2007 State of the Sox

Week in a Box: May 21-27

Player of the Week:  Jim Thome.  It's good to have the big guy back, and I'm sure the improving Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye feel the same way.

Player of the Weak:  Tadahito Iguchi.  The offensive surge happened without any contributions from the Emperor, but he began to pick it up by the end of the week.

Pitcher of the Week:  John Danks.  It's nice to see him survive without his best stuff. 

Pitcher of the Weak:  Mark Buehrle.  That intentional HBP will go down as one of the dumbest decisions of the season.  Fortunately his offense bailed him out.

Fireman of the Week:  Bobby Jenks.  Pitched beautifully in a non-save situation against the Devil Rays and ended up picking up the win.

Gas Can of the Week:  Mike MacDougal.  Awful, awful, awful.

Super Sub of the Week:  Luis Terrero.  Had two excellent starts and one bad one; his 442-foot homer was a sight to behold.

Super Scrub of the Week:  Nobody.  Everybody on the bench did what Ozzie Guillen should expect from them.

Gold Glove:  Darin Erstad.  His diving stab at first against the Devil Rays saved the lead.

Hands of Stone:  Rob Mackowiak.  His spaz attack in left on a routine line drive was downright ugly.

Week in a Box: May 14-20

Player of the Week: A.J. Pierzynski.  The grand slam against the Cubs made my vacation.

Player of the Weak: Juan Uribe.  Going 2-for-22 with 12 strikeouts makes this an easy choice.

Pitcher of the Week: John Danks and Jose Contreras.  Both came up with big wins against the Yankees -- Garland pitched better, but I'm giving Danks rookie points.

Pitcher of the Weak: Javier Vazquez.  A little flat against the Cubs.

Fireman of the Week: Bobby Jenks.  Got the job done in both his outings, and quietly has lowered his ERA to a quality level in the process.

Gas Can of the Week:  David Aardsma and Mike MacDougal.  Both were putrid against the Cubs.

Super Sub of the Week:  Rob Mackowiak.  He had four big RBI as his bat began to heat up.

Super Scrub of the Week: Toby Hall.  His first start was a rough one.

Gold Glove: Nobody.  Even the usual standards had rough weeks.

Hands of Stone: Toby Hall.  Not a good first impression with two errors in his debut.

Week in a Box: May 7-13

Player of the Week: Juan Uribe.  He, Ryan Sweeney and A.J. Pierzynski are the only hitters with a plan right now.

Player of the Weak: Tadahito Iguchi.  There are a lot of people who can join him, but he looks the worst aesthetically.

Pitcher of the Week: John Danks and Jose Contreras.  Contreras had the shutout, but you can't deny the kid after his first win.

Pitcher of the Weak: Mark Buehrle.  It happens.

Fireman of the Week: Matt Thornton.  The starters made it really easy for the relievers, but his fastball's starting to pop.

Gas Can of the Week:  Nick Masset.  Ugh.

Super Sub of the Week:  Ryan Sweeney.  I think he counts as a sub, even though he's earning almost all the playing time.

Super Scrub of the Week: Rob Mackowiak.  He has plenty of company, but he has the highest expectations.

Gold Glove: Juan Uribe.

Hands of Stone: Tadahito Iguchi.

Week in a Box: April 30 - May 6

Player of the Week: A.J. Pierzynski.  Gotta love the heroics against the Angels.

Player of the Weak:  Paul Konerko/Jermaine Dye/Joe Crede.  They're equally uninspiring.

Pitcher of the Week: Jon Garland.  Stopper Jon rides again.

Pitcher of the Weak: Jose Contreras.  More so for his fielding.

Fireman of the Week: Bobby Jenks.  His fastball's hitting 95, and his other pitches are there.

Gas Can of the Week: Mike MacDougal.  His control was all over the place.

Super Sub of the Week: Luis Terrero.  He homered in his first at-bat.  That's gotta count for something.

Super Scrub of the Week: Pablo Ozuna.  The Secret Weapon is Scudriffic.

Gold Glove: Joe Crede.

Hands of Stone: Darin Erstad.  If only for the iconic image.

Week in a Box: April 23-29

Player of the Week: Darin Erstad.  And it isn't even close.  He is having a great week, but it'd be nice if somebody else were even in the discussion.

Player of the Weak: The rest of the Sox offense, aside from Juan Uribe, who's doing everything anybody could reasonably expect from him.

Pitcher of the Week:  John Danks.  If the offense won't give him any support, then I will.

Pitcher of the Weak:  Javier Vazquez.  Four first-inning runs is nothing new, but against the Royals?

Fireman of the Week:  David Aardsma.  Rebounded from the blown save against Detroit with a couple of scoreless outings.

Gas Can of the Week:  Matt Thornton.  Five baserunners in 1 1/3 innings is awfully Neal Cottsish.

Super Sub of the Week:  Um.... Ryan Sweeney?  He started a key double play in his only game, so sure.  Sweeney.  Whatever.

Super Scrub of the Week:  Brian Anderson and Alex Cintron.  Anderson's at-bat against Todd Jones was pretty hard to look at, and Cintron's the only one hitting worse than Anderson.

Gold Glove:  Tadahito Iguchi.  Hell of a job turning four double plays against the Angels.

Hands of Stone:  Nobody.  The defense has actually been pretty good.  Rob Mackowiak even made a great play in left.

Week in a Box: April 16-22

Player of the Week:  Jim Thome.  A .690 OBP is hard to beat.  Not only did he draw 15 walks in six games, but of the five hits he had when people pitched to him, three left the yard.

Player of the Weak: Paul Konerko.  He's the reason why people are walking Thome.  Paulie did have a couple of big hits, but going 3-for-25 (including an 0-for-6 stinkbomb) with Thome on base all the time hurts.

Pitcher of the Week:  Mark Buehrle.  Duh.

Pitcher of the Weak:  John Danks.  Like in his start, Danks is once again the hard-luck loser.  Everybody else is pitching pretty well, while Sox defense limited Danks to only 4 2/3 innings in his start.

Fireman of the Week:  Bobby Jenks.  Jenks saved three games this week, and his ERA is falling while his radar gun readings rise.  Plus, everybody else either had a blemish or didn't see much action.

Gas Can of the Week:  Mike MacDougal and David Aardsma.  Both provided gigantic gut punches this week -- MacDougal's 0-2 fastball to Sammy Sosa, and Aardsma's slider to Marcus Thames.

Super Sub of the Week:  Rob Mackowiak.  Mack is giving Ozzie Guillen another reason to not play Brian Anderson, posting a couple of multi-hit games and his first homer of the season in relief of Scott Podsednik.

Super Scrub of the Week:  Gustavo Molina.  The guy still hasn't given A.J. Pierzynski a day off.

Gold Glove of the Week:  Joe Crede.  The diving stab and amazing throw to nail Jerry Hairston Jr. made Buehrle's no-hitter possible.

Hands of Stone:  Nobody.  The Sox played errorless ball this week, although Darin Erstad's failure to call Juan Uribe off on a pop-up helped submarine John Danks' start, and Tadahito Iguchi's dropped exchange on a double-play ball led to a two-run homer.

Week in a Box: April 9-15

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:  Juan Uribe.  A four-RBI game against Cleveland helped the Sox to avoid the sweep, and he drove in runs in the final two games against Oakland as well.

Player of the Weak:  Darin Erstad.  He went 2-for-20, one walk, eight strikeouts, hitting second all week long.

Pitcher of the Week:  Mark Buehrle.  Jon Garland pitched seven shutout innings, but Buehrle retired 17 out of his last 18 batters a start after he was nearly knocked out for the season. 

Pitcher of the Weak:  John Danks.  If we can have more weeks where the worst starter only gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings, we'll be happy campers.

Fireman of the Week:  David Aarsma.  Four innings, one hit, no walks, seven strikeouts.

Gas Can of the Week:  Bobby Jenks.  Added another chapter to the Oakland horror story by blowing a save in the opener.

Super Sub:  Pablo Ozuna.  Went 2-for-4 against C.C. Sabathia, one of the few to show up.

Super Scrub:  Gustavo Molina.  Get well soon, Toby Hall.

Gold Glove of the Week:  Brian Anderson.  Saved a game against Oakland in a rare start.

Hands of Stone:  Joe Crede.  A rare two-error performance led to a Cleveland win, even though the Tribe only collected one hit.

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.