Boo birds send a message to Sox' leadoff hitter Wise
To the sellout crowd of 37,449 at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday, Dewayne Wise heard you.
In his first-ever start on Opening Day, the White Sox' journeyman center fielder detected some groans when he led off the bottom of the first inning with a strikeout.
Wise has ears, and he heard the negative volume increase when he struck out swinging in the third and fifth.
In the eighth inning, Wise was showered with boos after twice failing to lay down a critical bunt, and the noise reached a crescendo when he flied out to center field while completing a forgettable 0-for-4 afternoon.
Wise heard you, and he gets it.
"It doesn't surprise me," Wise said. "Fans want you to do good, and sometimes when have bad games, they're going to boo. That's part of the game you have to deal with."
Wise has dealt with plenty of misfortune during his 13-year professional career, bouncing between four major-league teams while spending most of his time in the minors. He'll survive Tuesday.
"You can't think about it," Wise said. "We play 162 games and there's going to be games like this. Like I told (Jim) Thome when I didn't get the bunt down, teams pick each other up and that's what he did."
Better option? Not surprisingly, Sox general manager Kenny Williams said he has looked around for a more established leadoff man than Dewayne Wise.
Williams said there are none to be found.
"The easiest thing in the world is to say you have to go out and get a leadoff hitter, get the prototypical guy who can hit you .300 and get on base at .370, steal 50 bases," Williams said. "But when people are pressed to say where are you going to get that guy it's, 'Don't worry about it; you just go get him.'
"I have to go back in the lab and create that guy. Rest assured, we have been looking for one, and aggressively. We've asked about them and tried to get them, and that's no slight on Dewayne. You can't create something that's not there, so you make do."
Williams said the White Sox have no interest in two expensive leadoff hitters that are supposedly available - the Dodgers' Juan Pierre and the Angels' Gary Matthews Jr.
"We weren't on those particular players at any price," Williams said. "I wouldn't say any price. It wasn't something we thought was a fit."
Rotation set: Manager Ozzie Guillen said Jose Contreras will be the White Sox' No. 4 starter this season and Bartolo Colon No. 5.
"I don't care who pitches at No. 4 and 5," Guillen said. "As long as they're there, that's all I care about. The key thing is to keep those guys healthy the best we can."
Bon appetite: GM Kenny Williams is part owner of Market, a downtown restaurant scheduled to open in late April or early May.
"Mostly for me, it was going into a situation or a venture that I could go someplace in the city and if somebody wanted to yell at me about the White Sox, I could kick them out," Williams said.
Cell upgrades: In addition to the new scoreboard in right-center field, Gate 5 at U.S. Cellular Field has been renovated.
The $15 million project, undertaken by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority as part of its capital repair responsibilities for the ballpark, includes new escalators and the eventual addition of elevators for fans with disabilities.
According to Crain's, Gate 5 will also be the future entrance to a planned collection of bars, restaurants and stores.