Miserable Day in Chicago.....

UPDATE!! 2:40 pm
Boone signing almost official, AP reports. According to the report, Boone must pass a physical this weekend and could be ready to play in a few weeks. RTF was the first to announce it here on this very site. It took two days for all other media sources to pick up on it.

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Well... I was hoping to come on here and report about how the Tribe took 3 out of 4 from the White Sox on a warm sunny afternoon in Chicago. Unfortunately, it was cold, rainy, and the Tribe's bats were quieter than the woman who designed the puffy shirt.

The designer of this shirt and these bats had something in common yesterday
Jon Rauch, who looks like a monster on the mound, somehow held the hitters to 6 hits in 5+ innings. Every time someone came to bat with RISP, they looked a little drowsy. They hit more popups in the infield than I've ever seen. It was the first win for a White Sox fifth starter since last August 22nd! It really felt like the Indians just didn't feel like playing a game. Granted, it was chilly and rained the whole game, but that's no excuse. I would've like to have ended the road trip on a higher note. Having said that, a 5-5 trip throught New York, Atlanta and Chicago should certainly be considered a success.

The biggest disappointment yesterday for me was Ben Broussard. I was hoping he'd use that grand slam from Wednesday night as a springboard to turning things around. Unfortunately, he followed up the first Indians' pinch-hit granny since 1986 with an 0-4 day with a strikeout, two popouts and a weak fly ball to left field. Getting that type of production from a first baseman is becoming very painful.

MLB All Access
On a completely unrelated note... I'd like to talk a little bit about MLB.com's All Access. You can receive it virtually free for the rest of the season by using this offer here from MSN (expires June 30). It's a must have for a big baseball fan... especially for you Tribe fans that don't live in Cleveland (like me). This gives you access to:

MLB.tv-- Live video feeds of almost every Major League Baseball game, every day and archives of virtually every game for the last two years

Gameday Audio-- Live and archived audio feeds (both home and away) for every single game

Video & Highlights-- A couple of hours after a game is completed, they'll have extended highlights and a condensed game (one play from every batter). In addition, they'll have an interactive boxscore where everything can be clicked on. For instance, let's say Travis Hafner went 2 for 4 with 1 homer and 2 strikeouts. You can click on the "2" to see both of his hits, the "4" to see all of his at bats, etc. And... for you fantasy fans out there... you can customize what you want to see each day and have them email it to you or access it online. For instance, you can see every atbat for Javy Lopez, the homers of Jim Thome, the strikeouts of Milton Bradley, etc.

Baseball's Best-- Lastly, Baseball's Best provides both audio and video of some of baseball's best all-time games and performances. For instance, you can listen to the audio broadcasts from all of the games of the 1948 World Series or you can watch Game Three of the 1997 ALCS against the Orioles.

I strongly recommend getting it for the final three months of the season if you haven't already. It's free with MSN Premium (along with increased Hotmail storage and some other perks).

Links

Gary Miller reports on Eric Wedge, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner in his latest Clubhouse Confidential.

Eric Neel doesn't think the Indians can hang in there with the Twinkies or Sox in the Central.

The Tribe is number 19 on both SI's and ESPN's Power Rankings. We never get any credit in either one of these things.

Let's hope the Indians can get back on track this weekend against the Rockies. The pitching matchups certainly look to favor us (which they usually would against the Rockies).