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.

April 8: Twins 3, White Sox 1

Another Johan Santana start, another White Sox loss.  But thanks to Ron Gardenhire and John Danks, the South Siders were in it until the end.

The Minnesota ace threw seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball, lowering his already stellar ERA against Chicago in the process.  He looked a little bit shaky in the early going, walking three in the first two innings while allowing a hit, and stranding a runner in scoring position in each frame. 

The soft line-drive single to Joe Crede would be the only chink in the armor, however, because from the third inning through the seventh, Santana faced the minimum, and he retired the last 17 batters he faced.  The closest the Sox came to putting a runner on was when Darin Erstad dropped a quality bunt down the first base line, and Santana made a spinning throw for an out by a half-step.  Otherwise, it was the same old story -- nine strikeouts in seven innings.

Updating his line against the Sox since the last time Carlos Lee, Magglio Ordonez and Frank Thomas were in the same lineup:

102 1/3 IP, 61 H, 16 ER, 19 BB, 109 K, 1.41 ERA, 0.78 WHIP

While he was no Santana, John Danks performed admirably in his debut, striking out six in six innings himself and eventually gaining command against the strike zone.  I went more into detail about Danks' debut on Sox Machine.

Gardenhire granted the Sox a slight reprieve when he pulled Santana after seven innings.  He had only thrown 97 pitches, and only 55 in his last five innings, and his body language upon being informed his day was done said he could've gone another solid inning. 

Instead, Gardy called for Jesse Crain, who allowed Juan Uribe to go ¡profundo! for the second straight day, helping the Sox get back into the game in the process.  Uribe had struck out in his first two at-bats against Santana on seven pitches combined.

Thanks to three excellent innings of relief work by David Aardsma and Andy Sisco, the Sox were able to bring the tying run to the plate against Joe Nathan in the ninth after Paul Konerko led off with a single.  He's the only member of the 3-4-5 combo who's clicking right now, though.  Jim Thome struck out for the third time and Jermaine Dye couldn't duplicate what he did last year -- he was a tick late on several hittable Nathan fastballs and flew out. 

Crede extended the inning with a single just over the head of Luis Castillo, but A.J. Pierzynski rolled out harmlessly to first to end the threat and the game.

Record: 2-3 | Box score | Play-by-play