Dylan Axelrod: 7 IP / 2 H / 9 K / 1 BB

9/9:

Winston-Salem Dash
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Axelrod (W, 1-0)	7.0	2	0	0	1	9	0	0.00
Kloess (H, 1)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Corley (S, 2)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

MiLB.com:

“I moved into the rotation in the second half of the season, which gave me a chance to throw and develop all my pitches,” said Axelrod.

After yielding a two-out single to Kinston first baseman Jeremie Tice in the first inning, Axelrod was all but unhittable. The Cal-Irvine product set down the next 19 batters through the end of the seventh.

“I was spotting my fastball pretty well and my cutter. My changeup was working pretty well too,” he said.

Axerod, drafted by  San Diego in 2007, has allowed 103 hits and has a 92 K / 15 BB ratio in 109.1 innings this year.

Smells Like Mascot: Stiff Farm

Carl’s latest:

http://www.smellslikemascot.com/2010/09/stiff-farm.html

is that big jim? must be, look at his knuckles

Frank Thomas: It will come down to next week’s 3-game set against Minnesota

No Frank. We’re 6 games back. Even if we sweep the 3 games against Minnesota, we’d be 3 games back. The division was lost when the Sox decided to punt on Jim Thome and let Minnesota grab him. Look at the Sox DH production and the Twinkies DH production. The Twinkies have a 131 split OPS+ and the Sox a 92. And if the Twinkies didn’t have Jim Thome to play at DH when Morneau went down, their other DH option, Kubel, has a split OPS+ of 86.

And in today’s pregame show Bill Melton said something like ‘ the Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay and Dayan Viciedo combo has given the same numbers as Jim Thome.’ No. Not even close. Look at the DH links above.

White Sox attendance: 50,000 less through 65 games

BoB (via B-R):

Club	2009 #Gms	2009	2009 Avg	2010 #Gms	2010	2010 Avg	Diff Total	Diff Avg
Indians	68	1,483,789	21,820	68	1,174,888	17,278	-308,901	-4,543
Royals	68	1,546,703	22,746	68	1,359,118	19,987	-187,585	-2,759
Tigers	70	2,224,031	31,772	70	2,152,892	30,756	-71,139	-1,016
White Sox	65	1,828,375	28,129	65	1,777,911	27,352	-50,464	-776
Twins	70	2,007,032	28,672	70	2,783,388	39,763	776,356	11,091

Look at the Twinkies. Last year both the Sox and the Twinkies were drawing around 28,000 per game. This year the Twinkies, at new target field, are drawing nearly 40,000 per game while the Sox dropped to a little more than 27,000 per game.

A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko are on track to be Type-A free-agents after this season

MLBTR crunches the numbers. Here’s the AL catchers section:

Name	Team	Type	Score
Joe Mauer	Minnesota	A	92.857
Victor Martinez	Boston	A	87.054
A.J. Pierzynski	Chicago A	A	80.580
Jorge Posada	New York A	A	77.679
Kurt Suzuki	Oakland	A	77.232
Matt Wieters	Baltimore	A	74.777
Mike Napoli	Los Angeles A	B	72.321

September 2 numbers:

Name	Team	Type	Score
Joe Mauer	Minnesota	A	92.208
Victor Martinez	Boston	A	86.147
A.J. Pierzynski	Chicago A	A	78.788
Kurt Suzuki	Oakland	A	78.355
Jorge Posada	New York A	A	77.489
Matt Wieters	Baltimore	A	74.892
Mike Napoli	Los Angeles A	B	73.160

Paul Konerko and Manny Ramirez are also on track to be Type-As. Konerko was on track to be a Type-B all year before the last update (9/2). J.J. Putz is on track to be a Type-B. Matt Thornton, club option for 2011, is on track to be a Type-A. Alexei Ramirez is on track to be a Type-A but he isn’t a free-agent after this season.

Spreadsheets at the link.

FutureSox reviews the 2010 Birmingham Barons

Norris:

Jim Gallagher ended up being named the Barons team MVP for 2010.  Deservedly so, as he led the team in most offensive categories.  I’ve already stated before that I see him as a Ross Gload type if he were to make it to the majors.  He certainly is passionate enough to put forth the effort to get there.  I expect him to be in Charlotte for 2011.

Anthony Carter was named Barons pitcher of the year after having a fantastic run as a closer.  Hopefully he can build on that and put himself into consideration as a future big league reliever.  Deunte Heath pitched excellently for the Barons in relief, striking out 84 in 57.2 innings.  The White Sox made a good call giving him a second chance.  Both Carter and Heath should be in Charlotte in 2011.

Stats:

Gallagher (25 years old): .590 PA, 292/.390/.425/.815, 74 BB / 89 K, .339 BABIP, .361 wOBA
Carter (24): 57.1 IP, 22 BB / 58 K, 3.92 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 3.91 FIP, .282 BABIP
Heath (25): 57.2 IP, 32 BB / 84 K, 3.12 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 3.23 FIP, .369 BABIP

Stats for other Sox prospects.