What worries me is that I’m not sure Owens will be able to simply hit the ball harder. His extra-base numbers in the minor leagues are not impressive: 24 in 2006, 13 in 2007, 12 in 2008 (all with AAA Charlotte). He may not have it in him to get 30+ extra base hits in a season, so if he’s going to stick for at least a year, he has to turn himself into an on-base machine.

Hiroki Kuroda gave a valiant effort on the mound, but once again still was not quite as good as the Yankees would have liked for him to be. He worked out of multiple jams, but still gave up four runs on seven hits and a pair of walks over 6 1/3 innings and did not factor into the decision.

The gathering will mark the 30 year anniversary of the 1983 team that won the AL West division crown. That club went 99-63 before bowing out to the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs. Known for the mantra “Winning Ugly” during their run, the Sox wouldn’t again claim the west divisional crown until 1993. This year also marks the 119th year the club has been in existence.

With sale jerseys looking more and more likely to pitch in relief this season (or maybe not, I guess), an expedited return from a detached lat is all the more important for Peavy and the White Sox. It’s probable the Sox will be without Peavy for some time to start the year, but the real question is how long that time will be.

22. Colorado Rockies – If I were the Rockies, I’d trade both Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki, who are too injury prone yet have a ton of value. It won’t happen, though.

Simply put, Harrell doesn’t strike out enough opponents while walking too many. He appeared in eight games-three starts-with the 2010 White Sox and hardly looked impressive in those 24 innings, walking 17 and striking out 15. Like Humber, Harrell has been mediocre in triple-A, posting FIPs of 4.34 and 4.46 in 2009 and 2010 with Charlotte. Harrell doesn’t have much-if any-edge over Humber, and that’s not saying a whole lot.

One of the tactics is a “brush back pitch”. This tactic is usually used to move a potentially dangerous hitter away from the plate and instill a little fear while he is at bat. causing him to think and perhaps, hesitate.

The question is where do the White Sox turn? What does the future hold? The truth is there really is no light at the end of the tunnel. Unless the team can collect talent via trades and clean house, the South Side struggles could be around for awhile.

The Tribe, which last won fewer than 70 games in back-to-back seasons in 1927-28, got single runs in the fifth and sixth to cut the White Sox edge to 5-3. In the fifth,Carlin hit his secondhome run and in the sixth, Crowe drove in Travis Hafner, who singled and moved to second on a wild pitch.

Chicago was haunted by one of its old pitchers Daniel Hudson in Friday’s Game 1 when he pitched the Diamondbacks to a 4-1 decision over the 121 road underdogs. The loss was the White Sox’s third in-a-row leaving them 5.5 games in back of Cleveland and Detroit in the AL Central with an overall record of 33-38. They are 16-17 at home and 17-21 on the road.

The Tigers get their first look at Chicago’s Gavin Floyd Monday. The 26-year-old righty went 3-0 in five starts against Detroit in 2008. Chicago went on to win each of those five contests.

With Wood pitching Sunday night for the Cubs in the final game of the first half and Crain currently injured, the introductions likely would be the highlight of the night for Chicago. But then, enter lefty sale jerseys from the bullpen. Sale entered the game as a relief pitcher after the starter of the game Max Scherzer only pitched one inning. Sale then pitched the second and third innings facing six batters and retiring all six.

I consider myself to be not just a huge baseball fan but a traditionalist as well. However, I fail to see how implementing instant replay into Major league baseball will hurt the game. What’s important is that if Major League Baseball decides to go ahead and use instant replay the league mandates when the system can and cannot be used and then sticks to it. If I were commissioner (and God knows I should be) I would bring instant replay into the game but only use it in situations like the one that happened in the Cleveland-Chicago game. In a play such as the one umpires are roughly 200 feet away from the play. They are going to get one wrong every now and then. Replay would be a great service to them and to the game.

Ballplayers should not be able to do on a baseball field what if they did it outside the ballpark could get them arrested. When you throw a ball at someone with the intent to do harm it is the equivalent of Assault and Battery.

In addition to losing Crain, the Twins lost Matt Guerrier to the Dodgers, Brian Fuentes to the Athletics, and Jon Rauch to the blue Jays. Additionally, their former all star closer Joe Nathan is coming back after missing all of last season following Tommy John surgery. Also, a week into spring training Twins all star first baseman Justin Morneau had yet to play and there was no time table for his return as he continues to deal with a concussion he suffered mid way through last season. With the subtractions and uncertainty of key Twins, it seems that the Sox have overtaken Minnesota as they, along with the Detroit Tigers, battle for the division.

Granted, Ohman certainly isn’t god-awful against lefties-his 3.84 career FIP vs. LH tells us that. And saying he’s superfluous to the roster is a bit of an overstatement; I’d rather have him on the roster than Williams or, say, Anthony Carter. A mediocre right-handed free agent reliever may have been a better addition to the team, but hey, if Will Ohman is the most questionable move Kenny Williams made this offseason.I’d say that’s a pretty good offseason.

Zach Miner, who will get the ball for the hometown team Monday, went 2-1 against Chicago in 2008, posting a 3.94 ERA in five appearances against the Sox.

With postseason hopes hanging on every pitch, Danks delivered with a masterful, eight-inning shutout performance in which he allowed just two hits, three walks, and struck out four. He struck out AL batting champ Joe Mauer twice. He held Carlos Gomez and Denard Span, who came up so big for the Twins last week in Minneapolis, hitless. Possible AL MVP Justin Morneau? Not a chance. He went 0-3 against Danks, who looked unhittable for much of the game.

Lewis returns this year and will get the start against the Chicago sale jerseys on Friday afternoon. Game time is 1:05 p.m. at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

When Thome left to go to the rival Twins prior to the 2010 season, General Manager Kenny Williams and Manager Ozzie Guillen decided to use the designated hitter slot as a way to get bench players at bats. Many different players hit in the designated hitter slot for Guillen last season but without the power production they were used to.

To that point, Detroit’s own trio of relievers have equaled the task, as Ryan Perry, Fernando Rodney, and Bobby Seay have also gone 7.1 innings without yielding a run.

Two encouraging offensive showings immediately carried over to Monday’s game. Gordon Beckham got going early with a two-run line drive homer, his third of the season, to left in the second inning off Angels starter Ervin Santana. Carlos Quentin continued the barrage with his second double of the night and fifteenth of the season in the fifth. This one would score Alexei Ramirez and make the score 4-0. Manager Mike Scioscia left Santana in for one too many batters as Ramirez would strike again planting one in the seats on a first pitch fastball making the score 5-0 in the seventh. The Angels call to the pen would only benefit the Sox as Quentin hit a three-run homer to dead center on a hanging breaker making the score 8-0, which is where it would stay.

Post game — Thank you to all who kept checking back here for updates during the game. As i said, this is also Spring Training for me and i ran into some glitches posting from the park. I was able to utilize Twitter and Facebook and will continue to do so and figure out a way to get to post here.

American League Rookie of the Year – sale jerseys, Chicago White Sox. Let me introduce you to the left-handed version of Daniel Bard. The White Sox 2010 first-round draft pick is 6-foot-6 (but only 180 pounds) and possesses a 99 mph fastball. There was talk of him potentially replacing the departed Bobby Jenks (and current Red Sox) as closer for the White Sox. Manager Ozzie Guillen decided to go with veteran Matt Thornton instead. But the 34-year-old Thornton has struggled with injuries in the past and will be asked to be a full-time closer for the first time in his career. If Thornton gets injured or struggles, watch for Sale to step in.

However, Owens didn’t show that ability to get on base in his 2007 stint in the majors (.324 OBP) and in 2008 in the minors (.346 OPB). Castillo’s OBPs in the minors: .371, .419, .411, .425, .403, .471. While it’s tough to expect anyone to match up to those gaudy numbers, the fact that Owens’ career OBP numbers in the minors (.365, .393, .333, .361, .348) struggle to come at least close to those numbers with consistency should have been a red flag for the organization.

And for the most bullpen stability, a team needs an anchor in the closer role — and Oakland has that in Andrew Bailey. In his second major-league season, Bailey posted a 1.47 ERA with 25 saves. But he only pitched in 47 games, missing time with injuries — and that threw the whole bullpen out of whack at times.

National League MVP – Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies. This may come as a shock to people who always look at St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols as the automatic preseason pick for MVP. But anyone in the know understands the greatness of this hidden gem in the mountains of Colorado. The 25-year-old Gonzalez will be a legitimate threat to win the Triple Crown over the next few seasons. Last year, he hit 34 home runs with 117 RBIs and a .336 average. Throw in 111 runs scored and 26 stolen bases, as well as being a plus defensive outfielder, and you have the most well-rounded player in all of baseball.

After Brett Gardner was called out on strikes to start the inning, The Yankees rattled off five straight hits, including a double by Robinson Cano and RBI singles by Alfonso Soriano and Curtis Granderson that tied the game at four. Two batters later, Nunez cleared the bases with a shot down the left field line, bringing Granderson and Alex Rodriguez home and giving the Yankees a 6-4 victory.