There was some talk the White Sox were interested in picking up Jarrod Washburn from the Seattle Mariners, but GM Kenny Williams said this would not be happening. Even though Chicago has been hard pressed to find a fifth starting pitcher since Jose Contreras suffered a season ending injury, Williams didn’t panic, he left Washburn in Seattle. On Monday night I witnessed firsthand why Kenny wasn’t buying Jarrod.
Even though the Mariners lineup resembled a minor league lineup, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Mark Buehrle, thanks in large part to a mixup between the shortstop and secondbaseman on a potential doubleplay grounder to Buehrle that would have ended the inning (Mark threw the ball to Alexei Ramirez who was standing behind the bag, Orlando Cabrera should have been the target).
The Sox tied the ballgame up in the bottom of the 2nd when Jermaine Dye doubled, Paul Konerko singled him home, and Nick Swisher sent a line shot into first row of the leftfield stands, scoring Konerko.
Seattle took a brief one run lead in the top of the 5th, but Chicago came storming back in the bottom of the frame. Ramirez lined out, but then Juan Uribe walked, Cabrera golfed a two run drive to left, A. J. Pierzynski singled, a wild pitch sent A.J. to 2nd, Pierzynski went to 3rd on Carlos Quinten’s base hit, Dye’s double to the rightfield gap plated two, Miguel Batista replaced Washburn & wild pitched Dye to 3rd, then Batista intentionally walked Jim Thome, Konerko was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Swisher singled home one, Ramirez (batting for the 2nd time in the inning) singled home a run, FINALLY the Mariners got the last two outs of the inning, 9-4 Chicago.
Seattle’s Cuban SS Yuniesky Betancourt ripped a solo sixth inning homer to make it 9-5, but then Chicago’s Cuban SS Alexei Ramirez one upped his fellow countryman by belting a 7th inning three run blast off Jake Woods, putting the game on ice. Shouts of MVP engulfed the Cell as Quinten belted his MLB leading 35th homer in the 8th to make the final 13-5 Good Guys.
GM Kenny Williams signed Alexei Ramirez for $1,000,000 per year for four years, which is quite a bargain considering how well he’s played at secondbase (a new position for him), that he can be moved to his natural position of SS next year if Chicago chooses not to re-sign Orlando Cabrera, and that his best position just might be centerfield. Williams was also smart enough not to trade for Washburn or Justin Duchscherer who just went down last night with an injured hip, the same injury that kept him out last year. The GM of the Pale Hose also acquired Nick Swisher for Gio Gonzalez, whom the Sox bombed on Sunday, and picked up the 2008 AL MVP Carlos Quinten for minor league slugger Chris Carter. So I’m not so eager to question Kenny about the Ken Griffey, Jr. deal, time will tell.
Rob & Vicki Taylor were sitting in Dick & Bea’s seats, Steve was hanging with Teddy Ballgame, Chicago Bob bought me a beer (thanks Chicago Bob), and Phil stopped by to say hello. But the most interesting fan hanging around the plate was a 23 year old Korean baseball fan, studying English in America, while working on his degree in Chemical Engineering. His name is Sungkwon Kim, he’s only been in Chicago for a couple of months, but has been in this country long enough to catch ballgames in Oakland & San Francisco, see the Grand Canyon, and visit Las Vegas. Next week he’s going to Toronto to see a Blue Jays game and check out Niagara Falls. He has a great knowledge of American baseball. His favorite baseball player is Korean Chan Ho Park, his favorite White Sox player is Bobby Jenks. You can see a photo of him and your truly at www.whitesox.com/fanfoto gallery 63 (the scoreboard is smoking in the background after OC’s homer. The White Sox also gave him a certificate with his name & the date of the game, signifying his first baseball game at US Cellular Field. It was a Friends of Kevin Smith night and half price Monday, which meant a fullhouse, and an electric crowd.
I received a letter from Taka. Taka is the Japanese baseball fan Nick & I met in Kansas City in 2006 while watching the Yankees play the Royals. He’s going to be in Chicago to see the Cubs play the Phillies at Wrigley Field August 30th & 31st, wanted me to get him a ticket, meet him under the Wrigley Field sign at 1:00 PM, and go to the game with him & Nick. You might remember Taka, we were on the elevator with Alex Rodriguez. Taka told ARod, “I see you in Tokyodome”, Alex replied, “Yeah, I was there”, then Taka touched Rodriguez’s bicep, to which ARod responded sternly, “Don’t touch”. Not to be deterred, Taka is back for another dose of American baseball. I’d love to meetup with my friend from Japan, but I’ll be in Waupaca for the Labor Day weekend. I’m trying to get Japanese baseball fan Erick Robertson from Simyard fame to meet Taka on Saturday and another Cub fan to hang with Taka on Sunday. I didn’t explain to Taka that I’ll never go to Wrigley, I don’t know how “A bunch of buttholes” would translate into Japanese.
