The Cubs Threw The 1918 World Series (?) And Phil Watch

Apparently the Chicago Historical Society is in possession of an affidavit where Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte says the idea to throw the 1919 series came from the Chicago Cubs throwing the 1918 series.

I don't know who owned the group of documents, notes, etc. before the CHS acquired them last December, but how has it taken ninety years for this to be revealed?

It's an interesting read but not exactly definitive. Funny it's released now, in the 100th year of the Cubs drought. Just newsworthy enough. Our culture's peculiar fascination with round numbers and benchmarks aside, I smell something. Seems too perfect.

On to Phil. His weekly power rankings are up and there's not outrageously stupid. I think someone told him to stop being a dope. The Braves jumped 12 spots by going 4-3 for the week and losing 2 out of 3 to the Marlins and the Orioles are apparently better than half of the other teams in baseball but overall, it's a little more sane.

But one of my favorite Phil features in his Whispers Around The League where Phil puts his ear to the ground and gives us entirely inconsequential tidbits that are essentially throwaway news items culled from MLB.com.

Let's get started.

Tough stretch for the Yankees, who have started a three-city trip to Baltimore, Chicago and Cleveland. Because of Pope Benedict XVI's weekend visit to Yankee Stadium, they are playing 18 road games in a stretch of 20 days.

If you knew this, why are they the 22nd-best team in your power rankings? They scored 968 runs last year, almost a half-run better than the next best team and their pitching was even crappier last year to start the season (Carl Pavano was the opening day starter). They finished 94-68.

They'll be fine.

Gabe Kapler, a minor-league manager last season and a Brewers outfielder this season, missed a three-game series in St. Louis with a bruised shoulder caused by crashing into the outfield walls shagging fly balls. Did he fine himself for the silly injury?

Phil made a funny.

Roger Clemens isn't completely out of sight. He has been a frequent visitor to Lewis-Gale Medical Center Field in Salem, Mass., where Koby Clemens is the starting catcher for the Carolina League's Avalanche. He rented out a local sports bar so the Avalanche front office and players could watch the NCAA tournament title game between Kansas and Memphis.

When I say inconsequential, I mean it.

Nice of Curt Schilling's doctor to go on a radio station to say Schilling would be interested in pitching for the Yankees next season. Craig Morgan is upset with the Red Sox for not signing off on surgery to repair Schilling's partially torn labrum and loose biceps.

I swear, Schilling must have murdered Phil's cat.

Four items into the whispers and we're given tidbits about the completely irrelevant goings-on of Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens, two players utterly useless to the current baseball discussion.

Sportswriters do this all the time. Bitch about the perpetuation of stories not germane to the current relevance and go ahead and perpetuate it themselves.

Pitchers having serious velocity issues: Nationals closer Chad Cordero (topped out at 82 m.p.h. in one recent outing), Braves starter Tim Hudson (fastball at 84-85 against Florida on Wednesday), Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez (low-90s) and the surgically repaired Francisco Liriano (low-90s).

A bit of an innocuous tidbit but pretty telling in what is not said for a couple.

Chad Cordero - Right shoulder tendinitis so what do you expect?

Tim Hudson - A ton of pitchers go through a dead arm period in April. Never threw hard.

Frankie Rodriguez - A bad ankle. Back up to 95 on Saturday. Watch the games.

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki,who drove in 99 runs last year, didn't get his first RBI this season until Wednesday, when he ended an 0-for-20 slump. He might be the biggest disappointment in the majors thus far.

'Entering the weekend', Tulowitski had about 14 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, well below the league average. Last year, he was above the league average in opportunites to drive in runs. This year, he's batting almost exclusively second and is hitting behind a leadoff platoon that is getting on base at a .303 clip. BTW, he had more 5 rbi over the weekend.

Biggest disappointment?

Here's a few better candidates to consider, guys hitting in lineup spots demanding performance:

Ryan Howard: Hitting .186 with only 9 rbi.

Prince Fielder: Hitting .222 and just hit his first hr over the weekend.

Ryan Braun: Also hitting .222.

Andruw Jones: Hitting .169 with only 3 rbi and has struck out 21 times in 59 abs.

David Ortiz: Was hitting .111 entering the weekend with one hr and 7 rbi.

And that's just hitters. Sabathia, Verlander and Oswalt are infinitely 'mostest disappointing' compared to Tulowitzki as well.

Can't wait to hear next week's whispers. I predict a Julio Franco and Jason Giambi item.