What's Going On Here?

After beating the Rays 8-3 last night at what really looks like a minor-league ballpark (and how delicious that it’s named after George Steinbrenner), the White Sox have won four games in a row. Not only that, they’ve scored 35 runs in the process. What gives? Sox manager New-Mickey Venable says that, coming out of the All-Star break, the coaching staff has emphasized a better approach to hitting the fastball. Other than that, ir’a just blather about everybody pulling together, blah, blah, blah. But the reasons for this sudden change do matter. Because if a new approach fixed things, Venable should’ve called for it months ago while his hitters were flailing away at fastballs and just about every other pitch. If my least favorite hitting coach is the primary factor, what exactly is he doing? How is Marcus Thames getting through to players where he couldn’t before? And if it’s because of adjustments made after studying gizmo-derived data, what gizmos and what data? All I know right now is this team is hitting. What made last night so much fun is that the “right” people were getting hits, along with “will he or won’t he be traded?” Luis Robert Jr., who had two RBI singles. Robert is 12-for-33 for the month. Who lit a fire under him? With Brooks Baldwin, at least we know he sought help in slowing the game down. Maybe that explains his three-run homerun off of Rays’ starter Shane Baz in the second inning. Maybe rookie Chase Meidroth did likewise. Whatever, Meidroth went 4-for-5 with three doubles. Miguel Vargas, who may be a textbook case of the streaky hitter, added a two-run homer while Colson Montgomery chipped in with an RBI single. All I can do is Venable goes with another young-player lineup tonight, and the Sox win again. Then, maybe sports’ writers will get around to asking the same questions I have. As they say, hope springs eternal.