Quick Game Notes
- Jermaine Dye looked very comfortable at 1B. He made a really nice play on a high chopper that might have gotten over Paul Konerko's head. He looked like a 1st basemen when receiving a throw from one of the infielders, as opposed to Timo who looked like a 2B covering 1B. All in all, I'd call the experiment a success. I expect to see him get a couple more starts out there this year, and I'd love to see him go play 1B in winter ball.
- Jose Contreras snapped his string of miserable starts. He gave up a couple of solo shots, but I can live with that as long as he's not walking anybody. He threw the fastball much more often than in his poor outings, and the 3/4 delivery was back in his repertoire.
- Frank Thomas! 11 HR, 18 H. That's amazing. He has 21 RBI in just 18 hits. That's making 'em count.
- In addition to the Major League debut of Dye at 1B, the Sox may have seen the debut of their closer of the future. Bobby Jenks, who bears a striking resemblance to King of the Hill's Bobby Hill, was claimed of of waivers from Anaheim in the off-season. He's had off the field issues in the past, but supposedly he's cleaned himself up.
He looked very good in his debut, walking the first batter he faced, but settling down to the next three batters. His fastball was between 95 and 99 according to the Comcast gun, and it looked like he was just tossing it up there. He only threw 2 breaking balls, but both resulted in outs. The first was an 80MPH roller that was grounded to first base. The second was an 85MPH snap-dragon of a hook that got Julio Lugo swinging to end the game.
He's got the raw stuff to be one of the top relievers in baseball. But, I've only seen him pitch for a single inning. I'm not ready to anoint him the next big thing just yet. Brandon McCarthy pitched a scoreless first inning in his debut too.
- 31 games over!
