The Whiff Index

I feel pretty good about the Sox right now, but I have one concern that I wanted to check out: they seem to strike out a lot.

I compared them to the other teams in the division, in order of the standings.

Baltimore: 366 strikeouts in 1,533 at-bats
Tampa Bay: 321 in 1,447
Toronto: 320 in 1,496
New York: 285 in 1,458
Boston: 349 in 1,532

So they're fairly competitive there. What about in comparison to previous years?

2011: 1,108 for the season
2010: 1,140
2009: 1,120
2008: 1,068

Well there's the rub. If they keep up this pace they'll end up with nearly 1,400 strikeouts (call it 1,350, conservatively, adjusting for being slightly over one-fourth of the games, and a few players being well ahead of their historic pace). 

Where's the famous plate discipline?

Outs are outs, of course, but strikeouts .... feel different. They get on a player's nerves in a way that lining to left does not. I hope this trend does not continue.