Balta1701

Whoever's pitching steps up the biggest will win this division. Plain and simple.

QUOTE(zygoat @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 09:05 PM) actually having him out could be a blessing. He has been the main hitter in this lineup as of late and him being out could get the other guys to start hitting. Also, keep him healthy so when we play the tigers later in the year, he can pound the spiff out of them There is no sense in which having Jim Thome out with a nagging injury will be a good thing.

Boston put Trot Nixon on the DL today, and Jason Varitek pulled up lame at 2nd base early in teh game.

QUOTE(zygoat @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 02:57 PM) this trade does not scare me at the moment, but come october they are the toughest lineup (scroll up to Sam's post for the lineup) that lineup is guarenteed to score runs in any game By the way, those things about "This is the toughest lineup" or "This is guaranteed to score runs every game" or "this is the best team", those things were all said about the Yankees the moment they got Damon last fall too.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 07:53 PM) It is difficul to use the term "war crime" here when the instigator is a terrorist organization that doesn't play by the rules of war. Does blowing up a bus full of Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv fall under the "war crimes" definition as well? At least the Israelis told the Lebanese to get out of the region before they attacked. And if you're going to accuse Israel of "ethnic cleansing"... wow... I can't imagine what you'd accuse Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda of. I agree with some of what you say and Israel sure as hell hasn't handled this situation perfectly. But what are they supposed to do? Nearly the entire Arab world wants them all dead... because they're Jews. Just like Hitler and Stalin murdered tens of millions of them in the not-too-distant past... because they're Jews. What the hell would you do if you were in their shoes? Would you try to appease the terrorists who want you dead or would you go after them aggressively to ensure your survival? Of course blowing up a bus of civilians falls under the war crimes definition. Did I not point out that targeting civilians, with say, rockets that are indiscriminate, is a war crime? And the stuff Al Qaeda does, that is the textbook definition of a war crime; attacks on civilians for no reason. Here's the real key for you...having someone else do something to you, having someone else be the "instigator", does not mean that everything you do is ok. It doesn't matter if who you're fighting is a non-traditional army, it doesn't matter if they start the war or they start targeting civilians first. Having someone commit a war crime against your people does not give you a blank check to go out and commit war crimes. A bomb going off on a bus or a missile hitting a train station does not give you the right to level an entire country and expel everyone who lives there. And yes, a lot of Arabs want them dead because they're Jews. But a lot more Arabs want them dead because of those 34 children they killed 2 days ago.

I know I don't like to cheer people getting hurt, but is anyone else really glad that Mike Sweeney is not with K.C. right now?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) Myth, my ass. They have plenty of (video) evidence to back it up, not to mention precedent on Hezbollah's part. Israel has absolutely nothing to gain by killing Lebanese civilians. In fact, doing so harms them significantly. On the other hand, Hezbollah has everything to gain from a PR standpoint by sending innocent Lebanese to slaughter. Given that the entire Middle East has been trying to wipe them off of the face of the Earth for the past 60+ years, it's no wonder that Israel needs a "war machine" to survive. Yes. Unfortunately, it's "inevitable" that terrorist organizations will launch rockets indiscriminately into residential areas in Israel and that the rest of the Arab world won't give a crap because they want all of the Jews dead. Your comparison of the Israeli army to al Qaeda and Hezbollah is ridiculous and downright insulting to Jews. While the Israelis have not always "played nice" with their Arab neighbors (though usually in response to an attack), they at least have some regard for human life and have no desire to wipe Muslims off the face of the Earth. In fact, quite a few Muslims live in Israel and, IIRC, some even hold office. So, in the end, we've deteriorated all the way back in our definitions of civilized war to "Well they did it first!". The Israelis bomb the city of Qana over 80 times, basically trying to level the entire city, and keep bombing as the bodies of the children are removed, and continue bombing despite a 48 hour agreement not to bomb, and the response is of course "Yeah well they did it first, and they're evil!" Then Hezbollah responds by firing up missiles which they cannot target and which are certian to kill civilians indiscriminately, and the response from the other side is "well look at what damage Israel has done!" So in the eyes of people here, once a side is chosen, that side does no wrong because the terror done by the other side is justification enough for ANY response. Here's the reality. Israel is literally trying to destroy parts of southern lebanon they feel threaten them. In the former Yugoslavia, we called this Ethnic Cleansing. They are dropping pamphlets saying get out, and considering everyone else to be potential targets. Then they bomb the roads on which refugees are trying to escape. They attack civilian centers and blame the other side for using them as human shields, which is still an attack on a civilian center whether or not their claims are correct. They attack purely civilian institutions, or institutions of the Lebanese army, while claiming they are targeting only Hezbollah. These are war crimes. Hezbollah is a group based in a civilian population center, with huge support amongst those civilians. No matter what happens, they are going to be using Civilians as human shields. Civilians are going to die, because they are launching their attacks from civilian areas. This is a war crime. They are launching missiles which are totally indiscriminate. They are killing civilians, hititng hospitals. This is a war crime. In a truly just world, a United force would intervene, would break up both Hezbollah and the Israeli army, would capture the leadership of both, and would try them all for war crimes.

Also, Ned Lamont will be on the Colbert Report tonight.

Evan Bayh, by my count, a little over 8 weeks ago. Link Link

Link Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani, basically the man who single handedly has enough power to end the U.S. time in Iraq...openly threatening to do so if the Israeli/Lebanon situation does not end.

Linky

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 06:02 PM) I'm not certain I agree, perhaps there will be a decrease in DUI/alcohol. I would like to know if pot is abused more than alcohol and if there are many people who would get high, but not get drunk, and if they would be likely to drive. It is cause for concern. And also, it'd be nice to know whether or not it was all the fault of the Jews.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 11:08 AM) What I don't get is that people outside of this race's immediate vicinity see this as two things "Iraq War Referendum" or "Left Wing (Streisand, Soros, bloggers) taking over the party there." This race is way more complicated than that. Just like the 2004 election was more than Swiftboating and Gay Marriage. Every tough fight has a lot of variables in it. And Lieberman has shown himself to be not adept at realizing and adapting to that. That's all I've been trying to say. It's easier to present the liberals as either crazy or america-haters if that's all it's about. Forget the bashing of the party constantly on Fox, forget the Schaivo stuff, forget his positions on women's rights, forget the contempt he's shown for his own state, forget his part in helping the Repubs pass Alito and Roberts, forget his part in passing dozens of bills benefiting whoever's giving him money, none of those would fit into the "Crazy liberals" narrative.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 08:18 PM) Lopez is good at handling the bat? He has 6 sac bunts in his career. With the bases loaded, if the opposition wants to try to bunt, be my guess. With Jenks throwing high fastballs at 98 mph, I would have been more than willing to tip my cap if he executed the bunt. It's over though...time to move on to tomorrow's important game. And he has 1 sacrifice bunt since 1999. Wow.

So, I think I now have to go see "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" or whatever the Hell it's called. They're using "Don't stop believin'" in the TV ads.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 08:08 PM) How do you address defending against a bunt in that situation? Javy Lopez could've dropped one down the line with the IF playing back, and even if he gets thrown out the runner scores, especially on a bunt to the right side with a righthander pitching and a lefthanded throwing firstbaseman in the game. Percentage wise, it was the right move. It forced the guy to make solid contact, i.e hard grounder not right at someone or a deep fly ball ... and Lopez got the job done. Was that still with Tejada on 3rd? I can't see a bunt being the smart option. He's not exactly a speed burner. And I doubt Lopez is a great bunter...and how in teh world do you get a good bunt down against Bobby Jenks anyway?

Subtle swipe at AJ's pitch calling?

QUOTE(bulokis @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) I agree with you there, Anderson have the best chance to catch the balls in CF today. I cant understand why Ozzie keeps putting Mack in CF, he cant play CF! Keep Brian playing regularly, maybe he can get consistent at bats and get his bat going. I dont understand why he has to sit against a tough righty anyway, when can he learn to hit them then. Besides I thought Ozzie preach about having confidence in his players. Is sitting him against tough righty giving confidence? Ozzie said Brian has not caused us to lose ball games with his defense but I think Mack in CF does so stop putting him out there. Get his bat going? This month he's had the 2nd best average out of our regular starting 9, with a .322 Average in July.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 07:51 PM) I think Jones is a total superstar, but I don't see why we would need to replace Anderson. We don't need offense, sure we could use a legit left fielder and that will come in the off-season but the only thing this team can get that would turn us into a world series competitor is our current pitching staff to start pitching like they are capable of. I have major doubts though, since I don't think an entire staff can just decide not to stink. My only hope is that Vaz figures things out, Garland is good and Contreras is an ace and that we hope we can stay in the games that Buehrle/Garcia pitch. I think I agree with you that we are basically at the "This pitching staff is ungodly talented, all we can do now is hope for the best" stage, but there's probably 1 more thing we can do to help them: Actually put a defense behind them that can get outs. Especially in that outfield. And that means playing Brian all the time, and maybe finding a replacement for Podsednik.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 07:48 PM) Yeah that Lopez is starting to get on my nerves. Can we trade him for a reliever too?

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 07:44 PM) I understand sitting BA against tough righties, but Bruce Chen (a sucky lefty)??? I don't follow, especially when our pitching has sucked horribly and we need to do all we can to not give up runs because its a lot better to minimize other teams runs than to have to score 10 to win. I don't think I like BA sitting against tough righties anyway, first and foremost because he's been hitting everyone lately, secondly because our team seems to do better against righties this year than lefties anyway (Iguchi, Thome), but far and away, because if we're facing a good pitcher, every run we give up is going to be magnified because their pitcher isn't going to give up that many, and having 2-3 extra balls drop in and around our center fielder is just going to make it harder to win games. It seems every ball that falls in Center Field when Mack is in there costs us 2x as much as every hit that Mack gets helps us. Today, prime example. One hit from Mack, but the 2 balls that fell in CF that Anderson would have had easily wound up costing at least 1 run. I honestly am hoping Mack will go into a slump soon just so he stops getting playing time out there.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 07:28 PM) You should start watching other teams play. He is solid but the best defensive CF in baseball? Come on. EDIT: Not trying to disrespect but with the limited number of posts you've made, you actually come off as a bigger homer than Hawk Harrelson. And I thought that was nearly impossible. Here's an article from BP about a month ago saying how statistically, Brian Anderson had in the first half one of the best defensive halves for a CF in HISTORY, not just the best out of this year.

QUOTE(Jake @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 06:34 PM) I took his comment to mean that we should acquire a backup OF that could play a good CF, but maybe I'm wrong. I definitely don't advocate replacing Brian and I think Brian needs little to no days off. Well, the way I read/figure it, Ozzie has for some reason decided that Brian must sit at least 1 out of every 3 days and Mack must play CF that day. This costs us, roughly, 1 out of every 3 games, at least indirectly, as with today. In other words, the only way Ozzie will stop this is to remove one part of his calculation; if Brian is not there, Ozzie can not bench Brian. Therefore, if Brian were out of the way, and another CF option were there, perhaps the chain in Ozzie's head that requires Mack in CF 1 out of every 3 games might be broken. Yeah, it's stupid. But it's no where near as stupid as playing Mack in CF.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 06:43 PM) Unfortunately for you the Supreme Court sided with the federal government in an 8-0 decision upholding federal statuates making marijuana illegal so in spite of that law it is still illegal in Alaska as well as the rest of the country by virtue of federal law. Yeah, but Alaska is too far away from the rest of the states and too sparsely populated for the Feds to actually be interested in expending resources on enforcement up there (it makes a really poor example), so if the state doesn't do the enforcing, no one will.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 06:13 PM) Hey, I hope you're right. I just don't think someone's going to take all of his contract. Pitching, even pitchers coming off of bad years, is in such high demand, that unless the contract is stupidly large, ARod-large, someone would take a gamble on him. The only question is what we can get back, and that comes down to how Garcia pitches for the rest of the season and how desperate another team is to make a run next year.