posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 12:11 AM
by
Jim
Regarding the concept of 'Chicago Tough'
I have an early tee time tomorrow, so a couple quick notes for Post No. 1,000:
Two immediate reactions to
Scott Merkin's piece on Jose Contreras:
- I think that's the first time Contreras has ever been described as "affable."
- This is now the fourth or fifth documented distraction for Contreras.
I know it's supposed to paint Contreras in a positive light, but considering he battled bad pitching advice and missing his family in New York, and subpoenas and divorce in Chicago, adding in problems with the English language in both cities as additional discomfort makes him sound a little ... soft.
********************
And what's the opposite of soft? Tough.
And what's tougher than tough?
Chicago tough. Let's play buzzword bingo with
Joe Cowley's article:
- Minnesota Twins
- Grinders
- Grinder
- Play the game the right way
- Grinder
- Chicago toughness
- Toughness ... tough ... tough
Meh ... it doesn't come close to
what the Erstad articles produced.
********************
From the Sox blogs:
*Colin takes a look at
a possible trickle-down effect of Nick Swisher's plate patience at South Side Sox.
*Palehose 8 is kicking into gear with three strips:
*The greatest No. 63 in White Sox history?
Ryan Bukvich.
Minor league round-up:
- Charlotte 9, Toledo 7
- Paul Phillips went 4-for-5 with two runs scored; Josh Fields went 1-for-3 with two RBI and two walks.
- Jason Bourgeois, Dewayne Wise, Michael Rouse and Chris Getz had two-hit nights.
- Charlie Haeger gave up seven runs over seven innings, but earned the win.
- Ehren Wassermann pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
- Birmingham 6, Chattanooga 5 (11 innings)
- Lucas Harrell pitched five solid innings, giving up two runs on five hits. He didn't walk anybody and struck out three.
- Carlos Torres blew a save with two run in his second inning of work, but Derek Rodriguez picked up the save in the 11th.
- Ricardo Nanita homered for the game-winning run.
- Javier Castillo went 1-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI.
- Lynchburg 7, Winston-Salem 5
- Paulo Orlando, C.J. Retherford and Javier Colina had two hits apiece.
- John Shelby went 1-for-3 with a walk; Brandon Allen drove in two.
- Michael Dubee gave up four runs over five innings; Matt Davis took the loss by giving up three runs in his two-thirds of an inning.
- Ricky Brooks and Kanekoa Texeira did nice setup work, combining for three scoreless innings.
- Asheville 2, Kannapolis 0
- Greg Paiml had two of the Intimidators' three hits.
- Charlie Shirek was the hard-luck loser, giving up only one unearned run over 5 1/3 innings.
- Leroy Hunt pitched a perfect inning, striking out two.