I haven’t hid the fact that I am a Jake Peavy fan. It’s more for what he’s like off the field than his performance on the field. During spring, there is one player that I can guarantee will sign autographs every day–Peavy. There is one guy who have in depth conversations with fans about inane things–Peavy. By inane conversations I mean about his socks, country music, his bedtime, etc, etc, etc. The list really does goes on and on, but Peavy is always polite, and even seems interested about all the subjects I mentioned.

I interviewed Peavy, I believe, 18 times this spring. Add that times Tom shot video of him walking, tossing a ball in the air, standing, leaning, tying his show, yawning, shaking hands, throwing, jogging and stretching and the number moves close to 40. Each time we were around Peavy, he was always friendly. Never once did he wave us away (Frank Thomas), say he hated us (Jermaine Dye), or throw a mitt in my face (Juan Uribe). And believe me, Tom and I were always in his vicinity when he did something, anything, of note. He could have very easily told us to get away, or turned us in to the Sox brass, but he never did.

Andre Ethier of the Dodgers flipped the bird to the LA photographers who took his picture 15 times. Sorry, I’m sidetracked. Hey Andre, when you enter the photography field, talk, until then, concentrate on baseball. Only an unknowledgeable idiot would ask what’s the difference between the first photo and the 15th. 1 Photograph may be great in today’s lazy ass society, for guys like you, but for the men and women dedicated to their craft, sometimes it’s not the 1st, 15th, 56th or 100th photograph that works, it’s the 1000th. One story I remember is abouta a guy named Charles, who works with AP. One time in spring I pulled an Ethier, asking, “Why not just take one photograph and call it a day?” He laughed at my ignorance, finally saying that he’ll take over 5000 photographs. I didn’t understand until I picked up the USA today the following morning. There on the front page of the sports section was a picture of a batter, catcher, and a ball in flight. It was amazing! I asked Charles, who said, “That picture was one of the thousands he took the day before, but he’s looking for perfection, not just another picture”. I promise you that every amazing picture you see wasn’t the first one snapped.

Sorry, back on point.

Mid-spring it looked Peavy would start the season in the Sox rotation. Right about the end of March problems started happening and you could see the hurt and anger on Peavy’s face. No season opener, not even an April big league appearance. I was there at the end of spring, and Peavy faced the media every day, always forthcoming, always polite.

I was at the game last Wednesday in Peavy’s 1st appearance in almost a year. The results weren’t perfect, but he was on the mound, and that’s what counted.

I couldn’t imagine that in his next start he would completely baffle the 1st place Cleveland Indians. Peavy threw a complete game 3 hitter, in the process winning his first (home) game since June of last year. Yeah, Brent Lillibridge made a great play on Orlando Cabrera, but Peavy was in control all night.

One thing Peavy always talked about was his disappointment in not being able to show the Sox fans the type of pitcher he was before he was injured. If this is it, and mind you it’s just 1 start, than the Indians shouldn’t get to comfortable atop the division.

The Sox made Peavy sweat for the win on Wednesday. They gave Gavin Floyd a laugher the next night. The Sox won 8-2, and after taking an early 1-0 lead in the 1st, Cleveland never threatened.

I wonder how Alexei Ramirez is feeling? Cold night, 95mph fastball from Fausto Carmona off his hand. Ramirez stayed in the game, and played well, as usual, but I wonder how his hand feels today.

I hate this cliche, but the Sox really do have Carmona’s number. in two starts, Carmona’s ERA is 20.25. In 8 innings he has given up 18 earned runs.

Let’s hope Carlos Quentin is getting things turned around. The Sox right fielder hit his 9th home run last night, plus a single. That’s his first multi hit game since getting 3 against the Angels 10 days ago. Between this multi hit games, Quentin hit .076.

With all the struggles the Sox have had, they are only 8 games back of the Indians, and 5 games under .500. It hasn’t even gotten warm yet.

Interleague play starts tonight–Dodger, and former Cub, Ted Lilly against the rested Phil Humber.

Oh yeah, Chicago photographers, only 1 shot of Andre Ethier. That is more than enough.

Go Sox!!