The White Sox, save for A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko, aren't particularly great offensively. Despite the much improved Adam Dunn, this lineup still features the putrid Dayan Viciedo, Gordon Beckham, and Brent Morel. Entering today's game, all three of the aforementioned automatic outs have batting averages below the Mendoza Line, and wOBA's below .250. These three are supposed to be the future of the franchise in case you forgot.
Oh and please don't let me forget to mention that the Sox are 2nd in the American League in strikeouts (128), and 10th in the American League in Team OBP (.310). The only thing keeping the Sox competitive is their 6th place showing in the AL in Home Runs (17) and the corresponding Team OPS of .729 which is in the top half of the AL.
Despite their offensive challenges, the White Sox have pitched exceptionally well. The big three starting pichers thus far appear to be Jake Peavy - who is finally pitching like he's capable of, Chris Sale - who has made a smooth transition from reliever to starter (knock wood), and the freshly historic (if there is such a thing) Phillip Humber, who pitched the 21st Perfect Game in the history of baseball on Saturday. More on Humber in a moment.
There is plenty of irony to point out in this solid pitching staff however, the first of which is that the newly extended $65 million dollar man John Danks, has not exactly been dominant with his 5.11 ERA. Gavin Floyd continues to have control problems (4.08 BB/9), and the worst pitcher on the staff by the numbers is the White Sox closer Hector Santiago (5.40 ERA).
Despite the Irony based on Small Sample Size, the White Sox are currently 3rd in the AL in Team ERA (3.16) and 2nd in the AL in WHIP (1.10). There's a lot of ways this performance can be summarized but I think the expression "pleasantly surprised" is most accurate.
What does it all mean? Well the data doesn't really support any conclusions as of yet, and it won't for some time. The Sox are winning games on the road (6-2) yet still continue to struggle at home (3-4). Maybe I'll get a better understanding when I see them in person this week in Oakland, but for now - mathematically speaking - what the hell, right?
Back to Phillip Humber's historic performance however, my new favorite White Sox blog SouthSideSox.com did an outstanding job analyzing and breaking down how it happened. Not to mention it's the only place I've found that actually answers the question of whether or not Brendan Ryan swung at the final strike. You can read their outstanding work here, and here.
When I watched the replay (thank you Fox for not showing the game outside of Chicago) of the game a few things stood out to me. Humber's curveball, slider, and fastball were all working obviously, but I was amazed at all the weak fly balls Humber induced when he wasn't striking people out.
One play that I haven't seen talked about much occurred in the bottom of the 6th inning. With 2 out and (obviously) nobody on, the Mariners shortstop Munenori Kawasaki attempted to break up the Perfect Game with a BUNT! Maybe I'm imagining things, but I was under the impression that attempting to break up a no-no with a Bunt was forbidden under the Unwritten Rules of Baseball? Did anybody else see that, agree with that, or think I'm silly for even bringing it up? Either way Humber fielded the ball and nothing changed except the number of outs.
13 fly ball outs, 5 ground ball outs, and 9 strikeouts total on the day is not bad work to say the least. Humber now becomes the second pitcher under Don Cooper's watch to throw a Perfect Game. Will it mean big things for the White Sox this season? I doubt it, but who knows?
Either way I already feel better about this team than I did a year ago. Maybe the new manager might have something to do with my optimism too????
No comments:
Post a Comment