A couple weird lines while sifting through coverage of the likely overblown Ozzie Guillen-Kenny Williams spat:
Joe Cowley:
"Williams fixed one, signing free-agent relievers Scott Linebrink and
Octavio Dotel once the hot stove season began. What didn’t get done,
however? The speed guy that Guillen covets."The whole article is just kind of off to me, like it's the bleakest possible interpretation of offseason events. The fixation on speed seems like an Old Ozzie trait. If he were so eager to get wheels into the lineup, he would've called up Jerry Owens when he had the chance -- or not written off Scott Podsednik publicly at the end of 2007.
I haven't thought of Coco Crisp since it became evident Boston wasn't all that eager to get rid of him -- and
I was squarely on the bandwagon for a stretch. So this strikes me as being a tad bit dramatic, which would be unusual.
Phil Rogers: "If something has to give here, it will probably be the worst Band-Aid
move of all time—the firing of a coach (in this case, hitting coach
Greg Walker)."You can read this in a couple of different ways. Either he's calling the firing of a coach the worst move of all time in terms of actual impact, or he's saying firing Greg Walker is the worst step the Sox can take.
I'm inclined to think it's the former, and that he basically thinks it's a cop-out move that doesn't address the real problems. I'd hope if he thought Walker himself provided that much value to the club, he'd cite an example or two explaining why.
I pretty much agree with
Barry Rozner's perspective on the matter. Here's the clip below:
**********************
Minor league roundup:- Richmond 7, Charlotte 6
- Josh Fields went 2-for-3 with a double, walk and a strikeout in his first game since May 28.
- Danny Richar hit a three-run homer, his only hit of the night in five at-bats; he also committed two errors (one fielding, one throwing).
- Wes Whisler gave up four hits over six innings, but three of them left the yard.
- He also took the loss because Mike MacDougal let both of his inherited runners score.
- Birmingham 6, Mississippi 5
- Victor Mercedes went 4-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
- Cole Armstrong hit a three-run homer, his sixth of the year.
- Dave Cook went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk; Noah Hall had three hits.
- Justin Cassell pitched well enough for the win, allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings.
- Joseph Torres walked two of the three batters he faced, and both runners would come around to score.
- Myrtle Beach 10, Winston-Salem 7
- Paulo Orlando hit a solo shot, and Salvador Sanchez hit a two-run homer.
- Daniel Albritton struck out six over four scoreless innings of relief, over which he allowed only one hit.
- Israel Chirino then made it moot by allowing seven runs over one-third of an inning.
- Greensboro 7, Kannapolis 1
- Kevin Skogley took the loss by allowing three runs over five innings, but did strike out seven.
- Christian Marrero had two of the Intimidators' seven hits.