Chicago White Sox: Lose Opener to Minnesota Twins

by Sean Kane

Defense in the Metro Dome is tough, that is true. The outfield is freaking huge. It’s like trying to cover a football field, on crutches. If Ozzie knows this, and he must, after all these years in the Central, why then do you put old man Griff in center? While I watched Javy “step up” like Ozzie asked him to and get shelled in the 4^th, I cringed watching Griffey dive after Kubel’s triple. Dye basically had to hop him and then go another forty feet, reaching under the plastic tarp that doubles as a wall in center for the Twinkies just to stop the inside the park. I wondered why it is that in the face of shaky pitching and a fast field you would play the slowest center fielder we have?

I obviously know the answer, Griffey’s bat. But honestly how reliable has Junior been with the wood? Not, is the answer. He’s batting .245 this year and hits .103 career against the Twins. He was consistent in the Yankees series with four hits but I don’t see that much value in him when you know that he moves like Charlie Weis sometimes in center. Not to mention that while I hate to badmouth the Kid, we know he came to the Sox just to see the playoffs before the end of his career. I don’t know how emotionally committed he is to the club. He’s all smiles and a great teammate but he certainly doesn’t have the energy he once had. He hasn’t seen the postseason since ‘97 and hasn’t had that taste in his mouth for so long that you wonder if he knows what it’s like to get up for a game like this. I love to see him on the roster, let him stay here in Chicago till he’s 40. From a baseball standpoint, though, here in September you need someone to give us a spark, like AJ said on Sunday, “‘We’re going to go in there and kick their ass.’ That’s the mind-set it takes, and if we do that and it works out, great; if not, we move on. But we have to go in there looking to play confident.”

Confidence doesn’t run deep in pitchers, infield or anyone when you know Griffey just doesn’t have a chance to get to a ball. He doesn’t have the wheels.

The other choices are not that much better – Nick Swisher and Brian Anderson but there are upsides to the two. Swish can move pretty well and certainly brings some energy to the lineup, more than Griffey. He’s not a threat at the plate batting .221 and he a different haircut every week and watching him talk to Comcast every game is sometimes painful, with his off topic antics but he puts it all out there.

Anderson is not a terrible threat at the dish either – .247 this year – but man he can move out there. He’s a guy playing for his job. He’s not sitting on an 8 million dollar deal, like Griff. He’s young and has something to prove. When better to prove it than now, by stealing a triple from a red hot Jason Kubel, proving to Javy that he could throw a mistake and somebody will back him up?

Effort no replacement for talent but you’ll take the spark from anywhere, before the bottom of the 9^th.

Hindsight is 20/20 and when Baker shreds everyone going 7 innings with the only run in the first, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. Javy doesn’t help you either. He blew it. Going 4 innings with 7 hits and giving the Twins an early 4 run cushion. That’s a White Sox recipe for disaster. (Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.)

When all is said and done Griff did put one in the seats for the last two runs in the 9^th. He was O-fer before that. The point is, let’s put a team on the field who can give us a little spark before the ninth, somewhere, somehow. That edge might have to come from the defense, in a huge outfield when Javy starts the game, because the Twins clearly have come to play and clearly want to see October, hopefully not more than Griff, Swish, Brian or Ozzie, though.

Tags: Chicago White Sox, Javier Vazquez, ken griffey jr, minnesota twins, MLB

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