Posts tagged ‘Jim Thome’

The one thing you can count on in sports is just when you think you know you have no idea. As the White Sox head into the All Star break with a 1.5 game lead over the Twins, it is time to reflect on what we thought we knew as the season marched on. In March the problem was the pitching, many said a rotation relying on John Danks and Gavin Floyd to be major contributors was doomed to fail. Well 94 games later the Sox boast the second best ERA in all of baseball and the main reason for this has been the emergence of Floyd and Danks. Arguably they both should be pitching in New York tomorrow night as Gavin ends the first half with 10 wins, an ERA of 3.65 and has twice carried a no hitter deep into the 7th inning. Johnny Danks is fourth in the AL in ERA and with any sort of run support would be making a case not only to be in the All Star game, but to be on the mound in the first inning. Danks has decided recently to control his own fate by pitching into the 7th inning or later in three straight starts, which he was failing to do early in the season.

The sure thing headed into April was obviously Mark Buehrle, but after a rough April some fans were questioning the signing and wondering if Mark had lost it. On May 27th Mark’s ERA was 5.26, nine starts later it has dipped to 3.68. If there is one thing I have learned as a Sox fan the last person I am ever going to worry about is Mark Buehrle. The ace of the staff was supposedly Javy Vazquez and he played the part the first two months of the season, but after being outdueled by Scott Kazmir in Tampa in May, Javy has looked the Javy the Yankees wanted no more part of. Now there are Sox fans muttering it is the same old Javy that just doesn’t have the mental make up to be a front line starter. I am a sucker for pitchers with great stuff and without a doubt Javier has the best stuff on this staff. If he continues to slide into August, there may be something to worry about, but Ozzie is giving him plenty of rest over the break and that may just be exactly what he needs.

It was only about a month ago when Jim Thome was washed up and needed to be benched. He was hitting just over the Mendoza line, but Big Jim has been on fire in July, hitting .372, but more importantly putting up typical Thome slugging numbers. He can’t hit lefties? Well he is hitting 30 points higher versus lefties this season. Just another example of the more you know, the less you know.

What could be a deciding factor in the AL Central race is what the Sox get out of their Captain, Paul Konerko. Hands down he has been the biggest disappointment in the first half, but the “sit down Paulie talk for Brian Anderson and moving Swisher to first” nonsense needs to stop. The man has earned the benefit of the doubt and has shown in the past he can have a big second half. I don’t want to make excuses for Paul, but he did have a nagging hand injury and then the oblique strain. The man is just 32 years old, did he just all of a sudden lose his ability to hit? Somehow I doubt it, and I think we are in store for the Paulie of old coming up in August and September and hopefully October.

It is a looooonnnng season Sox fans - a team that wins 90 games is going to lose 72 games. It is important to keep that in mind and not get too high when it’s going good or to low when inevitable bad streak happens. Not many expected this team to be where they are in the standing at the All Star break and the division is ours for the taking.

Let’s all sit back and watch Quentin and Dye help secure home field advantage tomorrow night and get ready for what promises to be an exciting second half.

Same teams, same city, same stakes. Different ballpark? All the difference.

All the City Series managed to confirm beyond reproach was the one thing already widely assumed: both Chicago teams are fantastic in their home parks, but something gets lost in translation when they go on the road. How else do you explain Jose Contreras, with the 9-run meltdown at Wrigley, come back six days later and go into the 7th inning against the same lineup in an equally (if not more) hitter-friendly ballpark? Conversely, Ryan Dempster was pounded for 8 runs (7 in one inning) five days after making the Sox look silly…while the Sox bullpen which couldn’t close a screen door last weekend looked like an even better version of the crew that helped win a World Series in 2005. I guess if there is some destiny at work to get the Sox and Cubs into a Crosstown World Series…we better pray the American League wins the All-Star Game.

I said last Friday that I liked the attitude, the sense of urgency coming from the Sox clubhouse after the win at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. They knew what they were coming home to, not just three games that mean infinitely more in the stands than on the field, but three games at home that they needed to have while two teams charging hard in the division kept getting hotter. Nothing changed as the Twins took two of three from the Brewers and and the Tigers swept the Rockies to climb over .500. That’s the true importance of this weekend; sweeping the Cubs was awesome, but picking up a game on the Twins and keeping the Tigers at bay was far more significant in relation to the big picture.

Said big picture really kicks in now, as the Sox welcome supposed divisional heavyweight Cleveland to Comiskey with an opportunity to bury them in the standings, before matchups with Oakland, Kansas City, and Texas to close out the first half. Sweeping an excellent Cubs team that looks like the class of the National League was a nice acheivement, but it will only matter if the Sox take the renewed momentum and start cleaning up where it counts. In 2005, Ozzie told the team “Don’t be happy just to be in the playoffs - win to stay in.” Now would be a good time to say, “Don’t be happy just to be in first place”.

Seeing as it’s now April 29th and the season is officially one month old, let’s take a look at where the White Sox stand:

Offensive Categories:
Team Average: .242 (14th in the AL)
On-Base Percentage: .338 (7th)
OPS (OB+SLG): .755 (5th)
Runs: 130 (5th)

Pitching Categories:
Runs Allowed: 101 (2nd)
ERA: 3.77 (3rd)
BAA: .248 (4th)
Quality Starts: 17 (1st)

The people who tell you the numbers never lie are only half right. Numbers lie all the time. For example, when a team is hitting collectively as bad as the Sox are, the numbers tell you they should stink at scoring runs and winning games. And lately, the Sox have stunk at putting points on the board - and yet they’re sitting in first place heading to May while ranking in the top half of the league in every other significant offensive measuring stick. How’s this possible?

Meanwhile, what was expected to be the most combustible element of this Sox team - the starting rotation - has been outstanding. Gavin Floyd has pitched well enough to win every start. John Danks is 4 for 5 in quality outings, as is Jose Contreras. Javy Vazquez picked up where he left off - the most suspect member of the rotation is Mark Buehrle!

So you’d think things would be looking all the way up, right? Not exactly. The Sox have to start hitting if they’re going to stay a factor. To take a glass-half-full look at it, the poor average is with Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera, Jim Thome & Paul Konerko hitting way below where they’re expected to be. On the down side? The poor average reflects the fact that Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera, Jim Thome & Paul Konerko are hitting way below where they’re expected to be. Does anybody else feel comfortable just saying, “Don’t worry, they’re bound to turn it on and break loose sooner or later?” Hawk can say it. No way I’m saying it.