Gee, who to root for? The guy who endured multiple surgeries on his arm and legs, persevered into his 30's, finally got a chance last year and was brilliant in his emergency start, or the more talented, but incredibly immature jerk? Even though I own Jeff Weaver in a couple of fantasy leagues, I don't like him; either does Mike Sweeney. The pitcher, a fan of Jerry Springer, has been a security guard on that thought-provoking TV show, and also showed his class in harrassing a woman who (doing her job) chastised him for smoking dope on the team plane. Jon Heyman of Newsday commented a couple of months ago on his (entirely expected) reaction to the subsequent lawsuit:

Jeff Weaver didn't sound too concerned that the Tigers had to pay $200,000 to the flight attendant who sued them after she was mistreated by Weaver and other Tigers. "Out of sight. Out of mind," Weaver said.

The rude, crude dude is 3-4, 5.68 against the Jays over the last three years, and he has a 5.45 home ERA since donning pinstripes. Delgado (1.431 OPS), Wells (1.333) and Hinske (1.500) have hit him extremely well -- here's hoping all those trends continue this afternoon. No TV, but it's on the FAN 590.


Toughing it out: I mentioned in a recent game thread that Eric may have hurt his wrist on a swing; the latest game notes on the Official Site confirm that, and it's also mentioned that Josh Phelps has a tender wrist from swinging "so hard". Don't anticipate an immediate power surge from the slugging sophomores, but they are reportedly healthy enough to contribute.

A win today for the series split would do wonders for everyone's confidence going into Boston. It's not unreasonable to expect an 8-12 record (or better) going into Tampa, and the lessons learned during this 20-game ordeal will be valuable all season.