Contreras, Colon impressive for White Sox
Jose Contreras threw 4 shutout innings and Bartolo Colon followed with 5 more, leading the White Sox over the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 on Saturday at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Contreras gave up 1 single while throwing 55 pitches, and Colon gave up 3 singles and walked one while throwing 72 pitches. Question marks entering the spring, the two have made the Sox' starting rotation behind Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd and John Danks.
Contreras, who underwent surgery after suffering a season-ending Achilles' injury Aug. 8, was 3-0 with a 5.82 ERA in 17 innings. Colon (0-2, 6.60) hasn't pitched a full season since winning 21 games and the AL Cy Young Award in 2005 because of shoulder, elbow and oblique muscle injuries. He had surgery to remove bone chips in the offseason.
"These guys are basically finishing their third week of spring training," pitching coach Don Cooper said. "It was important for us to get their pitches up, and we did that with both guys. On top of that, we got command and performance. It's nice when everything you kind of hope to happen happens.
"They've been climbing. There are reasonable expectations for us to say that they can continue to climb, both in stuff and command."
Manager Ozzie Guillen hasn't yet determined the order of his rotation, other than Buehrle being the opening-day starter.
"I want to check out the matchups when we get to Chicago (on Sunday)," Guillen said. "That way, I'll have a better idea. I want to see who they are going to face if they go '4' and '5.' No matter who is '4' or '5,' I really don't care. You are No. 1 when you are on the mound. ... The way they threw made a lot of people in this locker room very excited."
Yankees 10, Cubs 1: Mark Teixeira and the New York Yankees felt right at home in their new house. As soon as they got settled, though, it was time to say goodbye.
Flashing the power stroke that earned him a $180 million contract this off-season, Teixeira homered twice and drove in 4 runs to lead New York over the lethargic Cubs.
Derek Jeter added a 3-run shot and the Bronx Bombers opened their glitzy new ballpark by sweeping a pair of exhibition games from the Cubs. They made the $1.5 billion palace look like a Little League band box, hitting 7 home runs in two days.
Now, the Yankees have to leave for a while. They begin the season with a nine-game road trip before their home opener April 16 against Cleveland.
The Cubs were on their way to Houston, where they have a workout scheduled today before Monday night's opener against the Astros. Carlos Zambrano, who pitched a no-hitter against Houston last September, will start against Roy Oswalt.
"We ended a long spring with the worst game of the year. Let's hope we're more prepared to play Houston on Monday," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Today was just a sloppy game. Our starting pitching in both games wasn't good."
Three of New York's 4 homers Saturday came off struggling Cubs starter Rich Harden, who completed a rough spring with another ineffective outing. The oft-injured right-hander was tagged for 8 runs - 7 earned - and 7 hits in 32/3 innings. He walked four and threw only 41 of 76 pitches for strikes.
"I'm not happy about it. But fortunately, it's still spring training. It's not the finish I wanted to have," Harden said. "I feel fine. I feel strong."