--RHP Jose Contreras will be the No. 4 starter, and RHP Bartolo Colon is now scheduled to start on Saturday in the No. 5 spot. Manager Ozzie Guillen made that official before the Sox took the field for their opener against Kansas City. "It was just better that way, with (LHP Mark) Buehrle behind Colon and (LHP John) Danks in front of Contreras," Guillen said of the decision. "I said earlier, I don't care who pitches in the No. 4 and 5, as long as they're there, that's all I care about." Contreras and Colon were the talk of spring camp, both returning from injuries earlier than expected. Contreras had a ruptured left Achilles suffered last August, while Colon had an offseason cleanup surgery on his elbow.
--Manager Ozzie Guillen has been touting the balance of this year's team since midway through spring camp, and he let it be known that he plans to be more aggressive with the 2009 version of the White Sox than he was last season. "No doubt, I got more tools on the field," Guillen said. "When you got (Dewayne) Wise, (Chris) Getz, (Carlos) Quentin, and then go to A.J. (Pierzynski), (Josh) Fields and (Alexei) Ramirez, you got more ability to do more stuff. I don't have to wait for (Paul) Konerko, (Jermaine) Dye, (Jim) Thome to get hot to score some runs. We can create some things and do a little more stufff, and I'm excited about it. --Hitting coach Greg Walker knows that there are numerous question marks surrounding the likes of youngsters Josh Fields and Chris Getz as well as starting CF Dewayne Wise, but Walker said those three showed last year and especially in spring camp that they could be better than people are expecting. "What I liked to see was not only did they win jobs, but they played at as high a level as anyone in camp," Walker said. "We're excited about them. We feel like what they do mechanically holds up and they are mentally strong kids, so they should be just fine."
--Manager Ozzie Guillen had a closed-door meeting with his players on Sunday, addressing several topics, including the fact that they may have bad weather to play through most of April, and they have to use that to their advantage. "I told the players if they want to play in nice weather, you better move to Miami or California," Guillen said. "When you sign a contract in Chicago, you always are going to have tough weather at the beginning of the season. We have to take advantage of that."
BY THE NUMBERS: .412 -- The batting average for opposing hitters the third time through the lineup for Clayton Richard in 2008. Hitters hit .226 the first time through, then .351 the second time.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Defense is my game. If we don't play defense, we won't go anywhere. Only one reason, defense makes good pitching. If you make those plays, they're going to be better. You give outs away, instead of 27 outs, you'll make 30 outs." -- Manager Ozzie Guillen on the importance of his young infield playing good defense this season.
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