Jim Thome

p;In addition to cleanup man Albert Belle, the Cleveland lineup featured the likes of Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and then-future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.  Meanwhile, Braves hitters were only able to put a single run on the board in the bottom of the sixth, leaving Glavine with no margin for error.  Among his lesser-known achievements, Glavine allowed just one grand slam in 682 games – all starts – over his 22-year major league career.  Finally, at the time of his retirement, he was second only to Omar Vizquel in sacrifice bunts among active players, with 216.  (The next-closest – pitcher or position player – is longtime teammate John Smoltz, with 136.)

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p Series, fans of both teams saw familiar faces wearing the opponent’s uniform.  Dodgers Jim Thome, Vicente Padilla, and Randy Wolf used to play their home games in the City of Brotherly Love, while Phillies Jayson Werth, Pedro Martinez, Chan Ho Park, and Paul Bako once upon a time bled Dodger Blue.

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, where he's still adequate and no worse than Nick Swisher, but Junior's most valuable as a DH, and Jim Thome has been one of the few players to start cold and then get hot again. With both being lefties, it doesn't make sense to platoon them, either. And so there will be a rotation of sorts among Griff, Thome, Konerko and Swisher at first, DH and outfield.

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a should help improve the offense, the White Sox face the bigger problem that they are getting old. Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko, their three main run producers will be 38, 34 and 32 this season and there is plenty of question on whether Thome’s and Dye’s bodies can hold up. After Mark Buehrle, the pitching staff is full of questions marks and the front office made no move it in the off season. In fact, it was weakened by the loss of Jon Garland in the trade for Cabrera. Without pitching help and the big hitters proving that they aren’t wearing down, energy is not going to be enough for the White Sox in 2008.

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