President? No pressure
Friday night couldn’t have gone much better. Three things I saw:
No. 1: The game I wanted to see.
With all the hype surrounding Steven Strasburg — and Washington is and absolutely should be milking the hell out of it — I wanted to see a show. I wanted to see the Sox win, too.
I got both. Strasburg was absolutely dominant, but thanks to pitch count restrictions, Gavin Floyd outlasted him. With games like these, the NCAA Tournament mindset of “survive and advance” comes to mind. The Sox did just that.
No. 2: Barack Obama.
I’d never seen a president in person, so there’s one thing I get to cross off my list. The sniper on the roof of the press box tipped it off, and @bengarmoe on Twitter identified the section for me. I took a lap around the stadium searching for good angles while negotiating with the pretty strict ushers, so I posted four of them on Facebook.
No. 3: Eli “Paperboy” Reed.
If you don’t know him, you should. Modern ’60s-style R&B, performed with flair.
And tomorrow, I’ll get to see Dayan Viciedo’s major-league debut against Washington’s J.D. Martin.
That said, I’m pretty wiped out, so I’ll fill in the recaps/roundups later.
National League is like Old Country Buffet, all you can eat baby, some advice whitesox, DONT COME BACK lets just stay out and play everyone we can in the nl east and nl central that seems to be working well.
It’s to bad Jerry isn’t the commissioner (that is a scary thought) and could just move us over for full time fun.
Oh, wait, hasn’t worked out so well for the Crew…
Jim, what an awesome series to pick for a trip. Strasburg, the President and Viciedo. Who would have though a series would have been so great before the season started?
Does Obama know who Britt Burns is?
Wow. Great night at the ballpark.
Jim: What would you have thought would be more likely 2 weeks ago? (1) The Sox winning 8 out of 10; or (2) you getting that close to the President . . .
For Viciedo’s first start, wouldn’t it be better to have him DH. Likely this kid is never going to be a starting 3rd basemen, so why risk embarrassing the team and Viciedo? It’s just another stupid ass Ozzie move. This team wins DESPITE Ozzie, not because of him.
If not Viciedo, then who would play third? It’s Vizquel (who probably needs a day off) and Lillibridge (also not his natural position) against a righty. Unless, of course, you would like Nix back.
Also, Viciedo has DH’d one time in his life. If he’s making his big-league debut, Ozzie might think making it as normal as possible might help.
I wouldn’t throw dirt on this decision before anything’s even happened. The alternatives aren’t better.
You make a very good case Jim, but what happens if he boots one? That won’t help his confidence at the plate as he’ll be pushing to make up for it. I’d rather have a debut that has a better chance to be worth remembering.
Vizquel can play. He rested most of April. He’s the best glove we have at 3rd. Sox need to be in win now mode as a sweep of the Nats is necessary. I noticed the Tigers burned through the Bucs and Nats 6-0. They can break Viciedo in at 3rd later.
Minnesota has a tough schedule ahead including Halladay and the Phils tomorrow. Sox have two KC series, the Cubs and some other weaker clubs aside from Atlanta who comes up next. Never though hope would come alive again this year, but if they can cut in under 3 in the next couple of weeks, they could pick up a 3rd baseman elsewhere.
This is, however, a THREE team race at the moment.
I’m expecting Viciedo to be a trainwreck at 3rd base. Let’s see what happens. Never thought I’d be hoping for Visquel to return to the starting lineup!!
One thing you can say about Barry: The Dude presides. If Kenny & Ozzie have a beer summit, we’ll know what he was discussing with Jerry.
If KW’s going to jump the gun on Viciedo’s development, what better time than in DC after Strasmas? Falling tree, empty forest. I expect his throw to 1B will be better than Omar’s (so tentative; glasses?), but I don’t expect him to make all the stops Omar does. Part of Kenny’s reasoning for the call-up is that Omar wasn’t signed to play every day. But try telling Ozzie to bench one of his favorite players. When that player is getting it done. Even if Grandpa Omar needs a nap.
Anyone else guess correctly on the ESPN Chicago poll?
How many strikeouts will Strasburg have against the White Sox?
– 9 or less
– 10 or more
Viciedo ain’t starting after all:
Pierre lf, Vizquel 3b, Kotsay 1b, Jones cf, Quentin rf, AJ c, Ramirez ss, Beckham 2b, Peavy p
That’s not a bad move. Martin seems to be a right-handed junkballer (average fastball is 88, according to FanGraphs) and he’s definitely harder on righties. If they want to keep the train rolling, may as well stick with what’s working.
Sorry Jim, didn’t read to end of string. Guess I won’t have to fire Ozzie today. Let’s get a big lead and put Viciedo in for Grandpa early.
Kenny must have a move coming up, don’t you think?
Still need a lefty bat with some power, obviously a 3rd baseman, or a starting right fielder.
You can stick with this pitching if you believe Floyd’s turnaround and that Peavy is better than his current ERA. Though a viable second lefty would be nice.
Why does Ozzie rest Konerko and Rios at the same time? With this makeshift lineup, having Jones bunt Kotsay to second in the eight would have made sense. That cost us an insurance run when Quentin followed with a single. If they win this game, it’s only because Peavy is lights out.
“Modern ’60s-style R&B, performed with flair.”
This made me think of someone wearing lots of buttons while wearing a lot of buttons; thank you Office Space 😉
Crap, that should say “This made me think of someone wearing lots of buttons while performing…”
Still, your point stands.