The coolest place in Chicago this steamy evening should be U.S. Cellular Field, where the Big Breeze, White Sox designated misser Adam Dunn, faces the reigning American League Cy Young champ, Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. Both players lead the AL in strikeouts: Hernandez has fanned 92 and Dunn has been fanned 80 times.
Hernandez brings the heat: he throws in the mid-90s, which will be just a bit higher than the thermometer at game time. He can sink his fastball, and he also has an abrupt curve, a change that’s more deceitful than a Brooklyn congressman, and precise control, and he hides his pitches with a twisting motion. But Dunn has a vast, refreshing swing.
The Big Breeze will probably look like he’s trying to swat a mosquito with a surfboard, but who knows? Maybe he’ll run into a Hernandez heater and turn his season and the weather around. And if he doesn’t, there will at least be those pleasant gusts. Seems like there’s no way to lose, so I’m heading to the park tonight, and will give you the blow-by-blow tomorrow morning.