Saturday, April 24, 2010

Comeback kid

Andruw Jones is not the same player who hit two homers in his first World Series appearance back in 1996 as a 19-year-old. He's been through a lot of ups and downs--and we're just talking about his weight--and turned 33 yesterday.

But, Jones continued what is looking more and more like the start of a comeback year by celebrating his birthday in a similar fashion to that long-ago WS appearance: Two homeruns, including the walk-off game-winner in a much-needed 7-6 win for the White Sox over Seattle.

Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin also broke out of mid-April swoons with homers of their own, and Gavin Floyd toughened up after a difficult start to keep the Sox ahead for much of this game. However, Floyd was done in by J.J. Putz, who relieved him with the bases loaded and promptly gave up a grand slam. The bats showed some late-inning life for once, though, and tied the game to set up Jones' bottom-ninth heroics.

Jones right now looks like a slightly younger version of Jermaine Dye. It's early, so who knows how long the comeback will last, but it's clear one of the team's least risky off-season moves is paying off.

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