southsider2k5

2004

When Tim McClelland called his umpiring crew into a conference Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, his mind flashed back 20 years to Yankee Stadium. The Kansas City Royals' George Brett had hit a home run against the Yankees, and New York manager Billy Martin challenged it, saying Brett had placed too much pine tar on the bat handle. McClelland, the plate umpire, agreed and, after consulting with his crew, called Brett out, a decision later reversed by American League President Lee McPhail. Eleven years later, McClelland was on the field when the Cleveland Indians' Albert Belle was accused of using a corked bat against the White Sox at Comiskey Park. When the umpires confiscated the bat, an Indians pitcher wriggled through the ceiling into the umpire's room to replace it with another, non-altered bat. "Strange bats follow me around, I guess," he said. The latest bat-astrophe in McClelland's career came when the Cubs' Sammy Sosa broke his bat on a ground ball in the first inning Tuesday night. "The catcher picked up the bat and said 'Look at this' and kind of threw it at my feet," McClelland said. "I turned it over and there was a small, probably half-dollar size piece of cork in the bat, probably right about halfway down the barrel. And I guess it was notched in there. I felt it and it obviously was cork." McClelland called the crew together before calling Sosa out and ejecting him from the game. "I wanted to make sure the crew knew it was cork," he said. He also was cognizant of Sosa's role as a goodwill ambassador for the game, and "all the great things [sosa] has done for the game of baseball." "I said to the crew the ramifications of what is going to happen with this," he said. "I didn't want to do it, [but] the evidence was right there. And you have to go by the rules." Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune

The other thing is how about Mike Porzio? Is this guy a classic AAAA guy or was he just misused out of the pen, and this organizations next Josh Fogg type, with no real great pitches, but gets people out?

that's what i was thinking. i know they were getting a kick out of it. i could just hear the glee in Hawk's voice. lol Yeah as soon as they mentioned it they both started giggling like JR high school girls talking about boys. Like I said, that whole thing made my night.

Please don't post pitching match ups when you put up PTC threads for days in advance. The ones that got posted are all messed up, and could mislead people to pick someone thinking of a particular match up. Such as picking Graffy thinking a lefty is pitching when in fact a RHP is starting and Jose will most likely play Thanks

Let me put it this way. I went to bed after the 7th inning and we were up 1-0. I had NO DOUBT when I looked for the score this morning that we would lose. NONE.

Ginter should have been up here out of spring training with White getting his walking papers IMHO. I have said it all year and I haven't seen anything to change my mind.

Carlos Lee with his HUGE 4 points last night... Pickers were Mathew Soxheads and WinningUgly.

The Bears took a big step Tuesday in making the new Soldier Field as attractive as possible in the coming years. They made sure linebacker Brian Urlacher would be there every Sunday during football season for a long, long time. As expected this off-season, the Bears and Urlacher have agreed in principle to a long-term contract extension intended to keep the Pro Bowl linebacker in Chicago for the rest of his career, according to a club source. Urlacher and general manager Jerry Angelo are expected to make the announcement official at a news conference Wednesday at Halas Hall. The deal is believed to approach in length and value the one signed by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, the player to whom Urlacher's skills often are compared. Lewis signed a seven-year, $50 million extension last year with a whopping signing bonus of $19 million. That contract set the market for middle linebackers. In March, the Bills signed free-agent linebacker Takeo Spikes for six years at $32 million with $11 million guaranteed. Also in the off-season, the Dolphins locked up the nucleus of their defense, Zach Thomas, with a 6-year, $33.75 million deal with a $10.5 million bonus. Urlacher, one of the biggest bargains in sports last season with a $450,000 salary, had two years remaining on a contract scheduled to pay him $2 million next season and $2.1 million in 2004. The Bears took advantage of being $2.5 million below the $75 million salary cap, money expected to go toward Urlacher's pro-rated bonus. Urlacher's agent, Steve Kauffman, and the Bears had been talking about a new contract since the draft. Throughout the process, a source said Urlacher made clear a strong desire to stay and had no desire to test the free-agent market.

Did anyone else notice that Ginter and Almonte got flip flopped? Ginter closed the game at AAA while Almonte set him up.

After Sammy's fiasco tonight, the Cub's "magical" season may have just come to a screeching halt. They are beginning their June swoon anyway. Now they just have a taylor made excuse.

rick white... no f***ing way..... put billy in... i am ok with that....glover, i can live with.... wunsch, good move.... sanders, never...... however, i see your point and if you put in Koch at that point then he has to go two innings if we score in the next inning, or someone else would have to close.

I would like to see a 2000 throw back game. Think of the possibilities, we could get on base, bunt, steal bases, score runs, have guys hit over .300, it would be great!

I don't think Rum bottles have cork

Wife beating.... swept under the rug Comparing himself to Jesus... swept under the rug "Flintstone Vitamins"....swept under the rug coming to camp 20 lbs lighter after steriod testing begins...swept under the rug Getting busted with a corked bat on national TV...Priceless

How about some corked bats, and a urine smell around the ballpark?

Wait for the steroid part No you mean the "flintstone vitamins" What a f***ing fraud. :fyou Sosa, and all of your blind idolitors!

THIS MIGHT BE THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN ALL YEAR!!!

1984 and 2001 are on my list. This one is way up there. But 1994 is the worst, not because of the way we played, but the way it ended.

In the 5th round the Sox took Matt Nachreiner a pitcher http://teamonebaseball.rivals.com/viewpros...=3&pr_key=13622

The Indians just drafted Juan Valdez in the 5th round. The good news is he won't ask for a big signing bonus because of his big endorsement deals

Actually they said there was a big reason for that. EVERYONE who went last year wanted it that way. They said that they were cleaning the park with leaf blowers til almost 5 am and no one got any sleep at all. So I would say that is listening to feedback...

They need to get Ruutu locked up, and then go get some talent!

OMG A SS!!!! Wow we couldn't have done this rounds ago could we? A HS SS, boy that will save our system...

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/gen/wire?...sageId=16982803