Oh, man, whole lot to talk about with Sox
Let’s take a step back and review the weekend before the White Sox play a quick two-game series at Kansas City and return to the South Side for Thursday’s home opener.
ŸLot of frustration out there on the heels of Sunday’s 7-1 loss at Cleveland.
It’s split pretty evenly between the Sox’ early ineptitude in the bunt department and new relief pitcher Will Ohman and his 27.00 ERA.
ŸLet’s start with Issue No. 1.
On Saturday, Brent Morel comes up in the second inning with runners on first and second and no outs.
The White Sox rookie sacrifices right to Indians starter Carlos Carrasco, who goes to third base for an easy out.
On Sunday. Alexei Ramirez bunts into a triple play, the momentum shifts to Cleveland, and the criticism soon follows.
For the remaining 159 games, I’d put the bunt sign on only when Juan Pierre is at the plate. We’ll throw Omar Vizquel in there, too.
Everybody else, swing away.
ŸAs for Issue No. 2, yes, Ohman has been terrible in his first 2 appearances.
Once the season settles in and the Sox add a 12th pitcher, most likely Jake Peavy, Ohman isn’t going to be logging so much time.
He was signed to face left-handed hitters only, something Ohman has been pretty good at over the years. But you still have to wonder why the Sox gave him $4 million over two years to fill such a limited role.
ŸOn Saturday, the wind robbed Alex Rios of a home run, and Cleveland third baseman Jack Hannahan later took a double away from the White Sox’ center fielder.
It’s too early to worry about Rios’ 0-for-12 start (5 strikeouts), but manager Ozzie Guillen always can switch the No. 5 hitter with No. 6 Carlos Quentin.
ŸBy the way, Quentin was voted American League player of the week after batting .545 (6-for-11) with 3 doubles, 1 home run and 7 RBI in the opening three-game series.
The one thing I noticed about Quentin in Cleveland is he seems to be quite sensitive, and even more guarded, following another spring of having his psyche analyzed.
Again, the Sox don’t really care about all of Quentin’s alleged personality issues anymore; they just want results.
ŸSpeaking of Cleveland, crowds of 9,853 and 8,726 showed up at Progressive Field on Saturday and Sunday, and many of them were White Sox fans.
To put that into perspective, the second-smallest announced crowd Sunday was 18,085 (at Kansas City) and seven games had 30,000-plus in the stands.
Indians fans will come out to see a good product, as the 455 straight sellouts through 1995-2001 indicate.
That might be the only thing keeping Cleveland from becoming a contraction candidate.
ŸThe Sox’ home opener is Thursday against the Evan Longoria-less Tampa Bay Rays.
A day later, we’ll also be keeping an eye on Montgomery, Ala., where Peavy makes his first rehab start with Class AA Birmingham.
Peavy is shooting for 75 pitches after throwing 59 in a simulated game Sunday.
ŸLet’s take a quick peek at the rest of the AL Central …
The Twins’ pitching staff struggled in the opening series at Toronto.
Top starters Carl Pavano (4 innings, 7 runs) and Francisco Liriano (4 innings, 4 runs) struggled against the Jays, and Joe Nathan was shaky Sunday (1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 2 walks) while earning the save after missing 2010 with Tommy John surgery.
As for the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera is off to a good start, but newcomer Brad Penny allowed 8 runs on 7 hits in 4 walks over 4 innings Saturday against the Yankees in his first start with Detroit