2007 State of the Sox

Week in a Box: April 2-8

Considering all the ugly twists and turns this week took, along with turns in the rotation for Sox killers Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia, it's almost a miracle the Sox finished 2-3.

Player of the Week:  Darin Erstad.  He hit a homer in his first at-bat in a White Sox uniform and has played a solid brand of ball.  He hits for power!  Average!  He moves runners over!  He bunts!  He steals bases!  He plays a competent center field!  At least for a week, he's lived up to the enormous amount of hype.

Player of the Weak:  Jermaine Dye.  There have been a slew of disappointing performances -- Jim Thome and A.J. Pierzynski have been equal or worse in terms of average and on-base percentage -- but Jermaine's failed in a couple of key spots.

Pitcher of the Week:  Javier Vazquez.  An easy choice, although John Danks represented himself well.

Pitcher of the Weak:  Jose Contreras.  Duh.

Fireman of the Week:  Nick Masset.  David Aardsma had the most explosive outing of them all, and Andy Sisco, Mike MacDougal and Bobby Jenks have delivered thus far, but Masset's 4 2/3-inning stint bailed out Mark Buehrle and helped the Sox to avoid the sweep.

Gas Can of the Week:  Matt Thornton.  Easy choice.

Super Sub:  Brian Anderson.  Hey, he's batting 1.000.

Super Scrub:  Rob Mackowiak.  Not really his fault, but two strikeouts in three at-bats makes him the clear-cut cellar dwellar among the bench players.  Even Gustavo Molina has an RBI.

Gold Glove of the Week:  Darin Erstad.  He hasn't done anything remarkable about there, but more importantly, there haven't been any scary moments.

Hands of Stone:  Nobody.  Joe Crede and Juan Uribe own the only errors, but both were inconsequential and not worth damning the rest of their play for.