- Matt Thornton really did look better from what I saw of him on Sunday. I'm not saying he's a changed pitcher, but he looked like he had a much smoother delivery out there. I only saw one inning because I was more interested in the basketball, (more on that later) so it could have all been a fluke. At least there's some been some physical progress made. I was already growing tired of the talk.
- Bobby Jenks threw three innings in a minor league game on saturday. The only reason the Sox do that is to increase his conditioning. I think they should make Jenks bike to the road games in Arizona.
- Dustin Hermanson was supposed to throw on Sunday. I think his absence marks the last time we see him in a major league game.
- Congratulations to Carl Skanberg, whose Palehose Six comic was picked up by the Daily Southtown. The boys of the Jolly Bossard made their debut in the Southtown Sunday, and will appear every Sunday during the season in the sports section. I think it's a great idea for the Southtown, who keep finding ways to bring original content to their White Sox coverage despite the departure of Joe Cowley. Also, I can't help but think that we played at least a small part in Carl's work being picked up. After all, it wasn't until after he was linked here that he hit the big time.
- I think the Sox are hiding their starters from scouts right now. It seems like all of them are throwing in AA and AAA games lately.
- Jim Thome finally hit a home run on Sunday. It's good to see him finally showing some more quickness in his bat. He's been a tick slow with the bat for most of the spring. -- Not to be outdone, Frank Thomas hit his first HR of the spring. I think we can all sleep a little easier tonight knowing that these two sluggers can hit HRs in the thin air of Arizona off of pitchers who should be pitching in AAA. (Kyle Snyder and Josh Fogg)
- The Sox are down to 28 players in big league camp, and will be playing almost exclusively regulars for the final week of camp. If it came down to deciding between Javier Lopez and Boone Logan for the final spot, I think I would choose Lopez. His stuff is not as good as Logan's, but he's at least got some big league experience and has been missing bats this spring. Logan could gain some more experience in B'ham while the Sox figure out if Thorton is ever going to be a useful player, and be ready to be the first one called upon in Thornton's inevitable failure.
- I think the sit-com is dead, but there are still some comedies worth watching on the tube. My Name is Earl, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and Scrubs are all original enough to not continually be disappointingly formulaic in their quest for laughs. Starved, which appears dead, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia didn't suck either.
Useless Trivia: The super-cute Jenna Fisher, who plays Pam Beasley on The Office, is married to James Gunn, which isn't exactly trivial. But Gunn's brother is Brian Gunn, who used to write what was probably the best baseball blog on the net, Redbird Nation. Gunn stopped writing the blog to pursue a career in screenwriting. Gunn's other brother, Sean, plays Kirk on Gilmore Girls. To get really trivial, Brian Gunn -- I'm almost certain it's a different one -- holds the Illinois state record for the 500 yard freestyle. Now that's some useless knowledge.
- I think my Bracket is officially busted. For the first time ever I failed to have any teams left in my bracket entering the Final Four. That's no small feat considering I can remember filling these things out every year since 1987, when I would have been just 7. -- I had Indiana losing to Iowa in the Championship that year. Damn UNLV! -- Thinking about that some more, I think Indy and Iowa were on the same side of the bracket that year. Anyway, I know I had Iowa beating Indiana at some point in that tourney, and the earliest they could have met was the Final Four.
- I think this has been the best NCAA tournament in 20 years. The second week of games have been incredible. Even so, I was left a little empty by the games on Saturday. The teams all had incredible athletes, no doubt, but they didn't play great basketball. The offensive execution by all of the teams left something to be desired. Defensively, the game has changed so much in the last 10 years. There is more of a commitment to the defensive side of the game than ever. All 4 of those teams could have shut down the Fab Five.
That empty feeling from Saturday didn't last long though. The final 15 minutes of basketball by the Patriots of George Mason was exactly what the other games were missing. The Pats were so deliberate executing their offensive gameplan; it was a thing of beauty. Every trip down the floor, they ran the same offensive set and dared UConn to stop them. It was without a doubt the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament in the shot-clock era, and they may not be done. They could win it all.
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Monday Morning Pitching Coach?
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The Cheat
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