SpringfieldFan

Wow. May was a surgeon and Walsh was a monster out there! Great match in the rain for gold. SFF

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Aug 20, 2008 -> 06:17 PM) I do like AVG with Runners on because that is all the batter can really do is get a hit. He can't help a slow player score from 2nd on a single, that is out of his control. So should he be punished for hitting a double and the guy on first doesn't score? Point well taken. Of course you could also compare the guy who advances a runner to third with a single to a guy who hits a homer in that situation. I believe AVG with Runners on would be equal for both, would it not? Maybe there just is no perfect stat for this. I guess if there were we would have it. In any case I am confident Q would acquit himself quite nicely no matter what stat you want to use. SFF

Did anyone see that women's 200 semifinal womens with that woman from Bahrain? She was dressed in a full body suit with a hood to respect muslim modesty. It was weird; I've never seen it before. It was almost like one of those spoof commercials where someone or something that doesn't belong is spliced into a video of a real athletic event. I felt kind of sad for her, but wondered if I should. Maybe she is happy to follow the custom, I don't know. It was just odd. Too bad she didn't advance, I couldn't help rooting for her. SFF

For all the commentators and blogger whining, I am really impressed our gymnasts kept the high road. I never heard them saying the judging was unfair or that the Chinese girls didn't deserve what they got. It was also nice to see the Chinese congratulating Johnson after the beam competition. SFF

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 20, 2008 -> 07:29 AM) We need to get him sitting next to Mark Buehrle on a regular basis to teach him about controling nerves and emotions during a game Juan Uribe's smashed bat says hi. SFF

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 06:08 PM) Wouldn't it be 2/6 since you would be counting the batter as well? OPS with Runners On seems to be good enough for this type of situation (Quentin has a 1.111 with Runners On, which is Nintendo-like). I am sure if you just took RBI and divided by AB, you would get a pretty good indicator of efficiency (very raw). I was thinking RBI vs failed RBI, rather than RBI out of potential RBI, thus: 1st AB: 2 RBI, 0 LOB (they scored on the HR) 2nd AB: 0 RBI, 4 LOB (the 3 guys on base plus the batter) But either way would work. I wouldn't prefer simple RBI per AB because it punishes a guy for being on a poor offensive team. I agree that OPS w/ runners on is a very good indicator, probably the best measurement for productive clutch hitting. However, it would give credit for a guy getting an opposite field single with just a runner on first who doesn't score. Again, that is a valuable achievement, but I was looking for a simple stat that says how well a guy gets runs across the plate when he has the opportunity, nothing more nothing less (I think that was what the basic RBI stat was created for in the first place). But yeah, this all could result in a case of stat overload. SFF

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 12:49 PM) In modern baseball, RBI is not and should not be a significant offensive category used as a metric for measuring players. There is only one way to guarantee yourself an RBI after an at-bat, and guess who leads in that category? How about an RBI efficiency stat where you divide a players RBI by the number of players (plus the batter himself) who did not score on his at bat? For example, if a hitter hits a two run home run and then strikes out with the bases loaded, his RBI efficiency would be 2/4, or 0.500. I wish there were a way to look up each player's season LOB. If there were I would love to calculate this. SFF

I'm half slavic and half Puerto Rican and my wife is all caucasian. So can you guess what that makes my daughter? Yes, she's a "Quarter Rican" SFF

QUOTE (Sox It To Em @ Aug 11, 2008 -> 02:13 PM) As it stands, Quentin leads Hamilton in every single meaningful offensive category, plus his team is in first. If things stay the way they are, Quentin looks like the clear winner. But he didn't do drugs, oh wait. I think Hamilton's story is nice, but his past shouldn't affect MVP voting, in my opinion. Yeah, don't they have an award like, uh, oh I don't know... "comeback player of the year" for that??? SFF

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2008 -> 09:11 AM) Its 3.1 plate appearances. Bradley has walked 64 times, Alexei 9 or 10. He will need 502 plate appearances by the end of the season. It could be close if they move him up in the line-up. Also, even if he didn't have the 502 appearances, he would still win if his average were still high enough even if you assumed outs for the missing AB's and recalculated the average based on that. SFF

I can sympathize with annoying work environment. I am 40 years old, but apparently there is a generation break that happens at about 30. I work between two guys that age and hear their incessant talk about video games, big screen tv's, and movie downloads. I swear the top three words I hear during a workday are (1) "dude" (2) "cool" and (3) "suck". Am I really getting that old ? SFF

I have a scary thought. Its bad enough to consider that any of us could just as easily be such a victim someday. However, given the description of this attacker's benign character, is it also possible that any of us could inexplicably snap and make such an attack? SFF

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 03:50 PM) How can you be suspended when there is no apparent reason? Nite, all I'm saying is these 'rules' are silly. Either everything is grounds for plunking or none of it is. I guess it is all out of the same policy book that says A.J. deserves getting fined for simply being on the receiving end of a Marty Barrett coldcock. SFF

I agree - it is great to see him on our team. I hope his stay is more that mere trivia fodder, though (like the great Steve Carlton playing for the Sox in 1986 and me totally unable to even remember). Griff won't be his old superhuman self, but I hope he contributes and makes a real difference in this team's fortunes. Most important to me now is that, if nothing else, I expect he won't fall prey to the Minnesota shrinking sack syndrome that the rest of our guys have. Even if his skills are diminished, the man is a gamer - the exact opposite of what we see from our guys whenever we visit the baggiedome. I can just imagine when Hawk is with the team and mentions how difficult the Twins will be in the stretch. Griff will lay back with a confident smile and simply say "f--- that!" and let his bat say the same thing on the field. I can't wait. SFF

I was just thinking - how about memory sticks, with whatever capacity $50 will buy? Personalize them by putting a video of yourself thanking them for being in the wedding and how much you value them. That would be an easy gift and sure to be useful. Maybe someone could even engrave them. SFF

I am trying to think back to 2005 when we were supposedly close to acquiring KGJ. Wasn't the discussion around here about how the Reds owner cancelled the deal right after their GM agreed to it, much to Griffey's displeasure. Something about the owner wanting the team to maintain maximum value before its pending sale? If that was any more than pure rumor, I wonder if any juicy details will come out now that Griffey is free... SFF

A coworker of mine who broke this trade to me first is now also saying something about dealing Swisher back to the A's for Street. I don't know where he got that information, but is there any plausibility to that, even if it is pure speculation? SFF

QUOTE (quickman @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 08:17 AM) swisher is not goign anywhere, he is under control for a few years, everyone loves the guy around the team, swisher will play first next year, when the sox give away konerko. Well, if all it takes to secure a spot on the roster and the love of the fans is to tell some jokes, play with blowup dolls, and be really sorry for not hitting - then dang, I could do that, and cheap!!! I will even take my own train up there to sign! SFF

Jeez, Selig should just get the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox GM's together - then round up all the NL and AL all stars so they can take turns grabbing every one of them and be done with it. SFF

I admittedly don't know much about Cuban ball myself, but I do know that through most of history they have made a complete joke of their international competition. It is almost like watching little league when there is one team with all the "big kids". Of course the argument is that those are Cuba's "pros", leaving us to wonder how they would fare against American major leaguers. Then of course, they had that two game exhibition against the Orioles ten years or so ago -- and split the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Ori...oles_Visit_Cuba SFF

I think Cuban baseball is underrated in America, and having one of their young stars is a real coup (no pun intended). That flip of his - man I have never seen a play where the commentators in every highlight show say they have never seen one like it. I swear he's slicker than Kobe Bryant playing nerf basketball. SFF

I have found my most reliable, from the source, weather information. Go to weather.gov, click your region of concern in the map, and then on the left side menu, choose "forecast discussion". This is the meteorologists' discussion of the information and the rational that they use when making their forecasts. It gets a little scientific, but you can see the reasoning behind their forecasts, watches, and warnings - and can often predict the forcast before its officially released. We had a blizzard in downstate Illinois four or five years ago, and from reading this I knew we were headed for a biggie a week before it happened and before the watches even came out. SFF

2005 without a doubt right now. We don't even know if the 2008 team will make the playoffs. The 2005 team won it all, but was truly one of the best teams in history. Yeah, 99 wins may seem a bit low if you want to call a team one of the best ever, but I don't consider that late season slump as representative of what that team really was. Before that, they had a ridiculously good, almost impossibly good record. Then with that lead, Oz rested the guys and they lost their edge. However, when they got serious again, the winning returned again at that ridiculous rate, climaxing with 11 of 12 in the postseason. Its conjecture, but in my mind if they committed to keeping their edge during that stretch run, thy would have achieved the 110+ regular season wins that I think they were truly good enough to achieve and that would have clearly established themselves as one of the very best in any argument. Certainly, it could be argued that going full throttle in August and September might have worn them out come playoff time, but I still think the .700 ball they played for the far majority of the season was the true indicator of just how good they were. SFF

I can agree. Just the things people have found to do with simple bottle rockets is frightening. However, on the other side it is a bit of a shame we can't purchase the simplest things like black cats without a permit anymore. We are stuck with cheap sparklers, smoke balls and those snakes that never thrill like you think they will. Cigrarettes are darn near as powerful as the firecrackers you can get now. That makes me think - if the state wants to institute a smoking ban, there they go. They can just classify them as illegal fireworks. SFF

So that's what happened to the clubhouse blowup doll.