For Chris Getz it was a night of firsts and a night of lasts. Chris, pinch hitting for Alexei Ramirez, nailed a solid line drive to center off KC reliever Josh Newman. The ball was retrieved, thrown into the dugout, it will be given to Getz, and soon be displayed on his mantle, a base hit in his first big league at bat. Then Getz handled a grounder off the bat of Alex Gordon, threw a strike over to Paulie, and the ballgame was over.
The Grosse Point, Michigan native was drafted twice by the White Sox, once out of high school in 2002, and then out of Big Blue in 2005. At 6’0″ 165 the lefthanded hitting secondbaseman started off his collegiate career at Wake Forest where he batted .305, then transferred to Michigan where he hit .364 & .386 in two seasons with the Wolverines. I saw Getz play in spring training, he’s a scrapper, who does the little things needed to win ballgames. Chris is a slick fielder, who walks about as much as he strikes out, and he can steal a base. He doesn’t have much power, but had hit eleven home runs at the time of his callup. I know alot can happen between now and next future, but it looks as though Getz will be at secondbase, Ramirez at SS, 2008 first round draft choice Gordon Beckham will be at 3B, with Swisher over at first. I may be a little ahead of myself, but daydreaming can be fun.
Getting back to the subject at hand, which is last night’s game. Javier Vazquez stepped it up a notch, throwing eight shutout innings, before giving way to Adam Russell in the 9th. Vazquez was masterful throwing about 100 pitches, while totally dominating the Royals. Javier has the best stuff on the staff, but most of the time he doesn’t trust his ability and nibbles rather than challenging hitters. With Jose Contreras on the shelf for the rest of the year, somebody needs to step it up, and Vazquez is the logical choice.
While Vazquez was dealing, the Sox hitters were hitting. Jermaine Dye got it going in the first inning with a two run blast. Then A.J. Pierzysnski sent a solo shot to the opposite field, just clearing the leftfield fence. Nick Swisher absolutely crushed one, long gone, to right. Brian Bannister kept his team in the game, but got no relief from Kansas City’s bullpen who allowed the Sox to tack on five runs in the 8th, final score Good Guys nine, Royals zip.