Grady Sizemore, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Garko and Casey Blake. Out of the 11 Indians that saw action in last night's game, those are the only four that were in the line-up during opening day. A team that has been in a state of flux for a couple of weeks now apparently decided that they were going to make up for lost time and pump out a season-high 18 hits en route to simply pounding the Twins.
This team was up seven by the fourth inning, and unlike the Los Angeles Lakers, these guys managed to hold on for the win.
Your reigning Rookie of the Month, Aaaron Laffey, pitched a brilliant six innings of ball that saw five hits and one walk to go with one earned run - a solo home run by third baseman (and ninth hitter!) Matt Macri. Aside from that mistake, Laffey looked like a veteran out there. This is his seventh quality start in eight games, which should actually be seven-for-seven if you eliminate the hit-haven that is Arlington, Texas. His ERA stands at 2.83 and the WHIP is a stellar 1.15.
Say what you want about the 'unluckiness' of our injury situation, but when you have guys like Laffey that can step up and provide #2 like pitching from the back of the rotation, you could be a lot worse.
Another guy that will need to step up big time is Kelly Shoppach. He started off on the right foot last night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. The down side is that his two outs were strikeouts. This guy had an OPS near .800 last season, so he's no slouch. I have a feeling that he may surprise us by the end of Victor's DL stint. At least I'm hoping this is the case.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ben Francisco and Jamey Carroll each baning out four hits. Benny's currently sitting at .309/.351/.482 - not bad by any means. If you would have told me three months ago that our 2-5 hitters would be Carroll, Francisco, Garko and David Dellucci at this point in the season, I would have asked you how many games we were behind the Royals. But for now, it's our lineup by default; and as long as they keep hitting, I'll take it.
And while I type this with my foot in my mouth, Carlos Gomez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout of his own. Okay, maybe you guys got me on this one, at least for this season. We'll talk in a couple of years!
Tonight, Jeremy Sowers looks to get his first win of the season as we welcome the San Diego Padres. It looks like we avoided facing the recently activated Jake Peavy for the series, which always helps out when you're looking for hits.
The White Sox have dropped three straight, and we now sit at 6.5 games back. Let's keep it going.
This team was up seven by the fourth inning, and unlike the Los Angeles Lakers, these guys managed to hold on for the win.
Your reigning Rookie of the Month, Aaaron Laffey, pitched a brilliant six innings of ball that saw five hits and one walk to go with one earned run - a solo home run by third baseman (and ninth hitter!) Matt Macri. Aside from that mistake, Laffey looked like a veteran out there. This is his seventh quality start in eight games, which should actually be seven-for-seven if you eliminate the hit-haven that is Arlington, Texas. His ERA stands at 2.83 and the WHIP is a stellar 1.15.
Say what you want about the 'unluckiness' of our injury situation, but when you have guys like Laffey that can step up and provide #2 like pitching from the back of the rotation, you could be a lot worse.
Another guy that will need to step up big time is Kelly Shoppach. He started off on the right foot last night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. The down side is that his two outs were strikeouts. This guy had an OPS near .800 last season, so he's no slouch. I have a feeling that he may surprise us by the end of Victor's DL stint. At least I'm hoping this is the case.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ben Francisco and Jamey Carroll each baning out four hits. Benny's currently sitting at .309/.351/.482 - not bad by any means. If you would have told me three months ago that our 2-5 hitters would be Carroll, Francisco, Garko and David Dellucci at this point in the season, I would have asked you how many games we were behind the Royals. But for now, it's our lineup by default; and as long as they keep hitting, I'll take it.
And while I type this with my foot in my mouth, Carlos Gomez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout of his own. Okay, maybe you guys got me on this one, at least for this season. We'll talk in a couple of years!
Tonight, Jeremy Sowers looks to get his first win of the season as we welcome the San Diego Padres. It looks like we avoided facing the recently activated Jake Peavy for the series, which always helps out when you're looking for hits.
The White Sox have dropped three straight, and we now sit at 6.5 games back. Let's keep it going.
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