The White Sox celebrate their opening day victory.

Opening Day in Major League Baseball always has the bells and whistles. Today the national anthem was sung by one of Chicago’s prominent media families, Phil Ponce and his sons Anthony and Dan. It was followed up by former White Sox and Royals outfielder Bo Jackson throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Afterwards Jackson jokingly told the media: “I’ll give you 100-1 odds that my team is gonna win today. You can quote me on that.” If anyone bet money on those odds they are probably a rich person now. Jackson played for the White Sox from 1991-1993 and won a division title with the franchise.

As for the game……

What happens when you get very little offense but a solid pitching effort? You get a White Sox victory. It wasn’t pretty, then again it never is when it comes to the South Siders. The Sox have always had a reputation for “Winning Ugly”, and today was no different. Despite the winter-esque weather today, 39,012 managed to show up to sellout U.S. Cellular Field.

The fans would go home happy thanks to a marvelous effort from starting pitcher Chris Sale. In 7.2 innings, he allowed 7 hits but no runs, no walks, and he had six strikeouts. He threw a total of 103 pitches, 72 of which were strikes. The White Sox bullpen held it down and did the rest.

Nate Jones was first in relief, he didn’t officially pitch an inning but he walked a batter and threw a wild pitch. Matt Thornton only faced one batter but did strike him out. Addison Reed got his first save of the 2013 season in one inning of play. He did walk a batter but did get a strikeout to end the game.

The only run of the day came in the bottom of the 5th inning thanks to a solo home run by White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers. The Sox did get eight hits today but stranded eight base runners. Alex Rios, Adam Dunn, and Paul Konerko finished a combined 2-11 with 3 strikeouts. Rios got the only two hits out of the three.

He also had the only stolen base of the day for the White Sox. Lead-off man Alejandro De Aza also had a rough day as he went 0-4 and struck out twice. Alexei Ramirez had two singles, Gordon Beckham, Jeff Keppinger, and Dayan Viciedo had combined for the rest of the teams hits.

It’s always good when your team gets the victory. I know it’s only the first day, but if the big bats in the White Sox lineup can’t get things going it will create some problems down the line. But for now, let’s enjoy this victory.

Both teams will get to rest tomorrow but the series does resume from U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday. The starting pitchers have yet to be announced. Here is the box score from today’s game:

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With today being April Fools Day, Mother Nature must be playing a joke on us because it is only 35 degrees here in Chicago today. 35 degrees is the minimum temperature that Major League Baseball allows games to be played in. So let’s just hope and pray that it doesn’t get any colder here at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox still have a bitter taste in their mouths after last season’s August/September collapse which ultimately cost them a trip to the playoffs. They hope not to make the same mistakes in 2013, but they will do it with some new additions to the roster. Kevin Youkilis is no longer the third baseman here on the South Side.

Long-time utility man Jeff Keppinger will man the hot corner this season, last year the right hander suited up for Tampa Bay. Also gone is fan favorite catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Of course A.J. wasn’t always a favorite with his teammates, but today is a new day. Tyler Flowers who spent years either as the backup or in AAA, will finally get his chance to be the full-time starter.

The biggest surprise is that Paul Konerko is still wearing a White Sox uniform. The only question is how much longer will be still be a good guy in black?

There are some other new faces as well, mostly younger players. But most of the core players from 2012 are still on the roster. Today they open the season against the Kansas City Royals. Even though the Royals finished in third place with a below .500 record last season, they gave the White Sox problems all year. They were also instrumental in keeping the Sox out of the postseason.

They come into this year with a blended mix of season veterans and hungry young players. Today everyone is 0-0 with a chance to start fresh and erase the bad memories of 2012. Robin Ventura is in his 2nd season as the White Sox manager. He is glad to finally come home to start the season after a lengthy winter in Arizona. If only the weather could reflect how he feels.

Kansas City is headed by Ned Yost who is in his fourth season as the Royals skipper. He is hoping to get his team above the .500 mark and to become a division contender. Today’s pitching match up will be interesting to say the least. The South Siders will send Chris Sale to the hill this afternoon.

Sale was one of the better pitchers on Robin Ventura’s staff last year. He finished the 2012 campaign with 17 wins, 8 losses, and an earned run average of 3.05. He also had 192 strikeouts to just 51 walks. If he can keep up that consistency this year, the Sox should be in good shape.

Kansas City will counter with 31-year-old right hander James Shields. This is his first year in a Royals uniform as he played in Tampa Bay from 2006-2012. Last year he sported a 15-10 record with a 3.52 ERA.

Here are the rest of the lineups for both teams.

Kansas City:

1. #4 Alex Gordon LF

2. #2 Alcides Escobar SS

3. #16 Billy Butler DH

4. #8 Mike Moustakas 3B

5. #13 Salvador Perez C

6. #35 Eric Hosmer 1B

7. #6 Lorenzo Cain CF

8. #21 Jeff Francoeur RF

9. #17 Chris Getz 2B {Former White Sox player}

White Sox:

1. #30 Alejandro De Aza CF

2. #7 Jeff Keppinger 3B

3. #51 Alex Rios RF

4. #32 Adam Dunn DH

5.#14 Paul Konerko 1B

6. #24 Dayan Viciedo LF

7. #10 Alexei Ramirez SS

8. #21 Tyler Flowers C

9.# 15 Gordon Beckham 2B

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