Almost a Really Fast Game

But for a ninth-inning error and a strike call or two, last night’s White Sox game at Yankee Stadium was on track to finishing on the good side of two hours.  Factor in that error and a pitching change, and the game still only took 2 hours and 16 minutes, a Sox 4-1 win over the Yankees.

Fast is how I like my baseball.  The Sox managed all of three hits, two of them home runs.  That was enough for starter Miguel Gonzalez, who needed 88 pitchers to record 25 outs; Gonzalez threw all of 59 pitches through seven innings.  By way of contrast, Sox closer David Robertson needed 19 pitches to record two outs for the save.  David, the secret to a long and successful career is economy.  I only wish all those young pitchers the Sox have drafted and traded for could’ve watched Gonzalez pitch.  The four strikeouts meant he “pitched to contact,” as the saying goes.  But I’ll take that any day, if it comes with Gonzalez’s one walk and two double plays   

Avisail Garcia hit a three-run homer on a slow, 83-mph slider that was up and in; last year (and all the years before), Garcia was lucky to foul that pitch, let alone hit it fair.  Right now, Garcia is leading the world in hitting, but it’s April, and the sample size is way too small to get excited over.  Still, beating the Bronx Bombers with Matthew Broderick and Jimmy Fallon in attendance is always a good thing.