Last week in baseball

Today is a slow day for baseball in the American League. Just two games, one involving the Red Sox and the other in Canada. There were some strange and not so strange doings in the world of baseball last week and here is a look at some of them.

Rays find Sleeper in Sonnastine - Andy Sonnanstine. Sort of like “Jimmy Who?” The Chicago White Sox got a good look at this kid Saturday night in St. Petersburg and he single-handedly shut down the Southsiders 5-0, going the distance. At least the beat down was a quick one, 2 hours and 2 minutes. Sonnanstine threw 106 pitches, 77 for strikes, while walking only one batter. In the contest. If the Rays (or Devil Rays as I prefer to call them) continue this pace, they may reach the .500 mark and may even reach the playoffs.

Big Hurt given walking papers by Blue Jays - Frank Thomas was the DH for the Toronto Blue Jays. Now he’s not. After his batting average fell below the Mendoza line, the Big Hurt was given his walking papers by the team this past weekend. Someone’s going to grab this guy and when they do, look out. Granted, he doesn’t have the physical skills to play first base anymore but just having his bat in the lineup would make pitchers think twice about walking someone to get to him.

Glavine on DL for first time ever - For the first time in his career, which will feature a trip to Cooperstown, Tom Glavine went on the disabled list this week. The Braves lefty injured a groin muscle in the team’s loss to Washington April 13. The Braves pitching is already decimated with injuries (Mike Hampton and Peter Moylan) and will need him to get and stay healthy.

Chipper - His given name is Larry Wayne Jones. People in Atlanta call him "Chipper." There are some Mets fans that would sooner die of a gunshot from Big Pussy than see him come to the plate. Right now, the Florida Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers are thinking the same thing. Chipper went yard twice in two days, twice in Florida and twice at the Chop Shop (Turner Field) this weekend and is currently leading the league in hitting. Could he be the answer to the Braves getting back to postseason? More importantly, can that quad muscle heal so he can play 150+ this season? Time will tell.

Buried Ortiz jersey goes to charity - There was something good coming out of the burial of that David Ortiz jersey in the new Yankee Stadium after all. The attempt to curse the Boston Red Sox most hated rival failed but at the same time, cancer research will be the big winners. The Ortiz jersey was be auctioned off to benefit the Jimmy Fund, one of the major Boston Red Sox charities, along with a Yankees t-shirt.

Klesko calls it a career - One of my favorite players and a former Brave, Ryan Klesko, is calling it quits. He may have ended his career with San Francisco but he will be remembered more in an Atlanta Braves jersey, where he earned a World Series ring in 1995. Now he's got time to do his one big passion. Police work. He's gone on a couple of drug raids with officers from various jurisdictions in Florida. Thanks for the memories, Ryno!

Let's play two on the Left Coast - Colorado and San Diego took Ernie Banks to heart last Thursday night when they played and played and played. It was like watching the Energizer Bunny. Just hearing about it made me tired. 6 hours and 16 minutes of baseball. Now for some of us, that’s more baseball than a person should legally be allowed to watch. I will say this: the Petco Park concession stands made a hell of a lot of money that night. Just wished the Padres had won the game.