Thursday, June 17, 2010

106

If you think it's hard being a White Sox fan, imagine what it must be like rooting for the Pirates.  The Bucs have a 23-42 record, well on their way to an 18th consecutive losing season.  Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning record since 1992, the last year that Barry Bonds wore the black and gold.  

Last  night's game was a perfect example of why they stink.  Doing their best imitation of a Little League team, the Pirates committed six -- yes, six -- errors.  At the plate, they managed only two runs off of John Danks (8.0 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K) and Tony Pena (1.0 IP, 1 H).  Meanwhile, the Sox put seven runs on the board, again without the benefit of a home run (so Hawk Harrelson didn't say, "You, can put it on the board, yes!").  Paul Konerko led the hit parade with a 3 for 4 night (plus 1 BB).  Carlos Quentin (2 for 4, 2 RBI), Alex Rios (2 for 4 with a walk), and Juan Pierre (2 for 5, 2 SB) also contributed to the more-potent-than-usual offensive display.

Konerko's and Rios's performance caused me to check their stats and how they stack up aganist the rest of the league.  For on-base average, Paulie, at .398 is ranked 8th, and Alex, at .382, is 17th.  They're the only Sox to be above the league average of .332.  For slugging percentage, Konerko's .588 earns him 6th place and Rios's .571 puts him 8th.  Again, no other Sox player is above the .410 league average.  Putting that together to tabulate the all-important OPS (on-base average + slugging percentage), we find P.K. in 5th place in A.L. with .986 and Rios in 7th place with .953.  We hardly need to point out that they're the only Sox to exceed the average in that category of .742.  Ladies and Gentlemen, those are your Chicago White Sox 2010 All-Star Game representatives -- if they keep it up.  Maybe Freddy Garcia if he continues winning 70% of his games.  No one else really deserves consideration.  But that's only my view.  Let's hear what you think and why.  Go Sox!




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