A year full of excitements, but also a year full of disappointments

Ok, so it was mainly a year full of disappointments. But the Chicago White Sox’s 2007 season wasn’t a complete bust. There were many incredible highlights. So I just thought I would take some time out to sort of do a recap of the 2007 season.
I always like to start with the negative and then the positives because then you leave with a more optimistic state of mind. So that is what I am going to do.

You might be asking yourself “What exactly went wrong?” I know I am because the White Sox were expected to have a very successful year. Well like I said in my previous post, the Sox didn’t exactly start the season off on a good note. In their first game they lost to Cleveland 12-5. That was in a way, a map of the future. The two biggest reasons that I think the Sox didn’t have a successful season were pitching and injuries. Injuries played a key role because the ones we lost to injuries were major players like Joe Crede and Pablo Ozuna, who were both out for most of the season. Another answer to “What went wrong?” question would probably be the Sox pitching. Yes we did have some pitchers who had awesome seasons (mainly Bobby Jenks and Mark Buehrle), but the pitching staff as a whole wasn’t up to par.

Ok so enough with the disappointing stuff. I got that out of the way. Now, to the White Sox’s 2007 season highlights. I think we all know at least one. Yes, I am talking about Jim Thome hitting his 500th career home run. Mark Buehrle also threw a no-hitter on April 18. And this season Bobby Jenks retired 41 straight batters to tie the current record. Lastly, Josh Field’s amazing rookie season (I’m definitely glad he is coming back next year!)

So as you can see, the season wasn’t a complete dissatisfaction. Yes the results as a whole were, but individually, the players did awesome. Some tied records, while others broke them. So I think 72-90 is just a number. Not a very pleasant number, but a number to re-build on.


In conclusion, for those of you who might be curious about the statistical information, here are some players who lead the Sox in offensive stats:

Best Batting Average: Jim Thome, with a .275 batting average
Most Doubles: This was tied between Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko, who each had 34.
Most Triples: Scott Podsednik with 4
Most Home Runs: Obviously Jim Thome, who had 35 home runs this season
Most Runs: Jim Thome, with 79
Most RBIs: Jim Thome, again, who ended the season with 96 RBIs
Most Stolen Bases: Jerry Owens, who had 32


Here are just a few pitching stats:

Most Wins: Javier Vazquez with 15
Most Losses: Jose Contreras with 17 total losses in the 2007 season
Best ERA (for a starting pitcher): Mark Buehrle, with a 3.63 ERA
Most Saves: Bobby Jenks with 40