Power To The People

Frank Thomas has a theory. You need to set the tone against opponents by hitting massive homeruns against them.

His manager, Jerry Manuel didn't seem to agree. On Friday he said Thomas could benefit the team more by striving for base hits, RBIs and a high slugging percentage.

Thomas disagreed, saying: "Sure, I can take my walks. But when you start doing that, you lose that aggression...What's wrong with hitting a few more home runs and a few more doubles? With my [lack of] speed, for me to get singles really doesn't do us much good anyway. But with me hitting doubles and home runs, it is really going to help the team down the stretch."

Last night, Thomas tied the game with a two-run blast in the seventh inning and won it in the ninth with another two-run shot, including his American League-leading 22nd home run at home this season to lead the White Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Angels before a lively, quasi-sober crowd of 32,381 at U.S. Cellular Field.

It looks like the verdict is in.

After losing 6 of 7 games on the road over the last week, the White Sox came home where they rank third in the American League with a .627 winning percentage (37-22) at U.S. Cellular Field, trailing Oakland (.677) and Boston (.672). On the road, the White Sox have a .400 winning percentage.

You have to wonder why the White Sox are so much better at home than they are on the road. After all, there isn't such an enormous difference between their home batting average (.259) versus on the road (.258). One glaring differerence you can point to is what kind of hits they get at home versus on the road. For example, on the road, they average 1 homer a game versus 1.64 homers a game at home. They score an average of 5 runs at home but only 4.4 on the road. Combine that with the team ERA of 3.98 at home against a road ERA of 4.62 and you can see that they score less and give up more runs on the road.

Regardless, the White Sox victory last night, combined with the Royals loss to the Yankees, puts them only two games back again.

Then again, maybe the U.S. Cellular Field has opponents worried because they don't know what kind of redneck drunk is going to stumble on to the field and attack one of them. Perhaps over 30,000 potential drunken assaulters is more of a home field advantage than anyone knows.

I Left My Heart In August

Man, what's up with the Giants lately? They've been swept by the Montreal Expos, who became the first club since 1900 to sweep a season series over the Giants, and they've lost now lost 11 of their last 16 games. Sure, Barry Bonds has hit .467 with 4 homers and 9 RBIs during the month of August, but how about some of this teammates? During August, shortstop Neifi Perez is hitting .189, Marquis Grissom is hitting .220, Pedro "Happy" Feliz is hitting .225, Andres Galarraga is hitting .172 and Jose Cruz Jr., .269. Since the All Star break, the Giants are hitting .255. Prior to the break, in happier times, they were hitting .265.

When you come to think of it, ever since the Giants traded for Sidney Ponson at the trading deadline, they've floundered. They lost to the Cubs that day and have continued to lose in bunches ever since. You can't just blame Ponson's 0-3 record and 4.03 ERA since coming to the Giants. But having a 5-11 record since he arrived is quite a strange coincidence, isn't it?

Despite such a lousy record, they haven't lost all that much of their NL West lead. On July 31st, they were 12 games ahead of Arizona and 13.5 ahead of Colorado and the Dodgers. As of last night's games, despite a season-high, six-game losing streak, they are now 8.5 ahead of the Diamondbacks and 9 games up on the Dodgers. The Giants will now go back home to face the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins.

In other games of interest, Kevin Appier will face Andy Pettitte and the Yankees, Mark Mulder, who has lost his last two starts, including last Wednesday vs. Boston in Oakland, where he gave up nine hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings, faces the Red Sox and Derek Lowe, who is 7-2 with a 3.53 ERA at Fenway Park. The Cubs are going to Houston, Florida is going to Colorado, Philadelphia goes to Milwaukee, the Cards are home against Pittsburgh, the White Sox face the Angels again and the Twins are at Cleveland.