AL notes: Portly Ponson irks former Oriole Palmer

The Orioles are beginning to rue the day they gave Sidney Ponson a three-year, $22.5 million contract in the offseason.

It's not just Ponson's 3-7 record and 6.47 earned-run average as the supposed staff ace. It's the fact he seems to be hopelessly out of shape. Last week, the front office brought in members of the medical and strength-and-conditioning staff to discuss Ponson, 27, who weighs 255 pounds.

The team's management is being circumspect, but Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, now an Orioles television analyst, ripped into Ponson to the Washington Post.

"It was really a slap in the face to the Orioles when he showed up in spring training in the kind of shape he did," said Palmer. "There are too many variables in this game that you can't control to let yourself be undone by a variable you can control."

Palmer even compared Ponson to Steve Bechler, the Orioles pitcher who died in February of 2003 because of heat stroke brought on by ephedra use.

"The tragic irony of Steve Bechler's death is that the one guy came in overweight," Palmer said. "The other guy came in overweight. One guy makes a minor-league salary; the other makes $4 million. The one guy dies tragically, and the other guy keeps carrying around extra weight and gets a huge contract. That's irresponsible."

• Now that the Bucs have won the Super Bowl, the Storm has won the Arena Bowl, and the Lightning has won the Stanley Cup, what will it take for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to win the World Series?

"I'd say lightning has got to hit here," manager Lou Piniella told the St. Petersburg Times. "The reason I say that is we've got a ways to go."

Nevertheless, third baseman Aubrey Huff, one of several players to witness the Lightning's Game 7 victory, couldn't help but dream.

"Puts some heat on us, doesn't it?" Huff said. "It was a great moment. I just wanted to see the ceremony where they skated with the Cup. ... As a player you sit there and just hope you can do something like that one day."

• It didn't quite make up for Cincinnati's four-game sweep against them in the 1990 World Series, but Oakland cut down the high-flying Reds in their recent three-game series. The A's outscored the Reds 40-16 while sweeping three games.

"It's one of the most impressive things I've seen in the major leagues," outfielder Eric Byrnes told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Maybe in the minors, maybe college, high school — but against a quality team like Cincinnati, no way."

The sweep moved the A's into first place in the American League West and gave them a 7-1 record since losing third baseman Eric Chavez, supposedly a crippling blow.

"Chavvy is obviously our best player and team leader, but that's what makes great teams — they go on when their leader goes down," Byrnes said.

• One more piece of good news for Oakland: Deposed closer Arthur Rhodes appears to have gotten his velocity back.

Scouts noted that Rhodes' fastball had dipped from 97 mph in his prime down to 94 mph or so. On Tuesday night, Rhodes registered several readings in the upper 90s, including one at 99 mph, on the radar gun used by Fox Sports Net.

That speed gun might not be completely reliable, but it was still his highest readings of the season.

Said Rhodes, "I don't know what the velocity was, but I felt good."

• Another closer bites the dust. Billy Koch is out in Chicago, hardly a shock to those who saw him cough up a sure victory against the Mariners last week.

Though Cliff Politte got a save on Tuesday, it appears that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will use a combination of Politte, Damaso Marte, Shingo Takatsu and Koch.

"I gave Koch the best opportunity he can have," Guillen told reporters. "I put all my faith in him. But obviously, it's not working right now."