My Thoughts On The Sox Since The Break

At the All-Star break, I think a lot of people were satisfied with the first half for the White Sox.  The team was playing really well, the team was revamped due to the addition of Kevin Youkilis, and the rookie pitchers had gotten it done.  Well so far in the second half, some things have changed.

Players Making An Impact

Paul Konerko - .318/3/10

Alex Rios - .290/4/14

Gavin Floyd - 2.13 ERA in two starts

AJ Pierzynski - .317/2/6 

Hector Santiago* - 9 IP, 9 K, 2.00 ERA, .111 BAA

Adam Dunn - .232/6/12
Dayan Viciedo - .258/2/12
Leyson Septimo - 5 IP, 3 ER(but all were in one appearance), .125 BAA, 0.80 WHIP

Players Staying Afloat

Alexei Ramirez - .273/2/5

Alejandro De Aza - .279/1/9, 5 SB

Addison Reed - 4 saves, only one 1-2-3 inning since break

Jake Peavy - 2-2, 3.85 ERA with 26 K

Players Who Are Struggling

Kevin Youkilis - .164/3/8

Matt Thornton - 7.04 ERA, .344 BAA

Jose Quintana - 0-0, 4.44 ERA, .301 BAA

Gordon Beckham - .172/0/1**

Philip Humber - 5.40 ERA, 5 HR allowed in 15 IP

Nate Jones - 5 appearances, 3.1 IP, 8.10 ERA, .944 OPS-Allowed

Tyler Flowers - .266/0/1***

Chris Sale - 21.1 IP, 4.64 ERA, .328 BAbip, 5 ER in 2 of 3 starts

*Hector Santiago had the best stretch of his season and his reward was being optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

**Gordon Beckham has given this team zero production at the plate. It sucks to not have any other options at second. I miss Tad Iguchi.

***It's nice to have AJ back.

The Sox needed a starting pitcher and KW delivered by getting Francisco Liriano for next to nothing (Pedro Hernandez and Eduardo Escobar).  Liriano delivered a very solid first start for the team going 6 IP 2 ER 8 K in a no decision eventual Sox victory over his former Twins team.  I like the move now that I have dug deeper into the numbers.  From May 1st to now, he's pitched 14 starts and 5 relief appearances.  His numbers over that time are 89.2 IP, 4.12 ERA, .209 BAA, 105 K/46 BB and a WHIP of 1.27. These are much better numbers for him than his disastrous April.  I hope he can just stay steady and keep the White Sox in games and give them a chance to win.

KW also picked up Brett Myers from the Astros for RHP Matt Heidenreich(who?) and LHP Blair Walters(no really, who?) and a PTBNL.  It's a good move to add depth and experience to the bullpen.  He lost in an appearance to the Twins, but I think he'll add a lot more positive value to the team than negative.  I don't like him as a person but will have to accept that he's part of this team now for the playoff run and I'll just have to hope he pitches well for the better of the team's outcomes.

The team has beaten who they are "supposed" to beat (KC & Minnesota), although no games or series are ever gimmes in MLB. They struggled against the Tigers, being swept in a series that was definitely discouraging since they are our main competition. Mistakes and poor pitching lead to losing three of four to the Red Sox.  The team then rebounded to take two of three from the Rangers.  The White Sox are going to have to figure out how to beat the Tigers and contend against the best teams in the league if they're going to keep it up going forward.

I like where the Sox are going and they have stayed in first place, despite only being 10-9 since the break.  The guys who are struggling need to pick it up if the Sox are going to go strong for the next two months and make a realistic post season run.  They can't have multiple starters struggling and expect to win consistently.  They can't have position guys not even hitting .200 or plating base runners over a long stretch of games and expect to score enough runs to win.  

I want this team to succeed but it's going to take a lot of work to keep it up and hope that Detroit continues to flounder and not play to their potential.  I don't know what will happen but they survived 16 of 19 on the road and now look at an August filled with 15 home games and 12 road games.  There are multiple teams (Angels, A's, Orioles, Rays) right in the fight for the Wild Card and hopefully that will be Detroit's problem to worry about.  It's going to take everyone playing at least close to their full potential and staying healthy to pull this off but I think they can.  This team is gritty and they fight to win ball games.  This team cares, and it shows and Robin is doing a good job at the helm. Go Sox!