sammy just took a pitch to the head. scary sight, and bizarrely familiar. not sure i've ever heard of anyone getting hit in the head twice in one career.

this one wasn't nearly as bad as the one in pittsburgh, but it was still scary. sammy was shaken up and left the game. hope he's ok. i may be in the minority here, but i'm happy he's playing decently this year, and am looking forward to him hitting #600.

(as i type this, kyle farnsworth slipped on the mound during his follow through. the yanks entire coaching staff jumped up thinking "please don't let him be hurt!" i just kept thinking "please don't let those tight pants rip!")

went to a couple of games out here this week.

first, saw marco scutaro beat the yanks with a walk off dong.

then saw the giants beat the hated cardinals in extras last night. well, to be honest, i saw barry bonds tie up the game at 5. then i left, because it was freezing. in the 40's, windy. but more importantly, these two teams are horrible. just awful. pathetic at bat, followed by pathetic at bat. it's amazing that either of them ever win a game. i mean, the cubs are talented and find stupid ways to lose. these teams are just horrid.

basically, if bonds doesn't hit, the giants don't win. and if pujols doesn't hit, the cardinals are pretty bad. eckstein had two really nice, long, vintage eckstein at bats, one of which started a two out rally. and omar vizquel is still an amazing fielder. but other than that, it's pretty bleak.

as for the parks and the fans, well...both parks offer surprisingly good views. the oakland coliseum is kind of a dump. but it's dirt cheap ($28 for a box seat four rows off the field). AT&T is really nice, really well done...but pretty expensive.

and the fans of both teams are unbelievably quiet. they never really make any noise. 2 outs and your pitcher's got two strikes on him? no noise. men in scoring position? no noise. barry's not up? not a sound. kind of pathetic, really...

has anyone seen the farns, kyle farnsworth lately? he's pitching against the twins right now...he's shaved his head and is wearing some weird, super thin, metrosexual glasses. strange. and of course he's still wearing his nut huggers...

oh, and he just gave up two runs on hanging curveballs and terrible location on his fastball. after walking the leadoff hitter, of course.

joe torre looks like he's gonna go strangle him.

looking for some help from Extra Inning's veterans...i've got comcast, and just signed up for EI. the little guide on the channels says today's game is on game 14, but my cable only goes up to game 10. any idea where channel 14 is? am i not gonna get this game because i have comcast? is that a directTV only thing? thanks for any help...

thought some people here might enjoy this link. it's a website featuring baseball cards for each of the wrigley beer vendors. at the very least, check it out just for the excellent logo they've designed. and while i rarely drink at baseball games, and hate the beer garden vibe wrigley sometimes has, this is still a great site...

http://www.beervendors.com/

things are getting interesting. the white sox, red sox and cardinals are all stumbling a bit, and seem to be in some trouble. they all appear to have peaked a bit too early.

the red sox bullpen ranks dead last in the AL in ERA.

the white sox have lost 6 straight, and are looking mighty beatable.

scott rolen looks like he may be done for the year, and the cardinals are definitely beatable. the a's and astros have come back to earth, and are going to have to be firing on all cylinders to win their respective wild cards.

even the angels are just playing well, not great.

at the moment, the indians and marlins are the hot teams. the funny thing about the wild card, is that the team that wins the wild card is generally the hottest team at the end of the year. they play their best ball at the most important time, and are usually the most dangerous team come playoff time.

could either the cardinals or the white sox be reeled in? and will a sub .500 team win the NL west? could be a great finish to this year...

out for 4-6 weeks with a torn tendon in his ankle. the twins just can't seem to have a breakthrough year...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2119975

"Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter has a torn tendon in his left ankle and will be sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks, ESPN's Harold Reynolds learned Friday night.

Hunter, who was taken off the field on a stretcher, will remain with the Twins through the weekend, then fly back to Minnesota on Monday to have an MRI. The MRI should determine if the damage is more extensive."

what are they? surely all booing and heckling can't be off limits. let's talk about it.

here's a couple that should be a start.

when the player is on your home team:

1. it is ok to boo when a player is openly dogging it. however, just generally sucking is not ok to boo, if said player seems to be legitmately trying to achieve. (examples of boo-worthy behavior: not running out ground balls, not hitting cut off men, not hustling on defense)
2. it is ok to boo when a player has done something horrible off the field (for example, beaten his wife, run over a kid in his car, gotten a dui, etc.)

just booing a guy who's not playing real well shows a lack of understanding of baseball, and makes wrigley a more and more embarassing place to take in a game.

when a player is on an opposing team:

1. it's ok to boo a player who is great, just because you don't like the team he's on. it's not a big deal. just part of baseball.
2. same as #2 above.
3. in fact, it's probably ok to boo a guy who isn't great, but just hit a home run or somehow ruined the cubs day.
4. i'll even go so far as to say a little good natured chanting is all part of the home field advantage. but one must be at least somewhat creative. "over-rated" is a classic. the old school daryl strawberry-esque "da-ryl" is acceptable. "da-ryl-sucks" starts to get questionable. or as i once heard a guy say "victorino, i'm gonna follow you down to triple a, find you, and heckle you from the outfield because you suck!" also going too far.

what do others think?

and the front office is looking into it.
let's offer them the peoria chiefs and half the diamond jaxx.
seriously? how could this possibly be a bad idea? they can even have matt murton back. sure we may regret it later, but i'll cry myself to sleep on my sports illustrated commemorative "cubs win the world series" video.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2118911

from last night's game, that i just had to share.

if anyone recorded the game, go watch the part where they're interviewing bruce sutter during the bottom of the seventh. he talks about how great rick reuschel is, then there's a brief lull in the conversation...until somebody in the booth just rips one. i've never heard anyone fart that loud on tv.

and all i could think about was how maddux would be watching this game with the grand kids one day, and there, preserved for eternity is bruce sutter dropping some ass.

hey, i warned you it was immature.

even when they're crap trades.

some guy on sonsofsamhorn.com is reporting that the score says the cubs are close to sending wellemeyere and two others to colorado for preston wilson.

another guy there quotes theo epstein as saying nothing will happen before july 30 because of the market this year.

the first rumor sounds horrible. the theo quote sounds dead on.

The Cubs rejected the Rockies' offer of outfielder Preston Wilson for a package of three prospects. Wilson, who turn 31 in July, is only about 18 months older than A's center fielder Mark Kotsay, but offers more power. Both can be free agents after this season. ...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3720056

from nyyfan.com: The NY Post, ESPN Radio, and XM Radio are all reporting that the Cubs maybe close to a deal that would put Gary Sheffield in a Cubs' uniform. Rumors are swirling around as to whom the Cubs would give the Yankees in return and how much of Sheffield's contract the Cubs would be responsible for. Although nothing is for certain, Corey Patterson or Jason Dubois have been mentioned as possibly being involved as well as Cubs pitcher Sergio Mitre. This morning on the MLB Homeplate program on XM radio, Larry Bowa, and Buck Martinez went so as far as to say that the Yankees and the Cubs were working on a deal that would send Gary Sheffield to Chicago. They mentioned none of the other players in the deal, but they expected it to go down within the week. That is a pretty bold statement and it would be a pretty interesting to see what Sheffield could do in a Cubs' uniform.

in light of the corey discussions here, i'm curious what some of your takes on other players would be. namely, ted williams and jeremy burnitz.

a lot of people labeled teddy ballgame selfish because he would take a walk rather than extend his strike zone with runners on base. the argument said that he should take a swing at a bad pitch for a chance at driving in a run, rather than "play the game right" and take the walk.

williams also pretty much refused to hit the ball to left (or so the story goes) even though a lot of teams put a dramatic shift on whenever he was up. selfish?

which brings me to burnitz. after seeing that god awful bunt attempt the other day, it occurs to me that a bunt like that would actually be the perfect antidote to the shift some teams put on against him. is he selfish for not bunting against the shift more often?