What is going on in Cincinnati? Bobby Valentine spoke for me last night when stating that he didn't think the Reds had a clue what they were doing.

I agree with the Boone firing. I disagree with the Bowdan firing as he has brought that team some great young players without spending a lot of money. Trading Scott Williamson to the Red Sox was curious as he was one of their few pitching highlights. The deal is even more curious since Williamson was only making $1.6 million. What other closer can you find out there to give you twenty plus saves for that kind of money?

Then today, the Reds traded their hottest hitter, Jose Guillen to Oakland (another great move by the A's). The articles on the deal called it a salary dump. Salary dump? Guillen has bounced around for six year and several teams. How much money could he be making? And he was batting .337 with a slugging percentage over .600 (very Sosa-like!).

So why would you trade him? The only reason I can come up with is payback for the griping he did earlier in his season when he wasn't playing much. The Reds got Aaron Harang, who until last year was considered a great prospect. Harang was really hit hard in his brief stint in the major leagues in this his rookie season. I just don't understand this one. Maybe Harang can regain his promise for the Reds.


Bill Mueller's two grand slams, one from each side of the plate, was a great story last night. His year is storybook already and his game was the climax of the story. The only chink in the Red Sox armor right now seems to be Ramiro Mendoza as the fifth starter. His ERA is now over seven.


Those of you who were fortunate to watch the Inside Sports Center program last night should have gotten a new appreciation for what it takes to put that kind of show together. With all the juggling that goes on in that show, you appreciate the on-air talent even more than you did before. They are amazing. And amazing also describes the complete team process it takes to make that show happen. That was TV at its best last night.

It's time to look at the Fan's favorite boxscore players and how they did the last seven games.

Texas has become my favorite boxscore team. Now I follow Teixeira, Blalock, Michael Young, Shane Spencer and Laynce Michael Nix (their latest rookie gem).
- Blalock: .357 for the week with two homers, six RBI and kept his season average up to a solid .317.
- Teixeira: Had a tough week only going 3 for 26 (.115!) bringing his average down to .250. But he is two for two tonight with a homer and three RBI.
- Young: .355 for the week with 11 more hits and 9 runs scored. His season average is now .322.
- Nix: Nix batted .267 in his first full week in the majors. He had two homers and hit his third tonight with three RBI.
- Spencer: The Fan's old Yankee friend hit .412 last week with 8 RBI in 7 games. He's now a respectable .270 in 237 at bats.

The Marlins are my second favorite boxscore team:
- Dontrelle Willis: 13 innings, 1-0, 7 hits, 13 strikeouts with a 1.45 ERA. He is now 10-2 for the season!
- Mike Lowell: Batted .412 the past seven games with a homer and 7 RBI. He now has 29 homers and 87 RBI for the season.
- Miguel Cabrera: .414 for the week with 2 homers and 9 RBI! In his first 122 MLB at bats, he's up to .267 with six homers and 26 RBI in 33 games. Eighteen of his first 32 major league at bats have been for extra bases.

The rest of my favorite boxscore players:
- Sean Burroughs. Sean struggled again last week, batting only .188 with no extra base hits. His first season average is still a respectable .288 in 333 MLB at bats.
- Luis Matos. The Baltimore outfielder has his first bad week, batting only .160. His season average is down to .341 which I'd take anytime.
- Melvin Mora went 1 for 19 for the week after getting hit in the face by a batted ball. It's a real shame after the year he was having. I hope that he can get the groove back as he is still batting a solid .325.
- Albert Pujols. Pujols only hit .423 for the week. Sheesh, the man is amazing. He had another six RBI to bring his total to 98.
- Bo Hart. The human highlight film has stopped hitting. He hit .214 last week and his OBP was .267, which is terrible for a leadoff batter. The Cardinals should move him to seventh or eigth in the lineup for a while. The Cards should try Renteria at leadoff.
- Pat Burrell. Burrell hit .250 for the week! He managed to get his average just a nose above the Mendoza line.
- Rocco Baldelli. Rocco had a great week as he batted .375 with 2 homers, 2 doubles and 9 RBI. His season average is now at .307.
- Coco Crisp. Coco hit .355 last week and is now up to .291 for the year. Go Coco Go!
- Jose Reyes. Reyes has done well enough that the Mets traded away the previous starting shortstop, Rey Sanchez. Reyes is hitting a respectable .264 in his first big league season.