The Big Skirt goes yard twice

Topping the ESPN in-game highlights right now is Frank Thomas stepping and knocking the crap out of the ball in Chicago (Twice! Twice!).

Good for him.

One of the signs of how good things are going for the White Sox? It seems most of the folks in attendance agree with me. It's hard to tell without sound, but there were an awful lot of smiles in the bleachers tonight.

Yeah, it's shaping up to be another good year on the South Side.

Seeing that reminded me of being in the Metrodome last summer and seeing David Ortiz slugging away in BP. After he'd peppered the upper deck for a few minutes, hitting the reired number banners, the overall vibe was undoubtedly, "Why can't we sign guys like thaaaa... shit."

Not that Ortiz was the monster he is today in Minnesota - his last three seasons saw home run counts of 10, 18 and 20 - but you could make a case that the Twins should have seen the hand writing on the wall - in that same span he had OBP numbers of .364, .324 and .339 and slugging percentages of .446, .475 and .500 - and maybe waited to see what he could do in the next two or three seasons.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Good for Thomas. I understand why the move was made and he'd have no real spot in the lineup (plus his numbers aren't so great for Oakland this year) but it's always a little more fun to see someone light up their old team's pitching staff, especially when you don't give a damn about the teams involved.

• Speaking of Ortiz, he has 3 RBI through seven innings tonight, matching Manny Ramirez's RBI total against the Yankees. This is why Ramirez was a amjor piece to bring back, despite his offseason bitching and assorted Ramire-zaniness. Screw the Manny being Manny garbage, but forcing pitchers to give Ortiz something to hit is one of those things you can't really quantify in the box scores or on paper.
  
  Take Ortiz, leave him in Minnesota and I bet his numbers don't explode the way they have in Boston. Call it a hunch, but batting Torii Hunter or Lew Ford after Ortiz doesn't really scare teams into throwing to a slugger.
  
  I know, it's crazy. The point is that without two big bats in your lineup, just having one doesn't do you much good in the long run.
  
• Maybe Rick Sutcliffe is still a little woozy from his hard weekend last week, but when they ran the ESPN graphic of frontrunners for the AL Rookie of the Year, his comment about Francisco Liriano was that he'd make a good run if he breaks into the Twins rotation.
  
  ... Uh, kinda like he did last week, Rick? I don't care if you're hung over, you still need to pay attention while you sit bleary-eyed on your couch watching SportsCenter before Teletubbies.
  
  As a child I sat and watched Harry Caray literally every day during the summer, so I don't expect much from my announcers. I just ask that if you're going to speak at least be factual. Especially with prepared stats and graphics packages. Or, just take Harry's lead and don't say a damn thing for five, ten minutes at a time.
  
  Oh, and for the record, Liriano spelled backwards is Ona-ir-il... Onnnna-ear-rill! Onairil... Unassisted triple play there, back after these words from our good friends at Budweiser.
  
• Kerry Wood is ready for Tuesday's start, according to MLB.com. Great, maybe that was the problem last week. He just wasn't ready yet.
  
  Yeah, that's the ticket...
  
• What the hell is going on in Detroit?
  
  How long before we have to ask - legitimately, mind you - "Are the Tigers for real?"
  
  Every year one team rockets out of the gate and falls off by July (see the 2005 Baltimore Orioles) and the Tigers definitely fit the bill there, but really? The Tigers?
  
  A game up on the White Sox with a series in Kansas City is a great place to be if you're a Tigers fan (the Tigers fan?)
  
  Now there's a really, really awful team. I need to start picking on them - some of the Rays fans more than know their stuff. Some of Kansas City is unaware that they have a major league team in their hometown. (Just playing with you, Rays Index - someday when I strike it rich, I'm buying you a Cleveland Spiders jersey).



• Cripple fight! (part II) - Cubs vs. Marlins Tuesday night for Game 2 of the series. Call me crazy, but I'll go see Johan Santana square off against the Tribe instead.

There, made it through the whole post without making a cheap joke about "Wang" playing for the "Yanks." Somehow that pairing means all is right with the universe.

(Photos from Auburn.edu / thewvsr.com / great-music.net)