Spring is almost here-though you wouldn’t know if you’re a Chicago resident-and that means it’s time for meaningless baseball games held thousands of miles away. The Cubs and White Sox kicked off their first week of Cactus League play by combining for six losses. Fortunately, the two teams faced off Sunday at HoHoKamPark in Mesa, Ariz., ensuring that one Chicago team would finally come away with a win.
In this showdown in the desert, the Sox played the Road Runner to the Cubs’ Wile E. Coyote. The Sox raced out to an early 5-0 lead by the top of the fourth thanks to homers from Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye and Rob Mackowiak and strong pitching from Jon Garland.
The Cubs narrowed the Sox’ lead to 6-2 by the bottom of the sixth, but the South Siders just turned around, stuck their tongues out, said “Meep-meep!” and left the Cubs in the dust. The Sox offense cranked out seven runs in the final three innings, giving the team a 13-2 barnburner of a victory. The Cubs have a shot at revenge on March 16, when the teams meet again at the Sox’ camp in Tucson.
After the game, Sox backstop A.J. Pierzynski said a few of the players were going to drive south of the border to celebrate the win by “setting off some big-ass fireworks and trying to get that kid [pitcher Andrew] Sisco some action.”
Number of the Day: 15
Runs the Cubs have scored so far in Spring Training play.
