Dewayne Wise | The Baseball Zealot

We’ll Be Talking About This One

Dodgers Sox Spring Baseball WHITE SOX WIN 4-2 in METRODOME FINALE, coming back from two runs down, nobody on, two outs, two strikes, against Joe Nathan, Gordon Beckham HOMERS, Paul Konerko HOMERS, pinch runner Dewayne Wise (running for Jermaine Dye, who’d walked), SCORES after stealing second, on a shallow single to left by Alexei Ramirez, another run scores on a wild pitch, and Bobby Jenks gets them 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th to close out the Metrodome.

Found out, CLuke’s daughter was responsible for this win, playing “Don’t Stop Believin”, when Beckham was batting in the 9th. Buck also spit out a fantasy win from Brian Duensing, for the cause. And I have Joe Nathan on my WTLNXTYR fantasy squad, he spit out the save, enabling the comeback win.

We’ll be talking about this one, when the Sox win it all, with the greatest comeback in the game’s history!

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Perfect Buehrle Baffles the Rays

buehrle I was going to be in Chicago, that was the original plan, but decided to stay in Santa Barbara with my brother Todd, while he put a new roof on my brain injured friend Lee’s house. It was still before noon when I turned on the live scoring feature for my CBS Sportsline fantasy baseball team, WTLNXTYR, and noticed the White Sox were playing a 1:05 PM game, hosting the Rays, at the Cell. It all came back to me, I’d have been at this game, probably with Rob, as we feel like we’re getting away with something, going to a day game in the middle of the week. With me not working, I don’t know what I’m getting away with.

I was torn, sit in the sun by the pool, or watch Buehrle pitch against Tampa on TV at the bowling alley across the parking lot from my Motel6 room, they happen to have the MLB package there, good things seem to work out for good people. It took me about two minutes to decide to go watch the White Sox, in the time it took me to walk across the lot, a nothing to nothing game quickly became 4-0 on a big fly off the bat of Josh Fields with the bags juiced. Later in the game Scotty Pods ripped a leadoff double inside the firstbase line, Alexei Ramirez, hitting behind the runner also sent his double just inside the first base bag, into rightfield for an RBI double.

That was more than enough for Mark Buehrle, as he had it on cruise control, Tampa got NAHTING! Buehrle doesn’t overpower anybody, just keeps batters off balance by changing speeds, and setting up his cutter. He was masterful, a joy to watch, besides being a gem, it was also quick. There were a couple of close calls, but nothing which required a fielder to over extend himself, a line drive to third that Gordon Beckham snared, with his feet planted on the ground, then there was a screamer that the thirdbase umpire had to jump out of the way from, before deliberately & dramatically signalling, FOUL BALL!

Before I knew it, it was the top of the 9th inning, defensive specialist Dewayne Wise took over in centerfield. Gabe Kapler caught all of one and sent it over the centerfield wall to lead off the inning, only to have Wise get on his horse, in a full sprint, leap at the fence, bringing the baseball back, preserving the no-hitter and the Perfect Game. Everybody in the bar cheared, but I think I was the only one knowing what was going on. “Two outs to go!”, I exclaimed, urging Buehrle on, “Go to work, Mark, bring your lunch bucket with you”. Buerhle struckout the 26th batter he faced and got the final guy on a grounder to short.

I missed Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter, thrown in April 2007, when I went to Rose Angeli’s with my sister in law Lisa and a good friend named Debbie from Waupaca, they were both in to see a taping of the Oprah Show. I couldn’t have had a better seat for this one, if I’d been at the park, watching it brought tears to my eyes. And I have to give the homeplate umpire credit, he had the same strike zone all game long, no matter the count, no matter the situation.

Sox Waive Bye Bye to Jerry Owens

White Sox Royals Baseball The White Sox put a new spin on Abbott & Costello’s age old bit, by asking the question, “Who’s in Center?” The answer isn’t nearly as funny. Jerry Owens will be placed on waivers, “giving” the starting job to Dewayne Wise & Brian Anderson.

Brian Anderson took over the starting centerfield duties from Aaron Rowand in 2006, after Chicago won it all in 2005. While Anderson’s bat was nothing to write home about, his defense in CF certainly was fantastic. I still say, had Ozzie Guillen not played Rob Mackowik in CF in 2006, we would’ve made the playoffs with BA out there. We just missed the playoffs with a 90-72 mark. Still Brian, a righthanded hitter, batted only .225, with 23 doubles, one triple, & eight home runs in 365 at bats, while striking out 90 times. Last year Anderson showed more pop, with 13 doubles & 8 homers in only 181 at bats. His major league lifetime OBP is an anemic .277. He’s shown a decent bat in the minors, .293, 65 2Bs, 13 3Bs, 38 HRs, in 1,136 ABs, and he batted .366 as a Senior with the University of Arizona, but that was a long time ago.

Jerry Owens got his shot in 2007, which was a miserable year (72-90) on the Southside. Owens is a slap lefthanded hitter, who batted .267 with 32 stolen bases in only 93 big league games, but only nine doubles, two triples, & one homer (I think I was at that game). While his OBP was only .324, he could cover the ground in centerfield, but possessed a very poor throwing arm. For some reason, the Sox never seemed to like him, maybe it was because he returned from winter ball in the middle of a playoff fight, with Joey Cora as his manager. I guess, I was really pulling for Jerry, we really needed his speed in the leadoff slot. Jerry has a .291 minor league batting average, with 162 steals in 500 games, and a .359 OBP.

Then there’s Dewayne Wise. Wise is a 31 year old, lefthanded hitting, journeyman outfielder, that came through a few times last year in the clutch. Still he batted just .248, with six homers in 129 at bats, stealing nine bases, without being caught. Wise has 468 big league at bats spread out over six seasons, 19 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 15 HRs, 21/22 SBs, but only a .214 average, with a horrible OBP of only .254. His minor league OBP of .309 in 3,555 at bats, isn’t much better. And his defense is a step down from either Owens or Anderson. It worries me that he’ll get the lion’s share of playing time in the lefty/righty CF platoon.

Last year Owens was slated for the White Sox centerfield job, before he got injured, moving Nick Swisher from LF to CF, and Carlos Quentin from bench to LF. Yet I’m sure the Pale Hose would’ve realized the gem they had in Quentin, even if Jerry hadn’t gotten hurt. So I have all the confidence in the world this team will figure it out. Still it’s hard to imagine going into the season with Dewayne Wise as our starting centerfielder.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!