How many times have you heard a baseball manager say, “The game is about pitching and defense?. We all shake our head, while muttering under our breathe, “Yeah, right!.”

The Sox proved the truth in that statement win their 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in home opener for the South Siders. That’s the first win over the Tigers in their last 6 tries. Monkey, gone.

Dayan Viciedo made a possible game saving catch in the 7th inning. I have seen Viciedo play right all spring, and the first few games, and he doesn’t always look so comfortable. Today, he looked great!

Alexei Ramirez also made a spectacular play in the 8th, snaring a ball ticketed for center, flipping it to Gordon Beckham, who completed the double play.

It’s easy to take Ramirez for granted because he makes plays like that routinely, but he has an amazing glove at short.

And the pitching.

For the past 2 years, no one in Chicago has seen the real Jake Peavy. I’m talking about the guy that put fear in NL batters for so long. Injuries derailed the right hander since he was acquired in 2009.

All spring he said he felt as good as he has ever felt. The Tigers now agree with him, as they were held to one hit into the 7th inning. Peavy also struck out 8, including 5 of the first 7 batters. The skies the limit for the Sox if he continues to pitch like that.

The bullpen held it together until Hector Santiago closed shop for his 3rd save. Santiago doesn’t even looked fazed on the mound. He realizes this is the bigs, and not Charlotte? He looks like a 10 year veteran, and not a 10 day veteran.

Paul Konerko is leading the AL in batting, while AJ Pierzynski is one of the league leaders in triples–obviously, haha.

Maybe the only blemish today was the high strikeout total for Sox batters. 15 guys went back to the bench with the bat on their shoulder on Friday.

Adam Dunn picked up his first golden sombrero, while his pal, Gordon Beckham chipped in with the hat trick.

Those guys will hopefully get untracked–soon.

If the Sox keep pitching and playing defense like today, all will be well in one part of Chicago.