Batter/Pitcher of the Month: May

[MHizzle85]

This is something that was done last season & I thought I'd just bring it back.

 

Vote away at your players of the month.

[lostfan]

I wanted to go with Thome but Konerko's been a model of consistency this year. As for the pitchers, Mark Buehrle, and it's not really even close.

[GoSox05]

I'm gonna go with Richard and Konerko. Konerko has been are best hitter all year and Richard pitched big time for us.

 

Jimmy Gobble was a close second. I heard his era is almost under 10.

[southsider2k5]

Dye and Richard. Buehrle probably has been the best, but getting that contribution out of a guy who you really didn't expect it from has been huge.

[dasox24]

I picked Richard b/c while Buehrle's stats are better, Richard gave us that 2nd, consistent starter we've been needing. He was a huge surprise. Mark has been dealing all year, but everyone else has been off and on, so it has really helped the team with Clayton giving 3 very solid straight performances.

[BearSox]

Gotta go with PK on offense, he was the only bright spot when the team was struggling bad. Richard has just been a huge surprise, so he gets my vote.

[knightni]

I can't believe that I'm the only one who voted for Carrasco.

[SouthsideDon48]

I'm very happy with the performances of all the players listed, but if I had to pick who to vote for, then it's Dye and Richard.

 

Richard has really impressed me because no one really expected him to perform this well. Buehrle is a great pitcher, but he's expected to do well, Richard is expected to do poorly. So my vote went to Richard because he exceeded my expectations the most.

 

Also, I'm thrilled with how Carrasco is doing in the bullpen. I remember some people on here in Spring Training saying that they hoped the Sox would get rid of Carrasco or send him to AAA. It's nice that Carrasco goes out and proves them wrong. He's a solid 6th-inning guy in the bullpen for us.

[lostfan]

lots of love for Richard here. I guess it comes down to performance vs. expectations. Performance, Buehrle is the best, but he is supposed to be. Expectations, it has to be Richard.

[maggsmaggs]

Dye with his power numbers were huge and with Richard, his performances might have saved our season. With Buehrle, you know you are going to get good starts, but Richard was the wild card.

[CanOfCorn]

I went with Paulie and Richard...but I would vote Pods cuz he's given teh Sox the shot in the butt by completely outperforming what any of us and probably what the White Sox organization was expecting of him when he came up from Charlotte. Nothing spectacular, but thie team has looked much better since he started leading off.

[bighurt4life]

Konerko has been a rock in the middle of the lineup all month and all year for that matter, Richard came up with some big time starts for us and kept us rolling when a slip up in any of those starts could really have hurt the momentum that we've been building these past few weeks.

[Kalapse]

I went with Paulie and Richard...but I would vote Pods cuz he's given teh Sox the shot in the butt by completely outperforming what any of us and probably what the White Sox organization was expecting of him when he came up from Charlotte. Nothing spectacular, but thie team has looked much better since he started leading off.

Wouldn't the resurgence and move to the 2 hole of Alexei Ramirez make more sense as a major cause for this hot streak than some "shot in the butt" from Podsednik? I mean Alexei's been a much better player and his hot streak lines up a whole lot better with the team's current hot streak. Podsednik wasn't doing a whole hell of a lot in the leadoff spot when this team turned it's play around. I don't really see how getting mediocre production out of the leadoff spot woke up the bats of Dye, Thome and Ramirez especially since Getz was absolutely raking at the top earlier this year.

 

Overall, I don't see why credit has to be given to any one person for this turn around. The bats have come to life, the bullpen is just as solid as it's been all year, the starting rotation has been outstanding and the defense has been solid. Seems like a team wide thing to me.

[Steve9347]

CR/PK

[YASNY]

Wouldn't the resurgence and move to the 2 hole of Alexei Ramirez make more sense as a major cause for this hot streak than some "shot in the butt" from Podsednik? I mean Alexei's been a much better player and his hot streak lines up a whole lot better with the team's current hot streak. Podsednik wasn't doing a whole hell of a lot in the leadoff spot when this team turned it's play around. I don't really see how getting mediocre production out of the leadoff spot woke up the bats of Dye, Thome and Ramirez especially since Getz was absolutely raking at the top earlier this year.

 

Overall, I don't see why credit has to be given to any one person for this turn around. The bats have come to life, the bullpen is just as solid as it's been all year, the starting rotation has been outstanding and the defense has been solid. Seems like a team wide thing to me.

 

I don't know, maybe having Pods on base with the boppers behind Alexei has been the reason he has come out of his funk. He's got to be feasting on a diet of fastballs. The bottom line is the current combination is working and the bottom of the order is a force as well.

[Kalapse]

I don't know, maybe having Pods on base with the boppers behind Alexei has been the reason he has come out of his funk. He's got to be feasting on a diet of fastballs. The bottom line is the current combination is working and the bottom of the order is a force as well.

Except he hasn't been on bases very often, he's pretty much been Juan Pierre lite with a good batting average, bad OBP, little power and a ton of aggressive ABs leading to a low pit/pa. He's the liteversion because he's been terrible on the basepaths, no threat to steal at all, he's actually been picked off first more times than he's stolen a base. Getting caught off base over and over after a single isn't helping either.

 

I'm liking the current setup, I can't think of a better lineup with the current personnel but I think it's lazy as hell to just dump a ton of credit on a guy who hasn't been all that great. Hawk's doing it 5 times a game now and hell on a commercial on ESPN 1000 a few minutes ago I heard "this has been an entirely different team since Podsednik showed up". That's just silliness. I mean, the guy's OBP in the leadoff spot is under .340 and that includes a completely ridiculous game in Anaheim where he got on base 6 times, he hasn't been getting on consistently. If he were tearing it up similar to what Getz was doing earlier this year then I'd probably get on board but I'm just not seeing it.

[justBLAZE]

I went with Dye and Richard, where in April it would probably be Konerko and Buehrle.

 

Honorable mention DJ Carrasco.

[BearSox]

Except he hasn't been on bases very often, he's pretty much been Juan Pierre lite with a good batting average, bad OBP, little power and a ton of aggressive ABs leading to a low pit/pa. He's the liteversion because he's been terrible on the basepaths, no threat to steal at all, he's actually been picked off first more times than he's stolen a base. Getting caught off base over and over after a single isn't helping either.

 

I'm liking the current setup, I can't think of a better lineup with the current personnel but I think it's lazy as hell to just dump a ton of credit on a guy who hasn't been all that great. Hawk's doing it 5 times a game now and hell on a commercial on ESPN 1000 a few minutes ago I heard "this has been an entirely different team since Podsednik showed up". That's just silliness. I mean, the guy's OBP in the leadoff spot is under .340 and that includes a completely ridiculous game in Anaheim where he got on base 6 times, he hasn't been getting on consistently. If he were tearing it up similar to what Getz was doing earlier this year then I'd probably get on board but I'm just not seeing it.

The thing is, it's been a long ass time since we've had anything resembling a leadoff hitter. Getz for about a week, and that's it. Having Pods show some flashes is refreshing, while it lasts.

 

There's no denying he's made some good adjustments at bat. I was actually surprised by how soon he scrapped the run and swing thing after pitchers were starting to adjust to it.

[Kalapse]

The thing is, it's been a long ass time since we've had anything resembling a leadoff hitter. Getz for about a week, and that's it. Having Pods show some flashes is refreshing, while it lasts.

 

There's no denying he's made some good adjustments at bat. I was actually surprised by how soon he scrapped the run and swing thing after pitchers were starting to adjust to it.

Orlando Cabrera hit .293/.341/.386/.728 in nearly 600 PA in the leadoff spot last year and he ran the bases like a big leaguer.

[Balta1701]

Orlando Cabrera hit .293/.341/.386/.728 in nearly 600 PA in the leadoff spot last year and he ran the bases like a big leaguer.

But you kow what? It certainly felt like less of an impact than what Pods has done these last few games.

[Kalapse]

But you kow what? It certainly felt like less of an impact than what Pods has done these last few games.

Which is retarded. If I had a dollar for every time I've come across a misguided feeling I'd be earning money in a very weird way.

[southsider2k5]

Which is retarded. If I had a dollar for every time I've come across a misguided feeling I'd be earning money in a very weird way.

 

But if the players believe it and gain confidence from it, is it really misguided?

[Kalapse]

But if the players believe it and gain confidence from it, is it really misguided?

Are they? Seriously? They're drawing confidence from Podsednik's occasion single and that's why Alexei and Dye have come alive and the pitching staff has picked it up?

[witesoxfan]

I'd say the team felt Orlando Cabrera's impact and believed it when he was leading off last year, seeing as how they, you know, won the division.