Balta1701

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 12:36 PM) Bottomline, this team is good enough to succeed in the playoffs. This isn't like 2000 when you knew we would fail once the post-season started. We've got an elite pitching staff, a good bullpen, good defense, and clutch/timely hitting. We're 30-15 in one run games. A very good indicator of being able to succeed in the playoffs. Also (and this is a real key)...we're almost completely healthy. Crede has a hand problem yeah, but he may be back this weekend. Hermanson has a back problem, but he's been able to deal with it for at least a month. El Duque's shoulder is a question mark, but we havent' seen him struggling with it since the AS Break. Pods probably needs a couple days off here & there before the end of the year to rest them legs up...but other than that, there's really no one on our team who (possibly thanks to Ozzie's "Sunday lineups") isn't in good condition and seeming healthy.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 12:06 PM) I am curious about this really being possible? Do steroids really stay in your system for over a year? Or could Morse just be trying to pass off another usage as a leftover? There is a reason that the Olympic standard is a 2 year ban...so it is in fact possible. It does likely depend a lot on exactly which steroids he took and how much of them he took at the time. But this could also very well be Morse trying to pass off another usage as a leftover and thinking that he had a good way to cover his ass.

This is odd...This blogger...Bob Harris...may have stumbled across something...he took a look at the pre-Katrina hit list of LA counties that were declared to be in states of emergency by FEMA...somehow it seems that none of the counties in Southern LA were actually given "State of Emergency" declarations by FEMA before the Hurricane hit, and they only corrected their error after it hit. He's still not sure if he should believe it, but he hasn't yet found anything to dispute that finding.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 02:12 PM) http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Connected...y-F-himself.mov Dick Cheney finally shows up and gets told by some clown to "go f*** himself" Supposedly he was shopping for a $2 million mansion in Jackson, Wyoming the week after the Hurricane hit...I was just north of there...just missed my own version of a "How dare you" moment like the one Condi got...if only I had known...

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 12:19 PM) The secret weather making device that created Katrina and steered it into the Democratic city. Its all a plan by the evil Republicans to take over the world. Frighteningly enough...I managed to catch a radio show out here last Friday where the host was doing basically exaclty that...except he was blaming it on the Democrats (Bill Cohen in 1998 testified that weather weapons are practical!) etc. He was casually suggesting that it was a plot to convince people to be more dependent on government. He had a voice that sounded remarkably like Limbaugh too, although it wasn't actually him. P.S. I just got back from dropping a pint of my blood into a bag for the Red Cross.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 11:32 AM) That is correct. Stop the breeders and get this population explosion thing under control! Don't worry...the end of the age of oil will take care of that for us.

Major league baseball's response to his statements was absolutely beautiful...to paraphrase... The Players Union bargained for a system where suspensions in the minor leagues would not count against a player's total number of suspensions in the major leagues. Given that fact, we also cannot take into account whether or not a player tested positive and was suspended for steroid abuse in their minor league career, and we must treat every positive test as a positive test on its own.

So Knight, if we called it marriage, but did not force any churches to perform them or recognize them if they chose not to, would that fit your standards? I see no reason why anyone, anywhere, should force a priest to marry 2 people he does not believe should be married, even if its for racial reasons. There are always other options. Judges, for example, or other churches. If a church chooses to perform them, is there some reason that the church should be forbidden from doing so?

He also didn't count the A's down at all for the injuries to Crosby or to Harden (which cost Harden 6 starts). Without a healthy Crosby, I doubt that team makes the playoffs.

The angels also have a real problem in that their best starting pitcher may be battling chronic lower back troubles.

By the way...we don't exactly have an Angels Series thread started yet, so I figure this is as good a place as any to give you guys Colon updates from the LA Times

The thing that really bothered me about the Rogers column was that he put the Angels ahead of us... The Angels are a team that actually has a worse offense than us...especially lately with Anderson struggling...we've hit 40 more home runs than them and scored 15 more runs...our OBP is basically identical with theirs...we have a better overall ERA, a vastly better bullpen ERA (Their bullpen is basically exhausted), and the ERA of our starting pitchers is essentally identical. I understand putting Oakland ahead of us as a risk, but the Angels are in basically the same boat we are, and they haven't done nearly as well putting the pieces together as we have.

473 billion years...wow...that's some pre-pre-pre-pre-Cambrian time we're talking about there. Couple of universes ago, or something like that.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Sep 7, 2005 -> 10:29 PM) The legendary Hack Wilson is on it too. I didn't know Karkovice could get an inside the park home run let alone a grand slam on it. Kinda funny to see Tony Gwynn get one in 1997, when it was the bigger version of Gwynn. Again if memory serves...Karko was always pretty fast until he blew out his knees in the early 90's.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 09:52 AM) I'm guessing either Borchard or Anderson play tonight. Hmph...so this really is a game thread...lousy hidden game threads with C of the C names... Ozzie said in 1 of the papers today that he wouldn't really start resting people until we had the division clinched (a very good thing to hear, IMO). Nevertheless...I think Pods or ARow are probably due for an offday in that outfield, so someone else will probably be out there tonight. I just hope it ends up not being Timo. Go get em Freddy! I know it's a night game at home, but it's also the Royals! And we're still on pace for our 30-0 September!

QUOTE(ilsox7 @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 10:06 AM) THis is 100% true. Look at the BILLIONS of dollars companies like GE are investing in nanotech. It is the next leap. How we got from Rehnquists's death to this topic I'll never know... Look, the fact of history is this...it's a complete and utter mistake to think that anyone, anywhere can predict the future of where technology is going, because it is a proven fact that technology goes places people can't imagine. Go back 15 years...even to 1990...how many people out there could have conceived of the idea that linking computers together could turn into a trillion-dollar a year industry involving sales, pornography, and idiotic Pasadena liberals chattering on about the White Sox? 50 years ago...people thought we'd be living on Mars by now. IN 1985, they thought we'd have flying cars by now. The reality is this...when people make predictions of the future, all they are able to do is imagine upgrades or changes to the systems we already have. It is basically impossible for humanity to predict what science can find outside of its current reference frame. So what are you guys doing? You see the growing development of robotics and increasing miniaturization of computers, and you assume that those 2 will be the dominant forces of the next 50 years or however long you're talking, and you extrapolate. This is exactly what was done when people predicted the space program would lead us to have Martian colonies by now, or when people talked about flying cars, etc. The reality is this...absolutely no one knows how technology will evolve. No one knows if "Moore's law" will continue to hold. No one knows if we'll suddenly hit a limit in materials science that will prevent us from being able to miniaturize things. No one knows what will happen when the age of oil ends (something that has already begun). Technology has proven over and over and over that it's nearly impossible to predict the future. Even if you look where people are investing...the odds are you'll be wrong. The only rational bet is to not even try.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 09:59 AM) Topped out at 8 (July 18 to July 25) In other words...we damn well better get this one to 9, because we haven't been there in quite some time.

Yesterday, Jose went out there with absolute garbage. He was getting hit, walked like 5 people...and struggled pretty much through the first 4 innings of the game. He still shut them out. That was a Black-Jack worthy version of finding a way to pitch when your best stuff isn't working. Truly remarkable to watch.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 09:40 AM) Sorry B, you have already been beaten to the game thread. It is pinned at the top of the page. Hmph...last time there was a "Core of the Core" thread that looked like a game thread, it turned out not to be one. Damn confusing titles! Arrrghhh!!!!!

The final report on the Oil for Food program, prepared by an investigative committee led by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker was released yesterday. Since the report itself is 1000+ pages long, I'm going to defer to the analysis of someone who read the thing.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 07:24 AM) Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush. If that were the case, then why are the Republicans working overtime to prevent any sort of a bipartisan investigation into the disaster? The Republicans have already rejected calls for an independent, 9/11 commission style investigation into the disaster...that commission if you'll remember, was composed of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans and had subpoena power distributed evenly across the commission. Instead, the Republicans want it done only in Congress, where the Republicans have a full majority and therefore they will be the only ones with subpoena power...if the Democrats want to subpoena a witness, they will be unable to do so without the consent of the Republicans on the committee, while the Republicans can do anything they want and decide who they want to investigate without even consulting the Democrats. So I must ask the question...what is it that they are hiding?

Well, I believe the only game thread I've made this year was in August...so it's time to even up my record at .500 on these. Go Get em Freddy!

I believe that 1982 streak mentionned above was the last time this team had a 9 game winning streak.

Right now, Viz has clearly figured out whatever it was that was keeping him from getting outs earlier in the year. Is Viz the best guy in our bullpen? Absolutely not. If we go into extra innings and need a guy to go 2 1/3 innings, is Viz our best shot? Very likely so right now, assuming Bobby has already been used. Marte is dealing with both some serious confidence problems and some serious mechanics problems. Will he work them out before the playoffs? I don't know...but I hope to God he will. When Marte is on...his stuff is as filty as any left handed relief pitcher in baseball save Wagner. I see no reason why Ozzie shouldn't keep running Marte out there at some point...just to try to see if he can find the pitcher he was 2 years ago. Either way, Marte should be spending a hell of a lot of time with Cooper right now. If he can get back to throwing strikes to lefties...that's a hell of a weapon to have down in the pen.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Sep 8, 2005 -> 09:19 AM) All because you wanna save a couple extra pennies. Shnikies... Get out....NOW.... (Bees...bees in the car...bees everywhere, they're huge and they're sting crazy, don't be the hero, save yourselves, your firearms are useless against them)