The winner of last week’s trivia is James Holzhauer. Congratulations, James! The correct answer was Dave Stieb, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays (and four starts for the White Sox). You can revisit the question here.

Let’s get to know James:

Full name: James Holzhauer
Age: 22
City/State: Parts Unknown
Occupation: Degenerate baseball bettor
First baseball memory: First good memories were coming home from school to see Jose Guzman 7 innings into a perfect game, and being at Comiskey to see Julio Franco and Ellis Burks go back-to-back twice in the same game.
Favorite baseball moment: Either Seung-Yeop Lee’s game-winning homer against Japan in the World Baseball Classic or the Dodgers hitting four consecutive shots to tie the game in September 2006.
Favorite team: Cubs
Favorite active player: Orlando Hudson, Rich Hill, Carlos Guillen
Favorite all-time player: Ron Santo
Least favorite player: Anyone who has “intangibles”: Scott Podsednik, David Eckstein, Darin Erstad.
Favorite Baseball Tonight commentator: Harold Reynolds, or the hypothetical anti-Kruk (see below)
Favorite baseball movie: Rookie of the Year, because I was a nine-year-old extra in it
Least favorite baseball movie: The Fan
MLB player with the funniest name: Jap Barbeau
Favorite baseball statistic: SuperVORP
If you could change any baseball rule, what would you change: Stop allowing unlimited pickoff throws per inning
Who is your favorite baseball broadcaster of all time?: In physics they have a concept called anti-matter, where every substance has an opposite, and if matter collides with its anti-matter, they destroy one another. In that vein, I pick the anti-Hawk, in the hopes that one day the two will meet and I can finally watch Sox games with the volume on.
You have 25 words to say whatever you want, use them: David Just saved me from being hit by an oncoming train. The least you can do to thank him is read his blog.

Let’s get to this week’s trivia:

Jeff Weaver has started six games this season and lost every one of them. Who is the last pitcher to do that? (Thanks to Elias Sports Bureau for this one).

E-mail your answer to djust2@uiuc.edu with the subject line JB TRIVIA No. 5. Good luck!

Just four days ago I wrote in this blog that Josh Beckett looked like “the blisters might be a thing of the past and the 27-year-old is finally breaking out…again.”

Well, after just four innings of work Sunday, Beckett left with a torn flap of skin on his right middle finger.

Beckett was attempting to tie a franchise record with eight straight victories, set by Babe Ruth and two other Red Sox pitchers.

He left the game trailing 2-0, but in the end the Red Sox prevailed, winning 6-5. Beckett remains questionable for his next start against Atlanta.

Just, out.

Remember Chris Young? He was hitting .192 on April 27, so I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t.

Young has been on something of a tear since then, all coming around the same time the Diamondbacks decided to try him out at the leadoff spot.

Since that day in late April, Young has improved his batting average to .258. Still nothing to get too excited about, but considerably better. He’s also improved his slugging percentage from a paltry .338 to .476.

In his last five games, Young is 11-19 with 2 home runs, 4 RBIs, and 5 runs scored.

I picked Young to win NL Rookie of the Year with 20-20 potential. He’s on pace to hit 25 homers and swipe 17 bags. Do the five extra homers make up for the three lost stolen bases?

If some impatient fantasy owner let him go in your league, act now.

Just, now.

The Hardball Times did an excellent piece on whether the Brewers are doing the right thing by leaving Ryan Braun in the minors. The circumstances there are specific to a contending team. I’m sure Jeff Sackmann would have argued to bring Braun up if the Brewers were not in contention.

Enter Homer Bailey and the Reds.

Bailey, arguably the top pitching prospect in Baseball, is perplexing AAA hitters. He’s 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA and opponents are hitting just .194 against him.

The Reds are 15-22 and are better than only the Nats in the National League. They’re using Eric Milton in the 5th starter spot. He’s 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA. Is it that $10 million salary he’s getting this year that is making the Reds stick with him? Hmm…

Anyway, when the Reds get over their denial they’ll begin to see that Bailey is the next step toward building a competitive team.

Of course, that’s easy for me to say. I’m pretty much blinded by this kid’s ceiling and upside and forget how immature he probably is. Most preseason projections marked him for only a handful of starts, but I wonder if those took into account the fact that the Reds would be out of contention this early and Milton would be performing so badly — not to mention how well Bailey is doing in the minors right now.

His walk rates are the only spot of concern right now, as he’s given 19 free passes in 49+ innings. He looks ready, though.

And when he finally takes the mound in a Cincy jersey, look out.

Just, out.