The White Sox slipped to third place in the AL Central after a ten game span in which they lost five of six to Kansas City and three of four to Cleveland. For some reason, that put Robin Ventura‘s head on the block. What happened?
At the end of play on May 9th, the White Sox stood 23-10 with a six game lead in the AL Central. It looked like it would be the summer of Chicago baseball as both Windy City teams opened up nice division leads. Since then however, the White Sox are just 4-13.
The offense was playing well through May 9th, with a .249/.324/.394 slash line. They weren’t hitting for average, but they were getting on base with some power. They are getting on base less during the slide, .249/.307/.383.
The problem is really the pitching. During the hot streak, they allowed opponents a .225/.293/.339 slash line. That would have been enough to compensate the offensive slide. Instead, the White Sox itchers getting hammered to the tune of .279/.337/.444. Note that the starts in that time have good strikeout and walk numbers, but home runs are hurting them. They also give up more hits that I would expect. I’m wondering if other teams just decided to attack the White Sox staff early, since they are around the plate so much? If they did, it’s working, since they are driving the starters from the game early, putting more pressure on the White Sox bullpen.
If the latter is true, that opponents made an adjustment to the White Sox staff, then maybe Ventura deserves some blame. One thing the manager and his staff should do is recognize an opponent’s adjustment, and counter it. We’ll see what changes now that Chicago was knocked off their perch.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1Z8k1Bs
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