Week 15 Hitters Power Poll: Paul Konerko Begins His Pursuit Of Alex Rios

Paul Konerko hit his first July home run last night, and hopefully broke out of a slump that he's been mired in for quite a while. Aside from seeing his average drop over the last month and a half, we've also seen his power disappear.

With last night's home run, his first of the season to right field at that, it's possible we'll see Paulie start lacing doubles and homers all over the park again. And he's going to need to if he wants to have a shot at catching Alex Rios.

Poor Paulie, after hitting a three-run homer in the first last night and thinking to himself "I'm going to run you down, Rios!" he had to sit there and watch Alex respond with yet another home run of his own in the third.

Here are the latest rankings.

RANK	PLAYER	POINTS	LW	+/-
1	Alex Rios	369	1	29
2	Paul Konerko	323	3	30
3	Adam Dunn	313	2	15
4	Alejandro De Aza	308	5	25
5	A.J. Pierzynski	290	4	1
6	Alexei Ramirez	246	6	9
7	Gordon Beckham	240	6	5
8	Dayan Viciedo	224	8	7
9	Kevin Youkilis	103	9	19
10	Orlando Hudson	53	10	-1
11	Eduardo Escobar	38	11	-2
12	Brent Morel	33	12	0
13	Kosuke Fukudome	18	13	0
13	Brent Lillibridge	18	13	0
13	Tyler Flowers	18	15	1
16	Jordan Danks	10	16	-2

It was a pretty good week for the top four overall, but the majority of the damage came in three of the seven games the Sox played. Still, this offense is a lot better when Alejandro De Aza and Konerko are hitting, and seeing the two of them combine for 55 points this week is a good sign.

What isn't is seeing A.J. Pierzysnki manage only a point. He's having a career season and doing it at a very good time for himself, but he's struggled since the All Star break. You have to wonder whether this is just a funk or if his "luck" is starting to run out.

I know I wouldn't mind seeing him start going to left field again. Hopefully his double to center field last night is a sign that he's starting to look the other way and up the middle instead of trying to pull everything.

Last week's rankings can be found here.