The White Sox News

The White Sox splurged during the offseason in an attempt to win the AL Central after finishing second to Minnesota in 2010, and the club's $125 million payroll looks like money well spent — so far. Chicago signed Dunn to a four-year, $56 million contract and re-signed popular captain Paul Konerko to a three-year, $37.5 million deal.

"This is just the first game. I assume we're going to do this all the time, right," Dunn joked.

Adam Dunn had an Adam Chance to positively acquaint himself with White Sox fans when he came to the plate in the first inning. Juan Pierre and Gordon Beckham set the stage with a single and a double off Fausto Carmona, but Dunn fell flat, half-swinging and missing at a fastball  on the outside corner. Paul Konerko picked him up with an opposite-field single one batter later.

Dunn would need no such assistance in his second trip. After Beckham led off with a single in the third, Dunn launched his first American League home run to double the White Sox's lead. Carlos Quentin would double up on two-run homers before the inning was over.

Throw in a two-run double that knocked Fausto Carmona out of the game one inning later, and Dunn's debut was a dandy. He went 2-for-4 with four RBI as part of an 18-hit assault en route to an 15-10 victory on Opening Day.

Quentin matched him again in that fourth inning, smoking a two-run double off the wall as the Sox scored eight runs in the fourth. Quentin grabbed the game lead in RBI in the process with five, and the Sox led 14-0. Mark Buehrle and his comfortable pitch count had a very comfortable lead.

Perhaps everybody was a little too comfortable.

Star-divide

First, Ozzie Guillen lifted many of his starters after the top of the sixth, which Buehrle took as a signal to engage strike-throwing mode. The Indians took advantage, touching him up for four runs on five straight hits over just 10 pitches.

And once the Indians got a taste of hitting, they didn't want to stop. They lit up Will Ohman for two homers (one a lefty), as the LOOGY couldn't get through a full inning in his White Sox debut. A Lastings Milledge non-error error (dropped a "double" he should've had) extended an inning, leading to two more runs to make it interesting.

Even Jesse Crain had to work way too hard, needing 34 pitches to survive the ninth. He struck out Jack Hannahan with two runners on to end the game.

Had Hannahan singled, Matt Thornton was ready in the bullpen. In one form or another, Guillen
used up five-sixths of his relief corps when his team had a 14-0 lead.

Dunn homered and had four RBIs in his debut for Chicago, and Carlos Quentin homered and drove in five as the go-for-broke White Sox built a huge lead and held off Cleveland's scrappy comeback, beating the Indians 15-10 in their season opener Friday.

Dunn's third-inning homer got the White Sox started and gave the slugger seven homers on opening day, tying him with Hall of Famers Ruth, Willie Mays and Eddie Mathews and one back of the major league record shared by Frank Robinson and his former Reds teammate Ken Griffey Jr.

"I don't care how I look in March," said Dunn, who struck out 27 times in 67 at-bats this spring in Arizona. "I don't care how it is in February or January. I just wanted to be ready for today, and I feel like I'm ready for the season."

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