August 8, 200916 yr The only team to top the Rangers during this era? The Chicago White Sox, who won the team homer title in 2004 and again in 2006 on the strength of Paul Konerko(notes) (41 homers) in 2004 and Jermaine Dye(notes) and Jim Thome(notes) (both with 44) in 2006. Fittingly, in that in-between year of 2005 when they didn’t win the home run title, the White Sox won the World Series. Last year it was the White Sox who ended the ignominious drought of home run title teams, making the playoffs after bashing a league-leading 235 home runs. Then, of course, they lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Rays. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ApFr...o&type=lgns
August 8, 200916 yr The problem with that article is obvious; did the team hitting the 2nd most home runs make the playoffs? What about the 3rd? At what level do home runs go from being bad to being good? Or could it possibly be there's another related factor, like pitching? The Sox didn't lead the league in HR in 2005, but still hit 200 of them.
August 8, 200916 yr QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 04:12 PM) The problem with that article is obvious; did the team hitting the 2nd most home runs make the playoffs? What about the 3rd? At what level do home runs go from being bad to being good? Or could it possibly be there's another related factor, like pitching? The Sox didn't lead the league in HR in 2005, but still hit 200 of them. The Phillies finished with the second most HR in baseball last year and won the World Series. The original observation is rather pointless unless they're trying to make the argument that the stigma of finishing with the most HR somehow overwhelms a team and they crumble because of it.
August 8, 200916 yr Earl Weaver just rolled over in whatever he was laying down in. A hammock, perhaps?
August 8, 200916 yr I'm not seeing the point of this article. It talks about how the Rangers were all hitting and no pitching but doesn't bother to mention the Sox were tied for the best ERA in the AL in 2005, and it's not like that was a power-starved team. Keep Frank Thomas on that team all year and they are probably 2nd in homers in the AL, and unless the author is trying to say having Frank Thomas on that offense makes them less likely to make the playoffs - which I doubt - what is he getting at?
August 8, 200916 yr The Yahoo Sports articles are always pointless. Yahoo in general tries to make something out of nothing. The MLB articles by 'Duk are like this.
August 8, 200916 yr Home runs are a good thing, anybody who thinks otherwise is wrong. The thing is, you need two and three run homers instead of solo shots. That's been the problem for the Sox, we haven't had enough high on base guys in front of our sluggers.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.