Floyd, Bats Getting Job Done

by Mike DePilla

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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So, what's this about Gavin Floyd not getting run support again?

Juan Pierre scored with no one out in the first, and that proved to be all the support Floyd would need. But, just for good measure, the Sox added 10 more runs. There. Was that enough for you, Gavin?

Joking aside, while it's true that Ryan Rowland-Smith and the anemic Seattle Mariners aren't exactly a great measuring stick for a potential playoff team, the White Sox have sure looked like a team with post season ambitions these past two nights at the Cell.

While everyone still wants to add a softball-style slugger to the lineup, the Sox offense has continued to string together base hits and score runs at a good pace. In fact, if you consider a game in which the opponent scores 4 runs or less and the Sox still lose the "fault" of the offense, I count only five such losses over the past two months. (Admittedly that is a somewhat cherry-picked stat, ignoring low-scoring wins and blowout losses. But it does show the offense's reliability overall.)

The three most recent "offense" losses came against Tommy Hunter (who is 8-0 with a 2.31 ERA on the season), Carl Pavano (whose mustache gives him super-human powers) and King Felix Hernandez (who the Sox turned around and beat five days later, even though he is possibly the best pitcher in the league).

It may well be that the Sox get a new bat before Saturday night, but the offense has definitely done it's job more than capably over the last two months. (More on deadline trades coming tomorrow.)

Floyd's run of dominance, while not totally unexpected or unpredicted, is still spectacular. Over his last 10 stars, Floyd has allowed a total of eight earned runs and a staggering zero homeruns. His season ERA, which was as high as 6.64 on June 4, is now 3.66. Dropping three full runs in under two months? How often has that been done?

One other crazy thing about last night's game: the Sox scored 11 runs tonight and Tony Pena pitched an inning... and the game still lasted only 2:04. That is impressive.

Closer Controversy Takes Center Stage

by Mike DePilla

Thursday, July 22, 2010
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Uh oh.

If Andruw Jones hadn't made an amazing diving catch-double play in the bottom of the ninth inning, the White Sox probably wouldn't have a closer controversy on their hands. But he did, and they do.

With King Felix on the mound and flat out dealing, this wasn't a game the Sox were supposed to win anyway. Thing is, Gavin Floyd was dealing as well and, after some stellar defense and a clutch base hit, the Sox were three outs away from sweeping the Mariners and putting Sunday's meltdown firmly in the rear-view mirror. Instead, the Sox have now watched two wins get ripped out of their grasp in four days, and the story has gone from side note to main focus.

Bobby Jenks just doesn't look comfortable at all on the mound right now. From the moment he jogs in from the bullpen to his shaking off of AJ Pierzynski's signs, you just get a vision of bad things happening. Walks helped lead to his problems on Sunday, but even when he does get ahead of a hitter, he doesn't have an out pitch: he's not making anybody swing and miss. Heck, he's not even making them swing and hit anything but a line drive.


His bread and butter out pitch is the curveball, and he has abandoned it the last few times out. There is no chance Jenks can maintain effectiveness with a mediocre fastball and a piss poor slider. It only took the Mariners 10 pitches to score two runs last night. If his arm is in pain and he physically cannot throw a good breaking ball, he's not going to last long, even in a set up role.

Now, whether this is a lingering affect of his family issues, a physical ailment or something else entirely is impossible to tell. Before the All-Star break, Jenks did pick up two relatively clean saves against the Angels after coming back from his leave on the bereavement list. But he's been pretty bad since the bell rang for the second half: 7 runs in 2.2 innings pitched.

On July 15, Bobby was called on for a multiple inning save against the Twins. After recording the final out in the eight, he was shaky in the ninth inning that game, allowing a run on two hits. He's been downright terrible since then. His next appearance, three days later, was the infamous 4-run, zero-out implosion. He did pitch a scoreless inning two nights ago, but he couldn't handle back to back games. In his last two save opportunities, Jenks has recorded only one out- and it was on a sacrifice bunt.

Did that multiple inning outing mess him up? Is there arm fatigue we don't know about? Has his confidence eroded? Is it time to hand the ball over to JJ Putz in the ninth inning? Will Bobby get the 2005 Shingo treatment?

These are tough questions and, in any case, it will be a tough decision for Ozzie Guillen. It appears Ozzie is leaning toward a closer by committee, an acceptable decision, judging from his postgame comments.

If the Sox had lost 1-0 in the 9th inning on Bradley's bloop single, you could shrug and be happy with two out of three. But instead, today is going to be a long day off.

Bouncing Back

by Mike DePilla

Wednesday, July 21, 2010
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After the walk of shame off Target Field, Sunday afternoon was just about as bad a day as a baseball team can have. The Sox needed to make like Dennis Rodman and rebound, and fast. Looks like the Mariners were just what the doctor ordered. That, and some unbelievable defense.

As bleak as things looked Sunday, when the Sox dropped their third game in a row to the Twins in heartbreaking fashion, they look positively rosy again today. Two straight wins over the lowly M's combined with several losses by the suddenly-super-vulnerable Twins and Tigers (7 in a row for Detroit) have stretched the Sox lead out to a season-high 3.5 games in the division.

Also--and I'm not saying this is a likely possibility--the Sox are now only four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wildcard race. I don't think the team's chances of overtaking Boston and Tampa Bay are very good, but stranger things have happened. (The Sox are currently percentage points ahead of Boston.)

Credit this win first and foremost to John Danks, who allowed two measly singles in 7.2 scoreless innings. And despite all this talk about the need to add another bat, the Sox offense is consistently coming through with enough runs to win games.

But the story of the night was the amazing glove work of the left side of the infield. Omar Vizquel and Alexei Ramirez put on a defensive clinic last night, culminating with back-to-back spectacular plays of one-up-manship to assist Bobby Jenks in the 9th inning.

Alexei has really impressed me on defense. As Jim points out at SoxMachine, you can basically throw out April every year and start judging Ramirez on what he does from May on. Last year, with his flashiness combined with mental lapses and routine mistakes, I frankly thought Ramirez was overrated defensively at shortstop. Maybe being around a legend like Vizquel has improved his focus, or maybe he is just feeling naturally more comfortable with a year under his belt, but Ramirez's range has improved immensely, his throws are super accurate and his focus is terrific. It has gotten to the point where I think he seriously needs to be considered for the Gold Glove this year. (That is, if the award was actually awarded for real defense, not for offense, popularity or reputation).

As for Vizquel, what else can you say about the 43-year-old Wunderkid? Even if he wasn't hitting, he would still needs to be in the line up everyday for his defense. If his bat does slow down, (and it probably will- it's not reasonable to expect him to continue hitting over .300 as he has since playing everyday) he can return to the ninth spot in the order. Gordon Beckham, though still inconsistent, might be just about ready to move back to the number two hole.

Then there's Mark Teahen. Sorry buddy, but there's just no job for you.

******
A little more on the batting order. The Sox are winning, so you really can't criticize much. It ain't broke, but should Ozzie fix it?

The Sox go into battle tonight with the same line up they've used just about every game since the break:

Pierre LF
Vizquel 3B
Rios CF
Konerko 1B
Kotsay DH
Jones RF
Pierzynski C
Ramirez SS
Beckham 2B

Essentially, the team's two hottest hitters are batting last and the team's two worst hitters are batting 5th and 6th.

Mark Kotsay has been given so much time to get his proverbial sh*t together you might as well call him Christopher Moltisanti. Even as he continues to cost the Sox runs with a horrid .140 batting average with runners in scoring position, he is treated to the 5th spot in the order every night. (Sixth if Quentin plays.)

Might it be time to see Dayan Viciedo get some at bats at DH? If the kid is just up here as trade bait, then let his languish away on the bench. But if he is actually up here for real, then he should get some at bats. His third base renaissance is over, but he can't be much worse against righties than Kotsay.

Blaming Jenks, Praising Putz

by Mike DePilla

Sunday, July 18, 2010
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It's not often you can actually say this and have it be accurate:

Today's loss was entirely the fault one man, Bobby Jenks.

You can't blame the manager. Ozzie did everything fine, or the least didn't make any grievous errors. That includes waiting until four batters in the 9th inning before pulling Jenks, the right move at the appropriate time.

You can't blame the offense. While they did leave a few runs out on the bases (Juan Pierre's failed squeeze is frustrating), so did the Twins (12 left on base), and the Sox still put up six runs (on an impressive 16 hits), enough to go into the 9th with a three-run cushion.

You can't blame the starter. Freddy Garcia had a quality start, albeit a shaky one ( 6 IP, 3 R, 11 H). Not a sterling line, but he still left with a comfortable lead.

You can't blame the rest of the bullpen. Matt Thornton and JJ Putz put up nothing but goose eggs, and Sergio Santos, inheriting an awful mess, was thrust unexpectedly into a situation with which he has little to no experience.

You can't blame the defense. Outside of Alex Rios' WTF throw to end the game, the D basically did everything they could. There weren't any misplays that led to baserunners in the 9th inning.

So this one was entirely, 100% on Bobby Jenks, who flat out didn't have it today. Usually it's a knee jerk over-reaction to blame one guy. Baseball is rarely that cut and dry, but today, unfortunately, it was.

Jenks will always have detractors, since he makes everything look like a high wire act. However, he came into today with a sub-4 ERA, and only one blown save on the season, which, while not telling the whole story, still means that he has been effective. Bad days happen- there's no reason to rush out and declare a closer controversy based on one day. But Jenks does have to work on his discipline and focus with a three-run lead (or in a tie game). It's not OK to mail it in when he's handed anything but a narrow lead in the 9th inning.

This was by far the hardest loss of the season for the Sox, who hadn't won lost three games in a row since mid-April. (I do, however, hope that this dispels the myth that all of the Sox struggles and strange occurrences in Minnesota were due to the Baggiedome.)

But it's not all doom and gloom. The obvious bright spot of the game was Gordon Beckham, who went 4-for-4 and looks like he might be turning the corner- he's hitting .421 in the month of July and hanging ropes all over the field. JJ Putz is in the midst of an incredible 24 straight scoreless appearances. (The last run Putz allowed was on May 7!)

And, hey the Tigers were just swept by the Indians. So while this was a tough one to swallow, the still-in-first-place Sox still have a lot to be optimistic about. Take two out of three or sweep in Seattle and all will be, more or less, forgotten.

*****

By the way, Carlos Quentin is every bit as fragile as Scotty Pods or Chris Getz ever were. After he bruised his right hand diving into third base, it's to the point where anytime Quentin has to do anything remotely athletic you worry about some kind of injury. Outside of that unbelievable catch against the Angels, his defense is pretty lousy in right field too. Jermaine Dye's D was pretty lousy by the end of his tenure, but he was 35 years old. Quentin is 27. It would be best to DH him if possible.

*****

That was definitely not the way I envisioned this series going down- winning the first one and then losing the next three. But, going back to the first game for a moment, the Sox were very resourceful at the plate: they scored three runs on sacrifice flies, one on a ground out and one on a balk.

However, there's something eternally unnerving about seeing Jim Thome standing at home plate representing the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning.

*****
Don't forget, MLB Network's reality series about the Sox, "The Club", premieres tonight at 8:00 pm!