'Swish' makes wish come true

Nick Swisher was nervous Tuesday afternoon.

"I got my man coming today,'' said the White Sox' first baseman/oufielder. Actually, Adam Bender is only 8 years old. But he's handled adversity as well or better than most men could ever dream, and that's why Swisher's foundation - Swish's Wish's - flew Adam, his parents and his brother and sister to Chicago from their home in Lexington. Ky. for Tuesday night's game.

Swisher first heard of Adam's story in late May.

At the age of 1, Adam lost his left leg to cancer. But that hasn't stopped the youngster from playing Little League baseball and flag football.

"Someone like that should be such an inspiration for all of us,'' Swisher said. "Whether you're an old timer or a young guy, to have someone that battles through things like that and to have his outlook on life and the way he grinds out playing ball, I'm just super excited.''

Swisher introduced Adam to the rest of his Sox teamates and the two played catch before batting practice.

Nerves caught up with Swisher again when he threw the ceremonial first pitch to Adam before the game. The first one soared over Adam's head; the second was on target.

Adam seemed a little overwhelmed by all of the attention from Swisher, White Sox players and coaches and the media, but he clearly was enjoying the experience.

"This is great,'' said Chris Bender, Adam's father. "He is a little awestruck. He's not normally very shy, but when there's something overwhelming, every kid turns shy. He's taking it all in right now and processing it, but it's all going to come out in a burst.''

Chris said losing a leg hasn't slowed Adam down.

"Not once,'' the father said. "Not a lick. When we started watching him trying to crawl and pull himself up in the crib, two days post-surgery, he's been that way ever since. He falls down and gets right up again.''