Monday, April 22, 2013

Notes from the weekend

Adam Dunn has the kind of build that
made this White Sox uniform notorious in
the late 1970s and early '80s.
Probably no major league team has changed its uniform look more often than the Chicago White Sox. I make that statement even though they've stuck with their current black-and-white motif for more than two decades and figure to stick with it for another two. It's a good one.

The current uni has lasted long enough to feed nostalgia for some of the older unis, and the Sox have taken to breaking out throwbacks for their home Sunday games. This year's Sunday unis are the vertical pullovers most associated with the big bellies of such South Side stalwarts as Greg Luzinski and LaMar Hoyt.

Also some trimmer athletes — Harold Baines, for one — but the primary drawback to the vertical look was the way it emphasized the extra poundage carried by several of the players.

It was a unique look — nothing like then or since — and, quite frankly, I prefer it to the dark blue "alternative" jerseys the Twins have turned into their de facto standard jerseys.

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Miguel Sano, the Twins mega-prospect playing for the Fort Myers Miracle in the high-A Florida State League, had a bit of an adventure Sunday. First he had to dodge a fastball thrown at his noggin; then he homered (same at-bat); then he got ejected for taunting the Palm Beach dugout.

The details as the story reached Minnesota came from people connected to the Miracle, and the view from the opposing side may be different. My take on it is that it's not only the players in high-A who have things to work on before they deserve to reach the majors, it's the umpires too — and this incident was probably mishandled. (Both managers were eventually ejected from the game, Doug Mientkiewicz during the Sano brohaha and Johnny Rodriguez in the ninth for arguing balls and strikes).

I will also note that Palm Beach is a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate, and extrapolate from that, perhaps unfairly, that Tony LaRussa's belligerent bully mindset has permeated the Cardinals farm system.

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When the schedule came out I had my doubts about the wisdom of having the Miami Marlins come here in April and the Twins go to Miami in late June. Sure enough, the forecast for today is crappy. And, of course, it's the Marlins' only trip to Minnesota.

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