Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

The AL Central Trail: May

Because the events of the last few days have been so damn depressing, I figured I'd release this a day early.  The next one will come out during the All-Star break, barring unforeseen delays.

If you missed previous installments:

• April
• The offseason

See yesterday's headline

When it comes to walks, there's no topping the four-pitch, game-losing variety we witnessed today.  But if I had to pick one that comes close, I'd have to say it was Mike MacDougal's one-out walk of Jason Tyner, during which he didn't force Tyner to take the bat off his shoulder.

The kangaroo court fine should start at $5,000 for this one.  It's one thing to be extra careful around Justin Morneau or Michael Cuddyer, because they're highly capable of ending the game on one swing.  Tyner has never ended the game on one swing -- in fact, he has never hit a homer in seven major-league seasons.  Tyner currently owns the most consecutive at-bats without a homer with 1,139. 

He does own a whopping two minor-league homers over 3,059 at-bats, so if you're extremely generous towards him and weigh them the same, he stood in against MacDougal with roughly a 0.004 percent chance of going deep.

Tyner doesn't even excel at getting doubles.  He's a slap hitter without much of a batting eye, so if MacDougal made a mistake, it's highly likely it would only cost him a single.  MacDougal failed to challenge the one hitter every major-league pitcher should challenge, and instead put him on base, the only area where Tyner has value.  He has speed and exercises good judgment stealing bases, and sure enough, that came into play.  Paul Konerko's throw wouldn't have hit a slower runner, but instead it caromed off Tyner, and he came around to score the winning run two batters later.

MacDougal shouldn't be the only one with a lighter wallet -- Jose Contreras walked him two days ago, too.

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The Trib's site currently has a poll asking whether the Sox would be better off without Ozzie Guillen.  Meanwhile, Don Cooper flagellated himself over Andy Sisco's disappointment and demotion.  Greg Walker, meanwhile, seems to be in the clear for some reason.

The Sox had no problems hitting Scott Baker, but he didn't fool the Knights when I saw him start against Charlotte in Rochester last month.  I think the zero hits against qualified major-league relievers speaks louder than 10 hits in three-innings off a 'tweener talent like Baker.

For instance, a scoreless 2 1/3-inning outing for Matt Guerrier lowered his ERA against the Sox to 1.65 since 2005.  He has an ERA of 3.65 against the rest of baseball during that stretch.  I'm guessing this plays a big part: Guerrier walked one Sox today, the same amount he'd walked in his previous 29 1/3 innings.  He issues about 3.0 walks per nine innings to everybody else.  Against Chicago, reverse those digits: he entered today walking 0.3 Sox per nine innings.

Either Guerrier knows something about the Sox they don't, or everybody else knows something about Guerrier that the Sox can't see.  Either way, it's another guy the Sox can't figure out, and another indictment against both the coaching and scouting staff.

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Minor league round-up:

• Louisville 13, Charlotte 6
• The Heath Phillips slide continues:  He gave up 10 runs on nine hits, five of them homers, three of them in the first inning.  Paulino Reynoso also had his first rough outing of the year, walking four and allowing three runs in one-third of an inning.
• Jerry Owens continued his hot streak, going 2-for-4 with a walk two runs scored, raising his average over .300.
  
• Josh Fields is back to playing third, but he went 0-for-4 with a walk.  Craig Wilson went 0-for-2 with three walks and a strikeout; Brian Anderson went 0-for-5.
• Birmingham 3, Jacksonville 2
• Gio Gonzalez gave up only four hits and a walk in seven innings, while striking out eight.  One of the hits was a two-run homer.  No, Jason, he didn't earn the win.
  
• Jason Bourgeois went 2-for-4 with two runs scored; none of the Barons' nine hits went for extra bases.
• Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 2
• John Torres had an awesome relief outing -- a perfect, four-inning save where he struck out nine.
• Daron Roberts drove in all four runs with two doubles.
• Aaron Cunningham went 0-for-3 with two walks, Micah Schnurstein went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• West Virginia 9, Kannapolis 8
• Justin Edwards' outing could've been worse -- he gave up eight hits and six walks in 4 2/3 innings, yet only allowed four runs (three earned). Steven Spurgeon and Clevelan Santeliz both struggled as well.
• John Shelby Jr., Maurice Gartrell and Mike Grace had two-hit days; Archie Gilbert hit a solo homer; Chris Carter went 0-for-2 with three walks.

Four balls means no balls

Forgive me for delving into minutia tonight, but there's not much else to talk about during John Danks' first major-league shelling.  Fastballs up to Justin Morneau: not a good idea. 

Besides Danks' and Nick Masset's inability to record the third out in the decisive innings, I was most perturbed by an intentional walk.

First of all, I think the Sox have intentionally walked too many people already -- their total of 16 ranks third in the American League, one behind the Yankees, and a bunch behind the Royals.  Two of those came tonight, both with Torii Hunter on the receiving end, and the second one completely baffled me.

Here's the situation:  After a two-run Morneau double, the Sox are down eight runs.  There are two outs and up comes Hunter, and Masset is ordered to intentionally walk Hunter to bring up Mike Redmond.

Forget that Redmond singled to load the bases, because the outcome is immaterial.  I'd still be pissed even if Masset fanned Redmond on three pitches. 

There are three things wrong with this.  Strategically speaking, adding a force play with two outs barely increases the likelihood of getting out of the inning with no further damage.  There's a similarly small drop-off between Hunter and Redmond with the way both are hitting right now -- Redmond delivered the fatal blow with a three-run double yesterday, right after Hunter's lucky chopper.

But here's what pains me the most: Where are the balls?  Masset doesn't have a lead or even a slim deficit to protect, and even though there's a runner on, Masset doesn't have to mind him.  All Masset has to do is focus on getting Hunter, a bona fide major-league hitter, out however he can.  That's the job of a pitcher, and that's what Masset's trying to learn.  There is absolutely no good reason to avoid engaging Hunter there. 

If I'm Ozzie Guillen or A.J. Pierzynski (I can't remember if they used a mound visit already), here's what I tell Masset:  Throw inside.  Throw hard, throw inside.  Try to jam the hell out of him.  Don't try to hit him, but if it happens, it happens.  You'll just have to be more careful to Redmond if you do.

That's by no means suggesting Masset to throw at Hunter -- the last thing the Sox need to do is give the Twins more bulletin board material.  All I'm suggesting is that the Sox actually try to, you know, compete.  I'm not sure if Guillen was trying to avoid being embarrassed further by calling for the walk, but in my eyes, he did it by himself the moment Pierzynski stood and extended his right arm.

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Speaking of throwing inside, Roger Clemens is set to make his major-league return at U.S. Cellular Field giving the White Sox fans who missed Steve Carlton in 1986 the opportunity to see one of history's greatest pitchers try to wring a few extra wins and some cash out of a completely unremarkable team.

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Remember the Erstad Cliché Counter?  Carol Slezak just might break it.  Let's give it a shot:

Hustler, all-out, intensity, abandon, crashed, diving, playing baseball, sacrifice bodies, run out every ground ball, slide hard, prepare for each game like it's Game 7 of the World Series, mentality of a football/hockey player, edge, recklessness, all-out, intensity, hustling, doing everything you have to.

Nope.  It held up, probably because it somehow avoided "gamer" and "grinder."  Nevertheless, it still made my monitor sweat.

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Minor league round-up:

• Charlotte 4, Louisville 3
• Andrew Sisco keeps on keepin' on, getting tagged with the loss in his first outing in Charlotte.  One walk, two hits and two runs in 1 1/3 innings.  He did strike out three.
• Craig Wilson went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, making that six in eight at-bats.  He was topped by Josh Fields, who earned the golden sombrero.  Brian Anderson was also hitless, but only struck out once in three at-bats.
• Jerry Owens hit his second homer, one of his three hits on the day.  He's now hitting .297.
• Jacksonville 5, Birmingham 3
• Adam Russell took the loss, and hard -- he had a 3-0 lead going into the ninth inning, but left after one out in the ninth with the bases loaded.  Edwardo Sierra couldn't hold the lead, and thus, the Barons lost.  Russell only allowed five hits in 8 1/3, striking out six to one walk.
  
• Mike Myers hit a solo homer, and Jason Bourgeois' double was the Barons' only other extra-base hit.  Thomas Collaro went 2-for-4.
• Myrtle Beach 9, Winston-Salem 5
• Kyle McCulloch pitched decently (two earned runs in six innings), but received no help from his bullpen.  Both Brian Omogrosso and Gary Bakker were shelled.
• Aaron Cunningham rebounded from his 0-fer with a 2-for-3 day.  He also walked and scored two runs.
• Cole Armstrong continues to hit -- he went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI.  Victor Mercedes also had two hits and two RBI.
• West Virginia 6, Kannapolis 4
• Ricky Brooks only lasted 2 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and three runs; Ryan Rote pitched well in relief -- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
• Five of Kannapolis' seven hits went for extra bases; Chris Carter and Maurice Gartrell both went deep.
  

By the way:  Following up on yesterday's Tomas Perez item, the Sox acquired him from the Dodgers in exchange for Dwayne Pollok.

You've been... relatively thunderstruck!

Celebrate, White Sox fans, celebrate!

The last time Johan Santana allowed four runs against Chicago?  May 23, 2004, when he suffered a 17-7 drubbing.  As I've mentioned before, that was the last time Santana-killers Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Lee were healthy enough to start in the same lineup. 

Today's solid drizzle of offense snaps a run of 14 consecutive starts in which Santana held the Sox to under four runs.  In 13 of those starts, Santana held the Sox to two earned runs or less; the outlier is a nuclear three-run explosion July 25 of last year.

Santana and today's brutal pitching performance aside, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye are helping Sox fans breathe a little bit easier with their recent hot streaks.  Jermaine extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2-for-3 performance today, and Konerko's batting .387 (12-for-31) over his last eight games.

If the post-getting-hit-in-the-face Joe Crede sticks around, these three could go a long way in making everybody more comfortable.  If only the bullpen could hold a lead...

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Speaking of the bullpen, Dewon Day's major-league career began with a thud, as he gave up four hits and two runs in his first inning of work.  At least he didn't pitch scared -- 15 of his 20 pitches were for strikes.

I wasn't counting on Day's promotion, but it makes sense.  As I mentioned yesterday, there weren't any truly tempting options in Triple-A, and Day's insane strikeout rate in Birmingham (17.75 K/9 IP) and fairly level splits made him the most deserving of a look, even though his ERA and WHIP could've (and probably should've) been better.

Day's jump from Double-A to the majors will bring back memories of 2005, when Kenny Williams chose Bobby Jenks over Jeff Bajenaru to fill in for Dustin Hermanson, although Bajenaru was a far more tempting bullpen arm than any in Charlotte's arsenal this year.  And we know how that ended up working out.

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Joining Day at the big-league level for today's game was Andy Gonzalez, who will be filling in for Pablo Ozuna until further notice.  Yesterday I raised the question of why the Sox need three guys who can play shortstop on the roster, and Scott Merkin helped to answer it:


Of course, that raises another question -- namely, why are the Sox carrying a guy who can't play two consecutive games?  Considering the way Cintron is hitting, he should be thanking his lucky stars for the opportunity to play in back-to-back days.  Instead, he's physically unable to.  That's not to say I'm giving up Cintron, but if tendinitis warrants a DL stay, it sounds like this is worthy of one, too.  Plus, Josh Fields could use the help provided by a Cintron rehab stint, since he's played shortstop for three straight games.

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And while we're talking about Charlotte, Tomas Perez made the start at second today.  I can't find the official word about the acquisition, but Perez last saw action with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate on May 25. and batted .227/.281/.333 over 132 at-bats for the 51s.  Before this year, Perez was a long-time reserve infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was best known for delivering the shaving cream pie to the face during post-game interviews.

Whether he's going to be indefinite roster filler or just warming the spot for Chris Getz remains to be seen, but Getz did not play today for Birmingham.  Perez, meanwhile, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in his Charlotte debut. 

Fun fact about Perez:  He actually held Oklahoma scoreless in a two-inning stint on the mound during a blowout May 11.  He gave up three hits and a walk, but struck out two.  So hey, if the second base thing doesn't work out, he can always join the Sox bullpen.

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Minor league round-up:

• Louisville 4, Charlotte 1
• New shortstop Fields went 1-for-4 with a double, and has now reached base in 25 straight games.  He also played an errorless game in the field.  Tomas Perez took over duties at second,
  
• Craig Wilson made his first start for the Knights in right field, going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.  Brian Anderson and Jerry Owens also had one hit, but Reds pitching uberprospect Homer Bailey shut Charlotte down -- the only run scored on a double play.
• Charlie Haeger allowed all four runs over six innings, walking five and striking out eight.  He'd gone four straight starts walking three or fewer until today.
• If Paulino Reynoso and Ehren Wassermann felt at all jilted by Day's promotion, they didn't show it, posting three scoreless innings combined.
• Old friend Pedro Lopez went 0-for-4.
• Jacksonville 10, Birmingham 3
• Kris Honel didn't make it out of the second inning, giving up six runs on six hits, walking two.
• Oneli Perez and Ryan Wing, the Barons' two best relievers with Day gone, each gave up a run in their inning of work.
• Jason Bourgeois went 2-for-4 with a two run homer, his second of the year; Thomas Collaro and Chris Kelly also had two hits apiece.
  
• Myrtle Beach 8, Winston-Salem 4
• Ryan Rodriguez, Carlos Torres and John Lujan all struggled in their outings.
• Micah Schnurstein went 3-for-4 with a homer (No. 13) and two RBI; Aaron Cunningham went 0-for-5.
• Greensboro 6, Kannapolis 5
• Robert Hudson went 3-for-4 and scored two runs; Chris Carter went 2-for-4, including his third triple of the year, and drove in two.
  
• Jose Zazueta received consecutive starts for the first time all year and struggled once again -- he only gave up three runs, but he failed to complete four innings; Clevelan Santeliz gave up three runs for the second straight relief outing to put Kanny in a deeper hole.
  

Know Thine Enemy: 5 more questions with a Twins blogger

With the start of another series against the Twins about four hours away, it's a good time to check in with Stick and Ball Guy for an update on the Sox's chief rivals.  He's posted my answers to his five questions over on his site.  Click here for the previous installment.

1.  How's the outlook in Twins world?  Will Terry Ryan be making any moves, or is he going to stand pat?

SBG: Well, Ryan's not one to be making a whole lot of trades, so I really doubt that we'll see any kind of slugger being brought into Minneapolis.  Ryan, incredibly, said that he doesn't care about homeruns.  Meanwhile, the Twins try to compete by bunting more.  Ugh.  It makes you want to tear your hair out.  Good grief, it's okay to hit the ball over the fence once in a while.  So, there will be no moves for a quality bat.  I guarantee that. 

The Twins are sitting on a couple of fine young pitchers in AAA in Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey.  I was absolutely convinced that we wouldn't see either of them until June 1.  By pushing Garza to June 1, they can delay his free agency a year.  By pushing Slowey to June 1, they can delay his arbitration by a year.  Don't think for a second that that isn't a prime consideration for pushing them back.  The Twins can hold off Garza's arbitration another year by keeping him in the minors until after the All-Star Break.  That could happen.  More on that below. 

Meanwhile, this season is starting to slip away from us.  It's tough not to admire Terry Ryan's overall approach -- he's brought a competitive team to Minnesota and they've had six consecutive winning seasons for the first time ever.  But, crap like this is frustrating.  How about trying to put the best players on the field?  I think Twins fans are a little restless about this team and their unwillingness to go to their talented young players or to convert some pitching talent into hitters. 

2.  Matt Garza ripped the Twins organization the other day for claiming that he's been mishandled, and that Terry Ryan and Co. are trying to make him a different pitcher.  Scott Baker could've argued the same when he was buried by Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz.  As a White Sox fan, I was saddened by Ponson's dismissal, but do Garza and Co. have a legitimate beef?
 
SBG: I think the beef that Garza had was that they wanted him to throw his breaking pitches regardless of the situation and he wanted to pitch to the situation.  I'd be really pissed about that if I were Garza.  He should be in the majors, earning a major league salary.  Instead, he's being told (allegedly, the Twins deny it) to throw the breaking ball regardless of the situation.  So, the result can be that he's not putting up good enough numbers in the minors -- further delaying his major league payday.

The Twins have jerked young players around before.  They even jerked around Johan Santana -- so that Aaron Gleeman famously wrote (about a million times) Free Johan Santana!  Cuddyer was jerked around like crazy.  Bartlett, too.  Garza's not alone in this regard.  By going public, he's damaged his own situation, but hey, sometimes a guy has to do what he has to do.

I'll bet you were sad to see Ponson go.  Actually, the Twins probably should have just demoted him to the bullpen.  That's hindsight of course, but with a rash of bullpen injuries, it would have been nice to see him take a beating now and again to keep the valuable portion of the bullpen safe.  Then again, Ramon Ortiz seems to be ideally suited for that role.

3.  Torii Hunter's been enjoying a great start (even though his hit streak was aided by some of the most generous scoring since Little League) -- is he back, or is it the classic case of contract drive?

SBG: I can't explain Hunter.  He largely disappointed over the length of his contract.  Then, last year, he hit like gang busters after the break and convinced the Twins to pick up his $12 million option.  Now, he's looking like a bargain at $12 million.  I have doubts about his ability to hit like this forever.  He's a hacker.  He's just so locked in right now, so I say enjoy it while he lasts.  He's gonna make huge money in the off season and I think he'll underperform that contract.  If it is a contract drive, I want to know why the hell he wasn't putting out maximum effort for the last four years.

4.  Rate your level of concern for the following positions: third base, left field, designated hitter.

SBG: Disaster.  Disaster.  Disaster.  Three huge black holes in the lineup.  Concern?  I have almost no hope of anything approaching league average production out of any of these positions.  I am resigned to that fact.  That's the best way to put it.

5.  Johan Santana drives White Sox fans nuts not because he dominates the White Sox regularly, but because the team, from Ozzie Guillen on down, seems to raise the white flag before he comes in the park.  What's it like from the other side, when Santana faces the Sox?

SBG: What's it like to watch Michael Jordan rip the heart out of everyone?  Answer:  it's great.  The guy has been the best pitcher in baseball for three years and he's been fantastic the last couple of times out, indicating that he's going to be just as good this year.  He's not exactly Jordan, but he may be the best player to ever put on a Twins uniform.  He's the only player that I specifically pay to watch.  When Johan is going well, you make it a point to catch him in person.  And to see him put a hurt on the arch rival?  Well, yeah, that's even better.

5a.  How are the 14,883 other Twins bloggers reacting to the loss of Bat-Girl from their ranks?

SBG: Most everyone has had some sort of tribute.  My reaction is, I understand why she is quitting.  She had a preemie baby and that, I'm sure takes a lot of a person.  When you are dealing with the struggles of your own child, writing about ass bats or whatever is going to hit the back burner.  As a new father myself, I've cut back on the blogging quite a bit.  Luckily my readers have filled the gap.  So best wishes to her and her family.  She had a clever page and a loyal following.

That being said, some of the reaction was over the top.  I mean, the Star Tribune's nation baseball writer said that he cried when he heard the news.  Really, you cried about a baseball blog?  It's not like she died or got sick or anything.  She just decided to quit writing fanciful stories about the local baseball team that were loosely associated with what actually happened on the baseball diamond.  I mean, I was very emotional about my daughter being born, but I didn't cry.  I certainly ain't shedding any tears over this.

Breaking points

When considered individually, today's bullpen implosion and Pablo Ozuna's leg injuries are inherent negatives.  At the same time, it provided Kenny Williams a first opportunity to redesign the team a little without having to ship any talent away.

So far, two moves have been made:

1. Andy Sisco was optioned down to Charlotte after giving up three runs in a low-leverage inning.
2. The Sox signed Craig Wilson to a minor-league contract.

Sisco's demotion isn't a big surprise, especially since Don Cooper basically questioned his manhood last week.  That's never a good sign.

Wilson's name was bandied about by myself and other Sox bloggers, but I'm no longer convinced he can contribute at the major-league level.  Something happened to him after he was traded to the Yankees at the deadline last year.  With the Pirates in 2006, he was the same high-strikeout, low-walk, lefty-crushing hitter he'd been for the previous three seasons or so.  Since then, he's hit .198/.270/.327, and his 2007 performance with the Braves has dragged down those numbers.

Considering he's 30, not all that athletic, a hacker, and will receive little to no help from the White Sox organization's hitting coaches, there could very well be a fork in his back.  At least there's no guaranteed money involved -- Atlanta's on the hook for his contract since he cleared waivers.

(Two more things about Wilson: he served as Pittsburgh's emergency catcher, and I hit about 300 homers with him over two years in MVP 2004.) 

No replacements for Ozuna or Sisco have been announced yet; Scott Merkin and Dave Van Dyck report Andy Gonzalez as a front-runner for Ozuna's spot, because it'd be replacing a utility guy with a utility guy.  But did somebody throw away Rob Mackowiak's infield mitts?  The Sox already have two shortstops, and Gonzalez isn't a defensive stalwart at second or third, which is where Mackowiak spent a lot of his time in Pittsburgh. 

If I had my druthers, I'd give Jerry Owens the call to replace Ozuna.  There's a lot to like about what Owens is doing in Charlotte.  Looking at his splits, he's hitting lefties well (small sample size alert!) and has been pretty consistent throughout the year.  The only real divide in his splits are home/away, where his OBP is nearly 100 points higher on the road.  That makes sense, since a small ballpark is going to reduce singles.

Owens replaces Ozuna's speed with the addition of the ability to steal bases, is a defensive upgrade in left.  Bat him ninth and give him a couple consecutive starts, and let Mack get some reps at second and third while he sits.  If all goes well, Owens helps turn the lineup over once in a while, steers the Sox away from station-to-station ball and gives Jim Thome another guy to try to drive in.

Mike MacDougal's persistent struggles probably means a reliever will take the place of Sisco instead of another position player, and while there are some quality performances in Charlotte, each candidate has a drawback:

• Ryan Bukvich:  The most well-rounded of the candidates, with the most major-league experience.  He's striking out better than a batter per inning with a respectable WHIP, and while lefties are hitting .314/.405/.343 against him, that's bolstered by a high BABIP (.458).  The low slugging percentage suggests that lefties aren't hitting him hard, but it could be due to being super-careful (six of his eight walks were awarded to lefties).  His struggles at the big-league level seem to be due to an inability to throw strikes, and he's not having that problem in Charlotte so far.
• Ehren Wassermann:  A righty-killer in the mold of Chad Bradford, but lefties haven't had much of a problem.  He'd enable Ozzie Guillen to continue the army style of bullpen management: left, right, left, right...
• Bret Prinz:  Picked off the scrap pile right before the start of the season, he's been effective this year, but he's walked eight in 14 1/3 innings.  He might be worth a shot, but he could very well be another reliever who can't throw strikes.
• Paulino Reynoso:  I'd rather not.  He gets a lot of grounders and lefties have a hard time making good contact, but he walks a lot of guys.  He also works at an incredibly slow pace, which, when combined with his tendency to throw a lot of pitches, makes him extremely painful to watch.
  

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Minor league round-up:

• Charlotte 2, Ottawa 1
• Josh Fields played the entire game at short and committed an error, but he went 1-for-3 with a walk to raise his average to .284.  Another possible call-up, Jerry Owens, went 1-for-3 with a walk as well.
  
• Andy Gonzalez drove in both runs, with one on a solo homer.
• Lance Broadway pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out two; Bret Prinz picked up the save.
• Kinston 7, Winston-Salem 2
• Coming off a complete game, Clayton Richard didn't have his best stuff -- he gave up six hits, five walks and five earned runs in five innings.  He did pick off two runners to limit the damage a little.
  
• Aaron Cunningham went 1-for-4 with an RBI; Cole Armstrong hit a solo homer, his third in the last four games.
• Kannapolis 6, Greensboro 5
• Faustino De Los Santos met the minimum requirements for a quality start, but what's more important is that he only walked two in six innings while striking out eight.
• Everybody but Mike Grace had a hit; John Shelby Jr. and Francisco Hernandez had two RBIs apiece.
• Birmingham OFF.  With Pedro Lopez now in the Reds system (thanks to JoeForThree for the heads-up), I'm wondering if Chris Getz is going to get the call.  No game today would give him some time to travel.
  

Fearless leadership

It's funny how John Danks has a better attitude about facing Johan Santana than Ozzie Guillen does, at least from Scott Merkin's notes.

When asked about having to start against the American League's best pitcher, Danks said:


Contrast that to Ozzie Guillen's quote about Darin Erstad prefering to face Santana over a lesser-but-still-tough lefty in Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir:


This Palehose Six strip is as true today as it was last August.  Way to go, Captain Hand.

At any rate, Danks vs. Santana is immaterial with the rainout.  Danks will now face Boof (Boof) Bonser Tuesday, and Jose Contreras will instead be handed a tough loss on Monday.  At least as far as Ozzie's concerned.

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Somebody's been watching Bull Durham!  And that somebody is Luis Terrero:


At least he didn't say he gave 110 percent, because there's only one guy who can do that.

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Speaking of Merkin, I somehow missed his mailbag from the 21st, but as far as comedy's concerned, five days late makes for far better timing.  Take a look at this question, and note the name:

Josh fields, 40 feet to his left

Remember back in 2005 when a rash of injuries and problems forced Ozzie Guillen to play Joe Crede at short and Chris Widger at third -- and later Jermaine Dye at short when Crede was ejected?

A similar thing happened today in Charlotte, where Gustavo Molina played third and Josh Fields shifted to short midway through the game. 

To throw a WAG out there based on the game log, starting second baseman Kenny Perez grounded out the half-inning before.  So maybe he pulled up lame, forcing Andy Gonzalez to take his spot.  Pedro Lopez hasn't been seen in action since May 20, so I'm guessing that's how it went down.

That's the boring answer, at least.  With Kenny Williams overseeing the action in Charlotte this weekend (and missing out on the great weather in Chicago), I'd prefer the story to be Williams just messing with the players to see how they handle adversity:


Followed by Williams making the batboy do push-ups while he sits on the kid's back.

Where was I?  Oh, right.

Fields continued his torrid hitting tonight, going 3-for-4 and falling a triple short of the cycle, and it makes his recent numbers even prettier.  In his last 10 games, he's batting .432 (16-for-37) with nine walks and eight extra-base hits.  In May, he's posting a line of .341/.442/.615.  He also stole his sixth base.

At the same time, Joe Crede is starting to heat up.  Remember how I was saying that getting hit in the face with a grounder could have the same effect on him in 2007 as breaking his finger did in 2005?  Well, he's got five hits in nine at-bats since then.  And as much as we grumble and groan about Crede's back, he did play in the second-highest amount of games last year, so if he's feeling good enough, he'll be in the lineup every day.

That said, it's unfortunate that the first out-of-position sighting for Fields is at a spot where he could never play.  He's considered a slightly below average at third base, which is where he has played all professional life, so he's not going to be a solution for the organization's middle infield problems.  A rundown of Fields' day at short:

• 3rd -- Brennan King singles on a ground ball to shortstop Josh Fields.
• 4th -- Carlos Leon grounds into a force out, pitcher Gavin Floyd to shortstop Josh Fields. Lou Collier out at 2nd. Carlos Leon to 1st.
• 5th -- Brennan King singles on a sharp ground ball to shortstop Josh Fields. Joe Thurston scores.
• 7th -- Jason Jaramillo grounds into double play, shortstop Josh Fields to second baseman Andy Gonzalez to first baseman Ernie Young. Joe Thurston out at 2nd.
  

Instead of seeing him at short in a game at the end of May, it would've been nice to see him get some reps in left field in the spring, which was an idea Kenny and Ozzie Guillen toyed with before ultimately setting it aside.  I can't imagine the harm of sending Fields out for a few games to see how well he could naturally track a high fly against the bright Tucson sky.  If he looked like 1985 Carlton Fisk out there, forget it.  But if he looked like 1999 Carlos Lee, it would've given the Sox a head start on another option, since the Sox system isn't exactly stuffed with outfielders, either.

As it stands right now, Luis Terrero is serving well as a right-handed outfielder, but the Sox could've used an extra option in their back pocket if Terrero comes tumbling down to Earth, or worse yet, takes somebody with him.

Finishing up the Charlotte wrap:  Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney traded roles from yesterday's game -- Anderson had the perfect day (3-for-3 with a walk), and Sweeney posted the 0-fer (but drew a walk, too).  Anderson is trying to beat Scott Podsednik at his own game -- he was caught stealing and picked off.

Jerry Owens flashed some power in front of his boss, going deep for the first time this season.  Gavin Floyd pitched six strong innings, his first quality outing in more than a month, and Carlos Vazquez and Ryan Bukvich held the lead with scoreless outings.

****************

The rest of the round-up:

• Carolina 5, Birmingham 2
• Wes Whisler found a lot of bats -- eight hits and five runs in three innings, one walk, no strikeouts.  Ryan Wing pitched well in relief, throwing three scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.55.
• Robert Valido had his first multi-hit game since...well, the last one I noted was April 25.  The game log shows I didn't miss any during vacation.  At any rate, he went 2-for-5 with a double, but also struck out twice.  Cory Aldridge and Jeremy Frost had two-hit games as well.
• Winston-Salem 2, Kinston 1
• Derek Rodriguez's ERA isn't pretty (5.12), but it was far uglier a few weeks ago.  He pitched his third consecutive quality start, allowing only four hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings.  John Torres struck out four over 2 2/3 hitless innings for the save.
• Micah Schnurstein hit his 12th homer of the year, a solo shot; Paulo Orlando drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth with a sac fly.
• Aaron Cunningham went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Greensboro 7, Kannapolis 5
• Jacob Rasner was shelled -- nine hits and five runs over three innings, with two balls leaving the park.
• Chris Carter went 0-for-2, but drew three walks; John Shelby Jr. hit a triple and drove in a run, and Hancer Vargas had the only multi-hit game with a 2-for-5 night.

Shields under attack

Name	Date	IP	H	ER	BB	K
C. Gaudin	April 10	5.1	3	1	3	6
R. Tejeda	April 17	7	3	1	4	3
C. Durbin	April 20	5	3	4	4	2
B. Bannister	April 24	4.1	5	3	2	4
J. Weaver	April 28	5.2	6	0	0	5
J. de la Rosa	May 13	7	3	1	3	4
M. DeSalvo	May 17	3.1	6	4	4	2
Total	3.34 ERA	37.2	29	14	20	26

The above chart is the White Sox's 2007 performance against starting pitchers they had never seen before.  Needless to say, I didn't anticipate great results against James Shields, who started tonight's game for the Devil Rays.  Shields fits in the above category with the added feature of actually being good.

Entering tonight's game, Shields owned the lowest hit rate in the American League, was second in innings pitched and WHIP, fifth in strikeouts and 11th in ERA (a stellar 2.94).  He also hadn't lost a game.

So you can imagine my surprise when the Sox came out swinging against Shields and making a lot of hard contact.  They racked up 10 hits, three walks and two hit batters in seven innings, and could've scored more than four runs if anybody but Jim Thome were running on Joe Crede's first sacrifice fly attempt.

****************

Minor league round-up:

• Charlotte 12, Ottawa 8
• Ryan Sweeney had his best game of the year: 5-for-5 with a homer and three RBI.  Josh Fields scored three runs, going 2-for-3 with a walk, and Jerry Owens went 2-for-4 with two runs and stolen base No. 21.
  
• Heath Phillips gave up all eight runs in 4 1/3 innings on 12 hits.  His ERA ballooned to 4.98, he's given up 37 hits over his last 22 innings, and has a K:BB ratio of nearly 1:1 over that stretch.  So much for his trade value.
• Ehren Wassermann led a superb bullpen effort with two scoreless innings, and Paulino Reynoso, Bret Prinz and Ryan Bukvich followed suit.
• Birmingham 9, Carolina 2
• Jack Egbert had his strongest start in a month, throwing seven innings of one-run ball (five hits, one walk) and lowering his ERA under 3.00 once again.
• Jason Bourgeois went 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBI; Thomas Collaro drove in two runs and Cory Aldridge homered.
• Oneli Perez gave up only his second homer of the year in 27 1/3 innings, the only hit off him in his relief appearance.
• Winston-Salem 2, Kinston 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
• Matt Zaleski prevailed in a pitchers' duel by throwing five innings of one-run ball. John Torres pitched two scoreless innings for the save.
• The Warthogs scattered five hits among five hitters, with Micah Schurnstein and Cole Armstrong driving in the runs.  Armstrong's was on his fifth homer of the year.
• Kinston 5, Winston-Salem 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
• Cole Armstrong and Brandon Allen provided the offense with a solo homer apiece; Aaron Cunningham went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.
• Gary Bakker fared OK in his first start of the year, giving up three runs in five innings on eight hits.  He walked nobody and struck out five.
• Greensboro 4, Kannapolis 1
• John Shelby Jr.'s solo homer provided the only Kanny run, as the Intimidators only had four hits.
• Justin Edwards had an outstanding outing, allowing only two hits, a walk and a run in six innings, striking out two; Clevelan Santeliz took the loss in relief.

Question time

I have a question about a question in Mark Gonzalez's mailbag:


Is this the same Colin who comments here?  I'm by no means assuming that there's only one sabermetrically inclined White Sox fan named Colin, but the downright vigor of the retraction demand makes me think I'm onto something.

At any rate, it managed to get Gonzalez fired up, which seems hard to do in comparison to his chief competition, Joe Cowley.

Oh, and while we're at it:


Thbpbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt.

*******************

Minor league round-up:

• Ottawa 9, Charlotte 7
• Here's something we'd like to see more often: Josh Fields, Ryan Sweeney and Brian Anderson bringing the thunder.  All five of their hits were for extra bases -- Fields with a homer, Sweeney with two doubles, and Anderson with a homer and a double.  Jerry Owens also went 2-for-5 with a double.
• It's nearing time to write off Andy Gonzalez as a possible contributor -- after an 0-for-4 night with two strikeouts, he's hitting .151 in May, though walks have kept his OBP at a respectable level (.320ish).  He drew a free pass today.
• Vladimir Nunez gave up six of Ottawa's nine runs, so don't worry about that.  Carlos Vazquez did give up his first earned run at Triple-A in 14 innings.
• Carolina 2, Birmingham 1 (11 innings)
  
• The Barons only had three hits on the night, spoiling Gio Gonzalez's return to brillance -- three hits, one walk, 12 strikeouts and no earned runs over six innings.
• Robert Valido had one of the hits and stole his eighth base, and the 1-for-5 night actually raises his average to .161.
• Winston-Salem 2, Kinston 1 (8 innings)
• Aaron Cunningham led off the game with a homer (his seventh), and Micah Schnurstein also hit a solo shot for the Warthogs' only runs.  In addition to his 11th homer, Schnurstein also hit double No. 24.
• Kyle McCulloch allowed only one run over six innings, giving up eight hits and three walks while striking out five; Joseph Torres pitched two innings for the save.
• Hickory 6, Kannapolis 5
• Chris Carter went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two RBI.  He raised his average to .320.
• Lee Cruz and Maurice Gartell had two hits and the other three RBI between them.
• Ricky Brooks has now allowed four or more runs in four of his last five starts.
  

Thome Effect is nice, but not a cure-all

Even with a Chad Gaudin-led shutout fresh on the mind, it doesn't feel right to return to the routine complaining again after the Sox enjoyed their most successful stretch of the season.  So I'll try to phrase the following in a somewhat positive light to make up for it.

Jim Thome showed why he's valuable tonight -- and yes, I'm talking about his 0-for-3 day in the finale against the A's, and not his five-RBI performance Tuesday evening.  Even though he'd struck out and grounded into a double play heading into the seventh inning, he still found a way to draw a walk against a dominant Gaudin.

I'm not going to say that Thome's walk in the seventh and the Sox's almost-rally in the eighth were directly related, but it's easy to see the difference when the Sox lineup has a guy who consistently gives the rest of his teammates extra chances to contribute.  We saw this play out on Sunday.

Now, it's up to Kenny Williams to not get all that comfortable with his current options, because Thome himself won't make the Sox offense score 8-10 runs a game.  In fact, he has a lot of work to do, because Joe Crede's bad back could trigger another unfortunate series of dominoes.

When Alex Cintron came to the plate today against Jay Marshall, Ozzie Guillen had an awful decision on his hands.  Should he let the .191-hitting Cintron try his luck, or the .239-hitting Pablo Ozuna take a shot?  Or maybe he should let Luis Terrero, with only 11 at-bats under his belt, get the call with the bases loaded?

No matter how you slice it, it's as tempting as choosing between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.  And with Tadahito Iguchi currently laboring under the weight of an 0-for-18 slump, it could get ugly in a hurry.  For all the hand-wringing about the left and center field spots, there could be a greater percentage of holes in the infield.  What an awful thought.

The first option is to put Crede on the retroactive 15-day DL and give Josh Fields a call.  Fields is enjoying a nice May (.309/.414/.531) after a dismal April, his strikeout rate is going down, and he's hit his last two homers away from the tiny balllpark in Charlotte.  While I don't think he's the answer this season, the .380+ OBP against both lefties and righties in Triple-A could be good enough for the majors for a little while.

At the very least, it'd be a first step towards plugging a hole if Fields puts together a couple of good games.  If he is serious about contending this year, he's going to have to trade for some sort of bat, and some in-house infield help might lower some potential prices if he can deal closer to the deadline.  Right now, he just needs to find a way to buy some time.

****************

Minor league round-up:

• Birmingham 5, Carolina 3
• The only blemish on Adam Russell's night was two homers; otherwise, he only allowed five hits and no walks in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four.
• Thomas Collaro hit his 10th homer of the year, and he and Cory Aldridge, Chris Kelly and Jeremy West each had two hits.
• Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 3
• Aaron Cunningham went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, raising his average back over .300 in the process.
• Ryan Rodriguez allowed two earned runs in six innings for the win.
• Garry Bakker and John Torres pitched three perfect innings in relief
• Hickory 8, Kannapolis 7
• Francisco Hernandez, Maurice Gartrell, Michael Grace and Archie Gilbert all went deep, but the Intimidators also committed four errors leading to five unearned runs.
• Matt Long suffered three unearned runs, but he also gave up seven hits and three walks in five innings, while only striking out one.
• Kanekoa Texiera blew his first save and took his first loss of the season.
  
• Charlotte OFF
  

We fight because we love

It's moments like these when I'm proud to be a Sox fan. 

At any rate, there's a photo gallery up from Monday's game if you're interested.  It's somewhat nice when the biggest disappointment from attending a two-game set is wearing a Profundo! shirt when Juan Uribe takes the night off.  At least it helped one commenter stop by for a solid handshake on the outfield concourse.

****************

Here's an exercise for you all while I get back into a regular posting routine:  If you so choose, rate the Sox relievers by the amount of confidence you have in them.  My list:

1. Bobby Jenks:  His control is off, but he's still getting the job done.
2. Matt Thornton:  I'm pretty sure he's over his early-season struggles.
3. David Aardsma:  I'm hoping this past weekend was an aberration.
4. Nick Masset:  I don't trust him in situations where one swing makes a difference.
5. Boone Logan:  In a perfect world, he wouldn't be this high.
6. Mike MacDougal:  My mom would've yelled at him in the bullpen if another guy wasn't already doing the job.
7. Andy Sisco:  I can't identify one thing he brings to the table besides height.

(After one of MacDougal's warm-up tosses, the heckler yelled, "Ball four!")

In case you missed it...

...there's Jermaine Dye getting ejected for the first time in his White Sox career.

And in case you missed me, I'll have some new stuff tonight.

Look whose back is back

Two disadvantages to not watching today's game on TV:

1. I didn't really see how much Alfonso Soriano gave up on the foul ball to left in the top of the second, since I was sitting in the upper deck on the left-hand side.  I did enjoy watching the replay just now.
   
2. We had no explanation for Joe Crede leaving the game.

Unfortunately, it isn't hard to guess why Crede might leave the game, and the predictable reared its ugly head:


With Crede rocking a .578 OPS after today's abbreviated 1-for-1, I'm wondering if he regrets his decision to not undergo surgery in the offseason.  Although he's been hitting more line drives as of late, it's hard to say that he could've started much worse.

Some good news?  Josh Fields had a monster weekend against Toledo, going 4-for-7 with three walks, a homer, five RBI and a stolen base.  He struck out once.

**************

Call me crazy, but did anyone think Carlos Zambrano's plunking of Juan Uribe with two outs in the top of the seventh might have been intentional?

There were a few reasons why Zambrano might take matters into his own hands.  In no order:

1. He would've forced Ozzie to use a pinch-hitter for Mike MacDougal, and in turn, put the Sox in a situation where they enter the late innings with three relievers burned.
2. He might've rather wanted to face Thome as the potential last out of an inning rather than leading off.
3. He's nuts.

It was probably an accident, but when Zambrano hits somebody with a first pitch and there are possible reasons, it's worth examining them.

*************

If Neal Cotts and David Aardsma were trying to make their former teams jealous, it didn't work this series around.  The damage:

• Aardsma: 1.1 IP, 8 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 1 HR
• Cotts: .1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 grand slam.

I'd still rather have Aardsma, but he didn't have squat working for him this weekend.

With offense going south, Ozzie barks at North

Ozzie Guillen made national news before the first Cubs-Sox game of the year by letting The Score's Mike North and A.J. Pierzynski get his goat on live radio.  Ozzie entered the fray with an expletive-laden rant when Pierzynski used airtime to complain about Toby Hall taking his playing time.

Here's the likely story line for the next week: Ozzie is out of control, Ozzie is going to get fired if he keeps it up, Ozzie apologizes to everybody, and ohbytheway, the team still can't get 10 hits in a game.  Whether or not it's an intentional diversion tactic, that's what it will do.

(It's utterly hilarious listening to Mike North get on a high horse, by the way, especially when Ozzie hangs up the phone.  After all, who would willingly tear themselves away from North's velvet pipes?)

We knew that A.J. was afraid of seeing his playing time reduced, and on one hand, he has some right to gripe.  He's batting .273/.304/.545 against left-handed pitchers, far and away better than the team's line of .199/.283/.280, and has homered twice against southpaws.

But that's about as far as a defense can be taken.  Even though Guillen comes off as thin-skinned, he's completely in the right.  Guillen needs to know if Hall can take the work should he be pressed into emergency duty, and considering the aforementioned team line against lefties, he also needs to find out if Hall can contribute as a DH down the line.  With the game played at Wrigley, Ozzie really had only one choice.

Pierzynski was wrong in the first place to criticize his manager publicly for doing his job, but he looks even worse when considering that only Jorge Posada has caught more games than Pierzynski so far this season in the American League -- and that's because Posada is leading the league in hitting.  Pierzynski is not. 

It's especially childish when considering Hall hadn't even suited up for the Sox when Pierzynski made the comments.  If a month down the line, Pierzynski hadn't seen a single at-bat against lefties and was being replaced in-game, there could be a case.  Instead, A.J. comes off as a kid who just couldn't wait to whine.

Maybe A.J. doesn't need a shot in the arm, but the rest of the team does.  Hopefully Ozzie and Kenny Williams will make him take his medicine with everybody else.

A non-support support group

A couple years ago, Kenny Williams made the statement saying that all five of his starters could win 15 games.

Presumably, he has to still believe that four of them could do it, even though a couple names have changed.  Williams wouldn't lay that great of expectations upon John Danks, but he certainly is paying Javier Vazquez to be better than Freddy Garcia or El Duque.

That said, it looks like no Sox pitcher is going to have an especially gaudy win total, but it won't be their fault if that's the case.  Plainly put, the Sox offense isn't capable of getting its starting pitchers 15 wins.

Four Sox starters have ERAs under 4.00, and Danks (4.10) would join them if it weren't for a Juan Uribe misplay.  Jon Garland and Jose Contreras are tied for the staff lead in wins... with three.  And Contreras has a sub-.500 record.

Despite throwing a quality start, Mark Buehrle dropped to 2-2 and was denied his 100th victory again after his loss today.  The Sox are 3-5 in Garland's start even with Garland's ERA near 3.00 and a drastic reduction in hits allowed.  We don't even need to talk about Danks, since his lack of support has been mentioned often.

Here's how the Sox starters rank in run support out of 45 American League pitchers with 40 innings pitched:

25. Javier Vazquez, 4.67
32. Mark Buehrle, 4.25
40. Jon Garland, 3.81
41. Jose Contras, 3.64
43. John Danks, 3.24

That's right -- no Sox pitcher ranks in the top half of the league in run support.  Even the Kansas City Royals have one up there (Jorge De La Rosa, "Cy" to you).

**************

Joe Crede missed today's game after getting hit in the face with a grounder during practice.  I'd normally say that it's the Sox's loss, but with Crede owning a .531 OPS so far this season, he needs all the help he can get.  If he turned around his 2005 after breaking his finger...

**************

Minor league round-up:

• Columbus 4, Charlotte 2
• Jerry Owens went 2-for-4 and stole his 20th base in 25 attempts.
• Andy Gonzalez continues to struggle.  Not only was he 0-for-4, but he was caught stealing and picked off.
• Josh Fields and Brian Anderson both went 1-for-3 with a walk. Fields doubled and struck out two times, Anderson did neither.
• Carlos Vazquez pitched 1 2/3 innings of perfect relief, and has yet to allow a run in 10 2/3 Triple-A innings.
• Birmingham 5, Montgomery 2
• Adam Russell rebounded from a tough start to throw seven innings of one-run ball.  He allowed only three hits, walked four and struck out six.
• Dewon Day continued to maintain a high BABIP, striking out the side and allowing two hits and an unearned run in one inning; Oneli Perez earned the save.
• Jason Bourgeois continued his hot hitting with a 2-for-5 day; Donny Lucy went 1-for-3 with a solo homer and scored three runs.
• Winston-Salem 11, Lynchburg 6
• The Warthogs scored in each of the first seven innings.
• Aaron Cunningham went 1-for-3 with a double, three RBI, and stolen base No. 13; Micah Schnurstein hit a double and a triple; Paulo Orlando fell a homer short of the cycle and drove in four runs.
• Kyle McCulloch struck out seven over six innings, and none of the three runs he allowed were earned.
• Lexington 6, Kannapolis 1
• Brandon Allen and Hancer Vargas had two hits apiece; the rest of the lineup went 2-for-25.
• Ricky Brooks gave up four runs in five innings, but did strike out eight.

Ready or not, here he comes

You'd think that Toby Hall replacing Gustavo Molina on the 25-man roster would make me the happiest guy in the world, but I'm a little nervous that the Cubs are going to take advantage of his bad arm.  They have some guys who can run -- Alfonso Soriano, Jacque Jones, Ryan Theriot to name a few.

Fortunately, Hall benefits from good timing, with Mark Buehrle taking the mound for the Sox.  Having somebody who can hold runners makes it a lot easier of a decision for Ozzie.  It'd be a much more difficult decision if Jose Contreras were starting, I think.

Of course, Buehrle will have to overcome some issues of his own -- like the 10 earned-run performance in Wrigley Field last year.

**************

Take note:  Despite evidence to the contrary, Ozzie Guillen says Brian Anderson is not a baseball player.

**************

Things will be a little hectic over here the next few days as I return to the motherland for the weekend.  I'll be at Sunday's Sox-Cubs game at Wrigley, and at Monday's Sox-A's game, so if you happen to see a guy wearing a road Canseco #31 jersey or a Profundo! shirt at either game, feel free to tell me what this site means to you in 50 words or less (and "jack squat" is an acceptable answer).

**************

Minor league round-up:

• Columbus 8, Charlotte 7
• Charlie Haeger got roughed up after two solid starts, but at least 1) three walks in five innings is reasonable, and 2) he didn't allow a homer.  Just a lot of hits.
• Jerry Owens had three hits with an RBI, two runs scored, and even an outfield assist; Brian Anderson went 0-for-3, but he did draw two walks and avoided striking out.
  
• Wiki Gonzalez had a day to forget: 0-for-5 with a passed ball and a throwing error; Josh Fields committed his sixth error while going 0-for-4.
• Ehren Wassermann pitched a perfect inning, his eighth straight scoreless outing, but Ryan Bukvich blew the save.
• Montgomery 7, Birmingham 4
• Kris Honel had another wild outing, walking six in under five innings, but the bullpen blew this game.  Ryan Wing and Corwin Malone gave up four runs over the last two frames.
• Jason Bourgeois raised his average above .300 with a 3-for-4 days, smacking two doubles.
• Chris Getz also had two hits, and Thomas Collaro hit his eighth homer of the year.
• Lynchburg 5, Winston-Salem 2
• Aaron Cunningham, Victor Mercedes and Tyler Reves had a hit apiece for the Warthogs.  That was it.
• After two strong outings, Ryan Rodriguez was hit hard, giving up 10 hits in six innings.  Brian Omogrosso and John Torres combined to strike out five over two scoreless innings of relief.
• Kannapolis 8, Lexington 7 (11 innings)
• With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Chris Carter tied the game with a three-run homer, his eighth of the year.  He had four RBI on the night.
• John Shelby Jr. went 3-for-6 with a double and scored two runs, including the game-winner.
• Matt Long had a poor start, allowing five hits and four walks in four innings.  Somehow, he only allowed three.
• Steven Spurgeon and Kanekoa Texeira pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to stop the bleeding and get the win.

Help us, Obi-Wan Jim Thome... you're our only hope

.204/.252/.307.

That's the White Sox's team batting line since Jim Thome took one swing and headed back to the bench on April 28. 

In 2005, Timo Perez hit .218/.266/.296, and he was by far the least valuable member of that team.

I think that's all that needs to be said.

**************

While I can't say I support Greg Walker, I do appreciate his honesty with regards to Juan Uribe:


Considering Walker could use any good press he can find, he'd probably be better served to take credit for what little is actually kinda sorta working for the Sox offense.  Between this, his assessment of Rob Mackowiak and his next step if he were to be fired, I'm thinking this is a cry for help.

**************
Minor league round-up:

• Charlotte 7, Columbus 5
  
• Jim Thome went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and three RBI; Josh Fields hit a two-run shot off old friend Felix Diaz.
• Brian Anderson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, ending a seven-game hitting streak.  Toby Hall also went 0-for-4.
• Lance Broadway allowed a lot of baserunners -- six hits, three walks in 5 2/3 innings, but managed to get the win thanks to some nice bullpen work by Carlos Vazquez and Ryan Bukvich.
• Birmingham 6, Mississippi 4
• Wes Whisler gave up three runs in the first on one swing, but hung around for six innings and ended up getting the win.
• Dewon Day struck out the side in his inning of work.
• Chris Getz went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI; Jason Bourgeois and Jeremy West had two RBIs apiece.
• Salem 8, Winston-Salem 5
• Another day, another double for Micah Schnurstein -- he hit No. 21 during a 2-for-5 day.
• David Cook went 1-for-2 with three walks; Aaron Cunningham went 1-for-5 with a strikeout; Adam Ricks drove in two runs.
  
• Warthogs pitchers walked nine batters.
• Kannapolis 6, Lexington 2
• After six walkless innings in his last outing, Faustino De Los Santos walked five in four innings along with four hits, giving up both of Lexington's runs.
• Carlos Perez, Ryan Rote and John Wesley pitched five scoreless innings in relief.
• Matt Sharp went 3-for-4 with two runs scored; Lee Cruz had a triple and 2 RBI, Chris Carter went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
  

Dissecting mediocrity

With the off day giving us no new problems with the White Sox offense to write about, I figured it'd be a nice change of pace to see the lack of help that is available at Charlotte, courtesy of minorleaguesplits.com.

Josh Fields:

Good:  While he's only batting .238 (5-for-21) against lefties, his OBP against them is a whopping .448 thanks to eight walks.  He has only struck out three times, and considering his BABIP is .235, it seems like the other numbers should come around.  After a slow start, he's picked it up in May so far (.318/.373/.523).

Bad:  He's sporting a .302 slugging percentage on the road, and has hit all five of his homers in Charlotte's tiny ballpark, and his .245 road average isn't adversely affected by BABIP.  He's struck out 32 times in 105 at-bats against righties, so there appears to be a hole there, still.

Jerry Owens:

Good:  He hasn't seen much action against lefties, but he's hit them respectably (.280 average over 25 at-bats).  Despite low batting average against righties (.244), he's sporting an above-average OBP (.352), and has walked more than he's struck out.  Better OPS on the road, thanks to a OBP that's 100 points higher.

Bad:  Has struggled in May after a better April, and basically, all Scott Podsednik comparisons still seem apt, from the weak power stats to the lack of a throwing arm.  He does cost about $2.6 million less, though.

Andy Gonzalez:

Good:  Three of five hits against lefties in 17 at-bats have been for extra bases, and sports a .366 OBP against righties.

Bad:  Lots of strikeouts (31 in 85 at-bats