Final Eight

[PorkChopExpress]

These last eight games are either going to be



or



Who's up for sending our Sox a tub of blue face paint?

Go Sox!

And sorry for the length of the videos. I couldn't find shorter ones.

[voodoochile]

8 game season OMG how cool is that? GO SOX!

BAROOOOOO! <-----------my war cry (get your own)

[RedHeadPaleHoser]

I have to say that I am very calm and enjoying these last 8 games.

I could be wrong (and I'll defer to people smarter than me on this), but when the Sox have either tied the division lead or ceded it briefly to the Tigers, they got hot and took it right back. What better time to do this than with 8 games remaining?

Couldn't have a better ending to a good season. Beat the Kittens and win the division.

[Crooked Number]

As abysmal the play on the field has been in this month, there is the chance that the Sox can turn it on these last 8 and still pull it out. They have a chance, and as a fan, with 8 games remaining that is exciting as hell. Anything can happen. Go Sox.

[harwar]

I'm looking forward to each and every game .. every pitch means something now .. every morning i'm optimistic that this is the day that the White Sox will start playing with fire again .. i thought that Dunn's big home run the other night would jump start the offense but maybe it will take a big inning like JB said,string several hits together and then they are off to the races .. at any rate i fully expect us to win the division ..

[Lip Man 1]

I hope they pull out of this funk. It's up to the players to start producing when they have guys on base.

Something other than solo home runs would be helpful.

By the way they have now hit 111 solo home runs this year...that's 55% of the overall home run total.

Lip

[PaleHoser]

I believe!

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

By the way they have now hit 111 solo home runs this year...that's 55% of the overall home run total.

That's actually one of the lowest percentages of HR that are solo HR in the American League

TEAM   HR    SOLO    PCT
TBR    158    103    65.2
KCR    123     76    61.8
DET    154     94    61.0
OAK    182    111    61.0
SEA    140     85    60.7
LAA    182    108    59.3
NYY    232    137    59.1
TEX    190    111    58.4
MIN    127     74    58.3
BAL    197    113    57.4
SOX    202    110    54.5
BOS    160     87    54.4
TOR    189    102    54.0
CLE    132    69     52.3

[SephClone89]

Originally Posted by doublem23

That's actually one of the lowest percentages of HR that are solo HR in the American League

Yeah, I saw Gonzales cite the same statistic in today's Trib and suspected as much.

When you think about it just by the percentages, it's probably fairly likely that any given plate appearance, regardless of the outcome, will occur with the bases empty.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by SephClone89

Yeah, I saw Gonzales cite the same statistic in today's Trib and suspected as much.

When you think about it just by the percentages, it's probably fairly likely that any given plate appearance, regardless of the outcome, will occur with the bases empty.

Yeah, bases empty is by far the most likely situation a hitter steps to the plate with so it's no surprise that every team in the AL has solo HR account for over 1/2 their total HR total. It's just funny to see guys point that the Sox have hit 55% of their HR with the bases empty, like that's some kind of bad thing, yet not even bother to do the 5 minutes of research to see the context of that number, that 55% is actually a good percentage and every other team in the AL play-off chase hits a higher percentage of solo HR than the Sox.

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Yeah, bases empty is by far the most likely situation a hitter steps to the plate with so it's no surprise that every team in the AL has solo HR account for over 1/2 their total HR total. It's just funny to see guys point that the Sox have hit 55% of their HR with the bases empty, like that's some kind of bad thing, yet not even bother to do the 5 minutes of research to see the context of that number, that 55% is actually a good percentage and every other team in the AL play-off chase hits a higher percentage of solo HR than the Sox.

You mean it was another Lip stat that was presented out of the context of the performance of the other 29 teams? Shocker.

[Lip Man 1]

Which does nothing to change the fact that they aren't driving in runs with guys on base does it?

Nothing wrong with solo home runs unless that's the only way you are scoring is it?

Doesn't matter what other teams are doing, what matters is what the Sox do. Don't understand why that is so hard to figure out. Other teams score runs in different ways and perhaps aren't as reliant on the "home run or nothing approach..."

I didn't make the statement to make any particular point, I didn't, just thought it was worth nothing.

Lip

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Doesn't matter what other teams are doing, what matters is what the Sox do. Don't understand why that is so hard to figure out.

You often cite Sox stats, as you did here, making them sound bad when, if you compare their performance with that of other teams, does not turn out to be the case. In fact, this is a perfect example of it. When it comes to such stats, it absolutely matters what other teams are doing because the stats by themselves have no meaningw ithout that context.

Example: "The Sox scored have scored 54.5% of the Sox' homers have been solo."

OK. That *sounds* bad. But what does it really mean? How can you tell whether that number is good or bad without knowing where it stands in comparison to the other teams?

If you want to point out how the Sox are performing poorly, there are PLENTY of examples. My beef is using stats that don't actually support your position (one with which I agree, by the way).

[doublem23]

Considering the Sox are in direct competition with the other 13 members of the American League, to say "it doesn't matter what the other teams do," is... mind boggling.

You're right, there's nothing wrong with hitting solo shots if you can find other ways to score runs. Which is good, because the Sox don't actually hit a lot of solo HR, relatively speaking.

[Dan H]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Yeah, bases empty is by far the most likely situation a hitter steps to the plate with so it's no surprise that every team in the AL has solo HR account for over 1/2 their total HR total. It's just funny to see guys point that the Sox have hit 55% of their HR with the bases empty, like that's some kind of bad thing, yet not even bother to do the 5 minutes of research to see the context of that number, that 55% is actually a good percentage and every other team in the AL play-off chase hits a higher percentage of solo HR than the Sox.

There's nothing wrong with a solo home run anytime. The recent troubles the team has been having is not scoring in any other way. In the second game against Cleveland got three solo shots - and only three hits besides that. That earned a one run loss.