Solo Home runs

Boston Red Sox beat Chicago White Sox 8-2 -- ChicagoSports.com: "'We have a powerful ballclub; it's all or nothing,' Guillen said after the Sox didn't hit a home run in consecutive games for the first time since June 25-26. They hit 96 homers during a 55-game span before this drought, but 114 of their 198 homers this season have been solo shots"

But 114 of their 198 homers are solo shots? That was from Mark Gonzalez in the Trib. When I first read that sentence, I immediately thought that it actually sounded like a good ratio. And from observation, it didn't seem that the Sox have had an overabundance of solo shots this year. So I checked Baseball Reference and the Sox basically have the same home run rate whether there are men on or the bases were empty.

In 3007 plate appearances with the bases empty the Sox have hit 113 home runs. That comes out to a rate of 3.758% home runes for every plate appearance.

In 2292 plate appearances with men on the Sox have hit 86 home runs. That comes out to a rate of 3.752% home runes for every plate appearance.

The AL as a whole is averaging a 2.633% home run rate with the bases empty and a 2.539% rate with runners on. Unlike the Sox, the AL does hit solo homers at a higher rate. And if you took out the Sox numbers the difference in the leage numbers would be even greater.

So it does not look like the Sox have a solo home run problem.