Morning Roundup

ML BLOGGER OF THE WEEK:

In the wake of reports that Yankees "phenom" Phil Hughes has taken his battle for hearts and minds to the blogosphere, we're delighted to note that yet another ML pitcher is having some wacky, entertaining interweb adventures. Texas closer C.J. Wilson is in more than a little bit of shit for bringing his own unique brand of Truth and Justice to a world audience in the form of a couple of posts on a Rangers-related blog. The Rangers fun police (Michael Young, Frank Catalanotto and Kevin Millwood) had a little talk with him for the following comments:

"Come on man you have to admit the median or average guy in a baseball clubhouse does drive an SUV, drinks beer, golfs, likes college sports, chews or dips tobacco and is relatively a [expletive]."

Now, if the expletive deleted was "dick", then this is still a pretty PG quote. If it was "cunt", well, that's a totally different story...

On the ever controversial topic of politics, CJ goes on:

"I'm paying taxes no matter who the president is, just please god not hillary."

And again I really fail to see what the fuss is about for a pretty tame political comment. It was noted in passing last year that skip John Gibbons is a diehard supporter of George W. Bush's various wars of annihilation against the browner skinned peoples of the world. We Canucks just shook our heads and said, "let's keep the conversation with this guy baseball-related and that'll be that."

I blame the Rangers organization for giving CJ a contract "to help brand the team to the 'hip' audience" and then scolding him for talking to interwebbers on their own terms. Send him a note of encouragement at his blog, if you feel so inclined.

JAYS-RELATED

I promised never to speak of a certain unnamed NHL franchise from the city of Toronto in this blog, but I need to bring a ridiculous Ken Fidlin story to your attention. Since it was NHL trade deadline day, Fidlin felt the need to do a piece comparing our very own Doc Halladay to Mats Sundin. Yep, they're both great guys, loyal to TO... and they have never met. Doc has probably never watched a hockey game, just as Mats forgoes summer matinees at the Rogers Centre for pickled herring and a hot tub full of blondes in his native Sweden. They play sports that are as diametrically opposed as is humanly possible. There is no real connection here, whatsoever. I guess people with a grade six reading level need some pictures to look at, so thanks for filling the void, Toronto Sun!

On a more sober note, though it's not news to anyone who has folllowed this club closely for the past few years, Doc really is on a different, superior even, level than most of the rest of us. On a personal note, back in the early 1960s the Detroit Tigers were gracious enough to give my uncle a tour of the club house in Tiger Stadium and had all of the players sign a program for him before he went in for a pioneering heart surgery he had no realistic hope of surviving. Despite the odds, he did pull through. And that program, treasured as it was back then, has since been lost, though never forgotten.

I guess they're not all bad, CJ.

Frank Thomas is asserting himself as a club house presence this year, and that's probably a good thing.

ELSEWHERE

* Two Republican senators are blocking a bill that would make HGH a controlled substance available by perscrption only. I'm sure they have their reasons.

* Are the Bosox in cahoots with Weight Watchers? First it was writing a weight loss clause into Schilling's contract and now they're about to go to work on Bartolo Colon's 150 lb blubber vest. Bengie Molina must be next on their list...

* Alfsonso Soriano is scared of the monster that lives in the ivy of the outfield walls at Wrigley. I know it ate Moises Alou's hat during a July 2003 game, but come on, be a man!

-- Johnny Was