If you have been watching the Chicago White Sox recently, you might have noticed that runs have come at a premium.
Since their recent six-game winning streak that came to an end 10 days ago at the hands of the Cleveland Indians, our boys are a pitiful 3-8 over that stretch following yesterday’s make-up doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles.
What is the root cause of the recent poor play?
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How about a team that has scored more than three runs just twice over the last week and a half? If we leave out the heartbreaking 10-9 loss at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays this past Tuesday, the Sox are averaging a paltry 2.4 runs per game over this stretch. With the moves that were made in the offseason and the hype surrounding this team coming into the season, 2.4 runs per game is simply unacceptable.
What are some of the main reasons for this rough stretch of offense?
First, the best hitter, Avisail Garcia has been battling a lingering problem in his knee and has been out most of this stretch. Before being out, Garcia was leading the team with a phenomenal .327 average and seemed to be finding his power stroke.
If the Sox want to break this slump, and they need to before this gets much worse, their promising right-fielder needs to get back in the lineup as quickly as possible.
Secondly, shortstop Alexei Ramirez has got to take a pitch. Far too many times during this stretch have I seen him swing at the first pitch of an at-bat. I know he is notorious for this but this has led to a 9-for-41 clip over this stretch which is not going to help this team get production from the second half of the lineup. He is tied for second on the team with 20 runs batted in!
Ramirez just needs to let the game come to him and I am sure we will eventually see our everyday shortstop figure it out.
Lastly, this team needs a catcher. The production from both Tyler Flowers and Geovany Soto is just brutal. There is no other way to put it. I would have no problem if either of them was reliable defensively, but they just aren’t.
Neither of them can throw out a runner and if neither of them can hit at least .210 then what good are they? We might as well just give the team an out either time they come to the plate. Out of the priority positions this team needs to focus on at the deadline, catcher should be at the top of the list.
If there is a silver lining in all of this is that the Sox are only four games under .500 and play in the toughest division in baseball. The Sox need to start taking care of business both at home and within the division and we just have to wait and see how it plays out. Let’s go out and get some wins against the American League best Houston Astros and build a winning streak again.
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