Friday: Happy birthday, Frank Thomas

The greatest player in White Sox history turns 43 today. And he's younger than Omar Vizquel.

Then again, while America's median age is getting older, it's still well below the age of Vizquel. So there are a lot of people younger than Omar Vizquel. But that's not what this is about.

Happy birthday, Frank Thomas. Three years and a couple of months from now, I hope I can find a way to make it to Cooperstown for the Big Hurt's induction into the Hall of Fame.

Hooray, Humber: Phil Humber hasn't regressed yet, and starts like last night are going to go a long way toward keeping him away from the regression monster. Humber threw 45 four-seam fastballs, 33 of which went for strikes. Against a Blue Jays lineup that consists of Yunel Escobar, Jose Bautista, J.P. Arencibia and a bunch of, for lack of a better word, crap, Humber made Toronto put the ball in play. Humber has walked just 13 in 60 innings pitched this season, and as long as he keeps his free passes to a minimum, whatever regression that does happen won't be severely damaging to his ERA.

I see no reason why the Sox need to get away from the six-man rotation at this point—taxing Jesse Crain/Matt Thornton/Sergio Santos at this point in the season is dangerous, but the starting pitching has been so good I'd rather see Will Ohman or Chris Sale get higher-leverage innings than Humber go to the bullpen. Further reading: Jim has a cromulent take on the matter over at South Side Sox.

Se7en: That's where Adam Dunn will hit in the White Sox's lineup Friday evening in Toronto. I have no idea at this point what will break Dunn out of his malaise. I'm all for a "throw ideas at a wall and see what sticks" strategy at this point, because Dunn looks awful right now. His at-bats last night reeked of a mental block—he's not swinging with conviction anymore. Hell, at least earlier, Dunn was striking out with some authority in his swing. Right now, he looks like Andy Gonzalez on a bad day.

Comments

[the_berger]

Despite being a die hard Phillies fan with Philly origins and an NYC mailing address, Frank Thomas is my all time favorite baseball player. He was in his prime when I was at my baseball card collecting peak. As far as I was concerned Ken Griffey, Jr. was second to the Big Hurt. I would go on road trips to Camden Yards just to get a chance to see him play. Great memories. Any chance Junior and Thomas hit the HOF on the same weekend? If so, I'm all over it.

I hope there are plenty of non-Philly kids out there that feel the same way about Ryan Howard.

Good luck with the site.

[JJ -- White Sox Beerleaguer]

That's always good to hear coming from a non-Sox fan. Thomas' last year was 2008 and Griffey's was 2010, so unless Thomas gets cheated out of a first-ballot induction it won't happen.

Thanks for the kind words, too.

[Monster LadyGaga]

have turbine,you will not Place it Reducing.