Posts by Tom Fornelli at FanHouse

I was at U.S. Cellular Field last night sitting behind home plate when Carlos Quentin hit his major league-leading 35th home run of the season into the left field seats. Seeing Carlos go deep this season was nothing new, but there was something different about his blast on Monday night.

It didn't mean anything. The White Sox were already sporting a 12-5 lead on the Mariners, so his solo shot didn't factor into the game's result. Very rarely has that been the case for Quentin this season. Carlos came to the White Sox in an offseason trade with the Diamondbacks, and he came with very little fanfare.

At the time most White Sox fans - including myself - were still a little sore about missing out on Torii Hunter and local legend Aaron Rowand. So when they found out that Kenny Williams' big plan was to bring in some outfielder nobody had ever heard of, and one that was coming off of shoulder surgery to boot, Sox fans weren't pleased.

Well thank God Kenny Williams runs the team, and the fans don't.

The only reason Quentin even made the Sox roster out of spring training was due to a groin injury suffered by Jerry Owens. Owens' injury opened a spot in the outfield, and Carlos was going to keep it warm for a few games until he could come back.

The Chicago White Sox have a bit of a post game tradition. No matter the case, when a player is doing an interview on the sidelines after a victory, Toby Hall is going to get him with a shaving cream pie to the face. Toby's gotten them all this season, even team captain Paul Konerko (which Paulie didn't appreciate too much judging by the look on his face afterward).

Still, when you do something over and over again, eventually your teammates are going to figure it out. Sure, it took nearly five months to do so, but Jermaine Dye knew what was coming as he talked to a local reporter after Chicago's 13-5 win over Seattle on Monday night. So when Toby tried to sabotage JD's interview, Dye was ready for it and blocked the attack. Unfortunately, he may have hurt Hall in the process.

Backup catcher Toby Hall said his right shoulder was fine after teammate Jermaine Dye blocked his attempt at placing a shaving cream pie in his face during a post-game interview following the Sox's 13-5 win over Seattle.

Hall had his right shoulder wrapped in ice but assured reporters he didn't not re-injure his shoulder, which he separated in spring training of 2007.

This is the first celebration related injury the White Sox have suffered since Juan Uribe had to miss a few games after receiving an super-atomic wedgie (waistband over head) from Jose Contreras back in 2006.

The Philadelphia Phillies have one of the best ERA's in the National League at 3.96, and that's a good thing because they've really needed it lately. As the Phils fight with the Mets and Marlins for control of the NL East, their bats have gone dormant over the last month.

Since July 13th the Phillies are hitting .236 as a team and as you'd expect, they're having trouble putting up runs consistently. All of which leaves their manager Charlie Manuel utterly confused. He has no idea what to do to fix things, and if you have any ideas for him, he'd love to hear them.

"I'm puzzled. I stay up late at night thinking about how we can get our offense going," Manuel said, before his team beat San Diego, 2-1, at PETCO Park on Sunday. "I'll listen to what anybody's got to say. Fans. Cab drivers. President Bush, anybody."

I don't know if you really want to listen to President Bush when it comes to this. Sure, he'll tell your hitters how to get in the batter's box and make solid contact, but he has no idea how to get out of it. You'll just be left with Chase Utley standing at the plate looking confused as his line drive sails into the gap.

(Via Walkoff Walk)

The Rangers Josh Hamilton may be getting a little too much respect from opposing managers lately, but it doesn't look like he's giving that same respect back to his fans.

Hamilton was in Boston over the weekend for the Rangers series against the Red Sox when he got word that his wife was going into labor with their child. Obviously Josh left Fenway to head to the airport to get home in time, but there were no flights back to Dallas until the next morning. Hamilton also didn't want to pay the $41,000 he needed for a private plane.

So, understandably, Josh wasn't in the greatest mood when he got back to the team hotel after the game, and he took that frustration out on a couple of fans.

Derek Kilduff told the Track he was one of five people waiting for the visiting ballplayers at the hotel, but when his girlfriend and 12-year-old nephew asked the jock for an autograph, he refused.

On Thursday of last week, Tom Glavine returned to the mound for the Atlanta Braves for the first time since June 10th. Things didn't go very well, as the 300-game winner gave up seven runs in four innings, and still felt pain in his elbow after the game. It's because of this pain in his elbow that we now know Glavine has pitched his last game in 2008, as he's going to be shut down for the season.

The real question is, will Thursday's start against the Cubs be the last of Tommy's career. He's scheduled to visit with Dr. James Andrews next week, and the results of his tests there will determine what Glavine decides to do.

"All the discussions I've had, and the MRI I had before, were that it's my flexor tendon," Glavine said. "The soreness I have now is the same soreness I had then. You can pinpoint a needlehead as to where the pain is, and it just puts me through the roof when you touch it, so it's very similar in that regard. There have been some discussions about what my ligament might look like, but I think there's a very low percentage that there might be something wrong with my ligament.

"And if there was, honestly, I'd leave it alone and I'd be done. I wouldn't come back from that kind of surgery now. I'd fix the flexor tendon and leave the ligament alone and live the rest of my life."

Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent has never been known as the most congenial guy on the planet. If I were to describe Jeff's personality in one word, well, one word that I can use here, I'd take cantankerous. The dude just gets mad at everything. He's like the old man next door always yelling at you to get off his lawn or turn the damn music down.

Jeff's fought with teammates, most memorably Barry Bonds, and has a general disdain of all things media. One member of the media that's generally been considered untouchable though is Dodgers play-by-play man and living legend Vin Scully.

Well, like a lot of people following the Dodgers, Scully has said during Dodgers games that Kent hitting third in front of the newly acquired Manny Ramirez has really helped Jeff out. Well, after Jeff talked to the T.J. Simers about what Vin and others have been saying, Scully was no longer untouchable.

"Vin Scully talks too much," Kent said.

Now that's funny, the guy who normally doesn't say much, this time saying way too much.

On May 30th, the Oakland Athletics called up relief pitcher Brad Ziegler from their Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats. He was brought up to the team just to give a new look from the right side of the bullpen thanks to his side-armed delivery, and hopefully get a few outs as well.

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say nobody within the Oakland organization was expecting to get what Ziegler has given them so far. Over the last two and a half months, Ziegler has appeared in 29 games and pitched 38 innings. During those 38 innings of work, Brad has given up 21 hits. You know what he hasn't given up during those 38 innings? A single run. Hell, he hasn't even given up an extra-base hit.

"I honestly thought I'd have success when I got up here," Ziegler said Tuesday in a telephone interview, "but this is ridiculous."

"I understand that most baseball statistics even out over time," said Ziegler, 28, a former mathematics major at Southwest Missouri State. "I know it's not going to last. But after I do give up a run, I'm hoping to bounce back and reel off another 20 or 30 scoreless innings, just because I think that's my job as a reliever. To me that seems very possible if I just go and execute pitches."

Things are going really well with the Angels right now. They have the best record in baseball, and a hefty 15 game lead over the Rangers in the AL West. Basically, the last six weeks of the season will be nothing but preparation for the postseason.

The only thing the team really has left to accomplish is Francisco Rodriguez's bid to break Bobby Thigpen's mark for most saves (57) in a season. Since everything is going so smoothly for the Halos, it doesn't give their fans much to complain about, and as we all know, fans always need something to complain about. It makes us feel important. So that's why some Angels fans are grumbling over Mike Scioscia's use of K-Rod, and saying that he's trying to pump up his save stats when he isn't needed.

"I find that to be questioning our integrity," Scioscia said, a hint of ire in his voice. "Everything we do is what's best for the team. If the closer is available, why wouldn't you use him if the situation dictates the game needs to be closed out? Why wouldn't you?

"If there's a save situation and Frankie is available, he's going to get the ball."

It doesn't matter what team you root for, but in every Major League city around the country there is that one player on the team who isn't the biggest star, but draws some kind of cult following anyway. In Chicago with Cubs fans, that player is shortstop Ryan Theriot. He's been beloved by Cubs fans since about fifteen seconds after he first became a regular player with the team last season.

Which is why the Chicago Tribune asked it's readers to send in questions for Theriot to answer in the paper, and in Ryan's answers we find out he's a pretty likeable guy, and he's funny to boot. Oh, and we also learn that he could totally beat up his good friend, occasional double play partner, and former college teammate Mike Fontenot.

Riot, who wins a fight between you and Fontenot? If you two teamed up, do you think you could take Zambrano out? Inquiring minds want to know... -- Erik Burgio, San Francisco

I'd beat Font's butt, though Z might kill us. But I think Z likes me, or at least I hope he does. I would never fight Font, but if I did, I'd hammer him, and he knows that.

This isn't the only interesting tidbit in the Q&A session,either, as Ryan also informs us that he has nine pitches in his repertoire "all of which are awesome," Mark DeRosa is the ugliest guy in the clubhouse though he has huge biceps, and that he thinks cats are cool.

All in all it's a pretty interesting session not filled with the same old boring answers players give to the same boring questions. If you're looking for some time to kill at work today, I highly recommend it.

Considering how slow moving baseball has been historically in making changes to the game, for once I have to give props to Bud Selig for actually getting out and doing something. With so many questionable calls being made by umpires on home runs this season, the clamor for baseball to use instant replay has grown louder than ever, and MLB is responding accordingly.

In fact, it's starting to look as though instant replay will be in use in Major League games by the end of this season. From Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci:

Commissioner Bud Selig will make a presentation to owners at their two-day meeting in Washington that begins on Wednesday. Said Selig, "We're still checking things. I will tell you that nothing is final yet. All I can tell you is if everything is lined up, we will go to instant replay at some point."

Selig declined to set a timetable. His hesitation, according to a baseball source, is partly due to the logistics of getting the ballparks hardwired for such a system. In the most discussed scenario, officials at a central office, likely in New York, will monitor all games and immediately send video of questionable boundary calls to an on-site device for review by the umpires. The umpires would determine whether their original call should stand or not.