At Long Lastings

If the Pittsburgh Pirates can do one thing well in professional baseball, it is produce speedy, African-American outfielders for the benefit of other teams. They're honestly second to none at performing this task. In the last 3 years alone, three of the fastest players in Major League Baseball (Nyjer Morgan, Lastings Milledge and Andrew McCutchen) have all roamed the greenery at PNC Park. Since then, Nyjer is now a National and our very own Chicago White Sox have recently acquired Lastings Milledge off of waivers and have signed him to a minor league contract. It's only a matter of time before McCutchen hits an inside-the-parker and keeps running until he is out of the city limits of Pittsburgh and finds himself on the roster of a relevant contender. But Lastings Milledge, what a name. He sounds like a confederate general from the Civil War and yet, he's a fleet-footed left fielder who had his own cheering section in Pittsburgh that affectionately referred to themselves as "The Milledge People". If that same section doesn't reincarnate itself beyond the the home bullpen at the Cell I am going to be extremely disappointed.

With the signing of Milledge, Ozzie seems to be putting an emphasis on having speed at the top of their lineup consistently. By having Juan Pierre, Lastings Milledge and Adam "Donkey" Dunn on the same club, the 2011 Sox have turned their roster into an exact replica of a fantasy draft that I routinely would put together in MLB2K9. Even though Lastings had his problems in both NY and Pittsburgh, I am still going to advocate this signing. Who cares if Billy Wagner once put a sign on his locker telling him to grow up? What kind of sign of maturity is putting a sign on somebody's locker anyways? And then there was the whole overblown incident about Milledge being featured on his childhood friend, Immanuel Dent II's rap joint entitled, "Bend Ya Knees". Apparently the upper management in Pittsburgh wasn't thrilled about the message being relayed on the track, which seemingly revolved around stripping a single woman down to nothing but her WWJD bracelet. What did you think he was doing on his off-time? He's a 25 year old, dreadlocked outfielder who wears #85 and uses Young Jeezy's "Let's Get It" as his walk-up music. You thought he was watching tape on opposing pitchers and running down his season splits? Get real.

I like this move for the Sox for a few reasons. Originally, coming out of high school in Florida, Milledge was projected to be a top 3 pick in the amateur draft before character concerns began to surface after he was expelled from school for allegedly getting down with a minor. Still, he was picked 12th and sprung up to the majors quicker than Jason Biggs with Shannon Elizabeth in his bedroom. Then, after one playoff run with the Metropolitans, Lastings was summoned to Pittsburgh to platoon in the outfield with the Buckos and consequently found himself sharing time in the 3 hole in the Pirates batting order--not exactly his natural spot. Plus, he's still young and he has shown over the course of his career that he is capable of changing a game with his speed. Ozzie's no nonsense approach in the clubhouse will be good for this young "renegade" (shout out Uncle P Dog) in order to keep his off-field antics in check. I think he means well. For example, he voluntarily gave up #44 to Adam Dunn while they were in DC, that's got to be good karma right? If nothing else, he'll steal some bases, leg out some infield hits and we'll get all the 'miles' we can out of 'Milledge'. We'll just see how long he 'lasts'. Ok, I'm done.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man likes the Michigan Wolverines, who have been playing better as of late, in Value City Arena against the #1 team in the land. The oddsmakers are giving them a goliath 16 point cushion, so I'll take the maize and blue and all of those points. Not to mention, two of my favorite Big 10 players and two Chicago Sports Noise supporters, Highland Park's Josh Bartelstein and Lake Forest's Matt Vogrich, suit up for Beilein's bunch. Hail to the victors!

Pick of the Day: Michigan (+16) @ Ohio St.- MICHIGAN

Record:(51-37-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost