Facing Heat

Monday, February 27, 2012

Poor Tyler Kuhn, today could not have been the best of days for the infielder.  Kuhn, a left-handed hitter from Lexington, Ken. who split 2011 between Class AA Birmingham and Class AAA Charlotte, certainly drew the short straw on Monday as pitchers faced live hitters for the very first time.  Among Kuhn’s draw?  Left-handers John Danks, Hector Santiago, Will Ohman and  … Chris Sale (yikes!).

“Guys were flinching behind the screen, let alone in the box,” laughed White Sox manager Robin Ventura after seeing Sale face a hitter for the first time.  The first-year manager enjoyed watching Gavin Floyd throw as well.

“It was great. Going around seeing the pitchers throwing to hitters, not that they were really aggressive,” he said.  “But it’s good to see Gavin, he looked great to me, great changeup and curveball. It’s good to see a guy [hitter] flinch at a curveball, makes you realize how good it is. He’s fun to watch.”

All in good fun, Danks ribbed Gordon Beckham as the second baseman somehow missed facing JD.

“Where were you hiding?” Danks challenged.  “You afraid?”

Cuban Flavor

 Both Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo were in camp today and took part in drills.

Golf In The Kingdom

 (Which is a great book, by the way)

Several White Sox foursomes took advantage of Sunday’s short day to sneak in a round of golf at nearby Wigwam Resort.  Darkness halted the festivities – some would say mercifully – but not before the author dropped two dollars (big stakes) to a certain No. 23 (I know that is his number in part because his fancy Vokey wedge says RV 23 in orange lettering on it).

Let’s just say Mr. Ventura swings a golf club like he swung a bat, smoothly, effortlessly and with killer results.

Night Before

With the full squad reporting for physicals and first workout tomorrow, Ventura received several questions today about his full-team speech before Tuesday’s workout.

Have you finished your speech for tomorrow yet?

“I’m topping it off. I’ve got most of the points there. It’s one of those where you kind of go over it and over it, but it’s pretty streamlined right now. I’ve had a lot of time to go over stuff. It won’t be a very long one – it won’t be a good 45 minutes – but it will be long enough.”

Will there be a teleprompter?

“There will not be a teleprompter, no.”

Note cards?

“Well there’s a lot of stuff to go over, introducing staff and everything else. I just have to make sure I get everything we have to get.”