Cubs and Sox Face off in Arizona
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Mar 5, 2007 2:30PM
The Cubs and White Sox have been getting in baseball shape down in Arizona for the past couple weeks, and for the most part it's been a pretty quiet Spring Training for both clubs.
Other than Kerry Wood's hot tub incident, and Ozzie's recent war of words with former pitcher Brandon McCarthy, the spring has been pretty quiet. Really quiet, actually.
Sunday, however, things got a little more raucous as the White Sox and Cubs faced off for the first time on the field, with the Sox winning 13-2. Paul Konerko hit two homers as part of the Sox's five-homer barrage. The White Sox had only three regular starters in the lineup, while the Cubs only sat catcher Michael Barrett.
As for the Cubs, it didn't take long for the new skipper Lou Piniella to begin feeling the heartburn associated with managing the Cubs.
"I've only been here four days, but I certainly don't like what I see. I'm being truthful. There's a whole lot of work to do. But I guess that's why we're in spring practice." Good to see that Lou's ability to criticize his players is already in mid-season form.
White Sox fans on hand were even more pointed in their critique of the Cubs:
"Well, that was $300 million well spent," cracked White Sox fan Carol Corso of Lake Geneva, Wis., referring to the Cubs' off-season signing spree. "Maybe if they shell out another hundred million, they might finish .500."
Ouch!
Not that everything's well with the White Sox. While the hitters seem to be coming around, there remain a number of questions about their pitching staff. Having traded Freddy Garcia and McCarthy over the winter, the Sox have a hole in their rotation that must be filled. Gavin Floyd seems to be the front-runner for the spot. Picked up as part of the Garcia trade, Floyd has a career 7-5 record with a 6.96 ERA in parts of three seasons. Not so hot.... But he's just 24 years old, so hopefully he can blossom into a quality starter. And hopefully it won't take as long as it did for Jon Garland to finally come around. If Floyd doesn't start looking like a legitimate starter, Kenny Williams may have to answer some questions about trading McCarthy — in spite of Guillen's harsh words about young Brandon. How long before Sox fans start getting anxious?