From the weekend:
Frank Thomas will make his 2012 debut as part of Comcast SportsNet's White Sox coverage team tonight, appearing on Chicago Tribune Live at 5:30 and White Sox Postgame Live following Monday's game with the Indians. He'll join Chuck Garfien and Bill Melton for select games as well as provide content for CSNChicago.com, including the revival of Big Hurt TV. Needless to say, we're all extremely excited to have Thomas around again.
Opening Day saw the White Sox lose 3-2 to Texas, with Colby Lewis hampering offensive efforts thanks to good command of a wide strike zone. But hey, at least Adam Dunn tied a major-league record.
Saturday's game went much better, with Alex Rios belting a game-winning home run off Joe Nathan to secure Robin Ventura's first career victory as a manager. Sunday was much worse, as the Sox went 0-8 with runners in scoring position in a 5-0 loss.
The closer situation was the hot topic of the weekend, though, with Hector Santiago appearing to nail down that role -- the rookie lefty earned the save in Saturday's win. Chuck Garfien penned an outstanding piece on Santiago's screwball, while I don't think it actually matters who gets the bulk of the save opportunities for he Sox and Chris Kamka reviews the results of bullpens-by-committees.
And the most random news of all: Kip Wells is back with the White Sox.
Jim looked at how Robin Ventura's early returns have been similar to the managing style of Ozzie Guillen, James has a few trends that should carry over from Opening Daythe first weekend, and Alejandro De Aza's baserunning miscues have already drawn comparisons to Juan Pierre (not unfair -- De Aza has to dial things back).
MLB
Around the division
Detroit: Scored 23 runs in two games, including a frightening comeback that included a game-tying three-run bomb by Miguel Cabrera and a walk-off homer by Alex Avila. Tigers blog Walkoff Woodward pretty much sums up the message sent from Comerica Park this weekend: "We will kill all of your pitchers." But the news wasn't all good for the Tigs, as No. 2 starter Doug Fister hit the disabled list with a costochondral strain.
Cleveland: Ubaldo Jimenez took a no-hitter into the seventh against Toronto, but it went for naught as Toronto downed Cleveland in another marathon affair. Sergio Santos blew a save for the Jays, by the way.
Kansas City: Ned Yost has succumbed to the "okay with not having a good hitter batting second" epidemic, although it didn't hurt the Royals' offense that helped take two of three games from Los Angeles in California. And in the game Kansas City lost, Bruce Chen -- whose selection to start Opening Day was widely panned -- held the Angels scoreless through six innings of four-hit ball.
Minnesota: Scored five runs in three games against baseball's worst pitching staff from a year ago. Jason Hammel carried a no-hitter into the eighth on Sunday, while Jake Arrieta (5.05 ERA in 2011) threw seven shutout innings Friday and Tommy Hunter (5.06 ERA in 2011) allowed two unearned runs Saturday in seven innings of work. And to top things off, Carl Pavano's velocity is down, which Twins Daily's Parker Hageman is concerned about.