Just Meet the Ball?

It might be unfair to do this on the day after they made Ubaldo Jimenez look like Nolan Ryan, but before we get too far from the two-thirds mark, I wanted to revisit the Whiff Index.

Surprise, the Sox have actually improved a little. They are at 849 strikeouts now, on pace to finish below 1,300. This gives them fewer than the Orioles (918) and just over 50 ahead of the Yankees (796).

Among players with over 80 games, the standouts are Ortiz (49) and Pedroia (46). Middlebrooks has 70, in 74 games. Cody Ross has 76, and Saltalamacchia has 101. Adrian Gonzalez has 74, but in 111 games.

Ortiz also has 23 homers to go with his 49 Ks. You really have to hand it to Big Papi this year.

As a team the Sox are still way ahead of their historic pace:

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

But they had 349 strikeouts on May 23. Plate discipline has been one of their strengths in recent years.  Maybe a little bit of it has started to return.