Results tagged ‘ White Sox ’
Beckham helps White Sox become more interesting
Anyone watching Wednesday’s postgame interviews with A.J. Pierzynski and Jake Peavy might have been slightly distracted by a cardboard cutout standing behind them but in camera shot.
That cutout featured the likeness of Jonathan Goldsmith, who is more commonly known as “The Most Interesting Guy in the World.”
“Man,” said Adam Dunn, quickly correcting my mistake while sitting in the White Sox clubhouse. “The Most Interesting Man.”
So, how does one of the most brilliant commercial runs in the history of advertising, representing Dos Equis, factor into the White Sox push for the postseason? It has recently become the symbol of the White Sox Player of the Game in victories, as awarded by Gordon Beckham.
The one catch is that the chosen nightly winner must work the word “interesting” into his first answer to the media following the game.
“Hopefully, he’s going to be there after games, after wins, just bringing the people up in this clubhouse. That’s the goal,” a smiling Beckham said. “It’s going to probably rotate around the player of the game, depending on who does well.
“We are going to put him, the Most Interesting Man is going to put himself in the biggest spotlight, I guess is what’s going to happen. The problem is we might not have to move him from (Paul Konerko’s) locker for the next couple of weeks because of how well he has been playing.”
Beckham received “The Most Interesting Man in the World” as a gift from a family member. Beckham brought it into the clubhouse a while ago, but then the Most Interesting Man temporarily was lost with no signs of where he disappeared.
“He finally came back,” Beckham said. “And he’s back here for a bunch of wins, I think.”
About the only way to enhance the power of the cardboard cutout would be to have Goldsmith visit the White Sox in person. Dunn called the idea “awesome,” but Beckham preached patience with the White Sox version.
“This has to pick up some speed first,” Beckham said.
And just think of the marketing gems if this good luck charm’s arrival coincides with White Sox success. Remember, this campaign already has produced the following gems:
“He has been known to cure Narcolepsy, just by walking into a room.”
“His organ donation card also lists his beard.”
“His blood smells like cologne.”
“He lives vicariously through himself.”
“Sharks have a week dedicated to him.”
“Even his enemies list him as their emergency contact number.”
So, let’s say the White Sox go on a roll behind this new addition and win it all. How about this addition:
“He helped the White Sox win a World Series without throwing or hitting a pitch or even attending a game.”
Peavy’s prophecy: Twins have life
Before Jake Peavy left for his rehab start with Triple-A Charlotte Thursday, actually before Tuesday’s scheduled series opener at Target Field was postponed due to inclement weather, the veteran White Sox right-hander delivered a bit of an ominous message concerning the suddenly surging Twins.
“This team is starting to play well, and I think it’s a big series for the boys,” said Peavy of facing the Twins. “Come up here and win 2 of 3 and stop their momentum and win 2 of 3 in their park.
“If you give these guys life, … I certainly don’t want the Twins to have any more life than they already have. To lose a series and let them have life, we certainly don’t want to have to deal with this team down the stretch. We saw the problems that they can create to anybody they play.”
Two Minnesota victories later, a stretch in which the White Sox managed just one run scored, and the Twins have life. This latest Twin Cities debacle can’t be blamed on some three-hop triple off the Metrodome turf or some miraculous late rally inside the Twins’ indoor home.
Instead, the Twins have simply outplayed the White Sox in all four games this year. It was Mark Buehrle, Thursday’s hard-luck losing pitcher, who told MLB.com a few weeks ago how the Twins could never be counted out—even when they were sitting closer to 20 games under .500 than first place.
Too many heartbreaking setbacks for the White Sox exist in the memory bank to ever think that way. An otherwise pleasant trip to Minneapolis and the Twins’ beautiful ballpark has been consistently ruined by Minnesota victories.
“Leaving the Metrodome would be easy on us here, or that’s what I thought. I guess not,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “They play good baseball when they play at home. They’re not playing good baseball just against us. I think they’re playing good baseball the last few weeks. You have to give them some credit.”
“I like it a heck of a lot better than I did over at the Dome,” said Buehrle of facing the Twins. “It seemed like when we went to the Dome, it was like, ‘Get in, get out.’ If we won one out of three games, it was like throwing a party. But here, I don’t know. I love coming to this place. Good town, good stadium. Just seems like we don’t play too good here.”
Fortunes better improve quickly for the White Sox in the Twins’ home. The South Siders play seven more games in this venue before the season’s end, from Aug. 5-7 and Sept. 5-7. Ron Gardenhire’s crew is on the roll going into Interleague that Peavy wanted for the White Sox, and Minnesota’s best baseball usually comes after the All-Star Break.
MRI shows mild strain for Peavy
A MRI taken on White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy at Rush University Medical Center Monday afternoon revealed a mild strain of his right groin (adductor). Peavy left Sunday’s start against Detroit after four innings due to this injury, and he will be evaluated on a daily basis.
Ozzie Guillen said before Monday’s series opener with Seattle how he wasn’t automatically ready to view Peavy as a disabled list case simply because of Peavy’s early departure. He also didn’t mind Peavy trying to pitch through the pain on Sunday, although Peavy admitted afterwards the groin issue and his inability to use his legs during the fourth contributed to Detroit’s six-run inning.
Peavy was working on five days rest after pitching Monday in Boston, when he first felt the pain grab in the groin area. He was flip-flopped with John Danks, though, having Peavy move to Sunday and Danks start Monday.
Beckham feels like a .400 hitter
According to Gordon Beckham’s adjusted baseball math, the talented White Sox second baseman enters this three-game series in Texas carrying a .400 average. The official Major League Baseball statistics list Beckham as hitting .222 through 153 at-bats, so what change in scoring accounts for this huge differential?
Actually, it’s a change of feel at the plate turning Beckham into a .400 hitter.
“I told Walk (hitting coach Greg Walker) on Friday this is, in my opinion, the first game of the season because of the way I felt going into that game,” Beckham told MLB.com after Sunday’s 8-3 Interleague victory over the Dodgers. “I felt better. I felt like, ‘Let’s just start over here.’
“Since then, I’ve been hitting the ball well. Hopefully, that will continue. That main thing is I’ve been hitting balls hard and when you start doing that, you are going to get some balls to fall.”
Beckham has battled through his second high-profile slump in two seasons, after bursting on to the scene in 2009 and capturing two American League Rookie of the Year awards, which were both voted on by his peers. After hitting .199 as late as June 23 last year, Beckham rebounded to hit .310 the rest of the way and finish at .252. That number certainly would have been higher if not for a 6-for-32 Sept. finish after taking a Frank Herrmann pitch off of his right hand on Aug. 30.
In 2011, Beckham produced a trio of three-hit games and four multi-hit efforts over his first seven played. That hot start cooled considerably, with his average dipping as low as .194 at the end of April and rising to .230 or above just twice since April 20.
An off-day against Cleveland on May 19 helped him get away from a 4-for-30 slump over the past 10 games and go into this past weekend’s Dodgers series with that aforementioned new feel.
“It’s amazing what a feel will do for me. It’s just a totally different feel,” Beckham said. “It’s a relaxed feel, and when I’m relaxed, my hands work and I’m able to back up some balls and make good decisions. That’s what I’ve been doing my last three games.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been through this before. And I really feel like I’m out of it. I really feel like I’m out of that slump however long I had and my swing right now is good. It’s relaxed. It’s good. And I’m getting out of a slump a month and maybe a month and a half earlier than I did last year.
“So, you can look at that. I ended up doing what I did last year, and I can do better. I know that,” Beckham said. “It’s a matter of time before I start doing what I’m capable of doing. This weekend was just the start of it hopefully.”
His one hit on Friday was a two-run home run against Ted Lilly, and he added two hits and a walk in Saturday’s victory. The weekend concluded with a 1-for-3 showing on Sunday and three runs scored.
As Beckham indicated, there’s still plenty of ground to be gained. For example, the right-handed hitting Beckham is batting just .114 (4-for-35) against southpaws, and he’s batting .205 at U.S. Cellular Field. Beckham certainly is ready for the challenge, and to Beckham’s credit, while he has admirably dealt with a second slide on offense in two years, his defense at second has remained without fault.
“You have to play good defense,” said Beckham, who played his 61st straight errorless game on Sunday, dating back to Aug. 27, 2010. “That’s part of the reason I’m still here probably, playing defense and helping the team win, scoring some runs. Eventually the other stuff is going to come. I feel really good about where I’m at.”
Lillibridge creates new statistical category
In this day and age where all sorts of statistical rankings and ratings have replaced the tried and true “eye test,” I would like to suggest a new category.
It’s called WASLC, for short. In long form, the title would be Wins After Spectacular Lillibridge Catches. Unless the talented utility player gets traded, this category pretty much is White Sox specific.
Let me explain how it works.
On Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, before a crowd of more than 40,000, Brent Lillibridge made two spectacular catches to save the White Sox 3-2 victory, after entering in the eighth as a pinch-runner. Lillibridge put forth these efforts as the second and third outs of the ninth inning, stranding the tying run on second and the winning run on first.
So, you mark this date on the calendar, which would be April 26, and then see how many wins the White Sox rip off after Lillibridge made these catches. Sometimes all a talented team needs is one spark of momentum or one win they shouldn’t have had or almost didn’t record to turn things around and move in the opposite direction.
Lillibridge seemed to understand this point when talking to the large group of media stationed around his locker late Tuesday night.
“We needed a break like that,” said Lillibridge, who pounded his fist on the grass after making a diving catch on Robinson Cano’s line drive to right to end the game. “That’s why I was so excited. That’s the biggest thing. I’m glad I could contribute, but in the end we won.
“Making plays like that, how can you not be excited? More importantly, we got Gavin a win because of what I did and more importantly what we did to manufacture a couple of runs and Paulie’s home run was huge. We have to win these games and hopefully it gets a little easier.”
Of course, Lillibridge was speaking of Gavin Floyd’s tremendous pitching performance over eight-plus innings and Paul Konerko’s game-winning, one-out blast in the eighth off of Yankees set-up man Rafael Soriano. Lillibridge is about the team first, and his individual showing second.
Now, I know what some skeptics are thinking. The White Sox SSFROSITN, better known as Somehow Scoring Four Runs Off Soria In The Ninth, has not been at a high level after April 6, and nothing says momentum swing like putting together that kind of rally with two outs and nobody on base against one of the game’s best closers in Kansas City’s Joakim Soria.
Trust me, though. Their WASLC will be a more accurate depiction of the direction in which this previously disappointing 2011 season is moving.
Peavy throws two scoreless
Jake Peavy’s comeback took a major step forward Friday.
The right-hander, who last pitched in a game on July 6, 2010 against the Angels in U.S. Cellular Field, threw two scoreless innings against those same Angels at Diablo Stadium in his return from a detached latissimus dorsi muscle in his right posterior shoulder. Peavy fanned two and walked one during the 2011 Cactus League debut, as White Sox starters extended their hitless innings streak to 10.
Peavy opened with a swinging strikeout of Maicer Izturis, before falling behind at 3-0 on Bobby Abreu. He battled back to a full count, but Abreu drew a walk. Two pitches later, Torii Hunter hit into a 4-6-3 double play, a pitch on which Peavy topped out velocity-wise at 92 mph, from Brent Lillibridge to Alexei Ramirez to Dallas McPherson, ending the frame.
In the first, Peavy threw 12 pitches and six for strikes.
Vernon Wells struck out to start the second, with Peavy reaching back for something extra on a high fastball off of a 1-2 pitch. Howie Kendrick hit the ball hard but flew out to Alejandro De Aza in center. Erick Aybar came closest to getting a hit, lining a 3-2 pitch to left that was tracked down by Juan Pierre.
That effort meant 26 pitches in total, 16 for strikes. If everything checks out for Peavy Saturday following this important outing, then he’ll go with a side bullpen and get ready to face the Giants Wednesday in Scottsdale.
“Relieved, pleased, it’s a big step to get out there in a game,” Peavy said. “You know, I did what I expected to do and hoped what I would be able to do, turn it up a level and get some big league hitters out. And feel normal in doing that. We accomplished that today. I hope we’ve put a lot of questions and issues to rest.”
Cactus League business as usual for Buehrle
Mark Buehrle’s wish is that he feels just as good during his franchise-record ninth Opening Day start on April 1 in Cleveland as he did during his first Cactus League start Tuesday against the Brewers.
Buehrle threw two quick innings, retiring four hitters on ground ball outs and striking out Brandon Boggs among the six Brewers faced during Milwaukee’s 3-1 victory at Camelback Ranch. The smiling veteran southpaw felt there was another one or two innings in him, but then again, Buehrle makes that same statement after his first start every spring. It really doesn’t take him more than two starts to get ready.
“You should have just got me before the game,” said Buehrle, joking about his quotes not really changing from year to year at this time. “You’re down here getting your work in to get prepared for the season.
“Obviously it’s a little too long for myself. It could be shorter. But it is what it is and you come down here and get your work in, build your arm strength and fill up innings.”
And count Buehrle in mid-season form regarding the fun he has with the media after a low-key start such as this one. Buehrle quipped how he wanted to petition Major League Baseball to have his one strikeout Tuesday added to last year’s regular-season total to give him an even 100 for 2010.
He also comically poked fun at the team’s lack of offense in Game 2 on the Cactus League ledger, with the White Sox locked in a scoreless tie when he departed, costing him an all-important chance at victory on the first day of March.
“We had our big boys going, and all we needed was one run,” said Buehrle, pausing with a wry smile for laughter from the gathered media to subside. “A little bit of run support, guys. Let’s go.”
All things Konerko
Paul Konerko arrived at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday morning, when the full White Sox squad was scheduled to report. And as the elder statesman of the team, a player with good insight into all things baseball, the veteran of 12 years with the White Sox held court with the media for close to 14 minutes. Here’s a look at some of Konerko’s Spring Training commentary.
* On Alex Rios’ statement Monday labeling the White Sox as the team to beat in the American League Central:
“To me, you guys know me, the team to beat is the Twins.
Whoever wins the title from the year before is the champion until they get knocked off. What I think about what’s being said or what anybody thinks is irrelevant. We’ll get an answer 6 months from now. That’s how it is. It’s pretty black and white.
I don’t know how that came up with Alex. Maybe he didn’t mean it like that or maybe he was trying to be confident. But that’s fine. I am too. But it’s pretty simple. You go out and play the games every day and at the end of September there will be a champion in this division. There’s no need to talk about it up until then.
But the Twins deserve the respect. They earned it last year and had a great year. Until someone knocks them off, they are the team.”
* On having played 15 years with the White Sox at the end of this current three-year deal:
“I try not to think about things like that. I’m trying to think about what’s in front of me. You start having thoughts about that kind of stuff and it can kind of slow you down a little bit as far as being hungry. I just can’t do that. There will be a time when I’m done playing when I can sit there and tell everyone about how long I played in one place and how great it was and this and that.
But I feel any time I do that now, I’m taking away from what I’m personally going to do and it’s kind of selfish to my teammates to talk about my own things even if it’s good. It is nice. I’m proud of it.
As much as the World Series, being in the same place for a long time is probably second on the list. It takes a relationship with the team and decisions have to be made on both sides and everyone has to want that to happen in today’s business because it’s so easy to go in the other direction so many times and for them to do the same. I’m proud in that sense. But there will be a time when I’m done playing to talk about the good old days.”
* On what it feels like to be back:
“It feels like I never left, because I didn’t. It was a lot of unknowns and uncertainty with myself and the team a year ago. Now that I’m here it feels like just another normal year and there have been a lot of them in a row here. It feels like home, but yeah, it got a little dicey in the offseason.”
* On the potential of the potent White Sox lineup:
“You break down lineups and you look for some speed, some power, balance. It’s all right there. The bottom of the lineup, whoever we put down there is pretty formidable. We look like we’re probably, in the middle of the lineup, kind of one guy deeper than a lot of teams.
Maybe whoever is going to hit sixth for us would probably hit fifth for a lot of teams. It’s all there but as you know it’s on paper and doesn’t mean anything until you go out and do it. I know that’s clich but it’s true.
You have to go out and it all has to click together. We felt good about our lineup leaving here last year and we didn’t get it going so there is always work and an unknown about how things are going to transpire.
Last year the talk was that there was no big left-handed bat, there was no real DH. There was talk. This year there isn’t anything you can point a finger at and say we’re really deficient in that area so I guess that feels good.”
* On his White Sox tenure being over when the White Sox signed Adam Dunn:
“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what that meant because I knew that at that moment I hadn’t talked to the White Sox at all and I thought that this is a business and you have relationships with people and you don’t know how it’s going to end.
You would figure that maybe they would talk to me before, at least to talk about what I’m looking for and if it’s possible to work out a deal. But sometimes when your card is pulled you find out the hard way.
So I didn’t know which one it was. I think that day or the next day they let us know they still wanted to work something out. I felt good about that. It didn’t mean something was going to get done but I felt like there was hope still to come back so that was good.”
More to come from Konerko in today’s Spring Training coverage at whitesox.com.
Be careful where you park
It’s four days into White Sox Spring Training, and Sergio Santos already has vowed revenge on Matt Thornton.
Not revenge, mind you, in a Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone sort of way. This is more about one-upsmanship through practical jokes between two friends and teammates.
Thornton took an early 1-0 lead in this Spring Training category between hard-throwing relievers courtesy of a Saturday morning maneuver. It seems as if Santos arrived slightly earlier than Thornton for workouts at Camelback Ranch and parked his white BMW along a fence close to the facility where veterans often park. Santos would be considered a veteran, beginning his second big league season, but with numerous other parking spots open, Thornton took it upon himself to find Santos’ car a new location.
“I moved his car as far out as I could,” said Thornton with a wry smile.
“After my workout and breakfast, I looked outside and my car was missing,” Santos continued, in comic disbelief. “Only one guy made a comment to me and that was Thornton.”
A little while later, Thornton was doing an interview when Santos approached the southpaw and simply asked “Where is it?” with a laugh. Thornton admitted no knowledge of the missing car. MLB.com is happy to report Santos eventually found his car at the farthest regions of the players’ parking lot.
Now, the wait begins for Santos’ counterstrike.
“He’s lucky there’s no way to get it in front of the doors to the clubhouse or I would have blocked the doors to the clubhouse with it,” said Thornton, clearly having fun with the execution of his joke.
“Of course, because I showed up early and some spots were open, I parked on the side anyway because it’s easier and quicker,” Santos said. “But there will be payback. I have to figure something good for him, but I guarantee there will be payback.”
Bruney, Lucy receive non-roster invites
Brian Bruney and the White Sox agreed to a Minor League contract and the right-handed reliever received a non-roster invitation to Spring Training as part of the deal.
Bruney, 28, posted a lofty 7.64 ERA over 19 games with the Nationals in 2010. He gave up 21 hits and walked 20 in 17 2/3 innings, but will have a chance to fill out the White Sox bullpen behind Matt Thornton, Sergio Santos, Tony Pena, possibly Chris Sale and a veteran arm who the White Sox eventually add. Bruney will be competing with younger pitchers such as Gregory Infante, Lucas Harrell and Anthony Carter.
From 2006-09 with the Yankees, Bruney posted a 12-3 record with a 3.25 ERA in 153 games. Bruney could turn into the low-risk, high-reward signing the White Sox seem to thrive upon, a hurler who pitching coach Don Cooper can work with to turn around. Bruney always has battled control issues with 173 walks issued in 239 innings.
Donny Lucy also re-signed via a Minor League deal with the White Sox and received a non-roster invite to Spring Training.
The catcher started the 2010 season with the White Sox when backup catcher Ramon Castro was sidelined with a bruised right heal. Lucy impressed the White Sox with his .333 average in seven games, but also did a solid job of handling the White Sox pitching staff. Lucy spent most of the campaign with Triple-A Charlotte, where he figures to play in 2011 if no other Major League team shows interest.
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