If every game can be like
Friday night's game against the Kansas City Royals, it's safe to say that we can live with Ken Griffey Jr.'s defense.
Of course, only three balls were hit to him, and the one ball he should've caught was one that he parked under. But hey, I'll take it -- especially if he keeps up the hits with two outs and runners in scoring position.
(By the way, Griffey was only 4-for-27 with two outs and runners in scoring position in Cincinnati, so either he's due for some improvement or he'll fit right in.)
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Griffey looks weird in a White Sox uniform. Between the No. 17 (
he let Nick Swisher keep 30, and I doubt Harold Baines wants to go through more paperwork with No. 3) an the complete lack of color in his jersey, it's strange. He's wearing the same number as Darin Erstad!
It's close to the same feeling I got when seeing Frank Thomas in green and gold in 2006. When I think of 1990s baseball, I think of the Big Hurt in the white and black and Griffey in the assortment of blues the Mariners worked with. They had completely different kinds of star power and were the faces of completely distinguishable franchises, and only crossed worlds in All-Star games.
But Griffey's identity seemed more secure. Frank got too heavy for his aching feet, always changed his batting stance and I'm not sure if he knows where his glove is. Junior (and while nobody calls him the Kid anymore, he's still Junior) is a little thicker than he used to be, but his characteristics are the same --
backwards hat in warm-ups, his hairline is in tremendous shape, he started in center and still spins his bat and flexes his knee rhythmically before starting his ultra-smooth swing.
I feel pretty safe in saying he's the most out-of-place Sox in my lifetime. Jose Canseco doesn't come close, because by the time he joined the Sox he'd been on most of the other American League teams. Albert Belle had a mercenary's sense of purpose. Bo Jackson was more Raider than Royal.
My second-place finisher? Jim Abbott. In the days before MLB.tv and Extra Innings, we had to rely on highlight shows and magazines to learn about other guys in the league. I was seven years old when he made his debut, so his rise to fame virtually matched my rise in literacy. Hell, some would argue that we both peaked in our respective fields in 1991.
At any rate, because he was such a great role model, he was all over the stuff I could read, and he became this larger-than-life figure who mastered a game with one hand when I could've used a minimum of three. Then, when he joined the Sox, he became just another guy. He'd pitch well, pitch poorly, and once you'd seen the nub-to-hand transfer a few dozen times, the novelty wore off. It was like he was anybody else.
Griffey will never be like "anybody else," but it's weird to see him have to adjust to a role designated for guys like Carl Everett and others who come and go. I can't say I could fathom that when I was 10.
And speaking of the unfathomable....
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Jermaine Dye didn't collide or come close to colliding with Griffey in his first start with center, unlike
Alexei Ramirez, Nick Swisher and
Dewayne Wise. But then again, I can't quite picture the kind of batted ball that both Griffey and Dye would both be able to reach with a sense of urgency.
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Minor league roundup:- Louisville 7, Charlotte 5
- Joe Crede went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and committed an error.
- Jack Egbert struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings, but gave up three runs -- two of them on a homer.
- Adam Russell gave up three runs over 2 1/3, and Mike MacDougal had this line: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
- Chris Getz hit a three-run homer, his 10th of the year, and his 10th at home.
- Brad Eldred went 2-for-4 with a double and a solo shot; Jason Bourgeois had two hits.
- Jason Tyner went 3-for-4, giving the Sox some piranhaness.
- Birmingham 2, Chattanooga 0
- Dewon Day led the way with four innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out two.
- Joseph Torres, Fernando Hernandez and Kanekoa Teixeira led the way for Jon Link, who pitched two perfect innings for the save.
- Ricardo Nanita went 3-for-4 with a double and the only two RBI.
- Victor Mercedes had two hits.
- Winston-Salem 5, Potomac 1
- Matt Davis worked hard for the save, striking out seven over four perfect innings.
- Jacob Rasner pitched pretty well himself, allowing one run on seven hits over five innings, striking out six.
- Paulo Orlando and C.J. Retherford drove in two runs apiece.
- Orlando, Greg Paiml and Joe Persischina each had two hits.
- Delmarva 4, Kannapolis 3 (10 innings)
- Charlie Shirek allowed one run on two hits and two walks over five innings, striking out five.
- Santo Luis struck out four over three shutout innings of relief.
- Sergio Miranda went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.
- Sergio Morales homered, and Nick Mahin had two hits.
- Bristol 8, Burlington 3 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Jose Vargas went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
- Justin Greene singled, walked, stole two bases, scored two runs and drove in two.
- Murillo Gouveau allowed three runs over five innings; Shane Buriff threw two scoreless innings.
- Bristol 5, Burlington 3 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Jordan Kendall and Misael Tavarez both homered.
- Michael Lewis threw four shutout innings, striking out four.
- Nathan Jones struck out two over two scoreless innings.
- Great Falls 7, Helena 6 (10 innings)
- Tyler Kuhn went 3-for-6 and fell a homer short of the cycle.
- Mike Grace hit a three-run homer, and Johny Celis hit a pinch-hit homer.
- Jordan Cheatham and Kyle Shelton had two hits apiece.
- Dexter Carter struck out nine over five innings, but served up two gopher balls.
- Steven Sauer threw two shutout innings, striking out four.