Mattie T’s Quick Hits…
Written by The Go-To-Man Mattie T. on August 2, 2008
Good Morning to all!!!!
First off, would like to apologize for our recent downtime but everything appears to be up & running again!!!!!
First, let’s discuss the recent MLB trading deadline which ended this past Thursday. Two big names changed zip codes & could possibly add interesting twists to pennant races as we enter the final 2 months of the regular season.
The first one (which DJ Special Blend should be happy about), is Ken Griffey Jr. going from the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox. Griffey wore #17 even after Nick Swisher agreed to give up his #30, which was Griffey’s jersey number in Cincinnati.
Griffey made his White Sox debut last night in Kansas City & went 2-3 with a pair of RBI singles as he helped Chicago win 4-2 & keep their AL Central lead at a half-game over Minnesota.
 
With Griffey moving to centerfield & Nick Swisher moving to 1st base, Paul Konerko seems to be the odd man out for the White Sox.
Despite being a team captain & making $12 million this season (3rd highest on team), Konerko is expericing perhaps the most difficult slump of his MLB career as he’s hitting just .214 in 79 games this season with the White Sox.
The Sox will have some options to make in the off-season as both Griffey Jr. & Jim Thome will be free-agents.
 
Between them, the twosome have hit 1,135 career home runs in 4,593 major league games.
There was a late deadline deal on Thursday, as the Boston Red Sox shipped Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in part of a 3-team deal.
The Pittsburgh Pirates received 4 minor-leaguers in the deal, while Jason Bay went to the Boston Red Sox.
Ramirez made his Dodgers debut on Friday night against Arizona & went 2-4 in left field during LA’s 2-1 loss.
Ramirez had a chance to make his 1st game with Los Angeles a memorable one, but he grounded into a game-ending doubleplay after he represented the winning run with 1 out in the 9th inning.
 
With the trade to the Dodgers, Ramirez will now get to play with former Red Sox teammates Nomar Garciaparra & Derek Lowe.
Oddly enough, Ramirez’s new manager Joe Torre was on the losing side when Boston came back from an improbable 0-3 ’04 ALCS deficit to beat the New York Yankees before going on to win the World Series over St. Louis in 4 games.
Finally, Jason Bay made his Red Sox debut on Friday night & went 1-3 while scoring the game-winning run in the 12th inning to help Boston beat Oakland 2-1 & remain the Wild Card leader by just a half-game over Minnesota.
The Red Sox are hoping that they get the Jason Bay who hit 30 home runs & drove in over 100 runs in 2 straight seasons from 2005-2006 with Pittsburgh.
Team USA continued their preparation for the Beijing Olympics with a 120-84 win over Lithuania on Friday.
Team USA had six players in double-figures, led by Dwyane Wade’s game-high 19 points.
Their next game will be against Russia, which will be shown on ESPN2 at 2 am EST on Sunday morning.
The Houston Rockets made a blockbuster deal in hopes of ending their 11 year win-less playoff drought by acquiring 2004 Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings.
With Artest now joining Tracy McGrady & a healthy Yao Ming, the Rockets now look to challenge both the Lakers & Hornets to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals for next season.
 
Speaking of the Hornets, they will appear on national TV for the 1st time during Christmas Day this December as they’ll face Dwight Howard & the Orlando Magic on TNT.
 
Congratulations to Art Monk, Darrell Green, Fred Dean, Emmitt Thomas, Andre Tippett & Gary Zimmerman, who will all be inducted into Pro Football’s Hall of Fame later today in Canton, OH.
 
The Indianapolis Colts & Washington Redskins will then kick-off the 2008 NFL preseason with the Hall of Fame game on Sunday night at 7pm CST on NBC, as several Colts starts will sit out this one which includes Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Bob Sanders & Dwight Freeney.
Tomorrow night’s game could also feature the debut of Redskins’ defensive end Jason Taylor, who was acquired on July 20th from the Miami Dolphins.
Until then,
Mattie T
Sports Writer for BMS Radio Chicago
www.blackmusic-spot.com
