When my dad and I commiserate about the White Sox, one subject that often comes up is the so-called catbird seat.
In an attempt to round down numerous conversations into one sentence, Dad generally feels that the White Sox think they're taking advantage of the catbird seat by not having to swing for one or two pitches.
The numbers show that the Sox are around average when they get ahead 2-0 or 3-0, but nights like Thursday make it feel like they're more than ready to hand the advantage right back to the pitcher.
I'm looking at you, Andruw Jones and Paul Konerko. I'm not sure whose plate approach hurt more.
Let's look at Jones' pitch chart first.
Jones came to the plate with the tying run on third, the go-ahead run on second, and first base open against Fernando Rodney, whom he had faced the night prior. Rodney fell behind 3-0 after missing the upper part of the strike zone on three occasions.
First base open is key. A walk doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help all that much. It's more or less passing the buck, unless the pitcher has no clue where he's throwing and could very well walk three straight.
Jones likes fastballs. He should have been looking fastball. He got a fastball right down the pipe. And he took it.
Compounding matters, he swung over a nasty down-and-in fastball that would have been ball four. In protect mode two pitches later, he hit one of those harmless flyouts that help explain why his BABIP is usually well below average.
And then there's Konerko:
Like Jones, Konerko was facing a familiar foe. He had homered off Brian Fuentes on Wednesday, and he looked to be in good shape when Fuentes was slinging his mediocre stuff outside the strike zone to fall behind 3-0.
Konerko did Jones one worse. He watched not one, but two batting-practice-caliber fastballs go by before harmlessly flying out on a third one that was a little higher up.
Of course it bears mentioning that these are two isolated at-bats, and baseball is inherently against the hitter (three out of 10 is an awesome success rate).
Also, the Sox are not unique in their reluctance to swing on 3-0. They haven't put a ball in play on a 3-0 count this year, but neither have four other American League teams. And while the Angels are the most aggressive on that count, they're only 1-for-5 when connecting.
The dissonance comes into play, though, when seeing the swing Jones took on 3-1. Body flying open, heels spinning, corkscrewing into the ground on a fastball running down, in and ultimately out of the strike zone. If Jones is going to hack that hard -- and he always does, another contributor to that low BABIP -- why wouldn't he do it in the count where the pitcher would be most likely to just get it over?
I don't know if there are real answers to any of these questions, or even if they're worth asking. All I know is that they're different questions, little questions, and those will probably be welcome changes of pace in a season that will likely present a ton of major, pressing issues.
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One could file the lack of 3-0 action under a missing sense of urgency. Ozzie Guillen is contributing to it as well:
"He's been playing every day, and I see him slowing down a little bit,"said Guillen of Rios, hitting a team-best .297, with seven home runs, 18RBIs and 12 stolen bases. "That's the reason we rotate people. We haveto give people a chance to make sure they recover. We have to make surethose guys are fresh to last longer."
Nothing against Mark Kotsay, who has actually reached base 10 times over his last four games, but considering the Sox just came off a week with two off days and had a rainout on Monday, I'm not seeing how all these games are piling up right now.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Mark Gonzalez says scouts from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee were in attendance on Thursday.
*Scott Reifert gives eight reasons for optimism. Another one would be the lackluster play of the Twins, who lost their third straight and fell into a tie with the Detroit Tigers. But I'm not seeing the pieces fitting.
*Gordon Beckham has ditched "Your Love," and now comes to the plate to the strains of Metallica's "Seek and Destroy," per Paul Konerko's suggestion. He did deliver a sharp two-run single up the middle.
*Joe Cowley calls on Kenny Williams to do what I suggested yesterday.
*Worth reading: A profile of Rick Hahn and how he got to be Williams' right-hand man.
*J.J. wonders if 2010 Jones is actually 2009 Jones.
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Minor league roundup:
- Buffalo 3, Charlotte 1
- Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers each went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Flowers is hitting .143 in May.
- Carlos Torres had a third straight strong outing, allowing three runs on seven htis and two walks over seven innings, striking out six.
- Myrtle Beach 3, Winston-Salem 1
- Nevin Griffith was undermined by his defense -- all three runs were unearned. He allowed eight hits and two walks over seven innings, striking out four and getting 10 groundouts.
- Jon Gilmore went 3-for-4, but committed his 14th error.
- Eduardo Escobar and Brandon Short each went 0-for-4.
- Justin Greene hit a solo shot, his fifth.
- Kannapolis 12, Asheville 8
- Trayce Thompson and Nick Ciolli each went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Thompson tripled, Ciolli homered.
- Kyle Colligan went 1-for-4 with a double and an HBP. He struck out once.
- Miguel Gonzalez was 1-for-5 with a double.
- Birmingham vs. Mobile PPD
