Jon Garland - first pitcher this year to 5 wins (5-0), second straight shutout (first time for a White Sox pitcher since Jack McDowell in 1991), 23 consecutive scoreless innings. WHO IS THIS GUY?
It was too cold to watch from our seats (47 degrees, winds 16mph), so we spent the game on the glass in the Stadium Club.
The team held a lead for the 25th straight game to begin the season, tying a Major League record set by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. Oh, and in those 25 games, the Sox have had 12 batters hit by pitches (some of the batters still haven't returned to the lineup because of their injuries), 8 times in the last 9 games, 4 times in just the last 3 games. Wilfredo Ledezma (1-2) hit Paul Konerko in the third, so Jon Garland threw behind Rondell White's head in the forth, and both benches emptied, but nothing eventually happened.
Now, I have to tell you, I missed a few innings of the game. I went downstairs to grab a bottle of water and see how bad it was downstairs. I walked off the Stadium Club elevator and walked up to the doors to walk out onto the main stadium concourse. They are glass doors with a large "button" the width of the door and about 6 inches wide that you push like a crash-bar to open the door. Instead, I mashed the button...
... but my right index finger had found out that the plastic end cap that covers the end of this large "button" was missing, so my finger slid inside this thing just as I mashed it open...
After hitting the door with my head, sending my White Sox cap flying, I screamed in pain and pulled my finger out of the now open door mechanism. I was in excruciating pain... but there wasn't any blood. I had just slammed the finger tip pretty bad. So, instead of a quick trip for a bottle of water, I went to the First Aid station under the stands to get a bag of ice and just have it checked-out to make sure I didn't do anything really bad. The fingernail is all purple and is real sensitive to the touch, not helped at all by the bag of ice (except to keep down the swelling).
But, the boys won the game and are now 18-7, still the best record in all of baseball.
I don't know how long this will last, but I'm enjoying every minute of it while I can!
(Boxscore)
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