Another day, another game without a "clutch" hit.
Add another 0-6 w/ RISP to the fire sale.
I know I'm beating the proverbial dead horse here (and that's Larry's job), but the White Sox combined batting line for this homestand (link should be updated by mid-morning Thursday) is stomach churningly bad.
John Danks was the victim of a bad call on Brandon Inge's hit by pitch, which loaded the bases and was immediately followed by a walk of what proved to be the winning run.
The Sox have seemed to be on the receiving end of more than their fair share of bad calls in this homestand, or at least seem to be losing out on the bang-bang plays, most notably Wise at the plate yesterday. But I'm not about to complain about the umpiring. The plays are simply more notable because of how poorly the Sox offense is playing. When having a runner 180 feet (or less) from home is a signal to head to the bathroom, grab another beer from the fridge or move a little closer to the ledge, the plays that could-have-been feel like they're all going against you.
In reality, there have probably been as many plays that have gone the Sox way this homestand. Pods has gotten a couple of perhaps generous calls while swiping bags and Jenks got a gift strikeout in one of the Sox only wins.
As if another punchless loss wasn't bad enough, the Sox lost Paul Konerko for an undermined period of time thanks to the same injury that kept him ineffective for much of last season; a bone bruise on his right thumb, though Ozzie called it a loose ligament in his post-game presser. There could be a bit of a silver lining there in that 1) it could (along with Carlos Quentin's uncertain status) make Kenny Williams difficult decision easier and 2) Konerko is the anti-canary in the coalmine for the Sox offensive fortunes. When Konerko has been bad lately, the Sox offense has been good, and vice versa.
Williams discussed those tough decisions in a pre-game talk with the media
"Hard decisions always have to be made," said Williams, responding to an inquiry on whether he would break up the team if the losing trend continued. "But very clearly, we are in a transitional phase, and if this team shows me at some point they don't pick it up at some point, yeah, I'm going to have do some things that maybe aren't going to be the most popular but in the best interests of the club.
"But those things are a little ways away and we still got time to right the ship and start to play a little better. But if we don't, it is what it is. You got to produce in this game and we got expectations of winning."
As for Konerko's replacement should he be out of the lineup for an extended period, Josh Fields appears to be the biggest winner. He'll get the start tomorrow, and Ozzie ruled out starting Jim Thome at first base as they head on the road to Milwaukee this weekend, stating that he would have to talk to Kenny about the organizational moves that would have to be made with a Konerko DL trip.
And for those of you wondering about the headline; here (Link definitely NSFW, but mostly because of the ads)