The White Sox racked up their 50th win of the season Saturday night with
a solid 6-1 victory over Oakland, but there are some issues of varying significance the Sox face,
starting with the health of their closer:
The White Sox were concerned enough about the tightness in Bobby Jenks' upper
left back that they ordered an MRI and CTScan Saturday. The results
were negative and Jenks should be ready to pitch in the Kansas City
series starting Tuesday.
Jenks isn't Billy Koch, in that he knows how to retire hitters even when his best fastball has abandoned him, but it would certainly be nice if the Sox could ease him back in with some low-leverage work. Preferably with a 18-2 lead or something like that.
Other players worth monitoring at this point:
No. 1: Joe CredeThe problem: He has been off his game ever since
suffering a stiff back on the flight from Chicago to Los Angeles before the Dodgers series. An 0-for-4 performance Saturday evening means
he has five hits in 34 at-bats, and only one extra-base hit in his last 10 games since reentering the lineup.
The impact: It's always troublesome when Crede has any back issues, but he seems to be moving just fine in the field. I'm more inclined to believe he's merely just in one of his funks.
The solution: The Sox survived for a couple years without Crede having much of a bat, so they should do what they did then and drop him in the lineup. There's no reason why he should be batting ahead of Nick Swisher right now. At the same time, there's no reason why Pablo Ozuna should stake a claim for his playing time.
No. 2: Scott LinebrinkThe problem: The gopher ball. The solo shot he served up for Ryan Sweeney was his second consecutive outing marred by a homer, and he's given up four of them in his last 12 innings. Also, all five homers he has allowed have led off innings.
The impact: The last two homers Linebrink has allowed have been on true mistake pitches -- one a high splitter, and another a changeup down the middle to a guy with an offspeed bat. With five homers in 35 innings, Linebrink's homer rate is now in line with his past two seasons, which should be the case considering it's summer at The Cell.
The solution: No reason to panic yet. He's still suppressing hits and walks, so let's just hope he stops throwing one really bad pitch every inning.
No. 3: Nick Masset
The problem: He's allowed nine hits and five runs in his last three innings, and has struck out just one of the last 27 batters he's faced. He'd been averaging about one strikeout every five batters before that point.
The impact: Any reliever can have three bad games in a row, but Nick Magic's issues run deeper than that. His WHIP was already the worst on the team before this slump at 1.42 -- it now stands at 1.58. The good news is that he's still getting a lot of grounders, but
his flies have turned into line drives as of late. He has to improve in at least one of the aforementioned categories in order to survive, and we know he doesn't exactly have a track record suggesting he can.
The solution: Remember when the Sox recalled Adam Russell in order to give Masset some higher-leverage innings? They might want to hold off on that a little. I think I trust Russell more
at this point.
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After his victory Saturday night, here's where Gavin Floyd ranks among American League pitchers:
- Wins: 10 (t-4th)
- Winning percentage: .714 (7th)
- ERA: 3.22 (9th)
- BAA: .207 (4th)
Because John Danks is only 5-4 and ranks 38th in innings despite his 2.50 ERA, it appears Floyd has the best case of any Sox pitcher for the All-Star team. The biggest factor working against him is the total lack of cachet -- he is, after all, the Artist Formerly Known as Gavin Fraud.
Otherwise, it's hard to name that many pitchers who have put together a better season. In fact, I can only come up with four: Justin Duchscherer, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Joe Saunders.
After Floyd, I'm guessing Mike Mussina, Ervin Santana and Jon Lester would get the nod. With Chien-Ming Wang and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the DL, it's hard to envision a scenario in which Floyd
doesn't make it.
That's pretty incredible when you think about it.
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I'm done tracking broken bats, because I think I have a pretty good handle on it by now (pun lusciously intended). If the last month is representative of the whole:
No. 1: Sox hitters break about one a game. That seems low, but when you figure they struggle with pitches low and away -- especially changeups -- they don't get a lot of pitchers daring to come inside. I'd venture to guess Sox pitchers do more of the damage.
No. 2: The usual suspects led the way. Jim Thome and Alexei Ramirez were ahead of the pack, but Nick Swisher wasn't far behind. If MLB actually follows through with an investigation, I'd start with their bats and see how they differ from the others.
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Minor league roundup:- Charlotte 11, Durham 6
- Paul Konerko's not getting a lot to hit: He drew four walks, and went 1-for-2 with a double overall.
- Danny Richar homered, walked and stole his 10th base.
- Cole Armstrong went 3-for-4 to raise his average to .500; Dave Cook went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
- Wes Whisler only lasted three innings, giving up nine hits and three walks for five runs.
- Tomo Ohka threw four innings of no-hit ball, and Ehren Wassermann followed up with one of his own.
- Birmingham 5, Huntsville 0
- Dewon Day threw four innings of one-hit ball, walking two and striking out one. He's thrown seven shutout innings over his last two appearances, allowing just that hit.
- Micah Schnurstein and Ricardo Nanita each hit solo homers.
- Schnurstein, Victor Mercedes, Javier Colina and Lee Cruz each enjoyed two-hit days.
- Winston-Salem 6, Kinston 5
- Josh Fields went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a strikeout in Rehab Game No. 2. He was also caught stealing.
- Matt Long allowed two runs over six innings, striking out five.
- Kanekoa Teixeira pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for the save, lowering his ERA to 1.11.
- Paulo Orlando had two hits and two RBI.
- Kannapolis 2, Lake County 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Levi Maxwell went the distance, striking out eight while allowing just two hits and three walks.
- Sergio Morales and John Curtis each drove in a run.
- Lake County 3, Kannapolis 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Oney Guillen had an RBI single, his first in A-ball.
- Miguel Socolovich allowed three runs (two earned) over four innings.
- Adam Bowling pitched three hitless innings, walking one and striking out three.
- Jim Gallagher doubled and drove in a run.
- Elizabethton 6, Bristol 3
- Bristol only had three hits on the day.
- Bristol pitchers struck out 14, but Justin Kuehn and his 1 1/3 perfect innings were the only highlight.
- Great Falls 8, Missoula 6
- Cody Allen struck out nine over six shutout innings, over which he allowed just two hits and a walk.
- Johny Celis was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two walks.
- Jesus Avila, Doug Thennis and Danny Jordan each had two hits.
Note: I forgot to go back and get the box score from Great Falls' game Friday night. That is now added to
that night's post.