Just in case there's anyone about: I'm listening to the game on mlb.com. Haren made his first start in a D-backs uniform and allowed one run on a total of five hits over two innings, though it doesn't seem many balls were hard-hit. However, Drew drove in Bonifacio with a sacrifice fly to level the game. Scherzer just replaced Haren and delivered a very nice 1-2-3 inning. Middle of the third, still 1-1.
Post-game update. Might as well convert this into the match report. The current headline at dbacks.com is "Haren looks sharp in loss to White Sox," though looking at the box-score, you might be forgive for wondering how five hits in two innings can be described that way. In his defense, he did strike out four Sox hitters, and there was about only one solidly-hit ball in his outing. He said afterwards, "I was throwing a lot of strikes, which was a goal of mine. I gave up a few hits, but that's part of spring training, figuring out how to get guys out with two strikes. Overall, I went out there and my arm feels great, which it doesn't always this early in spring training. It feels really loose and strong."
Scherzer following Haren up and allowed a long bomb in his first appearance facing major-leaguers. Max said, "I sat there last night thinking, Oh, here you are pitching to big league hitters.' But you know what? I've been to so many new teams over the years. This is just another new team." That was the only hit in his two innings - it was late on that things got ugly, with the White Sox scoring eight in the last three innings off our new arrivals. Qualls' second inning of work saw Chicago get two, while Gutierrez and Rosales were tattooed for three hits, a walks and three earned runs each. New closer Brandon Lyon was also hit hard, giving up four hits and two runs in his inning of work.
On the offense, Parra continues his hot hand, going 2-for-2 for the third consecutive day, and extending his hitting streak to six consecutive plate appearances. Emilio Bonifacio also had a great day at the plate, with three extra-base knocks. Stephen Drew made his first appearance of spring, having missed a few days for wisdom tooth extraction [SnakePit Jr. had the same thing a month or two back, so we can only sympathize with Drew] and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat. More bits and pieces from the game can be found in the comments.
Off to Tucson tomorrow: Micah Owings is going to be the D-backs designated hitter for the game, so that will be a lot of fun to watch. Melvin is also looking at hitting Owings up the order, especially in home games. The story says, "If they are on the road and he has to hit in the top of the first it might make him rush his warm-ups a bit or otherwise throw off his routine." If they're thinking there's much chance of him hitting in the first, then this would suggest he's significantly higher than ninth. We'll see what happens tomorrow, but I imagine eighth will likely be the limit.
Full report on that game to follow when I come back. Must remember to charge the camera! I believe the expected pitchers are Davis, Medders, Roemer, Green and Fruto. It's a split-squad game, with half the team going down to Hermosillo to play there. As a result, expect even us diehards to be playing "Who's on first?" for Arizona by the end of the day.