Morning Wood

Chicago White Sox 4 Los Angeles Angels 3

While it was pretty weird to see Jon Garland pitching in a different uniform, and doing so against the White Sox, it didn't take long to get over it. It was the same Jon Garland Sox fans saw for a while, he got into some trouble early, but then settled into a groove. Garland gave up 7 hits and walked 4 during his six innings, but he worked his way out of jams.

Or the White Sox offense let him out, I guess it depends on your view. Yeah, Garland wasn't the only familiar looking aspect to last night's game. All three Angels runs came via mistakes by the White Sox defense. Carlos Quentin, Orlando Cabrera, and Joe Crede all let a pop up drop between them in the first that led to two Angels runs, and Crede's error in the seventh allowed a third run to cross the plate and tie the game.

Fortunately, A.J. Pierzynski is hitting, and he hit his second double of the night to lead off the ninth. Carlos Quentin then got him over to third with a deep fly ball, and after Jermaine Dye popped up for the second out, the White Sox actually got a clutch hit. Jim Thome picked up his first hit of the four-game series, and first career hit off of Francisco Rodriguez to bring A.J. home. Bobby Jenks would take care of it from there, pitching a perfect ninth to get the save.

Chicago Cubs 4 San Diego Padres 0

Okay, so if Ryan Dempster is going to keep pitching like he did yesterday afternoon, I may have to start taking him seriously (and it's hard to take a man who thinks he's a ninja seriously). He had a pretty good effort out there on Thursday, you know, for a Canadian.

Dempster struck out a career-high 12 in 8.1 shutout innings, and feeling as though that wasn't enough, he also singled home the first run in a four-run fifth inning that provided all the scoring. Oddly enough, Ryan had his best performance against the man he called his mentor, Greg Maddux.

"He's probably the greatest teammate I ever had," said Dempster, teammates with Maddux during 2½ seasons in Chicago. "Just his ability to truly go out to the mound and take it one pitch at a time, no matter what the situation, what inning it is, how many people are on base, what the score is. Just keep trying to execute pitches. That's what I've been trying to do. He really took that to its fullest."

Speaking of Maddux, if this turns out to be his last start in Wrigley Field, it's safe to say he's not going to remember it very long. Greg lasted only 4.1 innings, allowing all four runs and eleven hits.

AL

• Indians 4 A's 2
• Jays 3 Twins 2
• Royals 8 Tigers 4
• Rays 5 Yankees 2

NL

• Dodgers 7 Brewers 2
• Nats 1 Mets 0
• Pirates 11 Cardinals 5
• Astros 8 Giants 7
• Phillies 5 Braves 0
• DBacks 8 Rockies 5

Ryan Braun Is Rich

Oh to be a young and talented baseball player these days....

It was announced earlier today that the Milwaukee Brewers have signed left fielder Ryan Braun to an 8-year $45 million contract extension that's going to keep Ryan in a Brewers uniform until 2015 (which will go down in history as the year Prince Fielder ate Milwaukee)...

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Gary Sheffield's Outfield Dream Is Over

Remember earlier this week when I told you about how happy playing in the outfield makes Gary Sheffield? How the grass looks greener, the air smells sweeter, the ball looks bigger, and life just seems better for Gary when he's not relegated to a role as a designated hitter. I hope Gary cherished those memories of chasing down fly balls, because he's not going to get the chance to do it too much in the near future.

The Black Lung has pulled the plug on the experiment...

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The Indians Are Finally in First

It took a lot longer than expected, but it's starting to look like order has finally been restored to the AL Central. After the first month and a half of the season saw the Twins and White Sox splitting time as division leaders, the two teams who were supposed to win the division, Cleveland and Detroit, were spending their time at the bottom of the division with Kansas City.

Well, although Detroit is still struggling at the bottom, the Indians have finally climbed over everybody and reached first place. Let me say, it's about damn time...

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My Friends And Colleagues Know Nothing

Yesterday a very interesting question started bouncing around in the MLB FanHouse Google group, and it's one that brought a lot of surprising answers. The question was, if you were starting your own baseball franchise, and could pick any one current pitcher and batter to start your team with, who would you pick?

I liked the question so much that I even started texting other friends with it as well, to see what they say. I didn't quite get all the answers. Here's a recap of who picked who.

• PostmanE - Clay Bucholz and David Wright
• Josh Alper - Brandon Webb and David Wright
• PostmanR - Cole Hamels and Jose Reyes
• Matt Watson - Jake Peavy and Chase Utley
• Mullet - Johan Santana and Manny Ramirez
• Will Brinson - Cole Hamels and David Wright
• Andrew Johnson - Brandon Webb and Justin Upton
• Jon Bois - Brandon Webb and Hanley Ramirez
• Pat Lackey - Jake Peavy and Chase Utley
• Nick Dallamora - Fausto Carmona and Hanley Ramirez
• Panger - Ervin Johan Santana and Lance Berkman
  
• JoeyMac - Johan Santana and Chase Utley
• My friend Bill - Johan Santana and Alex Rodriguez

Now take a closer look at that list. Do you see one glaring omission on everybody's list?

Fifteen people answered this question, and of those fifteen, only two of them know what they're talking about. Who are those two people? Why they would be Silvio and I. Here are our picks.

• Silvio - Jake Peavy and Albert Pujols
• Fornelli - Brandon Webb and Albert Pujols

The question I have for the other thirteen people who answered this question now is: How the hell can you choose any other hitter in the league right now than Albert Pujols?

I get the variety in the pitchers chosen, because there are a lot of good pitchers in the game today, and they tend to be streaky. What I don't get is how anybody in their right mind can choose David Wright or Hanley Ramirez over Pujols. Don't get me wrong, they're both good players, as are all the other guys named, but none of them are Pujols.

He's the most feared hitter in the game, why would you want anybody else?

So far this season Albert is hitting .355/.505/.601, with eight homers and 27 RBI. No, that isn't a misprint either, he actually has an OBP of .505. He's on base over half the time.

This isn't exactly a new trend for Albert, either, as in his career he's a .332/.423/.620 hitter, and has averaged 40 home runs, 123 RBI, and 85 walks a season. He's already been walked 41 times in 2008, so I'm guessing that he's going to go well over his career high 0f 99 last season.

Also, did I mention that he's a Gold Glover at first base? And that he's still only 28?

Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, and Chase Utley are all going to have nice careers when things are said and done, but I'll guarantee you they won't come close to anything Albert is going to do.

I'd love to hear what the rest of you think in the comments.

On Deck: Day Games Galore

There are thirteen games on the schedule today in baseball, and nine of them are going to be played under the sun, the way the baseball gods intended it to be. So I figure I may as well feature the team that plays more day games than anybody else in baseball, the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs offense has been mashing the ball all season long, and now Alfonso Soriano has finally joined in on the fun, as he's homered in three straight games (leading off the last two). Soriano is hitting .487 on the current 10-game homestand for the Cubs, a homestand that Chicago is off to a 5-1 start on.

Today will also mark the debut of Jim Edmonds in a Cubs uniform, as what most Cubs fans would surely consider a sign of the apocalypse becomes reality today. Why the Cubs would need Edmonds, I don't know, but they got him...

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Morning Wood

Chicago White Sox 6 Los Angeles Angels 1

You may remember a few weeks ago when Ozzie Guillen had that little rant in Toronto towards the fans and media of Chicago. In between the f-bombs, Ozzie criticized fans for telling him that he should jumble the lineup. We were basically assholes for this.

Well, Ozzie finally made some big changes to the lineup last night, and whaddya know! It worked! A.J. Pierzynski moved up to second in the lineup, Carlos Quentin hit third, and Jim Thome and Paul Konerko were both moved down to fifth and sixth respectively.

The lineup change worked perfectly in the 8th inning, as Juan Uribe led the inning off with a single, Orlando Cabrera singled behind him, A.J. was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Carlos Quentin emptied them with a grand slam. See what happens when you put all the guys that actually are hitting next to each other in a lineup?

"You hit where you hit and you move on. I mean, you can't really try to overthink it," Pierzynski said. "The two hole is probably the highest I've ever hit. It's something different. Ozzie shook it up and it worked, so I'm sure we'll probably have the same one tomorrow."

As for Quentin, he's awesome. He now leads the American League in home runs (10) and RBI (34). Everytime he does something good, I feel bad for the way I spent all offseason ripping on him.

Chicago Cubs 8 San Diego Padres 5

Both Ted Lilly and Alfonso Soriano are heating up for the Cubs. Soriano homered again last night, leading off the game for the second straight night with a homer, and Ted Lilly struck out eleven Padres to pick up his third straight win.

It's the second start in a row for Lilly in which he got his strikeout total into double digits, the first time the soft-tossing lefty has done that in his career.

"I don't think I just stand out there and try to throw fastballs by guys," said Lilly. "I have to mix my pitches and change speeds and locate the ball and things like that. And at times, when I got my curveball going, I'm going to get some strikeouts on it. But I'm not going to say I'm a power pitcher."

The Cubs took it to Jake Peavy, knocking him out after only four innings, and putting things away in the fifth inning on a two-run blast from Geovany Soto.

AL

• Mariners 4 Rangers 3
• Orioles 6 Red Sox 3
• Indians 2 A's 1
• Yankees 2 Rays 1
• Royals 2 Tigers 0
• Jays 6 Twins 5

NL

• Braves 8 Phillies 6
• Reds 7 Marlins 6
• Nats 5 Mets 3
• Dodgers 6 Brewers 4
• Cardinals 5 Pirates 1
• DBacks 4 Rockies 3
• Astros 6 Giants 3

On Deck: Lackey's Backey

While most of the world knows John Lackey as our very own Pat Lackey's older, harder-throwing, better-smelling, and much smarter estranged brother, he's better known in southern California as the ace of the Angels pitching staff (Pat , on the other hand, was turned down by the Angels when he applied to become the new rally monkey).

Lackey won 19 games for the Angels last season, and helped lead them to another AL West division crown, but he hasn't been available to the team at all this season. Of course, his absence hasn't done much to keep the Angels out of first place...

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Livan Hernandez Isn't Going Anywhere

It seems like Livan Hernandez has been around forever, as that 1997 World Series MVP award of his seems like an ancient memory. It's just hard to believe that Livan is only 33 years old (at least we're told he is, E:60 is still working on finding out the truth). He's also been a pleasant surprise for the Twins this season, because even though Minnesota knew he would eat up innings, I don't think they were expecting him to get off to a 6-1 start....

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Joe Crede Still Likes Chicago

While most of the talk surrounding Joe Crede, his back, and his impending free agency that dominated White Sox spring training seems to have died down a bit, it hasn't changed the fact that the White Sox still aren't sure what they'd like to do with their third baseman. Crede got off to a real hot start in April, and is hitting .270/.345/.500 to be one of the only consistently productive hitters in the Sox lineup (though all seven of his homers and 22 of his 25 RBI came in April).

HIs back has also stood up to the beating that comes with playing third base on a daily basis, so overall, it looks like the old Joe Crede is back. So what are the White Sox going to do...

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This Makes No Sense

So all signs are indicating that the Cubs are about to sign Jim Edmonds, and for the most part, it's not a very popular move amongst Cubs fans. Which is entirely understandable, as Edmonds is a former Cardinal and has been a Cub-killer in his career.

I think the move is idiotic as well, but not for any reason having to do with the Cardinals. No, I'm more opposed to it because Edmonds sucks.

He used to be pretty good, but those days seem to have passed him by.

He seems to spend a lot of his time on the disabled list the last few years, his once golden glove is looking a bit more rusty these days, and he can't really hit anymore either. I mean, there's a reason the Padres released him earlier this season. If Edmonds wasn't good enough for a team that's currently 15-25, how exactly is he supposed to help the Cubs?

I know that Lou Piniella wants another left-handed bat in the lineup, but I don't think Edmonds should be that bat. The biggest reason for this is that it's going to send Felix Pie down to Iowa again so he can get some at bats, and hopefully reach that potential the Cubs have told us about for so long.

But when you think about it, how exactly are Felix Pie and Jim Edmonds any different from each other right now? Let's compare their numbers.

In 90 at bats this season, Edmonds is hitting .178/.265/.233, with one homer and 7 RBI while striking out once every 3.75 at bats.

In 63 at bats this season, Pie is hitting .222/.286/.286, with one homer and 6 RBI while striking out once every 2.73 at bats.

So Pie is hitting for higher numbers across the board, and has the same power production in 30 less at bats, but does strike out a little more. Though, both Edmonds and Pie strike out at alarming enough rates that it doesn't make much of a difference.

On defense, Pie is far superior to Edmonds at this point.

So if the Cubs want Felix Pie to get some at bats, why can't they just give them to him in the Majors? They have a strong enough offense that they can sacrifice one spot in the lineup for defense. At least Felix has the potential to become something.

Edmonds on the other hand will give you nothing more than Pie can, except the Cubs will be placing him in the middle of the order, and he's not as strong defensively. It just makes no sense.

Morning Wood

Los Angeles Angels 2 Chicago White Sox 0

This 10-game west coast trip started out so well, but after winning the first two games of the trip, the Sox have now lost three in a row. Last night was basically a repeat performance of any of the six games from the last road trip, as the Sox were only able to manage one hit against Jered Weaver, and only three overall.

The same Jered Weaver who had a 7.02 ERA in his last six starts. I'm sure the Sox are happy to have helped him break out of it. First the pink beards, and now this, these guys are so charitable!

"I just went out there and tried to pitch like the old Jered, and it came out all right," Weaver said. "It was just adjustments with mechanics in the bullpen between starts. Me and [pitching coach Mike] Butcher were able to clean some stuff up."

The Angels couldn't get to John Danks, either, but they were able to get to the Sox bullpen as both Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton gave up a run in the 7th inning.

San Diego Padres 4 Chicago Cubs 3

Whereas the White Sox were kind enough to help Jered Weaver get back on track, he'd only been struggling for his last six starts. The Cubs, who seem to be doing everything better than the Sox these days, helped a guy win his first game in three years on Tuesday.

Shawn Estes-whom I thought was dead-picked up the 100th victory of his career, and his first since 2005 by holding the Cubs to three runs in 5.1 innings. Khalil Greene provided the big blow for San Diego, hitting a three-run homer to cap a four-run fourth inning out in the rain.

"I didn't think I was going to make it back last year. I was going through a lot of pain in my elbow again," said Estes. "I came into spring training having to deal with the mental side of pitching again and having to make a team and having to swallow my pride a little bit and going back to Triple-A to get things right."

If there was any good news for the Cubs, it was that Alfonso Soriano stayed hot, as he led the game off with another home run.

AL

• Orioles 5 Red Sox 4
• Indians 4 A's 0
• Rays 2 Yankees 1
• Rangers 5 Mariners 2
• Royals 3 Tigers 2
• Jays 5 Twins 3

NL

• Phillies 5 Braves 4
• Reds 5 Marlins 3
• Mets 6 Nats 3
• Brewers 5 Dodgers 3
• Pirates 8 Cardinals 4
• DBacks 8 Rockies 4
• Giants 4 Astros 2

On Deck: Round Two in Arlington

Let's start today's On Deck by taking a trip in the FanHouse Time Machine. We're going to go all the way back to May 8th, 2008. The world was a different place back then. Ok, so the world was really any different as all, as it was just five days ago, but it was sort of exciting!

That was the day when Richie Sexson threw his helmet and charged Kason Gabbard after taking exception to a pitch. Sexson thought that Gabbard's eye-high fastball was meant for his face even though it was over the heart of the plate, and he took umbrage...

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Is Jhonny Peralta About to Lose His Job?

You saw a glimpse of it earlier, thanks to Will's posting of Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple-play on Monday, but that's not the only play Cabrera has made for the Indians in the field this season. His defense, be it at second base or at shortstop, has been hard not to notice. Particularly the last few days when Asdrubal filled in for the struggling Jhonny Peralta at short.

The difference between Cabrera and Peralta in the field is hard to miss. Asdrubal has more range to his left and right, and this was evident on quite a few plays over the weekend...

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Wrigley and the Cubs Are a Package Deal

While Sam Zell has "threatened" to do a lot of things with the Cubs that Cubs fans aren't too fond of, like sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field, he's yet to actually do anything. Zell was hoping that he'd be able to sell Wrigley Field and the Cubs as seperate entities in hopes of maximizing his profits, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anymore...

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There Can Only Be One

The best part of the NBA's "There Can Only Be One" ad campaign is that it's so easy to parody. Well, that and it's just a good idea. I mean, Time Magazine is ripping it off as well.

And you just knew it was only a matter of time before somebody did something like this.

Jim Leyland Isn't Giving Up Yet

Now that we're about a quarter of the way into the season, it's a lot easier to start judging teams based on what we've seen from them and their performance. When the Tigers started the season 0-7, it was easy to say that they sucked, but really, we had no idea. We had to see them play a lot more before making that judgement.

Now that they're about 40 games into the season, you can make a lot more of an educated guess as to how things are going to work out in Detroit. You see that the offense is still struggling, particularly with runners in scoring position, and that the pitching is still inconsistent...

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Zack Greinke and John Buck Are Open to Negotiating, Is Kansas City?

The growing trend in baseball is for teams to sign their young players to contract extensions in hopes of locking them up before they become too expensive. While it's a smart financial move for all teams, it's generally a real good move for teams with lower payrolls. The Indians started it with Grady Sizemore a few years ago, then the Rockies followed suit with Troy Tulowitzki. This season it's been Evan Longoria and Hanley Ramirez reaping the rewards of baseball's new trend.

One smaller market team that is yet to adapt to this new philosophy is the Kansas City Royals...

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Morning Wood

Chicago Cubs 12 San Diego Padres 3

Man, the Cubs better sign Jim Edmonds as soon as possible, because they really need that left-handed bat (currently hitting .178/.265/.233) in the lineup on Monday night. I mean, that offense is strugggggling.

Alfonso Soriano homered again, all of a sudden nobody's complaining about him, and the Cubs blew up for 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to give Carlos Zambrano more support than he would need.

"I think we have a very good lineup, very balanced," said Alfonso Soriano, who homered in the fifth and is 7-for-14 during the Cubs' four-game winning streak. "Be more aggressive and, at the same time, selective at home plate. That's what I try to do because I know when I swing at a strike, I know that I hit the ball very hard."

That's four in a row, and with the Cardinals loss, the Cubs are back in first place. Get your World Series tickets now.

Los Angeles Angels 10 Chicago White Sox 7

Mark Buehrle continued to struggle, giving up six runs in 5.2 innings and dropping to 1-5 this season. To be fair, he didn't get much help from his defense, particularly, Juan Uribe.

Uribe blew what would have been two double plays when he bobbled the ball both times, thereby undoing any good karma he had for driving two runs in during the 2nd inning. Maybe the team will float a rumor around tomorrow that Uribe's about to get released, it seemed to work pretty well the first time.

Overall it was just an odd game, as any ball that was hit hard seemed to result in an out or double play. Save for Vladimir Guerrero's homer and A.J.'s two doubles. There were 28 hits in this game, and I swear 25 of them were on broken bats or infield singles. Yet the two teams still managed to score 17 runs. Go figure.

AL

• Indians 3 Jays 0 GM1
• Jays 3 Indians 0 GM2
• Twins 7 Red Sox 3
• Rays 7 Yankees 1
• Rangers 13 Mariners 12

NL

• Pirates 5 Braves 0 GM1
• Braves 8 Pirates 1 GM2
• Reds 8 Marlins 7
• Nats 10 Mets 4
• Brewers 8 Cardinals 3
• Astros 7 Giants 3

Jon Garland Knows How To Deal With Ozzie

With the White Sox starting a four-game series against the Angels in Anaheim tonight, it marks the first time that Angels pitcher Jon Garland will have a chance to face his former team. Garland is scheduled to start against the Sox on Thursday (a day after John Lackey makes his first start of the season), but instead of asking Jon about that, all anybody really wanted to know was how he felt about playing for Ozzie Guillen.

Garland probably had the best approach of anyone in the White Sox clubhouse. Ignore him...

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