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Well, that didn't work.

In his highly anticipated* Major League debut, the White Sox Chris Sale came on to start the bottom of the 8th of a 1-1 game versus the Orioles.

*at least here

He proceeded to walk Brian Roberts, give up a single to shallow center by Nick Markakis, and get removed for Tony Peña.

Seven pitches, Ozzie only gave him 7 pitches.

Peña, on the other hand was left in for 44 pitches over 2 2/3 innings, as he proceeded to lose the game in the 10th.

We still expect Chris Sale to be useful and improve on his career WHIP which currently sits at an unsightly infinity.

At least Sale didn't bomb the way Chris Perez did in his first game as an Indian.

Personally speaking, I have never been more disappointed in a reliever than when I was in Section 512 on April 10, 2004, when Andy Pratt walked both batters he faced and took the loss against his former mates.

I was already upset that the Cubs gave up Juan Cruz for this guy.

At the time, lifelong friend Weino sagely said "Never make a pitching trade with Atlanta".

No, we're not talking about getting six pairs of socks for $3.99. We're here to take a quick look at the first player from the 2010 Draft to make it to the big leagues, the 13th pick of the 1st round, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox.

The majority of chatter out there states that Sale will be a Major League starting pitcher with at least three above average pitches, including a fastball, changeup, and sweeping curve ball - which reports state is the weakest of his three pitches. Still, he can throw all of them for strikes and should be a solid reliever even as a fastball/changeup pitcher.

He's tall, 6'6", and weighs just about 175 lbs, as a 21 year old. We expect great things from him, as he grows into his body and receives the tutelage of pitching coach, Don Cooper. Some of Cooper's best success stories have included times when he's taught his cutter. Sale's prefered fastball, allegedly is a 2-seamer. Once he gets some time in The Show, we should be able to study his Pitch f/x data on Texasleaguers. If he learns an effective Major League cutter, he will be dangerous.

In just 10 1/3 minor league innings this season, across High A and Triple A ball, Sale struck out 19 batters, walked 6, and gave up just 6 hits. Minor League Splits shows he had a miniscule Line Drive percentage of 11.1%. His FIP is an unexpected 4.00, but that was atributed to two fluky HR's he gave up in Triple A. In fact, he gave up onnly 2 flyballs in Triple A, and they both went for HR's. According to Minor League Splits, the HR's were luck induced because if you neutralize his numbers for luck, his FIP falls to 1.55. His Triple A strikeout per 9 innings ratio is a truly unique 21.3.

I'm a sucker for potential, prospect buzz, anticipation, and upside. So, Chris Sale has naturally catapulted himself onto our rotisserie team, and we expect him to develop into someone better than Derek Holland but not as good as Clayton Kershaw or David Price. Guys like Ricky Romero and teammate John Danks might be more benchmarks to see how he could perform in the next couple of years. Who knows? He could be another Andrew Miller.

To get some more details on what he does for a living, let's look at snippets from some of our friends in the ol' blogosphere.

Feb 6, 2010 - John Klima, Baseball Beginnings

"STRENGTHS: Hard, sinking FB primary weapon, 91-93. Hard SL, 87-88, good CH, 81-84, weapon pitch. Balanced and coordinated, good arm action, lands well, command average with room for development.

WEAKNESSES: Occasionally overthrows, opens up and loses delivery. Needs to continue developing downhill plane on all pitches.

SUMMARY: Should be three-pitch left-handed starter at ML level."

May 1, 2010 - Joe Hamrahi, Baseball Daily Digest

"The very first thing you notice about Chris Sale is his body. The kid is tall, 6’ 6” tall, and skinny. He’s not unhealthy looking, but he could put on another 20-25 pounds and still be considered very lean.

[snip]

Sale comes at hitters from a high three-quarter slot delivery. He has the ability to drop down and throw side arm, and some who have seen him claim he can even show a more regular three-quarter delivery.

The lanky left-hander has a very herky-jerky approach to the plate, and he tucks and hides the ball well. He’s deceptive and gives the illusion of many body parts flying around. Yet, his arm motion is smooth and clean, and he puts limited stress on his shoulder. I’d like him to use his legs more, but with physical maturity and strength, he should eventually be able to drive more off the core of his body."

June 7, 2010 - Andy Seiler, MLB Bonus Baby [dot] com

"[Sale] has upside as a number two starter. His fastball is a plus pitch that generally sits 91-94, touching 96, and he commands it with plus precision. He gets a lot of life on it due to his three-quarters release point, and it’s one of the best left-handed fastballs in this class. His best secondary pitch is a plus changeup with excellent depth and fade, and it’s a Major League-ready pitch. His third pitch is an average slider that isn’t commanded nearly as well, and there are concerns about his inability to spin a breaking ball."

June 7, 2010 - Jeff Sackmann, The Harball Times

"Another talent that arguably should've gone in the top ten. He's the owner of a couple of my favorite draft-day stats: Only one walk against a lefty all year, and an identical 31/5 groundball/flyball out ratio against lefties in both 2009 and 2010. You have to make some allowances for his level of competition at FGCU, but after his performance in the Cape last summer, there's no doubt he's an elite guy."

Welcome to Good Friends, Chris Sale. This might just be a cup of coffee with our rotisserie team, but we genuinely feel he can have an immediate impact as a LOOGY. It may depend how Ozzie uses him. As a LOOGY, he's ready. As a starter, I would expect him to struggle initially, like David Price. In the role we envision, he should have a similar impact as other guys who recently debuted to great success in the 'pen: K-Rod, Joba, and Price himself. It'll be exciting to find out.

We often like to have fun at the expense of the White Sox and Cardinals. We've always had respect for guys who do great things in those organizations, like Dave Duncan and Don Cooper. There is deep seeded animosity against many fans of these two franchises, mostly for disrespecting the game by their boorish behavior at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. We have some really good friends who are Sox and Cardinal fans. It's no big deal, no hard feelings.

Tonight, we are going to actually shine the light of respect on a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. No, it's not Colby Rasmus; it's team leader, league leader, All World All-Time Great, Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols.

We're not breaking a story tonight. Pujols is a star and perennial best player in the game. The reason we're spending this ink tonight is that we took a minute to check his stats on Baseball Reference tonight and were amazed by the fact that he had an MVP caliber season as a 21 year old, his rookie year, and he's never had a down season, with this being his tenth season. Again, it's nothing newsworthy. I'm almost embarrassed to even bring this up. I've been so anti-pujols for so long, that I never even cared to begin to process some of these numbers. He's had MVP caliber seasons for every year from age 21, 22, 23, all the way to this year, as a 30-year old. He's the pre 2009 Thanksgiving Tiger Woods of baseball.

So, this post is designed for readers who are inclined to take a brief moment to check out his stats and enjoy the historic times we're living in.

For some amazing perspective, look at a couple of Pujols's comparable players: Hank Greenberg, Jimmie Foxx, and Joe DiMaggio.

Before you go, please do us one favor and look at their BB/K numbers, these are the bee's knees...

Albert Pujols 877 BB's, 622 K's
Hank Greenberg 852 BB's, 844 K's
Jimmie Foxx 1452 BB's, 1311 K's
Joe DiMaggio 790 BB's, 369 K's

BB/K ratio fever, catch it!

This goes out to a very special friendly reader.

There are many reasons my Facebook url username is RonArtest91. (http://www.facebook.com/RonArtest91)

He's been one of my favorite players since I saw him play intense, shutdown perimeter defense for Fran Fraschilla's St. John's Red Storm.

I distinctly remember listening to the 1999 NBA Draft* in the car, and the sports talk radio guys were very happy when the Bulls drafted him 15 selections after making Elton Brand the #1 overall pick.

*Blast from the past: The Bulls took Michael Ruffin at the start of the 2nd Round, and the Spurs took an Argentinian player named Manu Ginobli at the end of the draft.

For over ten years, Artest has worn a variety of different uniforms, but he's always brought the defensive pressure.

I have two favorite moments in Artest's Bulls career, and they're both off the court. First, he gained notoriety from most and unconditional love from me for applying for a part-time job at a Chicago based Circuit City because he wanted the "camaraderie and employee discount".

Second, he got some heat in the press for wearing sweat pants on the bench, instead of a customary tailored suit, while he was injured. I can't find a link, but he said something to the effect of: [sic] "I have a bunch of brothers and sisters. I gotta take care of them; I'm not in the league to buy suits".

Well, he's in the news again. Big Ups to Michael Katz and Big League Stew's 'Duk for finding this on Youtube.



As Ron Ron raps... Big ups to Keith Hernandez, Kevin Elster, Affordable Bleacher Seats...

Ever since I was a kid, I'd use the term 'quick look' for when I'd see someone who looked like someone we knew or a famous person.

The idea is that if you turn your head back and forth really quickly, so you only catch a glimpse, or quick look, they'd look like our friend's Dad, or Woody Harrelson, or the guy from Hoagie Hut.

Let's take a quick look at every team in the Majors and see what we see.

Angels
Mike Scoiscia’s the only reason they’re as good as 2nd place in the AL West. Surprisingly, to us, it looks like the AL West will be a walk for the Rangers.

Astros
It is youth in revolt in Houston, as Brett Myers’s $21 million extension through 2012 (with a $7 million club option for 2013) makes him the new veteran leader of the pitching staff.

Athletics
Was it bad luck, or something else, that limited the A’s from trading Ben Sheets before his season ending injury?

Blue Jays
Alex Anthopolous didn’t cash in his valuable trading chips: Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, Kevin Gregg, and to a lesser extent Jose Bautista. The three relievers are expendable and should have been traded. Bautista (who leads the league in Homeruns)’s stock has never been higher. If he has a solid rest of the season, he’ll be very valuable in the offseason and Spring Training. His arbitration raise will likely get him to around $6 or $7 million, which still makes him an affordable power hitter.

Braves
As we’ve heard many times, and will continue to hear, the Braves are really going for it in Bobby Cox’s last season. But, with whom? We love Jason Heyward and Brian McCann. Prado and Chipper are good. Their overall pitching looks strong, and I guess that’s the key to their success. Hudson and Wagner are having fantastic seasons. We just don’t like their trade deadline acquisitions (Ankiel & Farnsworth) at all.

Brewers
Milwaukee’s decision to stand pat at the deadline seems quite odd. We respect the refusal to fly the white flag before you feel it, but the Brewers aren’t really in the mix for a playoff spot. Are they? At 11 games behind the 2nd place Reds, Coolstandings gives them a less than 0.1% chance at making the playoffs.

Cardinals
I’ve never been a Reds fan before this season, but it still looks like La Russa’s litigators will be there to spoil another October for people outside of Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Cubs
Don’t get me started. They stink. Nothing is worse than a bad team that is also old and overpaid. The prospects the Cubs can boast of look too far away to expect success in 2011.

Diamondbacks
I’m still shocked they fired General Manager, Josh Byrnes, but the interim GM made a fantastic move by trading Edwin Jackson. He has had too many miles put on his surgically repaired arm to be worth the future salary he’ll be making. At least Jackson has a chance at survival with White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper. As regular readers of this space know, we highly respect the pitching coaches of our two least favorite teams, Don Cooper and Dave Duncan.

LA Dodgers
It’s always refreshing to see teams that are going for it. Trading Blake DeWitt for Lilly & Theriot was a win for them. Getting Dotel makes them very dangerous.

SF Giants
We’ve been high on the Giants for over a year. It’s not their whole team as much as we wanted to see Lincecum and Cain tear up October like Schilling and Johnson a decade ago. If Lincecum is losing his mojo, though, all bets are off.

Indians
Is Carlos Santana worth the price of admission? Cleveland fans are going to find out in the next two months, as they have very little else to cheer for. They’ll be good again, when Shin-Soo Cho is their 5th or 6th best player.

Mariners
This was the year they were supposed to compete. Unfortunately, Chone Figgins stinks and they were never able to capitalize on the 1-2 of Felix and Lee. There is hope under Jack Z’s wise command, but they need to get some hitter. Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley are critical cogs.

Mets
Is Omar Minaya still working for the Expos? How could the Mets make NO MOVES this trading deadline? Even a salary dump would look better than doing NOTHING.

Nationals
Other than the Riggleman curse getting close to the best pitching prospect of all time, the Nationals look like a team on the rise. Just don’t fire Riggleman and hire Dusty, who’s contract is up in Cincinnati at the end of the year.

Orioles
And the worst record in baseball currently resides in Baltimore, and it is a putrid 32-73. That’s a .305 winning percentage. That’s 41 games under .500. At least Buck Showalter can’t make things any worse. At this point, Rich Kotite could manage the Orioles and they’ll do better than a .305 Win% next season.

Padres
This season’s Cinderella story is the lovable bunch of guys rallying around Adrian Gonzalez in San Diego. There was ridiculous talk this week that they finally got a 2nd Major League hitter by trading for Ryal Ludwick. Personally, I think Ludwick still stinks, but we will root for the Padres because we love Bud Black, pitching, and Sandy Alderson – certainly not in that order.

Phillies
The wounded, 2-time defending champions of the National League still look very dangerous to us. I think they’ll still win the division. Not only that, I would bet that we see Bill Simmons’ Ewing Theory transfer to baseball if Ryan Howard is out for an extended period of time.

Pirates
The Pirates finally look exciting. They need more pitching, for sure, but their lineup finally looks young and dangerous. Pedro Alvarez will establish himself as a game altering force in the next 12 months.

Rangers
The Rangers looked dangerous at the start of the year and transformed themselves into a powerhouse. They have players performing extremely well this season, like Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, and Cliff Lee. They also have youth on their side, with very young contributors like Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz and Neftali Feliz. When healthy, Ian Kinsler is a perennial MVP candidate. Most importantly, Nolan Ryan has built and managed a stable of young power arms on the Major League staff and in the minors.

Rays
Can they hold off Boston for the Wild Card? Recent news makes it unlikely anyone will catch the Yankees for the Division, but the Rays have a chance to make it to October, where anything can happen.

Reds
In Dusty we Trusty!

Red Sox
Is this really a team that is just cruising to wherever they can get, thinking next year will be better because they will have some $30+ million to spend on players not named Ortiz, Lowell, or Papelbon?

Rockies
Colorado is dangerously close to seeing the NL West turn into a two horse race between the Giants and Dodgers. Can Tulo and the gang bring back some of the Rockies 2nd half magic from recent history?

Royals
The laughingstock of the American League has taken what appear to be steps in the right direction the past couple of weeks. Progress is a good thing.

Tigers
Jim Leyland is like a battalion leader at war. He knows what his team needs to do, and he knows there is a certain way to get there. Behind the scenes, people say there is no better communicator. He connects with each of his players, gets them on his side, and keeps moving forward. Unfortunately, Ron Gardenhire and Ozzie Guillen are also very good managers, and they each have at least a 6 game lead on the Tigers.

Twins
Gardy’s boys are at it again. I didn’t like the Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps trade. The Twins should have used Ramos for a blockbuster deal, getting someone who could make more of an impact. Capps is a good reliever, but his value was inflated by saves. Even though Ramos’ stock has dropped a bit, as his power has this season, they could have gotten someone better than Matt Capps.

White Sox
The southsiders have a really good thing going on with Kenny Williams, Ozzie Guillen, and Don Cooper. I hope their mulleted fans can appreciate the ingenuity and stability this team has provided them.

Yankees
Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to present to you the 2010 World Series Champion New York Yankees.

Since the All Star Break, Stephen Strasburg had two starts and went on the Disabled List with "shoulder inflammation". Coincidentally, Josh Beckett just came off a long DL stint of his own to start two games since the break.

The All-Star Break ended two weeks ago, last night, which means we may welcome back one of Baseball's most prestegious awards: the BAseball Reality Tour Player of the Fortnight Awards.

The last time we handed out some hardware, July 9th, the awards went to Rafael Furcal, Josh Johnson, Ian Kinsler, and Jon Lester.

NL Hitter of the Fortnight
Rickie Weeks, Brewers

A few numbers: .326/.441/.837. Power and patience were present, as he only hit 6 singles, while clubbing 7 HR's in 49 AB's and drawing 8 BB's.

It gives us great pleasure to see Weeks here, since we traded for him during the All Star Break, thus benefiting from all of this production. What makes it extra sweet is that he was basically a throw-in, as we were targeting Miguel Cabrera in the swap.

The Yankee clubhouse just got a whole lot classier. If Lance Berkman does not fit in with the Yankees, it will be because there is something wrong with the Yankees. I think guys like Cap'n Jetes, Swish, AJ & CC, Granderson, Nick Johnson, and of course homeboy Andy Pettitte will help Lance feel nice and comfortable. He's a great hitter who's had some struggles due to injuries and mileage. We think he can brace himself and have a great run here in pinstripes.

Egads, I just looked at the bounty the Astros received for Berkman: Marc Melancon and Jimmy Paredes. Looking at their profiles does not instill great confidence in Houston's future. But hey, at least Brett Wallace can play everyday now that Berkman's off the team.

Woah, this just in: the Yankees also traded cash or a player to be named later to Cleveland for Austin Kearns. Kearns was a prized prospect for the Reds who battled injuries and hit well against the Cubs. He can still crush a fastball, and particularly lefties. He'll be an improvement over the Marcus Thameses of the world.

And wait, what's this? The Yankees aren't done? Buster Olney tweets that they are working on a third trade today, presumably for someone who can also play 3rd base. Ramiro Peña? You're not getting it done. I guess, I should start getting excited for another championship parade down the Canyon of Heroes in about three months.