All in all, today was one of the best games the Sox have played all spring. I'm not sure that counts for much though because it came against the Padres, who are quickly becoming the punchline of Major League Baseball. Even with that qualifier, this game gave us a lot of things that make us happy, especially pictures of great defense
Which this is not.
On offense, pretty much everything went right. The Sox scored at least one run in innings 2-7, with a 6 run fourth being the best. The team sent eleven batters to the plate before the away half of the frame mercifully came to an end. Lillibridge went 2-5 with a double. Pierzynski went 2-4 with a run and one driven in as well. Gavin Floyd recorded a hit and a walk, scoring both times. The best outings belonged to Paul Konerko, Josh Fields, and DeWayne Wise. A strangely beardless Konerko went 3-4 with a solo-homerun and three driven in. Fields went 3-3 with a double and a walk. And perhaps most importantly, DeWayne Wise continued to nail Jerry Owens' coffin shut. Wise went 2-6, with four RBI and a two-run shot in the fifth. Hell, even Brian Anderson did his part, taking Greg Burke yard in the sixth. Owens managed to go 1-5, with a strikeout and leaving four on base. Jerry, it wasn't all that nice knowing you.
The pitching was fairly solid as well, with only John Van Benschoten pretending to be Mike MacDougal, giving up two runs on three hits in one inning of work. MacDougal was actually effective, striking out two in a perfect fifth. Gavin Floyd pitched well in his four innings, allowing two hits, two runs, and one walk while striking out four. One of those was a homerun to his surname buddy, Cliff Floyd. Egbert, Link, and Russell also pitched, but none of the outings were good or bad enough to merit much writing.
Things are looking pretty good, as the Sox are sitting at .500 (8-8) with about four weeks to go until the games actually mean something.
And once again going completely off topic, but seeing as I'm an editor I can, one of my best friends from back home is going to be on "Good Morning America" tomorrow morning. His name is Brett Westcott and he's a Sophomore Civil Engineering student at Purdue. He is one of "The Compliment Guys", and after the Tribune and WGN picked up their story, ABC decided to fly him and his friend out to New York to be on the show tomorrow, giving out compliments in Times Square. It'll be on at 7, and thank you for tolerating me slipping away from baseball.