It isn't every day you see a pitcher who is currently on the disabled list get traded for four players. Give White Sox GM Kenny Williams high marks for courage after Friday's deal that brought former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to the South Side in exchange for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.
Peavy, 6-6 in 13 starts with the miserable San Diego Padres this year, hasn't pitched since June 13 due to a strained tendon in his right ankle. The Sox don't expect Peavy to pitch until late August, and it's anybody's guess whether they will still be in the AL Central race at that point. If they are, maybe Peavy helps them get over the hump in September.
Even if the Sox don't make the playoffs this year, this trade has a ton of upside for 2010. Can you imagine a healthy Peavy joining Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd and John Danks in the starting rotation? That would be a foursome formidable enough to compete with anybody in baseball.
But there are a couple risks here. First off, you wonder about Peavy's health. Secondly, he costs a lot of money. He's got three years and $56 million left on his contract, plus a 2013 club option for $22 million that carries a $4 million buyout. That's a ton of coin, especially for a budget-conscious team like the Sox. Will the Sox still have enough money left to address the glaring need in center field this offseason? Your guess is as good as mine.
Still, on the whole, I like the deal. I don't think the Sox gave up too much. I like Clayton Richard. I think he's going to be a good back-of-the-rotation starter, but back-of-the-rotation starters are hardly untouchable. Poreda, 22, has a lot of upside, but his offspeed pitches still need work if he's going to become big-league starter. Carter is a right-handed pitcher in A-ball who I don't know much about. Russell has had a couple chances with the Sox and has failed to take advantage.
Williams always has his hat in the ring. He's not afraid to go for it. That's probably what I like best about him. We probably won't know whether this is a good move until next year, but as a fan, you have to like it when your team goes out and adds an impact player.
I'm going to do something I rarely do on this blog -- defend the Boston Red Sox, a team I despise.
David Ortiz (left) and Manny Ramirez flunked steroids tests in 2003, and I was reading this morning where Bill Plaschke from the Los Angeles Times wrote, "With Thursday's news that both men flunked steroid tests in 2003, the 2004 and 2007 World Series championships won by the Boston Red Sox must be considered fraudulent."
Plaschke is taking it a little far with that statement. Ortiz and Ramirez deserve every ounce of criticism they receive, but I'm reluctant to discredit entire teams because certain individuals on those teams failed drug tests.
Let's take the 2004 Red Sox, for example. They beat the Yankees in the ALCS that year, erasing a 3-games-to-none deficit. Guess who was in the Yankee dugout during that series? Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield -- three men who have also been tied to performance-enhancing drugs.
If players on both teams are using PEDs, does one team or the other really have an advantage? I don't think so. If we're being honest with ourselves, you have to figure that every team from this steroid era had a few guys who were on the juice.
The 2004 Red Sox had steroid cheats on their roster, but they beat a bunch of teams that also had steroid cheats. Personally, I'm willing to call it even and just move on.
The Pittsburgh Pirates continue their roster purge. They continue to serve as the farm club for every other team in baseball. Today, the Cubs benefit as they acquired left-handed reliever John Grabow (right) as part of a five-player deal.
Grabow, who is 3-0 with a 3.42 ERA, fills the Cubs' season-long need for left-handed bullpen help. His presence also opens the door for Sean Marshall to potentially return to the rotation, as the Cubs cope with an injury to All-Star lefty Ted Lilly.
The Cubs gave up right-hander Kevin Hart, right-hander Jose Ascanio and some dude named Josh Harrison in the deal.
They also acquired left-hander and Evergreen Park native Tom Gorzelanny. I guess Gorzelanny is headed to Triple-A Iowa. That disappoints me. It's widely known that Gorzelanny was a Sox fan growing up, and I was looking forward to hearing his answer when the Cubbie media ask him if it is his "lifelong dream" to play for the Cubs. If Gorzelanny is called up, that should make for an uncomfortable moment.
We're less than 24 hours away from Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline. What does Sox GM Kenny Williams have in store, if anything?
You have to figure something is coming, especially given the tremendous state of flux the Sox roster has been in all year.
I was looking things over this afternoon, and the Sox have already used 39 players this season. That's a ton, especially for a team that is still in contention in late July.
Since Opening Day, six roster spots have changed. That's a quarter of the team turned over, and it speaks to how weak the Sox were at the start of the season.
Players who were here on Opening Day who are no more: Josh Fields, Brian Anderson, Brent Lillibridge, Wilson Betemit, Corky Miller, Bartolo Colon (DL).
Players who have come and gone in the meantime: Jerry Owens, Aaron Poreda, Jimmy Gobble, Wes Whisler, Jack Egbert, Carlos Torres, Lance Broadway.
Players who are here now, who were elsewhere on Opening Day: Gordon Beckham, Scott Podsednik, Tony Pena, Jayson Nix, Ramon Castro, Mark Kotsay.
On the whole, I think the Sox are a better team now that they were on April 6. But they still aren't good enough to win anything of significance. They are only three games out of first, but they seem just as likely to go 77-85 as they are to win the division.
This is very clearly a team in transition, and I'm anxious to see if the transition continues in the next few hours.
It's not everyday that somebody who is from here sets a world record. So, we're going to take time out from the usual baloney to congratulate Rosary High School graduate Mary DeScenza, who set a new world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly Wednesday at the world swimming championships.
DeScenza's time of 2:04.14 bested the previous record of 2:04.18, which was held by Liu Zige of China.
UPDATE: Well, that record didn't last long. One day, in fact. Jessica Schipper broke DeScenza's record Thursday with a time of 2:03.41.
I was really glad to read this article in the Tribune this morning.
Illinois quarterback Juice Wiliams and wide receiver Arrelious Benn staked out some campus bars that are off limits to football players and found that some of their teammates were breaking team rules by hanging out in those establishments. The duo reported the rules violations to coach Ron Zook, who made the offending players run sprints.
Good. That's the kind of leadership the Illini need from Williams and Benn this year. That's the type of leadership that was sorely lacking in last year's underwhelming 5-7 campaign. It's time to put some accountability into the Illinois football program, and the best way to do that is for the players to hold each other accountable.
I admit I reached my boiling point with Illini football last season. I'm tired of the off-the-field shenanigans. I'm tired of the undisciplined, mistake-prone play on the field. I'm sick and tired of losing to MAC schools. I'm sick and tired of losing to Missouri, and I'm damn sure sick and tired of losing to Northwestern. NU coach Pat Fitzgerald never misses an opportunity to talk about how much he hates the Illini. Come Nov. 14 of this year, I want to give him another reason to hate us.
The pieces are in place for Illinois to win eight or nine games this year. They have an explosive offense and perhaps the best defensive line in the Big Ten. It's time to stop the self-destruction and stop with the excuses. It is time for Illinois football to win.
There were three significant trades made Wednesday in Major League Baseball. The biggest was a six-player deal that saw the Indians send reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee (pictured) to the Philadelphia Phillies.
It will be interesting to see whether the Los Angeles Dodgers make a countermove, as the acquisition of Lee installs the Phillies as the favorites to repeat as National League champions, if not World Series champions.
Philadelphia now has three solid starting pitchers in Lee, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton. Spring Valley product J.A. Happ (7-1, 2.97 ERA), who played collegiately at Northwestern, is having a strong season for himself. The Phillies also have veteran Jamie Moyer and future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez waiting in the wings.
Of course, Philadelphia also has six All-Stars in its everyday lineup. The only big question for the Phillies is closer Brad Lidge (0-4, 7.11 ERA), who is struggling to regain the dominant form he displayed last year.
Lee's move also has implications for the tight AL Central race. The Indians just got a lot easier to beat. The Twins still have 12 games left against Cleveland. Detroit has nine left and the White Sox six. All those games left against the Tribe figure to give Minnesota a bit of a scheduling edge. Cleveland might also deal All-Star catcher Victor Martinez before Friday's trading deadline.
Might as well cancel the season. The Bears are destined for 4-12. Former Bear and current Minnesota Vikings receiver Bobby Wade says Brian Urlacher called Jay Cutler a "pussy." Team chemistry has been ruined forever.
Oh, God, please, no. Anything but that. Will life as we know it continue?
Normally, I hate these kinds of stories because they are completely irrelevant in pro sports. This isn't the California Penal League, Vaughn. They don't tank games for personal reasons. Even if Urlacher and Cutler hate each others guts, they are still going to try to win on fall Sundays. In NFL locker rooms, no one cares about anyone else's feelings.
But this particular story amuses me because of Urlacher's response. What say you, Urlacher?
"Oh please. I don't think I would ever say that about one of my teammates," Urlacher said. "Look, Bobby Wade's a friend of mine. He's trying to get things going before training camp. That's just Bobby being Bobby. I'm pretty sure Jay knows I wouldn't say that about him."
Bobby being Bobby? Are you serious? Bobby Wade is nobody. He doesn't have enough status in the league to be referred to as "Bobby being Bobby." Has Bobby Wade been involved in any other hijinks lately that we should know about? Ah, that pesky Bobby Wade! Always involved in some kind of mischief.
You know what Urlacher should have done. He should have said, "Yeah, I called Cutler a 'pussy.' So what? What are you gonna do about it?" That probably would be the end of the story. Now, it will get blown out of proportion and we'll hear about this alleged "feud" for all of training camp. Yay.
Brian Anderson got his way. A week after the outfielder requested a trade, the White Sox dealt him to Boston for Mark Kotsay.
I have to admit this trade doesn't evoke strong feelings for me one way or the other. I won't miss Anderson, but I'm not excited about Kotsay either. I assume the Red Sox got rid of Kotsay with good reason.
Once Kotsay is added to the 25-man roster, either Josh Fields or DeWayne Wise is going to have to go. One wonders whether Sox GM Kenny Williams is working on a move to get Fields out of town as well.
Right now, Fields is basically playing one game a week at first base to give Paul Konerko a break. Kotsay, an outfielder by trade, also has experience playing first base. That makes Fields expendable, assuming the Sox are going to keep Wise as their late-inning pinch runner and outfield defensive replacement.
The guess here is they will keep Wise. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fields in a different organization by the end of the week. Williams has just thrown one first-round bust overboard. He might be preparing to unload another.
But since I have no bad will toward Brian Anderson, we're going to throw "The Greatest American Hero" up on this blog one more time. Feel free to sing along, this time with feeling!
The blog will be on hiatus until Tuesday. I'm taking a three-day weekend. I've been working a lot lately, as several of my co-workers have been using vacation time. I could use the break.
Give Josh Fields credit for hitting a grand slam Thursday to back Mark Buehrle's perfect game. He also didn't drop any throws at first base and secured the final putout of the afternoon.
"I found out later I screwed up," Fields said Friday on AM-1000. "I held on to it as long as I possibly could during the celebration after the game, and I think one of the MLB authenticity guys came out and was mugging me down pretty hard and saying 'give me the ball.' And I didn't know that I could say 'no don't take it.'
"So I ended up giving it to him, thinking he was going to put his little authenticity sticker on it and give it back to Buehrle. So as of right now, I guess the MLB has it."
I was fortunate enough to be in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field on April 18, 2007. I never thought I'd see Mark Buehrle pitch a better game than he did that night.
Buehrle no-hit the Texas Rangers on that date. He struck out eight and faced the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 win. He walked Sammy Sosa, and promptly picked the steroid-using slugger off first base.
But Thursday's performance was even better: 27 up, 27 down against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 5-0 victory. Buehrle struck out six in pitching the 18th perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball and the second perfect game in the history of the White Sox. It was the 17th no-hitter in White Sox history.
It's always amazing when a guy throws a perfect game, but the Rays are a tough team to do it against. Tampa Bay's lineup is full of speed. There's a lot of spray hitters in that lineup, guys like Carl Crawford and Jason Bartlett. Players like that are tough outs because they get a lot of infield hits.
But when you look at this game, there was really only one outstanding defensive play required, and that came in the ninth inning. DeWayne Wise leaped over the fence to rob Gabe Kapler of a home run. Wise bobbled the ball as he came down, but he hung on. At that moment, you knew it was in the cards for Buehrle to close the deal. Other than that one play, this was domination.
And, oh yeah, Eric Cooper was behind the plate. He was also behind the plate on 4/18/07. Cooper is a pitcher's umpire, and that doesn't hurt. He calls the inside strike, and when Buehrle gets the inside strike, that makes his change away more effective.
This game was just a pitching clinic. Anyone who likes pitching should try to watch a replay of this game. Simply awesome.
UPDATE: Two other interesting coincidences: 1) Both of Buehrle's no-hitters featured a grand slam. Jermaine Dye hit one off Kevin Millwood on 4/18/07. Josh Fields went deep off Scott Kazmir this afternoon. 2) Both games took exactly two hours and three minutes.
Just in case anyone was wondering where I sit at U.S. Cellular Field, here is the view from my seats as Mark Buehrle threw the first pitch of Saturday's game to Brian Roberts.
Sec. 533, Row 13, Seats 7-8 in the upper deck right behind the plate. There is no better seat in the ballpark.
This photo was taken by our Kane County Cougars beat reporter, Mike "Dukie" Knapp.
I have heard some extraordinarily dumb comments made in the last 24-36 hours since the Sox activated Carlos Quentin and optioned Brian Anderson down to Charlotte.
First off, it seems like Sox fans were more outraged about Anderson being sent out than they were happy about Quentin's return. That doesn't make sense to me. The Sox and their fans had to wait almost two months to get their starting left fielder back. The addition of Quentin to the 25-man roster makes the Sox a better team, even if we don't know how healthy Quentin is or how productive he will be.
Secondly, the talk-show meatheads and apparently some e-mailers have suggested that Anderson was sent down and DeWayne Wise was retained because Ozzie Guillen is a racist. Whoa. The people who are saying that stuff need to check themselves, because that argument can be turned around rather easily.
A lot of people believe Guillen has something personal against Anderson, and they keep citing the same circumstantial anecdotes to support their claims. For some reason, they've taken that to the nth degree and suggested the personal stuff is racially motivated.
Well, you know what? There are plenty of circumstantial anecdotes that suggest that some fans have a personal vendetta against Wise. For example, the man was BOOED ON OPENING DAY. That was totally uncalled for.
Coming into Tuesday's action, Wise is batting .196 with a homer and seven RBIs. That's definitely terrible. I don't have a problem with anybody who is booing Wise right now, because we're 91 games into the season and his performance has been poor.
Wise isn't the only .196 hitter in MLB getting booed (see Kearns, Austin). But booing a guy on Opening Day, before he even gets a chance to prove himself, before he has failed at his job, suggests something personal against that player.
I'm not going to say the Opening Day booing was racist. That's a crazy, stupid argument. But it's no more crazy or stupid than saying Ozzie Guillen sent Brian Anderson to the minors because he's white. That's hyperbole. It's exaggerating the argument to the nth degree, and it's embarrassing. But here's my point: When you play the race card, that can be thrown back in your face without too much trouble. People should be more careful before they make reckless accusations like that.
Anderson is a career .225 hitter who was hitting .238 with only two home runs this season. He has not capitalized on his opportunities. I think all Sox fans are disappointed in his lack of development as a hitter. Unfortunately, some fans are taking their frustrations out on Guillen, who probably deserves only a small fraction of the blame for Anderson's struggles. He certainly doesn't deserve to be called a racist.
Gordon Beckham is likely going to be a fixture in the White Sox lineup for years to come. And I'll be glad to have him around. He's an exceptional talent who has shown a lot of promise through his first six weeks in the big leagues. However, something has to be done about his walkup music. Everytime he comes to the plate, we have to hear this song at U.S. Cellular Field:
God, I hate that song. If 'Josie's on a vacation far away,' she can take this song with her and stick it. This 1980s crap would not get me fired up to face a major-league pitcher. I would need something more intense.
Like this:
Joe Crede used this one for awhile back in 2003:
Or maybe this little ditty:
Yeah, that's more like it. I'm going with Static X's "Hypure" for my walkup music.
In a move that was three days overdue, in my humble opinion, the White Sox have activated Carlos Quentin from the disabled list. He will bat sixth and play left field tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays.
To make room on the 25-man roster, Brian Anderson (the most popular .225 hitter in White Sox history) was optioned to Class AAA Charlotte.
It's a flip of the coin at best whether Quentin can stay healthy for the rest of the year. But in the meantime, welcome back Carlos!
UPDATE: Quentin went 1-for-4 with a single in the Sox 4-3 victory over the Rays on Monday night.
What are the White Sox waiting for? Carlos Quentin is hitting .355 in Charlotte. He played nine innings in left field yesterday and served as the DH in both ends of a doubleheader today. Sounds to me like he's ready. Bring him up, for crying out loud!
I don't think I can take anymore bad at-bats from Brian Anderson and DeWayne Wise, who managed to go 0-for-5 tonight in the Sox slugfest 12-8 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Here's what manager Ozzie Guillen had to say about Quentin before tonight's game:
''Quentin is swinging the bat pretty well. He's not running well,'' Guillen said. ''Carlos has six or seven days to recover and get ready. Hopefully in those days, it happens.
''Hopefully that soreness gets better in the next couple days and he pushes harder, and then we'll see what we're going to do,'' Guillen said. ''But we don't think he's ready to play here right now. Hopefully in the next six days when we're ready to call him up, he's ready.''
Frankly, I don't think Quentin's soreness is going to get better for the rest of the season. Plantar fasciitis isn't going to just go away in the next "six or seven days." Either Quentin can play with the discomfort or he can't. Given his numbers and his ability to play all nine innings yesterday, he's apparently able to deal with it right now.
When Quentin does come back, the Sox will be living on borrowed time with him. I think it's almost inevitable he'll get hurt again and have to sit out. But as long as he's able to play, you want him in the big-league lineup. Get as many ABs out of him as you can before that injury becomes too unbearable again.
One thing is for sure: I can't deal with DeWayne Wise and Brian Anderson any longer. Quentin isn't running well? Who cares? Since when have the White Sox cared whether a player can run well or not? This is a team that plays Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski every day. They don't run well either.
Man, the Nationals are terrible. The Cubs beat Washington 6-2 to open the second half Thursday night, dropping the Nationals to a putrid mark of 26-62. That puts Washington on pace for a 48-114 season.
This type of misery reminds me of the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who finished 43-119. That Detroit squad is without a doubt the worst American League team of the decade.
Washington's futility has me thinking: Which team would win a seven-game series between the 2009 Nationals and 2003 Tigers? We actually had a discussion about this in the newsroom tonight while we watched the Cubs hand the Nationals yet another embarrassing loss.
Have your pens and scorecards ready, and I will give you the lineups for our not-so-dream matchup:
2003 Detroit: Alex Sanchez, CF; Warren Morris, 2B; Bobby Higginson, RF: Dmitri Young, DH; Carlos Pena, 1B; Craig Monroe, LF; Eric Munson, 3B; Ramon Santiago, SS; Brandon Inge, C. 2009 Washington: Nyjer Morgan, CF; Nick Johnson, 1B; Ryan Zimmerman, 3B; Adam Dunn, LF; Josh Willingham, RF; Cristian Guzman, SS; Josh Bard, C; Alberto Gonzalez, 2B.
Here are the rotations: 2003 Detroit: Mike Maroth, Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Cornejo, Adam Bernero, Gary Knotts. 2009 Washington: John Lannan, Jordan Zimmerman, Shairon Martis, Scott Olsen, Craig Stammen.
And the bullpens: 2003 Detroit: Franklyn German, Jamie Walker, Steve Sparks, Chris Spurling, Matt Roney. 2009 Washington: Joe Beimel, Mike MacDougal, Jay Bergmann, Julian Tavarez, Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard.
Boy, these are some bad teams. My colleague, Jim Owczarski, says he would pick the Tigers for one game because Detroit could "throw Maroth and Bonderman", but all bets are off in a seven-game series.
I think I'd go with Washington. Both teams have putrid pitching. German led the Tigers with just FIVE saves that season. Count 'em: FIVE. The Nationals have been using MacDougal to close. That speaks to the weakness of these bullpens.
However, Washington has a better lineup. Johnson, Guzman, Morgan and Willingham are all hitting around .300. For Detroit, Young's .297 average led the team by a wide margin. Inge hit .203 that season. Pena batted .248 with 18 homers. Those two players might be All-Stars now. They stunk in 2003.
And, of course, Maroth lost 21 games and Bonderman 19 for the Tigers that year.
Yes, I think I'll go with the Nationals in six. No team can possibly be worse than the 2003 Tigers, can they?
Michigan State will play at North Carolina in a rematch of the national championship game on Dec. 1. That figures to be the overhyped, marquee game of the challenge.
Here are the rest of the matchups:
Nov. 30 Penn State at Virginia Dec. 1 Wake Forest at Purdue
Northwestern at N.C. State
Maryland at Indiana
Virginia Tech at Iowa Dec. 2 Illinois at Clemson
Minnesota at Miami
Boston College at Minnesota
Duke at Wisconsin
Florida State at Ohio State
Just once, I would like to see the Big Ten win this thing and shut the ACC-loving talking heads at ESPN up. JUST ONCE, for crying out loud. Of course, it will be tough as long as Iowa is still playing in the Big Ten. Man, those guys are gonna suck this year.
As we all know, today is a pretty dry sports day. No major events going on at all, as we await the start of baseball's second half. With no games to watch and nothing better to do, I've been trying to put my finger on the reason why the American League always wins the All-Star Game.
The American League is 12-0-1 dating back to 1996. That's domination. But the thing is, quite a few of these games have been close. The last four All-Star Games have been decided by just one run.
After doing a little research, I've come to the conclusion that the Americans always pull through because they have the better closers. These games are all being decided in the seventh inning or later, and the "junior circuit" just has better relief pitching.
Take a look at who pitched for each team from the seventh inning on in last night's 4-3 AL win:
American League: Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Mariano Rivera (left) National League: Francisco Cordero, Heath Bell, Francisco Rodriguez
Which of those two groups would you rather have? I'll take the AL guys. They threw three shutout innings, and the NL's Bell got nicked for a run and took the loss.
Go back to last year: The American League won 4-3 in 15 innings. Closers Nathan, Papelbon, Rodriguez (then with the Angels), Rivera, Joakim Soria and George Sherrill combined to pitch eight innings of one-run ball. And that one run was unearned. The NL closers? Billy Wagner blew a save in the eighth, and Brad Lidge took the loss in the 15th inning.
The American League won 5-4 in 2007, when Cordero gave up a run in the sixth and Wagner coughed up two in the seventh. The AL's J.J. Putz nearly blew a 5-2 lead in the ninth (how did Putz make an All-Star team?), but Rodriguez cleaned up the mess to preserve the win.
One of the tougher losses for the National League came in 2006, when Trevor Hoffman blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth by giving up two runs. Handed a 3-2 lead, Rivera locked things up for the AL.
Right now, Rivera, Nathan and Papelbon are perhaps the three best closers in baseball. The relief pitching is so good in the American League that neither Soria nor Bobby Jenks were chosen for the All-Star Game this year. Meanwhile, the National League is trotting out Heath Bell.
That's the best explanation I can come up with for the American League's dominance. Really 12-0-1 defies logic. Just by law of averages, you figure the NL is going to win one sooner or later.
As most people already know, the Hawks are opening in Helsinki, Finland, this year with two games against Florida on Oct. 2-3. The first game in North America is Oct. 8 at Detroit. The home opener follows two nights later against Colorado.
The Hawks have their usual steady diet of home games early in the season, 12 out of 17 once they return to North America. Then, they have the traditional six-game road swing around Thanksgiving, all against opponents west of here.
The other lengthy road trip is in late January, an eight-gamer that will take the Hawks to both coasts -- San Jose one night, Carolina two nights later. Makes sense, huh? Every team in the NHL's Western Conference has to deal with at least one stupid road trip per season. The late January one is that stupid trip for the Hawks.
Eastern Conference teams visiting the United Center this year include: Montreal (10/30), Toronto (11/13), the N.Y. Rangers (12/9), Tampa Bay (12/13), Boston (12/18), New Jersey (12/31), Atlanta (2/13) and Washington (3/14). Sorry, no Sidney Crosby hysteria this year. The Hawks only meeting with the Penguins is at Pittsburgh on Dec. 5. But at least each of the four Original Six franchises in the East will be paying a visit to Chicago this year.
It sucks that Mark Buehrle got hit hard on Sunday, but one benefit to that loss was he only threw 63 pitches in that game. That opened the door for him to get into Tuesday night's All-Star Game.
Buehrle turned in a typical Buehrle performance. He threw nine pitches, seven strikes, and retired Chase Utley, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun in order in the bottom of the third inning.
And, of course, the American League beat the National League 4-3. Detroit's Curtis Granderson tripled in the eighth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Baltimore's Adam Jones. That proved to be the winning run.
Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford picked up MVP honors for a great catch in the bottom of the seventh. The left fielder robbed Colorado's Brad Hawpe of a home run and made a winner of Boston reliever Jonathan Papelbon.
The National League still hasn't won one of these games since 1996. At that time, Bill Clinton was still in his first term as president, and Terry Bevington was managing the White Sox.
The American League champion will have homefield advantage in the 2009 World Series. I sincerely doubt the White Sox will win the pennant this season, but I'm still glad the AL won. I'm always pleased when the American League comes out on top in either the All-Star Game or the World Series.
As I was driving to work this afternoon, I heard a few people on the radio expressing their surprise that the Blackhawks fired, errr... reassigned, GM Dale Tallon on Tuesday.
I wasn't surprised at all. If you've been following the team for a long time as I have, you saw this one coming. After the Hawks fired former coach Denis Savard four games into the season last year, I knew Tallon was on borrowed time. He was the last link to the Bill Wirtz regime, and even if the Hawks had won the Cup this year, he was going to get shown the door.
Hawks president John "McCub" McDonough (pictured, left) announced the promotion of assistant GM Stan Bowman (pictured, right) into Tallon's position. Tallon will become Senior Advisor for Hockey Operations, which probably means he's now in charge of the Bud Light Ice Crew.
I actually think Bowman will do fine in his new job. He's been in the Hawks front office for eight years, and he'll have his famous father, Scotty, to lean on for advice.
As for Tallon, I think McCub is using this recent fiasco with the Hawks restricted free agents as an excuse to make this move. The Hawks didn't get their qualifying offers out on time to nine restricted free agents. Tallon managed to sign them all, but in the process, he probably doled out more dollars than he needed to -- just to prevent a grievance from the NHLPA from being heard. I'd guess that affair cost the Blackhawks somewhere between $2 million and $4 million in extra money rewarded to players.
Still, though, I think McCub and Tallon hate each others guts, and that is the primary reason for this decision. McCub is known for his marketing prowess, and every seat was sold last year at the United Center. But he doesn't know beans about hockey -- he just thinks he does. I think Tallon has always resented McCub's meddling on the hockey side of things.
Fortunately, the work in building the 2009-10 Blackhawks is essentially done. Free agents have been signed, and the team looks primed for another strong run in the season to come. As a fan, that's what matters most to me.
This just in: Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants has tossed a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres.
This is the first no-hitter of the 2009 season. Sanchez struck out 11 and walked none in the 8-0 victory. This very easily could have been a perfect game. San Diego's Chase Headley reached on an error by former White Sox infielder Juan Uribe with one out in the top of the eighth. There were no other baserunners for the Padres.
ESPN picked up coverage of the no-hitter in the ninth inning, and our old friend Aaron Rowand made a nice catch at the fence to rob San Diego's Edgar Gonzalez for the second out. Dare I say, "the fire and the passion" preserved this no-hitter for Sanchez?
In any case, our congratulations go out to the San Francisco left-hander, who has struggled for most of the season. Sanchez's record is only 3-8 this year, but all the losses he's had previously will be forgotten by Giants fans tonight.
I usually don't go out of my way to watch Cubs games. But with St. Louis in town this weekend, I decided to tune in for Friday afternoon's contest at Wrigley Field -- just to see how the Cubs would deal with Albert Pujols.
They didn't deal with him all that well. Pujols reached base four out of five times, finishing 2-for-3 with a triple, a homer, two walks, three runs scored and two RBIs in the Cardinals' 8-3 win.
Pujols is now batting .336 for the season. He has 32 home runs and 85 RBIs. And we're not even to the All-Star break. That's a good year for most sluggers.
The amazing thing is Pujols is doing this without a whole lot of help. Check out the numbers for the guys who hit behind Pujols in the St. Louis lineup today:
Not too much protection there, especially with how streaky Ludwick has been this season. Ludwick hit a combined .195 in May and June, but Pujols continued to rake.
Now, Ludwick has picked it up a bit. He knocked in four runs today for the Cardinals, burning the Cubs both times they walked Pujols. In the first, Ludwick had a sacrifice fly to give St. Louis an early lead. In a four-run sixth inning rally, his two-run single with the bases loaded put the Cardinals up 6-3.
Still, I think the Cubs should pitch around Pujols at every opportunity for the remainder of this weekend. He saw basically two hittable pitches all day Friday and clubbed them both for extra bases. If Ludwick pounds the Cubs all weekend, the North Side faithful will just have to tip their caps.
In other Cubs news, catcher Geovany Soto is on the DL now with strained oblique. He'll miss at least 2-3 weeks. That opens the door for former University of Illinois catcher Chris Robinson to make his big-league debut sometime in the near future.
Robinson is hitting .315 with a homer and 32 RBIs in 59 games with the Iowa Cubs this season.
Reports indicate the Bulls have signed guard and Chicago native Jannero Pargo to a one-year deal. Pargo played overseas last season, but you might recall that he was a member of the Bulls from 2003-06.
As mentioned yesterday, Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster is on the disabled list now after breaking his toe falling awkwardly over the dugout railing Sunday at Wrigley Field.
Here's the photo of the incident. Note the little kid in the first row laughing at Dempster.
When I got up this morning, I thought to myself, "All I really want for my birthday is for the White Sox to win." Thanks to Paul Konerko's career night, I got my wish.
Quite a game for Paulie, huh? A solo home run, a grand slam and a two-run homer. That's seven RBIs in the Sox 10-6 win over the extremely lousy Cleveland Indians.
Konerko becomes the first Sox player to have a three-homer game at U.S. Cellular Field -- and the 12th in team history. Jose Valentin was the last to accomplish the feat, when he belted three homers at Kansas City on July 30, 2003. Valentin also homered from both sides of the plate in that game.
Harold Baines was the last Sox player to homer three times in a home game. Coincidentally, Harold's big day was also on my birthday, July 7, 1982. I was only six then, so I don't remember it.
Konerko's seven RBIs are a career high. His grand slam was the eighth of his career, tying him for second on the franchise's career list with Carlos Lee and Frank Thomas. (Robin Ventura tops the list with 10.)
I'm surprised by this move because the Sox are pretty strong in right-handed relief pitching, but they don't have a lot of left-handed hitting prospects in their organization. One wonders if the Sox are planning to trade Octavio Dotel, who is in the last year of his contract.
With Scott Linebrink, Dotel and now Pena, the Sox seem to have a surplus of right-handed relief pitchers to set up closer Bobby Jenks. We'll see what GM Kenny Williams has up his sleeve in the 24 days remaining until the trade deadline.
Word on the street is that Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay can be had for the right price. Halladay, who is 10-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 16 starts this season, is one of the best in the American League by any standard. Any team that acquires him will get a huge boost.
Sox GM Kenny Williams always has his hat in the ring, so I'm sure he'll at least give Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi a call.
What about the Cubs? Well, now that Ryan Dempster is on the disabled list, I wouldn't be surprised if GM Jim Hendry kicks the tires on Halladay as well.
But what would it take to nab a pitcher like Halladay? In the grand tradition of Chicago sports radio, we're going to propose trading a bunch of garbage for one of the best pitchers in the league.
As soon as I signed on at work today, I had an e-mail from former Beacon News sports editor Todd Adams. Todd wrote, "Let me be the first Cubs fan to propose Sean Marshall, Jeff Smardzija, Sam Fuld and Jake Fox for Roy Halladay. (they already traded Eric Patterson, right?)"
Yeah, that's the ticket! The Blue Jays probably can't wait to add Sean Marshall to their rotation!
As a Sox fan, let me be the first to propose sending DeWayne Wise, Jimmy Gobble, Bartolo Colon and Josh Fields to Toronto for Halladay. I'll bet Ricciardi would love those four players! I'd even sweeten the pot by throwing in Norris Hopper!
(Editor's note: Todd and I are both joking with these proposals. We know they're not realistic, so don't send any comments to that effect. This blog post was meant to mock the mentality of sports talk radio callers, who always want something for nothing.)
It figures the White Sox seven-game winning streak would come to an end more by their own folly than anything else. That's what this team does. They lose games more than the opposition beats them.
I don't want to pick on the Kansas City Royals, who beat the Sox 6-4 today. But the Royals really didn't do all that much on Saturday afternoon. Kansas City's starting pitcher, Luke Hochevar, turned in a mediocre start. The Royals scored three runs on three hits in the game-turning sixth inning. Two of the three hits were of the broken-bat variety.
The Sox shot themselves in the foot with more horrible infield defense, and they made a loser of Gavin Floyd (left), who had less than his best stuff today.
Despite Floyd's spotty control, he had a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning. A broken-bat hit by Willie Bloomquist and a walk to Billy Butler placed runners on first and second with no outs. The slow-footed Jose Guillen then hit a routine grounder to second that should have been an easy, rally-killing double play.
Unfortunately, Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez was inexplicably shaded toward the hole. He took FOREVER to get over and cover second base, which disrupted the timing of the play and allowed Guillen to beat the relay at first. The Royals got an extra out, which proved key when Alberto Callaspo flared a two-out, two-run single over the head of Sox second baseman Chris Getz. That hit gave the Royals a 5-4 lead they would never relinquish.
Why the hell is Ramirez shaded over in the hole in that situation? He should be at double-play depth. As Hawk Harrelson mentioned on today's broadcast, that's AT LEAST the third time Ramirez's poor positioning has cost the Sox dearly in a game.
Manager Ozzie Guillen's explanation?
''He was playing to pull,'' the skipper told Sun-Times reporter Joe Cowley. ''That's why he was a little late. He was playing all the way near third base side, and he couldn't get there in time. But that's how we play (Jose) Guillen. Unfortunately the ball was hit to that side.''
Oh.
Well, maybe the Sox need to rethink that defensive alignment. Ramirez was more than a little late, and it cost the Sox a ballgame.
Pulling no punches here. Not that I needed any further convincing that the Hawks are better off with Marian Hossa than with Martin Havlat.
Rozner, like me, believes a winger will be traded soon to create salary-cap relief. He's nominating Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien as possibilities. I'd throw Kris Versteeg's name on to that list as well. You have to figure one of those three will go, in order to help create the space needed to keep Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith next offseason.
The lead sports story in your July 4th edition of The Beacon News? Cubbie hearts were all aflutter in the Fox Valley tonight as third baseman Aramis Ramirez played a ballgame here in Kane County.
Ramirez, who has been out since May 8 with a left shoulder dislocation, went 1-for-2 with a walk and a double on his rehab assignment as the Peoria Chiefs beat the Cougars 7-1. Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson, rehabbing a back injury, also played and went 1-for-2.
The big story, of course, was the presence of two-time All-Star Ramirez.
"I felt pretty good," Ramirez told reporter Brian Miller, who was our man on the scene at Elfstrom Stadium. "Everything went better than expected. The main thing was swinging the bat and that felt good. I'm very pleased with the way I feel."
The Cougars are feeling pretty good tonight, too. They set an attendance record, as 14,872 packed the place. As far as we know, there were no traffic accidents on Kirk Road and no Cubs fans were injured as they jockeyed for position in long ticket lines.
No word on whether the Cougars held a ticket lottery, passed out bracelets or overcharged the fans by using an intermediate broker either.
In additional rehab assignment news involving all-stars, the Sox are sending outfielder Carlos Quentin to Charlotte. Quentin, who has been sidelined since May 25 with plantar fasciitis, will be brought along slowly. He's expected to play three innings in his first game, then five innings in his second game.
Quentin is not expected back until after the All-Star break.
There are several reasons why I don't think the Milwaukee Brewers will win the wide-open NL Central this season. Among them is the fact that manager Ken Macha (left) is an idiot.
Last year, I thought Milwaukee had the talent to beat the Cubs, but they finished seven games back, in part, because Lou Piniella got more out of his roster than Ned Yost. Well, Yost is gone now, but Macha isn't much better.
That point was driven home today as I watched the 10th inning of the Cubs' 2-1 win over Milwaukee. Here's the situation: Score tied 1-1, Ryan Theriot on third representing the winning run. Two outs, Milton Bradley at the plate. Pitcher's spot on-deck, Geovany Soto waiting to pinch-hit. Right-hander Mark DiFelice pitching.
Your move, Macha! What does he do? He walks Milton Bradley intentionally. No joke. I'm serious. He walked Milton Bradley intentionally. You've gotta be kidding.
This is the same Bradley who is hitting .192 against right-handed pitchers this season. Has Bradley gotten a single big hit for the Cubs yet this year? Not only would I pitch to Bradley in that situation, I'd lob the damn ball up there underhanded to make sure he swung at it.
It isn't like DiFelice actually wanted to pitch to Soto. He threw four straight wide ones to him, and that loaded the bases for Jake Fox. After a lengthy at-bat where Fox spoiled off three 3-2 pitches, DiFelice walked Fox on a borderline pitch that could have gone either way. Cubs win.
Why in the hell would you ever intentionally walk Milton Bradley? Only if you're a bad manager, like Ken Macha.
No, not that John Madden. The other one. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't quit my day job.)
The Hawks agreed to terms today on a one-year deal with the hockey-playing John Madden, a centerman who has spent the previous 10 years with the New Jersey Devils.
Madden, 36, is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and should provide the Hawks with some depth up the middle. He's not going to score much, but I can see him making himself useful on the penalty kill and providing veteran leadership for a team that is still pretty young.
The Hawks have a surplus of forwards at this point, and you have to wonder if a trade to bolster the blue line is forthcoming.
Hossa was the biggest fish in the NHL free agent pond. The 29-year-old scored 40 regular-season goals to lead the Wings, who beat the Hawks in the Western Conference Finals before losing to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals. Hossa signed a 12-year, front-loaded contract, during which he will be paid an average of $5.2 million per season.
Kopecky, a defensive-minded player, received a two-year deal.
In additional news, the Hawks lost goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the Edmonton Oilers. The 36-year-old somehow managed to get himself a four-year deal. The Hawks will go into the 2009-10 season with Cristobal Huet as their top goaltender. It's no secret I'm not a Huet fan, but I can't blame the Hawks for not wanting to give Khabibulin multiple years at this stage of his career.
Hossa's signing also likely spells the end of Martin Havlat's time in a Blackhawk uniform. Havlat had his best year for the Hawks last season, but his injury history makes it hard to justify giving him a deal for multiple years. The Hawks are better off signing Hossa, who has had fewer injuries. As an added plus, the Red Wings just got a little weaker as well.
Kopecky figures to take the role of third-line center. That likely means Samuel Pahlsson, also an unrestricted free agent, will sign somewhere other than Chicago.
As a Hawks fan, it's really refreshing to see the team pursuing top free agents. This never would have happened during the tenure of "Dollar Bill" Wirtz. My my, times have changed. I'm looking forward to next hockey season, especially with the mediocre baseball season we are going through right now.
In this week's edition of Sports Illustrated, the magazine asked 380 players the following question: Which manager do you least want to play for? Here are the top five (or should I say bottom five?):
I guess now I'm supposed to blame Guillen for San Diego ace pitcher Jake Peavy's decision not to come to Chicago. Sorry, not taking that bait. Peavy's on the DL now anyway, and thus, he's useless.
For whatever reason, some of the very best managers in the game made their way on to this list. Look at the resumes for these guys:
Piniella:
22 years
1,737 career wins
6 division titles
1 pennant
1 World Series title
Guillen:
6 years
472 career wins
2 division titles
1 pennant
1 World Series title
LaRussa:
31 years
2,502 career wins
10 division titles
5 pennants
2 World Series titles
Torre:
28 years
2,200 wins
12 division titles
6 pennants
4 World Series titles
Wedge:
7 years
524 wins
1 division title
OK, so Wedge doesn't have a pennant or a World Series to his credit. But those top four do. All told, these five men have combined for 7,438 wins, 31 division titles, 13 pennants and eight World Series titles. And players don't want to play for these guys? The players are idiots.
It isn't every day you see a pitcher who is currently on the disabled list get traded for four players. Give White Sox GM Kenny Williams high marks for courage after Friday's deal that brought former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to the South Side in exchange for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.
