Dallas Keuchel declares it a very good day

Getting his first taste of true competition as a member of the White Sox, the southpaw sails through sharply

Oh, to wake up each day with the joie de vivre of Dallas Keuchel.

Through oppressive humidity, blinding sun, and — oh, yeah — the looming threat of a global pandemic always dancing on the periphery like a whacked-out fantasia of test swabs and masks, the Chicago White Sox southpaw just keeps on keeping on.

"Anytime I can get on a major-league mound and do what I love to do, it's great," Keuchel says. "When I woke up this morning, it was with an even better attitude that I’ve had the week and half we've been here so far."

Keuchel had a pretty perfect introductory outing in intrasquad play, suffering no damage, and leaving wanting more.

"I feel good. Today was another good step," he says. "I definitely could have gone a little bit more."

In this constricted Summer Camp, does an outing of 2 ⅓ innings, three Ks and no baserunners put him in line to be a viable force two weeks from now?

"If I can get to five innings with my final '2.0' start, that’s good," Keuchel predicts. "[If so] I’ll know I can go six or seven innings in my first start."

Keuchel had a little fun musing about the possibilities for games with no fans, being it music, piped-in crowd noise, or even the cardboard cutouts of fans that the White Sox announced they'd sold 1,500 in essentially a single day.

"I’d be willing to put up some money for some fans to get their faces in there," Keuchel says, without even considering up the $50 cost per face. "Obviously if I’m not pitching, I look up in the family section. You might actually perceive [cutouts] as people."

For the complete Dallas Keuchel media session, courtesy of the White Sox, watch below: