Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Second game, second string

It's a good thing today's game against the Twins is on the road, because I'd feel sorry for fans in attendance.  Try selling this idea:

*Nick Masset! starting against the team that routinely whips him.

*Toby Hall! in place of A.J. Pierzynski, with a day game after a night game.

*Brian Anderson! taking Paul Konerko's place in the lineup with Nick Swisher moving to first.

*Orlando Cabrera! (although he did snap an 0-for-18 slump Tuesday night).

*Juan Uribe! and his .160 average.

*Jermaine Dye! in all his post-groin injury glory.

They'll take their hacks against Nick Blackburn, who did a good job keeping the Sox's good lineup in check the last time.

Anybody want to try predicting the score?  I'm going to say 8-2, Minnesota.

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Mark Gonzalez caught up with Alexei Ramirez after Ozzie Guillen called him out following Monday's non-game, and if you can find reasons for encouragement, please share.  The key quote:


And the thing is, he should. Right now, it looks like he's approaching major-league pitching like I'd take a multiple choice test in German.  If I understand one of the options, and it seems to jive with my comprehension of the question, I'm probably going to go with it, even if I've had five "C" Antworten in a row.

Likewise, if he gets a pitch he's looking for, even if the situation doesn't call for him to swing, he probably should hack.  Somebody with his understanding of the strike zone and big-league breaking balls -- like someone with my severely limited understanding of Deutsch -- probably shouldn't pass up an opportunity when we actually have better than a snowball's chance of getting it right.

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Minor league roundup:

• Charlotte 3, Norfolk 1
• Lance Broadway pitched eight strong innings, with the only run coming on an Alex Cintron solo homer (go figure).  Five hits, no walks, six strikeouts, 13 groundouts to five flyouts.
• Brad Eldred hit a two-run homer, his fifth; Josh Fields went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
  
• Jerry Owens went 0-for-2 with two walks, but was caught stealing for a third time.
• Potomac 1, Winston-Salem 0 (Game 1, 8 innings)
• Michael Dubee pitched a complete game, with a two-out single to Elijah Dukes ending the night.  Six hits, no walks, six K's.
• The Warthogs only had two hits, with Adam Ricks and Lee Cruz owning one apiece.
• Potomac 3, Winston-Salem 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
• The Warthogs lost a no-hitter.  Here's how it went down.
• Matt Zaleski threw five shutout innings.
• Potomac scored three in the sixth on an error, two walks, a wild pitch scoring one, an intentional walk, a walk scoring one, and a fielder's choice.
• Matt Long was charged with all three runs, though one was earned.  He didn't retire a batter.
• Sergio Miranda went 2-for-3 with two RBI; C.J. Retherford had two hits, but also the error that started the rally.
  
• Lakewood 5, Kannapolis 4
• Johnnie Lowe saw a good start spoiled, throwing six shutout innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out six.
• Wander Perez was charged with three earned runs without allowing a hit, thanks to two walks and a hit batter.
• Sergio Morales went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles; Christian Marrero and John Curtis had two hits as well.
• Birmingham OFF
  

Tuesday morning manager

Ozzie Guillen made two questionable but defensible decisions that just so happened to blow up in his face Monday afternoon.  Leaving hindsight out of it, let's try to figure out how right or wrong he was.

***

Inning:  Top of the ninth.
The situation:  Sox lead 2-1.
The decision:  Ozzie Guillen calls for Bobby Jenks to retire the last three hitters after eight great innings by Javier Vazquez.
The result:  Jenks blows the save.

Reasons for:  Vazquez ended the eighth inning on his 100th pitch, and would be coming up on the top of the order with Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora, who would be getting their fourth look at Javy.  Also, Jenks is one of the best closers in the game.  It's very simple, by-the-book managing that nobody would argue with had Jenks done his job.

Reasons against:  I didn't like this move for several reasons.

No. 1:  Jenks, as I've written before, has struggled against Baltimore, and Roberts and Mora are often at the heart of the Orioles' ninth-inning rallies against him.  After Roberts' double and Mora's single, they're now 7-for-11 against Jenks combined.

No. 2:  Not only that, but the Orioles had already seen Jenks three times in the past two weeks, beating him once and coming close another time.  Vazquez's start today was his first against Baltimore this season, and the O's looked like they were unfamiliar with his stuff.

No. 3:  Javy was on a roll, having retired 11 of his last 12.  Plus, he had only thrown 18 pitches over his last two innings.

No. 4:  Pitch count isn't an issue with Javy, who worked deeper into games last year than any other Sox starter.  While he'd been roughed up a little bit between pitches 91 and 105 this season (8-for-20), that's a small sample size issue.  In 2007, he held opponents to a .209 average (33-for-158) between pitches 91 and 121.

If Javy said he couldn't go, that would be one thing.  However, from postgame comments, it seems that Vazquez was fine, and Ozzie just wanted to go with the guy he always gives the ball to in the ninth inning:

Guillen:  "I have one of the best closers for the last three years, and that's his job. Today, he [didn't] do what he always [does]."

Vazquez:  "As a pitcher, you always want to stay in. But that's the manager's decision. We had Bobby to close, and that's it."

I probably would have sent Vazquez out there with Jenks ready to go at the first sign of trouble.  At the very least, he seemed like a better matchup against Roberts, who was only 5-for-26 lifetime against Vazquez at that point.  Mora was 6-for-23.

***

Inning:  Bottom of the 10th.
The situation:  Game tied 2-2, runner on third, one out and Brian Anderson at the plate.
The decision:  Ozzie Guillen calls for the suicide squeeze.
The result:  Anderson whiffs on the bunt, Quentin is tagged out, and Anderson strikes out to end the inning.

Reasons against:  With one out, I'd rather have two chances to drive in Quentin instead of letting it all ride on one pitch.  Anderson isn't exactly Pablo Ozuna when it comes to bunting, and with first base open and Juan Uribe on deck, Jim Johnson was under no obligation to give him anything in the strike zone.  Plus, Anderson came through in the same situation Saturday night.

Reasons for:  Anderson likely works on his bunting more than the others unusual suspects, and obviously the element of surprise (and fear) plays a big part of the squeeze.  Also, here's what Anderson did with his at-bats with a runner on third since his game-winning single:

1. Shallow flyout to right.
2. Weak grounder to short.
3. Foulout to first.

A replay of any of those events probably wouldn't have scored Quentin -- especially with the infield and outfield drawn in -- and obviously he has a far more extensive track record of failure than success in such situations.

I probably wouldn't have called for the squeeze, only because Johnson had no reason to throw Anderson anything he could get his bat on.  I don't think the idea was fundamentally wrong, and if Anderson walked, it probably would have been the right call with Uribe at the plate.  Either way, I find it a more defensible decision than pulling Vazquez.

Thankfully, Uribe tied up the game again with a homer in the 12th.  Now they'll have to finish it up a couple months from now.

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While we're in a grateful mood toward ¡Profundo!, let's thank him for giving Guillen a reason to play him over Alexei Ramirez, who is clearly in over his head at the major-league level.

Ramirez dropped to 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position after failing twice in the clutch Monday.  He grounded out to short with runners on second and third after working the count to 2-2 in the fourth inning, then did the same thing on the first pitch after Daniel Cabrera had walked the two batters before him.

Ozzie, suffice to say, wasn't thrilled:


He has reasons for not knowing what he's doing.  Despite a hot spring, Ramirez shouldn't have started the season in the big leagues.  I suppose it didn't hurt to give him a shot, but now that he's quite exposed, the Sox should send him to Charlotte to refine his hitting approach and get used to shortstop again.  Orlando Cabrera, while adequate, isn't giving the Sox reasons to extend him right now.

Jason Bourgeois would make matters a whole lot simpler by hitting, because he'd fill out the infield and outfield depth chart a whole lot better than Jerry Owens, but he's not cooperating.  Either that, or it's a regression to the mean after what looks like a career year in 2007.

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Hey Minnesota, prepare yourself for a hefty dose of Nick Magic:


Of course, if trends continue, Masset will merely be shifting the tax burden to the bullpen.  To rehash a chart after Masset's last outing against the Twins:

Masset vs. Twins	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2007	5.2	15	11	10	1	4	1	15.88	3.35
April 9	3.2	6	5	5	1	3	2	12.27	2.45
Total	9.1	21	16	15	2	7	3	14.46	3.00

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Minor league roundup:

• Norfolk 10, Charlotte 5
• Jack Egbert pitched well, allowing only a solo homer over five innings.  He allowed five hits and a walk while striking out four.
• Rob Bell allowed seven runs in one inning of work and took the loss.
• Josh Fields hit his fourth homer of the year, a solo shot.
• Jerry Owens went 2-for-5 with a double; Dewayne Wise went 3-for-4 with a double to raise his average to .385.
• Birmingham 4, Montgomery 0
• Six shutout innings by Brian Omogrosso led the Barons to their second straight blanking of Montgomery.
• Joe Torres, Fernando Hernandez Jr. and Jon Link pitched a scoreless inning apiece to close it out.
• Thomas Collaro, Robert Valido and Joe Persichina all had a double and an RBI; Micah Schnurstein went 2-for-4.
• Winston-Salem vs. Potomac PPD
• Kannapolis OFF
  

When sacks are packed, Quentin gets plunked

When Carlos Quentin stepped in the box with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Sunday, the surprise wasn't that he was drilled.  The surprise was that it didn't happen on the first pitch.

Quentin entered the at-bat with his two-game HBP streak on the line.  He'd been hit in both ends of the doubleheader Saturday, both times on 0-0 counts.  This time, Greg Aquino actually built up some suspense, working Quentin into a deep 2-2 count.

Turns out you can only delay the inevitable. On the fifth pitch, a slider flew out of Aquino's hand and hit Quentin square in the middle of the back.

It marked the third time this season a pitch that left a mark on Quentin drove in a run -- George Sherrill and Justin Verlander provided the other two -- meaning he already topped last year's leaders.  In 2007, A.J. Pierzynski and Rob Mackowiak were among a six-way tie with two.

He's the first player since J.T. Snow in 2004 to be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded three times in a season.  Snow achieved that in 107 games; Quentin has only played 22 so far.

Now, CQ has a chance to make history.  No player in the last 52 years has driven in a run by taking one for the team four times in a season, according to Baseball- Reference.com's Play Index, which has complete seasons dating back to 1956.  Considering the aggregate number of bases-loaded HBPs generally decreased as I searched back through the years, he could possibly be looking at a modern-day record.

Quentin, as we know, is no stranger to the HBP record book, as he owns the single-game NCAA record with five.  A couple other fun Quentin facts:

No. 1:  He's more than halfway to Craig Biggio.  Of Biggio's 285 career HBPs spanning 12,503 plate appearances, only seven came with the bases loaded.  After Sunday, Quentin already has four under his belt (he had one with the Diamondbacks last year), out of 25 total HBPs and 546 plate appearances.

No. 2:  He's on pace for 44 HBPs.  The American League record for HBPs in a season is Don Baylor's total of 35 in 1986, and Quentin's off to a great start after four weeks.  Beyond Baylor, Hughie Jennings owns the all-time record with 51 in 1896, while Ron Hunt is the modern-day record holder with 50, which he achieved in Montreal in 1970.

We shouldn't get too excited yet, because we saw this storyline last season when Luis Terrero was drilled eight times over his first 68 plate appearances.  He fell back to Earth with only one HBP in his last 71.

Then again, Terrero posted a line of .210/.310/.242 over the second half of his season, which indicates pitchers realized that as long as they didn't hit him, Terrero would pretty much get himself out.  Quentin, with his .997 OPS (a left fielder who can hit?), stands a much better chance of pressuring pitchers into making mistakes.

Ozzie Guillen, as always, kept it simple:


By the way, at right is a sample CQ t-shirt I've drawn up, per onlysoxfaninboston's request.

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Minor league round-up:

• Durham 11, Charlotte 4
• Charlie Haeger allowed baserunners galore -- nine hits and six walks over 4 2/3 innings, amounting to nine runs on his watch.  He struck out six.
• Oneli Perez struck out four over 2 1/3 innings, but also allowed two solo homers.
• Jason Bourgeois went 2-for-4 with an RBI; Brad Eldred went 2-for-4 with a double.
• Jerry Owens went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored; Josh Fields had the day off.
• Birmingham 4, Montgomery 0
• Carlos Torres had his first good outing in weeks, pitching six scoreless.  He allowed two hits and two walks, striking out six.
• Clevelan Santeliz and Derek Rodriguez finished the shutout.
• Micah Schnurstein hit his first homer of the year, a three-run shot in the first inning.
• Wilmington 6, Winston-Salem 3
• Jacob Rasner was roughed up for the first time in '08, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks over three innings.
• Francisco Hernandez doubled his season RBI total with a two-run double.
  
• Matt Davis pitched two perfect innings in relief, striking out two.
• Kannapolis vs. Lake County PPD
  

Wilkommen, Wassermann (it's official)

*** UPDATE (1:06 PM):  Wassermann's up. ***

Ehren Wassermann, who was unjustly pushed out of the White Sox bullpen at the start of the season in favor of Nick Masset, looks like he's found his way back in through another door -- one left ajar by one Mike MacDougal.

The move hasn't been made official, but the Sox would be insane to take anybody else for the long haul.  Lance Broadway, who last pitched Thursday, might get a start before Wassermann books his flight to get the rotation back on track following the doubleheader.  Ozzie Guillen was going to start Nick Masset in Game 2 before Mark Buehrle talked/texted his way back into the job.

(Charlie Haeger is also available, but Broadway has outpitched him handily and A.J. Pierzynski won't need a special mitt to catch him.)

Wassermann has a chance to firmly cement his fan favoriteness, because his resume is already impressive.  Consider:

• He doesn't look like an athlete.
  
• He needed a tryout to make it on a minor-league team.
• He sold knives between failed tryouts.
  
• He has an unusual name.
• He has an unusual throwing style.
• He got results when more heralded relievers failed.
• He handled an unfair demotion with grace.

If he was at all frustrated with the unfortunate set of circumstances, then he took it out on Triple-A hitters.

2008	PA	H	BB	K
vs. LHP	14	0	2	5
vs. RHP	12	0	1	5
Total	26	0	3	10

Down in Charlotte, he was 1 1/3 innings from throwing a no hitter in relief, even though he faced more lefties than righties.  He capped it off by striking out all three hitters he faced Friday night.

Presumably, he'll take the kind of situations in the seventh and eighth innings that Octavio Dotel has blown, and Boone Logan has proven himself incapable of handling.  Dotel could probably use the break, because he's firmly cementing himself in the scapegoat role -- when he's not throwing hittable pitches, his defense isn't helping him out.

If Wassermann picks up where he left off against major-league hitters in late 2007 and this past spring, Wassermann has a chance to crack the top 5 of beloved Sox relievers this decade.  A quick list:

1. Bobby Jenks
2. Shingo Takatsu
3. Tom Gordon
4. Keith Foulke
5. Dustin Hermanson
   [...]

     324. Dewon Day
     325. Jose Paniagua
     326. Billy Koch

At this point, Wassermann's probably behind Kelly Wunsch.and his 83 appearances for the 2000 pennant winner.  Wunsch actually finished fifth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, and yes, it was a really weak crop.  However, give Wassermann a big year on top of all the points he earned last year, and he could crack the top 10.

(At right is his suggested facial hair style.  Proposed nickname: Baron von Wassermann.  In his prime, Hawk Harrelson would have figured out a way to work the knife-selling nickname for a moniker, like he did for Herb Perry and his off-season interest.)

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As for the guy Wassermann will replace, this could very well be the end of the line for MacDougal for all intents and purposes.

The problem with MacDougal -- or at least the one that's most applicable from here on out -- is that even if he dominates in Charlotte, it won't mean anything.  He pitched well there last year, and considering he tried to pitch through an injury before his demotion and said Juan Nieves helped him a lot, there were reasons to believe he'd rebound.

There's no injury this time and he's hung around Nieves plenty now that he's the bullpen coach in Chicago, so outside of channeling Steve Nebraska or an MRSA outbreak in the Sox bullpen, anything he does in Charlotte will be immaterial.

Fortunately, the Sox can store him in Triple-A for the time being.  Next year will present a difficult decision for the Sox, because the Toby Hall situation is nearly identical in terms of the problems it presents and the money involved, and he's still here.

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Minor league roundup:

• Durham 3, Charlotte 2
• Tomo Ohka was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs (one earned) over seven innings, striking out seven.
• Adam Russell allowed a walk and a hit in his inning of work, but he struck out the side.
• Jerry Owens went 2-for-4 with an RBI, but was caught stealing.
• Chris Getz hit his first homer of the year, a solo shot.
• Birmingham 4, Montgomery 2
• Justin Cassell threw six shutout innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out four.
• Thomas Collaro went 3-for-3 with a double, walk and two RBI.
• Cole Armstrong had a pair of doubles and a pair of RBI; Micah Schnurstein went 2-for-4.
• Wilmington 4, Winston-Salem 1
• Aaron Poreda threw a quality start in defeat, allowing three runs on six hits over six innings.  He had zero walks and three strikeouts.
• C.J. Retherford provided the only run with a solo homer, one of two hits on the night.
• Paulo Orlando went 2-for-4.
• Kannapolis 0, Lake County 0 (Susp., 5th inning)
• Anthony Carter threw five shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out four.
• Christian Marrero and Greg Paiml had Kanny's only hits.

Minor league roundup for Friday

Charlotte 5, Durham 2

• Wes Whisler allowed two unearned runs in the first, then pitched four scoreless for the win.  He had four hits, walks and strikeouts.
• Josh Fields hit a solo homer, his third; Brad Eldred and Mike Rouse hit two-run homers.
• Jason Bourgeois went 0-for-4 to drop to .164, and committed one of three Charlotte errors.
• Rob Bell pitched three scoreless innings in relief; Ehren Wassermann struck out the side in a perfect ninth.

Montgomery 8, Birmingham 3

• Kyle McCulloch was hit hard, allowing five runs on eight hits over four innings.  He walked and struck out one.
• John Lujan struck out four over two innings, although he allowed a run.
• Robert Valido went 2-for-3 with two RBI, raising his average to .139.

Wilmington 6, Winston-Salem 2

• John Ely had his worst start of his young career, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks over six innings.  He struck out five.
• C.J. Retherford hit a solo homer and added an RBI single.
  

Lake County 7, Kannapolis 5

• Steven Spurgeon took the loss by allowing two runs without a hit over 1 1/3 innings, thanks to his throwing error.
• Logan Johnson had two hits and a solo homer; Andrew Mead had two hits and two runs scored.

Gentleman Masher awareness month

Help spread Gentleman Masher awareness...



...with this handsome t-shirt, customizable in all light colors.  Yes, we can!

And if you couldn't make it through the rain delays, you missed a helluva game.

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Minor league roundup:

• Montgomery 5, Birmingham 4
• Maurice Gartrell doubled, hit his first homer and drove in two.
• Micah Schnurstein tripled, walked twice and scored twice, but also committed an error...
• ...which led to Clayton Richard allowing four runs, but three unearned, over 5 2/3 innings.  His peripherals were fine (5 H, 1 BB, 6 K).
  
• Joseph Torres (0.82 ERA) and Fernando Hernandez each threw a scoreless innings in relief.
• Charlotte OFF
• Winston-Salem OFF
• Kannapolis OFF
  

Announcement: Game thread tonight (updated)

With the current outage at South Side Sox (read the details here), participants in the regular game chatters there are welcome to test one out here on the never-utilized forums.

There's one glitch -- it doesn't work in Internet Explorer 7.  As far as I know, it works in all versions of Firefox and IE6.  Sizable issue, I know, but I haven't addressed the forums since before IE7 came out.

Check out the game thread here.  Even if SSS returns before 7:11, I'd like to see what you think about the forums before they return to the land behind the wall.

Update: The forum is back behind the wall now.  Thanks for everybody who posted and offered suggestions, and I'll try to address those issues.

Meanwhile, if you missed it in the SSS game chatter, check out this artwork by thecip:

To: White Sox hitters, CC: Greg Walker, re: opposite field

Below is a chart of all the balls put in play off the starters in Wednesday night's game, Javier Vazquez and Mike Mussina:

Yankees		White Sox
Damon	Middle	Swisher	Bunt
Jeter	Opposite	Cabrera	Pull
Abreu	Pull	Thome	Opposite
Matsui	Opposite	Konerko	Middle
Posada	Opposite	Dye	Pull
Ensberg	Middle	Pierzynski	Opposite
Cabrera	Opposite	Crede	Pop-up
Jeter	Pull	Swisher	Middle
Abreu	Middle	Cabrera	Pull
Posada	Pull	Thome	Pull
Cano	Opposite	Konerko	Pull
Giambi	Pop-up	Dye	Pull
Cabrera	Pull	Pierzynski	Opposite
Damon	Pull	Quentin	Opposite
Jeter	Middle	Crede	Pull
Abreu	Opposite	Uribe	Pull
Matsui	Opposite	Thome	Pull
Posada	Opposite	Konerko	Pull
Giambi	Pull	Dye	Pop-up
Ensberg	Pull	Pierzynski	Opposite
Cabrera	Pull	Quentin	Pull
Damon	Middle	Crede	Opposite
Jeter	Middle

The White Sox's already unimpressive tally in going to opposite field is rendered less sterling when considering two more factors:

1. Jim Thome's opposite field venture was on a check swing.
2. There was no chance A.J. Pierzynski was going to pull the ball with his approach.

So when it comes down to it, you can count all the legitimate attempts to go the other way against Mussina on one hand.  That isn't good, because Mussina had to live on the outside corner with a fastball couldn't crack 85 on the YES gun.

Now contrast that to the display the Yankees were putting on.  The Yankees had a primarily left-handed hitting lineup against Javy, and since Vazquez's best fastball tails away from them, they settled on targeting the left-center gap.  They went in that direction in three consecutive at-bats to stretch their lead to 3-0, and Jorge Posada, who hit the key double that inning, went back to the well against Nick Masset in the seventh, splitting Carlos Quentin and Nick Swisher once again.

That's pretty much the difference between an offense like New York's, and what the Sox are throwing at opposing pitching.  The additions of Quentin and Swisher may give the Sox a boost in OBP, and the Sox have shown the ability to knock the ball out of the park.  However, everything the Sox can do the Yankees can do better -- especially when it comes to hitting for average. 

Against Vazquez, the Yankees showed exactly how they led the AL with a .290 team average (Jim Thome led the Sox with a .275 average last year).  They roughed up Vazquez for 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings, while the Sox were good for six hits the game.  And they accomplished it by using the entire field, something the Sox have been loath to do for some time now.

It's not a good sign when the Sox can still be Sonnastined with relative ease when the lineup features three new faces and everybody else in better health.  Nobody in the organization seems to endorse blaming the hitting coach, which is understandable to a certain degree.  But outside of Juan Uribe, who won the second base job in a battle of attrition, there are no longer obvious places to upgrade.

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Minor league roundup:

• Charlotte 11, Durham 2
• Josh Fields went 3-for-5 with his third homer; Jerry Owens went 2-for-3 with three walks and three runs scored.
• But neither of them had the game Dewayne Wise did: 2-for-3, a homer, a walk, two stolen bases and an outfield assist.
• Lance Broadway had his worst start of the season, which isn't saying much: six innings, two runs.
• Jack Egbert struck out two in one inning of relief; Ehren Wassermann threw a perfect ninth.
• West Tenn 8, Birmingham 4
• Brian Omogrosso came off the DL and gave up three runs over five innings on seven hits and two walks.  He struck out three.
• Clevelan Santeliz took the loss with five runs allowed over three innings, with four in the sixth innings.
• Ricardo Nanita went 2-for-4 with his second homer; Javier Castillo had three hits and two RBI.
• Winston-Salem 7, Potomac 5
• Michael Dubee pitched six shutout innings; Israel Chirino, Matt Davis and Ryan Rote were all touched up for runs.
• Brandon Allen hit a two-run homer, his third in four games.
• C.J. Retherford went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI; Javier Colina went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
• Kannapolis 3, Greensboro 1
• Nathan Jones allowed one run over four innings, but while he struck out seven, he also walked four.
• Levi Maxwell picked up the win with two perfect innings.
• Joe Persichina went 2-for-4 with an RBI; Jose Martinez went 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
  

Today's White Sox secret word is...

Much had been made of White Sox pitchers' ability to keep the ball in the park.  Entering Tuesday, they had only allowed four home runs, the lowest total in the major leagues.

Of course, they had the fortune of pitching against some of baseball's weaker teams (MLB rank in parentheses):

• Cleveland (23)
• Detroit (14)
• Minnesota (29)
• Oakland (30)
• Baltimore (17)
• Tampa Bay (9)

The Yankees rolled into Chicago ranked 11th in baseball in homers, but they're a different beast than the Rays.  Not only do they make pitchers work harder, but the last time these teams met, the Bombers trashed Sox pitching for 14 homers over a three-game set in the Bronx, including eight in one game.

The good news?  Even after serving up three gopher balls to New York Tuesday night, the Sox are still ahead of last year's pace.

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Speaking of regressing to the mean (AAAAHHH! AAAAAAHHH!), A.J. Pierzynski received a little help in stopping his slide, which had reached 3-for-21 before stepping in against Brian Bruney in the seventh inning.

First, he benefited from some bad Yankee defense.  His grounder deflected off the mitt of range-deprived Jason Giambi.  The ball redirected right toward Robinson Cano, but Bruney had given up covering the bag until it was too late.  Scorers called it a single.

Then, he benefited from the pitching stylings of Kyle Farnsworth, who gave him the kind of low-and-in slider lefties love to put into the right field seats.  Pierzynski did just that, and he ended up with a 2-for-5 night -- even though it started with him slamming and breaking his bat (strikeout with a runner on second) and flipping it in disgust (grounder to second with two on).

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While Pierzynski is falling off Ted Williams' pace, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko are beginning to pick it up themselves.

Thome was the only White Sox hitter without a hit in the box score, but he reached base three times -- and made pitches sweat while doing it.  Thome saw 26 pitches over his five plate appearances, including a walk off LOOGY Brian Traber that had the potential of starting a comeback that ended two runs short.

Konerko, meanwhile, is beginning to make them pay for pitching around Thome -- something he could not do when Thome was healthy for the first month and a half of the 2007 season.  While he went 2-for-4, all his plate appearances were quality ones, and well-timed with Thome's good at-bats.

He began his night by following a Thome walk with a single to center on a 3-2 count.  Thome was running on the pitch, and was able to make third as the throw hit him.  On the error, Konerko docked at second.  The two paired up again in the fifth, when, in arguably the greatest indictment of Johnny Damon's rag arm to date, Thome went from first to third on a Konerko single to left, which turned into a double as Konerko rumbled into second on the throw.

They strung together successful plate appearances for a third time in the back-to-back walks in the seventh, and when you throw in the two warning-track flyouts Konerko had for his two outs of the night, we could see Konerko beginning to heat up before the month is over.  As 2007, 2005 and 2003 illustrate, that isn't something Sox fans should take for granted.

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Minor league roundup:

• Durham 3, Charlotte 2
• Charlie Haeger rebounded from a terrible outing, throwing seven innings of one-run ball.  He gave up seven hits and four walks, and struck out four.
• Adam Russell and Oneli Perez allowed a run in each of their innings, with Perez taking the loss.
• Josh Fields went 2-for-4 with a run scored; he stole his third base and committed his third error.
• Jerry Owens went 1-for-4 with two walks and his fifth steal.
• West Tenn 15, Birmingham 2
• Birmingham actually had a 2-0 in the second.  Heh.
• Pitching casualties: Carlos Torres (6 ER, 3 2/3 innings) and John Lujan (2/3 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K).
• Javier Castillo hit a solo homer; Robert Hudson went 2-for-4.
• Potomac 2, Winston-Salem 0
• Matt Long threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing three hits and zero walks.  He struck out three.
• Brandon Allen continued his hot hitting -- 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, amounting for half the Warthogs' hits.
• Kannapolis 8, Greensboro 1
• Johnnie Lowe needed this outing -- five innings, zero runs, two hits, two walks, seven strikeouts to lower his ERA to 6.75
• Hector Santiago struck out the side in his inning of work.
• Jose Martinez went 4-for-5 to raise his average to .254
  
• Christian Marrero hit his first homer and drove in two; Andrew Mead and John Curtis had two RBI as well.

Additional farm notes:

• After one four-inning rehab start, Jack Egbert was recalled to Charlotte.
• Lucas Harrell and Brian Omogrosso were placed on the 7-day DL.
  

No complaints about new outfielders

With the Sox off, I watched a lot of the Cubs-Mets game, mainly to keep tabs on Kosuke Fukudome.  He didn't disappoint, hitting a key single in a big eighth inning in a 10-pitch at-bat, which was preceded by a nine-pitch single in his previous at-bat.

Toe-to-toe, he and Nick Swisher match up pretty well in a battle of new Chicago outfielders:

	AB	XBH	RBI	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	P/PA
Fukudome	67	6	9	14	13	.328	.444	.463	4.58
Swisher	57	3	5	17	12	.246	.421	.368	4.29

Fukudome has an edge in most categories, but considering the small sample sizes and different roles they serve in the lineup, this is practically a push.

I'm rooting for Fukudome for a couple reasons:

1. So I don't look like an idiot.
2. So it looks like the Sox exhibited smart evaluation.

If Fukudome fell on his face, sure, it would be a lot of fun to see the media tear the Cubs' hair out for them.  But then again, the Sox wanted Fukudome just as much as the Cubs, so it wouldn't speak well for the Sox if the only thing that prevented Fukudome from playing on the South Side was the team eight miles north.

Outside of the aforementioned duo, the two outfielders I wanted the Sox to avoid are faring pretty well themselves:

Torii "The Grass Runs True" Hunter:  .319/.382/.580 over 76 PA, six doubles, four homers, five walks, 11 strikeouts.

Aaron Rowand:  .333/.365/.500 over 52 PA, five doubles, one homer, three walks, 15 strikeouts.  If you couldn't guess by the strikeout total, he's being helped out by an extremely high BABIP (.469). 

So it appears that after three weeks, every team that made a significant investment in a center fielder has to be fairly happy with the early returns.  Unless two years and $18 million counts as "significant."

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To follow up on yesterday's discussion of nicknames, here's what I have for Jim Thome.  It's more than just a mustache:



I'm tempted to rejigger it for a t-shirt.

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Minor league roundup:

• Birmingham 6, West Tenn 1
• Derek Rodriguez and Fernando Hernandez threw 4 2/3 hitless innings of relief, striking out five combined.
• Starter Justin Cassell allowed eight hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, but induced four double plays.  The Barons turned five on the night.
• Miguel Negron went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI, but failed to score because he was caught stealing twice.
• Micah Schnurstein and Javier Castillo had two hits and two RBI apiece; Schnurstein drew two walks, Castillo one.
• Winston-Salem 2, Potomac 0
• Jacob Rasner threw seven innings of one-hit ball, striking out six and walking three.  He lowered his ERA to an even 1.00.
• The Warthogs struck out 10 times, but Brandon Allen homered for the second straight game, a solo shot.
• Anderson Gomes had two hits; Sergio Miranda picked up his second RBI of the year.
• Kanekoa Teixeira picked up his third save with a perfect ninth, striking out one.
• Charlotte vs. Richmond PPD
• Kannapolis OFF
  

Hitters finding Danks hard to crack

From the blog that has attempted to bring you The Gentleman Masher and Nick Magic comes a proposed nickname for John Danks.

The Nutcracker.

Two reasons:

No. 1:  He's neutered hitters in three of his four starts this year, and after seven shutout innings against the Rays Sunday, he has the following going for him (all of which are nice):

• He's gone seven innings in back-to-back starts, a first for him.
• He hasn't allowed a run in 14 2/3 innings, by far a career-high.
• He hasn't allowed a homer in 23 2/3 innings; in 2007, he never pitched consecutive homerless outings.

No. 2:  His face is, like, 60 percent chin.  I thought that was the one area in which Brian Anderson led the team, but now I'm not so sure.

It could work -- hell, it's an obvious promotion day (bobbleheads are passé).  But whether or not you want to call him "The Nutcracker," you have to call him "good."  It's hard to say whether Brandon McCarthy would still be suffering the same injury issues with the Sox's top-notch medical staff, but every quality Danks start makes that trade look increasingly like a steal.  Even if Nick Magic never holds up his end of the bargain.

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If they continue this pace...

Nick Swisher:  Will draw 153 walks, which would put him only behind a couple schlubs named Babe Ruth and Ted Williams on the American League single-season list.  Sunday's game was the first time this season he'd walked twice in a game, but he had walked thrice in three games already.

Jim Thome:  Will drive in 152 runs despite batting .222.  The lowest batting average for somebody who drove in 152 runs?  Vern Stephens, who hit .290 while driving in 159 runs in 1949.

Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko:  Will be hit by 30 pitches, which would be second in American League history behind Don Baylor, who was hit by 34 pitches in 1986.

Gavin Floyd: Will allow only 81 hits over 171 innings.

Juan Uribe:  Will walk 45 times.

Of all these, I actually think Quentin has more than a snowball's chance of surpassing his projections.  Mark Gonzalez wrote a sidebar on Quentin's propensity to be plunked.

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Minor league roundup:

• West Tenn 3, Birmingham 2
• Ricardo Nanita went 3-for-4 with two doubles, amounting for half Birmingham's hits.
• Kyle McCulloch threw a quality start, allowing two runs on four hits over six innings.  Good news: He induced 12 groundouts to one flyout.  Bad news: He walked as many as he struck out (four).
• John Lujan took his first loss of the year, allowing a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the eighth.
  
• Winston-Salem 3, Frederick 2
• Aaron Poreda allowed eight hits over 5 1/3 innings, but managed to only allow two runs.  He walked none and struck out four.  Fellow 2007 first-round pick Matt Wieters (fifth overall) doubled off him twice.
• Brandon Allen and Anderson Gomes provided all the scoring with homers in the sixth inning -- Gomes' was a two-run shot.
• Israel Chirino (1 2/3 IP) and Ryan Rote (2 IP), held Frederick scoreless the rest of the way.
  
• Greensboro 4, Kannapolis 3
• Anthony Carter worked his shortest start of the season, going five innings and allowing two runs on five hits and a walk.  He struck out three.
• Leroy Hunt took the loss on his first earned run of the year, which crossed the plate on Santo Luis' watch.
• Logan Johnson had a pair of doubles, and Dale Mollenhauer also had two hits.
• Jose Martinez went 0-for-4, ending a four-game hit streak.
• Charlotte vs. Richmond PPD
  

Big Hurt feelings

Frank Thomas is currently out of a job:


Thomas said that the Jays were sitting him early in order to prevent him from reaching a plate appearance threshold and thus triggering an option.  This would be the second time a hitch in his contract has been used against him, and the second time it's been done by somebody who doesn't possess the best people skills.

(Although this is the first time by somebody who looks like Stanley Spadowski.)

Frank's lifetime average is .302, so there's at least one advantage in hanging it up now.

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Minor league roundup for Saturday:

• Richmond 3, Charlotte 1
  
• Jerry Owens was a man of action: 2-for-3 with a double, walk and a hat trick -- he stole one base, was caught stealing once, and was picked off once.
• Josh Fields went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts; Royce Huffman and Paul Phillips each doubled.
• Tomo Ohka went the distance in the loss, and really only made one mistake.  It was a three-run homer.
• West Tenn 3, Birmingham 0
• Clayton Richard gave up three runs over six innings, allowing seven hits and a walk while striking out six.
• Ricardo Nanita had two of the Barons' four hits; Dave Cook doubled and walked.
• Clevelan Santeliz pitched two scoreless innings in relief, allowing only a hit.
  
• Winston-Salem 3, Frederick 2
• John Ely, the 2007 third-round pick from Homewood-Flossmoor, allowed only a run over seven innings on eight hits and a walk, and struck out six.  The walk was the first in 19 innings so far, and he lowered his ERA to 1.89.  He did commit an error.
  
• Brandon Allen had two of the Warthogs' three hits.  Both were doubles, and he drove in a pair of runs.
• Matt Davis allowed an unearned run (Winston-Salem committed three errors) but got the win.  Kanekoa Teixeira shut it down in the ninth for the save.
• Greensboro 1, Kannapolis 0
• Jason Rice struck out 11 over five innings, but was tagged with the loss.  He allowed the only run on three hits and two walks.
• Hector Santiago (2 1/3) and Henry Mabee (1 2/3, 3K) held Greensboro scoreless the rest of the way.
• Amounting for half Kanny's hits, Jose Martinez went 3-for-4 with a double to raise his average to .226.  He's 7-for-12 over his last four games.

Is Javier Vazquez Chicago Tough?

Probably, if we go by Kenny Williams' original definition:


Vazquez was ripped apart by the New York media, and struggled to right himself before a return to glory in 2007, so sure, he's Chicago Tough©.

I don't know if he passes Jim Malone's terms, though:


At any rate, I ask this question because circumstances in Friday night's easy victory over the Rays begged, pleaded and implored Vazquez to bury a fastball in Mike DiFelice's ribs.  Consider the following:

• DiFelice leaned into a slow curveball that could've been a strike, sticking his elbow down and over the plate.  Somehow, home plate umpire Jerry Crawford didn't see it.
  
• DiFelice next came up to the plate in the fourth inning, with the Sox up 8-0.
  
• There were also two outs and nobody on.

If Crawford had a problem with Vazquez throwing inside, Javy could have said he was doing DiFelice a favor.  For one, the Rays could've used the baserunner, and DiFelice seemed to enjoy getting hit so much the first time around that Vazquez figured he was being polite by making it easier for DiFelice to experience the pleasure all over again.  I doubt Vazquez would've been ejected -- it's not like Brian Gorman was behind the plate.

I'm only complaining about this for a couple reasons:

No. 1:  He already hits a fair share of batters, often times when he's ahead in the count.  A plunking on an 0-1 count started the rally that sunk him in his first start.  Going back further, six of his seven HBPs in 2007 were when he was ahead in the count, and he finished second in the AL with 15 hit batters the year before.  Just once, it would be nice if he hit a batter on his terms.

No. 2:  His failing to hit a batter when it was warranted started the whole Sean Tracey debacle.

In Vazquez's defense, he displayed truckloads of Chicago Toughness© when he pitched around that botched call and a blown rundown by getting Jason Bartlett to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, and escaping without a run crossing the plate.  But if they're going to push this idea of old-fashioned, tough, gritty play to the fans, sending a message with a well-placed fastball --when called for -- should be a pretty easy sell to the guys on the field.

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With two more four-run innings to add to the list, the Sox continue to be pretty sure they don't need a guy who can steal 50 bases.  Therefore, while Jerry Owens is off the disabled list, he's still in Charlotte:


There's nothing wrong with this state of mind, but when and if the Sox are ready for a change, I wouldn't mind seeing Owens on the 25-man roster if Alexei Ramirez continues to languish below the Mendoza line for the reasons the Cheat states.

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Minor league roundup:

• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 9, Charlotte 5
• Dewayne Wise hit two homers, and is pounding the ball to the tune of .382/.435/.745
• Jerry Owens and Josh Fields each went 1-for-5; Brad Eldred drove in two.
  
• Chris Getz went 3-for-4 with a double, raising his average to .304.
• Rob Bell was shelled for six runs in the first inning.
  
• Birmingham 3, Mississippi 2
• Jack Egbert survived his first start of the season coming off spring elbow troubles.  He allowed a run over four innings on five hits and a walk, striking out four.
• Lucas Harrell pitched three shutout innings in relief for the win.  He's allowed only two runs over his first 13 innings, allowing only nine baserunners.
• Fernando Hernandez wasn't as sharp his second inning of work with the Barons, giving up a solo homer and a walk.
  
• Cole Armstrong provided all the scoring with a three-run homer, his first of the year.
• Winston-Salem 9, Frederick 4
• Lee Cruz is picking up the pace: He went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, and has five hits over his last two games to raise his average to .385.
• Javier Colina and .077-hitting Anderson Gomes also drove in two runs apiece.
• Michael Dubee allowed four runs (three earned) over seven on eight hits, striking out five.
  
• Kannapolis 3, Augusta 0
• Charlie Shirek tossed seven shutout innings, allowing only four hits, no walks and striking out seven.  He lowered his ERA to 0.38 (1 ER over 23 2/3 IP).
  
• Dale Mollenhauer went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base.
  

Relievers still a mystery to White Sox

Last year, the White Sox were soundly criticized for hitting too many solo homers.  In Thursday night's depressing loss to Baltimore, they were a godsend. 

Solo shots by Carlos Quentin (twice) and Joe Crede did the job, helping to regain a lead for a starter and provide an insurance run that stretched a lead to three, one that should have been insurmountable.

As Quentin's eighth-inning opposite-field blast showed, the Sox will be better off hitting more solo homers, because if Sox hitters don't score themselves off relief pitching, who will?

That home run was one of only two hits off Oriole relievers over four innings, and the only run the Sox have scored off relief pitchers in the last 14 1/3 innings.  It's too early to state anything definitively, but for all the trends and patterns the 2008 team has bucked so far, the Sox still find themselves struggling with relief pitching.

Entering Thursday, the Sox were fourth in the American League in OPS, but ninth in OPS against relievers and falling.  Their .246 batting average is an improvement over the .229 average  posted against bullpens in 2007, but it's only good for 12th in the American League.

In a way, the continued struggles against relief pitchers are even more troubling because the Sox are shortening starting pitchers' outings with their increased patience at the plate, and it's almost turning an advantage into a disadvantage.

There's no reason to press the panic button yet -- it's not like they've gone 61 consecutive at-bats without a hit or anything -- but it is something to keep in mind.  Advance scouting was called into question last year in the spat between A.J. Pierzynski and Greg Walker, and after Opening Day as well.

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

If you read past the halfway point of multimedia machine Joe Cowley's column praising of Kenny Williams, it's actually pretty interesting, with regards to how Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn engage in trade talks.

Cowley also tried to steal bases on A.J. Pierzynski and is going nuts on Twitter.

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Minor league roundup:

• Charlotte 10, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 2
• Jerry Owens went 3-for-5 and stole two bases, and threw a runner out at home.
• Josh Fields went 2-for-5 with two RBI, struck out the other three times and committed an error.
• Brad Eldred had a homer and three RBI; Donny Lucy hit a three-run homer.
• Wes Whisler allowed two unearned runs over 5 2/3 innings, lowering his ERA to 1.08.
• Ehren Wassermann struck out two in a perfect ninth.
• Birmingham 6, Mississippi 5
• Fernando Hernandez picked up the win in his return to the Barons, throwing a scoreless inning.
• Micah Schnurstein had his first real big game, going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
• Robert Hudson had two hits and two RBI; Cole Armstrong had two hits to raise his average to .152.
• Frederick 7, Winston-Salem 2
• Ricky Brooks was roughed up for five runs over four innings.
• Matt Long pitched well for once, allowing one run over three innings, with three strikeouts and no walks.
• Lee Cruz had two of the Warthogs' six hits.
• Augusta 4, Kannapolis 2
• Levi Maxwell and Wander Perez threw two scoreless innings apiece.
• Logan Johnson and Andrew Mead drove in a run apiece.
  

Ozzie's down with OBP, but what took so long?

Nick Swisher and his .444 on-base percentage led off Wednesday's victory over Baltimore with a single.  Orlando Cabrera and his .386 OBP followed up with a walk, and Jim Thome blasted one into the right-center seats to give the White Sox a quick 3-0 lead.

It's such a simple formula -- Earl Weavering, in other words -- that it makes me wonder why batting Swisher first -- and bypassing speed -- is such a big deal.  Ozzie Guillen boiled it down to one sentence:


Really, the bigger story is: "Why are the Sox realizing this just now?"  Dave Van Dyck almost raised the issue:


It's a frustrating article for a few reasons:

No. 1:  It's a tease, with regards to the nagging question.

No. 2:  He says upon their acquisitions, Swisher, Cabrera and Carlos Quentin's OBP skills "went nearly unnoticed."  Come again?

No. 3:  It refers to Scott Podsednik and Darin Erstad's ineffectiveness at the top of the order in 2007, without mentioning how they were regarded as "adept handlers of the bat" by the same subset of commentators at the onset of the season.

No. 4:  We get this quote from Greg Walker:


Actually, Walker said something different "all year" last June:


Honestly, there weren't cold jokes and swagger jokes for nothing.

I don't want to say much more on the subject, because this horse died a long time ago, but the turning point for Kenny Williams was likely mid-August, when he tried coaxing a free-swinging team into being more like Thome.  The result, in a nutshell, was a truckload of backwards K's by Andy Gonzalez.  I believe that series of events forced an impetus to change the skill sets among the 25-man roster, more than anything else.

At any rate, I apologize for the kvetching over the 2007 season when the start of the 2008 version has been such a breath of fresh air.  I suppose last season was such an affront to common sense that I still feel that we're owed an explanation.

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Somebody who might need a different kind of explanation: Jerry Owens.  In response to Guillen's comments that he "doesn't care about you if you're not on the big-league club," Owens said:


Considering the Sox's outfield comprises a guy tied for fifth in RBI; the aforementioned guy with the .444 OBP and the guy hitting .346, the guy who can steal 50 bases would only be known as "pinch runner" at this stage in the game.

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Look who's back:  Fernando Hernandez!


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Minor league roundup:

• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4, Charlotte 2
  
• Another strong start for Lance Broadway, but this one had an unfortunate ending.  Eight innings, one earned run -- but he had a throwing error that led to three unearned.
• Jerry Owens had his best game to date, going 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
• Josh Fields made his walk count -- he stole second, then came around to score on a throwing error.
• Birmingham 2, Mississippi 1 (13 innings)
• Excellent pitching all around for Birmingham, starting with Justin Cassell allowing one unearned run over six innings.
• Matt Zaleski threw two perfect innings, John Lujan two scoreless.
• Derek Rodriguez capped it off with three scoreless for the win, striking out six.
• Dave Cook went 3-for-6 with a solo homer; Maurice Gartrell had three hits as well.
• Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 3
• Jacob Rasner is 2-for-2 in good starts, allowing one run over six innings.
• Kanekoa Texeira threw two scoreless innings, striking out three.
• Francisco Hernandez entered the game 1-for-13; he went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
• Kannapolis 6, Augusta 5
• Santo Luis lowered his ERA from 9.45 to 6.94 with five solid innings of relief.  He allowed two runs on five hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out three.
• Jose Martinez went 2-for-4 with two RBI; Andrew Mead also drove in a pair, and Danny Jordan hit a two-run homer.