And the Hits Just Keep on NOT Coming

Stu Weiner, Sox Superfan

Don’t you think it’s about time the the Sox bats woke up? I know it’s been cold and wet, but the conditions are the same for both teams. Now that our pitching seems to be stablized, it’s our hitting that giving us problems. Come on – a .229 team batting average is unacceptable. And now our most productive hitter (Thome) is on the disabled list. Jon Garland said it all – the pitchers are pressing because they are getting very little support from the batters.

As I’ve stated in earlier blogs, I’m still waiting for small ball to occur on a regular basis. The runners are not trying to steal bases. There are very few hit and runs. No squeeze plays. The vast majority of our runs are being scored via the long ball. That was not supposed to be the case this year.

The White Sox must lead the league in LOB. Worse yet, we must lead the league in leaving runners in scoring position. How many times have we left the bases loaded? Konerko has had only 1-2 offensively productive games this year. Dye, my favorite player, is having a slow start. He’s hitting home runs, but with the bases empty. Anderson is useless at the plate – he has to be sent down. Cintron has one hit for the year. Iguchi looks lost at the plate. AJ is doing OK, but it could be better. Erstad is coming around, but he’s still batting in the low 200’s. Uribe has done better than I expected, but not spectacular. Crede is having his usual slow start.

I lay a good portion of the blame on Greg Walker. Is he working with these guys to find out what is wrong? Are they taking extra batting practice? Don’t tell me that things will get better when the weather warms up. Don’t tell me that the opposing pitchers are all pitching like Cy Young. It was warm last night (Saturday) with a sold-out crowd and a terrible pitcher on the mound for the Angels. Yet the Sox got shut out. And of course, in one inning, they had the bases loaded and failed to score.

We are lucky that no one in the division has taken the bull by the horns and taken advantage of the Sox slow start. Cleveland won six games in a row until losing last night. It is still a long season, and we are only 1-1/2 games out, but the hitting better come around – NOW!!!!!