Game 14: White Sox at Twins

Time: 7:10 Central

Weather: Temp at scheduled start time 53°, extremely high chance of Sky Water (but diminishing as the night goes on)

Opponent’s SB site: South Side Sox

TV: BS North. Radio: Post-postgame sound is much more jarring on 102.9 than 830

Young White Sox starter Michael Kopech somehow flew under my radar of “who?” despite pitching in 44 games for Chicago last year; perhaps because he only started three of them. Kopech made his cup-of-coffee MLB debut in 2018, then missed 2019 with the dreaded Tommy John. He sat out 2020 over COVID concerns, then played last season (one would presume after getting his shots). He throws a very nasty 97-MPH fastball and effective 83-ish slider, mixing in a curve for speed variance. Digits:

Kopech was also married to a former teen TV actress but, alas, True Love only lasted six months. You’re both young, you two. You’ll find that One Soul Mate.

(If the game is delayed, enjoy this fantastic scientific breakdown of “one soul mate” odds by Randall Munroe, artist/author of xkcd, aka, a national treasure.)

More interesting than the marital vicissitudes of semi-famous people is this article by Paul Casella of mlb.com, about a new wave of women becoming official scorers at MLB stadiums (including Sarah Johnson at Target Field). It seems to be a goal MLB specifically intended to work on (via something called the Official Scorers University, which has male students, too, and probably isn’t an actual “university.”)

As far as inclusivity goes, this doesn’t rank with hiring more women (and more non-honkies!) in front offices and on coaching staffs, but it’s a good step, anyways. Scorers may not affect the outcome of a game, yet they certainly affect how fans appreciate the game — not to mention the permanent statistics which affect future contracts. Many scorers stay in the job for decades.

Part of the training (all the candidates had previous non-MLB experience, Johnson with the Gophers and Saints) involved a live Zoom session with Stew Thornley. Thornley’s been the Twins’ home scorer since approximately 500 BCE, and he’s a prolific author on Minnesota baseball history.

So good on Stew for helping open up baseball’s Old Boys’ Club.

And enjoy the game if it doesn’t rain, folks! Enjoy life-giving water if it does! Especially the non-frozen kind! (It is Earth Day, after all.)