Comeback!

[cubfan33]

A special hello to the new three hundred or so subscribers joining UTK after reading about us in David Srinivasan's article/interview with me. I hope all of you enjoy the work we do here. Be sure and tell a friend, to check the website, and to joing our discussions over at Netshrine.com.

If baseball doesn't know how to market itself, it will prove it when it misses the opportunity to hype the upcoming A's vs. Angels series. The Angels are on a streak not unlike the A's recent 20 game set and we have three weeks left in the season in what may end up being one of the great pennant races ever. I'm a bit worried that both teams will battle so hard for the slot that they'll be dead come October, but I'm going to love watching it as much as I can see.

The Expos moving rumors are buzzing and the Internet is moving a lot of them. One of my favorite readers buzzed in a while ago on Yahoo Messenger and showed me some of the latest links. No one with the Expos seems to know, but the consensus is that they'll be stuck in Montreal another season while MLB twiddles it's thumbs. I'm trying to run down the Paul Allen rumors ... a friend of a friend has a pretty good connection, but likely I'll be so far removed from any news that I won't know what's trustworthy and what's not. What I do think we all know is that it will be hard for the zebra to change it's stripes - MLB is neither creative nor quick.

The Bobblehead craze has now jumped the shark. I read about "It's You Small" and knew that it was over. Celebriducks were over before it started. If someone spends $150 bucks on this, they'd better consult a financial advisor.

The worst injury of the night and worst I've seen in quite a while was the comebacker off the bean of Kazuhisa Ishii. Ishii was found to have a small skull fracture and a concussion. He'll be held overnight for observation and likely more tests. It's tough to say how this will affect his season and if he comes back, will we see some sort of John Olerud hat on him? Without making light of this, how much worse would it have been if it had been almost anyone in the Astros lineup other than Brian Hunter? Lance Berkman or Jeff Bagwell may have killed him.

Others might say that Mike Piazza's latest injury was the worst. Piazza was catching yesterday when a foul tip caught him in ... well, let's call it a sensitive area. The Mets politely listed his injury has "groin" and I think UTK will just leave it there. I'm told there's no permanent damage (a la Josias Manzanilla) but that Mike was "tender" today. No jokes, please.

Pedro Martinez should return to the Red Sox rotation on Wednesday after a good side session today. He had been scheduled to go on Tuesday, but the side session today, necessitated by a not so good session on Saturday, pushed it back by a day. Pedro will be watched very closely and any sign of trouble will get him out of the game and if/when the Sox fall out of contention, expect Pedro to shut it down and start working on an offseason conditioning program. If you're in a non-keeper league, expect Pedro to be as good but not as injury prone next year. Talk up his injury problems and hope he slides to you.

The Yankees said that Mariano Rivera was due to play catch again on Sunday, but there were no reports of such an occurrence. With three weeks left in the season and the Yankees still insistent that Rivera will return, we'll need to see a quick progression this week to have Rivera back in the Bronx in some meaningful way. I think it will happen, but I'm really unsure if he'll be able to be effective enough to help the Yankees over any period of time longer than two weeks. Joe Torre has been pretty masterful mixing up Jeff Weaver, Steve Karsay, and Mike Stanton, so there's no reason to think Rivera is necessary, but obviously you'd rather have him that not have him.

The Cardinals should get both Jason Isringhausen and Matt Morris back on Tuesday, but neither will be at full strength. Isringhausen will likely have to be babied for a bit until his shoulder finds itself or breaks down completely - and it's equally likely that one or the other will happen. Morris will be on a pitch count when he returns, but don't be surprised if his hamstring binds him up some. He's always been a leg drive pitcher.

Doug Mientkiewicz (and yes, I know how to pronounce it and Pierzynski, thanks) had an injection into his troublesome wrist. The upside is that he should be able to get back in the lineup in a couple days, but the downside is that he may not be able to have another injection this season. I'm a bit unclear on the reasoning and the Twins never return my calls, so I'm still working on the details of this. Bad news for reliever Jack Cressend, who heard those three words no pitcher ever wants to hear - "see Dr. Andrews." It looks like a torn labrum and surgery for Cressend, likely leading to a lost '03 campaign.

Is Jeff Torborg reading UTK? I doubt it, but he's having some creative ideas. Taking one out of Grady Fuson's bag of tricks, Torborg is considering pairing up A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett when both return next week. Each would pitch about three innings and then be removed. I'm not sure if Torborg is getting to a good solution with wrong thinking or if he's genuinely onto something. If this creative move is made, I won't criticize bringing them back at all quite so loudly.

If the Marlins are suddenly getting smart, maybe the A's might try the same thing with Ted Lilly. Due to return this week, the A's are still unclear what role Lilly will return to. It will more than likely be a starter with a strict pitch count, but pairing him up with Aaron Harang might not be a bad solution. The A's are going to need every win, every outing to count in this death match with the Angels. Ok, here's a thought ... how important is it to win the division? If the Red Sox fade and the M's don't make a run, would it behoove one of these teams to back off a bit and set themselves up for the playoffs? That's one I don't know and am just throwing out there to think about.

Is it a good thing that the Jays are getting a chance to see how their young players like Josh Phelps and Jayson Werth can play while Jose Cruz and Shannon Stewart are out or are they losing a chance to showcase two players they'll likely try to deal this offseason? A little of both, likely.

The Braves are playing it cool publicly, but there's a lot of concern with how Chipper Jones' neck stiffened up. Reports from the Braves clubhouse had it so bad that he couldn't turn his head. Any neck injury is inherently iffy and if there's disc involvement, Jones' season may be in doubt. It's still far too early to tell, but we should keep a close eye on this since how it progresses in the next couple days will tell a lot.

The Reds are whispering that Austin Kearns won't return since they are out of the race. Smart move, if true. They need to shut down Ken Griffey as well and try to figure out what they have that will help them in that big building in center field. Kearns will. A healthy Griffey will. Adam Dunn will. Beyond that, I'm at a loss. The Reds have a lot of puzzle pieces, but have to figure out how to put them together to get enough value to contend with the Astros and Cubs next year. Yes, I said Astros and Cubs. No, I didn't say the Cardinals.

Pat Hentgen's road back from Tommy John surgery has brought him back to the major leagues. He was activated today and went nearly 100 pitches in a loss to the Orioles. Given that kind of treatment, he may want to keep the surgeon on speed dial.

The Royals once had a promising young pitcher named Chad Durbin. Now, through their efforts and bad luck, they have a pitcher named Chad Durbin who's no longer promising and facing shoulder surgery. If lucky, he'll ride out his contract on the DL and find himself in an organization with a clue when he makes free agency. Yes, I'm hard on the Royals

Matt Lawton is done, for all intents and purposes. He's scheduled to see a specialist about his recurring shoulder seperation. Surgery isn't likely, but it's not impossible either. The Roberto Alomar deal is one of those deals that didn't work out for either team ... yet. I can see the Indians getting some useable parts and the Mets may get something decent back when they deal Alomar this winter.

As usual, UTK will be on Fox Sports tomorrow. We'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, but we'll probably have a quick update tomorrow night. Until then, I'll leave you with this thought, after all the oh-so-nice emails I got after linking to the Satanic site last week "Dyslexic devil worshipers sell their souls to Santa."

[Max Power]

Here's a link to the feature Will mentioned:

http://fantasy.sportingnews.com/voic.../20020906.html

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by cubfan33
The Royals once had a promising young pitcher named Chad Durbin. Now, through their efforts and bad luck, they have a pitcher named Chad Durbin who's no longer promising and facing shoulder surgery. If lucky, he'll ride out his contract on the DL and find himself in an organization with a clue when he makes free agency. Yes, I'm hard on the Royals

This kid really got jerked around by Allard and the boys.

[Ashley314]

[quote]Originally posted by cubfan33
[b]Doug Mientkiewicz (and yes, I know how to pronounce it and Pierzynski, thanks) had an injection into his troublesome wrist.


so how do you pronounce those?

[cubfan33]

Mientkiewicz = min KAY vich

Pierzynski = peer ZIN ski.

You know, just like they look.

[SmedIndy]

Like Gwosdz!

Or hockey player Stanislav Neckar (that's nets-cash to you...)

Back on topic - didn't the Royals release Cogan? Isn't he another one that was pumped and dumped like a cheap stock?

The Royals are a boiler room, the Yankees are the NYSE.