posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 11:28 PM
by
Jim
Mac attack
When I went to Opening Day of the 2003 season in Kansas City, the White Sox were stymied, predictably, by a couple of no-name pitchers.
One was Runelvys Hernandez, who has since nearly eaten himself out of the league. But the Sox hadn’t seen him before, so of course they couldn’t square him up.
But there was a good reason the second pitcher was untouchable – he actually had great stuff.
His name? Mike MacDougal. He retired the Sox 1-2-3 on 10 pitches, one of those a backwards K of Frank Thomas on a curveball that made his knees buckle almost audibly, and “Mac the Ninth” was born.
The sell-out crowd went bonkers on that hook he threw to Thomas – Kauffman Stadium reverberated from that moment through the last out of the game, when Magglio Ordonez grounded out to short to start the Royals’ season on a good note with a 3-0 victory. Kansas City swept the Sox, then went on to win 11 of its first 12 games.
That curve, along with the pitch Kerry Wood threw to strike out his 20th batter against Houston in 1998, ranks as the most unbelievable breaking pitches I've witnessed real-time. Unfortunately, like Wood, MacDougal has had a string of injury problems since his debut. Actually, since he suffered a stomach virus that took a toll on him for most of the 2004 season, perhaps he's more like Mark Prior.
At any rate, that pitch is what came to mind when I read that the Sox acquired MacDougal for Tyler Lumsden and Dan Cortes. Perhaps Kenny paid too much, given MacDougal's pertually iffy health. Lumsden alone might've been enough, considering he can hit 95 from the left-hand side. Listening to the other teams' broadcast feeds on Extra Innings, they can't believe that the Mariners would let go of Matt Thornton since hard-throwing lefties don't grow on trees. Cortes is an interesting arm as well.
But if MacDougal proves to last through the season, I think this is ultimately a plus move. Kenny Williams has picked up some oft-injured players (El Duque, Jim Thome, Bobby Jenks to name a few) and has gotten what he's needed out of them. MacDougal might be another one of those guys.
If he does get injured again, I'm not going to hold this move against him like I would the acquisition for Sandy Alomar Jr., where better options were available for the same cost, if not less. For instance, Sal Fasano was DFA'd today, and he would've fit the bill for the Sox for maybe a player to be named later.