Let's O.D. on White Sox Opening Day

I think everyone is as high on this Opening Day as I am. The 2009 baseball season for the Sox started the same way the 2008 season ended: with a big blast by Jim Thome. In fact, not much has changed from the 2008 season. Chris Getz is the only new name in the lineup. Also familiar was the same ol’ “it takes 4 hits to scored 1 run” situation.

Speaking of “same ol’ same ol’,” the Royals were back in town. Back to seeing my “favorite” player Mike Teahen. For some inexplicable reason, I still hate him. And I still like Alex Gordon, even though he opened the score by hitting a homer off Buehrle.

Buehrle wasn’t doing too hot today. Although he held the Royals to just 2 runs, his pitch count got awfully high awfully fast, and he had an awful lot of balls and a couple of hit by pitches (Of course, it was just last year that the Sox and Royals got in a full-on brawl, so... maybe this is a residue of that? Hooray for conspiracy theories). The good news? He got out of a trouble plenty of times, and Clayton Richard still looks good. I’m glad to see him as a reliever.

Speaking of awful; Dewayne “The Rock” Wise leading off. I’ve gotten over my initial dislike of Dewayne Wise after he had some pretty useful moments last season. However, as a leadoff hitter, I don’t buy it. Sure, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s only day one. But, I assume this experiment will run its course soon enough or we are looking at a situation as ugly as Bobby Jenks’s returning goatee.

Overall, it was great to be back to baseball, and I’m looking forward to the season. Of course, we haven’t seen Contreras and Colon yet, but for now… let’s just enjoy the 4-2 victory over the Royals. And just ‘cause I’ve always wanted to say it,
LET’S PLAY BALL!