The White Sox needed 37 fewer games to win 72 games this season compared to their 2007 counterparts, and it came via the season's most unlikely pitching performance:
Clayton Richard's first major-league victory.
Over Felix Hernandez.
With six shutout innings.
Lance Broadway coming up and holding down the Royals well enough before heading back to Charlotte is one thing. This is another.
The Mariners entered Tuesday night with
a .315 average in August, and averaging 5.4 runs a game. Richard and
his Joker face held them to five hits and a walk.
However,
next Monday's start is still up for grabs:
Richard may have pitched well enough on Tuesday to get the starting nod
the next time his spot comes up in the rotation, but White Sox manager
Ozzie Guillen was not ready to set anything in stone.
"We are going to find out if he can do that, or we will call
somebody up," Guillen said. "I think either way, can be [Lance]
Broadway or him, I will feel comfortable."
I wouldn't feel
too comfortable with Richard if I were Guillen, because he didn't really pay for the pitches he left up in the zone aside from one double:
Based on what I've seen from Richard so far, and what Broadway showed in
his one start against the Royals, I'd probably be more inclined to go with Broadway for two reasons:
No. 1: Broadway strikes me as a better bet to go six innings, which is crucial during a pennant race, when every start matters.
No. 2: Richard strikes me as awkward in the field. He committed his second error Tuesday, and his pickoff move is ugly as sin.
That said, if this were 2007 and the Sox were out of contention, I'd put all the starts in Richard's wheelbarrow. I had no clue he could ramp his fastball up to 94-95, though to my defense, there wasn't a radar gun in Richmond's stadium.
I did get his defensive skills right, for what it's worth.
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Carlos Quentin is a really good ballplayer.Oh, I'm supposed to say more? OK, um...
Well, for one, Tuesday night he extended his multi-hit hitting streak to five games, with two hits in each of them.
He's reached base 34 times over the last 13 games, and he's driven in 13 runs in the same time span.
He has more walks and HBPs (77) than strikeouts (75).
His sixth steal of the year, a heads-up swipe of third base, makes it a good time to mention that he's by far the Sox's best baserunner this year, with 10 bases gained. Brian Anderson is next at +7. And perhaps most importantly...
He's already matched his July walk total of eight this month, with 12 days left in August. That was the one stat column that had taken a hit as the second half got under way, but it appears that Quentin has managed to resuscitate it.
Right now, the biggest concern about his game is
the MVP talk, which seems to make him extremely uncomfortable. The only way to stop that is to start tanking, so here's hoping he can tolerate it the rest of the year.
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Ken Griffey Jr. really isn't a good ballplayer.Oh, I'm supposed to say more? OK, well....
General Soreness came through in one respect Tuesday night, delivering a sac fly for the game's first run. He went 0-for-3 the rest of the night, including a rally-killing double play to end the third. Since Griffey joined the team, here's what he's done compared to the guys from which he's stealing playing time:
| |
AB |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
K |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
| Griffey |
43 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
.209 |
.250 |
.225 |
| Konerko |
43 |
13 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
14 |
8 |
.302 |
.467 |
.558 |
| Thome |
58 |
13 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
12 |
7 |
16 |
.224 |
.308 |
.586 |
| Swisher |
45 |
13 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
8 |
5 |
.289 |
.418 |
.600 |
Hell, even
in Anderson's last 43 at-bats -- spread out over the last two months, mind you -- he's hitting .233/.267/.558 with four homers. And he can run the bases and play a fine center field on top of it.
So that raises the question: What exactly do the Sox think they'll get from Griffey that they're not getting from anybody else they can put in his place?
I can understand that they want to give him something to feel good about in his new surroundings. However, as it stands, Griffey is the fifth-most deserving of playing time at his possible positions behind
an awesome-bringing Nick Swisher, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Anderson and even Dewayne F. Wise, a guy who wasn't on a 40-man roster at the start of the season and has survived the waivers process once already.
It's a pennant race! Griffey may own 600 homers and a purty swing, but that isn't going to win ballgames, and neither is his performance at the plate or in the field. Since everybody else is holding up their end of the deal, I'm really not sure what the Sox are waiting for.
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Minor league roundup:- Charlotte 4, Indianapolis 3
- Lance Broadway threw a quality start, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk over 6 2/3 innings, striking out three.
- Brad Eldred hit his 33rd homer, a two-run shot.
- Joe Crede went 0-for-2 before being lifted in the sixth.
- Javier Colina went 2-for-2 to raise his average to .410.
- Ehren Wassermann (1 1/3 IP) and Jason Childers (1 IP) retired the last seven hitters of the game.
- Birmingham 7, Huntsville 5
- Victor Mercedes hit for the cycle during a 5-for-6 day, with two singles and two RBI.
- Aaron Poreda allowed one unearned run over six ininngs, K'ing six while allowing six hits and two walks.
- Brian Omogrosso and Jon Link were each scored upon in relief.
- Lee Cruz went 3-for-5 with a double.
- Winston-Salem 10, Salem 1
- John Shelby and Estee Harris each went 2-for-5 with a homer.
- C.J. Retherford had three hits; Brett Bonvechio and Greg Paiml had two apiece.
- Dale Mollenhauer drove in two runs.
- Clevelan Santeliz struck out six over six innings, allowing a run on just two hits and a walk.
- Augusta 10, Kannapolis 4
- Eduardo Escobar, Jim Gallagher and Christian Marrero each had two hits.
- Gordon Beckham was back in the lineup, going 1-for-4.
- Levi Maxwell had a poor outing, giving up seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits over five.
- Bristol 11, Danville 3
- Jedon Matthews went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI.
- Kenneth Gilbert had four hits, including a double, and drove in two.
- Kevin Dubler, Brandon Short and Juan Silverio had multi-hit games.
- Gregory Infante allowed three runs on three hits over 6 2/3 innings, with no walks and two strikeouts.
- Kevin Asselin struck out three over a perfect 2 1/3 innings.
- Casper 9, Great Falls 1
- Jordan Cheatham went 1-for-1 with two walks and the lone RBI.
- Po-Yu Lin struck out two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings.