Saturday Player Status...

[IE]

ANH P Troy Percival Elbow missed last few games, expected to be available Saturday vs Cleveland .
ANH C Bengie Molina Calf missed Friday's game, "?" Saturday vs Cleveland.
ANH SS David Eckstein Hamstring missed Friday's game, expected to miss Saturday vs Cleveland.

ATL OF Chipper Jones Hamstring missed last game, "?" Saturday vs Philadelphia .

CIN 3B Ryan Freel Knee is "?" Saturday vs Montreal.
CIN OF Austin Kearns Thumb is probable Saturday vs Montreal .
CIN SS Barry Larkin Abdominal is "?" Saturday vs Montreal.

CHIC C Michael Barrett Groin is probable Saturday vs Chicago.

NYY 2B Enrique Wilson Groin is doubtful Saturday vs Texas.
NYY SS Derek Jeter Groin downgraded from "?" to out until Tuesday.

PHIL 3B David Bell Back is expected to miss Saturday vs Atlanta.

SD 3B Sean Burroughs Stomach is "?" Saturday vs Milwaukee.

TEX OF David Dellucci Wrist is "?" Saturday vs NY Yankees.

TOR 1B Carlos Delgado Ribs missed last few games, downgraded to expected to miss at least another 2 games.

 

[IE]

The Cubs activated left-handed reliever Kent Mercker from the disabled list. Mecker had been on the DL since May 16 with a lower-back strain. To make room for Mercker, the Cubs optioned reliever Michael Wuertz to Class AAA Iowa.

 

[IE]

White Sox starting pitcher Jon Garland delivered a quality performance in Friday night's 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

Counterpart Freddy Garcia pitched well while taking the loss, but how much longer will he be wearing a Seattle uniform?

With the Mariners all but eliminated from contention in the AL West, it's no secret general manager Bill Bavasi is shopping Garcia, who is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.

When a local report tabbed the White Sox as Garcia's most likely new home, Sox GM Kenny Williams didn't exactly know how to respond.

"Great for us,'' Williams said. "I'm really happy to hear that.''

On a more serious note, Williams didn't deny the speculation. But he did quash rumors that Class AAA outfielder Joe Borchard would be a part of the proposed trade for Garcia.

"Borchard's not going anywhere,'' Williams said.

The White Sox have an obvious need for another starting pitcher in a rotation that is only four deep at the moment. And there's no denying the 27-year-old Garcia, a combined 46-30 from 2001-03, would bring immediate relief.

Garcia (3-4) allowed the Sox 4 runs on 7 hits over 7? innings. Garland (5-2) worked 7? innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Garcia are both native Venezuelans. They are also extremely close.

"He's one of my best friends in baseball,'' Guillen said. "We're so close that when you see me in Venezuela, you will see Freddy Garcia somewhere.''

Guillen didn't want to talk about the trade rumors, other than to say, "To me, Garcia is one of the best pitchers in the game right now. I think every team in baseball would want to have him.''

The Sox wanted to have Magglio Ordonez on the field in Friday's victory, but the star right fielder is facing exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his left knee today. Ordonez is expected to miss 6-7 weeks.

Fortunately for the White Sox, Carlos Lee and Frank Thomas are both swinging hot bats.

Lee increased his hitting streak to 20 games with an RBI double off Garcia with two outs in the eighth inning.

Thomas has also been in a groove, and the veteran designated hitter extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2-run homer (No. 12) in the fourth inning. Thomas also singled in the sixth.

"We're going to miss Magglio, without a doubt,'' Guillen said. "It's hard when our best hitter is missing, but those guys know how to step up and cover the hole.''

Timo Perez got the start in right field Friday and delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning.

With Ordonez on the shelf, Guillen said he's not planning on altering his managing style.

"I'm not going to change anything,'' Guillen said. "I have a lot of confidence in Timo and (Ross) Gload. Hopefully, they can perform like Magglio. I doubt it, I don't expect it. But I think they can do the job over there.''

 

[IE]

DETROIT AT MINNESOTA -- LINEUPS

DETROIT MINNESOTA
AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI
Alex Sanchez CF .358 2 17 Lew Ford LF .328 6 29
Carlos Guillen SS .320 7 34 Cristian Guzman SS .290 2 13
Ivan Rodriguez C .337 7 40 Doug Mientkiewicz 1B .268 2 15
Rondell White DH .306 8 36 Corey Koskie 3B .264 10 26
Bobby Higginson RF .284 2 27 Torii Hunter CF .270 8 24
Craig Monroe LF .269 2 20 Jacque Jones RF .259 10 33
Carlos Pena 1B .215 8 33 Matt Lecroy DH .278 3 13
Eric Munson 3B .210 6 20 Michael Cuddyer 2B .250 5 23
Omar Infante 2B .277 3 11 Henry Blanco C .215 4 14

Gary Knotts RHP (2-1, 5.00) Seth Greisinger RHP (2-4, 5.62)


PITTSBURGH AT CHICAGO CUBS -- LINEUPS

PITTSBURGH CHICAGO CUBS
AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI
Jason Kendall C .313 0 19 Todd Walker 2B .273 6 17
Jack Wilson SS .339 4 20 Michael Barrett C .324 8 28
Daryle Ward RF .341 7 20 Moises Alou LF .319 14 36
Craig Wilson LF .360 12 35 Aramis Ramirez 3B .303 11 41
Rob Mackowiak 3B .277 11 32 Todd Hollandsworth RF .321 7 14
Jason Bay CF .281 2 8 Derrek Lee 1B .255 5 27
Randall Simon 1B .232 0 3 Corey Patterson CF .251 6 21
Bobby Hill 2B .274 1 11 Rey Ordonez SS .067 0 0
Kris Benson RHP .222 0 3 Carlos Zambrano RHP .200 0 1
(4-4, 5.64) (5-2, 2.41)

 

[IE]

FLORIDA AT NY METS -- LINEUPS

FLORIDA NY METS
AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI
Juan Pierre CF .310 0 16 Kazuo Matsui SS .263 5 19
Luis Castillo 2B .276 1 24 Todd Zeile 3B .259 6 19
Mike Lowell 3B .333 14 36 Cliff Floyd LF .260 5 18
Miguel Cabrera RF .296 13 39 Mike Piazza 1B .304 10 22
Hee Seop Choi 1B .245 11 28 Shane Spencer RF .306 2 13
Jeff Conine LF .275 4 17 Ty Wigginton 2B .263 6 21
Alex Gonzalez SS .228 4 18 Mike Cameron CF .200 7 19
Matt Treanor C .333 0 0 Vance Wilson C .244 2 6
Tommy Phelps LHP .000 0 0 Matt Ginter RHP .400 0 1
(1-0, 3.67) (1-0, 2.75)

 

[IE]

PHILADELPHIA AT ATLANTA -- LINEUPS

PHILADELPHIA ATLANTA
AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI
Jimmy Rollins SS .256 2 13 Rafael Furcal SS .252 2 8
Tomas Perez 3B .279 4 12 Dewayne Wise LF .243 3 10
Bobby Abreu RF .283 12 38 J.D. Drew RF .297 11 29
Jim Thome 1B .310 13 27 Johnny Estrada C .358 4 37
Ricky Ledee LF .304 3 13 Julio Franco 1B .284 4 21
Chase Utley 2B .242 5 20 Andruw Jones CF .244 12 32
Todd Pratt C .250 0 4 Nick Green 2B .278 2 10
Marlon Byrd CF .221 2 15 Mark Derosa 3B .219 3 20
Brett Myers RHP .222 0 0 Russ Ortiz RHP .100 0 0
(3-3, 4.24) (6-4, 3.71)

 

[THE HITMAN]

"I'm not going to change anything,'' Guillen said. "I have a lot of confidence in Timo and (Ross) Gload. Hopefully, they can perform like Magglio. I doubt it, I don't expect it. But I think they can do the job over there.'' [/B][/QUOTE]

Whassat you said ?? He goes from "lot of confidence" to "hopefully" and drops to" I doubt it but thinks they can do it" all in one thought. I hope this is due to his language barrier because otherwise it's pretty funny. He ought to be a politician.

 

[IE]

edit post:

stats didn't format well enough on the forum...

will try something else later.