Bruiser Chong

From an article about the possible Murton/Bynum platoon: This is the incident Al's mentioned a couple of times; I'd love to actually hear this.

He did have one; much better than this bootleg-looking one, too.

Padres fired their hitting coach, Dave Magadan. They're averaging five+ runs a game on the road, so their outfield being the size of a football field may have something to do with their lack of production overall.

Marlins pull off another win behind Ricky Nolasco. The win is his fifth, giving him more than anyone in the Cubs' rotation. He doesn't have amazing stuff, but he'd probably be a nice fit in there considering we're still looking to Rusch for starts. Oh, and that win gives them 26 on the season, meaning the Cubs have more wins than the Royals and that's it.

Joaquin Benoit has pitched two innings of relief and thrown only six fewer pitches than Buerhle's thrown through five.

I love how Ozzie tried to cover it up by saying he was so animated over something else. If he really wanted the kid to hit Blalock, he should've just told him to pitch as normal. The kid has no command, as he displayed on Sunday against the Tribe.

Good. I can't stand this childish unwritten rule that you must hit the opposing team after they hit you, especially when it wasn't intentional.

A quick look at the standings reveals that for the Cubs' $95 million, they have more wins than Florida and Kansas City. We need a manager who takes some initiative and doesn't always look like he's some good ol' boy sitting on his porch in Alabama.

If the Cubs get someone on, you can bet they'll ground into a DP almost everytime. This loss is gonna put them 13 under. Are we still waiting for Lee/Wood/Miller/Prior or can this abortion of an organization admit they made a mistake for once and make some coaching changes? I doubt it.

If he's playing the Cubs. I just read that Bynum may have worked his way into a possible platoon situation with Murton. Um, yeah. Why's there any debate about Dusty's extension?

And just like that, 3-2 Astros. Cubs got jobbed on that play at second where Cedeno's foot was clearly on the base. But hey, at least we got another classic Jacque Jones throw INTO the ground on a possible play at home.

Only the Cubs would lead off with a triple and not score. I sense another wasted Carlos Zambrano outing.

Mark Prior's coming off the DL to face the Tigers on Sunday. Unfortunately, it won't be in time to keep us from seeing another Glendon Rusch outing.

Fair enough. I always thought you were an A's fan. He's never walked much in his career. The only reason people weren't fainting over his terrible OBP last season was because it looked marginally decent because of his hot start. Of course, his inability to draw walks means nothing to Dusty, who thinks speed is more important than actually getting on base. If you aren't fast and get on base, well then you're just clogging them up. The same thing happened his final weeks in Chicago. I don't think it was ever in the cards to bring him back, but the way he fizzled out those final weeks after a great season, probablyprevented much of an uproar from the fanbase. I've had the Extra Innings package for two and a half seasons and I don't think I've ever gotten the Phillies' feed. I really enjoy Scully; my only complaint is his tone never really changes based on what's happening. We know he's a Dodgers fan, but he sounds the same whether something falls their way or doesn't.

*waits for someone to say Bud, Miller, or Coors*

He must be really rich and have alot of free time or very stupid to spend 1600 dollars on dvd's. I believe his justification was he was just "living it up" and/or film was something he liked to study/analyze. Or something. I love film, too, but unless I had an endless supply of bank, I'm not spending that much on DVDs.

banky: when did you become such a Tigers fan?

Randy Johnson just got thrown out after drilling the batter after Posada got hit and overreacted earlier. Of course, John Kruk endorses it. And the Cubs should probably trade Maddux while he's still got some value left. He's looked awful since May.

I was going to post the same thing, but the board was having some issues earlier. What was the point of getting Phil Nevin if it means Dusty's going to bench Todd Walker every time Nevin starts? I thought the point was to get some potential power; not find a way to get Neifi Perez and Tony Womack more starts at second.

They're only where they are because of the homegrown talent. Pudge has been okay, but not what people were expecting for the kind of bucks he got. Same goes for Ordonez. Signing Troy Percival was one of the stupidest moves made in the 2004 off-season and I think the Tigers front office and maybe six fans were expecting Todd Jones to be the guy they saw in 2005. If Kenny Rogers stays true to form, he'll experience a somewhat significant dropoff in the second half. I don't think any of the free agent signings have pushed them over the top. It's just a matter of developing solid talent and the kids they had on the team in 2003 growing into very good players.

I started to make a post about how many bad moves the Tigers have made in the past couple of off-seasons, decided against it, then went and read they're interested in Jeromy Burnitz and here I am again.

A-Rod does not have "it!" Why don't they just trade him to a team that actually appreciates him?

Alfonseca just got DFA by the Rangers, so he IS available. And jeez, Dave Veres, I forgot all about him. I tend to forget how awful the Cubs' pen was in 2003. You almost side with Dusty on keeping his starters out there as long as he did when you consider they had guys like Alfonseca, Veres, Farnsworth, and Mark Guthrie waiting down there.

Jesus, what an inning. Sox down by eight in the 9th and actually manage to bring the tying run to the plate. And this was after Konerko, Dye and Crede had been taken out of the game. Impressive by the Sox, but a further example of how awful this Tribe pen is.

I think the Padres and Giants are two of the dullest, most uncompelling teams in the NL.