White Sox Week in Review, Presented by Baseballtown USA

White Sox Week In Review

Where Have You Gone Juan?

Juan Uribe was placed on the 15-day DL by the White Sox on Saturday, retroactive to May 16^th. His strained right hamstring comes at a bad time for him, as his bat was just beginning to heat up. The move was made, according to whitesox.com, to bring up a position player to take the place of Paul Konerko, who has an injury to the webbing on his right hand. The Sox hope to avoid placing Paul on the DL.

Eight Is Enough

The White Sox eight game winning-streak came to an end Friday vs. the Angels. During the streak, the Sox were averaging 5.25 runs per game, while holding their opponents to 2.1 runs per game.

In their two losses since, the Sox have been outscored 5-1. Finally, the Sox do not have a single regular player hitting above .300, and as a team, they are hitting .244

Why So Grim, Jim?

Jim Thome has reason to be slightly upset with his performance so far this season. His .205 average is 2^nd lowest among the team’s regular starters (ahead of only Juan Uribe), and his 51 strikeouts are highest on the team, 11 ahead of the nearest player (Nick Swisher).

However, on the bright side, he is 3^rd on the team in RBI (25), and 2^nd on the team in walks (29). Ozzie has been experimenting with dropping him in the lineup, and the results have been sparing: he had home runs in back-to-back games vs. the Indians.

Welcome Back Pudge

On Thursday, the White Sox officially welcomed back Carlton Fisk to the Southside. He was introduced to much fanfare, and rode onto the field on a vintage motorcycle with former Sox teammates and coaches surrounding him. Fisk will become a community ambassador for the team.

To celebrate the night in his honor, the Sox finished off their sweep of the Indians with a 3-1 victory in front of 28,040 people.

Inter-league? We Can Do That

After an abysmal 4-14 mark last season in inter-league play (including 1-5 vs. the crosstown Cubs), the White Sox welcomed it back in style this season with a three game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

Notably, the Sox handed Barry Zito his 8^th loss in a row to start the season, and Orlando Cabrera hit his 2^nd and 3^rd home runs of the season in the series finale. Mark Buehrle also notched his first career hit in this series, and AJ Pierzynski hit his first triple.

Observation of the Week:

The White Sox are in desperate need of a consistent lead-off hitter. Orlando Cabrera was elected to the position after a bad start for Nick Swisher, and he has not been getting the job done consistently.

He is hitting .223, with only 16 walks and 11 RBI. The only stat going in his favor are his runs scored: he is second on the team with 30. The other options at lead-off, however, aren’t all that impressive:

-Nick Swisher is hitting .209 and has struck out 40 times. Also, his mediocre defense in center field makes him a liability to play there everyday.

-Calling up a leadoff hitter most likely would not work, because the injury to Uribe makes Ramirez indispensable, and Brian Anderson has proven to be a valuable defensive substitution, in addition to starting to hit the ball better in his limited CF action.

-The other players who are in the lineup (Thome, Konerko, Pierzynski, Quentin, Crede, Dye) are laughable alternatives with low walk totals and for the most part are too streaky to do the job effectively.

So what is the verdict for this White Sox team? Stick with what has brought you to this point. As bad as his numbers look, there is one important factor: the team DID win 8 games in a row and are currently in first place. If it ain’t completely broke, don’t fix it.

 Game Results from the Week:

Sunday: 13-8 win vs. SF

Monday: Sox day off

Tuesday: 4-1 win vs. CLE

Wednesday: 7-2 win vs. CLE

Thursday: 3-1 win vs. CLE

Friday: 3-1 loss vs. LAA

Saturday: 2-0 loss vs. LAA

Coming Up Next Week:

The White Sox will wrap up their series vs. the Angels with a Sunday night game on ESPN, then hit the road for a three game series vs. the Indians, and a four game set vs. the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend.