Harry Hostetter's Blog

With the Royals in an odd scheduling twist of having a holiday off today, I was watching the Cubs on ESPN tonight. The Cubs in having their shortstop Nomar Garciaparra injured have Neifi Perez starting. As a Royals fan I had several times had called Neifi, "Popup Perez". It seemed that when a hit was needed and he was up, he would hit a popup. The Perez that is playing this year with the Cubs is a different Perez. He is hitting over .300 going into the game tonight, he never even sniffed .250 in his time with the Royals. After the 2002 season the Royals did not resign him, he latched on with the Gaints. After a 1 1/2 years with the Gaints they cut him during the season. The Cubs sign him as a backup to Nomar and he played very well down the stretch for the Cubs. This year he is playing very well for Dusty Baker and the Cubs, something he did very little for Tony Pena and the Royals.