Welcome Back to the South Side of .500... and other random thoughts around baseball

Well, the White Sox dropped their fifth straight last night to sink to a game below .500. At least they did it in record time so as to not prolong the misery: Roy Halladay and Mark Buehrle collaborated to finish this one in about 1:50. Too bad Buehrle had to give up a couple solo shots tonight (one to Big Frank) as the only hits he surrendered all game. He must have been on, because he only threw 91 pitches over 8 innings in the loss. Man, I really hope the White Sox re-sign him rather than trading him by the deadline or letting him go. I'll miss him sliding around on rain delay tarps. Oh wait, management doesn't let him do that anymore. Fuckers.

What could be more emblematic of the way the Sox are playing right now than Darin Erstad going down like a sack of potatoes on a swinging strike (video in right-hand sidebar if you're interested) and Hawk apparently on the verge of tears about it in the booth? It's hard to think of anything. Erstad may be back sooner rather than later because he apparently didn't break his ankle, but it's hard for me to believe that it really matters that much either way for the Sox. I'm not going to pile on Erstad like a lot of Sox bloggers out there, but I doubt the Sox are much worse with Jerry Owens in center instead of the punter-grinder. I'm not giving up on this team just yet, but if they're more than 4 out by the All-Star break, stick a fork in them, they done.

And before I leave off the White Sox, let me tell you how much fun it is to see practically every televised game of the best team in baseball with the second-most obnoxious fan base in baseball, currently 20 games over .500 while I watch my team flounder from afar. Guhhhhhh....
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So how about these A-Rod shenanigans? No, not the strip club/wife-cheating stuff. Sure, it's fun to know that A-Rod is into the "she-male, muscular type" strippers, but that presumably has little to do with his on-field exploits. No, I'm talking about his Little League-style distraction of a Blue Jays infielder, causing a dropped pop up that apparently everyone in baseball needs to weigh in on (note to A-Rod: you're probably in the wrong when Barry Bonds and Ozzie Guillen are backing you up). What the fuck is with this guy? First, the glove-slapping incident, and now this. Every kid who played Little League--or any other youth sport, for that matter--should be familiar with this sort of behavior. It always comes from that nancy-boy prick that no one likes. Note #2 to A-Rod: You're now 31 years old, not 11. If you're going to play like a douchebag asshole, at least grow up and do it like a man (see: Bruce Bowen).

In other Yankees news, Jason Giambi could be out the rest of the season after tearing up his foot rounding the bases in a home run trot. Ha. Awesome. One word for you, Mr. Giambi and your fellow Yankees: karma. Enjoy joining that shitstorm, Rocket. You deserve it.

Last but not least, while we here at FTG regularly like to make light of the annual Kerry Wood/Mark Prior sagas over on the North Side, it's not meant in any way (at least when it comes from me) to take glee in their career-threatening injuries. Instead, it's meant to take glee in yet another source of Cubbie disappointment. If you haven't had the chance to check out the New York Times feature on Kerry Wood (and pitching injuries in general), do yourself a favor and go read it. It's impossible to not feel for Kerry Wood (and Mark Prior, wherever you are), a 29-year-old guy who is now a 9 year major league vet and just wants to make it back so his 2-year-old kid can experience his daddy playing in Wrigley. Here's hoping that Kerry makes it back one of these days and has a successful career. For a losing Cubs team.