baseball thoughts

If the White Sox cannot win with their best pitcher on the mound against a team that has travelled six thousand miles in under two days and is starting a journeyman, that bodes poorly for them.

Maybe the travel and adrenaline will catch up with the Angels tomorrow night. If not, travelling home and getting a day off and the energy of the crowd will help them immensely. So that makes tomorrow's game pretty close to a must win for the Sox.

Mussina deserved so much better last night. If Crosby and Sheffield don't collide, and if Sheffield plays in another step, then he stands in line to win that game. Moose was not hit hard at all except for the bomb from GA and the triple that should have been caught.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Yankees aren't all that good. The starting pitching was mediocre, they had three guys on the team that should never ever grab a glove, and they have lost all the gritty, gutty role players that came up with the goods. Jeter is as clutch as it gets, but Arod is the anti-Jeter. Granted, he hit a couple of balls hard last night, particularly in the seventh as I recall, only for them to be outs. But he did nothing for the series but walk and ground out.

And so the Yankees need a major overhaul. What they really need to do is pry Beltran from the Mets to lead off and play center for them, but that ain't happening. I don't know what is out there for them to improve. They have the infield and the catcher. But center is a mess, the starting pitching is a mess. Kevin Brown should be completely out of the equation. Hopefully for them Moose and Randy Johnson come back healthy for full seasons, and Pavano contributes. But who else? Will the Yankees really go with Chacon and Small in the opening week rotation? And in the pen, who do they have for consistent outs but Rivera and Gordon? Matsui is a free agent, and he is the only serviceable defensive fielder in their outfield unless they want to hand the reins to Crosby full time.

Many questions. But this is sure: the Royals will stink, and I will watch them 80 times or so.