Additions

The White Sox started a six-game road trip last night with an 8-2 win over the Padres. Four players contributing to the win weren’t on the team this time last year. Three are from the Sox farm system while the other may be from another planet, and, if not that, another hemisphere. That would be Munetaka Murakami, who clubbed his major-league leading thirteenth homerun, good for three of seven runs scored in the second inning. That was all that Noah Schultz, one of those farmhands I mentioned, needed. The 22-year old recorded his second career victory with six innings of shutout ball, at one point retiring sixteen straight San Diego batters, with a little help from a double play. Did I mention Colson Montgomery and Sam Antonacci? My bad. Montgomery started the second by walking; two batters later, Antonacci drove him in with a single. Montgomery also homered in the fifth while Antonacci had two hits on the night with a run scored and RBI. More, please. Now, to give the devil his due. Schultz and Montgomery were both drafted by the old regime headed up by Rick Hahn (or Hahn-Kenny Williams, the uncertainty of which was a big part of the problem). So were starter Hagen Smith and infielder Jacob Gonzalez, both of whom are putting up call-up worthy numbers at Triple-A Charlotte. Hahn deserved to be fired. That said, if this rebuild—I forget which number we’re on—starts taking off, Hahn deserves part of the credit. You have no idea how much it pains me to say that.