This day had to come sooner or later. Now maybe the media will get over it, and the Phillies can get back to the business of winning the NL East.

Thanks for the foam fingers, guys.

It will probably be awhile before NESN goes live on-air again for a Josh Beckett press conference. I, on the other hand, was delighted to see him unguarded after today's loss - where he dropped a few cuss words in his 90 second clip, including a mighty f-bomb. He's pissed- you can practically see him simmering under the surface- but doesn't lose his cool.

To Josh's credit, he flatly refused to allow the press to blame the Sox loss on poor run support (which it absolutely was-- Josh pitched lights-out ball with the exception of the two pitches he discusses in the p.c.), and instead straight up shoulders the blame as the fault of him getting out-pitched.

Joshua Patrick, for your hotness on the mound on Tuesday and today (despite the L) and your even hotter performance in the press room, you're my Baseball Boyfriend Of The Week. I'll always find a well-placed cuss word from a man to be sexy.

1. Make up for the disappointing run support on Sunday with a win behind Kason.
2. Embarrass the rookie pitcher and the veteran roider with the aid of Kip Dynamite.
3. Get over the 10,000th in style behind the stylings of Grandpa Jamie and Flash Gordon

During the broadcast of tonight's Cubs-Giants game, it was announced that the Cubs have acquired Jason Kendall from the A's (for catcher Rob Bowen and minor leaguer Jerry Blevins-- plus cash from the A's, according to Fox).

Kendall is full of grit and grinder goodness, and is long on skill at calling a game and clubhouse leadership (and he doesn't have a problem putting out a good face-tag or two). But his bat is weak (albeit better than what we've got at C now), and he's having a career-low year at the plate.

The Cubs broadcast team is positively giddy about this news- but most A's fans are doing celebratory dances at the news as well. I guess a catcher who doesn't get in punchouts with his battery-mates is a step in the right direction.

Looks like the fire sale over in Oakland has officially begun... get 'em while they're hot!

Change your bookmarks, folks- I've moved to brand new digs:

Bode Miller, professional skier and professional troublemaker, once again signed a one-game contract to play with the Nashua Pride minor league baseball team (independent team with the Can-Am League, not part of MLB or MiLB).

Bode prowling the OF in Nashua last year

So when he strikes out at the plate (he went 0-fer last year when he played), will he ski off into the woods like he did at the Olympics?

For the record, my Top 10 Runners-Up were:

1. "Let's Go" by Trick Daddy
2. "Higher Ground" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. "Move, Bitch" by Ludacris
4. "Nothin" by N.O.R.E.
5. "Cold Hard Bitch" by Jet
6. "Bodies" by Drowning Pool
7. "Bring The Noise" by Public Enemy ft. Anthrax
8. "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys
9. "B.O.B." by Outkast
10. "Jump Around" by House of Pain

Look whose favorite golfer currently sits atop the Leaderboard in Carnoustie...

So pretty.

(Yes, I realize that the likelihood of Sergio Garcia winning the British Open is about as great as the Royals winning the World Series... but I'm going to celebrate while I can.)

Pitch the Cubs to a W.
Hit the ball.
Score a run.
STEAL A BASE.

Yup, Mr. Lilly stole his first career base today against the drain-circling Giants, en route to a 9-8 victory. (we're NOT talking about Barry's homers) For the W, the hit, the run and the steal - Teddy Bear, you are my Baseball Boyfriend of the Day. And it doesn't hurt that you're super cute.

Plus, he was kind enough to show Fox his different pitch grips- I find this fascinating stuff.

In other Cubs news:
* bye-bye, Izturis! have fun in Pittsburgh.
* Kendall is finding it a little tough in the Friendly Confines.
* revolving door of injuries with Cliff Floyd. he's back... no, he's gone again.

Come up with an appropriate nickname for your cutie starting pitcher, Kason Gabbard.

Unlike some folks, I love the name Kason- but every good ballplayer has to have a good nickname. And Kason, as far as I've been able to tell, doesn't have a nickname to speak of give to him by his teammates. I think he's just too shy and reserved to have gotten enough attention to get one (ahem, PAPELBON).

So what should we call him? Best I've come up with so far is Kasekase. I've also seen him called Typo- which is pretty damned hilarious. Any other thoughts?

The awesome thing about living in Chicago is that... I live in Chicago. Yards away from Wrigley Field and the bars of Wrigleyville. The awful thing about living in Chicago is that... I live in Chicago. So when the White Sox and Red Sox face off, my NESN broadcast is blacked out, and I'm forced to watch the White Sox crew on Comcast.

I'm not anti-Palehose, by any stretch of the imagination. I love going to games at the Cell, they field one hell of a nice-looking team, and it's kind of hard to hate on the underdog local team that is perpetually ignored and forgotten in favor of my Cubbies. But listening to the opposing team call a Red Sox home game (especially a game that the Red Sox lose) borders on torture. You can only hear Hawk say "HE GONE" so many times before you want to plug your ears.

What I Learned From the White Sox Broadcast Team:

1. Official time on the rain delay: 1:56.

2. They did not know "Dice-K" was how you pronounced his name. They thought it was a nickname, for "something" + "strikeout".

3. If you were to say Daisuke's name in English, you would say "Die-soo-key". (I'm not sure why you would say it that way "in English" since a name is pronounced the same no matter what country you are in.) They think that because we pronounce "Matsuzaka" phonetically, we should really all be calling him "Die-soo-key". This entire exchange made perfect sense to the 2 of them.

4. Dice-K's "hesitation" at the top of his delivery (i.e. when he rocks slightly at the beginning of the wind-up) doesn't phase hitters at all. How they know this, I don't know. Can they read the thoughts of all the batters that have faced him?

5. They could not remember the name of Dice-K's "funky pitch". Seriously.

6. Based on their time playing in Japan, they can certify that Dice-K is "unique". GREAT insight, there.

7. They don't like to see stars from Japan come over here, because it has "taken the meat" out of their baseball "over there".

8. The fans at Fenway are like the White Sox fans because they "have a lot of energy". But the White Sox fans have more! There were lots of instances of comparing the two clubs, and somehow the White Sox always seemed to come out slightly ahead in every respect.

9. Red Sox fans also are like White Sox fans because they like blue-collar players like... Coco Crisp (???) Tek, I buy. Lowell, I buy. Timlin, I buy. But Coco? Okayyyyyyy....

10. David Ortiz is a "good" hitter. Don't go out on a limb, there.

11. Wily Mo Pena has a nice name. He is also a "massive human being" and "one thick dude". Every time he came up, there was another discussion of how large he was. WE GET IT.

12. You have to think the right way to be successful playing in Fenway. (as opposed, I suppose, to thinking the wrong way?)

13. Coco holds the bat like he's playing the flute. They would zoom in on his hands every time he was at-bat. They went on and on and ON about his hands.

14. All ballplayers think the two worst ballparks are Wrigley and Fenway. Because they're old.

15. When Papi bats, it's not the "Ted Williams shift"... it's the "Jim Thome shift". They also kept saying the word "shift" a lot, which sounded worse than I think they realized.

After 3+ hours of this, I think it's safe to say: we're through the looking glass here, people. NESN- COME BACK TO ME!

Barry Bonds is calling you out, Tyler Olsen from Freeport, IL. It doesn't matter that you're 13 years old- he thinks you're a liar. If you weren't such a lying liar, Tyler, you would have tossed back the real homerun ball you caught off of Barry yesterday at Wrigley, instead of fumbling around for 2 minutes and then tossing back a fake ball onto the field.

Barry is totally disgusted by your behavior, Tyler. What kind of example can you be when you lie?

It's not often that I get to celebrate victories by all of my teams at the same time -- but all three ballclubs pulled off the wins today behind Jason Marquis, Josh Beckett and Adam Eaton.

Even better, the Braves, Yankees and Brewers all lost today as well - so it's a super double awesome trifecta. Beckett gets W number 13 (despite the horrific callback of J.D. Drew's homerun), the Cubs roll on to a solid 7 games above .500, and Eaton outpitches old Philly teammate Justin Germano.

Jim Thome is one swell guy- and Friday was one heckuva swell day for him (if you don't mind that pesky L for his ballclub). First, THOME gets some love from the NESN broadcast crew during BP pregame. Then he gets some love right before the game from Red Sox guys Papi, Lugo and Manny (though I confess I always picture any THOME-Papi meeting to go something like this). And then during the game he hits a three-run tater. Everything's coming up THOME!

After the jump, I've got video for you of the full Friday Night Fenway interview with THOME by Tina Cervasio (she calls him "Jimmy")- because it ain't a real THOME day until you hear him say "gosh" at least once. Plus, you can hear his take on "Manny Being Manny".

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