posted on Friday, May 02, 2008 2:42 AM
by
Jim
It's May, and they're OK
That seems to be the consensus about the White Sox as they enter the second month of the season in sole possession of first place in the AL Central.
The quotes are a little scary, though:
Kenny Williams: "Eventually, those averages will come up once the consistently better weather comes."2007 equivalent: "Over this period, I looked in the mirror a lot as to what could we
have done differently, what did we miss, and the biggest overriding
factor to me was the weather. I think in the past I've done a good job
of getting guys ready to play in Chicago, but with the weeks and weeks
of the mess we played in, I don't think they were ready. It was ugly,
but we are still in the hunt."' -- Greg Walker.
Nick Swisher:
"That's one thing we'll have to work on. We might be trying too hard, trying to get the big hit every time."2007 equivalent: "The hardest thing in baseball is to pitch and pitch well. We're wasting
good pitching. The hitters know. They're frustrated. They try hard.'" -- Ozzie Guillen
Toby Hall: "Once everything clicks, it's going to be even more dangerous because we're in every game."2007 equivalent: ''I can sleep at night knowing the pitching is good and it's going to
take care of itself. What we have on board and what
we have below in case something happens, I can sleep.'' -- Kenny Williams.
To be perfectly clear, I think all comparisons to 2007, though occasionally valid, what with the Sox's propensity to hit solo homers and some questionable bullpen work, were overblown. The Yankees can make any bullpen look bad, and the Sox actually have three outfielders who can hit this year, as opposed to one, and that automatically constitutes a massive improvement.
However, this does go to show how deeply scarring the 2007 season was in all aspects. It's difficult to think of one cliché or other well-worn phrase that wasn't thrown out to rationalize or cover up the various red flags the offense threw up during the first month and a half of the season.
I mean, after a year in which
whitesox.com made a "warming up" reference in mid-July, they've basically turned temperature references into a running joke for the forseeable future (I like the Cheat's piece today about the offense's struggles of the past two weeks -- "
Did it get cold after Tax Day?"). At the very least, they could stop referring to weather as a key reason for any drop in performance. If they're asked about it, they can say, "We played in it."
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The lack of a 2007 equivalent is a big reason why Carlos Quentin's presence on the 2008 roster is so refreshing -- or,
as far as thecip is concerned, dreamy ("he enjoys doing the same things you do!").
In
Mark Gonzalez's piece about Quentin's emergence, there was one sentence that actually made me laugh:
Rizzo, now an assistant GM with Washington, said he believes the
frequent changes that initially baffled the Sox's coaching staff are
Quentin's way of trying to improve with each at-bat.
I like the idea of the Walker and Co. watching Quentin with
this face because they're puzzled by a hitter actually making adjustments from one plate appearance to another.
I also like the idea of Quentin, the Stanford man, refusing to buy into Walker's theory that the harder you swing a bat, the better you'll be able to cover the outside corner because the velocity of the bat causes the molecules inside of it to spread apart, making it longer in the process, similar to how a bungee cord expands as you whip it around at an increasing speed.
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Joe Cowley thinks
Adam Russell is the logical call-up to replace Alexei Ramirez while the Sox are in Canada.
I didn't mention Russell in
the April farm system recap because he hasn't been anything special. The 11 strikeouts in 11 innings are nice, but the five walks aren't. Plus, after starting his season with four hitless innings, he's been nicked up for 13 baserunners in his last seven innings.
And if you look at his team picture,
he looks like he finds the photo room too cold. That's the last thing this team needs.
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Minor league roundup:- Buffalo 5, Charlotte 2
- Oneli Perez and Matt Anderson combined for four scoreless innings of relief after Tomo Ohka was hit hard.
- Jason Bourgeois went 2-for-4 with a walk, but erased himself each time -- caught stealing twice, picked off once.
- Josh Fields went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts; Jerry Owens went 1-for-5 with three K's.
- Old friend Andy Gonzalez hit a two-run homer, but also committed an error.
- Mobile 4, Birmingham 1
- Kyle McCulloch was pretty much mediocre -- 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, no huge number of groundouts.
- Dave Cook hit a solo homer; Robert Hudson had two hits.
- Winston-Salem 6, Wilmington 4
- Aaron Poreda worked his best outing yet -- eight innings, seven hits, three runs, zero walks, four strikeouts.
- Lee Cruz went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
- Javier Colina went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
- Kannapolis 6, Lakewood 4
- Dale Mollenhauer went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.
- Christian Marrero went 2-for-5 with two RBI; Luis Sierra, John Curtis and Michael Grace had multi-hit games also.
- Kanny relief stars Levi Maxwell and Henry Mabee pitched two scoreless innings apiece, combining for seven strikeouts.