if Smoak and/or Alonso are available and the Sox take Wallace anyways?

He was almost at 2B, following over, picking it barehanded, and he had enough of a gun to get it to 1B easily. It was impressive.

It was almost up to Lee Elia proportions.

...getting some Wednesday drink on. Sox were up 4-2 in the 7th, but the bar I was at turned the TV to the Cubs (booo!).

I turned to my friend and said “eh, 4-2 lead going into the 8th, with Linebrink and Jenks that’s automatic.”

Only later did I catch the game in the 12th, thinking wtf! So sorry, I jinxed Jenks.

But hey, a win is a win.

and heres a link to a terrible quality video of esteban warming up in the 15th…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KPDDKfKPnfU

i saw his last name was Boston… anyone know who this guy is?

Did he touch the plate, or didn’t he? I thought that it looked like his foot likely scraped it. Even if it was just his heel.

1. As impressive (to me) as ARam’s bare-handed pickups were, his pivot and throw on the DP were great too.

2. When the appeal play at home erased the run, did Hawk say “you can take it off the board”?

3. Not hearing the game, did they say how far Thome’s HR went? Watching, I’d guess about 500 feet.

4. And what kind of fans allow the 3B to make that play into the seats? My kids were taught that anything over the wall was fair game if the Sox were hitting. If not, back away and keep others away from messing it up. Fans should’ve been in a scrum for the ball, and come up with it.

Thomer/PK/Crede (well, he acts old) HR’s merit some sort of mention.

(Obama steamrolls us all. Get used to it.)

Lastly, viva Slash! Everyone on board the A-Ram train? All I can say is, thank Christ for injuries, or we might still be seeing Owens and Uribe in the everyday lineup instead of Q! and Slash. You think Ozzie was cranky Sunday, he would’ve been Mt. Vesuvius if he had to watch those mutts swinging and dinking/missing.

Any update on his wrist?

“Tampa Bay opts for talented Georgia high school shortstop”

tonight’s preview (all royals, this time but still amusing)

Matchup: Royals (23-36) at White Sox (32-26), 7:11 p.m. CT
Probable Starters: Gil Meche (70 2/3 IP, 5.35 RA, 1.42 WHIP, 54 K) vs. Jose Contreras (74 2/3, 3.01, 1.06, 47)
Pythagorean Record: Kansas City, 23-36 (216 RS, 275 RA); Chicago, 34-24 (259 RS, 218 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Kansas City, #26; Chicago, #8
Prospectus: There have been a mere handful of hitters over the last 30-plus seasons who performed as poorly as Tony Pena Jr. has this year. Since 1970, Pena has the third lowest EqA among players with a minimum of 164 plate appearances:

Player Year Team EqA
Vic Harris 1972 TEX .061
Angel Salazar 1984 MON .066
Tony Pena 2008 KCA .070
Bob Didier 1970 ATL .093
Luis Pujols 1978 HOU .099
Tim Bogar 1998 HOU .105
John Vukovich 1971 PHI .109
Bucky Dent 1982 NYY .112
Doug Flynn 1977 NYM .120
Doug Strange 1998 PIT .127
Larry Brown 1971 OAK .130

If the Royals continue to play him everyday—and he continues to disappoint—Pena may find himself atop this list of players with the lowest EqAs since 1970 in a minimum of 450 plate appearances:

Player Year Team EqA
Larry Bowa 1973 PHI .172
Bob Boone 1984 CAL .184
Tommy Helsm 1970 CIN .184
Tim Johnson 1973 MIL .186
Hal Lanier 1970 SF .186
Dal Maxvill 1970 STL .188
Jack Heidemar 1970 CLE .189
Cristian Guzman 1999 MIN .190
Coco Laboy 1970 MON .191
Cesar Izturis 2002 LAD .192

The defense for Pena last year, when he hit .267/.284/.356, was that his defense made up for his bat to the degree that he was a better option than the recently ousted Angel Berroa, who could neither hit (.248/.271/.356 with a .209 EqA) nor field (-6 FRAA) in 2006. Pena was able to field, with +13 FRAA last year, which helped make up for his -25 BRAA to a degree—sadly 12 runs below average was an improvement over Berroa’s -23 from the year before—but this year he’s having difficulty fielding as well. According to Rate, Pena’s defense is four runs below average for every 100 games played, and he’s already cost the Royals two runs defensively in addition to his issues at the plate. John Dewan’s Revised Zone Rating agrees with this assessment as well, with Pena ranking 14th out of 21 qualified shortstops.

Pena’s .198 BABIP is 110 points below his expected BABIP, but even adjusting for that gives him a line of .212/.236/.263 for the year. At this point, Ozzie Smith’s defense would have a hard time making up for the lack of production in Pena’s bat, and it may be time for the Royals to look elsewhere for a shortstop…again. Indeed, Royals’ manager Trey Hillman recently said that German Duran will get an “extended look” at the position, and if he performs at least adequately then we might not have a chance at seeing a historically bad season from Pena, which would surely be in the best interest of Royals’ fans mental state.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7623

Crazy stuff their. Cooper may indeed by a miracle worker, as he seems to be squeezing stuff out of reclamation projects that other people cannot.

“Who am I going to blame if my team is not hitting? My wife?” Guillen asked.

cheat, can you put a quote on the front page like in SSS1?