Christian Ruzich, who runs The Cub Reporter, invited me to join his site, all.baseball.com mid-way through the summer. Along with Jay Jaffe, Edward Cossette and Will Carroll, Ruz has become one of my closest baseball pals this year. So it is difficult to express how upset I'm feeling. If you head over to The Cub Reporter you'll learn that Ruz and his wife Darryl's house was a casuality of the great fires that have been sweeping California. They've lost their home (and so did Christian's dad). Fortunately, their dogs were saved. And Christian and D have each other, which is what is most important.

I've never lived through an experience remotely like the one Ruz and D are facing, and I don't quite know how to express my sympathy to them. What I really feel is humbled because I'm so helpless to "fix" the problem. Will Carroll wrote a touching piece on his page today and he feels at a loss as well. Will and I exchanged e-mails yesterday wondering what we can do to help Ruz and D out. We haven't come up with anything solid yet, but perhaps we can initiate a fund-raiser to help Ruz out.

Maybe he'll need a new computer or a new TV. We could also simply raise some money and then give it to Ruz as a gift and let him spend it how he wants. Anyhow, I know how popular Christian's site is, and I know he's got a loyal following. If each one of his faithful readers would give just a couple of bucks, I'm sure we could hook Ruz up with something nice, just to let him know how much we feel for him, and to let him know how we feel about him.

If anyone has any suggestions, let Will Carroll or me know. We'll be trying to figure something out over the next week or so—I'll be sure to keep readers aprised of the situation. I know that you can make donations to Ruz on the home page of The Cub Reporter, and maybe that's the best way to go—we'll see. But for now, I just want to let Ruz know that he's got friends all over the country thanks to his distinct voice and the wonders of the internet. He's sure got one here in New York City. I'm looking out over the Bronx on a warm and cloudy Saturday morning, and am sending Ruz and his wife all the best.