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From da Trib,

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- If the White Sox had a pitching staff made up of Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens, pitching coach Don Cooper admits it would be hard for him to make a decision on an opening day starter.

 

But left-hander Mark Buehrle and 21-game winner Esteban Loaiza have made things much easier for Cooper because neither one attaches too much significance to the assignment. But unless manager Ozzie Guillen has a change of heart, Cooper has decided.

 

"It looks like Buehrle is going to have the opening day in Kansas City and Loaiza will have the game in Kansas City after the off day," Cooper said Saturday.

 

It's a decision that keeps both players happy. Buehrle gets opening day, which also allows him to pitch against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Loaiza will get the second game against the Royals, which also allows him to start the home opener at U.S. Cellular Field.

 

Cooper says he noticed more and more Latino Sox fans coming out for Loaiza starts last season, and thought the home opener would be a nice reward for the veteran hurler, as well as a way to keep the interest of those fans.

 

"Each start, I would look out in the bullpen area and see more and more fans wearing sombreros and waving Mexican flags," Cooper said. "I got a kick out of that, and I know Esteban did, too. So why not?"

 

By giving a tentative plan this early, Cooper is also hoping to avoid the hectoring he and former manager Jerry Manuel faced last spring, when questions of who, Buehrle or Bartolo Colon, would start on opening day were asked on an almost daily basis.

 

"By the time the season started no one cared," Cooper said. "If it's not a big deal a month from now then it's not a big deal now."

 

Considering Loaiza finished second in the American League Cy Young Award race in 2003, Guillen thought it should be the veteran right-hander's call.

 

"I think Loaiza deserves to be a Number One guy because of what he did last year," Guillen said. "But we're going to talk to them and see what their opinion is. I have to tip my hat (to Loaiza) because he really earned it."

 

And Buehrle insisted he has no problem switching with Loaiza if there is a change of heart.

 

"If I start opening day then I get to start in New York, which I've never done, and if I start the second game then I start in the home opener," Buehrle added. "That's why I really don't care right now. I can start the fifth day and I wouldn't care."

 

Cooper hopes that it will become an issue for the Sox at some point this season. The fact is, when it does become an issue it means the Sox are in the postseason.

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It is really nice to see that the ego's on Mark and ELo are non-exsistant.  It makes me feel better about the pitchers in general.

I personally can't imagine either has that huge of an ego. To have an ego, you have to be a big-time dominant pitcher, and Buehrle really is not a dominant pitcher. And to get an ego, it has to build for years(see Mark Prior)...Esteban has had one great year and a bunch of other crappy years.

 

Not only that, but both seem to be level-headed guys. One wouldn't think they'd get too full of themselves.

 

I do like seeing it though. It seems to me the team with the fewest egos is the team with the best attitude and the team with the best attitude is the team that plays best most like a team, and they say that baseball is a team game. Let's hope I'm right. :)

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I like the fact we are throwing Mark opening day because despite the fact that Loaiza was great last year, I still think Mark is going to have to be our ace if we hope to win the division this year. Also glad to see Esty will get to start the home opener, he definitely deserves the first chance to pitch in front of the home crowd this year.

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I like the fact we are throwing Mark opening day because despite the fact that Loaiza was great last year, I still think Mark is going to have to be our ace if we hope to win the division this year.  Also glad to see Esty will get to start the home opener, he definitely deserves the first chance to pitch in front of the home crowd this year.

I absolutely cannot wait for opening day, will be awesome. Chants of "OZZIE, OZZIE, OZZIE" ahhh......beautiful.

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The rules didn't change. The manager did.

 

I think Ozzie is a "player's manager" who will bust his players' asses, but will understand them and relate to them. Jerry Manuel was ... was ... well, hell, I don't know what he was - besides a walking corpse who needed a formaldehyde transfusion every 2 weeks.

 

:lolhitting

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I don't quite see how this sequence is going to work.

 

4/5 vs. KC: Buehrle

4/6 OFF

4/7 vs. KC: Loaiza

4/8 vs. NYY: Garland?

4/9 vs. NYY: Schoenweis?

4/10 vs. NYY: Buehrle

4/11 vs. NYY: Who?

4/12 OFF

4/13 Loaiza

 

Who will pitch on the 11th?

The only way it works is if we use a fifth starter in Yankee Stadium. :puke

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