The original gameday link I had for last night's 6-5 Cubs win over the White Sox had the Cubs listed as the home team, so that's how I listed it in the game preview.
So, I was surprised when the Cubs came up to bat first. (According to this link for Gameday today, the Cubs will again serve as the "visiting" team this afternoon in Las Vegas.)
No matter. Cubs pitchers didn't allow a hit for the first five innings, but that didn't stop the White Sox from scoring a run off Tom Gorzelanny, who walked the bases loaded and then wild-pitched a run in. He wound up striking out the side in that second inning and his other two innings were decent enough. Still, neither he nor Jeff Samardzija has been impressive in their attempts to make the starting rotation.
Omar Vizquel, who has been around so long that one of his teammates his rookie year was Jeffrey Leonard, who made his major league debut in 1977, broke up the no-hitter in the sixth with a single off Jay Jackson, who got hit pretty hard and allowed three runs. The Cubs got those runs right back in the top of the seventh off Jhonny Nunez. Then Ryan Braun came in to put out the Cubs rally. No, not "that" Ryan Braun -- this Ryan Braun, who threw some relief innings for the Royals in 2006 and 2007 and who is trying to make the White Sox as a non-roster invitee.
Offensively, the Cubs put on a pretty good show, with 11 hits and seven walks. Mike Fontenot had three of them and Geovany Soto (now hitting .600) had two. Josh Vitters hit a triple and Ryan Theriot was 1-for-2, bumping his spring average to .667.
Theriot also stole two bases off Sox catcher-in-waiting Tyler Flowers and helped Len Kasper out on the pregame show. If you're outside the Chicago area and couldn't watch the game, Bob Brenly was not there due to recovery from knee surgery, so Len did the game solo with some help from various people. Theriot did a decent job talking with Len about the team on the pregame. Some guy whose name I forget from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority did some marketing for Vegas for about an inning, and then the Tribune's Dave van Dyck spent some time in the booth.
And one final question. New White Sox outfielder Juan Pierre has worn #9 his entire career. He's wearing #1 for the White Sox -- #9 is retired for Minnie Minoso. Isn't it a White Sox tradition this year to unretire numbers? Why didn't they ask Minnie? He's still around -- in fact, he lives within walking distance of Wrigley Field.
Just askin'.