posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 2:18 PM
by
Jim
Vazquez's stuff nothing to sneeze at (updated)
With eight strikeouts in eight innings during
his fantastic start this afternoon, Javier Vazquez
now has 127 on the season over 20 starts. If you extrapolate that number over 32 starts, he's on pace to finish with 203 K's.
It's been 11 years since a White Sox pitcher racked up 200 strikeouts in a season.
Alex Fernandez hit that mark on the dot in 1996, but he needed 258 innings to do it. Vazquez is only on pace for 218 this season.
Had Fernandez allowed one more ball in play, we'd have to go back to the dashing
Tom Bradley who struck out 209 batters in 1972. He also struck out 206 in 1971, although he averaged 272 innings over those two years.
Wilbur Wood struck out 199 in 1973, but he pitched 359 1/3 innings that year.
If we're talking strikeout rate, the only Sox pitcher who stacks up in recent history is
Floyd Bannister, who struck out 198 batters over 207+ innings in 1985. He never came close to duplicating that for the Sox before or after.
There was an AFLAC! trivia question a week or two ago asking who was the last Sox pitcher to lead the team in strikeouts in two consecutive seasons. The answer was
Mike Sirotka, who struck out 125 in 1999, and 128 in 2000. He hasn't pitched since.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is the Sox haven't had much luck with strikeout pitchers, whether they attempt to develop them or acquire them, and holding on to Vazquez is probably a pretty good idea.
UPDATE: Eriq Jaffe e-mailed me to inform me that Esteban Loaiza topped 200 strikeouts in 2003, leading the league with 207. His strikeout rate declined the following season, and by the time he was traded for Jose Contreras, had only amassed 83 over 140 innings.
Fortunately, my greater point still stands, but thanks to Eriq for pointing out my egregious oversight. Which is funny, since
in Vazquez's 2007 preview, I made the direct comparison between the two. Whoops.
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If Darin Erstad ever gets healthy again, watch out:
Manager Ozzie Guillen always has been an advocate of using as much
speed as possible in his lineup, with speed the one intangible that
rarely, if ever, goes into a slump.
That particular theory could feature a two-month rotation in left field
and center field involving Owens, Podsednik and Darin Erstad, once
Erstad's sprained left ankle recovers sufficiently during his current
Minor League rehab stint. Guillen mentioned Erstad also could get some
time at first base, giving Paul Konerko an occasional rest, or in right
field to spell Jermaine Dye on occasion.
"Those guys there give me more opportunities to make stuff
happen, give more life in the lineup," said Guillen of speedy players
such as Owens and Podsednik. "You can play the game a little bit the
way I like to play the game.
If I had access to Ozzie's iPod, I would fill it up with 10,000 copies of
this song.
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The death of Mike Coolbaugh is raising
all sorts of safety issues for first- and third-base coaches.
One aspect I'm wondering about is whether it'll cause any changes for the Charlotte Knights,
who use players not in the lineup to coach first during games.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 2, Buffalo 0
- Heath Phillips threw seven scoreless innings, scattering six hits and one walk while striking out five.
- Mike MacDougal and David Aardsma each threw a perfect inning, striking out one. Better yet, MacDougal threw 10 of 14 pitches for strikes; Aardsma 10 of 12.
- Jason Bourgeois went 2-for-4 and scored both runs.
- Darin Erstad and Ryan Sweeney both went 0-for-4; Sweeney is in the midst of a 1-for-15 slump.
- Birmingham 4, West Tenn 3
- Jack Egbert had control issues -- he walked three in four innings, leading to three runs on five hits. He did strike out four.
- Tim Bittner, the other Josh Fields (making his first appearance of the season) and Oneli Perez shut it down the rest of the way.
- Shawn Garrett and Jeremy Frost had three hits apiece.
- Lynchburg 2, Winston-Salem 0 (6 innings)
- Gary Bakker took the loss despite allowing one earned run over five innings; John Lujan threw a perfect inning.
- Robert Hudson had two of the Warthogs' four hits; Micah Schnurstein and Cole Armstrong had the others.
- Kannapolis PPD