Jacked-up Swisher picks perfect time to send one deep
Nick Swisher was fired up for the White Sox' intrasquad games in spring training.
He volunteered to make the trip to Hermosillo, Mexico, for a meaningless exhibition game.
During his first regular season with the Sox, Swisher has managed to approach the endless string of games like a kid approaches Christmas morning.
As for the interleague meetings against the rival Cubs, the outfielder/first baseman has somehow managed to jack his off-the-charts intensity level even higher.
It's fairly safe to say no member of the White Sox was feeling lower after last weekend's 3 straight losses at Wrigley Field.
Conversely, no one was bouncing any higher than Swisher after the Sox pounded the Cubs 10-3 Friday at U.S. Cellular Field.
"How about that?'' Swisher gushed after being asked about his grand slam off Ryan Dempster in the third inning that broke the game open and helped the White Sox snap a six-game losing streak against the Cubs. "It was just one of those things. The first time I faced Dempster (at Wrigley last Sunday night), I had zero success.''
Swisher drew a walk off Dempster in the second inning Friday, and the bases were loaded with one out when he came up again in the third.
"The last time we played, he pounded me in,'' Swisher said. "I was really looking in, and I just happened to see the slider on the outside part of the plate and got lucky and put the barrel on it.''
Swisher drilled a 1-2 pitch over the left-field fence to put the Sox in front 8-0 while knocking Dempster out of the game.
For the past month - maybe even longer - Swisher has been hearing about how intense the White Sox-Cubs series is. He took part in the A's-Giants rivalry the last three years when he played for Oakland, but the outgoing switch-hitter has quickly noticed the difference.
"The atmosphere with games like these, although you try to pretend in your mind it's just another game, it's really not,'' Swisher said. "Today was our game. We're still down 3-1, so we've got to keep battling.''
That's exactly what Swisher has done in his first season with the White Sox. It cost general manager Kenny Williams three top prospects to get him in an off-season trade from the A's, and after a promising April, Swisher batted just .176 in May.
"Some people put more pressure on themselves than they should,'' said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "It was like he was trying to save the White Sox.''
After going 2-for-3 with a walk and 4 RBI against the Cubs on Friday, Swisher is batting .317 in June with 5 home runs and 18 RBI.
"Regardless of what anybody says, switching teams, you have to find that comfort level,'' Swisher said. "I stopped watching TV, I stopped reading the newspapers. I just said, 'I'm just going to try to be the best I can be.' ''
As he's been showing the past month - and especially Friday - Swisher can be pretty good.