Monday Miscellany: 7-07-08

It's nice and quiet this glorious Monday morning. I call it glorious because I feel fully rested, having exhausted myself yesterday by sleeping in, napping between meals, then laying around before going to bed. It's a wonder what a day off will do for you. Anyway, there're a few ongoings -- mostly baseball related -- worth mentioning this morning, and we'll hasten to them, after the jump. I say hasten because I'm certain that Old No. 7 is hustling to put together his annual All-Star roster post, and I'll need to clear up the HoGways so that his limitless girth and wit may place themselves in the comfortable posiitions of ease and relaxation necessary for Monday morning postage. To the flip side...

It isn't fair to tag C.C. Sabathia "the fat man," because there're lots of chubby moundmasters in the bigs. Being that he is the reigning AL Cy Young winner, though, he gets the title, he'll likely only be growing, as trade rumors summitted last night to the acme suggesting that, by day's end, he'll be a Milwaukee Brewer. Should the deal -- one that proposes a Sabathia-for-Cleveland-outfielder-Matt LaPorta-swap -- become reality, Sabathis would go from one Central to the other, escaping the run-hungry, last-place Indians rotation, plumping himself in the city of beer, where the Brew Crew hangs a mere three and-a-half games behind the Cubs, and in good shape for a shot at a post-season appearance.

In AL East, family affairish happenings, the second-place Red Sox and third-place Yankees met for some man-on-man action last night. Inadvertently, I'd planned on ignoring this contest as usual, but my father-in-law called me at the end of the sixth and suggested that I flip on the 4-4 tie, as it had allegedly been a gem. So, I did, and I actually enjoyed the seventh, but I was then yelled at for falling asleep on the couch and saw no more of it. For reasons I cannot explain, I was surprised to learn this morning, that the third-place club won it in the 10th inning, a Brett Gardner (Editor's Note: Who?) single sent Robinson Cano home for a 5-4 Yankee victory.

Also in the AL East, the Royals got smoked again by the best-in-baseball Bay Rays. The 9-2 loss looked to have the makings for a pitcher's dual in the early goings, as Luke Hochevar and James Shields dualed. KC even took an early 2-0 lead, but it was all Tampa after that. The Rays won their seventh in a row, and should they maintain this pace, they could leave Boston and New York in the dust in the race for the pennant. I don't recall the Cubs' at-season's-end record last year, but to say that the Rays and the Cubs have the best records in baseball is quite the mouthful, especially considering that Tampa has pretty much always sucked, and I think they finished somewhere in the 30-games-below-.500 range last year, right along with the Royals. They certainly are swinging the bats well this year, though.

In tennis news, Wimbledon happened over the weekend. On the womens' side of things, the Williams sisters played one another, and Venus easily handled Serena taking set one 7-5, set two 6-4. The twig-and-berries side of the affair featured Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Apparently, this contest went for five sets, the better part of five hours, and ran the risk of being called due to lack of daylight. That's all the coverage we can allocate to Wimbledon '08, however, since per our contracts, we don't cover men's tennis unless a) records are nearly broken, or b) the players are married to/dating someone really hot (Note: All apologies if Federer or Nadal have hot wives/girlfriends. It's too early for research.), and we don't cover women's tennis extensively if, well, suffice it to say that it'd've been nice if someone else were playing...




And one last bit of baseball news: Kansas City's Joakim "The Mexicutioner" Soria has been selected to the AL All-Star club by AL Manager Terry Francona. His 1.22 ERA, five runs allowed, 41 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched, and 23 saves in 24 chances make him one of the best in the league. Also, Royals outfielder Jose Guillen is a candidate for one of the final spots, making the possibility of two All-Star Royals the first happening in five years. Mike Sweeney and Mike MacDougal made the squad in 2003.