by Rickhouse on April 15 at 2:00AM
I was in attendance last night for my first Sox game of the year, a disappointing 2-1 loss to the A’s that ended when good ole’ Late Inning Joe couldn’t come through with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth. The loss drops the Sox to 7-5 which is about as good as anyone could have hoped for to open up the season, especially with the beginning of the year being packed with so many division games. Y! Sports even has the Sox number two in their most recent power rankings. Yeah, so far, things are going pretty well.
There are a few reasons for that, but the most unlikely is Ozzie Guillen’s transformation into Manny Acta. I never thought I’d see the day when Ozzie would use a non-traditional leadoff man, attempt less stolen bases, and forget about giving up free outs. But it’s happened so far this year, and the consequences have been pretty good. Ozzie is no longer an idiot, which is refreshing.
Check out this solid post on SSS, specifically the bullet points, for further evidence. That’s right, only one attempted stolen base and two attempted sacrifice bunts. Maybe Ozzie read Moneyball or someone was kind enough to tell him that it’s been proven that stealing bases is only worth it if you can do so at an 80% clip. With a slow, slugging team, Ozzie has figured out how to correctly squeeze the most runs as possible out of these guys.
I’m sure Ozzie would love to have a roster full of burners with a dynamic leadoff man like Jose Reyes or someone igniting things from the top of the order. The fact of the matter is that it’s simply not the way the Sox are currently constructed. They have slow, “base clogging” sluggers, the kind of team that would make Dusty Baker roll over in the grave someone should have put him in years ago. Dye, Konerko, and Thome are going to hit home runs and doubles, when they do that, you want guys on base. With so much power in the middle of the lineup, it’s pointless to bunt guys over or risking giving up a run by stealing. The Sox score off their power; it’s just the way it is.
Of course, there’s a good chance none of this happens without Jerry Owens getting injured at the end of spring training. If the Sox end up doing something this year, that could be the most pivotal point of the season. While it’d be more ideal to hit Swisher in the middle of the order, you can’t argue with what he’s done so far hitting leadoff. He gets on base, other people knock him in. Not a bad little system.
I haven’t written much about Carlos Quentin here, but if you ask my bros from TTCS, they’ll tell you that he got screwed in the recent TUP Hall of Fame election. Quentin was one of the best prospects in baseball for years, and the only reason he was traded was because Arizona has two guys that are even better and younger than him. Remember, he’s 25 and had an OPS of 1.000 twice during his minor league career. That just tells you how good the D-Backs farm system is. Quentin is going to be a monster for the Sox, and hopefully his hot start will keep him on the field. I predicted something around .276/.365 with 26 homers for him during spring training, and I’m pretty confident with that right now. If Ozzie gives him the at-bats, he will hit. There’s no doubt about that.
*****
The Bulls scored 151 points last night. I have nothing to even add.
I realized that I haven’t written enough about how much I hate Ben Gordon here. I certainly talk about it enough. I know I wrote a couple scathing posts on him over at the Sun-Times, but I feel as if I should have harped on how bad he is more here. That’s what you do with a blog, beat a dead horse every day, right? I’m already planning out the Bulls big offseason, but we’ll get to that later. For now, White Sox. Swagger, grinder, something or another.
(And that last sentence totally should have been the name of my Beachwood Sox column. FYI, I proposed ‘Sox, Drugs, and Rock and Roll', but was told no dice.)
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I know we have talked about this before and I am glad you stated that 80% stat, but you are an Owens fan. Owens does two things better than any player on the Sox right now; bunt and steal bases. Why do you like Owens so much if what he excels in is exactly what you don't think is effective in winning a ballgame?