deep starting rotation to accommodate injuries to Jake Peavy and John Danks.
Tyler Flowers is getting the job done so far replacing injured catcher A.J. Pierzynski, and Paul Konerko is swinging a dangerous bat in spite of a nagging bone bruise on his left knee.
Is losing Phil Humber going to finally topple the house of cards in Chicago?
Humber’s start ended early after being stuck by a line drive Kosuke Fukudome early in Thursday night’s loss to the Indians. It appeared that Humber was all right following his removal from the game and he even sounded positive about making his next scheduled start.
However, we won’t see Humber on the mound for a couple of weeks.
The White Sox placed the pitcher on the 15-day disabled list Friday, as reported by Evan Drellich of MLB.com. Zach Stewart replaced Humber and pitched two innings after finishing up for Mark Buehrle the night before.
Stewart’s acquisition takes on more importance with each passing day since he came over from Toronto with Jason Fasor. It may be up to Stewart to hold down the back of the rotation as Chicago attempts to stay in the AL Central picture.
The White Sox pitching depth has been the saving grace of a disappointing offensive effort this season. Can that depth see them through a tough series with Texas, followed by a short jaunt out west?
Josh Kinney was brought up from Charlotte to replace Humber on the pitching staff. His job looks to be taking Stewart’s role in the bullpen so that the 24-year-old right-hander can make Humber’s starts. Stewart is scheduled to pitch Wednesday in Anaheim.
Kinney tossed three scoreless innings after Jake Peavy was done in by the long ball in the first six. Unfortunately it came in a losing effort, Chicago’s fifth in a row.
The White Sox now trail Detroit by five games and will be without Humber and Pierzynski for the rest of the month. Hopefully no one will join those two on the DL and the team can at least tread water in the standings for awhile.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com