Team Effort Downs Detroit

On a picture perfect day on the South Side of Chicago, the White Sox opened the home portion of their schedule against the defending AL Central Champion, Detroit Tigers. Jake Peavy was locked in a pitchers duel with the Tigers' Matt Scherzer for the first scoreless four frames.

Peavy struck out the first two Tiger hitters to start the game but Miguel Cabrera decided to slow things down a bit. Cabrera took offense to the batters box and caused a 10 minute delay while head groundskeeper Roger Bossard and his crew had to make a pretty new box for Cabrera. After all that, Cabrera popped out to end the inning. Maybe Miguel just needed to sneak a drink...

Dayan Viciedo got the scoring going with a solo home run in the 5th inning. The Sox then tacked on two more in the 6th on  a Paul Konerko RBI single. Paulie then gassed himself scoring from first on A.J. Pierzysnki's triple into the right field corner.

Jake's day was done after he gave up a two-run home run to Delmon Young in the 7th. Peavy pitched 6 2/3 innings only giving up two hits, two runs, and fanning eight Tiger hitters. He walked off the mound to a rousing ovation from the sell out crowed at The Cell.

The bullpen, who has been stellar so far, should be thanking the defense for bailing them out of some jams. The highlight reel play came in the 8th inning. The Sox were up 3-2 with the Tigers threatening with runners on the corners and one out with Miguel Cabrera at the plate. Cabrera shot a ball up the middle that Alexei Ramirez was able to dive and flip with his glove to Gordon Beckham who made a quick throw to first to end the inning.

From there, the Sox added two more runs in the 8th and Hector Santiago closed the door to preserve the 5-2 home opener win.

There were some negatives on and off the field. First, the Sox struck out fifteen times at the plate! Seven of those strikeouts came from Adam Dunn and Gordon Beckham.

The Sox still haven't figured out how to move large crowds into the stadium. The line outside gate 5 was something out of a security check line at an airport with the lines of fans reaching back into the parking lot. Also, as I mentioned the other day, the Sox sold standing room tickets which made moving around in the outfield concourse nearly impossible.

Shit show in the outfield.

But none of those minor issues should take away from a great opener and Sox win. Gavin Floyd throws against the Tigers Saturday for the mid-afternoon start. Hopefully the rain holds off and our Sox can keep things entertaining in his early 2012 season.