The White Sox start a three-game series with Kansas City tonight, and these aren't your one-day-old father's Royals.
Yes, they finally fired Trey Hillman, who had long been in over his head as a rookie manager trying to hold a really bad ballclub together. It had to be done. Some links:
- Joe Posnanski on why Hillman didn't work out.
- Royals Authority on what new manager Ned Yost might mean.
It'd be rather unfortunate if the Royals experienced the New Boss Bump just as the Sox come to town, needing to take two of three while the Minnesota Twins travel to New York, a place where they never win.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*White Sox Outsider 2010 is now available on Amazon.
*Carl posted a great new cartoon at Smells Like Mascot.
*Joe Cowley creates a way to measure Chicago Tough, and surprise, surprise -- A.J. Pierzynski is his No. 1 White Sox. But I laughed at "Was Juan Uribe" being worth 20 points alone.
*The Sox are likely to take a college pitcher with their first pick in this year's draft, and focus on pitching on the first and second days to shore up some of the losses suffered in the Jake Peavy and Juan Pierre trades.
*Mark Teahen returns to Kansas City, but not in much better shape.
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Minor league roundup:
- Charlotte 2, Lehigh Valley 1
- Remember when we were all, like, "OMG! What's wrong with Daniel Hudson?" 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.
- Tyler Flowers went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and has 16 whiffs over his last 10 games.
- Jordan Danks went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, and C.J. Retherford went 0-for-3.
- Dayan Viciedo had a single over four at-bats.
- Old friend Ehren Wassermann took the loss for the IronPigs.
- Jacksonville 2, Birmingham 1
- Brent Morel went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- John Shelby had a single and three K's over five at-bats.
- Christian Marrero was 0-for-4 with two K's.
- Potomac 7, Winston-Salem 5
- Nevin Griffith reversed his slide somewhat, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out only one.
- Brandon Short is the new Ted Williams, as a 2-for-4 day boosts his average to .406.
- Eduardo Escobar (three strikeouts) and Jon Gilmore each went 1-for-5.
- Justin Greene went 0-for-4 with a K.
- Kyle Bellamy pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out one.
- Kannapolis 5, Delmarva 0
- Miguel Gonzalez left the game after grounding out in his only at-bat. Hand injury is all I know.
- Trayce Thompson went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Brady Shoemaker went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.
- Kyle Colligan went 1-for-3 with a double and an HBP.
- Terry Doyle continues to be too good for Low-A hitters, striking out 10 over seven shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and a walk.
