Balta1701

Come on Mark...you can take these guys, you've done it before. I really hope his back is feeling ok.

Has anyone else noticed the one other thing about Figgins this season...he's been abjectly awful? He was hitting 9th for the Angels last night for a reason...when Scioscia's leadoff hitter turns to crap, he drops them in the order. Batting .256 this season. OBP is .327. Slugging .351. SB: 48/62 (77.4%) Versus Podsednik: Batting .259, OBP .328, slugging .354. SB: 39/54 (72.2%) In other words...Figgins has basically been Podsednik with a few more chances to steal this season. He's been equally bad with the bat (more home runs than Pods, but fewer doubles and triples), he gets thrown out a lot...defense, he's committed 4 errors in about 100 games in the OF this season, which is a pace slightly better than Podsednik's 8 in 130 (although he does have somewhat better range). In other words, why do I want another Podsednik?

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 08:15 PM) Damn they put a whoopin on NYM today 16-5. The Mets have a payroll over $100M the Marlins 14M and the Marlins stomp on the Mets with there loaded lineup. The 2 teams with the best records in baseball...the Yankees and the Mets. Say what you want about the Marlins making a WC run, that still sickens me.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) Because people like you want no part of it. I would have been happy to do whatever my country asked of me in the invasion of Afghanistan. The only thing asked of me as far as I can tell was to go shopping, return to my life. And at some point, hopefully this year, I am going to take a first responder course.

I wonder if getting no-hit might be enough to wake these guys up and make them realize there's something dreadfully wrong with their approaches...

By the way, I don't know if anyone in Chicago has noticed...Chone Figgins is having a season that rivals Podsednik in how poor it's been. Just for those who might suggest trading for Figgins in the offseason. And, interestingly enough...Scoscia dropped him in the Order. No wonder they're in 2nd place...you can't win games if you admit something isn't working in your lineup...if you drop your speed guy out of the 1st slot, you can't possibly win games!

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 07:36 PM) Hey I thought Ozzie was platooning Sweeney and Anderson, whats with the butcher back in CF. No right handed pitcher has ever beaten the great Rob Mackowiak! EVA! That, and Mack has those pictures...

"Instant Offense" in CF today.

4 k's in 7 batters for Jose. Man I missed him.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 07:26 PM) Can't he just threaten to quit again? Am I the only one who thinks that the way things are going right now, if nothing else the thought certainly has crossed his mind?

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 07:23 PM) Well I can't watch the Sox game so yes I'm very excited to see what Rivers has, as I'm expecting a big year out of him. I'm not sure if he'll have a big year or not...he very well could. Especially if the Chargers figure out that the more times LT touches the ball, the better chance they have...something they kept forgetting last year.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 07:17 PM) Frank Thomas "Walks just clog up the basepaths." Anyone else excited to see what Philip Rivers brings to the table?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 05:38 PM) Rumor is, American Airlines is threatening to sue ABC for Libel over PT9/11. Here's the text of the alleged email communication: Source AMERICAblog so I don't know how reliable it is. Linkity.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 07:14 PM) I don't know if people saw this, but did you hear who Ozzie described today as not being a "good baseball player"? Jermaine Dye?

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 06:42 PM) German Chancellor Angela Merkel — an advocate of closer ties with Washington — had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means." "In the fight against international terror ... respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for other cultures must be the maxim of our actions, along with decisiveness and international cooperation," she said. yea, ok GERMANY thats like the cubs criticizing another mlb team for losing too much Ah, I love this logic...it just keeps coming back... "It doesn't matter what bad things we may do, Germany has no right to criticize us, because we're better than the Nazis!" Someone other than me care to point out the flaw?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 05:17 PM) Oh please. The war on terror hasn't been that big of a flop. Only because it hasn't gone on for as long.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 01:23 PM) Please trade Freddie and let McCarthy start so we'll know once and for all if he can pitch and if he was "misused" all year. I still wish people will admit KW did the misusing, not Oz. People dont seem to want to admit Oz already had 5 starters to work with. Our scouts, KW, whomever felt McCarthy could handle the relief role this season. Somebody was wrong. On some level though, KW does have a point...it might not have been a bad thing to limit McCarthy's innings for one more year just so that his arm/body have more time to develop and he doesn't wind up turning into another Mark Prior. Either way, we'll probably never know. But if he spends the next 5 years healthy and successful, in the back of my head, I'm going to give partial credit to this season. If he winds up healthy but never gets an ERA below 5, then I'm going give a decent chunk of blame to this season.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) At this point I think B-Mac has been set back about a year, he needs to go down to AAA next season and start exclusively. The Sox can not take a risk trading a starter and hoping that Brandon in a different role will be a "good" Brandon. And there's no risk in holding onto the 5 starters we have right now, having potentially 2 of them walk at the end of 2007, and paying out $50 million to those same starting 5?

QUOTE(samclemens @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 11:13 AM) CIA: 5,000 Terrorists Captured or Killed does this belong in this thread? it seemed to fit here best at first glance and i dont have time to make sure because i'm at work. but i think the above article is worth noting. Linkity.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 10:47 AM) Two things. #1 why only look at when he was an effective starter last year? Why not look at his first stint up here when he really struggled? Also, what's to say he wouldn't have crapped out ala Kip Wells, Jack McDowell, and Jon Garland who had successful stints in their call ups, and flopped in their first full seasons as starters? All three were considered top notch prospects with big credentials coming into the big leagues, had big Septembers, and then didn't deliver the next year. I will admit I haven't watched McCarthy as intently this year as I did last...but I can say beyond any doubt that when BMac was struggling last year when he first came up, the biggest problem I saw was his changeup, in that he simply wasn't using it. During El Duque's first DL stint when BMac was up, he was basically fastball/curveball, fastball/curveball, and that was it. He threw like 1 or 2 changes per game. When he got the change working later in the year, and AJ actually started calling for it, then all of a sudden no one could hit it. It seemed like he went back down to AAA, suddenly found the feel of that pitch again, and then with that 3rd pitch in the mix everyone was off balance. I've sort of seen the same thing this year...when he gets really into a game, gets the changeup working, and has AJ actually calling for it at smart points (i.e. not the first pitch he throws), then he pitches very well. But wehn that change isn't working or isn't being thrown for strikes, then people sit back and hammer his fastball.

Branch to the Seahawks for a first round pick.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 09:24 AM) Flax seed basically does nothing, it is not a steroid it's a simple natural supplement. And it never said that you must combine HGH with a steroid remimine to improve eyesight, it just said that's what Giambi admitted to doing. As that paragraph says HGH alone has the ability to improve eyesight. Flaxseed oil was what Bonds told the grand jury that he thought he was using, but the Flaxseed oil was actually the THG. When Bonds passed that stuff along to Sheffield, he also told Shef it was "Flaxseed oil". But again, it was the THG.

It's really a shame the refs had to ruin that game. I mean, that just had to make these guys feel so angry...

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 10, 2006 -> 10:09 PM) Good point. I guess it's either Frank or Thome on this team and both have had good years. It just seems Frank is carrying the A's and nobody is carrying us tho Dye has tried with his monster MVP season. Oakland has enough pitching that Frank is able to carry them. Their team ERA is 4.11, ours is 4.55. Their bullpen is putting up a 3.46. Their offense is only #20 in the big leagues overall, so if it looks like Frank is carrying that offense, it's in large part because no one else is producing much in the way of runs. They're winning games with pitching and enough offense. We're not getting pitching.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Sep 11, 2006 -> 08:54 AM) I don't think anyone ever claimed Brandon has better stuff than Javy.......Javy's problem has always been putting it together. If that changeup is working for Brandon, I'll say that he has better stuff than Javy. Especially if he can get a good feel with that 4th pitch (2 seam fastball) and get on top of it. Plus curve ball, low to mid 90's fastball, dominant changeup, with a sinker could be absolute murder on opponents.