On one level, I can understand
Ozzie Guillen's impassioned plea for Sox fans to not boo Sammy Sosa upon his return to Chicago. I have objections to every single point he makes, but considering he
got on Cleveland fans for booing Jim Thome, it seems like an effort to be consistent.
That's fine. I was pleased to see that Sox fans didn't heed Ozzie's call, but whatever. On the other hand, if he complains about Sox fans' verbal disapproval with the White Sox offense after
tonight's debacle...
The Sox have scored two runs in their last three games. They have not collected 10 hits or more since Opening Day. Darin Erstad is in a 2-for-28 slump. Joe Crede is completely off his game. Alex Cintron and Rob Mackowiak are providing no relief. A.J. Pierzynski finally showed some signs of life today, but everybody in today's lineup outside the 3-4-5 combo hasn't gotten off the ground.
Jim Thome's on fire, and even though Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye haven't hit their stride yet, they're still posting a combined OBP of .360 (entering tonight's game), well above the league average. Opposing pitchers tread carefully around the heart of the Sox order, then feast on the weak.
It's a truly pathetic display, and the only way to describe and diagnose it is "bad swings." My brother and dad have a theory that they're not aggressive enough on first-pitch get-me-overs, instead resorting to the low and away stuff when they're behind in the count. I started paying closer attention to it, and that wasn't the case tonight -- although I'm sure Paulie drove my dad nuts when he looked at the first two pitches for strikes in his first at-bat.
Thirteen times tonight, Sox hitters swung at the first hittable pitch. They allowed Robinson Tejeda to throw two consecutive seven-pitch innings after a shaky first in which he walked two batters. They pulled the trigger on pitches right over the heart of the plate, and either swung under them, or were late trying to jerk them.
It's times like these where Greg Walker is counted upon to earn his salary. He'd be better served to stop
thinking about Sosa himself, and concentrate on his own players.
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Minor league round-up:
- Ottawa 3, Charlotte 2
- Heath Phillips continues to get the job done: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K on 102 pitches.
- The Knights out-hit the Lynx 11-6, including three hits for Luis Terrero, and two apiece for Jerry Owens and Andy Gonzalez.
- Josh Fields went 1-for-1 with three walks.
- A throwing error by Wiki Gonzalez led to the decisive two-run eighth for Ottawa.
- Birmingham 10, Montgomery 1
- Gio Gonzalez allowed one unearned run in five innings, although he walked four while only striking out three.
- Dewon Day finally had a human outing -- only one strikeout in his one inning of work, while allowing three baserunners.
- Thomas Collaro had a four-RBI night, and leads the Barons with 13 in 12 games.
- Chris Getz went 1-for-3 with two walks out of the leadoff spot. His BB:K ratio is 2:1, his OBP is .431, and he's reached base in every game this year.
- Myrtle Beach 9, Winston-Salem 8
- John Lujan, Matthew Zaleski gave up eight runs in relief of Joe Gannon, who threw three innings of one-run ball in his start.
- Third baseman Javier Castillo went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBI
- Aaron Cunningham started a new hitting streak, going 1-for-3 with two walks. He's batting .378 with a .467 OBP.
- Kannapolis 11, Charleston 2
- Archie Gilbert, Anderson Gomes and Francisco Hernandez all went deep for the Intimidators, who scored in six of eight innings.
- Jacob Rasner threw six shutout innings, his longest and most successful outing so far.
- Kanekoa Texeira gave up his first run of the year.