RBI (82) A rebounding Cy Young winner...

One of the more interesting story lines in the 2012 season is the Chicago White Sox. With long time manager and team legend Ozzie Guillen finally departing from the franchise, rookie manager Robin Ventura was questioned as to if he could fill Ozzie's large shoes. One of the things he's done is steer the club to respectability and one key part is rebounding ace Jake Peavy.

Peavy was taken in the 15th round of the 1999 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, but flew through the system to make his MLB debut in 2002. He built himself into the team ace and eventually climbed his way to the top of the National League. In 2007 he had a banner year in which he won the pitching Triple Crown and NL Cy Young award. Eventually he was traded to the Chicago White Sox by the Padres for the top of their farm system and then moved to the Red Sox

After being traded to the White Sox, injury woes tore into Peavy's successful career with arm difficulties. The 2010 season was difficult for him and as he was trying to bounce back, he suffered a freak injury, detaching a lat muscle. 2011 was much of the same and he bounced between being ineffective and injured. So far in 2012 it seems as if Peavy has turned the corner and is once again in Cy Young form with his top stuff.

As a 3-time All-Star and Cy Young winner, Peavy has so far started 257 Games and compiled a 113-82 record with 1598 Strikeouts. His record has been supported by a 3.42 ERA, remarkable considering his past few injury plagued seasons. He has tossed 1600 innings, but only 11 Complete Games but 6 of which were Shut Outs.

I was able to get Jake Peavy's autograph in person by accident at Angel Stadium. I hadn't realized that Peavy was coming back into action when the White Sox were in town to play the Angels. He had made the road trip intending to make his comeback start from his detached lat muscle despite not being officially listed off the disabled list. I got Peavy's signature on this ticket after watching him throw a good looking bullpen session during the series. I'm glad to see Peavy's back in form and tossing 0's again.

RBI (78) A Don Among Coaches...

During the 2011 season I was able to get former pitcher and pitching coach Don Cooper to sign for me.

Cooper was drafted by the Yankees in the 17th round of the 1978 draft, but was stolen by the Twins during the 1980 Rule 5 draft. He debuted in 1981 with the Twins before being trade to Toronto in 1983 and then New York in 1985. Across 44 MLB games as a starter and reliever he was eventually done as a player with a 1-6 record and 5.27 ERA.

His pitching in the Majors may not have been amazing, but he has a great knowledge of the game itself. Like the old saying goes, "those who can't do, teach." And teach he does as the Chicago White Sox pitching coach since 2002. He was a member of the coaching staff when the team won the 2005 World Series. His pitching staffs have been impressive churning out consistent starters that are reliable though not many have reached the elite level.

One of the more impressive feats accomplished by the pitchers under Cooper's tutelage are the number of gems churned out. The staffs may not always shine but Cooper has helped turn out some diamonds in the history of the game. Since he was named pitching coach there have been 21 MLB no-hitters or perfect games, and Cooper has overseen 3 of them. Mark Buehrle tossed a perfect game and no-hitter while Philip Humber threw a perfect game. An especially impressive mark since there have been only 19 perfect games ever thrown in the MLB and Cooper coached 2 of them.

I was able to get Don Cooper's autograph on this 2011 Topps Heritage White Sox team card for me in person at Angel stadium when the team was in town during 2011 to play against the Angels.

RPS (2) Trinity Bat Home Run Challenge and Cory Hahn Benefit

This past Saturday January 21st, Trinity Bat Company took part in hosting a charity Home Run Challenge to help former Southern California prospect Cory Hahn's family after a tragic injury during his second collegiate game. Trinity Bat Co. combined with sponsors such as The Inland Empire 66'ers, the Rex Hudler Wonder Dog Show, Chick-fil-A, and to help raise awareness of Cory's unfortunate situation and of the great lengths he is going to stay positive and an inspiration to those in tragedy. Trinity has gone so far to offer a Hahn model bat with proceeds going to assist Cory's family with the rising costs of the tragedy.

The Home Run Challenge had categories for people of all ages, but the main show was the professional players who came out to support. The showing was actually pretty impressive with a large sized crowd coming to support the Hahn family. A ticket into the event actually got you a fair amount. You got 2 tickets for a raffle featuring items such as autographed bats, jerseys, balls, and even custom framed autographs. Chick-fil-A gave away coupons for free food, free sandwiches and sweet tea, and players were very friendly about signing autographs for those who asked.

Even though it was a little overcast in the morning, the sun came out and beside a light breeze it was a nice day out there to hit. Prospect Matt Hobgood of the Orioles took the first at bats for the pro's.

Matt was followed up by prospect Nick Ramirez.

Even though the show had been impressive to that point, it was time to "pop the chain" and YouTube sensation Domingo Ayala went up to the plate. It was pretty funny to watch him bat in person and watch him actually crank one out.

After Domingo warmed up the home crowd, Angels catcher Hank Conger took to the plate to showcase some of the muscle we'll hopefully see this coming season.

Trace Thompson of the White Sox system was next up.

Aaron Northcraft a prospect from the Braves also took up a bat.

Padres prospect Austin Hedges was the final participant before they cycled through to hit again. 

The show was so entertaining that former Angel player/broadcaster Rex Hudler couldn't resist popping on the announcement system for a  few high energy words. 

He was so energetic that the 66'ers mascot couldn't stop himself from going out into the outfield to try and shag a few flyballs too.

Part of the draw was from Conger announcing he was going to be hitting bombs and the 2011 Angel contender for Rookie of the Year Mark Trumbo announcing he would also be in attendance to sign autographs though he couldn't hit due to injury. Mark sat down to sign an item for each fan that stood in line, taking his time to give an actually very nice signature.

There was also a surprise guest who appeared to watch the festivities and show his support.  The Pittsburgh Pirates choice with 1st pick of the 2011 MLB draft, Gerrit Cole.

 It was a very nice event, and I'm glad there was such a strong showing for the Hahn's. Definitely worth making the trip out there and see the prospects, and more importantly the community of regular autograph collectors from Angel stadium. A great day that made me anxious for the coming season. To read about the 2nd Annual Trinity Bat Company Home Run Derby and Cory Hahn benefit you can read it here.

If you're a social networker and want to follow some more baseball players twitters, you can find:

Mark Trumbo's  twitter @mtrumbo44 

Hank Conger's twitter is @hankconger16

Nick Ramirez's twitter is @nickramirez3314

Matt Hobgood's twitter is @matt_hobgood48

RBI (20) Sometimes TTM is like climbing a hill...

And this time I was able to make it to the top. Former catcher Mr. Marc Hill was nice enough to make a quick TTM return to me and shed a little bit of light about his career in the Majors for me.

Marc Hill was able to play for four different teams from 1973 to 1986 as a backup catcher primarily for the White Sox and Giants. Through his 14 season career Hill was only a team's main catcher twice, for the San Francisco Giants playing a career high 108 and 117 games. Marc eventually end his career with a .223 average and 34 Home runs.

Hill would be a part of the 1983 "Winning Ugly" Chicago White Sox where then Manager Tony La Russa won his first Manager of the Year award for the scrappy club ending the season with a blistering 60-25 second half. The White Sox wouldn't be able to translate their second half success into October parades after being knocked out by the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS 3 games to 1.

Mr. Hill was nice enough to send this 1980 Topps card I got through the Diamond Giveaway back to me with a nice and clear autograph above the original on the card facade. It was cool to see decades later his signature even with a sharpie hasn't changed very much.

It was even nicer of him to respond to a few questions I included in the envelope I mailed him. When asked in my letter:

What did you see as the key to having so many years played at the Major League level?

Perhaps taking a page out his dad's professional playing career as a pitcher in the St. Louis Brown's organization in the 40's, Hill responded "Consistent and to enjoy the game the people you meet" 

What was the clubhouse like during the "Winning Ugly" 1983 White Sox season?

Considering his previous response and how was kind enough to share a few thoughts in the letter I think the response was pretty in character for Mr. Hill "Just having fun - Season went fast"

Who was your favorite pitcher to catch throughout your career?

Harking back to his White Sox days from 1981-1986, Hill picked a few of the pitchers he worked with. They just happen to both be pitchers who not only won their own Cy Young awards, but one is even in the Hall of Fame "Tom Seaver - LaMarr Hoyt"

What was your favorite city to play in as a visitor?

Considering he seems to be quite the standup guy Hill picked a city to match "Boston"

Mr. Hill responded to my letter after only 10 days to his home address. 

RBI (10) The Angels could knock these Sox off...

Or at least couldn't knock them off Chicago White Sox reliever Sergio Santos. As mentioned in Weekly Rundown 3- Angels Summary 5/9-5/15 the Angels lost on May 11th to the White Sox after Santos came in for 2 shut out innings in relief.

Santos was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a shortstop out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. He eventually worked his way up through the Diamondbacks' farm system upto Triple-A Tuscon. After reaching AAA ball in 2005 Santos stalled and was bounced around through trade and free agency before finally landing with the White Sox only to be shipped off again. However, only two weeks after being sent in a trade he was brought back to Chicago with the plan to be converted into a pitcher.

Throughout 2009 he pitched his way across the White Sox system and made the 2010 Opening Day roster as a reliever, winning the final bullpen spot in Spring Training. In 56 appearances he held batters to a .261 average and 2.96 ERA.

His 2011 campaign has built off his 2010 success and batters are only hitting at .161 clip with a 0.00 ERA in 15 games. Though not formally named the closer for the team manager Ozzie Guillen has used Santos effectively and he has collected 2 Wins and 5 Saves. If he continues to use his arsenal of off speed pitches with his 90's fastball Santos will continue to rack up the K's already having 22 against 9 Walks. So long as balls keep missing batters' bats Santos will prove to be an important part of the White Sox pen.

Sergio signed this White Sox team card after throwing a bullpen session at Angel Stadium before joining the other relievers in shagging flyballs during batting practice. It was really nice of him taking a minute to sign on his way out to join the other players even though the signature is a little tough to read since he signed in the black of the card with my sharpie.  At first I thought he wrote two numbers but realized it's three "S"s for Sergio SantoS.

RBI (8) Plenty of action from a certain...

Edwin Jackson. Yup the Angels got a little too much action from Edwin Jackson last night. Jackson pitched 7 shut out innings giving up only 5 hits and a walk while punching out 5. The Angels went on to lose 8-0 with Ervin Santana and Trevor Bell getting shelled.

Jackson was was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2001 draft and has been consistently inconsistent throughout his career. His solid potential and promise has caused multiple teams to take a chance on him when he begins to slump causing him to have been traded from every team he's been on. The Dodgers sent him to the Tampa Bay Rays, Rays to Detroit Tigers, Tigers to Arizona Diamondbacks, and finally Diamondbacks to his current Chicago White Sox.

The various teams and leagues have had Jackson accumulate a 51-55 record, 4.60 ERA, with 692 career strikeouts.

In 2009 he was selected as an All-Star after a solid season in Detroit. After being shipped off to Arizona he went on to reach his career's biggest highlight so far, pitching the franchise's second no hitter against his former team the Rays on June 25, 2010.

2011 has been marked ups and downs for Jackson sitting at a 3-4 record with an 4.29 ERA. Despite racking up 39 Ks he has issued 19 Walks and batters are hitting .278 against him. In 8 starts he has been able to work his way out of jams giving up 3 or fewer runs 4 times but being shelled for 4, 6, and 7 runs in his other starts. Despite the flashy 39 strikeouts he racked up 13 against Tampa Bay and has only averaged about 4 strikeouts. He definitely has front of the rotation stuff, but allowing so many base runners will continue to cause him problems.

I pulled this Topps 2011 Heritage chrome out of a pack I got in one of the Topps 2011 Value packs. This is #1924/1962 and was a pretty cool pull. I'm definitely left wondering what he he's looking at.