posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:18 AM by Jim

Vote early, vote often



Maybe Mike Downey gave Carlos Quentin some bulletin board material when he wrote this:

2. P.S.: Do the first-place Sox have an All-Star?

I guess somebody from the Sox has to be on Terry Francona's team for the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium, but which one? It won't be Orlando Cabrera (.225), Nick Swisher (.213), Paul Konerko (.212), Jim Thome (.203) or Juan Uribe (.198), that's for sure.

A.J. Pierzynski is having a good year. But it won't be easy for him because Ivan Rodriguez and Jason Varitek will get the fan votes and Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez are with him among the American League's top 10 hitters.

I wish Carlos Quentin could make it, but with all those big-name AL outfielders to choose from, good luck.

Quentin doesn't need luck, of course.  Luck is for humans, and right now Quentin 75 to 80 percent hitting machine.  He hit his American League-leading 13th-homer off C.C. Sabathia and helped hand him his first loss to the Sox since July 15, 2005.

By my count, he also took his fourth base of the year, going from first to third on Grady Sizemore.  The other occurrences:
  • April 27:  Goes from second to home on an errant throw home -- on a grounder to short.
  • May 6:  Went from first to third, then home when the ball got away from Mike Lamb.
  • May 8:  Stole second on a 3-1 check swing.
OK, he actually was lucky on the last one.  But the point still stands that Quentin, who came in with underwhelming baserunning numbers, is making plays with his legs as well as his bat.

The only reason why Quentin won't start in the All-Star game is because he's not on the ballot.  They're made up in the spring, during which Quentin was pegged to go to Triple-A until Jerry Owens got hurt.  He'll need some grass roots support to make a dent in the totals.

So ... here's the link to the online All-Star ballot.  Get writin' in.

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

Minor league roundup:
  • Frederick 8, Winston-Salem 3
    • Brandon Allen went 2-for-3 with a triple and a solo homer.
    • Matt Long gave up five runs over five innings.
  • Kannapolis 3, Delmarva 1
    • Gregory Infante pitched four scoreless innings in his first start.
    • Hector Santiago and Henry Mabee each tossed two scoreless innings, with Santiago striking out five.
    • Christian Marrero went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, and Danny Jordan had two hits as well.
  • Charlotte vs. Durham PPD
  • Birmingham OFF

Comments

# re: Q!s baserunning

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:48 AM by The Cheat
Bill James has Q at +6 on the bases before Tuesday's game, +7 after.

He's gone 1st-3rd in 4 of 8 opportunities. He's gone from 2nd to home in 3 of 4 opportunities. And a net zero with 4 SB and 2 CS..

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:25 AM by Fundman
Why do I even read the Sun Times on line? As if Mariotti's headlines aren't annoying enough, now we get a "clogging" column about Thome from Greg Couch

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/couch/961313,CST-SPT-greg21.article

OK, Thome is not having a great start, and is not hitting a ton, but check out American League DH's sorted by .OPS:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?split=0&league=al&season=2008&seasonType=2&sort=OPS&type=reg&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=dh&startDate=null&endDate=null&minpa=0

The two guys above him are Frank Thomas (remember him, he was washed up too) and David Ortiz, who's not available. I'm thinking we need to set up a statistics re-education camp for Chicago sports writers.....maybe re-education camp isn't the best phrase to use though.....

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:26 AM by Fundman
Jim, excuse the mess the ESPN link made on your page. Sorry about that.

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:34 AM by soxfan1
How about Quentin and Javy Vazquez for the All Star game? We don't vote for pitchers but the Sox should have at least one on the team!!

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:03 AM by biganutz
Paul Byrd seems to own the White Sox. He threw 6 shut out innings against them last year and I think won the only game the Sox lost in the 05' playoffs. If the offense can get get the 2 out clutch hitting going, it will be a 7 game win streak.

White Sox 7, Indians 4
Pick to click: Paul Konerko

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 8:15 PM by Jim Margalus
I'm not looking forward to watching Ramirez against Byrd.

# re: Vote early, vote often

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:18 PM by Jim Margalus
And Thome has shown he can hit Cleveland pitching this year. That alone isn't bad.