Sox sweep Royals, choose SS Beckham

I never read South Side Sox before this season started. I love Blog-a-Bull, but never realized how great its White Sox counterpart really was. With that said….the guys over there went CRAZY when the Sox passed on South Carolina first baseman Justin Smoak to take Geogia shortstop Gordon Beckham. From what I’ve read there and other places, I was hoping the pick would be Smoak. Apparently lots of fans of other teams wanted him too. But how can people be so pissed when no one has ever seen either guy play!? Gimme a break. Just for the record, here are the numbers:

Beckham at Shortstop: .397 / .505 / .781
Smoak at 1st Base: .383 / .505 / .757

Yeah, Beckham is hitting better. As a shortstop. He’s been compared to Kahlil Green. If he turns out to OPS over .750 and plays really good defense, then this is a hell of a pick by the Sox. A middle infielder with power? I’ll take that any day. Plus, he totally looks like one of the kids on Two-a-Days. Come on, this is guy could definitely be best friends with John Parker Wilson's little brother. I think Rush Probst would make him into a ball hawking free safety.

Anyways, Kenny has my trust. So Beckham is alright in my book.

**
This sweep was just gigantic by the Sox. On Sunday, things were starting to look grim. But they were in first place then, and they still are now. The Sox head into this series with the Twins with a 2.5 game lead in the Central. For whatever reason, I have a strange confidence in this club. I keep getting more optimistic by the day. Imagine what their record would be if Thome, Swisher, and Konerko weren’t all hitting under .210. Those guys are too good to do that poorly all season. Once they start hitting, the Sox can go on a major run.

And how much fun is it to watch Alexei Ramirez? I’m not even sure he’s particularly good (if I never would have read Moneyball, I’d be a lot more excited about his future), but he’s so much better/cooler than Uribe. This season is fun.

Quickly: how sweet would it be if the Sox won the World Series this year? This is THE CUBS YEAR. In every way. It just is. And Jeez, if the Sox win it all again…that would just be so awesome. Think pouring salt on an open wound (Cubs 100th year anniversary) only roughly 140x worse.