Friday, March 30, 2018

One Down, 161 To Go


Yesterday’s White Sox Opening-Day 14-7 win over the Royals in KC was ever so delightful in ever so many ways, beginnings with Sox starter James Shields. Sox fans got to rip Shields and watch him win the game, too.

Four batters into the bottom of the first inning, and the redoubtable Shields was down 4-0, but, from the fifth batter on, you could say he threw six shutout innings.  Apparently, it was the old arm slot that got Shields into trouble; once he went back to the lower one that worked for him late last season, everything went fine.  And he didn’t start off with the lower one from the start because why?

But the real story from yesterday’s game concerns Matt Davidson and Tim Anderson, who hit three and two homers, respectively.  Davidson and Anderson both remind me of Paul Konerko a little, thoughtful and never jerky in their responses to questions.  Davidson hit 26 homeruns last year only to find that his Wins-Above-Replacement figure was -.9.  Ouch.  Anderson dealt with a different negative entirely last year, losing his closest friend to gun violence.  Stay thoughtful and jerk-free, guys.
The New York Times picked Kansas City to finish ahead of the Sox this season.  From what I saw, the Royals are already back in rebuild mode.  Why else would manager Ned Yost use nine pitchers?    

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