Friday, April 04, 2008 - Posts

Dye-fense! (clap clap) Dye-fense! (clap clap)

Evidently, Jerry Owens won't be returning to the lineup as quickly as originally thought:

Of greatest importance to Guillen is having Owens back for the long haul. The White Sox want to make sure he's completely healthy and not back on Tuesday but gone a week or two later.

"We don't have a set date for him to come back. I haven't even heard from him or from the trainers [in Arizona]," said Guillen of Owens. "We have to see how he's doing. He has to come back here 100 percent.

Of course, there's a reason why Ozzie needs Owens to be absolutely ready to go.

It isn't because he's entirely dependent on his legs.  Or because the Sox have better options and can afford to wait.

It's because when Owens plays center for the first time this season, Jermaine Dye is going to run right the hell into him:



At this pace, the question isn't whether we're going to have another Willie Harris-Magglio Ordonez situation on our hands.  The question will be how many?

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So it's off to minor-league rehab stints for Owens, which provides a natural segue into our first minor-league round-up of the season:
  • Columbus 5, Charlotte 1
    • Charlie Haeger resumed his role as hard-luck loser in Charlotte, but he's off to a much better start.  He allowed only two runs over seven innings, allowing seven hits and a walk while striking out six.
    • Josh Fields can't say the same -- 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and an error.
    • The Knights were held to four hits; Royce Huffman had two of them and the lone RBI.
  • Birmingham 3, Tennessee 0
    • Lucas Harrell was dynamite in his first start in more than a year, allowing only a hit and a walk over five innings.  He struck out four.
    • The Barons bullpen kept it a one-hitter, as Joseph Torres, Carlos Torres (this should be fun) and Jon Link combined to throw four perfect innings with six Ks.
    • Miguel Negron, Dave Cook and Robert Hudson had two hits apiece.
    • Micah Schnurstein, trying Double-A for the second time after a .599 OPS in 131 games two years ago, went 0-for-4.
  • Kannapolis 3, Greenville 2
    • Charles Shirek, 23rd-round pick in the '07 draft, allowed only one run over five innings.  He didn't strike a batter out, but he only gave up three hits and two walks.
    • Hector Santiago struck out four over two scoreless innings, walking one.
    • Players to watch: Jose Martinez (0-for-4), Christian Marrerro (0-for-4) and Sergio Morales (3-for-5, one double, one run, one RBI).
posted Friday, April 04, 2008 3:35 AM by Jim with 3 Comments

Danks gaining a rival; bullpen holds a lead

It's not quite Mark Buehrle vs. Jarrod Washburn or Buehrle vs. C.C. Sabathia, but John Danks might have a rival on his hands.

John Danks' excellent performance against Jake Westbrook in today's game was eerily similar to a start against Cleveland last year.  He went head-to-head with Jake Westbrook in a pitcher's duel, went six strong innings with his changeup as his primary weapon, and the final score was 2-1.  The only real difference: The Sox won this one.

Here are the lines:

August 7, 2007
IP
H
ER
BB
K
GS
Danks
6
4
2
1
8
63
Westbrook
8
2
1
0
5
79

April 3, 2008
IP
H
ER
BB
K
GS
Danks
6.2
2
1
2
2
66
Westbrook
7.1
6
2
1
3
60

The only thing Westbrook definitely have on Danks is endurance.  It helps that Westbrook has nearly 10 times as many major-league innings under his belt.

The Cheat has more on Danks' start, including a chart.

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While Danks and Westbrook are 1-1 against each other, the same can be said for Octavio Dotel and Casey Blake.  Blake handed Dotel a loss in the opener with a three-run double, and Dotel took the win after retiring Blake -- the only batter he faced -- on a lazy pop fly to Nick Swisher.

Dotel threw all sliders to Blake in the five-pitch at-bat, and he explained the selection:

"[Blake]'s the type of guy that likes to swing, especially with men on base. So I said, 'Last time he got my fastball, so this time he's going to get sliders.' I just threw all sliders.'"

I don't think the pitch type is nearly as interesting as the pitch location.  Once again, A.J. Pierzynski set up low and outside on all of them, but Dotel missed on his first two pitches.  The first ended up on the inside corner, and he hung his second one.

Blake turned away from the first and swung through the second, and was quickly down 0-2.

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No walks.  That can't be stressed enough.

Dotel got ahead on his hitter.  Scott Linebrink pitched an uneventful 1-2-3 inning, during which he struck out Grady Sizemore and induced a routine fly from fellow Sox killer Victor Martinez.

And then there was Bobby Jenks, who completely disarmed the first two batters he faced tonight.  He broke Jhonny Peralta's bat on a low and outside slider, which Peralta had to dive for after Jenks got ahead with a fastball on the inside edge of the inside corner.

More impressive was his at-bat against Travis Hafner, because I don't know if you'll ever see Pronk look more human than he did against Jenks.  His fastball had great left-to-right movement, and he shaved the inside corner and outside corner on his first two pitches.

From then on, Hafner was on the defensive.  Jenks threw a high slider on a 1-2 count, but Hafner chopped it in the dirt, and Jenks threw a terrific change to put Hafner away two pitches later.
posted Friday, April 04, 2008 3:07 AM by Jim with 4 Comments