Paul Konerko could be headed for the DL with a rib mscle injury.

Another week is in the books, as is another Tiger Woods major championship moment, and another weekend holiday.  This time we are celebrating dear old dad.  Most likely the man that introduced you to sports, taught you how to swing a bat, coached or helped coach your little league teams, and kept your stats.  My dad would quiz me on teams, players, and records as we ran errands on the weekends, and explain the rules of the games while we watched on TV.  I still argue sports with my dad each week, and much of this article is due to his influence.  For that, I thank you dad.

On to the news, as always the injury bug has claimed more victims this weekend claiming Brad Penny, Chien-Ming Wang, Yadier Molina, and Paul Konkerko.  Two of the injuries were freak in nature, maybe not as freak as getting hit in the face by a balled batted of your own timber, but still injuries out the realm of the norm.  Wang was forced from the Yankees tilt with the Astros after injuring himself running bases.  A stint on the disabled list seems imminent, and unless Ian Kennedy is ready to return and contribute at the major league level, the Yankees might have to give either Alan Horne or Daniel McCutchen a look.  The Molina injury, although hardly relevant to fantasy leagues, was a monster collision at home plate with Jason Bartlett.  Molina suffered a concussion and had to be carted off the field on a stretcher.  It appears that other than the brain bruise, Molina was very lucky to have escaped without further injury. 

An injury that will affect fantasy teams is the possible DL stint for Paul Konerko, who is battling a strained muscle in the rib area.  Fantasy owners will immediately see their batting average helped by his absence but will likely see a decrease in power numbers as well.  Jim Thome has also been nursing injuries and a general case of sloth, and thus he doesn’t appear to be a consideration at first base.  Expect Nick Swisher to see time at first, while the speedy Jerry Owens could fill in the OF and provide a cheap source of steals.

In what may be another example of the overwhelming sound of inevitability, Brad Penny complained of increased soreness in his shoulder after his start on Saturday.  Penny has been toughing it out all year, but might finally succumb to the shoulder and forced to take a rest.  Since Jason Schmidt suffered yet another setback in his recovery last week, the Dodgers will most likely turn to one of their long relievers to fill in if needed.

In happier news, Pedro Martinez was able to pick up his second win of the year Sunday by pitching 6 innings of 2 run baseball, striking out 4 and walking only 1.  Miraculously, Billy Wagner did not blow the save, and might have saved Willy Randolph’s job for another day, as well as the game.    

Jacoby Ellsbury continues to steal his way into the record books, adding two more thefts to bring his season total to 33, breaking the Red Sox record for steals by a rookie formerly held by Amby McConnell. With 90 games left to play, Ellsbury has a legitimate shot at the AL rookie steals record of 66, held by Kenny Lofton, who achieved the feat in 1992. He would need to pick up the pace considerably to seize the ML record of 110, achieved by Vince Coleman back in 1985.

There isn’t too much to be happy about when it comes to the Rockies pitchers, but Aaron Cook is one of the few bright spots. Sunday he won his 10^th game of the season, holding off the surging White sox by scattering 10 hits over six innings, allowing just three earned runs, striking out three and walking a pair. Cook’s ERA stands at 3.29, and he’s been a very consistent pitcher this season. He’s worth a look in NL only and deeper mixed leagues if you’re looking for pitching.

The Diamondbacks were trumped by the Royals again Sunday, this time they dismantled Micah Owings, who coughed up 7 runs on 8 hits and a couple of walks. His last 4 outings have been unmitigated disasters as his ERA over his last 19 innings is 9.95 and batters are tagging him at a .381 clip. Bench him if you own him, there is something wrong with him.

All the hype over Clayton Kershaw appears to be much ado about nothing. Sure he has 21 strikeouts in 24 innings of work; but he has yet to win a game in 5 starts, and has walked 15 batters in addition to the K’s. He is simply not ready for the bigs folks. Watch out, because it’s just a matter of time before he does damage to your ratios.

Finally, the Lakers managed to stave off the Celtics for one more day despite another choke job by the MVP Kobe Bryant.  After a scorching hot first quarter Kobe was shut down by the Celtics defense.  Great play by Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom trumped an amazing game by the Truth Paul Pierce and a surprisingly great stretch of play by Sam Cassell in the end.  Kevin Garnett was hampered by foul trouble the entire game and was never able to find his flow.  Tune in Tuesday night to watch Kobe continue to make the case that MJ was infinitely better than Kobe could ever dream of being.