With the Sox on the verge of losing again, I have felt the need to get back into blogging with a similar article to what I had gotten recognition for last summer.
Hopefully you enjoy—I am open to comments and opinions.
Five Reasons to Give Up on White Sox
1. Gordon Beckham
Sophomore slump, anyone? For a four-month Rookie of the Year candidate, Beckham is now batting .185 for the season and has gone 4-for-33 in the last 10 games. He only has five extra-base hits on the year. He has moved from No. 2 to the bottom of the order, but no one else has been competitive enough to take his spot.
2. Bench Players
I am excluding Andruw Jones from this category because I consider him a starter after the Mark Kotsay experiment at DH failed. With a bench with Omar Vizquel, Kotsay, Jayson Nix, and Ramon Castro/Donny Lucy, the White Sox' best player out of all of those was Lucy, who filled in for Castro when he was on the DL and is now down in Charlotte.
3. Inconsistent Starting Pitching
Mark Buehrle hasn't given up more than six earned runs in a game. All right, that is respectable, but not for this previous Cy Young candidate. His 5.26 ERA is the highest in a while, and he started out strong but has tapered off with a few good starts sprinkled in.
Gavin Floyd has been just terrible. Where is his command? He looks uncomfortable on the mound. If he pitched like he did in Texas at the end of April, he wouldn't be 1-4; he would be at least 4-1, if not 5-1.
Jake Peavy also has not done well against American League hitters. He has started to turn it around in his last three starts, but who knows how long that will last?
Even John Danks, the White Sox' best starter so far this year, and Freddy Garcia have had rough patches but have performed in the clutch.
4. Leadoff Hitter
The Juan Pierre experiment looks to be taking full form, as he has started to turn it around, although his .309 OBP is not as high as the Sox should want it to be. No one else has stepped up to show he could be as successful as Pierre. Scott Podsednik is looking pretty decent now.
5. Bobby Jenks
Okay, so he is 6-for-7 in save opportunities, but he is on the list for the same reason as the past couple of years—what he does in a tie game is give up the lead, whether he is in the game or not. His losses or blown saves may not show it, but his over 5.00 ERA as a closer is ridiculous.
Five Reasons to Be Hopeful for White Sox
1. Speed
The Sox have 45 stolen bases. Well, at least one aspect of the Ozzie plan is working. They are not at the bottom of the barrel in terms of stolen bases or stealing percentage—way to go Sox!
2. Paul Konerko
Last year of his contract, and he is showing the Sox that his trade value is still high, as he leads the majors in homers with 14—not too shabby. By the time the season is over, will the hometown hero still be in black and white? Who knows?
3. Andruw Jones
I will admit I was skeptical as many might be of the washed-up junior slugger. He has really shown that he still has pop in his bat, slugging nine home runs, mostly solo shots. Jones has shown his versatility to play all three outfield positions and DH once in a while. You can't take his bat out of the lineup, because you never know when he will line a double or hit one over the fence.
4. Alex Rios
At the beginning of the year, he struggled, but that was the Rios way. Rios did not do well in his short stint with the Sox last year but now leads the team, knocking on the door of a .300 average. He has shown that his bat is back and will hopefully contribute this well for the Sox this year and for the next five.
5. Setup Relief Pitchers
The combination of Sergio Santos, Scott Linebrink, J.J. Putz, and Matt Thornton has done its job. The four all have ERAs that are under 4.15, which is Putz, due to early rough outings, but all have been very solid and have cost the Sox the fewest number of games this season, as opposed to the offense or starting pitching.
Santos is the biggest surprise for the Sox, having a team-low 0.63 ERA. He may not have been tested much yet, but he shows a lot of promise.
Overall, the Sox need to improve. I do not know how they will do this, but with trade rumors surrounding A.J. Pierzynski, who knows what more will happen throughout the remainder of the season?
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