Peavy allows 7 ERs in 5.2 IP. But 9 TBs from Andruw Jones, 8 from Mark Teahen, 3 from Alex Rios and 5.1 shutdown innings from the bullpen help the Sox win it in 11.
Pitch F/X inside (more…)
On Sunday, April 4 at 7pm central, WGN-TV and WGN America will premiere “What It Means To Be A White Sox” and “What It Means To Be A Cub”, two one-hour specials celebrating the magic of Chicago baseball.
“What It Means To Be A White Sox” contains interviews with over 40 White Sox heroes and managers, including Jerry Reinsdorf, Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams, Billy Pierce, Paul Konerko, Minnie Minoso, Mark Buehrle, Bill Melton, Gary Peters, and Bobby Jenks. The show focuses on the men who made White Sox baseball so great over the past fifty years and you will hear them tell their fondest memories of playing on the South Side. …
Here’s the WGN press release:
The “What it Means” specials are a unique celebration of Chicago baseball with first-person accounts of why each team is so special. Over 40 interviews from each team will allow baseball fans to gain insight from past players, coaches, owners, and long-time team employees. Interviews include Lou Piniella, Ozzie Guillen, Ernie Banks, Luis Aparicio, Ryne Sandberg, Frank Thomas, Carlos Zambrano, Mark Buehrle and all your favorite legends from both the North and South Sides. The shows will kick off the 2010 baseball season in HD. …
A study by Dan Turkenkopf of The Hardball Times shows us that The Cell and PETCO have HR/FB indices of 118 and 75, respectively. What that means is that if you multiply those numbers by .11 (percentage of all fly balls that become numbers), you discover that about 13 percent of fly balls become homers in Chicago, versus only about 8.25 percent in San Diego.
Erik Manning has more.
Ozzie Guillen is more or less immune from heat over his antics, his tweeting and his tendency to shoot off at the mouth from time to time, but he could be under some pressure this year all the same. Why? Because this seems more like the team he wanted than the team Kenny Williams wanted. Back at the Winter Meetings Ozzie was adamant that he not be tied down with a dedicated DH. Williams listened, passed on bringing back Thome or Dye and now there’s a decent chance that Mark Kotsay and Omar Vizquel will be getting at bats from the DH slot. Juan Pierre was clearly a Guillen priority. He’s moving Gordon Beckam to second base just as he was getting used to third (and after being drafted as a shortstop). I don’t think Ozzie’s job is in jeopardy or anything, but if the team doesn’t produce, Guillen is probably due a lot of the heat for it. How he reacts to the heat could put his job in jeopardy of course, because anything is possible with Ozzie. …
Guillen said after Wednesday’s game that his final roster cuts will probably come sometime next week. However, he may pare down the number of players in camp on Sunday or Monday.
Guillen and the White Sox coaching staff are trying to figure out whether the team can carry 12 pitchers to begin the season. Reliever Sergio Santos has created problems for the team because of his outstanding pitching so far.
“I got my team,” Guillen said. “We have one guy who is a tough problem. You know who it is. It’s Santos.” …
Dan Hudson is waiting for an answer:
“I’m just hanging on until they tell me (otherwise),” Hudson said. “I’m just hanging around the locker room until they kick me out – they haven’t really told me anything.” …
Kenny is impressed:
Sergio Santos, a converted infielder who looks as if he’ll break camp as a Major League reliever in just one year’s transformation time, stands at the forefront of this group.”I’ve been surprised how Santos, for a position change guy, can locate his fastball and throw a slider for strikes and a changeup behind in the count,” Williams said. “It just doesn’t happen.”
Santos, 26, entered camp with the reputation of possessing a high-octane fastball in the 98-mph range. But his pitchability, for lack of a better word, has been off the charts.
With nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings heading into his next scheduled outing Thursday against San Diego, the right-hander has put himself as the prime contender for that 12th spot on the pitching staff. Santos is out of Minor League options, so through this great spring, he also has made himself attractive to other teams with thin bullpens. …
That appeared to be the case Wednesday, as Jenks devoted a significant portion of his 50-pitch simulated game to working out of a full windup.
After the outing, Jenks sternly declined to address questions about his velocity but otherwise was forthcoming about his outing and that his right calf felt better.
Pitching coach Don Cooper, however, was more precise about the decision for Jenks to work alternately between the stretch position — which he has used exclusively — and a full windup.
“It may help a little bit with his calf,” Cooper said. “We’ve kicked this around. It wasn’t because of the calf. It may be another look for something different. He can do it because he’s a good enough athlete. More important than the full windup is getting him ready, and it was a good workout.” …
Dyck:
… “I know my lineup,” Guillen said. “I got my lineup against lefties and righties already.” But when pressed for the exact batting order, Guillen came up with several possibilities, even though he claims that “it’s easier than in the past.” He listed Pierre, Gordon Beckham, Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko as the first four. And he seemed certain that Mark Teahen would bat eighth and Alexei Ramirez ninth. Five through seven? “(Mark) Kotsay fifth and A.J. seventh, or … (those) two lefties will bat fifth and seventh with (Alex) Rios in the middle,” he said. “Or I might put Kotsay in the middle.” …
… Where it gets interesting, however, is Jenks saying that the right calf that has slowed him a bit was actually torn in September when he was shut down. That was news to the Sox, as trainer Herm Schneider reiterated through a member of the Sox public relations team that it was just a strain. …
So what if Jenks does get hurt once the regular season starts, like he did last year? Guillen said the Sox have it covered, at least more than they did last season.
”[J.J. Putz] was there before and did a tremendous job, but I think I would go by committee,” Guillen said. ”Lefties, I would go with [Matt] Thornton. Righties, I would go with Putz.”
With another three hitless at-bats Saturday, the veteran’s average dropped to .105 through seven games with the White Sox. And Guillen’s postgame tune changed just a bit.
As has been pointed out with closer Bobby Jenks’ struggles, these March statistics ultimately mean nothing. Nonetheless, Guillen sees something missing with Teahen.
“I’m starting to worry a little bit about Teahen,” Guillen said. “I see the same swing. He’s not getting anything going for himself. He has to work to try to get better. He’s going to get more at-bats. Right now, he’s struggling at the plate.” …
Walker’s on it.
The Comeback: Almost no one comes back from plantar fasciitis. The one big exception? Pujols. Of course, he’s not human, and Quentin is. The effectiveness of the medical staff at keeping Quentin productive could be the difference between first place and fourth. One new therapy that’s being used is called lithotripsy. Originally developed to help with kidney stones, it consists of pulses of sound being carried into soft tissue to break up the small osseous spurs that cause the inflammation. If you’ve ever stood in front of a speaker at Prive on a Friday night, you still have no idea what this is like. Pujols described his experience as “like being hit on the feet with sticks.” We’ll see if the advanced techniques of sports medicine and a great staff can make Quentin like Pujols in at least one way.
He has 3 guys on red: Carlos Quentin, John Danks, and Freddy Garcia, and 3 on yellow: Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, and Bobby Jenks.
Chicago White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper says closer Bobby Jenks is in need of more throwing and is a couple of days behind the rest of the pitching staff.
Cooper commented Sunday after Jenks pitched in the batting cages. Cooper says Jenks is on a different schedule because he is behind.
Cooper says Jenks is behind for several reasons: his wife had another child, the weather in Chicago was bad and Jenks had difficulty finding a catcher so he was limited to playing soft toss.
Here’s Coop:
”I can’t wait for that first side day. Once I see that side day, I can’t wait to see batting practice. Once I see that, I want the spring games to start, then I want camp to end and get on that plane … I’m looking forward to the start of the season more than anything because it’s time for us to get back into the playoffs. Believe me, 2005 was all good, but the one thing is, you realize if you don’t win a championship, well, you come up short. I want another championship. I want the White Sox to have another championship. … As I sit here on, what, the third week of February — I’m sitting here believing we will win this division until someone steps up and proves me wrong.”
Gordon Beckham moves from third base to second base. Beckham, who arrived almost one week before position players report on Saturday, seems confident in his ability to handle the new position, while avoiding the sophomore jinx following an opening campaign earning him two top rookie honors.
“Hit .300, that’s all I really want to do,” said Beckham, who isn’t concerned as much with his home run power as he is with knocking out 40 or 50 doubles. “But it’s not an easy task.”
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