Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Danks schools Rangers, learns something himself

With a 9-7 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday night, the Chicago White Sox assured that no matter what happens today, they will arrive at the All-Star break in sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

How's that for sunshine?

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

John Danks finally received a heaping helping of run support against his former organization Saturday, and Ozzie Guillen took advantage of it by letting him get hit hard in the eighth.

Guillen has managed Danks very carefully this season.  At 96 pitches per start, Danks had the lightest workload in the rotation entering his start.  Part of that is due to Danks being the youngest pitcher in the rotation, but part of it is due to the lack of run support.  Nearly every game Danks pitches has been a close one (the Sox offense gave him roughly 3.3 runs a game going in), and Guillen doesn't want to leave him in one batter too long.

Ozzie could've pulled Danks after German Duran's titanic double with one out in the eighth inning.  He had more reason to yank him when Ian Kinsler followed up with another two-bagger that almost left the yard, too.  But despite Danks throwing some very hittable pitches, it was only an 8-3 game and he had just 101 pitches under his belt.  On top of that, this was Danks' final start before the All-Star break, and his next start is scheduled for July 20, which is seven days' rest.

Guillen left him in, and Danks provided mixed returns.  He looked nasty as ever when he struck out Michael Young on four pitches, but missed his spots with Josh Hamilton, who drove a single through the right side to make it an 8-4 game.

Danks' velocity was there, but he appeared to be a little out of control, both in terms of mechanics and his location.  He might've seen the finish line and tried to gun it, or maybe he was trying to impress family and friends in attendance, or maybe it was the league's best offense not letting him off easy.

Still, Danks, Guillen and Don Cooper have more evidence of how Danks performs when he's effective but tiring.  They can look at the video and figure out how to combat fatigue, and Ozzie may feel a little more comfortable trying to get an extra batter or two out of him in the future.

The experience cost Danks a few points in ERA and a quality start, though both of those would've been tempered had the official scorer handed Joe Crede an error for his boot instead of calling it an infield single earlier in the game.  But the trade-off is that Danks was able to take a little bit of a beating at no ultimate cost, and that knowledge should reap dividends in the near future.

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

Don't look now, but Jim Thome's season numbers are ... fine.

The Gentleman Masher can thank Rangers pitching for helping aid his rebound.  With a 2-for-4, four-RBI day Saturday, Thome has punished Texas pitching like Walker punishes perpetrators with roundhouse kicks hampered by tight denim to the following line the last two seasons:

AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
22	13	2	0	7	12	13	2	.591	.743	1.728	2.471

Overall, Thome is hitting .246/.370/.504, gaining 100 points of OPS over the past month.

Now that he's hitting, he'll be a lock to gain enough plate appearances to trigger his 2009 option barring injury, but as long as he keeps hitting at even his current season line, that should be well down the list of concerns for Sox fans.  There's simply too much at stake right now to start worrying about next season.

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

Alexei Ramirez has entered rarefied air, in that even the most stat-conscious Sox fans don't really care that he walks as much as FDR.

(Too soon?)

The Cuban Missile once again showed that Alexei spells "action" Saturday.  Breaking down his day:

1. Surprise one-strike bunt single.
2. Scored on single.
   
3. Single to left.
4. Scored on single.
   
5. Picked off trying to leave early.
6. Single to left.
7. Stolen base, advanced to third on the throw.
8. Scored on sac fly.
9. Terrific game-ending play.
   

Considering he didn't reach base until the sixth inning, that's an awful lot of stuff going on, and most of it good.  He did look rather ridiculous on his pickoff, considering his back was to first when the throw came over that way, but then he ends up scoring a key insurance run by trying again.

That's pretty much the story of his season.  Sometimes just when you think he couldn't possibly look worse, he goes and does something like this ... and totally redeems himself!

His lack of plate patience -- he's second-to-last in pitches per plate appearance and walks to fellow Cuban-with-Russian-flair Yuniesky Betancourt -- will probably spoil any hopes for Rookie of the Year, especially since Evan Longoria appears to be the total package.  As long as he keeps being this damn entertaining, I couldn't care less.

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

Minor league roundup:

• Richmond 12, Charlotte 8
• Danny Richar went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI.
• Dave Cook hit a solo homer; Josh Fields went 0-for-5 with three K's.
• Lance Broadway wasn't good: 5 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 2 K.
• Carlos Torres gave up two runs on six hits over three innings in his Triple-A debut.
• Birmingham 5, Carolina 3
• Lucas Harrell returned to Birmingham with modest results, allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings.  He walked three and struck out six.
• Ricardo Nanita went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
• Javier Colina went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
  
• Kinston 6, Winston-Salem 4
• John Ely dropped to 3-10 with three runs on four hits over five innings.
• C.J. Retherford went 2-for-5 with three RBI.
• Brandon Allen hit a solo homer, his 14th.
• Kannapolis 8, Rome 2
• Jim Gallagher went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.
• Jason Rice pitched five scoreless innings for the win.
• Christian Marrero had three hits, including an RBI triple.
• Sergio Miranda hit a solo homer.
• Greeneville 5, Bristol 4
• Garrett Johnson struck out six over five innings, but also gave up three runs.
• Andrew Garcia went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
• Ogden 8, Great Falls 5
• Mike Grace and Danny Jordan both hit solo homers.
• Johny Celis went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
• Drew O'Neil pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings, striking out two, and was the only pitcher not hit hard.