Perfect game, other thoughts

Today there was very little on T.V. so I found myself watching the first two innings of the White Sox game for some reason. Mark Buehrle was starting against the Tampa Bay Rays who struggle mightily against lefties and he retired the first 6 hitters. I was so into the game that I opted to watch a couple of episodes of Cheap Seats I have recorded on my DVR, featuring 1978 Superstars, which is a must see, Ron Cey running is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Also, Reggie Jackson, who was working for ABC at the time was filmed sitting shirtless in the crowd while he was supposed to be providing commentary and/or interviews.

Back to the game, as soon as I was finished with the Superstars I heard that Buerhle was working on a perfect game going into the 9th, so I decided to watch. Dewayne Wise made one of the best catches I have ever seen, it was Reed Johnson-esque as Wise robbed Gabe Kapler of a Home Run. Buerhle then struck out some guy named Michel Hernandez, a catcher whom I have never heard of and got another nobody, I believe Jason (I thought it was Josh) Bartlett to ground out weakly to shortstop. Mark Buerhle pitched the 16th perfect game in MLB history, his second no-hitter overall, congrats! As soon as the game ended Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, who is a ridiculous person, began screaming "Yes, Yes, Yes,!" it sounded like he was having an orgasm on air. I do not think I can handle all of the media attention this is going to cause, especially on Comcast Sports Net and their awful White Sox Broadcast and Post-Game Crews featuring Chuck Garfein.

As for the team I actually do care about, the Cubs have the day off today after a successful 7-game road trip to the east coast where they won 5 of 7. The Cubs begin a 3-game weekend series with the Reds tomorrow afternoon at 1:20 on CSN. Randy Wells (5-4, 3.00 ERA) vs Aaron Harang (5-10, 4.17). Harang apparently has not won a game since May 25, a streak of 11 starts. He also pitches for a poor offensive team who does not score a whole lot of runs for him. Harang is a dangerous pitcher, who can dominate at times, and strike out a lot of hitters. If I were the Cubs I would be wary of Harang, who is due to break out of his slump. Wells has been just OK recently, I am curious to see how he will pitch tomorrow, at the very least I would expect a quality start from him. I hope the Cubs can take 2 of three from the Reds, minimum. But I am not too optimistic since we have Kevin Hart, who walks too many hitters, starting on Sunday. Ted Lilly is starting on Saturday and is coming off of his worst start in awhile, he usually has bad starts in bunches, so he could give us another one on Saturday. Lilly always seems to have 3 or 4 good starts followed by 1 or 2 bad ones. Hopefully Wells gets the team off to a good start tomorrow. The Cubs will face the Reds ace (arguably) Johnny Cueto on Saturday and punching-bag Micah Owings on Sunday.

I will be very curious to see what Lou Piniella does with the line-up this weekend. Will Milton Bradley start all three games or none? Will he find his left-handed swing, has he had enough time to fix it with Lou? I guess we will see this weekend. Koyie Hill can not really hit, I think we all know this, I think that Lou should give Jake Fox the start on Saturday or Sunday, just to see what happens, and to give Hill some rest. I have been critical of Jeff Baker in the past, but he is starting to show some promise at second base, Lou should find a way to get him in the line-up this weekend.

A week from now is the trading deadline, I will be interested to see what the Cubs will do, although I could honestly see them doing nothing. At the very least I think they need to acquire another catcher, preferably one who can hit their weight, maybe he could even be left-handed? Is Rob Bowen still available? Among other needs: relief pitcher, preferably a lefty, we do have B.J. Ryan, but I do not expect to get much out of him. I still think the team could use another right-hander in the pen as well, Aaron Heilman is basically worthless, and Jeff Samardzija is too unreliable and inconsistent. What would happen if Angel Guzman got hurt again? I have not seen enough of Jeff Stevens yet. Lou wants another lefty-power bat, but where is this person going to come from, and where would the Cubs play him anyways? Dream on Lou, I think you are basically stuck with this line-up. Lou wanted this type of team and he got it, he can with it, but it is not going to be easy.

And finally I just wanted to comment on how big of a tool Rick Reilly of ESPN (formerly of SI) is. He wrote an article this week whining about Tiger Woods' golf course etiquette i.e. swearing ( a lot of on camera F-bombs and throwing clubs). Guess what Rick? This happens in golf all the time, at least with the people I play with, including myself! How about you do not mic-up Woods? It is not like the guy is that interesting anyways, c'mon. Does anyone really care about what Woods says or does on the course? Because I don't. I am really tired of Rick Reilly's bullshit, I can not believe ESPN even allows him on television.