For White Sox, No Day at the Beach

The Chicago White Sox could have done better in the season opener Friday (April 6). When it comes to hitting home runs in openers, no one has done better the Sox deisgnated hitter Adam Dunn. His homer off Texas Rangers starter Colby Lewis in the sixth inning of a 3-2 loss at Texas was his eighth in an opener, tying Ken Griffey Jr. amd Frank Robinson for the all-time lead.

Because the Memphis Grizzlies ended the Miami Heat's home winning streak at 17 Friday, some of us thought this photo of a Heat dancer merited inclusion today.

The all-time leaders for home runs hit in season-opening contest:
8: Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Robinson.
7: Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.

“It would’ve been a lot sweeter if we’d pulled it out today and we could talk about the win instead of that,” said Dunn, who had 11 homers in 2011 when he batted .159 with 177 strikeouts in 415 at-bats. “When I stepped in, he was ready to go. Luckily I didn’t have time to think. If I had, I probably would have done something bad.”

Projecting numbers off his first game of 2012, Dunn will do better than he did last season. Then again, it would be difficult — if not almost impossible — to do worse than the 2011 version of Dunn.

“We figured we were probably going to lose a game this year,” manager Robin Ventura said after his big-league debut in that capacity. “So you don’t like losing, but we got some guys on late and just didn’t get them in.”

As long as we’re doing lists, here is one for the best-selling big-league jerseys for 2011. No White Sox or Chicago Cubs made the cut. New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was theleader for the second year in a row:

MLB MOST-POPULAR JERSEYS
1. Yankees SS Derek Jeter
2. Phillies P Cliff Lee
3. Angels 1B Albert Pujols
4. Rangers LF Josh Hamilton
5. Phillies P Roy Halladay
6. Giants P Tim Lincecum
7. Red Sox 2b Dustin Pedroia
8. Brewers LF Ryan Braun
9. Phillies RF Hunter Pence
10. Giants C Buster Posey
11. Phillies 2B Chase Utley
12. Twins C Joe Mauer
13. Tigers P Justin Verlander
14. Red Sox 1b Adrian Gonzalez
15. Yankees 3b Alex Rodriguez
16. Rangers 2B Ian Kinseler
17. Yankees 2b Robinson Cano
18. Yankees P Mariano Rivera
19. Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford
20. Cardinals 3b David Freese

Nothing to do with baseball, but some Hoters Girls followed an interesting path: snowboarding in Colorado:

OK, so for the season opener, it was no day at the beach for Sox fans. In keeping with that thinking (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), here is some video footage from an actual day at the beach — courtesy of West Coast correspondent Mark Harris.

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