This and That...

Highland Park's Clayton Kershaw gets his first major league victory yesterday with the Dodgers. Congratulations to a local guy with a great future in MLB! It's hard to say whether or not the Dodgers have rushed this 20-year old along, but there's no denying he's got great stuff and potentially could be a huge talent in the big leagues for a long time. Okay, so Manny Ramirez says that he is "tired" of the Red Sox as they are of him and he would agree to a trade. He's got a strange injury last week and then goes and hits a home run tonight and a two-run single. The guy has been one of the Red Sox's most clutch hitters in team history and helped them win two World Series. He's batting .304 with a .539 slugging percentage and 20 home runs right now as the Red Sox are battling the Yankees and the Rays for the AL East. THEY AREN'T GOING TO TRADE MANNY! And I'm betting they pick up his contract option for next season also. This too shall pass... Speaking of Yankees...watch out Sox and Rays. They've made some great trades and signings giving up very little to get there and they won their first 8 games after the All-Star break. They've got momentum. Does it hurt to not have Posada? Sure. Is the pitching staff unpredictable? Absolutely. But, don't count the Yanks out. Prediction: The Yankees will win the AL East. You heard it here first. The NL Central though is shaping up to be an even better race than the AL East or the AL Central. The Cubs and the Brewers are neck and neck and the Cardinals aren't far behind. The Brewers have risked everything by trading for C.C. Sabathia and he seems to be paying off. The Cubs have history and everything else. And the Cubs are playing four games in Milwaukee begining tonight with Ted Lilly vs. Sabathia. Top of the 9th inning with the game tied 4-4, Alfonso Soriano (just off the disabled list) steals second base. Derrek Lee doubles bringing in Soriano and moving Fontenot to third base. Mark DeRosa then scores Fontenot and just like that it is 6-4 Cubs to start the bottom of the 9th. And Carlos Marmol closes it out and the Cubs win. Tomorrow, you've got Ben Sheets vs. Carlos Zambrano. Drama doesn't get any better than what is going on in the NL Central.