Good for you, Michael Barrett

A.J. Pierzynski is such an asshole. That plate collision was such a cheap shot - I don't know what that dumbass Sox-loving commentator was thinking when he said it was a clean hit. The ball was 10 feet from Barrett when Pierzynski snowplowed him. Then Pierzynski continued to show him up by slapping the plate after scorning and giving him a shoulder after getting up. What a tool. Barrett was totally justified punching him in the face, and it's too bad Podsednik and the umpire was there to hold him back while Pierzynski scampered off to let his teammmates do his fighting for him. I only wish Barrett got a better shot at him - I hope he has a huge shiner.

What a tool

Screw you, Phil Rogers

In the Tribune today: Hendry's Indecision hurts Cubs

What the hell? I'm as disappointed that the Cubs are slumping as the next Cubs fan...but let's not blame this on Jim Hendry. For one thing, I think Todd Walker's done a pretty good Job at first base - he's had a fielding percentage of .994 which is just fine (Lee's was .985 before he got injured). Walker's been swinging the bat just fine as well...but having him out of second base has exposed the awfulness that is Hairston and Perez. Okay...I'm following the argument so far.

So who do we pick up? April/May is historically the worst time to make a trade, as the only players that teams are willing to trade are expendable themselves. Let's compare stats. Here are Hairston and Perez's basic stat lines for the year:

Hairston 52 AB, .231 Avg, .523 OPS (ouch), 7 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB, good speed and defense

Perez 53 AB, .189 Avg, .445 OPS, 4 R, 3 RBI, 0 SB, decent speed, good defense

It looks like Conine and Millar are the two top picks to replace them in the lineup

Conine 98 AB, .235 Avg, .734 OPS, 10 R, 14 RBI, 2 SB, very little speed, decent defense

Millar 87 AB, .218 Avg, .665 OPS, 12 R, 10 RBI, 0 SB, terrible defense, terrible speed

Granted, these numbers are better. But how much better? Would getting Conine for two months be worth trading yet another of our prospects? I don't really think so. I think what should be done is to start one of those guys regularly (preferably Hairston, Perez stinks) and hope he heats up.

Just when I thought I was out...

They pull me back in.

Jim mentioned that he was trying to get my brother so sign up for WoW...and I decided that I might as well myself. I've been half-searching for a game to play this summer but nothing has really struck my fancy. I have a feeling that Jim at least will be around a lot, and I'm jumping into an existing guild. It's on a new server so the guild is kinda small, but it's also nice because pretty much everyone there is busy leveling.

I made a Tauren warrior because if I'm going to be a tank, I might as well choose by far the best of the races for it. Also I find Mulgore much more interesting than Durotar...and apparently the undead newb regions are swamped with people.

Lack of offense

I'm listening to the Cubs-Padres game on the radio right now...it is the top of the 9th inning and nobody has scored for either team. The Cubs have scored 5 runs in their past 6 games combined, and can't get anything done offensively. So what did Dusty do to address this? He spelled two of the team's two most consistent hitters in Murton and Cedeno and put in Bynum and the incredibly awful Neifi Perez. What the hell? At least Zamabrano has had a good outing.

Stephen Colbert

Just rocks.