Posts tagged ‘Paul Konerko’

If you love scoreboard watching, wild swings in momentum, the essence of Jim McKay’s “thrill of victory and agony of defeat”, then we here in the AL Central say, “Have we got a division for you!”

In the trailer for what will hopefully be another solid Coen Brothers comedy, Burn After Reading, JK Simmons (Hollywood’s go-to “gruff yet clueless authority figure” actor) instructs his CIA charges: “We don’t really know what anyone is after…report back to me when it…I don’t know…when it makes sense.” That’s how I feel in attempting to recap all the various angles that were in play Tuesday night in two ballparks for two teams that seemed headed in completely opposite directions just 48 hours ago. Now they’re back on the parallel track which is probably going to take them all the way to Game 162 with the issue still in doubt.

One of the key themes for the Sox up to this point in 2008 has been a failure to seal the deal during close, back-and-forth games, the kind of tightly-contested games you have to win the lion’s share of in order to be a championship club. They’ve been miserable at doing so on the road, with three of their last six performances outside Chicago perfectly demonstrating how and why there should be no expectation of an easy cruise to the division title. Then there was the fracas that broke out in Sunday afternoon’s lost cause of a game versus Kansas City, a game where every member of the Sox seemed to retreat with the exception of Ozzie Guillen, who got served his inevitable (and not open to appeal) suspension for post-game honesty.

So that brings us to Tuesday night. On an impossibly muggy evening after two days of constant rain and lightning storms in the thick of summer, Sox starter Gavin Floyd didn’t have the comfort zone he took into his last start at Minnesota, walking Curtis Granderson and throwing a homer to Placido Polanco before recording an out. Down 2-1 in the fifth Floyd lost his control for good, and when the inning ended Detroit led 6-1. Little did we know that the “fun”, such as it was, hadn’t even really started at that point.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, Scott Baker was running into trouble in the form of Raul Ibanez, who has been to the Twins staff in the first two games of that Seattle series was Justin Morneau was to the Sox last week. At 6-1 Tigers and 4-2 Mariners, with Detroit having broken into an incredibly shaky bullpen by the fifth inning, you’re just hoping both scores hold so no ground is lost in the divisional race.

That’s when Paul Konerko steps up and finally demonstrates how to drill a pitch from Nate Robertson, who’s been nothing short of dreadful against every other team in the league but was on his way to a third-straight dominating effort against the Sox. 6-4. With the Mariners having stretched their lead to 6-3 and threating to add more in the sixth, thoughts dangle that perhaps there’s a game to be gained here, if only you can reach that Tiger pen.

Carlos Quentin built the case for hope a little more with a long fly that scraped past the outfield wall. 6-5. One inning later Alexei Ramirez absolutely ropes one into the Sox bullpen. Tie game, and with Minnesota trying to come back out west, both games have turned into a battle of wills that could have long-lasting ramifications. The innings begin to fade away, one after the other, as that same unreliable Sox bullpen is mounting what might be looked back on as their last stand. Octavio Dotel had a Joba Chamberlin moment in the 10th after striking out Ryan Raburn - and speaking of impressions, right around that same moment 2000 miles away, when Seattle nearly had the game busted wide open, Carlos Gomez pulled his best Torii Hunter impersonation to keep the game within reach. Sparked by the flash of leather, the Twins put four on the board in the top of the eighth for a 7-6 lead. At this point I’ve stopped trying to do some internal divisonal standings math and wondering what’s transpired that these two games began two hours apart yet are on track to finish at the exact same time?

By now the Sox bullpen is drawing the line in the sand and marching bravely toward their doom. Surely it must have occurred to them after the 7th or 8th consecutive scoreless inning, at which point we’re in the 13th on the Southside and Joe Nathan has come in for a five-out save with two on in StarbucksTown; it’s a sad truth that no cavalry will be coming over the hill to save them. Right?

Sure seemed like it when Polanco finally broke the dam against Matt Thornton, who was into his fourth inning of work, with another two-run blast just inside the foul pole for an 8-6 lead. Now here comes Joel Zumaya, who’s been anointed the third Tigers closer in as many weeks, to save the game, help Detroit claw back into the divisional race, and put an exclaimation point on the last three dismal weeks for the Sox.

At least it won’t come at great expense, I think, as I click over with MLB Gameday to see Jose Lopez touched Joe Nathan for double and the M’s are up 8-7. Maybe there’s a little magic left here.

Cabrera singles, Quentin shoots one down the line to put runners at 2nd & 3rd. A cue-ball shot from Jermine Dye rolls towards Edgar Renteria. A run’s gonna score, but there will be two out because Renteria makes this play in his sleep.

Only he doesn’t. It glances off his glove and it’s 8-7 with two-on, one-out. Zumaya overpowers Jim Thome and the last line of defense is Nick Swisher, a guy with many of the same holes in his swing that the aging Big Jim has.

At this point I’ve just sorta surrendered to the lunacy of it all and find myself like Gene Wilder while watching Augustus Gloop get sucked into the chocolate river: “The suspense is terrifying! I hope it lasts!” Which it will, because another quick check shows Justin Morneau is on base with Jason Kubel, already having hit two home runs tonight, due up.

2-1 count on Swisher. Then a high, arching drive into the deepest part of the field. Can The Ballpark Formerly Known as Comiskey hold it? And the whisper comes back, “No”. 10-8 victory.

But wait, there’s more! Putz now is working with the bases loaded and Mike Redmond at the dish while protecting the slimmest of margins. If this were a Sox game, you know Redmond would just do what he always does, swing like a Little Leaguer yet somehow make contact with the ball and send a little grenade into center that falls into the 18-inch zone where neither the second baseman, shortstop, or center fielder have a chance to catch it. But this is Seattle so he lines one to Ichiro to end the game.

Maybe in a few days or weeks both teams will look back on tonight and the outcomes of the respective see-saw affairs as one of “those” moments. But if the Sox drop four of the next five while the Twins take four of five, does it really amound to much? Who can know what’s going to happen day by day around here? All I can say with confidence is that literally everything about tonight’s game countered the notion that the Sox are too lacksaidaiscal to match the high-energy Twins in the race for this Theater of the Absurd known as the AL Central. That was the definition of fighting back out on the field tonight.

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.

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.