Fans? Fans?!?! It's bad enough when David Wells is your #3 starter. But when your GM trades your #3 starter for a minor league catcher, the fat lady is singing about your season.

Not the best message for your GM to send to his players......
http://1000smilies.com/animated/surrendering.gif

Devil Rays turn a triple play last night. Runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Batter strikes out, R1 breaks for second and is thrown out attempting to steal, R3 breaks for home and gets thrown out at the plate. If you're scoring at home (which you're not, or you wouldn't be reading this), it goes as a 2-6-2 triple play -- the first ever. It's also only the 7th triple play since 1900 that started with a strikeout.

Kevin Kouzmanoff made his major league debut for the Indians against the Rangers last night. He was subbing for the injured Travis Hafner who has hit a record-tying 6 grand slams this season. So what did Kouzmanoff do? Hit a grand slam in his first major league game? Better. Hit a grand slam in his first major league at-bat? Better! He hit the very first pitch he saw in the bigs for a grand salami. He's only the third guy ever to hit a grand slam in his first major league at-bat, and the first ever to do it on the first pitch.

Pretty cool stuff to think about now that the Sox have a big fork sticking out of their backs.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but they aren't playing too bad right about now. The ChiSox are a pretty good team. I do agree though that you have a heck of a long way to come back. Believe the Yankees' magic number is 17 -- depending on the outcome of tonight's games.

Being a Phillies' fan, I usually don't have much to say about baseball, but d@mn, you gotta love that Ryan Howard. And even after getting rid of Thome and Abreu, and losing Flash Gordon to injury, we're still over .500.

Oh well, that's it for my baseball posts. NFL starts in about 36 hours, Penn St is at Notre Dame on Saturday, and the Eagles kick-off in 4 days & 5 hours.

I'll watch SportCenter in mid-October to catch up on baseball.

Howard vs. Maris:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

and

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

I've also read several articles questioning whether Ryan Howard is on 'roids also.

Unfortunately, that's the price that MLB and the MLBPA has to pay for their past drug-testing failures and their failure to test for HGH, etc. Under the current system, there will always be doubts. The inquiry/commission that MLB is currently holding is a complete joke too. It's got no power at all, and will be done as soon as everybody forgets about it.

The sad part is that the MLB system is still light-years ahead of the NFL when it comes to testing. The NFL is a complete joke.

Dimitri Young???????
 

Dimitri Young, Mick?

Sumthin' really funny going on there. He went straight from batting in the 3-hole to gonzo. Weird. Or <i>wierd</i>, if you're Chuck.

Personal problems aside, 32 yr.-old Dmitri Young was batting .250 and no power as the DH. The left-handed bat (Young stood on either side of the plate) was nicely replaced by Sean Casey (.276).

Young played a little OF and 1B, but those positions are filled by better fielders and better hitters.

He had a long, fair chance to get to it, but he couldn't come back from his respite and funk apparently.

The Tigers are in an unfamiliar place with their record and the hitters don't hit. The pitching remains solid and seems to be the only plus sign right now.

Leyland has been preaching patience at the plate by waiting for strikes before swinging. The hitters seem to like everything they see.

A 4-game series in Minnesota should tell a tale. I imagine Santana will be there smiling, although Liriano will not.

Sox lose to Kansas City by 6 in extras. 10 behind the Yankees. Thank goodness the Patriots kick off this afternoon. :(

Don't thank "goodness". Thank the Bill's coach; he made your day. Fourth and one on the Pats' seven, with the lead and the momentum, and he goes for it instead if kicking the 3. Dumb.

Yankees are best.
Johan smiles.
Liriano had rest.
Tigers on trial.

<i>Tired of my horse
Tired of my saddle
Tired of rounding up
Sh!tty ol' cattle.</i>

I are a poet too, Mick.:D

Whover pitches best is gonna win the Cental, methinks. Methinks also that the kid pitchers in Detroit look like they're getting a little worn out. Gonna be a real interesting race between the Tigers, Twins and the White Sox. Any two out of those three could make the playoffs.

Personally, I'd like to see your Tigers get in.....especially after the last few years that they had. Their fans deserve it.

September 11th
 

...If I got this correct.

1928 - Ty Cobb hit his last baseball. A pop-up.
1985 - Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's hits record.

Heck of a day for the Yankees. Matsui comes back (which I honestly didn't think he'd do this year) and Abreau (kind of sounds like the character from "The Neverending Story") puts the game away in the first inning.

I love the AL Central. I'm betting on the Sox (of both colors) being left out of the playoffs.