Danks greeting Thome in the dugout after his 3-run homer:
"I gave him a big hug. I told him I missed seeing that. I took it for granted the first time he was here, before he went down to Charlotte. I think tonight's (a sign) for things to come. These guys are seeing the ball and hitting it hard."
"I'm taking more of a hands-on approach, as opposed to previous years, where I stayed at arm's distance. It's an area where we're providing the department with better direction and more support."
Kenny says he has watched a few prospects himself and has also sent senior director of player personnel Dave Wilder, and professional scouts Doug Laumann and Ed Pebley to watch amateur players:
"Forget about not having a top-10 pick. No one cares about that. All they care about is the product you put on the field. What that means is you have to work a little harder than the next guy. To our guys' credit, they have been busting their tails this year."
"He's not dictating the count quite as much as he needs to; that's a big part of it. But I guarantee you this: By the end of the year, Mike MacDougal will be much more effective helping our team than hurting our team. He just hasn't found his streak yet."
And look inside for Kenny's take on the latest South Side soap opera episodes!
Kenny doesn't like the "Circus" but he accepts it:
"I do want an organization that is known as a fan-friendly organization and a player-friendly organization, and one that management, in our role, we communicate with the players and staff. I have a strong desire to run a first-class organization. I guess who we are, personality-wise, may sometimes conflict in that because we are also very honest and up-front with people. If you ask a question, you'll get an answer. Sometimes those answers will make people uncomfortable. Sorry, we are who we are, and we're trying to do the best we can to succeed in a market with a lot of different peripheral things."
Like the 'AJ-North-Guillen' and 'AJ-Buehrle' incidents:
"We haven't had another conversation about it. We have a lot of other things to worry about. Actually, I don't like to step in because for whatever reason, we play a little better when there's a little bit of an edge, a little bit of something that's going on. It's just kind of worked out that way."
He hopes that happens again:
"We're all in this together. This clubhouse, the last few years, has been better than any I have been around in a long time. So things that appear to be issues or controversies about something on the outside are kind of blips on the radar here. But because it then gets out and played a certain way through the public channels ... it gives us an edge, put it that way."
This wasn't always the case with the teams he has assembled though:
"We've had a good clubhouse for a while now. And looking back, the problems were through no one's fault but my own. I put together some clubs that really had a lot of talent, but because of various fits, didn't work. It took me awhile to finally learn. Sometimes you accept getting a little less of the talent and getting more of the character. That's just me."