Sox @ Indians – Beginning of a New Sale

The White Sox roll into Cleveland today to take on an Indians team with a very familiar record of 1-2. The Indians route to one game under was a bit more tiresome than ours. Closing out games has been a problem and extra innings have become their norm. Opening Day the Indians and Blue Jays participated in the longest opener in history. Will those extra innings so soon in the season make for a weakened team?

Last year the season opened up at Progressive Field for the Sox and they made the most of it, putting on an offensive show and taking 2 out of 3 against the tribe. This year optimism isn’t as high upon arrival as last, but this is a good opportunity to have some bats break out as the southsiders will take on a back end of the rotation that isn’t necessarily scaring anybody just yet.

Tonight the not yet rotation proven Chris Sale will go up against right-hander Josh Tomlin. The rest of tonight’s lineup:

De Aza – CF
Morel – 3B
Dunn – 1B
Paulie – DH
AJ – C
Rios – RF
Alexei – SS
Viciedo – LF
Gordo – 2B

Adam Dunn’s 0fer yesterday allows a superstitious opening to get him some time in the field and give Paul Konerko half a day off.

I’ve got a good feeling about the offense in this one. The weather is supposed to drop a bit in Cleveland but so long as this one isn’t a marathon they should get this one in while it’s still borderline baseball weather. Though if Cleveland’s last few games are any indication, we might be looking at some extra chilly frames.

The big deal, of course, is Chris Sale making his first Major League start. He looked good throughout spring and he is a key to a successful White Sox season. Without putting too much stock into a single game, tonight can tell us a lot.

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