carpenter           jennings
9-4, 2.83            6-8, 3.88

jocketty put the kaibash on this morning's rasmus/reyes for bob abreu rumor -- literally laughed at the very idea when miklasz asked him about it. that's as expected; i thought so little of the rumor i didn't even bother to link it. then why have the cards been scouting the phillies so much lately? miklasz thinks they're after rheal cormier, whom they could use. or maybe the tom gordon notion isn't such nonsense  . . . 'nother relief pitcher got traded today, by the way -- elmer dessens back to the dodgers for odalis perez. poor perez -- in the other league, but he'll still likely run into pujols once or twice a season.

while we're at it, i had a brief exchange late yesterday with colby rasmus' agent, paul cohen, trying to get to the bottom of the dontrelle willis thing. you may recall that this rumor gained credit because a) miklasz had sources on it, and b) rasmus' father was posting online that colby had heard directly from his agent about the trade. i finally got cohen on the phone at about 5 o'clock my time yesterday, after sev'l back-n-forth messages. i identified myself and my blog, and told him i was attempting to clarify the situation re colby's possible involvement in a trade for dontrelle willis. lot of speculation about it on the internet, i said; have you heard anything? "i can't really speak to that," he answered. "they tell us not to comment about trades. i really can't say anything about it."

hmmmm; not the hearty "hahahaha, that's a good one" response i'd been half-expecting. "i thought perhaps you had heard something, because colby's father posted a note on the internet which said he'd talked to colby, who -- "

"excuse me, can you hold on a second?" i hold; five seconds later he comes back: "i'm sorry, i've got to go -- one of my kids has a game."

end of call.

make of it what you will, folks; lot of ways you can interpret that. i'd like to interpret it as tacit confirmation that discussions involving rasmus and willis did take place between the clubs -- and that the cards may still be keeping a close eye on willis while looking for other ways to upgrade the pitching staff (and also closely monitoring mark mulder's recovery) . . . . .

then again, it could just be your typical player-agent caginess. can't trust anything these guys say, can you . . . .

i'm leaving for the ballpark soon. sky's looking kind of nasty, as it often does this time of day. doesn't look serious; i believe they'll play ball.