posted on Thursday, April 05, 2007 11:34 PM
by
Jim
Pitch and moan
Three funny things about the White Sox pitching staff:
- It'd be a step up for the starters if they averaged 2-2/3 innings during the Minnesota series.
- Nick Masset leads the Sox with 7-2/3 innings pitched.
- Matt Thornton, the Sox's best reliever during spring training, is currently faring the worst out of the lot.
Of course, it's a little easier to be amused by the whole thing since Mark Buehrle didn't break anything after Ryan Garko's line drive knocked the lefty out of
today's game. At best, he's day-to-day, but he could miss a start or two. Either way, it's way better than what I originally feared when seeing the ball ricochet towards the third-base line, which is
what happened to Mark Prior when he took the shot off his elbow.
Some more assorted thoughts about the pitching:
Though the results are hard to decipher, I'm a much bigger fan of this year's bullpen setup. It's not like the '07 crew is better at throwing strikes so far, but at least these relievers look much harder to hit.
I'm guessing Gavin Floyd would have the leg up on filling in for Buehrle should he have to miss a couple of starts, but I'd rather see Charlie Haeger get the shot if he's up to it. Haeger's been better both in the big leagues last year and during spring training (considering the Arizona air), and it's hard not to root for him after reading
Rany Jazayerli's profile of him in a free Baseball Prospectus article (hat tip to
Keith at South Side Sox.) Scott Merkin indicates
Masset would be the spot starter should no significant roster change need to be made.
Meanwhile, this is an old item but I keep forgetting to mention it: Lou Piniella had a great quote about Neal Cotts during spring training, which was mentioned in Sports Illustrated's baseball preview issue. Asked what he sees in Cotts, Piniella responded, "I see he gives up runs every time he pitches." Cotts did survive his
first regular-season outing with the Cubs.
Brandon McCarthy's first start: 6 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
in a loss to the Angels, with four runs scoring in the first inning. Sadly, I'd be ecstatic if John Danks matched that, with the way things are going.
And two unrelated notes...
I'm currently writing with the A's-Angels game on my TV, Extra Innings is using Anaheim's feed featuring
the abominable Rex Hudler, and I couldn't be happier.
Since Extra Innings shares channels with NHL's Center Ice package on digital cable, so I got to see a rare Blackhawks home game via the away feed. They managed to
beat the Red Wings in a shootout despite getting outshot 58-21 during regulation. Nikolai Khabibulin stood on his head throughout the entire third period. It's just a shame a) nobody could see it, and b) Khabibulin doesn't have any help.