Here's a paradox that could be the "Could God create a rock so big that He couldn't even move it?" of the 21st century:
What would happen if White Sox hitters faced White Sox relievers?
Over the last six games:
| AB | H | R | HR | BB | K |
Sox hitters vs. relievers
| 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Hitters vs. Sox relievers
| 57 | 22 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 7 |
At first I thought the result of Sox hitters against Sox relievers would be an endless string of catcher's interferences and baserunning errors, but that would still mean the pitchers win. Maybe a Sox pitcher throws behind a hitter, the benches clear and everybody gets injured? I dunno. My head hurts.
Ozzie Guillen's head hurts, too:
"The bullpen is lucky they're in Toronto," Guillen said. "If we were in Chicago, I guarantee people would be out."
"It's hard for us to think about how we're going to get to Bobby. It's not easy for any manager when you don't have
confidence in the people in your bullpen. When you come out of the
bullpen you've got to throw strikes and we're not doing that." [...]
"It's not easy when you make moves and day in and day out you make the wrong ones."
I honestly don't know what Guillen should do either. I groaned when Mike MacDougal entered
today's game with two runners on, considering he just finished a May in which
he didn't retire even half the batters he faced. Then again, who's better? David Aardsma would've been the choice a few weeks ago, but then he came in and gave up five runs in his inning of work, so forget him. In Dewon Day's only scoreless inning this year, he left the bases loaded.
Nick Masset's the only one who hasn't experienced an epic meltdown -- well, if you don't count
the walk-off homer he allowed to Justin Morneau.
That leaves Bobby Jenks, LOOGY Logan and Matt Thornton, who is more than halfway to his 2006 total of inherited runners he allowed to score. Barf.
Meanwhile, the Sox went six up, six down against Casey Janssen, the latest reliever to completely stymie the South Siders. In late inning situations, the Sox can barely get a runner on base against other teams' bullpens, so expecting a runner to cross the plate is asking way, way too much.
At this rate, the only way we can expect the Sox to win is either a huge early cushion or a starting effort like
Javier Vazquez's Friday night. But in the former situation, the lead has to be more than six runs, because history has shown
a half dozen is not nearly enough.
This oughta be a fun season.
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Minor league round-up:- Indianapolis 9, Charlotte 5
- Charlie Haeger gave up five runs in five innings on five hits and four walks. He struck out four.
- Paulino Reynoso looks ready to join the Sox bullpen: He allowed seven hits and four runs in 1 1/3 innings; Carlos Vazquez pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings, but he walked two, and currently has 13 walks to six strikeouts in Triple-A so far.
- Jason Bourgeois, Josh Fields, Ryan Sweeney and Gustavo Molina all had multi-hit games.
- Birmingham 6, Tennessee 3
- Kris Honel lasted only four innings in his start, but Tim Bittner and Edwardo Sierra picked him up by allowing only one run over the last five innings.
- Thomas Collaro went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI; Chris Kelly had four RBI, three of them on his third homer of the season.
- Winston-Salem 9, Lynchburg 8
- Aaron Cunningham went 3-for-5 with a homer in three RBI; Paulo Orlando and Micah Schnurstein also went deep.
- Javier Castillo and Tyler Reves each had two doubles.
- Ryan Rodriguez was roughed up, giving up seven runs over five innings, but the bullpen held up. Gary Bakker pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Brian Omogrosso struck out five over the last 3 1/3 innings for the win.
- Kannapolis 5, Greenville 2
- Maurice Gartrell had his second straight three-hit game; catcher Francisco Hernandez saw time at third base today, and went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Jose Zazueta only allowed two hits and a run over four innings, but he walked six. Matt Long, making his first relief appearance, picked up the win by throwing two scoreless innings, striking out three.