Gamethread: Tigers at White Sox

5:13 p.m.

The snow has hardly let up, and neither have the White Sox. With Shields pitching to contact — minus one strikeout, his first of the season — Yolmer clocks another RBI triple, upping the lead to 6-3, through five.

Shields is walking the tightrope yet again, clocking in with a 44 game score through 15 outs and positioned to, amazingly, go 2-0 on the season.

4:05 p.m.

Another manufactured run from Tim Anderson.

White Sox 3, Tigers 1

3:53 p.m.

Yolmer triples in Avi (single) and Davidson (walk) to give the White Sox a 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Big Game gives one back in the top of the second, before picking off Leonys Martin to end the inning.

Bottom 2nd: White Sox 2, Tigers 1

---

3:36 p.m.

Shields loads the bases in the first and wriggles out. Approximately four of his nine lives on the season are already used up.

---

3:14 p.m.

Stone: “[Shields] threw brilliantly” a week ago in K.C.

Uhh ...

---

2:56 p.m.

KenWo checks in:

---

2:52 p.m.

OK, so I’m wondering, hmm, Omar Narvaez is getting the home opener start over Welington Castillo, what gives? I mean, Castillo has been working like a dog so far this season, and he’s so tired now that he didn’t even wanna tag and score on that odd Curtis Granderson non-catch last night, but still, huh?

Narvaez is 4-for-4 against Jordan Zimmermann in his career. Works for me.

But wait, there’s a larger issue here. All spring, I’ve been spelling the guy’s name N-A-V-A-R-E-Z. I mean, that’s not really even close. Nobody told me. Not even gibby, what the hell? Is this some sort of inside SSS deep state joke no one was ever going to tell me about?

Because I’m very special, when I was in high school I was in some advanced placement class, World Lit or something that would sneakily inform the sassy, smartassed adult I am today, and we were going around the class reading some section of some thing (yeah, it doesn’t sound very advanced placement to me, either). I had a few paragraphs to read, and the word “deficit” kept coming up (what the hell were we reading?) and I pronounced it over and over as “deflict.” Same feeling here, except I have less pimples now. Oh, and some smart guy right in front of me, Libertyville High School, Butler Lake Building, was like, what the hell are you talking about “deflicts” for? And he was a football player, with a mohawk, so he had no business sassmouthing me.

Point it, at least that guy spoke up. SSS Collective, get up off your asses and participate! Mohawks optional.

---

2:43 p.m.

So, yeah, James Shields is starting for the White Sox, and if you want the reason why he prevailed in that Bizarro season opener in K.C., Steve_p has got you covered (for those who can’t pull away from the ballgame and/or this compelling gamethread, a big hint: a .182 BABIP for the game).

Juego G (yeah, that’s a listed nickname on Baseball-Reference, say what!) is 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA (6.14 FIP) in 2018. I will go out on a limb and say that Shields is the first White Sox pitcher in history to win on Opening Day without the benefit of a single strikeout. If I’m wrong, tell me in the comments without threat of retaliation, as I’m too busy carrying the mail through this busy wintry mix sorta day to get hung up about it.

In his career vs. the Tigers, Big Game is 9-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 25 starts, with 122 strikeouts, 38 walks and a 1.38 WHIP. In his career at Sox Park, Shields has gone ... oh, c’mon, you don’t really wanna know, do you?

Jordan Zimmermann takes the bump for Detroit. He’s 0-0 this season, with a 6.00 ERA and an early-season-bastardized-stats-alert FIP of 0.80, with eight Ks against one walk. In his career vs. the White Sox, Zimmermann is 5-2 with a 5.08 ERA in eight starts, with 27 strikeouts, 11 walks and a 1.47 WHIP. At Sox Park, JZ is 1-1 with a 5.21 ERA in three starts.

---

OK all, in spite of the utter lack of feedback on the desirability of a sort of live-blogged big game gamethread, here I am, at it once more, for the home opener! I’d say there’s no chance of this game being as exciting and as update-packed as last week’s in Kansas City, but we are hitting against Detroit Tigers pitching and fielding, after all.

So, on to the lineups (mmm ... product placement):

Yes, that is Leonys Martin as Detroit’s leadoff man. Last year, in 49 games for the Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners, Martin slashed .172/.232/.281.

Enemy blog: Bless You Boys