July 21

You and whose army?
The Padres' Woody Williams threw 35 pitches against Arizona Wednesday night and then the transformer blew, postponing the rest of the game until Thursday afternoon.

San Diego manager Bruce Bochy planned to sit Williams for three days, but Williams went to the manager and told him, "don't mess up your rotation, give me the ball." Williams explained that he feels worse the second day after pitching than the first. He proceeded to go out and throw four shutout innings.

And you wonder why he's such a desirable commodity?

Lawyers in love
After being informed that the Orioles game had been postponed for the third straight day because of fumes stemming from a fire near Camden Yards, one baseball executive cracked, "now we know that Peter Angelos does know about one thing in baseball -- liability."

The neighborhood
The catcher for the Red Sox' Gulf Coast League club is Ivan Rodriguez, and he's hitting .371 with a 1.191 OPS.

I-Rod II is a Dominican native living in Boston after being released by another organization, and was recommended to the Red Sox this spring by a friend who works for the Aramak concessions company that services Fenway Park. Minor-league coordinator Dave Jauss asked New England scout Ray Fagnant to let him go to a predraft workout in Lowell, Mass. Fagnant offered the invitation because he needed catchers to warm up pitchers.

The Red Sox were so impressed they signed him right away. "We have no idea why he was released or what happened," says Fagnant, "but he can really throw, he can swing the bat and he's not too bad behind the plate. You never know where players are going to come from."

The sky is crying
The Yankees lost three games by more than six runs before the All-Star break. They lost five such games in the first eight contests since coming back from the break.

High tides and green grass
A golf magazine rated baseball's best golfers:

Zero handicap: John Smoltz, Mike Trombley
Three handicap: Mark Mulder, Bill Spiers
Four handicap: Rick Helling
Five handicap: Tanyon Sturtze

Here I am
Check out Indians' sandwich pick J.D. Martin's first four professional outings for Burlington in the Appalachian League:

2-0 record in four appearances: 17 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 33 SO.

I just can't be satisfied
ESPN.com's Page 2 columnist Bill Simmons e-mailed a series of posts on the Providence Journal's web site with suggestions for songs to introduce Red Sox players. Here are a few. Be advised that almost every suggestion for Jimy Williams had something to do with fool.

1. Carl Everett -- Diary of a Madman: Ozzy
2. Rod Beck -- Living on the Edge: Aerosmith
3. Pedro Martinez -- Lights Out: Metallica
4. Pete Schourek -- Please forgive me: Melissa Etheridge
5. Derek Lowe -- Sweating Bullets: Megadeth
6. Manny Ramirez -- Mr Scary: Dokken
7. Chris Stynes -- Rollin' and Tumblin': Eric Clapton
8. Rich Garces -- Party's over: Tesla
9. Trot Nixon -- Break on Through: The Doors
10. Craig Grebeck -- Ballad of a thin man: Bob Dylan
11. Rolando Arrojo -- Immigrant Song: Led Zeppelin
12. Tim Wakefield -- Ramblin': Marshall Tucker Band
13. Mike Lansing -- Easy Money: Foghat
14. Nomar Garciaparra -- Heart of Gold: Neil Young
15. Hideo Nomo -- Mr. Roboto: Styx
16. Jose Offerman -- Stonehenge: Spinal Tap
17. Jimy Williams -- If I Only Had A Brain: The Wizard of Oz
18. Izzy Alcantara -- Kung Fu Fighting
19. Joe Kerrigan -- Rock 'n Roll Doctor: Little Feat