While watching the White Sox get shut out by former farmhand Gio Gonzalez and the Oakland A's, Joe Posnanski had the temerity to tweet that his story on Jim Thome and the Minnesota Twins is the cover story for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.
Oh yeah? Big deal. The Twinkies aren't the only AL Central coverboys of popular sporting magazines:
I've only played Tucson's municipal courses, so I'm especially interested in this issue.
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Move over, Matt Thornton's forearm and Bobby Jenks' also forearm, because Gavin Floyd's shoulder is the new tightness!
Sorry. Shoulder tightness cut Floyd's start short after just seven pitches, and it might end his season along with it:
"I'm not going to go and pitch Gavin again unless he's 200 percent [healthy]," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I'm not going to listen to him say 'Oh, I feel OK.' Nah, I'm not taking that chance. If we take that chance, all of a sudden we regret it." [...]
"It felt like it progressively got inflamed more and more," Floyd said. "It felt like it wasn't getting better. I felt it every pitch and it's one of those things that you [hope] is nothing serious, which I don't think it is. It's one of those things you don't want to get too serious."
The silver lining is that Floyd's shoulder makes stomaching the Minnesota sweep easier. Even if the Sox attempted to challenge the Twins, they would have been simply too short-handed to do so now.
But on the worrisome side, this is the second straight season an injury has cut his September in half. On Sept. 16 of last year, Floyd left a start against Seattle after three innings due to some hip discomfort. So now after throwing 209 1/3 innings in 2008, he's seen that number drop two years in a row (193 and 187 1/3). At least the Sox were out of contention each time.
Tony Pena will likely get his remaining starts, and that should be fascinating to watch. The two times he's been presented an opportunity to work deep into games, he's taken advantage of it. Monday night was effectively his second quality start of the season, even if it doesn't count as such.
I know Pena has few fans around here, but there's some solace in the fact that he's essentially D.J. Carrasco. Carrasco was a better pitcher, but the Sox went 18-31 in his appearances; the Sox are 17-33 when Pena pitches this year. And unless Pena is the next one dragged down by the Tight Ness Monster (sorry, again), he should eclipse Carrasco's innings total last year.
A D.J. Carrasco ain't worth Brandon Allen, I know, but there's value in having a guy in the bullpen who will happily and effectively chew up three, four, seven innings in a pinch. It might not be the utility the Sox envisioned when they traded for him, but at least he's good for something.
You know, besides helping snap an 0-for-34 career-starting drought. I'm looking at you, Scott Linebrink.
