Chicago White Sox: If the Lineup's Broken, Fix It

"Good pitching beats good hitting."

Thanks for the insight, Grandpa, but times have changed.

An updated version of that old baseball motto should read, "Good pitching with no hitting, will get you nowhere."

A perfect example of this is the 2010 Chicago White Sox.

They have a rotation that rivals any team in baseball and a lineup that rivals any team that has ever lost 90 games in a season.

A typical lineup has speed at the top, a combination of power and skilled batters in the middle and average hitters who won't kill you and can sometimes step up at the bottom.

Seem reasonable?

Well Kenny Williams has tried to follow that formula, but just like my volcano at the third grad science fair, it's blown up.

See, instead of assembling a lineup that fits the formula, Kenny has assembled a lineup that will struggle to string hits together and doesn't have enough power to play for the home run.

The top of the order is fine. Pierre, Beckham and Quentin are an exciting top of the order.

Then comes Paul Konerko, who would be a great No. 6 hitter, but as a cleanup hitter he appears serviceable at best and over the hill at worst.

Mark Kotsay, batting fifth against righties would be funny in it's absurdity, if he wasn't playing for the Sox. I'm not against Kotsay being on the team.

I mean, I would be OK with him as a situational pinch hitter against a tough righty in extra innings, but does that sound familiar?

The bottom of the order at this point is an embarrassment. Alexi is once again proving that he inexplicably can not hit early in the season.

Mark Teahen was in the process of changing the pronunciation of his last name to "The pitchers spot" before his three-hit night in Toronto.

My point in all of this is that the White Sox have an opportunity right now with their pitching staff. Opportunities like this don't come around every year unless you live in New York or Boston.

At this point, I'm not sure what Ozzie and Kenny can do to fix a problem that was created this off-season.

But if somethings not done, this opportunity will pass the White Sox by.