FanofBill
05-18-2005, 12:49 PM
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB111642517144236912-3LlOG_SdEuOs8gNNyyV672zsTvQ_20060518,00.html?mod=t ff_main_tff_top
Chicago White Sox fans have said a lot of bad things about Jon Garland over the years: Surfer boy. Self-satisfied. Complacent. No heart.
Now, they're saying something quite different -- and a lot nicer. Mr. Garland, helped by an acerbic pep talk from catcher A. J. Pierzynski, beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2, to become the big leagues' first eight-game winner of 2005.
"Garland is as legitimate as his 8-0 record, as real as his 10-game winning streak over two seasons," Jay Mariotti writes (http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay18.html) in the Chicago Sun-Times. "If he always had natural ability, the wicked repertoire and the imposing 6-5 build, he now appears to have mastered the mental game. The All-Star Game is still seven weeks away, but barring a meltdown, you're looking at the AL starter."
Meanwhile, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark spotlights (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2058986) the much-improved White Sox rotation as the first of his unforeseen positives for 2005. "[F]or any rotation to be pitching this well would be major news," he writes. "For a rotation that returned four of five starters from the third-worst group in the league, it's the story of the season so far."
And it's provoked mutterings of skullduggery: Both the Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles have demanded the White Sox' mound be measured, suspecting that the Pale Hose have made a mountain out of a … well, you get the idea. (It's proved legal both times.)
Chicago White Sox fans have said a lot of bad things about Jon Garland over the years: Surfer boy. Self-satisfied. Complacent. No heart.
Now, they're saying something quite different -- and a lot nicer. Mr. Garland, helped by an acerbic pep talk from catcher A. J. Pierzynski, beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2, to become the big leagues' first eight-game winner of 2005.
"Garland is as legitimate as his 8-0 record, as real as his 10-game winning streak over two seasons," Jay Mariotti writes (http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay18.html) in the Chicago Sun-Times. "If he always had natural ability, the wicked repertoire and the imposing 6-5 build, he now appears to have mastered the mental game. The All-Star Game is still seven weeks away, but barring a meltdown, you're looking at the AL starter."
Meanwhile, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark spotlights (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2058986) the much-improved White Sox rotation as the first of his unforeseen positives for 2005. "[F]or any rotation to be pitching this well would be major news," he writes. "For a rotation that returned four of five starters from the third-worst group in the league, it's the story of the season so far."
And it's provoked mutterings of skullduggery: Both the Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles have demanded the White Sox' mound be measured, suspecting that the Pale Hose have made a mountain out of a … well, you get the idea. (It's proved legal both times.)