Balta1701

Hmph, I just received in my email inbox a commercial email from the LA Times advertising 3 day vacations in Illinois. Hmmm....

QUOTE(knightni @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 10:38 AM) The better Molina's arm was probably still hurting him from getting hit in the Yankees series. I believe he also was hit in game 1 by a foul ball in the later innings that looked like it hurt quite a bit.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 11:08 AM) But why does the batter get to run on the drop? I've always thought of it as basically a wild pitch. If the ball hits the dirt...it is considered a wild pitch, and the runner has an opportunity to move up. In this case, he's moving up from home to first, instead of moving from another base as would be the case given a "normal" wild pitch.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 08:35 AM) I think Paulie is the #4 hitter next year, and he'll be in line for a $2-$3 million raise only. ($10-$11 million) With the way the free agent crop looks this year...someone will offer Paulie 4 years, $50 million plus. Anaheim needs a bat and a 1b. Ditto the Dodgers. Toronto has money to spend. So do several other teams.

Hmph, usually someone else sees this things and posts them...but Congrats go out to Freddy Garcia on the birth of his first child yesterday afternoon! (Oh, and to Ozzie Guillen also...the kid's somewhere in his family tree too)

That's f***ing terrible. Which channel is WCKG again? If I'm ever back in that area I'm going to hold it against them. I hope they get a good fine.

QUOTE(Molto @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 07:55 AM) Nonetheless, I still don't buy Paul's decision, because he didn't toss the ball because of the umpires call, but because of an assumption he had. Let's think of it this way...I keep going back to the football analogy because I think it's quite apt. If you're a defensive back, and you see a receiver catch a ball right up against the ground where it looks like the ball is trapped...do you stop playing right there, or do you go up and put a hand on the guy while he's still on the ground? If you just stop right there, without hearing a clear whistle, and assume that the ball was trapped...then the receiver gets up and runs into the end zone...you're relying entirely on your assumption that the ball was trapped. If the Replay then shows that its ambiguous, then the play could very well end up being a touchdown. The fact is that Paul assumed he caught the ball, when no one in this world can truly tell unless God himself is walking amongst us or someone has a solid knowledge of the force. By not calling him out, the ump almost made the safest call, because he had no way of knowing if it skipped or not either, and that puts the onus back on the player to do his job and tag the runner. Just like in football...on the field, if there's a chance at a trapped ball, you try to let the play run until it's actually completed and the guy is firmly tackled, then you go back to the replay or discuss with the other refs whether or not the ball was actually caught. You don't stop play without knowing for sure; you let the player make sure it's over.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 06:08 AM) I'd have to assume that AJ thought Paul was going to tag him, then when he didn't he realized what might be going on. I don't think AJ at first had a clue that the ball might have been in the dirt. He would have known it was low, but he would have had just as bad a view as everyone else on the field. The thing that sent AJ to first was the fact that he didn't here the ump say "You're out", and it took him about a step or so to realize that. The problem for the Angels was that Josh paul didn't realize that he didn't say it.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 12:02 AM) they actually did. when i heard it i was just like "no way... no way... HOLY s***" then i started dancing... it's a sad fact but it's true. This makes me wonder if maybe Nancy isn't lurking around here somewhere.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 06:45 AM) I think the umps believe it was the right call. During their press conference last night, they were pretty adamant about that. This was not an umpiring mistake. It was a cathers mistake. Actually, I don't think they believe that...just from their press conference words, I think they're as confused as anyone else.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 11:18 PM) Anyways, the key to game 3, atleast for Garland, is control. If a little research were done, I'm sure you'd find Garland's ERA is much higher when he walks a lot then when he does not. Hell, what I hadn't realized until I finally looked at the numbers was that Garland has only improved on his walk total this year...and that is exactly why he had anywhere close to 20 wins. I think you could say that about each and every pitcher on this team. Look at Jose. What's been different for him in the 2nd half? The league actually has a slightly higher batting average against him in the 2nd half...but in slightly more innings, he walked 27 post all-star as opposed to 48 pre all-star.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 11:28 PM) I know I'd be infuriated if I were an Angels fan now. But unless the call dictated the actual outcome of the game, which it didn't, you can't entirely blame the umpire. Did Eddings hang a breaking ball on a 0-2 count to Joe Crede? Compare this to Jeffrey Maier in 1996. His situation was decidingly worse; if for no other reason than it involved a home run. THAT is an example of an umpiring decision which directly effected the outcome of a game. Last night was not. And honestly...doesn't fate owe Crede a game or two, after that home run that was taken away from him in Baltimore I believe early last year?

I just took a bundle of looks through the replay myself...and I'm totally unconvinced either way...the ball could have hit the dirt inside the mitt or it could have not done so...it's like a receiver catching a football a centimeter above the dirt...you just can't tell if he trapped it sometimes, no matter what angle you get. Here we have an even smaller ball, and it's shrouded inside a darker mitt. That's the whole key IMO...did the ball touch the dirt. That, we will never know. It sure seems like everyone's agreeing that the ump didn't yell "He's out", so there's no way that Paul could have known exactly what call the ump made with the arm. It's a complete judgement call, and one we just don't have a good answer for. I'm glad it went our way.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 11:02 PM) Bad defense and not executing?? The pitching has been tremendous all year but we're not going to win this series if we keep making errors and mental mistakes. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining or anything cause I'm loving how we've managed to not play so well and be 1-1 in the series, I'm just saying that we're not playing up to our capabilities yet and when we do, watch out. We've made mistakes on the basepaths and in the batters' box all season long. Our defense has taken a bit of a step backwards in the last 2 games (Crede ), but we got here entirely because our pitching was so good it could overcome just about everything else in 99 games, and it's still doing it.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:58 PM) ? We've played like doody so far this series. Mark and Jose have been awesome but the defense hasn't been pretty, we couldn't get a bunt down in game 1 and we haven't been able to get any clutch hits obviously minus Joe. This team definitely isn't doing what has got them here so far but that's okay, the series is 1-1 and I think they'll be ready to go come friday. Actually...I'd say this is basically EXACTLY what got us here.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:52 PM) They dont think so certainly but then it could fairly be said that Iraq is Al Quada's last stand. Naturally they're gonna fight like hell there. It could just as easily have been said that Tora Bora was their last stand, and they were going to fight like hell there too.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:37 PM) by the way - i was so f***ing stoked when they played "holding out for a hero" i was like "SOXTALK! RALLY CREDE!" it got me sooo pumped! You're kidding...they actually played that at the ballpark tonight?!? Man, my song lyrics are infecting the whole club!

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:32 PM) meh, i get the feeling that a lot of posters at soxtalk are kids i could be wrong Something tells me if I hit up a bar around here tonight...I may run into some problems.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:28 PM) That may be true but you know you're getting somewhere when even THEY admit they are losing. We probably are getting somewhere in Afghanistan, although it's still disconcerting that our casualty rates keep going up there as well. Somehow though, considering they're talking about us withdrawing from Iraq...I don't think that they believe they're losing there.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 10:02 PM) Id say best case is he turns out to be mostly the player he once was.... Even if he doesnt come back fully im pretty sure he will be better than Antonio McDyess especially if he works really hard at his comeback. Even if the spirit is willing...that doesn't mean the body will be. His body could be permanently weakened by this. His biggest advantage is that he's still young, so he might be able to recover faster than the other guys. But there's a chance we will never see the player we saw last year again.

And the Polls open...

By the way...is this same umpiring crew with the ALCS throughout the playoffs?

Guess who's getting subpoenaed

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 03:38 PM) I wonder if he'd give the Sox a hometown discount at all? or take deferred money? If he will, I bet he'll come back to the Sox. If he wants it all now, he gawn. I think he's at least suggested in the past he might offer up a hometown discount...but that offer was made a long time ago.

They were "Defeated" in Afghanistan a long time ago, in the sense that they lost their main base of operations and training there. The only other "Defeat" that I think they can really suffer there is the capture/death of Zawahiri and Bin Laden.