Most of us have been caught up on Paul Konerko and his quest for .400. Or A.J. and his ridiculous .447 average with runners in scoring position. Or even the mammoth Donkey Punch that won Monday afternoon's game.
But what many people have been missing is just how well Dayan has been playing.
The Tank is now hitting .280 with 11 HR's and 27 RBI. But that doesn't tell half the story. Viciedo has bene on an unbelievable tear as of late. Let's just take the last 15 games.
In these games Dayan has 25 hits adding up to a .424 average, 8 of his 11 HR's, 22 RBI, and an OPS of 1.281.
Viciedo is the White Sox 7 hole hitter. An OPS over 1.00 is good for anybody at any spot in the order. But for a guy who has been, and will likely to continue to hit towards the bottom to be at 1.281 for a stretch of half a month is amazing.
In only 5 of these 15 Viciedo did not drive in a run. He drove in multiple runs in 6 of the 15. Before this stetch, Dayan was hitting .196 on the year and his OPS was a poor .530. Now, .280 and .804.
But my favorite part of what Viciedo has been doing is how he's been spraying the baseball around the yard. At US Cellular field Viciedo has 25 hits. 8 have gone to left, 12 to center, and 5 to right. If you cut the field directly in half, he has 15 hits to the pull side and 10 to the opposite field. It's incredibly difficult to pitch to a guy who's hot, but when he's hot an spraying the ball all over the field, it's nearly impossible.
Not surprisingly the Sox are 12-3 in these 15 games. Sure there have been other factors such as the afore mentioned Paulie, A.J. and Dunn, but no one has done more than Viciedo to turn this thing around for the South Siders.
Showing posts with label Dayan Viciedo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dayan Viciedo. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
That Was Good Baseball
The White Sox just came off one of their better performances in recent history. With the 5-2 win against the Tigers on home Opening Day, the Sox showed it all. Pitching, defense, clutch hitting, agressive base running, this game had it all.
Let's start with what I thought was the most impressive part of the afternoon, and that's Jake Peavy. Peavy went 6.2 innings and was dominant almost the entire day. He let one pitch get away from him and it was the one Delmon Young took out down the left field line. Other than that, Jake struck out 8 and kept the very good Tigers lineup off balance throughout his time on the bump. Peavy has now held down the Rangers and the Tigers in his 2 starts. He has a 1-0 record to show for it, and it really looks like we've got the dominant Jake Peavy here in Chicago for the first time ever.
On to the bullpen. Reed did his job. 2 outs, 1 broken bat double, and got the big out when he really needed it (thanks to Viciedo's awesome play.) Thornton was good. His one hit allowed was also a broken bat. And the double play ball he induced was excellent as well. Santiago let one man on but came back and struck out 2 and nailed it down for his 3rd save.
Defense. Wow. From the 2 Peavy plays to the Viciedo play to the insane double play by Alexei and Beckham. What a great thing to see. That's how you win games. Either of the Cuban Defense plays don't happen, the Sox probably lose today. This team may not have the best offense, but if they can take away runs on the defensive side, that can contribute just as much.
Base running. Konerko scores from 1st on a triple? Konerko, from first? Joe McEwing has really proved that he is willing to push the envelope. Every chance he's had, McEwing has sent the runner, and it's working. It's a fine line, but McEwing is walking it to a tee. Then there's the De Aza base running. On the nightmare in left field by Delmon Young, De Aza hustled out of the box and got himself into third. He ended up scoring. His energy has been critical for this team and is really looking like it's contagious.
And lastly, the big hitting. You have to love Viciedo breaking the 0-0 game with the bomb, but I'm more talking about the RBI's later in the game. Konerko's RBI single was clutch, yet typical Paulie. The triple by AJ was very big. And even Morel was able to come through with a big RBI hit.
I know it's just one game, but this was everything to could ask for in a baseball game from the Sox. If they can play ball anything close to this for the rest of the year, this team will vastly overachieve. Certainly creates some excitement where there really wasn't any a week ago.
Let's start with what I thought was the most impressive part of the afternoon, and that's Jake Peavy. Peavy went 6.2 innings and was dominant almost the entire day. He let one pitch get away from him and it was the one Delmon Young took out down the left field line. Other than that, Jake struck out 8 and kept the very good Tigers lineup off balance throughout his time on the bump. Peavy has now held down the Rangers and the Tigers in his 2 starts. He has a 1-0 record to show for it, and it really looks like we've got the dominant Jake Peavy here in Chicago for the first time ever.
On to the bullpen. Reed did his job. 2 outs, 1 broken bat double, and got the big out when he really needed it (thanks to Viciedo's awesome play.) Thornton was good. His one hit allowed was also a broken bat. And the double play ball he induced was excellent as well. Santiago let one man on but came back and struck out 2 and nailed it down for his 3rd save.
Defense. Wow. From the 2 Peavy plays to the Viciedo play to the insane double play by Alexei and Beckham. What a great thing to see. That's how you win games. Either of the Cuban Defense plays don't happen, the Sox probably lose today. This team may not have the best offense, but if they can take away runs on the defensive side, that can contribute just as much.
Base running. Konerko scores from 1st on a triple? Konerko, from first? Joe McEwing has really proved that he is willing to push the envelope. Every chance he's had, McEwing has sent the runner, and it's working. It's a fine line, but McEwing is walking it to a tee. Then there's the De Aza base running. On the nightmare in left field by Delmon Young, De Aza hustled out of the box and got himself into third. He ended up scoring. His energy has been critical for this team and is really looking like it's contagious.
And lastly, the big hitting. You have to love Viciedo breaking the 0-0 game with the bomb, but I'm more talking about the RBI's later in the game. Konerko's RBI single was clutch, yet typical Paulie. The triple by AJ was very big. And even Morel was able to come through with a big RBI hit.
I know it's just one game, but this was everything to could ask for in a baseball game from the Sox. If they can play ball anything close to this for the rest of the year, this team will vastly overachieve. Certainly creates some excitement where there really wasn't any a week ago.
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