Chicago White Sox Community Roundtable: Week 3

As a team, the White Sox have one of the lowest batting averages in the American League. Does this concern you at all?

 
CJ Mikucki: The batting average stat does concern me, but not so much when we're getting timely hits.  I'd like to see us at the middle of the pack or above, and considering there's only a few hitters over or around .300 now, things are bound to go up.

Isaac Sorsa: A little bit. Paul Konerko has looked exactly like the 2007 version of Paul, complete with dropping his head after every groundball. Cabrera and Thome seem to be picking up their bats while Joe Crede and A.J. are cooling off. This team has scored a lot of runs and I’m confident they will continue to do so.

Thomas Barbee: The low team batting average isn't too concerning just yet. Despite only posting a .242 average as a team, the Sox are ranked No. 11 in baseball with a .336 on-base percentage and 10th in MLB with a .423 slugging percentage.

So, while the guys aren't necessarily raking the ball, they are getting on base (which was a huge problem last year) and getting key hits that are driving in lots of runs (the Sox are ranked fourth in RBI).

We've got a few guys that are just plain flat at the moment (Paul Konerko, Juan Uribe, and Orlando Cabrera come to mind) that are almost certainly going to raise their batting averages as the year progresses, but even so, the point is that the Sox are getting the big hits, something that was sorely missing in last year's squad.

Aaron Rusnak: No, not really.  Only one AL team (Boston) has scored more runs.  I feel scoring is more important than hitting.  My main concern at this point is whether the pitching can continue to be as stellar as it has been.

Steve Jankowski: Not at all.  It's not how many hits you get, but when you get them.  The Sox get key hits in big situations late in ball games to get wins.  Plus, the Sox are getting walks and capitalizing on opponents’ errors, which don't show up in the batting average category. 

What we've been seeing is the Sox getting big hits after walks and errors by the other teams.

TJ March: No, because they showed the rankings today and the Sox are in the top five in every other offensive category. If the Sox are getting on base and scoring runs, but are hitting just enough to drive in the big runs, they will be perfectly fine. Especially, the way the pitching has been getting and throwing the ball the past week and a half.

Dieter Kurtenbach: Batting average means nothing. The most indicative stat of offensive performance is nothing more complicated than runs scored. And while I do expect the Sox to pick it up in the average department, my thinking at this point is if they are scoring, who cares how they do it.

JJ Stankevitz: As long as the Sox are scoring runs the way they are, I'm okay. This lineup is light years ahead of where the 2007 squad was through the first 20 or so games. 

Jim Thome has been heating up as of late. Do you finally see him breaking out of his early-season slump and really taking off the next few weeks?

CJ Mikucki: Thome has shown signs of breaking out.  With nicer weather and others starting to hit around him, he'll be able to get pitches to his liking and hopefully produce and do some damage.

Isaac Sorsa: Well, he certainly was mashing in Tampa. Obviously, he got off to a horrid start. I hate to sound like Hawk and DJ, but he needed to shorten his swing. I don't worry about Jim so much, I worry much more about Konerko.

Thomas Barbee: I really hope this is a sign of Thome turning things around, but I think it's going to depend highly on the weather. Now that the Sox have been on the road in cities such as Baltimore and the dome in Tampa, Thome has looked much more comfortable at the plate.

His swing is shorter, and he seems to be more comfortable with the strike zone — his strikeout rate is finally decreasing a bit.

With the Sox heading into a seven-game homestand, Thome's bat should continue to be relatively hot, so long as the temps in Chicago stay relatively warm.

Aaron Rusnak: I do.  Now that the weather is getting a bit better, everyone will begin hitting better.  Some guys just take a while to start producing, and being a bit older that Thome is, it's reasonable for him to take sometime to get on track.

Steve Jankowski: I think he has.  He went 4-for-5 yesterday with a double and a home run.  He'll be fine.

TJ March: Yes. If Sox fans remember, Thome had a terrible beginning and middle of spring last season. However, he came back in the last week and first of the regular season, and slugged 10 home runs in nine games.

Dieter Kurtenbach: I don't care how the Sox get it done, and over the years I have seen no indicative reason to believe when Thome plays better the White Sox follow suit.

I'll put it this way. Ozzie is going to play Jim, it would be nice for Jim to hit. When it seems that Jim either hits it far or strikes out swinging, I can't complain about Jim's recent production at the plate. Lest we forget that Jim is hitting below his weight on the season.

JJ Stankevitz: I get the feeling this past week may have been the start for a huge run of production for Thome. He slammed three home runs in five games and was squaring the ball up well with his shorter, quicker swing.

He's able to catch up to more fastballs and isn't getting fooled as easily with breaking pitches. By seeing the ball well and taking shorter swings, Thome could really take off in these next few series.

The team went 4-3 last week, but dropped tough games to Oakland and Baltimore. Are you satisfied with how the team performed or do you feel they should have came out with a better record?

CJ Mikucki: The Baltimore game hurt.  We should be 5-2, but for some reason, the Orioles seem to have Jenks' number.  I like the way they put it behind them quickly, and put a hurting on Tampa Bay to get over it.

Isaac Sorsa: I'm still hurting from the Orioles loss where Bobby threw a million curves in a row. That's the only one that has really stung badly.

Oakland is a team like Minnesota that will beat a lot of good teams this year, I don't have a big problem with the game we dropped to them.

Overall, we've been playing good defense (minus the rundown problems), pitching well, and taking a good approach at the plate.

Thomas Barbee: With those two tough, you just have to tip your hat to the other team and go back and beat them next time around (which the Sox did against Oakland).

That being said, the Sox have continued to show their toughness against teams that have proved to be difficult to beat so far this year. Oakland, Baltimore and even Tampa Bay are all formidable teams that are stocked with young talent. Even though one may be underwhelmed by the overall record, it's not as though they've had an easy week.

Aaron Rusnak: Should have been 5-2.  You can't lose games that you allow just two runs in.  You’re going to lose games, so the other two don't hurt so much, but the one against Oakland is one we should have had.

Steve Jankowski: They should have won that game against Baltimore.  You'd expect that with Jenks on the mound with a two run lead, it's game over, but that's not the case. 

We know he's human, but it's something that shouldn't happen much the rest of the season.  They should have been at least 5-2, but I am happy they fought back the next day in Tampa to win that game 9-2.

TJ March: I think that they should have come out 6-1.

The Sox should have been able to muster some more runs off Greg Smith of Oakland, but were unable to capitalize. They also should have been able to close out the game in Baltimore, however, late inning O's heroics and poor relief pitching led to the loss.

However, when all is said and done, the Sox are still sitting atop the AL Central. And they still are one of the hottest offensive (and pitching, as of this week) teams in baseball.

Dieter Kurtenbach: Good teams win series. Say that a team wins two of three games to win a series. If you can keep that up over the length of the season, you win 108 games.

The 2005 Chicago White Sox won most series, and ended up winning the big series. I am a bit disappointed that the Sox couldn't beat the A's on Buehrle's great outing, but it is difficult to complain when the Sox won all their series this week.

JJ Stankevitz: I would have loved to win the first game of the A's series, but nobody was going to hit Greg Smith the way he pitched. The loss to Baltimore stings the most, as it's very rare that Bobby Jenks blows a three run lead in the ninth.

However, I guess that was bound to happen given that it was the third consecutive game he had pitched in. So, while I would be much happier if the Sox went 5-2 in the week, 4-3 is still solid and the Sox are 2.5 games ahead of the nearest team for first in the AL Central.

Sounds good to me. 

Finally, the Sox are 2.5 games ahead of the nearest team for first place in the AL Central. Is this a product of the Sox playing very well or other teams (Cleveland & Detroit) struggling out of the gate?

CJ Mikucki: I think it's more about the other teams not playing well.  We're not playing great, but we're doing good enough to survive. 

We should be taking advantage now when others are not doing well and build up a sizable lead, because those teams are too good to be down there the entire season.  If we pick it up and add a few games to our lead by mid-May, we should be in the driver's seat going into the dog days of summer.

Isaac Sorsa: Everyone will probably take the cop-out answer and say both, but it’s true. We played great baseball against Detroit and contributed to its terrible start, but they certainly didn't have their "A" game either. We'll see what happens, but I like the Sox’s chances to win this division.

Thomas Barbee: It's a bit of both, as good as the Sox are playing, both Cleveland and Detroit are already self-destructing and it's not even May. While both teams are sure to turn things around to make a race of things by mid-June at the latest, the fact is that the Sox don't look to have too many holes just yet.

As long as the Sox continue to stay healthy, they should continue to take advantage of the Indians’ and Tigers' slow starts.

Aaron Rusnak: We're the only +.500 team in what should be the best division in the game. ‘Nuff said.

Steve Jankowski: I think it's a little of both, but it's always good to build up as many wins as possible early in the season on your divisional rivals. 

I'm happiest that they piled up a lot of wins against divisional opponents early on.  But they clearly are playing better early on, and with more intensity, whuch has been very nice to see.

TJ March: Both Cleveland and Detroit are incomplete teams in their own rights. However, nothing can be taken away from the White Sox playing the game the way it is supposed to be played.

Dieter Kurtenbach: Cleveland isn't hitting and Detroit isn't pitching.

I don't expect Detroit to change too much, but they will win 85-90 games. I expect Cleveland to increase AL worst batting average. That said, I don't fear the Indians' batting and I don't fear the Tigers' pitching, especially their bullpen.

I think if the Sox can maintain their current level of above average in these categories, they can also achieve the 85-90 plateau, and possibly even higher.

Overall, I think that the White Sox can beat the Indians and Tigers in the end, and though it is apparent that neither competitor is at full throttle, I honestly believe that both teams’ strong suits (Pitching-Cleveland, Hitting-Detroit) don't make up for their comparative shortcomings.

That said, the White Sox need to beat up on these teams now, so when the Indians and Tigers start to ascend up the standings, the White Sox will have some room for error (or as Hawk would say: Era).

The White Sox have proven that they are the best team in the division, but the difference is not as pronounced as it currently is.

 JJ Stankevitz: I'm just glad we played Detroit when its bats were cold. While I still don't think they have the pitching to make the playoffs, the certainly won't go down as easily as they did in five of the six games against the Sox in early April.

I also picked Cleveland to win the World Series, so I'm going to stick to that for now. I think once Sabathia picks it up and the offense gets going a bit more, they're in for a pretty good run.

However, that doesn't mean I don't think the Sox can contend with the Tribe — but the Sox will need as many April and May victories as they can get.

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