Class. Act. All the way.

I never knew that Tomko was an artist. Another plus for him. And seriously, Tomko wins any discussion of winners and losers. Remember who he's married to.

And it's a good thing A.J. offered that hundred to his teammates to hit homeruns, because, you know, they might not have had enough incentive to do it already. And it definitely signals to his new teammates what a supportive teammate he is.

And speaking of winners, I don't know if you've every seen Joe Borchard blow a hundred bucks, but he may not make it back to ST. That man knows how to enjoy a white wine spritzer.

I was able to catch it through the magic of Directv and the good folks at Comcast SportsNet Chicago (who knew?), and just the sight of A.J. leaning against the rail, watching the game, made me want to hurl. I'm not sure if a guy can show a bad attitude while watching a spring game from his dugout with shades on, but if he can...

Obviously the Sox guys haven't caught the 'tude yet, as Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson (and booth guest Frank Thomas) talked A.J. up as a gamer, a great acquisition, "he'll drive the other team crazy", blah, blah, blah.

A couple other thoughts on the game:

--I've never been a huge Todd Linden fan -- never really liked what I saw -- and I'd almost given up on him, but he's swinging the bat really well. He lined out on a drive to the track hitting RH, then smoked an opposite-field double hitting LH. His assist at the plate was impressive, too -- although it was Konerko, the slowest man alive, it was also a one-hop pea right to the plate.

--Ellison walked once and ran the count to 3-2 before singling another time, but I don't know if it was a good eye as much as it was wildness by the Chicago starter -- the walk was on four pitches to leadoff the game.

--I'm more sure everytime I see him that Brad Hennessey is just nothing special. He has one ML pitch -- a very good slider, which he can't consistently throw for strikes. None of his other pitches can get big leaguers out on a regular basis. Until he learns how to throw the slider right where he wants it, he won't stick in the majors. And even when he does, he'll be Turk Wendell or Larry Anderson.

--Alfonzo doesn't look that much thinner to tell you the truth, but the results seem to disagree: he made a great diving play in the hole, then got up and threw the guy out -- would've have come close last year -- and he hit a letter high fastball to the wall in center off Cliff Politte (who throws hard). Maybe it's switching to #12.

--I'm less impressed with David Aardsma everytime I see him. Next time I see him and he pitches poorly I will substract an "a" from his name.