Saturday, March 08, 2008 - Posts

Can you complete this puzzle?

Answers below:



1. Scott Linebrink: Migraine headache. If nothing else, it's good fodder for an Ozzie Guillen quote:

''I believe [Linebrink] because he's a real religious guy,'' Guillen said. ''Someone else tells me they have a migraine, I know they are hung over.''

2. Mike MacDougal: Confidence.  You know your psyche isn't in good shape when smiling is cause for a headline.

"That's the first time I've seen this kid smile coming off the mound in a few years," said Guillen of MacDougal. "Every time he comes off the mound, he has a long face and worries."

3. Carlos Quentin: Left shoulder.  The last we heard from him:

"The strength is all there. It's just standard soreness that comes with this sort of surgery.''

4. Matt Thornton: Left elbow.  He had a bit of soreness before spring training, and has only thrown one inning so far.  It was a scoreless inning, at least, and he's ready for more:

"[Trainer] Herm Schneider got me on a throwing program that I just finished up and now I'm letting the reins loose. I'm ready to go."

5. Danny Richar: Back.  Evidently he tweaked his back during winter ball, which might explain his .500 OPS there.  He reaggravated it, and might be falling off the second-base radar:

''He's got this back problem, and this was a guy that was already behind,'' Guillen said. ''We'll see. Hopefully he can bounce back and not fall too far behind.''

6. Jerry Owens:  Right groin.  No news on this front, but ex-Sox reporter Doug Padilla has some insight on Owens' different training methods:

"Actually my strides were too long.  I was thinking about striding out, running, getting as long as I can. But it puts a lot of strain on your hamstrings when you do that. They told me to shorten up a little bit. It will prevent hamstring injuries and at the same time it will get my turnover quicker so I'm faster in my reps."

"...and I'll end up straining my groin instead!"

7. Jack Egbert: Right elbow.  Scott Merkin says Egbert went "full-bore" in a sideline session:

"It felt really good," he said Friday. "I'm ready to get back in the game."

8.  Toby Hall: Right shoulder.  Not nearly as good of news on this front:

"I'm just doing a lot of throwing right now, getting to game speed arm-wise."

9.  Gavin Floyd: Flu.  Looks like it'll only cost him one start:

Gavin Floyd was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday against Texas because of flu-like symptoms.

Oddly enough, I thought "flu-like symptoms," not "migraine," was sports talk for a hangover.  At any rate, I hope somebody solves the puzzle before Jermaine Dye blows out his left quad.
posted Saturday, March 08, 2008 3:49 AM by Jim with 6 Comments

Something old, something new

File this under "I did not know that":

Then again, [Mark] Buehrle made it easy for [John Danks], as he makes it easy for all the young players in Sox uniforms.

That's a much different atmosphere than the one that awaited Buehrle in his rookie season. To this day, Buehrle has disdain for former Sox pitcher James Baldwin, who had no respect for younger players and took rookie hazing beyond where it needed to go.

Checking the records, Buehrle made his debut July 16, 2000, finishing up a game Baldwin won to improve to 12-4 (losing pitcher: John Snyder).  It was Baldwin's first start after his first and only All-Star appearance.

After that point, Baldwin went 2-3 with a 5.37 ERA the rest of the way, missing a couple weeks due to injury.  The following year, he was traded to the Dodgers for an erroneous Berry.  After leaving the Sox, he went 10-21 for six teams in five years, and failed to pick up a victory in his final 49 appearances.

I think it's safe to say Buehrle has the last laugh.

And speaking of the Dodgers, the Cheat wonders if Joe Crede may be joining them.

********************

I can't help but smile when reading what Torii Hunter has to say about Los Angeles:

"I've been in that [AL Central], and it's kind of a cold division," Hunter added. "You have to put that into play, too. And knowing a lot of guys in this organization, along with coming to one of my favorite hitters, Vladimir Guerrero. This team is actually the team where I love to play."

I guess Chicago, Washington, New York, Atlanta and Arlington are just chopped liver, now.
posted Saturday, March 08, 2008 2:55 AM by Jim with 2 Comments