Whew! Peavy off to solid start for Sox
TEMPE, Ariz. - Jake Peavy of the Chicago White Sox started where he left off July 6: pitching to the Angels.
In what can be classified as "unfinished business," Peavy walked off the mound Friday with his head high and his arm held straight, a startling difference from his departure last summer.
"I did what I expected to do, what I had hoped to do: get some big-league hitters out and feel normal about it," Peavy said after two tidy spring training innings. "I hope we put a lot of questions and issues to rest."
Last time he faced the Angels, he left with what turned out to be a completely detached "lat" muscle below his armpit and his pitching future in doubt. This time he left with his surgically screwed-on latissimus dorsi still in place and his immediate pitching future scheduled for Wednesday against the Giants.
"In our mind, he is in as our fifth starter," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "But we have Plan B just in case. We have to be 100 percent this kid is right."
Peavy, 29, would make his season debut April 6 against the Royals, the last game of the season-opening trip. Then he would pitch April 11 against the Athletics at U.S. Cellular Field. Or, because of days off, the fifth starter could be skipped those first two times.
"If Peavy is on the team," Guillen said, "he will be scheduled when he is [supposed] to pitch."
Originally, Peavy was told to expect recovery to take a year, but he started throwing in November and cranking it up in December, just for a moment like Friday's. "Wow, kind of amazing in a lot of ways," pitching coach Don Cooper said of the seven-month process. "But now we're up and running. We'll watch him like [we do] everyone else, but right now, everything is a go." - Chicago Tribune
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