The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This is apparently "unintentional movie reference series," but the White Sox won their first road game of the 2009 season, 10-6 against the Tigers at Comerica Field yesterday behind an offense that is currently clicking on all cylinders. Yes, the eternal pessimist will point to the fact that 5 of the Sox's 10 runs came via 4 homers, but that's really missing the forest for the trees. The Sox scored early and often, mixing some good situational hitting with a couple of their patented home runs, sensational defense, and the pitching was... enough.

Chicago Tribune recap \ Chicago Sun-Times recap \ MLB.com Wrap \ B-R.com Box Score & PBP

THE GOOD

• As posted earlier, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko's back-to-back home runs in the 2nd inning were the 300th of each of their careers. It is indeed the first time 2 teammates have ever hit a pair of such milestone home runs in the same game.
• Carlos Quentin hopefully put any doubts aside anyone has about the effects last year's wrist injury may still have. He clubbed a pair of homers, a two-run bomb off Zach Miner in the 4th that chased the Tiger starter and then a solo shot in the 6th off Eddie Bonine that he pretty much muscled out of spacious Comerica Field with one hand. Quentin now has 4 home runs in his last 4 games and is one off the pace of league leader Evan Longoria.
• Josh Fields and Dewayne Wise, both question marks at the start of the year had solid games again at the plate and in the field; Wise was 1-3 and since being moved to the bottom of the order, had been hitting .385. However, he separated his shoulder making a spectacular running catch in the 5th inning to help preserve a win for Gavin Floyd. Fields, meanwhile was 1-5 with a walk and scored a pair of runs, but made another nice play at third in the 8th, again, with the Tigers threatening.

THE BAD

• With Dewayne Wise sidelined for anywhere from 4-8 weeks, the Sox have recalled Jerry Owens from Charlotte. Yay.
• Brent Lillibridge got the start for the injured Chris Getz at 2nd and leading off and it was more the same for the Sox lead-off hitters. Lillibridge was 1-6 on the day with three strikeouts. Yes, his double to lead off the third inning sparked a 4-run "smartball" rally in the inning, but otherwise he was pretty brutal at the plate, striking out his final three appearances at the dish.

THE UGLY

• Gavin Floyd won his first game of the season despite his best efforts. He managed to get through only 5 innings, walking seven Tigers and allowing 6 earned runs. It seemed like every time the Sox staked him to a lead, he'd try his best to cough it up.
• DJ Carrasco had another scary outing, as well. With the Sox up 10-6, Carrasco relieved Floyd in the 6th and after getting Granderson to fly out, he immediately loaded the bases. Yet, somehow, he wiggled out his jam, too, striking out Carlos Guillen and then getting Ramon Santiago to ground back to him harmlessly. Still, I could have done without the drama.