Marquee pitching matchup: Sale vs. Buehrle
Considering the opposing starting pitchers are Chris Sale and Mark Buehrle, a lot of eyes will be on Monday night's Chicago White Sox-Blue Jays game at U.S. Cellular Field.
Don Cooper will have a better view than most, and he's going to enjoy the matchup more than most since he has coached Buehrle and Sale.
"With (Buehrle), we were around each other a little over a decade maybe," said Cooper, the Sox' pitching coach since midway through the 2002 season. "I saw him pitch many, many good ballgames. You get to know him, you get to know his family, it gets a little deeper than just pitcher and coach because of this history and the amount of time you spend together. Love the guy. He made me a world champion."
In the series opener against Toronto, Cooper will have more love for Sale.
"We need to go out there and knock (Buehrle) around tomorrow because I'm looking for our guy to go out there and do what he's capable of doing and going out and seeing if we can get another win," Cooper said.
Not only will Sale be aiming for his seventh win of the season, he'll be trying to set a major-league record with 10 or more strikeouts for the ninth straight start.
"He's done well for three years because he's a three-time all-star," Cooper said. "But now you add in more strikes, it catches people's eyes and certainly it catches our eyes. The work that he's put in the off-season, continues to put in during the season, he wants to be good, he wants to be a top guy. And so he's checking off the things that you've got to check off to be a top guy."
Heating up:
After a sluggish first two months of the season, especially from the right side, switch-hitting left fielder Melky Cabrera is getting closer to his expected numbers.
Cabrera was 1-for-3 in Sunday's loss to the Orioles, and he is 18-for-46 (.391) over his last 12 games.
"He's getting it out front," manager Robin Ventura said. "He seems to be getting it starting earlier. He's pulling it. Early on in the year, everything was going the other way, especially left-handed. Now he's spraying it around. He hits the ball down the right-field line, left-center, to right.
"It's starting to be you see the ball go all over the field instead of just one side of the field. He's catching up to fastballs and on time with breaking balls. He just looks better at the plate."
Tough luck:
Orioles power hitter Chris Davis left Chicago with 18 home runs, but he could have had 20.
On Saturday, Avisail Garcia jumped high and reached well over the right-field fence to rob Davis of a homer in the ninth inning.
On Sunday, left fielder J.B. Shuck also took a home run away from Davis with a standout catch in the eighth.