Looking Back on Opening Day 2011

Because I’m a sick, sick child I decided that a fun way to pass the time between now and Spring Training would be to listen to all 162 White Sox games over again. I know I probably need to seek professional help but I’m going through withdrawal and I need this. And by “I need this” I mean “I need this”. 

It’s oddly perfect that Adam Dunn struck out in his first at-bat of his four-year contract with the Sox. He would drive in four and homer later in the game but I think the strikeout was kind of relaxing. If he had homered in his first at bat then Sox fans would’ve set the bar high for the rest of the year. His strikeout, to me, set the tone. “Alright, he’s human, maybe we hyped him too much.” Guess what? We hyped him too much. He wasn’t at all what we expected and, looking back, I’m alright with that. If he had gone crazy with 50 homers and 130 driven in then we would’ve been disappointed after that. It can only get better from where he left off.

Carlos Quentin was a good surprise on Opening Day. Five RBI on three hits was pretty good. CQ finished the season with 24 home runs and 77 batted in and with a batting average of .254. He’s currently being shopped around and hopefully a deal will come soon.

The high score (15-10) right out of the gate made it look like this Sox offense was going to be what carried us through the season. Cleveland fought back a couple times in the game but the Sox kept their cleats on the neck of the Tribe and came out with a win. If anything that score should’ve alerted fans to the fact that this pitching staff kinda sucks. I mean Phil Humber? The kid was our best pitcher for four months. That’s two thirds of the season. Sergio Santos and Jesse Crain were the only pitchers we could always count on out of the bullpen and even they weren’t that good.

This is a crazy project and I really should go sit down with a psychiatrist soon. Anybody know a good one in the Chicago area? Zambrano?

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