Well as painful as those first months were, those memories are distant ones now. The Sox have been the hottest team in baseball for the last month or so as they made their climb atop the AL Central standings, and they have been playing thoroughly entertaining baseball during that stretch (I’ve blocked the last Twins loss out of my memory entirely. Let’s just say, I was not entertained.)

The bats have come alive with Paul Konerko and Alex Rios being the lone constants throughout the season. In almost every game the Sox have a different bat heating up. And in the past month it seems as if every bat in the lineup has been clicking.  Alexei Ramirez (.362 BA in July), Omar Vizquel (.333), Juan Pierre (.305) all have consistently populated the base paths. Carlos Quentin (.305, with 6 of his 11 hits in the month as home runs) when healthy, is terrifying to opposing pitchers. And Andruw Jones, while a shadow of what he once was, still puts together tough at-bats (.350 OBP in July, with a healthy mix of patience and power).

Heck, even Brent Lillibridge has gotten into the act, giving some rest to the Sox infielders and giving Ozzie a good bat off the bench in late innings (.423 BA overall in limited at-bats ).

While all those numbers are encouraging, the best news is that Gordon Beckham appears to have gotten his groove back. He’s hitting .421 for the month of July and it looks like the three games off that Ozzie gave him at the start of July helped him get on track. Since June 22nd, he’s raised his batting average forty-two points and has halved his strikeout rates from previous months. This boost from Ramirez and Beckham means that opposing pitchers have no room to relax in the Sox lineup.

I don’t even know where to start with the Sox pitching staff. From Buehrle and Garcia doing their thing, to Floyd and Danks hitting their strides, it’s been fun to watch. Ozzie seems to have found his guys in the bullpen (I’m still holding out hope that Linebrink finds himself, if not for us, then to be used in a trade). Ignoring the question mark that is Bobby Jenks, the only glaring question is whether Daniel Hudson can fill the 5th starter slot and not deplete the bullpen while he’s at it.

Last night, Hudson proved that he has the stuff to stay in the starting rotation. He started the game with a grotesque 11.25 ERA from his start against the Royals where the Sox bats saved him. And he left the game with 2 outs in the seventh inning with a runner on first, having lowered that ERA to 5.06. He allowed one run early on and then settled down, scattering five hits and striking out six (including all three swinging in the second inning). Those numbers would’ve been even better had he not fallen victim to a tight strike zone. One at-bat, in particular, saw Jack Wilson, the Mariners’ ninth batter, get the full benefit of Hudson’s tiny strike zone. Here’s hoping Hudson can keep it up down the stretch for the Sox.

Friday 6/25 – Group G: Game Portugal vs. Brazil – 9 am

• StevieY19 (31-17) Brazil over Portugal: Portugal can pass Brazil to win the group and avoid the likely match-up with Spain in the first round of the knockout stage, but Brazil is just too good. Even without Kaka, Brazil have more setup men than Portugal and in Luis Fabiano they have a world class finisher. Brazil wins and delays its match-up with Spain until the final.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (16-12) Brazil over Portugal: I’ve been saying a South American country will win this cup. Brazil is a favorite and has too much firepower to fall flat against their Portuguese counterparts/rivals.
• Player to be Named Later (12-10) Brazil over Portugal: Going into the World Cup, Brazil was ranked #1 by FIFA and Portugal was ranked #3.  You don’t see a matchup like this very often in the group stage.  Both these teams will be looking to avoid Spain, who have some work to do of their own.  I predicted Brazil to win the whole Cup, so I am not going to pick against them here.
• South Side Sheik (25-23) Portugal over Brazil: I’d actually prefer to give this a draw, but I’ll choose Portugal. They’ve been pretty good defensively and both teams will be playing hard since whomever loses or finishes second will likely have to face Spain in the next round. Since Kaka will be sitting this game out with his red card from the Ivory Coast match and Luis Fabiano won’t get away with any double handball goals this time around, I give the edge to Portugal.
• Stormin Norman (24-24) Brazil over Portugal: I’m not sure how good Portugal is, but doesn’t Brazil have some of the greatest players in the world, including the greatly-named Kaka?  If I’ve heard of a player on your team, I’m going to pick you.  Brazil wins -3 to -5.  They need to do something about the low scoring.

Friday 6/25 – Chicago Cubs (Zambrano) vs. Chicago White Sox (Peavy) – 3:05 pm

• StevieY19 (31-17) Sox over Cubs: The Sox are on some kind of tear as of late and the Cubs, well they have been on another kind of tear for most of the season. You throw the records out, as they say, in these games and I’m sure the Cubs would like to.
• His Jesusness Shuttlesworth (16-12) Sox over Cubs: Peavy is heating up and finally living up to the hype. I could see him blanking the offensively challenged Cubs. Plus, the Sox have garnered a lot of momentum from their hot bats this past month.
• Player to be Named Later (12-10) Cubs over Sox:  The Sox have been rolling and they are playing at home.  I don’t really have a good reason to pick the Cubs.  Oh well, baseball predictions are funny like that.
• South Side Sheik (25-23) Sox over Cubs: The Sox have some major momentum right now, and they’ve been feasting on the National League. I do worry about Peavy’s shoulder since he was close to the disabled list and then labored through a complete game shutout. Who knows how he’ll bounce back?! I do know that Vizquel is crafty and Konerko and Quentin are starting to hit with men on base and that is dangerous for opponents.
• Stormin Norman (24-24) Cubs over Sox: Peavy is good, and the Sox are hot, but something tells me the Cubs will pull this one off.  Zambrano usually pitches well leading up to the break and melts down in August.  This is such a homer pick it almost hurts me to make it.

Lolla Song of the Week – “Night by Night” by Chromeo.  Two hip guys from Montreal.  One of them is the brother of a fairly well known DJ named A-Trak, who is Kanye West’s personel touring DJ.  Have at it.

I think this young guy's got a chance to stick with the team out of spring training.

• Oh yeah, that Randy Wells fella.  He’ll need to step up as Lilly recovers from surgery and Zambrano is Zambrano. (Midwest Sports Fans)
• Enjoy them while you still can Cubs fans, but Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez might not be with the team at the end of this season. (i94 Sports.com)
• Some are optimistic in Detroit with the signing of Johnny Damon, while in other news Stephen Strasbourg continues to impress at the Nats’ camp. (Detroit4Lyfe)
• Well Dusty Baker is saying all the right things about bringing along Aroldis Chapman along slowly… for now. (ESPN)
• The Sox DH situation makes my brain hurt, but at least I can count on Herm Schneider to keep the Sox healthy even if he looks like one of the least healthy people to ever grace a baseball field. (South Side Sox)
• Oh well, at least we can pin our hopes to the Sox starting pitching. (Sox Machine)

Congratulations to Andre Dawson.  The Hawk was always a class act and his numbers and swagger make him an obvious Hall of Famer in my book.  My well wishes go out to Bert, Robbie, and Barry who did not make the Hall this year.

Go Hawk!

My favorite is probably Mr. Balloon Hands. Yeah right. Get real. Here is the most important little nugget of wisdom to take away from the video: “It’s like I always say, not my chair, not my problem.” So true.

Oh and while we are on the topic of acid and heavy drug use, did you know the story of Dock Ellis throwing a no-hitter while tripping? I mean you have probably heard that it happened, but have you ever heard Ellis’s side of the story? It’s a doozy, and once again put to a weird animated video.

Good stuff.

h/t: Mikey

Obviously, as a member of the Ernie Johnson fan club I wouldn’t applaud a berating of the best on air talent in the business.  This was aimed directly at TBS.  Despite the network being owned by Mr. Turner of Atlanta Braves allegiance, I’m going to go with the idea that the people of Philly were booing the atrocious coverage TBS has provided throughout the playoffs and for the NLCS. 

The MLB playoffs have drawn terrible ratings this year and while the product may not be what it once was, you can’t convince me that TBS didn’t hurt MLB’s cause.  No one is thinking of TBS when they’re looking for a game.  TBS is the home of countless My Name is Earl reruns once the Friends and Seinfeld (God bless em) marathons are over.

For all their shortcomings, I’ve really come around to the idea that every major sporting event should be covered by ESPN.  Sure, the hype train blows its whistle twice as loud when something is on ESPN/ABC–look at all the athletes on Dancing With the Stars!…next on SC, Brett Favre takes out garbage–but they put together the best broadcast by far. 

In no way should this be an endorsement of Joe Morgan calling baseball games, or talking.  Seriously though, die TBS and well done Philadelphia. 

h/t: Awful Announcing

ALDS- Twins vs. Yankees: Okay, so the Twins don’t really stand a chance.  There was a time that I thought whoever came out of the Tigers Twins battle would give the Yankees a run because those two teams had been playing meaningful baseball, but that’s what I thought the Tigers would win.  The Twins did end the season on a 17-4 run, with three of those losses coming against the Tigers, but the Yankees are just too good.  I’m not nearly as impressed with Yankee pitching as everyone else, but whatever, Yanks in 3. 

ALDS- Angels vs. Sawx: Man, I hate the Red Sox.  The Sox have won 12 of the last 13 playoff games played between these two franchises and ended the Angels season three out of the last five years.  That’s crazy.  I want the Angels to win this series badly, but I think the Red Sox bullpen comes through and sets up an annoying series with the Yankees.  Red Sox in 4.

NLDS- Rockies vs. Phillies:  The Rockies are riding some of that magic from a couple years ago it seems like.  However, the Phillies pitching is just too good, not to mention their mashers can take advantage of the Rockies home stadium just as much as those purple clad world beaters.  Just after dealing with Cliff Lee they get Cole Hamels and this series will go 2-0.  I think the Rockies give the home crowd reason to cheer and take game three, but it’s Phils in 4. 

NLDS- Cardinals vs. Dodgers: One of the interesting things to watch in the first game of this series was how LA intentionally walked Pujols twice with men on base, showing they weren’t all that scared of Matt Holliday.  It definitely paid off last night and will be something to keep an eye on.  I still like the Cardinals to win this series, but it could very well go the distance.  Cards in 5.

ALCS- Yankees vs. Red Sox: Classic match-up, blah blah, first series between these teams all year that won’t have two games on ESPN.  If Favre played for the Yanks or Sox, I’d have to end my life.  Anyway, it’s been a while since the Yankees have won this battle, so I’ll take the hitting of the Yankees to overpower Boston.  Yankees in 6.

NLCS- Phillies vs. Cardinals: Now this is a great match-up.  Both teams have amazing top two pitchers, and dangerous hitters throughout the lineup.  Everyone seems to be picking Cards and Yanks in the World Series, but I really think the Phillies make it back.  This would be a great series though. Phillies in 7. 

World Series- Yankees vs. Phillies:  Could this be the year for the Yankees?  Honestly, I didn’t think I’d pick them to get this far.  I don’t think their pitching or their manager will be good enough to get the job done.  The Phillies can match the Yankees from the plate and have superior starting pitching.  I’ll take the Phils to repeat.  Phillies in 5.

Here’s your summary of what happened over the holiday weekend in our respective Divisions:

AL CENTRAL – Not a lot of movement within the division, but bats beginning to heat up.

Detroit (44-37) won first game 11-9 in Minny before dropping the next two games 3-4 and 2-6. Bat .224 on their road trip and Jim Leyland complains of his starting pitchers pitch counts going into sixth innings.  I see visits to Dr. James Andrews in your future.

Minnesota (43-40) took two of three from the Tigers at home. Mauer won’t bat .400 with this performance. “Only” bats .333 for the holiday weekend.

Chicago (AL) (42-40) – won the hard games, including roughing up Greinke on Friday, only to lose 4-6 and 3-6 to split the series. Sox need to be winning these series if they are going to catch up and possibly pass the rest of the division.

Kansas City (35-46) manages a split with the Sox in one of the rare 4 games series this week. Defense and baserunning woes still surprising awful for a major league team.

Cleveland (33-50) win 15-3 and 5-2 on the road in Oakland, before dropping Sunday’s game 2-5. In doing so, come a game closer from extricating themselves from the AL Cellar.

Division Standings

Team               GB

Detroit             —

Minnesota       2.0

Chicago (AL)    2.5

Kansas City      9.0

Cleveland        12.0

NL CENTRAL – Cards and Cubs advance at the expense of the Reds and Brewers.

St. Louis (45-39) bats ignite taking 2 of 3 on the road in Cincy, 7-4 on Friday, 2-5 on Saturday and rebounding to crush the Reds 10-1 on Sunday. Cards will be tough in second half.

Milwaukee (43-39) in dropping 3 of 4 to the Cubs look to be cracking at the seams. Ryan Braun seemed to state the obvious, the Brewers don’t have the arms to stick with the Cubs and Cards.

Chicago (40-39) – Spent the holiday winning a close game (2-1), losing a blowout (2-11) and winning in a rout themselves (8-2) on Sunday. We’ll see how adding Aramis Ramirez works to an offense that appears to have been sparked by the numerous I-Cubs contributions this month.

Cincinnati (40-40) – Micah Owings almost singlehandedly salvaged Saturday’s win for the Reds with a solid outing and a home run to help his cause.

Houston (39-41) – lose to the Big Unit and Lincecum 0-13 and 0-9 before throwing out Roy Oswalt to nail down the 7-1 victory on Sunday. Those two guys are good, but not that good. Houston…wait for it… you have a problem. Ha! Every time!

Pittsburgh (37-45) – lost 2 of 3 to the Marlins as the Marlins continue to surprise in the NL East with their stable of young arms.

Division Standings

Team               GB

Milwaukee      —

St. Louis           1.0

Chicago Cubs  2.5

Cincinnati        3.0

Houston           4.0

Pittsburgh        7.0

The explosion after the play at home was theatrical and hilarious, but there were some great quotes out of this whole thing. 

• Milton Bradley talking about his thoughts on the outburst:  “That was pretty impressive,” Bradley said. “It was on a Bradley level.”
• Reed Johnson on Z’s toss to left-center field: “I was kind of disappointed,” Reed Johnson said. “I thought it was going to go up into the stands. The wind was blowing in today.”
• Ryan Dempster talked about Z abusing the Gatorade fountain in the dugout just days after Dempster punched it himself: “They should be paying us for all the publicity we’ve given them,” Dempster said. “Everyone will want one now.”
• Finally Lou himself gets in on the humor: “I’m the only calm, cool collected one around here,” Piniella said, kiddingly.

Well, it’s nice that they can have some fun with it.  The Cubs can’t exactly be the darlings of the MLB front office this season.  With Bradley’s tirade and wild accusations to this fiasco, Selig is watching more tape on the Cubs than just about anyone.

Sometime Wednesday night, Jake hears about the deal from his agent and gets off the phone with Scott Linebrink.

Who the hell is Scott Linebrink?  I know my agent said I played with that guy, but wow he must suck.  He had good things to say about Chicago though.  Great city, great people.  But why the hell would I leave sunny San Diego?  Right, my team is awful and this is my chance to get out!  Besides, the South Side can’t be that bad as long as I get a ride to the park in a tank…or Buehrle’s truck. Better sleep on it.

Peavy falls asleep, dreams about life as a White Sox pitcher.

Not a bad game today, sure we lost 4-3, but Thornton gave up those runs after I was yanked in the seventh.  Plus, you’d think we could muster more offense than three solo homers.  Oh my God, is that Ozzie?  He’s got blood all over his face and he’s swinging a chain over his head!  Why is he yelling at me in Spanish?!! The only words I understand are pitch count, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland and 2005.  Oh shit he’s going to kill me.

Peavy wakes up.

Wow, that Ozzie Guillen is one scary sumbitch.  Whatever, I’ll check out the game today and see if I can make a decision.  I really want to get out of San Diego.

1st Inning

Alright, here we go let’s see what they’ve got.  Oh, Bartolo Colon is starting.  He’s not too bad but man, he hasn’t skipped a meal since, well ever.  1-0 after one isn’t too bad.  These are usually low scoring affairs when the Twins and Sox play and I’m used to that.

2nd Inning

Oh wow, seven runs in the second?  All unearned?  I guess I can add poor defense to the Cons side of the ledger, right under “that one time fans attacked a first base coach.”

4th Inning

I fell asleep there for a while, it’s kind of early out here.  Hmm, 10-0.  Was that another error by Betemit?  Who’s that guy they used to have at third base?  Oh yeah, there he is.  Man this isn’t looking too good, come to think of it the weather out here is so nice, and I really like the golf courses.

6th Inning

Look at all those singles and walks!  There’s Mauer with a grand slam.  I’m going to need more paper for the Cons side of this thing, seems like a lot of home runs flying out of this park.

8th Inning

20 to nothing?!!  Forget pitching for these guys, I can’t wait to hit against them.  Too bad they got rid of Nick Swisher, he could have stopped the bleeding a few innings ago.  Come to think of it, Nick left sunny California a couple years ago for Chicago.  Wonder how that worked out for him.

Gets a call from his agent Thursday afternoon.

Well, better give it to him straight.  “Tell them sorry, I’m scared of the AL.”

Now it seems that Peavy could be heading to the White Sox as the Sox and Padres have reportedly agreed to a deal that would send four players to San Diego for the ace.  Apparently the only step left is approval by Peavy, who called former teammate Scott Linebrink to do some scouting on Chicago.

A presence like Jake Peavy could drastically change things for the White Sox, who before winning their last two had been in a serious funk, dropping 5.5 games behind Detroit for the lead in the Central Division.

It’s been reported that the deal includes Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda.  They are both young lefties, with Poreda being a former #1 pick.  According to ESPN’s Peter Gammons, first round pick Gordon Beckham is not part of the trade.

This would be huge news for the Sox and we’ll try to keep you updated throughout the day.

**Update: Apparently Peavy has expressed that he wishes to remain in the NL, but there is still a possibility he okays the deal.

***Update: No deal

The first thing I thought was good for Jenks for shooting straight, followed quickly by the idea that he would almost certainly be suspended or fined a decent amount.  Well, he wasn’t suspended and he was fined $750 by the league. 

Wait, $750?  Now I’m not saying Jenks did something terrible and should be fined more, it’s just that the number really surprised me.  I mean, how often do you see a fine under a grand these days for something other than showing up late to the ballpark because you were out too late the night before.  The fine was certainly wimpy, but really MLB had to do something after Jenks came out and said it was intentional. 

It’s not like Jenks threw at Kinsler’s head, like Josh Beckett did a while back.  Like the big reliever said, if a half dozen of his players are going to get hit, he’s going to send a message.  It’s part of the game. 

I’m also looking at you Milwaukee.  The Brewers were complaining over the weekend about a pitch thrown “at Ryan Braun’s head.”  Pitches get away, it happens.  Plus, you look like idiots complaining about getting hit in the head when it clearly hit the bat.  It was a foul ball, move on. 

Really though, I’m just worried about whether Dempster is going to have to pay a fine equivalent to an expensive dinner tab.  Or in Jenks’ case, a moderate tab for his lunch.

Hmmm.  Here’s the problem: I think that shirt is really funny.  Does that make me racist?  I suppose so.  Either way this ranks somewhere between the Hory Kow shirts and flat-out dropping the N-bomb on Jacque Jones when he was playing the outfield.  Keep it up hillbilly Cardinal fans, Cubs fans can use all the help we can get on the issue of being racist.  Your efforts to make us seem less so relative to other fans are much appreciated.

First Drew Carey, owner of the MLS team in Seattle, got a beer dumped on him as his team was beating Toronto FC.  Canadians have been watching too many Phillies games apparently.  Then Monday night while the Blue Jays were dismantling the Tigers, fans thought it would be a good idea to throw a couple of baseballs at Tigers left-fielder Josh Anderson.  Then all kinds of debris started coming from the stands and the players were pulled off the field for about 10 minutes.  Jim Leyland had the quote of the night:

 ”Ice-cold Labatts and a big win for the Blue Jays — they were having a great time,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.

In response to this chicanery, Toronto has banned alcohol sales at sporting events for a while.  This is sure to do no good, since we know fans will just put down a few cases of beer before the game and then there’s that one speakeasy out in right-center where you can get a hollowed-out bat with whiskey or Labatts inside.

CUBS

• Soriano had a great game, launching the second pitch into the stands.  Maybe this guy will be okay hitting leadoff.
• 2-3-4 (Fukudome, Lee, Bradley) in the order looked terrible, going a combined 0-9 with a walk.
• Fontenot looks amazing, he made great contact all day and it showed with a 3 for 4 performance.  Mark DeWho?
• My personal “Bradley Injury Scare” count is up to 2 already.  He rolled his ankle trotting to first base and he misplayed a ball in the outfield terribly and came crashing down on his shoulder/head.  Take deep breaths Cubs fans.
• Soto threw someone out! (barely)
• Zambrano didn’t throw a perfect game, but he looked very good.  Heilman came in and got a big double-play.  Marmol’s slider looked filthy.  Gregg made things a little bumpy, but got the save.  Someone told me Gregg is a “fly-ball” pitcher.  I’m sure that will be fun to watch all season. (“Honey!  Get my heart medicine!”)
• Did Fukudome work on his swing at all this off-season?  He was flailing at garbage and hitting weak grounders.
• Ramirez hit a bomb and was grinning ear-to-ear in the dugout afterwards.

Around the League

• The White Sox may have set the record for “Best Weather to Cancel a Game in”.
• It looks like K-Rod will be handling the New York media just fine.  Especially if he keeps throwing those filthy pitches.
• What’s with aces getting lit up yesterday? Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb and (gulp) C.C. Sabathia all looked terrible.
• Ok so some nobody named Emilio Bonifacio went 4-5 with a HR and 3 steals for the Marlins yesterday.  How the f#$% was this guy already picked up in my fantasy league by 6 pm?
• Who would have thought the Seattle-Minnesota game would be interesting?  Not only did Felix Hernandez dominate, but Griffey hit a home run.  For Seattle.  I love that he’s back in Seattle, that swing somehow looks even sweeter in an M’s jersey.  I feel like its 1998.  Let’s go play Super Nintendo while mom makes us some pizza rolls.
• The Tigers have some serious pitching issues.
• Speaking of pitching issues, what’s the deal in Oakland?  The only guy I’ve heard of is Dana Eveland, but is he even that good?  Some guy named Braden pitched for them yesterday, and he looked okay I guess.
• The NY Times are picking the Royals to win the AL Central.  God that division sucks.