Paulie! Paulie!
Paul Konerko is probably my favorite White Sox player. I’m not sure why. He’s not the best hitter on the club, although he is good. I guess its because he seems to be a straight shooter. And maybe its because I could probably beat him in a foot race. For whatever reason, it made it harder for me to watch him struggle earlier in the year. Well, struggle, might not be the best word. He just sucked. And even though he’s been a fan favorite the last couple of years the boos started coming in June.

Coming into this year, Paulie had career numbers of .282/.344/.477. Not superstar numbers, but good enough to enjoy a nice long career playing baseball. His monthly numbers to start the year:

Mar/April .230/.299/.368
May .181/.261/.241
June .098/.174/.098

Through June, he only had 11 extra base hits in 208 AB. He hit bottom on July 8th when his season numbers were .183/.254/.274. But then something changed. Since the All Star break, Paulie has returned to form. His monthly numbers since:

July .342/.372/.671
Aug .301/.371/.548
Sep .500/.571/1.000 (5 games)

Since July 1, he has had 26 extra base hits 187 AB and brought his season numbers up to a respectable .256/.321/.441. Not exactly good, but no longer the subject of what’s wrong with Paulie stories.

Now this leads me to my first e-mail question. Paulie has been red hot over the last 11 games hitting over .500 with 6 home runs and 16 RBIs (going into last night). But he had been 1 for 27 lifetime against Lohse. So my question is, do you sit Paulie and put in the left handed Daubach, or do you hope Paulie can break through against Lohse during a hot streak? Let me know what you think.