From
Scott Merkin's mailbag:
Who are the Sox looking at in terms of a backup catcher? I think they should trade for the Dodgers' Toby Hall since Mike Lieberthal has signed with the Dodgers. -- Dave, Chicago
Hall was a name I heard mentioned previously in association with the White Sox. But for now, it looks as if the backup job will come down between rookies Chris Stewart and Gustavo Molina or veteran Sandy Alomar Jr., if he is brought back through a Minor League deal.
My reaction. But thanks for trying anyway, Dave.
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One reason I haven't gotten worked up at all about Rex Grossman's recent performances entering tonight is that I doubt it'll come down to him in the playoffs. It's most likely that it's going to be up to the defense.
Last year, Grossman and the Bears offense did enough to win in their playoff loss against Carolina, but the defense couldn't figure out that Steve Smith was the Panthers' only legitimate threat. Carolina went up early, and the defense never allowed Grossman and the rest of the offense to catch up.
Today, Rex looked good, and downright brilliant in the third quarter outside of a back-foot flare to Bernard Berrian that nearly was picked off. Meanwhile, the defense looked unusually undisciplined. Defensive linemen were overpursuing, the tackling wasn't crisp, and the penalties -- not just the random holds and illegal contact that occurs during the game, but they had trouble staying onsides, especially in situations that favored them. A couple personal fouls (both blatant) didn't help matters either.
With the way Rex was stepping up and throwing the ball decisively, he could've succeeded against any team, but the Bears defense was lucky to be playing an offense as out of sorts of St. Louis'. If Torry Holt hadn't had a case of the drops, it could've been a lot closer.
Other thoughts:
*Not one, but two successful screen passes? I can't remember the last time I saw that.
*When Dante Hall had his season in the sun returning kicks, his name was bandied about as a possible MVP candidate. Now LaDainian Tomlinson has that one locked up, but Devin Hester should be getting more noise as a Rookie of the Year candidate at the very least.
*Thomas Jones looked good. The offense line looked great, not only with the running game, but it gave Grossman passing lanes as well. It's just hard to get excited about it when the Rams' defense is so small.
*Go figure: Robbie Gould's first two real misses come in a dome. In fact, if you were to bet that Gould and Jeff Wilkins would miss every kick they attempted, there was probably some money to be made.