South Side Sox - All Posts

Paul Konerko returns to form by returning to left field

2013-05-23T11:00:07Z

Hawk Harrelson disappeared for a notable stretch of time over the last inning of the White Sox's 6-2 loss to Boston on Wednesday. Outside of a brief bulletin about the pitching staff's ninth walk of the night, Steve Stone rode solo for most of the inning.

But after the about-to-be-demoted Donnie Veal gave up a two-run single to Daniel Nava for the Red Sox's final two runs of the evening, Harrelson returned with some perspective he hasn't been about to find through the first quarter of the baseball season:

Here's where baseball rationale comes into play. You gotta have it. [...] In this case, you say, "Well, before they got here, would you take 2 out of 3 from Boston?" Absolutely. You gotta have a short memory in baseball."

Harrelson and Stone talked about taking positives away when a team ultimately accomplishes what's needed in a series, and both praised the effort of Hector Santiago. Harrelson couldn't resist making one more note about the bullpen's control, but when a losing proposition (Santiago and the bottom half of the bullpen vs. Clay Buchholz) loses, there's not much to bemoan.

It's just a shame Harrelson wasn't around in the bottom of the night for what I thought was the biggest positive takeaway from the game.

Paul Konerko went 2-for-4, which broke a three-game hitless streak. But the way he attained that multi-hit game busted him out of a couple other ruts.

His ninth-inning homer off Andrew Bailey was his first since April 28. But even that's charitable, because that homer broke up a small drought. All in all, he cleared the fence just one time mover his previous 119 plate appearances.

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Better yet, Konerko's homer -- which happened when he turned on an inner-half, 95-mph Andrew Bailey fastball -- went out to left field, giving him a 4-for-4 night in terms of pulling the ball in the air.

I wrote about it a couple days ago, but that was the single most concerning symptom of his slump. There are some hitters -- Dayan Viciedo, Tyler Flowers, and Alex Rios to some extent -- who need to reacquaint themselves with right field or right-center when bad times roll in. Konerko isn't one of those guys. It's great when he can steal hits to right when pitchers aren't giving him anything to pull, but he's not going to be that middle-of-the-order threat if he's not turning on pitches, especially the fastball.

You can see that void in left field over the last two-plus weeks, occupied by one jammed pop-up toward the line ...

... but after a lineout to left, a lined single to left, a drive to the warning track in left-center, and his solo shot over his team's bullpen, that little red dot finally has some company -- and a couple of them are green.

It'd be putting the cart before the horse to speak of his slump in the past tense, because there's a lot of May he's yet to make up for. Still, it was nice to see the slumped shoulders disappear, replaced by another development we hadn't seen in quite some time:

Red Sox, 6, White Sox 2: Hector Santiago can only do so much

2013-05-23T03:56:28Z

Given the quality of opponent and the compromised state of the White Sox's starter, a South Side sweep wasn't a particularly sound bet.

The White Sox did indeed lose this game, but you can't pin it on Hector Santiago. Pitching on three days' rest and a half-day of prep time for the scratched Chris Sale, he contributed a quality start against considerable odds -- especially after watching the way he stumbled out of the gate.

Early on, it looked like Santiago might not last three. He missed about three ticks off his fastball, he missed spots, and the two free baserunners he allowed (HBP, walk) came around to score a David Ortiz single. He'd walk another batter before getting out of the first with a pitch count of 31. Basically, he looked like a guy who wasn't running on a full tank of gas. That could have posed a problem for a short bullpen, but it would've been tough to blame Santiago.

He eliminated that concern when his arm came back to life. The Red Sox couldn't score on him again over the next five innings. His fastball found 93 and 94 more often, allowing him to strike out a season-high nine batters over six. A couple more walks came with it -- including two of the dreaded leadoff variety -- but he erased them with double plays by the next batter.

It would have been an impressive effort had he only made it through five, but registering a quality start given the burden he carried is a baseball kind of heroic.

The only problem -- Clay Buchholz was just a little more effective, and Ventura didn't deviate from the back-end-of-the-bullpen plan.

Buchholz improved to 7-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.73, but the White Sox made him earn both accomplishments. The Chicago lineup strung together some baserunners on a couple of occasions, but some good pitching, some bad BABIP, and lost risks on the basepaths cut the legs out from under their rallies.

For instance, the first inning had all of the above. Alejandro De Aza led off with a single, but was caught stealing. They could have used the baserunner when Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios walked to restart the threat. But Buchholz came back to wipe out Adam Dunn with a very good changeup, and Paul Konerko followed with a hard lineout to left to strand two.

The White Sox did manage to push across a run in the third, but they needed the Red Sox's help. Tyler Flowers reached on an infield single and moved to second on a De Aza walk. Ramireez seemed to hit a perfect double-play ball to short, but Stephen Drew gave Dustin Pedroia a bad feed, and they couldn't get Ramirez in time.

The same thing happened when Rios came to the plate, and the missed double plays allowed Flowers to score, cutting the Boston lead in half.

The White Sox wouldn't score again until Konerko's solo homer with two outs in the ninth, and by then, it was way too late, because Ventura's worst relievers couldn't steal him a few effective innings. Brian Omogrosso worked a scoreless seventh, but Ventura tried to steal a second inning out of him, and Omogrosso exited after two singles and a walk, all with one out.

Nate Jones came in and gave up a sac fly to make it 3-1, but with a chance to limit the damage to one run, Tyler Flowers let Jones' wrong-side-of-the-plate slider get past his backhand attempt for a passed ball, which allowed a second run to score. The ninth inning followed a similar script, although without the passed ball. An erratic Jones gave way to a bad-news Donnie Veal, and the Red Sox turned a pitchers' duel into a non-save situation.

You can question the way Ventura failed to switch to his better relievers when he saw that Santiago gave him a chance, but when it comes to fatigue -- and Jesse Crain and Matt Lindstrom have been in a lot of high-stress situations -- it's hard to make a clear-cut argument either way.

Bullet points:

Konerko finally looked like his old self at the plate, going 2-for-4 with all four balls pulled in the air to left -- lineout, line single, deep flyout, solo shot.
Rios extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by any AL hitter this season.
Ramirez made a nice catch on a weak flare in shallow left field, first backpedaling, and then leaping to haul it in.
Even though Buchholz isn't exactly quick to the plate, the Sox were 0-for-2 in stolen bases. Rios was thrown out to end the sixth.
Veal was sent down to Charlotte after the game.

Record: 21-24 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights

Terrerobytes: Alex Rios won't be ignored

2013-05-22T17:00:07Z

Alex Rios is no stranger to strong starts with the White Sox -- this season qualifies as his third -- but he's seldom received recognition for them. That's mostly his own doing, because these strong Aprils and Mays were preceded by awful seasons, making any kind of rebound easy to write off as a fluke.

But here we are on May 22, with Rios well on the way to putting together his ninth consecutive baseball month of excellence. He's hitting .306/.369/.559, and the middle number is the most surprising. He's had power and speed his whole life, but he's found a way to be the most selective he's ever been, too. Either that, or teams are nibbling around Rios to take their chances with Adam Dunn or Paul Konerko, and Rios isn't biting.

Whether a byproduct of a refined approach or underperforming teammates, Rios is seventh in the AL with a .394 wOBA. His previous career high? .366, so this is exciting new territory even for those of us who have watched him complete one of the more drastic image reversals in recent memory.

Hell, he's even riding a career-long 16-game hitting streak. Everything is coming up Rios now, and Ken Rosenthal wanted to know how it happened. The answer is straight-up, yo:

"It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had with a hitter," said Manto, who initially proceeded cautiously with Rios as the team’s new hitting coach last season. "It was a blast, an absolute blast working with him.

"We both decided that maybe getting taller would be better. He wanted to do certain things with the ball. We both felt that, in the position he was in, it wasn’t going to work as well. Through basic conversation, as the days went on, he got taller and taller in the cage.

"One day he said, ‘I want to do it tonight.’ I said, ‘Do it tonight? You can’t do it tonight. Let’s work on it a little bit.’ But he said, ‘I want to do it tonight.’ So I had to explain to (manager Robin Ventura), ‘He jumped the gun. This is what you’re going to see tonight.’ But it was a lot of fun.’"

Terrerobytes

Jerry Reinsdorf received the SportsBusiness Journal/Daily Lifetime Achievement Award, which is as prestigious as its name is unwieldy. He's the first team owner to receive the honor, which is in its fourth year. You may have already seen the first link since Larry dropped it in the comments, but if you missed it, it's an excellent profile of how he's grown into a position of great influence in both Major League Baseball and the NBA.

Since he's 77 and this is a lifetime achievement award, the focus naturally turns to what happens after. The rough plan is that Reinsdorf's son, Michael, will take over the Bulls while his family sells his share in the Sox, but that's subject to change. Reinsdorf plans to be around to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the All-Star Game, so that takes care of the next 19 years. As you were.

Sox to have three managers in three days - ESPN Chicago

It's graduation season, and Robin Ventura and Mark Parent will be stepping out in early June to attend ceremonies for their kids. That means the Sox will have three different skippers for their three-game series in Seattle. Parent will manage the first game and Ventura will return for the last, but since they'll both be out on June 3, it's unclear how the middle game will work:

"We are still going over how we are going to do it on the third," Ventura said. "My first choice would be to have Joe (McEwing) do it, but he likes to coach third. We have Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) who has done it. I am not going to have Joe manage and coach third base at the same time. We will figure it out."

Why Is Chris Sale So Skinny? - WSJ.com

WU put it in a FanShot, but Chris Sale's battle against genetics is worth reading if you hadn't seen it:

Sale's primary goal this year is to pitch 200 innings and lead the White Sox to the playoffs. He also aspires to break the record for most cheesesteaks consumed by a visiting player in Philadelphia when the White Sox play there in July. The current record for a three-game series is 14, held by New York Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello.

"He said he's going to eat like 35," Dunn said. "We'll see. He'll beat it. If he's not pitching, he'll definitely beat it. Definitely."

Contreras content -- Sports on Earth

Jorge Arangure Jr. spent plenty of time talking to Jose Contreras at the beginning of his MLB career. Now he catches up with the 41-year-old Cuban as the end of his playing days are in sight. He never quite met the immense hype that accompanied the bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox, but look at it this way:

But when his career is over he'll end up as a World Series winner with the Chicago White Sox, and he'll have a full pension once he retires as a result of his decade in the majors. Contreras' life has actually turned out better than he could have imagined. He won't be a Hall of Famer, but he's survived a life-risking move to the United States with his family not only intact, but thriving. His three children all attended school in the United States, and they have essentially become Americans, which was Contreras' wish all along. He wanted a free and unencumbered life for his children and he's gotten that. A man can ask no more.

A 2-for-38 slump has sent Mike Moustakas' line crashing down to .180/.252/.309. Over that time, the Royals went 3-7, dipping below .500 for a game before bouncing back to even with a victory over Houston on Tuesday. The combination has made the natives restless, and Ned Yost issued a strong defense of his third baseman:

"You know what?" Yost said. "Maybe when we get home, I can go to the third base tree and pick another third baseman. … Obviously, third basemen who can hit and hit with power, they must grow on trees. [...]

"There is no third baseman tree. You don’t go grab another one. You let him develop. Look at Gordy (Alex Gordon). When I came over here (in 2010), all I heard (from fans) was this kid is never going to be anything.

"No. You’re wrong. Give them time to develop. But I understand it. I know what the fans want. They want it, and they want it now. Instant gratification just doesn’t work (in baseball)."

White Sox fans know first-hand about the lack of a third baseman tree, but we can't quite relate to the frustration of watching a team post 19 losing seasons in 20 years and being blamed for wanting "instant gratification." And as Craig Brown points out, that's far from the first time that line has been deployed.

What else should everybody be reading? Share your links. Now.

When sore shoulders, rehab stints and position changes collide

2013-05-22T11:00:08Z

A foggy roster situation became even more obscured with the unwelcome news that Chris Sale won't make his start against Boston tonight due to tendinitis.

It's being described as "mild," because Sale initially wanted to pitch through it:

Sale said the issue flared up after Friday’s start against the Angels. In his past two starts, Sale has limited the Angels to four hits over 16 2/3 innings. He said he informed the White Sox he intended to pitch Wednesday but was convinced by team doctors to not. The plan calls for treatment the next few days and Sale expects to make his next start Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

"We collected as a group and sat in a meeting and the doctor explained to me that this is not going to happen," Sale said. "I just don’t like doing it. I want to be out there. I don’t want to put my job in other people’s hands. That’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to do my job and make every start."

While this is obviously bad news, it could be worse. The last time Sale reported non-major pain, they almost named him closer for the season. Hopefully this means Sale has learned how to disclose discomfort without scaring the staff. At the moment, we can count the lack of mishandled media mayhem as a good start.

Other somewhat comforting signs under the circumstances:

No. 1: Sale's velocity during his last start matched what it's been all season, with no strange drops or spikes to apply backwards.

No. 2: It's good that he can be talked out of starting. He can learn a lot from Jake Peavy, but that kind of stubbornness is one lesson I'd like Sale to ignore.

It still might be worse than the Sox are letting on, but there are no gaps in the story right now. The only loose end is the fact that Hector Santiago's rubber arm will be put to the test. Not only will he be starting on short rest, but he'll be pitching a day after throwing his bullpen:

The left-hander threw 35-40 pitches and said he "kind of got after it" but expects no issues.

"It kind of sucks that I found out after I threw my bullpen today," Santiago said. "For the most part, I think I’ll be fine. I feel fine right now. I’ll wake up tomorrow and see how it feels."

Santiago might be able to pull a magic five innings out of his backside, but it's good that the Sox secured the series on Tuesday night. Jesse Crain, Addison Reed and Matt Thornton have all pitched on consecutive nights, and Matt Lindstrom worked on Tuesday, too. That leaves Nate Jones, Brian Omogrosso and Donnie Veal in position to do some heavy lifting.

At least there's an off day on Thursday. A lot of arms will be able to use it. The White Sox front office will welcome it, too, because there's a roster crunch about to happen.

Pitching staff

While the Sox haven't officially made the move on John Danks, it appears that they're set on having him open the Miami series on Friday. With Sale pushed back, Ventura will be able to delay deciding on which starter loses musical chairs, although Santiago will be hard-pressed to impress given the short-rest duress.

Danks' return probably means one of Veal or Omogrosso will head back to Charlotte. If Santiago can't hold up and the Sox get blown out by Boston, you might be able to get a head start on figuring out the departing pitcher based on who has to eat up the most garbage time. That was Will Ohman's parting gift before his DFA last year, anyway.

The battle between Santiago and Dylan Axelrod is the same as it's always been -- Santiago offers more upside while Axelrod's shown the steadier hand. Then again, Santiago has proven to be more versatile in the bullpen, which is a double-edged sword for his rotation career. If the Sox want to send back Veal but want two lefties, Santiago is the only way to go.

The timing on that decision would be odd, because the events of the last couple weeks haven't demanded a second lefty. Thornton just emerged from a lull during which he threw only twice over 11 days, and while it's usually better to be proactive and not have to over-rely on Thornton, relegating a guy like Santiago to second-lefty work would be a waste of a great arm.

Either way, the Sox will have a few days to mull things over. Santiago will need time to cool down from his unexpected start, and it's not a given that Danks will lock down a rotation spot even if he does make his debut on Friday.

Position players

Gordon Beckham has played short during his last two rehab games, and it's caused an unexpected stir because some people are making some strange logical leaps:

If Beckham can play short as a backup, he probably can play it full-time, and such a scenario would open a door to making former Silver Slugger Award winner Alexei Ramirez available in a trade. As gifted as Ramirez is and as spectacular as he can be in the field, make no mistake, there are those in the organization who question his baseball instincts and are losing patience with his lack of attention to detail in the field and his gun-shy pursuits of short fly balls in the outfield. [...]

‘There is nothing too intriguing to make out of this other than the rehab assignment gives us an opportunity to look at some ways to potentially increase the flexibility of the roster once Gordon returns,’’ he said.

And that’s all it might turn out to be. But that flexibility also could open a door for a trade, and Ramirez’s contract would not be a drawback on the second year of a four-year, $32.5 million deal with a club option for 2016.

This excerpt displays both a lack of imagination and a runaway train of thought, which is a tough combo to pull off. Beckham should have gotten reps at short years ago, but not to threaten Ramirez. Rather, with Ramirez's durability, carrying a backup shortstop for the sake of a tidy depth chart is a waste of a roster spot (remember Omar Vizquel in 2011?).

If Beckham can handle short, the Sox can get away with only one backup infielder, because either Dayan Viciedo or Hector Gimenez can take over at first base if the Sox end up thin on a corner one day.

Needing only one backup infielder can allow the Sox to focus on which bat makes the most sense -- and on paper, that's Casper Wells. Wells found his way to the White Sox because they didn't have any righty bats in reserve, and that would still be a problem if the roster crunch forced Wells out.

The paper equation may not be so simple, though, because Wells' track record might be compromised by a lack of playing time. He's been jerked around by so many roster machinations that he's only amassed 21 plate appearances for four teams over the first eight weeks. The Sox have given him 16 of those, and he hasn't done much with them (2-for-15, one double, one walk, six strikeouts), which is understandable.

There won't be many opportunities for Wells as a traditional fourth outfielder. Alex Rios and Dayan Viciedo are everyday players, and Wells isn't a recommended start in center. But if Paul Konerko continues to look as lost as he does -- and I don't think he's one swing away from turning it around -- Wells could see more time in left with Viciedo sliding to DH when righties are needed.

But that assumes Wells will be able to get on track with limited at-bats. That's far from a given, but it's a risk the Sox can probably afford to take. History says Tyler Greene and Angel Sanchez can't match his bat even if Wells has a down year, so the Sox may want to ride with Wells until a better opportunity presents itself.

Actually, since Wells' DFAs have been followed by outfield injuries, perhaps the Sox should wait for two opportunities.

White Sox 3, Red Sox 1: Tough when they have to be

2013-05-22T03:24:58Z

The rule of thumb for Jose Quintana is confusing, but simple: He's allowed to throw shutout baseball as long as he doesn't complete seven innings -- otherwise, he stands no shot at getting the win (0-for-4 lifetime).

He looked like he was going to challenge that curse when he took a no-hitter into the seventh. But David Ortiz broke it up with a one-out single, and two singles after that loaded the bases. With Quintana over 100 pitches and hitting the wall, Robin Ventura called for Jesse Crain.

Crain struck out Will Middlebrooks with a 3-2 slider out of the zone for out No. 2. He only got to 2-2 with Stephen Drew before sitting him down with a changeup. That ended the threat, and sure enough, Quintana would emerge with the "W."

It wouldn't be neat, of course. Matt Thornton started the eighth -- it should've been Crain, but I'm guessing Robin Ventura wanted to limit Crain's workload -- the way he started the seventh on Tuesday by allowing the first two batters to reach. This time it was a walk and a single, though, and those were the only two hitters he saw. Matt Lindstrom came in and stranded one of them, somehow.

Lindstrom retired Mike Carp via a flyout, but in his battle with Dustin Pedroia, Tyler Flowers let a slider in the dirt get past him for a passed-ball-looking wild pitch, which took the double play out of order. That looked doubly unfortunate when Pedroia eventually hit a hard grounder right at Alexei Ramirez for what would've been a tailor-made 6-4-3 ball.

As it turned out, it wasn't even a 6-3, because the ball ate up Ramirez and bounced into left field. The error allowed a run to score and putting runners on the corners for David Ortiz. Incredibly, the White Sox defense got another shot at turning two, and Paul Konerko started his second 3-6-3 in as many days to keep it a two-run ballgame.

Credit Ramirez for getting the run back. He kept the bottom of the eighth alive with a two-out single, and sprinted the other 270 feet on Alex Rios' double to the left-center gap. That restored the two-run lead, and while the rain came pouring down afterward to cause concern of a stoppage, the White Sox closed it up in a businesslike fashion. Addison Reed put together a 1-2-3 save to give his Sox the series, which is important since Chris Sale will miss Wednesday's start.

For the second straight game, the White Sox scored all their runs with two outs. Their first (and only other) attack came in the fifth in what had been a very quiet game. Dayan Viciedo reached on a chopper single under the glove of the diving Middlebrooks, which was only the second hit of the game against Felix Doubront. Keppinger made it a third, and it was a shocker -- a two-run shot to left, five rows deep, to give the Sox a 2-0 lead.

Tyler Flowers followed with a double, and those were the only four hits of the ballgame until the seventh. Quintana's established a swing-and-miss fastball early, and then got swings and misses on his slower stuff afterward. He issued a couple walks, but both came with two outs, and both were stranded. The only flaw in his start was that he could've been more efficient. That tenacious Boston lineup worked him over, even when they didn't get hits to show for it, and he ended up with 107 pitches by the time he departed after 6⅓ innings. Thanks to a good-enough bullpen -- especially in the face of more questionable defense -- 6⅓ innings was enough.

Bullet points:

Rios had alread extended his hitting streak to 16 games before coming to the plate in the eighth, so that RBI double was icing on the cake.
Casper Wells, a defensive replacement for Viciedo, slipped on the drenched warning track while tracking Daniel Nava's deep fly, but still made the catch while sitting down.

Record: 21-23 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights

The 2013 White Sox versus the Dreaded Leadoff Walk

2013-05-21T18:00:08Z

Unless you're one of the fans who absolutely do not listen to Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone's broadcasts, you're well aware of Hawk's aversion to "the Dreaded Leadoff Walk" (I've decided to make it a proper noun). If one was to take Hawk's word for gospel, you would be kind of an idiot. Not just because he's Hawk, but c'mon now. You're an adult and a critical thinking being! You're better than that. You're supposed to take our words as gospel.

But now that I am home from the dreaded Sunflower State for what amounts to tens of days, I have free time to finally write as much and as often as I want again.

During last night's game, Matt Thornton walked the first two hitters he faced in the top of the 7th inning and as will happen, both came around to score. This had me wondering how often the Dreaded Leadoff Walk has actually come around to bite the White Sox in the rear so far this season. So I spent my morning reading through all 43 box scores from this season, because I love you.

The White Sox pitching staff has issued 139 walks this season. Of those 139, 35 have ultimately scored, good for 25.2%.

24 of the 139 walks were of the leadoff variety. Eleven of them have resulted in the hitter who walked scoring, making Hawk's worst nightmare come true 45.8% of the time. Edit: the esteemed Christopher Kamka has informed me he has it at 10 of 24, making 41.7% the real number. That is not good. Obviously there are small sample size caveats and arbitrary end points in my data collection. For instance, if I had decided to write about this topic before the last series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the numbers would look are less frightening. Over the past week, the Sox have walked seven hitters to lead off an inning. Six of those hitters have scored. So we'd be looking at five runners out of seventeen having scored, which is far more palatable.

I'll take another look at this around the All Star Break and towards the end of the season, as it's kind of an interesting thing to keep an eye on. But as for now at least, maybe Hawk is onto something.

John Danks to make season debut this Friday?

2013-05-21T16:44:07Z

According to Jon Heyman, John Danks is scheduled to make his 2013 season debut for the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field this upcoming Friday. And in what looks to be the perfect time to bring him back, he will be making his first start since last season against the punchless Miami Marlins. All pitchers should be so fortunate.

It will have been one year and five days since he last toed the rubber against major league competition, as his last appearance was May 19, 2012 against the Chicago Cubs whom he managed to defeat despite having an injured pitching shoulder.

Is he going to be lights out right away? Probably not, so don't have the highest of hopes in the world. But he should round into form eventually and that could go a long way in determining just what kind of season the Sox will ultimately have this year. With Gordon Beckham expected to return around the same time, expect to see some fringe players being told some bad news.

Dylan Axelrod holding his own against American League's best

2013-05-21T11:00:09Z

Given yet another tall task in the form of the undefeated Jon Lester, Dylan Axelrod rose to the occasion once again on Monday night.

Axelrod outpitched Lester over their six innings, giving Axelrod his second victory of the season while handing Lester his first defeat. It may still be surprising on paper, but this kind of game is losing its novelty with every turn.

Through nine starts, the battling Axe is 2-3 with a 4.13 ERA over 52⅓ innings, but the story of his season is far more interesting than what the aggregate numbers say. It's not just that he's underestimated or overachieving -- it's that he's holding his own in matchups that don't favor him.

Out of Axelrod's nine outings, five meet the qualifications for a quality start, and I'd tack on his first start of the season as a clear success (one run over 5⅔ innings against Seattle). That's a pretty good rate for his role, and that's before mentioning that all those starts took place against much bigger names. We're talking about a couple Cy Young winners and a few others way above Axelrod's pay grade.

In his three weakest starts, he faced Dan Haren, Barry Enright and Mike Pelfrey.

Baseball, huh?

It's probably coincidence, because unlike somebody along the lines of Freddy Garcia, who had a reputation of stepping up in big games and coasting in lesser affairs, Axelrod can't afford to let up. Every start is an audition, and he's well aware that doubts remain regardless:

Axelrod has kept the White Sox in all but one of his starts, going six or more innings in six of his nine starts. He has been questioned about his credentials on more than one occasion. At this point the naysayers are getting on his nerves a bit

"Yeah, a little bit," he said with a sheepish smile after Chicago's 6-4 win over Boston. "I feel I have done all that has been asked of me and I have had a lot of quality starts. I feel I belong at this level. If that answers the question, that’s it."

He has a point. When you go through his game log, he's met every serious challenge thrown at him this year beyond reasonable expectations (click on the dates for the recap).

MAY 20	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	6.0	4	2	2	1	2	1	83	62
Jon Lester	6.0	7	6	5	3	2	1	109	35

Verdict: Win. Axelrod took his AL East success home for once.

MAY 4	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	7.2	8	2	2	1	0	0	113	54
Jeremy Guthrie	9.0	4	0	0	1	3	0	106	81

Verdict: Valiant in defeat. This isn't anywhere close to Axelrod's best game score, but it's the longest start of his career, and close to the most effective. A line like this will usually win a lot of games, but White Sox pitchers can't win games against Guthrie. They can only not lose them.

(And while Guthrie doesn't qualify as a big name in the traditional sense, he's 5-2 with a 3.49 ERA this season. His numbers would have looked even more imposing had the Astros not pounded Guthrie while Axelrod bested Lester. Yes, the Astros.)

APRIL 28	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	6.0	4	3	3	1	3	2	90	54
David Price	7.0	6	3	3	2	9	1	119	60

Verdict: Relative draw. The Sox led the Rays until Axelrod gave up two in his final inning of work. He departed when it was tied, and Price never pitched with a lead himself. It's possible you're not impressed with Price since he's off to a rough start (1-4, 5.24 ERA), but he did win the Cy Young last year.

APRIL 22	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	6	3	1	1	2	4	0	109	64
Justin Masterson	7	4	2	2	4	5	1	100	62

Verdict: Edge, Axelrod. The Sox held a 2-1 lead when Axelrod left, but Matt Thornton gave up a two-run single in the eighth inning to put Axelrod in no-decision territory. Masterson is 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA through his first 10 starts.

APRIL 16	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	6.0	7	2	2	1	4	2	94	53
Josh Johnson	7.0	4	2	2	2	8	1	107	67

Verdict: Relative draw. This doesn't look like that big of a deal now, considering Johnson's start against the Sox was his only strong one this season. And "this season" has only consisted of four starts thanks to a triceps injury. But at the time, Johnson's condition was unknown, and he's making $13.75 million this season, so it sure seemed lopsided.

APRIL 6	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	GSc
Dylan Axelrod	5.2	3	1	0	2	3	0	97	62
Felix Hernandez	6.1	6	4	4	2	3	1	108	46

Verdict: A draw. Ventura lifted Axelrod with two on, two out, and the game tied at 1, so while Axelrod has the edge in game score, it doesn't reflect the evenness in game state. That said, as long as Axelrod was in the game, he matched King Felix inning for inning.

That's six starts where Axelrod was clearly outclassed in every which way ... but results. He may very well be a long-lasting mirage yet, but the standard caveats are wearing thin. He's facing teams more than once. He's throwing three or four pitches, rather than two. He's harder to rattle, and far more capable of taking a punch. Above all, he knows what he's doing. It's probably wise to still expect the other shoe to drop, but at some point, he deserves at least a little leeway. If not now, then when?

Strength of Schedule

Axelrod might be a back-end guy in terms of status and the Opening Day calendar, but when it comes to degree of difficulty, he's taking on the work of a No. 2 or No. 3 starter. Looking at who each of the rotation slots has faced this year, only one guy clearly has Axelrod beat.

No. 1: Chris Sale

Opponents: James Shields, Hisashi Iwakuma, Zach McAllister, R.A. Dickey, Jeremy Hellickson, Nick Tepesch, James Shields, C.J. Wilson, C.J. Wilson

Sale can't match Axelrod's slate in terms of big names, but there isn't a dud in this group. Tepesch is the weakest link, but he's basically the Rangers' version of Axelrod, at least in terms of unheralded production. He's not much like Axelrod otherwise, since he's younger, bigger and throws harder. Not to mention he's from a really good school.

No. 2: Axelrod

Felix Hernandez, Dan Haren, Josh Johnson, Justin Masterson, David Price, Jeremy Guthrie, Barry Enright, Mike Pelfrey, Jon Lester

Enright, Pelfrey and Haren are enough to knock him from the top, especially since Johnson was only the facade of an ace.

No. 3: Gavin Floyd/Hector Santiago

Jeremy Guthrie, Jordan Zimmermann, Mark Buehrle, Scott Diamond, Matt Moore, Justin Grimm, Matt Harvey, Pedro Hernandez, Joe Blanton

This is almost a duplicate of Axelrod's group -- three Cy Young candidates, one shared above-average opponent (Guthrie), and one disappointing Blue Jay. I'm giving 'Rod the nod because Price has that recent-award smell, and also because he's had to do it all himself.

No. 4: Jose Quintana

Blake Beavan, Justin Masterson, J.A. Happ, Zach McAllister, Yu Darvish, Wade Davis, Jerome Williams, Jerome Williams

A pretty even mix in terms of quality. This is what you might expect a random nine-start sample to yield.

No. 5: Jake Peavy

Ervin Santana, Gio Gonzalez, Brett Myers, Vance Worley, Roberto Hernandez, Jeremy Hefner, Kevin Correia, Jason Vargas

If you believe in Santana (3-3, 2.77 ERA, 1.08 WHIP), then this list has two above-average starters, another mid-rotation guy, and dregs for the rest. Peavy's a guy who thinks he should win every start regardless of opponent, but stumbling into this slate, this is one time he could make an argument for it.