Mark Buehrle was by no means awful in Tuesday's season opener against Kansas City, as the left-hander went five innings, allowing two runs and six hits. He struck out three and walked three. However, he wasn't the typically efficient Buehrle the White Sox had gotten used to.
Considering all the questions concerning his health throughout the spring, the club had a sit-down with Buehrle during camp in Phoenix. The White Sox want him to see that it might be time for him to change his offseason workout program -- or lack thereof. "Buehrle has never been Johnny-condition guy in the winter," pitching coach Don Cooper said. "But now he's getting older and he needs to do more. We talked to him about this. He needs to pay more of a price before spring training."
The lefty, who just turned 30, admitted that his offseason workout program isn't the toughest.
"I don't throw much in the offseason," Buehrle said. "I take off a lot in the offseason and use spring training to get ready."
As they did with closer Bobby Jenks a few winters ago, the Sox would like to see that change.
"When you go to spring and haven't used these muscles in a while, hell, you're going to be stiff," Cooper said. "The overall thing is we're looking to take care of Buehrle, starting last spring, monitoring things. I don't need to add another 30 innings in spring and 50 in the bullpen to go along with 200-plus for the regular season."
The one option that won't be explored is skipping Buehrle, or anyone in the rotation, to lighten their workload.
"I never like to do that," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I don't like to do that because then all of a sudden a lot of people suffer. I expect everybody on this ballclub ready to go, and we're going to use them the way we want to use them."
WHITE SOX 4, ROYALS 2: The White Sox trailed 2-1 and looked lifeless on offense for most of the day. But then they set the table for Jim Thome in the eighth inning, and his 400-foot shot over the wall in center field off Kyle Farnsworth put Chicago in front for the first and final time Tuesday in the season opener at U.S. Cellular Field.
Josh Fields started the rally in that eighth by laying down a perfectly placed bunt. "It was my call," Fields said. "I felt that was my best chance to get on base and get something going. I noticed Alex (Gordon) was backing up later in the count. I felt good with it as we were practicing in spring training, so I figured I might as well give it a shot."
However, Dewayne Wise failed to get two bunts down, eventually popping out to center field. Chris Getz's single on a hit-and-run put Fields at third, again giving the Sox a great opportunity. Carlos Quentin struck out, putting the rally in jeopardy. That is, until Thome delivered, giving Octavio Dotel the win in relief.
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