It's easy to rip Juan Pierre.  He looks like a batboy and throws like his arm is made of wet spaghetti.  And for some reason, he's incurred the wrath of fans on both sides of town, first as a Cub, then with the White Sox.

On a lot of teams, Pierre would be kicked to the curb, but on the White Sox, his manager Ozzie Guillen has a huge man crush and swears by him rather than at him.  Despite his slow start and inability to steal bases, Pierre has come on as of late, raising his average to .276 and getting several key, clutch hits for the Sox the last month. 

For all of the heat he has taken from the talk radio crowd and in the media, Pierre continues to press on.  He's a man with a work ethic second to none, coming in early and going through a rather intense training regimen. Say what you want about his ability, his slap hitting, his base running follies, but don't question the man's work ethic, because you can't.

His teammates hold him in high regard.  He's a quiet man, focused primarily on business and getting the job done.  And lately, he's been doing just that.

For all of the talk about the failures of Adam Dunn and Alex Rios, the slow start of Juan Pierre has been another big reason the Sox have dug themselves into the hole that they are in.  In order for the Sox to be successful, Pierre has to get on base, put himself in a position to score and allow thew bats behind him to knock in some runs.  Pierre's base stealing ability distracts pitchers, often causing them to make mistakes against the big boppers like Konerko and Dunn.   The more Pierre gets on, the better the odds for the Sox are.

Juan Pierre isn't a sexy slugger or a cannon armed outfielder.  But he's a experienced player who cares about winning and maximizing his ability.  He's the leading base stealer among active players, and has won the league championship in that category three times, including last year.

Of course, he is about to turn 34 and is probably slowed a little bit by age. He doesn't get to as many balls as he used to and he doesn't seem to make a whole lot of web gems. And it looks like he slowed a step on the bases. But you never look at Juan Pierre and think that he's not trying.

Maybe it's time Sox fans to back off and appreciate the guy rather than rip him.