Balta1701

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 08:51 AM) I'm not sure if we can say the division is way better at this point. Cleveland and Minnesota didn't do much to improve on paper. If you ask me, Cleveland actually took a step back by losing Crisp and Millwood. The Royal might be worse than they were last year, if that's even possible. Detroit looks improved, however. Cleveland got off to an absolutely godawful start last season with the bats. They've already avoided that this year. Of course, the question with them is pitching, as it is with many offensive teams. Minny is better for a couple reasons. 1 - they have Torii Hunter back. 2 - Morneau is hitting the ball this season. 3 - their infield is a step above last year's. The question of course is their pitching staff...it was so damn good last year that a small step back could hurt it more than a decent jump in offense. If, for example, Santana can't get in a groove for a while, or Juan Roid-con struggles out of the pen, then they could be in for a long season too.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 04:08 AM) Rowand's 2005 April numbers were not mych better than Anderson's current numbers. There were also several people wanting to throw Aaron under the bus. A lot of guys' 2005 numbers in April weren't that much better than Anderson's current numbers. You guys know the sweetest thing about this offensive surge to start the season? Thome, Konerko, and Dye are all generally considered slow starters. For example, you eliminate about 6 weeks of the season last year, and PK had MVP-caliber numbers.

So wait a second...there's seriously a debate over which part of our starting rotation in the postseason was the most dominant, the guy who won two clinchers, the guy who won 3 games and got a save, or the guy who started off every series for us? Damn, I absolutely couldn't care less which one of them pitched better. All of their names are on the back of my t-shirt today.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 08:09 AM) 99 wins last year was a lot of wins. Let's face it. The division is way better than last year, and we really fattened up on the AL Central We should be thrilled if we can duplicate teh 99 wins of last year, but talking about 116 wins being possible is just insane at this point of the season. Sadly, 2k5 is right here. And on top of it, not only is our division better this year, but the other divisions are probably better too...you've added pitching in Boston, Damon in NY, A ton of stuff in Toronto, some experience in Oakland, some pitching in Texas, some health and youth in Anaheim, and a few other quality pieces in Seattle. That said, winning 100+ is certainly not out of the question, because on paper this team looks like a monster team to me. It may very well be up to the challenge. But it's going to be damn hard to pull off.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 07:28 PM) From the defense, but specific and easy to verify. They claim they have cell phone records, and an atm receipt, and campus records. And the cab driver was on CNN saying, yes, I drove that guy. He's not a defense lawyer, as far as I know. Again, it's at least worth considering that yes, everything from the defense is easy to verify, but we have no idea how easy to verify the prosecution's evidence might be, because they're not leaking.

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Apr 21, 2006 -> 12:31 AM) He might not be the same for a few years after this... If ever... Well, hopefully he's still young enough that given time this will heal. And it's also not a bone he's regularly putting a lot of force on, like basketball players when they suffer Amare/Webber type fractures in their legs. Yeah he does have to swing, but it doesn't hold all his weight, so hopefully he'll be able to come back at some point. But if the Cubs are smart, they'll say "Screw this season" when he comes back and hold him out 120% of the time it should take to heal, just to make absolutely certian he's as healthy as possible when he comes back. (Which, btw, is what both we and Oakland should have done with Thomas the last 2 years) On a side note, has anyone thought about what this does to the Cubs infield defense? If they're moving Walker over to 1b, which makes sense to me, that leaves Cedeno and Ramirez throwing to Todd Walker across the field. Cedeno's throws are already wild as all hell, and Ramirez is Ramirez. We're going to see a metric ton of throwing errors for the next 2 months over there.

Mark, you know what to do. Bats...be strong. Go get em boys. This would be a very nice win to have.

"Wait 'til next year."

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 04:55 PM) Wow. I didn't know Betancourt was hurt, too. Their game yesterday was almost as bad as the Cubs'. And they lost theirs too.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 05:17 PM) i knew right away it was broken when the cubs reported x-rays were "inconclusive". aka, it's broken, delay the news so drunk out of towners buy more tickets for a couple days. This is terribly sad for DLee. Damn shame, I wanted to see what he could do this season. But when I saw the collision that's waht I figured, and the Cubs sounding hopeful last night certainly was good confirmation.

Oh great...now our PA announcers are trying to start a war with China! It's like a Bushism, but not even out of Bush's mouth!

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 03:10 PM) Oh yeah, I believe that is authentic :rolly Actually it is. Her office has spent a good portion of the day trying to explain where it came from. I believe that's also her actual handwriting at the bottom, though I could be mistaken on that one. Here's ABC News talking about it. It's made a hundred news sources today.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 03:02 PM) Joe Crede will get a long-term deal before the Sox get to Mark Buehrle. If long term = the 2 remaining years on Crede's contract, I'll say...maybe.

Well, I guess that means Jerry's going on the cheap for next year's rings.

Brian anderson beat the Hell out of me and knocked me to the floor. I got up and knocked him to the floor. He was being such a jagoff. I whupped Brian Anderson's ass! Rock over London, Rock on Chicago. Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions.

Good lord, can't we just do this in the other "Brian Anderson should be drug out into the street and shot" thread?

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 02:18 PM) I should move to Antartica because cold weather rocks. Bring me back a meteorite.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 02:13 PM) Yes, after Contrereas re-signed, KW said something about how those guys have no clue how close they were to getting traded. Just like KW said that negotiations broke off with both of them. KW lies well enough to apply for the White House Press Secretary job.

The word "Monsoon" does not necessarily indicate a heavy rainstorm. It indicates a seasonality to rain patterns associated with the winds.

7-4 Baltimore on a 2 run single by Conine. Hey Indians...PITCH!

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 01:10 PM) But we've cut off the last two presidents at the nuts. Some would say they both cut themselves off there. One more figuratively than the other.

I think if we want to get an idea of what Buehrle will cost on the open market, we can wait until Zito hits it this winter, and then offer Buehrle the same deal.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 11:32 AM) 10 Billion a month still seems kind of high to me. Where'd you get that info from? Congress.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Apr 20, 2006 -> 11:18 AM) Actually, the official line from East Germany was to keep Westerners out. But having had a family separated by a similar wall, I tend not to like them. Yeah, which is why they shot all those easterners trying to get to the west. Because they didn't want them to find a westerner and then bring them back across to their communist paradise.