Freakish Friday

Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune:

Lee will be in a cast for up to six weeks after fracturing the distal radial bone and the distal ulna bone in his wrist during a freakish collision with Los Angeles shortstop Rafael Furcal in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's 5-4 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Carrie Muskat, ChicagoCubs.com:

The defending National League batting champ was injured late Wednesday in a freakish collision at first base with Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal.

What was so freakish about it? It looked pretty awful to me, but not freakish. Or are all collisions freakish? Can sports writers write "collision" without first writing "freakish"? Apparently they can...

Mike Kiley, Chicago Sun-Times:

Lee fractured his distal radial bone and distal ulna Wednesday night in a collision at first base with the Los Angeles Dodgers' Rafael Furcal.

I'll tell you what's freakish: how similar Paul Sullivan's first story, filed Thursday night, is to Carrie Muskat's opening paragraphs, which also appeared Thursday night. Notice, however, that Sullivan originally called the collision a "freak play." They actually edited Sullivan's piece to make it more freakish on Friday.

Freakish Notions from New York

A picture of Jim Thome appears on the third page of the New York Times' sports section today, above the headline "Heads Up: AL Has Become Filled With Contenders." Apparently the AL previously existed only as a doormat for the Yankees, and while winning the World Series makes you a champion in most cities, in New York it makes you a "contender."

The Cubs coulda been a contenda.