Short and sweet

I appreciate that is a baseball blog, and not many of you come here to read thoughts on the US Open golf, but... damn... will Monty ever have another great chance to break his major duck? He doesn't need to win a major to cap his career, but the list of players ahead of him on the greatest player never to win a major must be pretty short.

Because I am down, short and sweet...

• Sometimes, a 3 game sweep in Minnesota is just about meeting the wrong team at the wrong time... 7 wins in a row (and for that matter, Yankees and Oakland... 10 in a row). When do our teams meet the suddenly hot Marlins?
  
• I may have mentioned this in a previous post but Joe Morgan really isn't much of a fan of the Sox. ESPN's K-Zone, brought to you by whichever company wants to cough up the cash so none of us can remember their name, is an excellent tool - great at showing that Kevin Youkilis has been called out twice now on balls outside the zone... Joe's comment... "that slider is really bothering Youkilis"... really Joe, I think being called out on balls two plate appearances in a row might be part of it...
  
• In the umpire's defense he is calling every ball in that spot a strike...
  
• Everyone agrees, the Sox need starting pitching at the deadline, particularly given that the status of David Wells is so uncertain, and the form of Matt Clement when he comes back is so... uncertain. Looking at it sensibly though, who can the Sox trade for that is a true upgrade, without giving away more than we would really want them to do for a 3-month rental..?
  
• I guess the most likely candidate is a salary dump, where the salary part is more important than the return part... that list might include the Angels Jeff Weaver, the Braves John Smoltz (although I guess the Braves will want a significant return, and I am mentioning him only because he mentioned the trade possibility himself), Greg Maddux (or Kerry Wood), the Giants Jason Schmidt (again I presume the Giants will want a significant return), the Nationals Livian Hernandez and the Twins pair Brad Radke and Kyle Lohse. There are a majority of the names on that list I woldn't want the Sox to touch...
  
• However... our starter tomorrow...