Tag Archives: Paul Konerko

Week Two Recap: White Sox/Giants

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What a week in baseball or should I say the weekend in baseball. The biggest news is Phil Humber’s perfect game for the White Sox, the 21st in MLB history. For me a close second is the Sox are only 1/2 game behind the Tigers for the AL Central lead, although they did get some help from a bad call in the 10th inning that went in the Rangers’ favor. Still, the Sox swept Seattle.

Saturday was a crazy day for sports as a whole, as the Giants added to the madness by tying the Mets in the ninth with a two-out routine pop-up that turned into a two-run double as it fell between three Mets’ players. Unfortunately, a questionable slide took Posey’s left ankle out and caused an errant throw that headed up the first baseline allowing the winning run to score.

Minutes later the Sox game began and history was made, phew!

White Sox Recap      Grade: B

Looks more and more like Jim Leyland was correct in his assessment of the White Sox last week. It was a strange week for the Sox fans watching them drop three of four to the Orioles at home before sweeping the Mariners this weekend that included Humber’s perfect game moving them within a 1/2 game of first place. Both the Tigers and Sox should probably both get an “A” compared to where they were at this time last season, the Tigers had just reached .500 and the Sox were four games under. A much improved start to 2012 for both teams, but Sox had trouble at home against the Orioles that’s unforgivable. The biggest issue was game one of the series where the bullpen allowed 9 runs from the 8th – 10th preventing Humber from his first win of the season. Maybe, after watching that Humber decided he needed to go the distant to preserve a win, so he decided to throw a perfect game.

The other issues with the Sox are the usual slow starts of Gavin Floyd and John Danks. Floyd worked hard to allow only five runs in his performance in Thursday’s game and Danks survived Seattle to escape with the win yesterday. It’s time for these guys to step-up and perform like they are capable of performing.

It is good to type that Jake Peavy seems to be back and is pitching like the ace of the staff, he takes a 2-0 record with a 2.75 ERA into tonight’s game against the Oakland A’s.

There are lots of good things happening offensively for the White Sox, AJ Pierzynski is number 4 on the RBI list in the AL (tied with three players), while Dunn is right behind him at #7 (tied with three players). I guess the production problems from left-handed hitters exited the White Sox organization with Ozzie Guillen.

Three thru six are producing for the Sox, which had to happen for them to have success this season, Dunn has 13 RBIs, 6 doubles, and 3 homers with a .246 avg; Konerko has 11 RBIs, 6 doubles and 3 homers with a .362 avg; Pierzynski has 14 RBIs and 4 homers with a .348 avg; and Rios has 7 RBIs, 3 doubles, and homer with a .333 avg. Pretty good production from the heart of the order.

It’s the Sox and Tigers for the division if things continue like this, let’s go SOX!

Jake Peavy(2-0) takes on the surprising Bartolo Colon(3-0) tonight in Oakland at 9:05 pm CST.

Giants Recap                        Grade: B

Well, the week started off with a dud as Tim Lincecum versus Roy Halladay had more offense than anyone anticipated. Lincecum struggled to get through six innings even though he looked good at times. Hopefully this was the tune-up start before he returns to form.

The incredible game was Matt Cain against Cliff Lee, as Cain went 9 innings and Lee went 10 before the Giants won 1-0 in the 11th inning. Cain was almost as brilliant as he was in his one-hitter the prior weekend, allowing only two hits and one walk over the nine innings. Cain has made a total rebound from his debut outing allowing no runs over his last 18 innings pitched. The pitching staff has looked solid again, except for Lincecum who has a chance to redeem himself today against the Mets in a scheduled doubleheader. This is a classic doubleheader when the second game will begin about 1/2 hour after game one ends. Do you get to drink the whole time?

The Giants offense continued to score at least four runs in three of their five games this week, the two games they didn’t were against Halladay and Lee, so that’s excusable. The Giants went 3-2 during the rain shorten week, not bad. Things are pointing in the right direction.

The Freak(0-2) vs. Miguel Batista(0-0) this afternoon at Citi Field at 3:10 pm CST.

Sox Opening Series Recap; Grade: C

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The first series of the year is in the books for the White Sox and they look pretty average, so far. There are a few subtle changes that are worth noting, but the biggest similarity with the 2011 White Sox is the inability to get a hit with runners in scoring position.

The Sox squandered opportunities the entire series against the Rangers, that ultimately lead to their demise in game one, and putting no real pressure on the Rangers starter, Matt Harrison, along with a subpar performance by Gavin Floyd did them in last night.

For most part the starting pitching was solid in the series, both John Danks and Jake Peavy turned in quality starts, but the long ball did Gavin Floyd in as he let up three homers leading to five runs. All the home runs were allowed because Floyd missed his spots on those pitches and paid for it. He only allowed five hits over 5-2/3 innings, but gave up two-strike home runs to both Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton; almost unforgiveable.

On the plus side of things in the series, the bullpen has pitched 7-1/3 scoreless innings to start the season, and a save from rookie closer, Hector Santiago. The best part was it was three-up, three-down for his save, no drama. Alex Rios hit the game winning home run in game two and Adam Dunn had a home run in game one and a hit off a lefty in game two. With his hit against a lefty, Derek Holland, that brought Dunn within six hits of surpassing his total number of hits against lefties in 2011. As sad of a stat as that is, it’s a positive that he’s getting some of last year’s demons exorcised early on in the season.

Of course, Paul Konerko is going about his business as usual, batting .417 with 3 RBIs in the first three games. He’s on pace for 162! Unfortunately, that will fall well short of the 300 RBIs Prince and Mig are each on pace for with the Tigers. The Tigers basically broke Boston’s back early in the season by sweeping them including two come from behind victories over the three games. That makes the Sox 1-2 start a bit more painful as they already trail the Tigers by two games.

The most painful stat for the Sox is their lack of execution with runners in scoring position, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph. The Sox were 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position over the three game series, which makes it near impossible for a team to win with those types of stats. What’s even more depressing about that stat is if they had gotten one more hit with runners in scoring position, they would have won game one. Somehow they would have won two games going 3-for-19. The only positive to take from that stat is that they had a runner in scoring position 19 times, which means they are hitting and getting on base.

It’s only three games, so I’m not going to freak out nor am I going to declare a big year for Rios. I do think that Dunn will have a close to normal Adam Dunn year for the Sox, but I said at the end of last season.

Chris Sale is on the bump tonight against division opponent, the Cleveland Indians, who did not play very well in their opening series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Hopefully, the Sox can take advantage of that. Key pitching match-up is game three where John Danks squares off against Justin Masterson; it should be a dandy.

What if?

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The key to 2012

As I read an interview with Paul Konerko this morning in the Chicago Tribune I realized that the White Sox would be more fun to watch this season than last season, especially since the expectation level is lower. Should it be?

At first glance I immediately say, yes! A season with 75-wins would be great for this team, but is that really accurate? Other than losing Mark Beuhrle have the White Sox lost all that much compared to last season? Let’s really break it down.

Ozzie Guillen is gone and that may be 5 -10 more wins for the White Sox this season. Konerko admitted that a lot of the Sox woes towards the end of the season were related to the Guillen/Kenny Williams drama, “…there was definitely sometimes late in the year last year, especially where there as probably games and days given away because of people worrying about things that were not related to the game of baseball.” Pretty ridiculous for professional players and managers but the good news is that sideshow is gone.

Carlos Quentin headed west and took his injuries with him. CQ only played in 117 games for the White Sox in 2011, but had a stat line of 24 homers and 77 RBIs, not too bad for only 117 games. The two biggest issues with CQ have been the aforementioned injury bug and his streakiness as a hitter. Half of his home runs last season were hit during an 11 game period between July 9 – 25, he only hit 12 homers over the other 106 games he played. The young Dayan Viciedo and Alejandro DeAza should breathe new life into the outfield. Viciedo has the ability to easily hit 24 home runs.

Sergio Santos was the most puzzling trade from a dollar and cents point of view, but not from a White Sox needs’ point of view. Trading Santos for the talented Nestor Molina was the right move as the Sox are in desperate need of starting pitching for the future. Santos is unproven, but seemed to have the raw talent to be a successful closer for years to come. The Sox have stock piled young arms this offseason, planning for the future for the first time in almost five years. Jessie Crain and Matt Thornton will be available to close games.

Juan Pierre… who cares? I already talked about Beuhrle.

So now I’ll move on to what the Sox have, they have a young managerially and coaching staff except for Don Cooper, Harold Baines, and Juan Nieves, Guillen left overs. There’s no love loss between Cooper and Guillen, but I see Cooper as a no-nonsense guy and with Guillen there was a ton on nonsense. Again, I will wait to pass judgment on Robin Ventura and his crew until mid-season. One thing’s for sure I like the fact that that catchers and pitchers are working out 90-minutes prior to the rest of team to fix the Sox getting more bases stolen on them any other team. According to AJ Pierzynski this was not a concern of the prior coaching staff. Really? While that seemed obvious it’s ridiculous to hear someone finally say it.

Then you have the “Trio of Terror;” Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Gordon Beckham. If these three guys hit then you will definitely see Smitty and I at the Cell on September 10 – 13 during a four game series against the Tigers. I look at like this, if Dunn and Rios produce 75% of their best years then the White Sox will not have any problems producing runs. Dunn would have 30 homers and 80 RBIs, while Rios would have 18 homers and 66 RBIs; both would be acceptable rebound years. For Beckham, he just needs to get back to driving the ball and hitting above .300, and the rest will fall into place. He was so deadly when he first came up because he covered the entire plate and hit to all fields.

Finally, you have three pitchers that are more than capable of winning at least 15-games each; Jake Peavy, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd. For Danks and Floyd it’s about keeping their concentration during key moments in games, but Peavy is all about health. He plans on pitching like he always has because that’s the only way he knows how to pitch, at least that’s his stance at the moment. When his two-seam fastball is moving he’s almost unhittable, the question is does he have enough giddy-up on his four-seamer to throw it bye hitters. We’ll find out soon enough.

I’m feeling a little more like the glass is half full versus half empty as Spring training kicks into full gear, but these mysterious questions surrounding the White Sox players could change that in a split second.

Let’s say the perfect storm occurs and everything that I mentioned happens, I would put the Sox at 88-90 victories and a possible Wild Card birth. Yes, only a Wild Card because those stacked Tigers should win at least 94 games this season. If not, then the Sox will probably be within five games of .500 on either side. Now is the time to dream. Go Sox!

Now or never

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Hot and sucky, another game against the Yanks

With the Detroit Tigers playing very good baseball right now, the White Sox can ill-afford to go on an extended losing streak. The Yankees handled John Danks as they have for his career against them, by pounding him. Danks had an ERA close to eight coming into the game, so I can only imagine that he’s surpassed that mark.

The biggest blow to the White Sox has been not having the services of their captain, Paul Konerko, for the last two games with a bruised calf. The Sox offense which barely has had a pulse can be pronounced dead without Konerko in the line-up. The games against the Yankees should have been getting easier after Monday night’s 3-2 loss to C.C. Sabathia with their sub par pitching staff, instead the Sox made Phil Hughes look like an ace as he shut them down in a rain shortened affair.

When the Sox assembled this team in the offseason, losing Konerko for a few games surely seemed survivable. The Sox brought in a 40 home run hitter in Adam Dunn, but that’s turned into a complete bust. Dunn sits at 10 homers and while he’s hitting more fly ball outs over the last week, they are still outs. Even worse than Dunn is Alex Rios, who has 6 homers and 24 RBIs in contrast to 21 homers, 88 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases a year ago. If you look at both of their numbers the Sox at this point are lacking 27 home runs and 78 RBIs they were expecting to have.

They were counting on a bounce back year from Carlos Quentin and he has done just that, the sad thing is Rios isn’t even producing half the numbers he produced last season.Dunn on the other hand still has a chance to salvage the season, somewhat. If he does that the Sox may still make some noise, but at 5-1/2 games back the Sox continue to make things more difficult for themselves.

It’s desperate times, in fact I’m so desperate I shaved off the soul patch in an effort to switch things up for the team. The history of the soul patch is as follows; I grew one in 2005 and the Sox won the World Series. Since, I usually grow one every summer, I hadn’t last season, then grew one and the Sox went on their epic run. I know this is all ridiculous, but it is how much a part of my life the White Sox are and even though the logical side of me knows my facial hair or lack there of does not affect the team, I sadly do what I do.

Tonight they face AJ Burnett, another very hittable pitcher. Maybe, Paulie can come back to tonight and DH, and act as a defibrillator for the Sox offense so tomorrow I can proudly write, soul patchless face, 1- 0. Go Sox!

All-Star Break Report Cards

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Jim Hendry: you are an EPIC FAIL

Detroit Tigers – 49-43, 1st place, AL Central

Hitting: B+
413 Runs (5th AL)
819 Hits (4th AL)
90 HRs (6th AL)
.264 Avg (4th AL)

Pitching: C-
4.27 ERA (11th AL)
621 Ks (9th AL)
.260 Avg. Against (11th AL)
1.37 WHIP (11th AL)

Defense: D
.982 FPCT (11th AL)

Head of the Class: Justin Verlander – 12 Ws, 2.15 ERA, 147 Ks

Overall Grade: B-
The Tigers are certainly happy to take over first place on the last day before the All-Star break (as opposed to losing it a year ago) but there’s clearly a lot of work for Dave Dombrowski to do if they expect to hold off those pesky Indians and the suddenly resurgent Twins. A frontline starting pitcher will be at the top of their wish list as the trade deadline approaches. Houston’s LHP Wandy Rodriguez might fit the bill.

Chicago White Sox - 44-48, 3rd place, AL Central (5 games back)

Hitting: C-
366 Runs (9th AL)
791 Hist (7th AL)
89 HRs (7th AL)
.252 Avg. (9th AL)

Pitching: B-
3.86 ERA (6th AL)
650 Ks (2nd AL)
.256 Avg. Against (8th AL)
1.28 WHIP (6th AL)

Defense: A
.987 FPCt (1st AL)

Head of the Class: Paul Konerko - .319 Avg., 41 Runs, 22 HRs, 67 RBI

Overall Grade: C+
Despite decent numbers across the board, the Sox have lacked the chemistry and timely hitting to win consistently thus far. Kenny Williams cannot be happy entering the All-Star break after losing a home series to his nemesis, the Minnesota Twins, and the trade winds have been swirling.  Expect a big shake up in the next week or so that could involve Carlos Quentin and/or Edwin Jackson.

Chicago Cubs - 37-55, 5th place, NL Central (12 games back)

Hitting: B
375 Runs (8th NL)
836 Hits (3rd NI)
79 HRs (8th NL)
.263 Avg. (2nd NL)

Pitching: F
4.62 ERA (15th NL)
676 Ks (5th NL)
.269 Avg. Against (15th NL)
1.47 WHIP (16th NL)

Defense: F
.977 FPCT (16th NL)

Head of the Class: N/A

Overall Grade: F
What can you say about the Cubs that hasn’t already been said?  MAJOR changes need to happen immediately, but it would take a miracle for Jim Hendry to be able to unload any of the albatrosses that permeate this roster due to bad contracts. The future is as bleak as it ever has been, and that’s saying a lot.

I have a few things to say…

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You've gotta be bleepin' me!

It’s an angry Monday morning for Peter Verniere at Stats Central in Bucktown, home of Ozzie Guillen. First off, the Sox lost yesterday to a terrible team who sent out a terrible pitcher, oddly enough, Rodrigo Lopez’ fastball topped out at 90 mph, just like Big Z’s, the lone game the Cubs won at US Cellular Filed. Apparently, batting practice fastballs are too difficult for the White Sox hitters to take out of the park or into the gaps.
The Sox hitters were pathetic on Saturday, also, and should be embarrassed on how they played that last two games. Even as a series they hit only .204 with runners in scoring position and 10 extra base hits, the only team worse than that was the Cubs who hit .167 with runners in scoring position. Two days of frustrating baseball come to a close, and hopefully the Sox can find their offense at US Cellular Field this evening.

Now to the All-Star game, how is Paul Konerko not on the All-Star team? This is the first year I can say his numbers are little bit better than Miguel Cabrera’s numbers, so why not Paulie? Konerko has 21 home runs to Cabrera’s 17, he has 62 RBIs to Cabrera’s 56, and 170 total bases to Cabrera’s 166. Big Mig has 20 doubles to Konerko’s 12, is batting 9 points higher, and has more DUI’s then Konerko but that hardly seems worthy of giving Konerko a snub. Maybe the players wanted to make sure that Ron Washington had another rehab candidate to talk too, since the Josh Hamilton stories are really getting old by now.

I can just hear the conversation in the AL dugout now, “Mig drinking the scotch in front of the cops was all ballz.”

“Oh Ron, doing coke in the locker room during the game is pretty ballz, too! What are you doing after the game?”

Then it gets more insulting for Konerko and Mark Teixeira as there’s some dumb rule that only fulltime DH’s can take a DH spot on the roster, so instead of two better hitters sitting on the bench in DH spots there’s Big Papi and Michael Young, who combined have one less homer then Teixeira and only three more than Konerko.

Then the final insult, the players on the ballot with Konerko for the final vote, Victor Martinez, 6 homers and 46 RBIs, you must be joking! Next up, Alex Gordon, 10 homers and 46 RBIs, I see a trend starting. Adam Jones, 13 homers and you guessed it, 46 RBIs, and finally Ben Zorbrist? Really? Nine homers and 40 RBIs. Not one of these players are in the ballpark offensively with Konerko. Ridiculous!

At least, Carlos Quentin was voted in by his fellow players, as opposed to the Cubs only representative having to be picked by the NL Manager, Bruce Bochy, in Starlin Castro.

To sum it all up,  two of the top three AL home run and run producers [Konerko and Teixeira] are currently not on the AL All-Star roster. You’ve gotta be bleepin’ me!

Summing up the City Series – part 1

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Well, if you didn’t want drama then you should not have watched this series, all of the games could have gone either way. In game one, Marmol let up two singles to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, and the Sox won the last two games by one run each. Let’s take a look at some highs and lows from both sides of the city from part one of the Crosstown Classic.

The Good

  • Paul Konerko continued his MVP type season by hitting two home runs in the first two games of the series, while Carlos Pena hit a home run in each of games proving to be well worth the $10 million investment the Cubs made. I have a feeling both the Sox and Cubs will pitch each player more carefully the next meeting at Wrigley.
  • Even though Starlin Castro committed his 16th error of the season in game three he made incredible plays in the field and was masterful with the bat the whole series. A true star in the making.
  • Sergio Santos took care of the heart of the Cubs order in both of saves and made it look easy.
  • Carlos Zambrano avoided the first inning meltdown and turned in a great performance over a team that’s had his number
  • Alex Rios batted .400 in the series and scored twice
  • Ozzie’s ejection was good entertainment
The Bad
  • Aramis Ramirez continued his underwhelming season for $15 million by going 1-for-11 in the series
  • Carlos Quentin only mustered two hits in the series
  • Gavin Floyd lacked his usual control and let up six runs in game one
  • The rotating third spot for the Cubs’ batting order mustered only two hits
  • Mike Quade’s line-ups were questionable at best. The only one that made sense was game three. I know they scored six runs in game one, but three were scored on a pitch that Smitty or I could have hit out of the park.
The Ugly
  • This is reserved for Adam Dunn, how can he not hit a fastball? U-G-L-Y!

 

The Sox Offense has been sighted

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Paulie and CQ a White Sox winner!

The White Sox scored more runs in last night’s 6-2 pounding of the Arizona Diamondbacks then they had in their previous three. Apparently and thankfully it was just a mini-slump for the Sox offense as the busted out last night including participation from Alex Rios. Yes, that is correct, Alex Rios participated in the fun last night in the desert.

Rios drove in four that included a three-run homer in the top of the eight to give the White Sox some breathing room. They were leading, 3-2, up to that point thanks to Paul Konerko’s 18th home run of the year. The Sox also took their lumps in this one. Carlos Quentin was hit again, for a league leading 16th time this season and second night in a row, John Danks took a liner off his skull but stayed in the game to pitch, and Konerko’s Dad was hit by a foul ball; he too was fine.

I did not know how to react on Friday night when we lost a game to a National league team in late June, I was expecting a 10-game win streak, well maybe that started last night. I mean, well, the Cubs are coming in tomorrow and I believe Big Z is slated to start in one of those games, so the question is will he get out of the first? Let’s go SOX!!!!

The 2011 Bash Brothers

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2011 Bash Brothers

All signs pointed to a bounce back year for Carlos Quentin, he remained healthy all of last season outside from a bruised knee pain that sidelined throughout the season. He hit 26 home runs and drove in 87 RBIs in 131 games, most of this occurring in the second half of the year. CQ is well on his way to those numbers as he hit two home runs in last evening’s game against the Mariners, one that gave the Sox an early lead and the later that tied the game in the eighth. CQ’s numbers are not to be taken lightly, he has 17 home runs, 45 RBIs, and 20 doubles, leading the Sox in both home runs and doubles.

Batting right after CQ in the clean-up spot is White Sox Captain, Paul Konerko, who’s also having another All-Star caliber year. Paulie has 14 home runs, 47 RBIs, and 11 doubles with a .316 batting average making them one of the deadliest one, two punches in baseball. These numbers are the type numbers that combos such as McGuire/Conseco (steroids), Manny/Big Papi (steroids), Bagwell/Berkman (steroids), and dare I say Sosa/McGriff (steroids.) McGriff did drive in 100 that year and hit over 20 home runs.

Paulie and CQ are well on their way to eclipsing those types of numbers. There are only a few other combos in baseball producing big numbers, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers; and Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees. Braun has 13 home runs with 45 RBIs, while Fielder has 17 home runs and 54 RBIs. Granderson has 17 home runs with 41 RBIs while Teixeira has 18 home runs with 43 RBIs. If you take the RBIs of those three combos, which totals 275 and put them up against the entire Cubs roster you might be a little shocked. The Cubs have only 222 RBIs which means the entire team produces less runs than the three top combos in baseball. Pretty sad. The Paulie/CQ/Braun/Fielder combos alone have a home run total of 61 which is 19 more home runs than the entire Cubs roster. Wow. It’s unfair for me to single out the Cubs as there are only eight teams in all of baseball with more than 60 home runs.

Here’s a crazy idea for Adam Dunn, start hitting, because if he starts hitting then that would arguably be the best trio in baseball. Just think, as far as we know all the aforementioned 2011 Bash Brothers are putting up big numbers without steroids. It’s nice to type that.