What a Difference a Week Makes

And things are back to normal for the White Sox, who, after winning 10 of 13, fell back this week and lost their last 5 of 6. Today, they lost to a no-name pitcher (again), and Bartolo Colon had a poor outing (again).

With the big run out of the way, and the team regressing to it's non-existent offense again, they are starting to reveal just what they are in this 2009 campaign. And what they are is a mediocre team. Decent rotation, great bullpen, horrendous lineup.

With the exceptions of Colon and Jose Contreras, Sox starters have been all right. John Danks and Gavin Floyd have struggled at times this year, but they have not been helped by the offense at all. Clayton Richard has come on to impress in his starts this year, and despite his name being mentioned in the Jake Peavy deal, he has not let it bother him. Mark Buehrle should have at least two more wins and is quietly having an All-Star season.

The bullpen has maintained its dominance so far, with Octavio Dotel rebounding from a shaky '08 to put up some great numbers thus far.

And now to the offense. As has been customary, when they aren't scoring 7+ runs, they rarely win. When they don't hit home runs, they rarely win. It's time for some lineup shuffle, and not the swapping of spots 2, 7, 8, and 9 that Ozzie Guillen likes to do. It's time to move Jim Thome down, especially when Carlos Quentin comes back. Thome is on his last career legs, and he just bogs down the middle of the lineup. .240 isn't getting it done. Gordon Beckham has yet to record a major league hit, though that's not really a big issue right now. His time isn't now. It would be nice to see Jayson Nix play every day, but there are just not enough available spots on the field. Oh, and please, get Alexei Ramirez out of the 2 spot and leave Chris Getz there permantly, if he is the starting 2nd baseman. Getz is a #2 hitter. He should be hitting #2, even if he is struggling.

Sure, there's still plenty of time to turn things around, but it's now a week into June, and by now you have a good idea of how clubs will turn out at the end of the season. The Sox are way too inconsistent and way too unbalanced to pull away from the Tigers and Twins. They will stay in the race, but that's not exactly saying much this year.