I got TWO questions for the mailbag. Suck it, kkk. Here are the answers…
So why do you hate The Astros despite living in or near Houston your whole life?
It’s simple: I’ve been a Cubs fan for about 25 years and the Cubs and Astros have been division rivals for 15 of those years. And since I have to hear the daily Astros’ propaganda living here, well, it makes me root against them.
I should say that ‘hate’ is a probably strong word for it these days since I no longer have the energy—or time, thanks to the wife—to spend watching the majority of their games (MLB Extra Innings is useful here, too). Plus the Cubs are just better than the Astros these days so my days of jealously looking at the standings are—at least for now—over.
And I do love a couple of the Astros players. Berkman is a terrific, funny guy; one of my favorite guys in sports. And I would LOVE Roy O to get fed up enough with the Astros that, when his contract is up, he decides to pitch at Wrigley for a couple of years. (Of course, the Cubs being the Cubs, he’d probably blow his arm out during pregame warm-ups before his debut and disappear in disgrace like Mark Prior.)
But a hack like Brandon Backe being kept around and getting constant adoration because he’s a ‘hometown kid’ despite having never been a good pitcher (or even showing signs of it)? Get the fuck out of here.
Also, what do you think of their chances in The N.L. Central this year?
I break it down like this:
1. The Astros are definitely worse than the Cubs, which means they’re probably fighting for the wild card at best. I don’t see anything but a number of devastating injuries derailing the Cubs in their quest for a third straight N.L. Central title.
2. I don’t see how anyone can say the Astros are clearly better than either the Brewers or Cardinals.
3. Recent history says that they’re probably better than the Reds, but Cincy’s lineup is fairly solid and you never know what a couple of young, developing guys like Cueto and Volquez will do. If Arroyo continues his good work and Harang bounces back, watch out. The Reds could finish third, which means they’re probably ahead of the Astros, too. (Dusty manages this bunch though so a 66-win, 6th place finish is also possible,)
4. They’re definitely better than the Pirates so they will be no worse than fifth!
The fans here point to the Astros second-half charge to 86 wins last year as proof that this team is on the cusp, but the reality of it is despite that, they still finished 3.5 games behind TWO teams for the wild card. So they really didn’t come that close to making the playoffs.
They are some other problems:
- Oldest team in the National League, and they got a little older with the signing of Pudge
- Berkman/Lee is about as solid a 3/4 combination as you can get. But Tejada’s washed up, Pudge is 37 and wasn’t very good last year, third base is either Geoff Blum or rookie Chris Johnson, Kaz Matsui is hurt all the time, and Michael Bourn is a disaster in center. Pence is talented, but he must return to his rookie form if they’re going to have a chance and there is no guarantee that he will.
- They subtracted Randy Wolf and added Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz, neither of whom has been effective in several years. Oswalt is scary good of course, but when you have Hampton, Ortiz, Wandy Rodriguez, and Brian f’n Moehler behind him, well, that’s not so good.
- LaTroy Hawkins is a key cog in their bullpen. LATROY HAWKINS.
- There is almost no help in the minor leagues and Drayton McLane claims the payroll is now maxed out so any injuries could really kill their season early because they probably won’t have any options to replace the injured players.
- The second half schedule isn’t conducive to a late run this year. One of the newspaper guys did a breakdown of it a couple of weeks back and concluded that it’s the toughest post-ASB schedule in the NL.
Add all of that up and it smells of 76-78 wins and a third or fourth place finish to me.
Now we start to get to the meat of the list and I swear that's not a crack at the next player on the list.
#60
Andruw Jones, CF
#59
Bret Saberhagen, SP
#58
Kenny Lofton, CF
#57
Robin Ventura, 3B
#56
Albert Belle, LF
#55
Kevin Brown, SP
#54
Fred McGriff, 1B
#53
Sammy Sosa, RF
#52
Jorge Posada, C
#51
Jason Giambi, 1B
#50
Lance Berkman, OF/1B
#49
Larry Walker, RF
#48
Kirby Puckett, CF
#47
Brian Giles, OF
#46
Bobby Abreu, RF
#45
Mariano Rivera, RP
#44
Bernie Williams, CF
#43
Scott Rolen, 3B
#42
Edgar Martinez, DH
#41
Rafael Palmeiro, 1B
Ohhhhhhh what a finish! Okay not really as all races were decided before the last day of the season. But we did have a surprise as the '03 Tigers, losers of 119 games, will not advance to the postseason as they were beat out by the '88 Orioles for the Loser Card. All the division races went to those who have been "leading" most of the year. Here are your A.L. playoff match-ups.
'88 Orioles vs. '79 A's
'79 Blue Jays vs. '82 Twins
And let's recognize those who were the best of the Loser League on the A.L. side.
C: Jeff Newman, '79 A's
1B: Eddie Murray, '88 Orioles
2B: Bobby Grich, '80 Angels
3B: Carney Lansford, '80 Angels
SS: Cal Ripken, '88 Orioles
LF: Albert Belle, '91 Indians
CF: Roberto Kelly, '90 Yankees
RF: Emil Brown, '05 Royals
SP: Roger Clemens, '92 Red Sox
RP: Mark Clear, '80 Angels
FINAL STANDINGS/LEADERS
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1990 NYA 93 69 R.Carew LAA .339 E.Murray BAA 40 A.Belle CLA 124
1992 BOA 87 75 E.Brown KCA .337 A.Belle CLA 38 E.Brown KCA 116
2002 TBA 84 78 T.Long KCA .334 K.Maas NYA 36 E.Murray BAA 114
1988 BAA 74 88 R.Kelly NYA .334 K.Hrbek MNA 35 C.Baerga CLA 112
1979 TOA 59 103 K.Hrbek MNA .332 C.Ripken BAA 32 OTHERS TIED W 105
1989 CHA 86 76 WINS SAVES ERA
1991 CLA 82 80 R.Clemens BOA 19 T.Niedenf BAA 36 R.Clemens BOA 2.13
2005 KCA 81 81 F.Tanana LAA 16 E.Yan TBA 29 C.Hough TEA 2.18
2003 DEA 75 87 C.Hough TEA 15 B.Thigpen CHA 28 F.Viola BOA 2.76
1982 MNA 69 93 G.Swindel CLA 15 G.Harris TEA 27 D.Aase LAA 2.89
OTHERS TIED W 14 M.Macdoug KCA 24 F.Bannist SEA 2.95
1980 LAA 100 62
1985 TEA 83 79 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1980 SEA 76 86 K.Witt DEA 12 A.Sanchez DEA 65 R.Clemens BOA 226
1979 OAA 69 93 D.Slaught TEA 9 R.Kelly NYA 63 T.Underwo TOA 201
E.Murray BAA 8 A.Cole CLA 50 F.Bannist SEA 187
M.Lewis CLA 8 O.Guillen CHA 41 D.Darwin BOA 170
OTHERS TIED W 7 OTHERS TIED W 38 G.Swindel CLA 169
The '81 Cubs reversed the curse of the goat! Most of the season it was the '91 Astros and '85 Pirates fighting over the bottom of the N.L. Central but the Cubs blew past them with a clutch September record of 4-21 and ending the season on a 13 game losing streak! Truly remarkable. No surprises in the other races as the '98 Marlins did eventually pass up the '88 Braves for the league's worst record but as expected the Loser Card comes out of the East. Here are your N.L. playoff match-ups.
'88 Braves vs. '81 Padres
'98 Marlins vs. '81 Cubs
Here's the All-NL Loser League team.
C: Craig Biggio, '91 Astros
1B: Eddie Murray, '93 Mets
2B: Jeff Kent, '93 Mets
3B: Scott Rolen, '00 Phillies
SS: Jay Bell, '98 Diamondbacks
LF: Bernard Gilkey, '95 Cardinals
CF: Ray Lankford, '95 Cardinals
RF: Bobby Bonilla, '93 Mets
SP: Mike Krukow, '85 Giants
RF: Gregg Olson, '98 Diamondbacks
FINAL STANDINGS/LEADERS
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1993 NYN 94 68 A.Galarra CON .379 R.Lankfor SLN 39 S.Rolen PHN 134
2008 WAN 90 72 J.Mabry SLN .359 B.Bonilla NYN 38 R.Lankfor SLN 123
2000 PHN 88 74 C.Biggio HON .336 E.Murray NYN 33 D.Bichett CON 110
1988 ATN 66 96 B.Gilkey SLN .325 S.Rolen PHN 33 E.Karros LAN 108
1998 FLN 63 99 C.Guzman WAN .325 E.Karros LAN 31 OTHERS TIED W 104
1995 SLN 99 63 WINS SAVES ERA
1982 CIN 89 73 M.Krukow SFN 21 M.Dejean MLN 45 M.Krukow SFN 2.07
2002 MLN 85 77 G.Rusch MLN 18 G.Olson ARN 42 R.Reusche PIN 2.48
1991 HON 75 87 M.Soto CIN 17 T.Henke SLN 41 D.Gooden NYN 2.48
1985 PIN 72 90 R.Reusche PIN 17 S.Garrelt SFN 33 R.Person PHN 2.64
1981 CHN 67 95 OTHERS TIED W 16 D.Holmes CON 31 O.Daal ARN 2.75
1985 SFN 96 66 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1992 LAN 88 74 D.James ATN 14 B.Butler LAN 61 M.Soto CIN 278
1998 ARN 85 77 B.Jordan SLN 11 V.Coleman NYN 58 D.Gooden NYN 200
1993 CON 81 81 OTHERS TIED W 9 S.Finley HON 56 B.Sheets MLN 200
1981 SDN 74 88 E.Young MLN 55 P.Harnisc HON 198
E.Young CON 51 B.Berenyi CIN 194
I actually did fill out an office bracket earlier this morning. Problem is I don't remember who I picked. I have Memphis winning it all, though. Don't ask why.
6 p.m.
• Before you start saying OMG TAX THE RICH, remember that one day it may be you in the government's cross-hairs. Hell hath no fury like a public official with an ax to grind.
Then why did you do this, you cunt?
And let's also strip the retention bonuses of these people.
And while we're at it, let's have Barney Fwank take a bit out of his account just for shits and giggles.
As one of the most anonymous posters at TSM with what is probably one of the least-read blogs, I'm sure this idea is doomed to failure. But I'm bored today so what the hell; I'll give it a shot anyway.
Ask me anything, whether it's about me personally, something you'd like to get my opinon on, or something really difficult that I'm sure to get wrong and end up looking stupid. Maybe you want to know my favorite color, how I met sfaJill, or why I've lived in or near Houston my entire life yet hate the Astros. Do I have a favorite actor? Movie? Do I like country music? Maybe you need my advice on something (though God help you if you follow it). You could even ask for my detailed thoughts on nuclear disarmament (note: I don't really have any detailed thoughts on this) or suggest topics you actually might want to read about on this blog. Whatever. Unlike an Obama press conference, this floor is open to tough questions and I will not screen any of them.
Submit them in the comments here or via PM if you want to be all secretive. I'll take questions through this Sunday night and post an entry with the answer(s) next Monday. If this actually works, maybe I'll do it again every so often. If I don't get any questions, well, fuck everybody.
Nice to see you have enough time to go on late-night television and fill out a March Madness bracket -- It's not like you have anything better to do, o' favorite Son of Kenya. On second thought, if this Bread and Circuses routine keeps you distracted for any length of time from implementing your socialist schemes, I'll ask you to fill out a bracket for the remaining NIT rounds. Actually, during the whole Clinton impeachment period, I was all for the process. It wasn't partisan; it was more because it kept Congress and the Prez from doing anything else.
Speaking of which, I need to fill out MY brackkket. Oh who am I kidding? I haven't even posted last year's baseball results from that annual competition I have with that pseudo-baseball expert we have at this place.
With a month left in the season the '79 Blue Jays have an outside chance of losing more games in the Loser League than they did back in 1979. That would truly be an astonishing feat of futility. We finally had a "lead" change in the West as the '80 Mariners eeked by the '79 A's by one game setting up what should be a thrilling finish. The '03 Tigers still cling to the Loser Card by two games over the '88 Orioles.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1990 NYA 79 58 R.Kelly NYA .339 A.Belle CLA 36 A.Belle CLA 109
2002 TBA 75 61 E.Brown KCA .339 E.Murray BAA 33 E.Brown KCA 109
1992 BOA 74 63 R.Carew LAA .337 K.Maas NYA 32 J.Barfiel NYA 100
1988 BAA 61 76 A.Huff TBA .334 K.Hrbek MNA 31 B.Grich LAA 92
1979 TOA 47 90 J.Orsulak BAA .329 A.Huff TBA 27 K.Hrbek MNA 92
1989 CHA 74 62 WINS SAVES ERA
2005 KCA 69 68 F.Tanana LAA 16 T.Niedenf BAA 30 C.Hough TEA 2.16
1991 CLA 68 68 R.Clemens BOA 15 E.Yan TBA 25 R.Clemens BOA 2.27
2003 DEA 59 78 F.Martine LAA 13 G.Harris TEA 24 F.Martine LAA 2.64
1982 MNA 54 83 C.Hough TEA 13 B.Thigpen CHA 24 F.Viola BOA 2.87
G.Swindel CLA 13 M.Macdoug KCA 22 D.Aase LAA 2.88
1980 LAA 86 50
1985 TEA 70 68 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1979 OAA 63 74 A.Sanchez DEA 18 A.Sanchez DEA 53 R.Clemens BOA 197
1980 SEA 62 74 M.Lewis CLA 13 R.Kelly NYA 48 T.Underwo TOA 172
C.Baerga CLA 12 A.Cole CLA 45 F.Bannist SEA 160
B.Higgins DEA 12 S.Sax NYA 36 D.Darwin BOA 146
A.Berroa KCA 11 OTHERS TIED W 33 M.Perez CHA 144
YESTERDAY'S GAMES TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS
CHA 4 at BOA 5 BAA-Bautist(8-6, 3.24) at BOA-Hesketh(7-5, 3.83)
SEA 3 at CLA 6 CHA-King(9-8, 3.66) at CLA-Nagy(10-13, 5.22)
KCA 3 at DEA 8 SEA-Honeycu(9-12, 4.11) at TEA-Hooton(7-5, 5.32)
TEA 2 at LAA 8
TOA 3 at NYA 12
MNA 3 at OAA 4
BAA 1 at TBA 8
YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES
BATTER TM OPP AB R H RB BB Ks HR SB
B.Higginson DEA KCA 3 2 1 2 2 1 1 1
W.Morris DEA KCA 5 2 3 3 0 0 1 0
J.Barfield NYA TOA 5 1 3 3 0 2 1 0
O.Velez TOA NYA 3 1 2 1 1 0 1 0
B.Grich LAA TEA 5 2 2 2 0 2 1 0
PITCHER TM OPP INN H R ER BB Ks HR WLS
D.Heaverlo OAA MNA 4.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 S
P.Quantrill BOA CHA 3.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 W
T.Felton MNA OAA 3.0 0 0 0 0 1 0
T.Phelps TBA BAA 2.2 1 0 0 1 3 0 S
D.Pall CHA BOA 4.0 2 2 0 3 3 0
WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
C.Pena DEA .344 32 11 7 8 4 D.Schmidt TEA 5 1 0 1 4 0 100
K.Maas NYA .321 28 9 6 5 4 J.Bautista BAA 9 3 0 1 4 0 100
G.Ward MNA .462 39 18 7 3 4 B.Milacki BAA 9 3 0 3 10 0 100
B.Higginson DEA .371 35 13 10 8 2 D.Heaverlo OAA 11 5 0 2 7 0 102
E.Brown KCA .400 35 14 11 2 3 R.Langford OAA 23 22 4 1 12 1 200
WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
R.Velarde NYA .148 27 4 1 0 0 M.Mason TEA 6 11 12 7 1 1 010
M.Mendoza SEA .143 35 5 1 1 0 Z.Greinke KCA 12 25 15 3 4 5 010
S.Sax NYA .160 25 4 0 1 0 R.Dressler SEA 10 20 8 1 3 2 020
R.Washington MNA .211 38 8 0 0 0 C.Knapp LAA 7 9 7 4 5 1 010
L.Sheets BAA .179 28 5 0 1 0 M.Norris OAA 6 9 7 5 4 2 000
INJURY REPORT
P.Stanicek, Baltimore - 4 more games
D.Pasqua, Chicago (AL) - 3 more games
J.Browne, Cleveland - 11 more games
S.Sax, New York (AL) - 1 more games
E.Munson, Detroit - 6 more games
We have a three dead horse race in the N.L. Central as the '91 Astros pulled ahead of the '85 Pirates but a half game with the '81 Cubs making a late season charge, sitting three games back. Surprising development in the East as the '88 Braves and '98 Marlins haven't complete sucked ass in the last couple of months where there's now a chance the Loser Card might not come out of the division. Could this be a major choke job? And in the West the '93 Rockies are chipping away at the '81 Padres lead, now within three games going into the final month.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
2000 PHN 79 58 A.Galarra CON .386 R.Lankfor SLN 36 S.Rolen PHN 116
1993 NYN 77 60 J.Mabry SLN .356 B.Bonilla NYN 30 R.Lankfor SLN 111
2008 WAN 71 66 B.Gilkey SLN .340 S.Rolen PHN 30 A.Galarra CON 96
1998 FLN 57 81 B.Buckner CHN .339 E.Karros LAN 28 D.Bichett CON 96
1988 ATN 55 82 S.Rolen PHN .329 E.Murray NYN 27 E.Karros LAN 94
1995 SLN 80 57 WINS SAVES ERA
1982 CIN 75 63 M.Krukow SFN 18 G.Olson ARN 36 M.Krukow SFN 1.86
2002 MLN 70 66 R.Reusche PIN 16 M.Dejean MLN 36 R.Reusche PIN 2.50
1981 CHN 63 74 M.Soto CIN 15 T.Henke SLN 33 R.Person PHN 2.65
1985 PIN 60 76 O.Daal PHN 14 S.Garrelt SFN 29 D.Gooden NYN 2.67
1991 HON 60 77 B.Sheets MLN 14 D.Holmes CON 28 T.Candiot LAN 2.73
1985 SFN 81 55 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1998 ARN 74 62 E.Karros LAN 20 B.Butler LAN 53 M.Soto CIN 236
1992 LAN 73 64 S.Rolen PHN 10 E.Young MLN 51 P.Harnisc HON 178
1993 CON 70 68 B.Jordan SLN 9 V.Coleman NYN 49 B.Sheets MLN 173
1981 SDN 66 70 A.Cedeno HON 8 S.Finley HON 47 D.Gooden NYN 168
OTHERS TIED W 7 A.Sanchez MLN 43 OTHERS TIED W 160
YESTERDAY'S GAMES TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS
LAN 2 at ARN 3 SLN-Morgan(10-5, 3.66) at ARN-Sodowsk(7-3, 4.43)
SFN 4 at CIN 9 HON-Deshaie(6-12, 5.55) at CHN-Krukow(12-13, 3.55)
NYN 2 at FLN 3 SFN-Krukow(18-3, 1.86) at CON-Harris(11-11, 4.87)
SLN 6 at HON 0 ATN-Mahler(9-14, 4.56) at FLN-Larkin(3-6, 5.75)
MLN 5 at PIN 6 SDN-Wise(6-7, 3.11) at LAN-Hershis(10-9, 4.37)
CON 3 at SDN 2 NYN-Tanana(8-8, 4.68) at MLN-Quevedo(9-9, 5.43)
ATN 4 at WAN 3 PHN-Wolf(13-9, 4.04) at WAN-Perez(7-9, 3.79)
PHN 5 at CHN 4
YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES
BATTER TM OPP AB R H RB BB Ks HR SB
T.Pena PIN MLN 5 2 4 4 0 1 1 1
A.Trevino CIN SFN 4 2 2 4 0 0 1 0
L.Smith ATN WAN 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
T.Kennedy SDN CON 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0
B.Brenly SFN CIN 4 1 1 3 0 0 1 0
PITCHER TM OPP INN H R ER BB Ks HR WLS
M.Petkovsek SLN HON 9.0 3 0 0 0 5 0 W
T.Glavine ATN WAN 7.0 3 1 0 2 4 0 W
L.Hernandez FLN NYN 8.0 5 2 1 3 7 0 W
A.Holland PIN MLN 3.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 W
D.Capilla CHN PHN 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 0
WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
T.Pena PIN .375 32 12 11 3 4 M.Petkovsek SLN 11 5 0 0 7 0 300
B.Jordan SLN .300 30 9 10 3 4 R.Delucia SLN 5 1 0 1 5 0 000
E.Karros LAN .400 35 14 10 5 3 P.Byrd PHN 8 4 0 1 8 0 100
D.Strawberry LAN .500 24 12 10 2 1 V.Padilla PHN 6 2 0 0 2 0 000
B.Gilkey SLN .370 27 10 6 6 2 B.Anderson ARN 13 8 1 0 2 0 100
WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
K.Orie FLN .057 35 2 0 0 0 B.Caudill CHN 8 21 15 7 9 1 020
J.Clark CON .214 28 6 0 0 0 J.Sanchez FLN 8 13 11 7 5 1 020
L.Gonzalez HON .143 35 5 2 2 0 J.Alvarez ATN 8 14 12 3 7 2 010
O.Smith SDN .222 36 8 2 0 0 J.Cabrera MLN 5 11 7 1 2 2 011
D.Hansen LAN .179 28 5 2 1 0 C.Puleo ATN 7 14 9 3 5 0 000
INJURY REPORT
T.Blackwell, Chicago (NL) - 3 more games
R.Jones, San Diego - 3 more games
B.Evans, San Diego - 1 more games
E.Davis, Los Angeles - 1 more games
C.Hayes, Colorado - 2 more games
D.Sheaffer, St. Louis - 8 more games
T.Pagnozzi, St. Louis - 5 more games
G.Zaun, Florida - 3 more games
M.Lieberthal, Philadelphia - 2 more games
A.Sanchez, Milwaukee - 1 more games
A.Kearns, Washington - 14 more games
Now granted the '88 Braves have scraped together some wins lately but they still are the Braves and they are featured in our boxscore of the month for August. They were drubbed by that juggernaut that was the '08 Nationals 18-2 on August 29th as the Nats banged out 24 hits.
BOXSCORE: 1988 Atlanta Braves At 2008 Washington Nationals 8/29/2008
Braves AB R H RBI AVG Nationals AB R H RBI AVG
J.Morrison 3B 4 0 1 0 .138 W.Harris 2B 6 4 3 2 .260
D.James LF 4 0 1 0 .263 C.Guzman SS 6 4 5 1 .319
G.Perry 1B 4 1 0 0 .331 D.Young 1B 4 2 2 2 .270
D.Murphy RF 3 1 1 0 .241 L.Milledge CF 5 0 5 5 .286
A.Thomas SS 4 0 2 0 .261 A.Gonzalez 3B 6 0 0 1 .183
O.Virgil C 4 0 2 2 .294 J.Flores C 4 2 2 1 .275
A.Hall CF 3 0 0 0 .238 E.Bonifacio RF 4 3 3 0 .305
J.Blauser 2B 4 0 1 0 .243 R.Bernadina LF 5 1 2 2 .381
K.Coffman P 0 0 0 0 .143 T.Redding P 5 2 2 2 .107
C.Puleo P 1 0 0 0 .118 M.Estrada P 0 0 0 0 .000
A-P.Runge PH 1 0 0 0 .136
J.Alvarez P 0 0 0 0 .273
B-L.Smith PH 1 0 0 0 .248
R.Mahler P 0 0 0 0 .045
C-T.Simmons PH 1 0 0 0 .203
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 34 2 8 2 Totals 45 18 24 16
A-Pinch Hit For Puleo In 5th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Alvarez In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Mahler In 9th Inning
Braves.......... 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 2 8 0
Nationals....... 1 5 4 0 5 2 0 1 - 18 24 0
Braves (54-81) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
K.Coffman LOSS(5-4) 1 1/3 5 6 6 2 0 0 45 6.00
C.Puleo 2 2/3 8 4 4 0 3 0 64 5.60
J.Alvarez 2 9 7 7 1 2 1 71 4.52
R.Mahler 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 38 4.56
Totals 8 24 18 18 4 6 1
Nationals (70-65) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
T.Redding WIN(10-7) 8 8 2 2 1 2 0 122 2.88
M.Estrada 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3.12
Totals 9 8 2 2 1 2 0
ATTENDANCE- 33,441 DATE- Friday, August 29th 2008 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
T- 3:18
LEFT ON BASE- Braves: 7 Nationals: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Braves: 2 Nationals: 1
DOUBLES- D.Murphy(41st), C.Guzman(36th), L.Milledge(22nd), J.Flores(17th),
R.Bernadina(4th)
HOME RUNS- W.Harris(17th)
STOLEN BASES- W.Harris(17th)
SACRIFICE FLIES- L.Milledge
WALKS- A.Hall, D.Young-2, J.Flores, E.Bonifacio
HIT BY PITCH- D.Murphy
STRIKE OUTS- J.Morrison-2, J.Flores-2, R.Bernadina-2, T.Redding-2
GIDP- D.James, A.Gonzalez-2
WILD PITCHES- K.Coffman-2, J.Alvarez
PASSED BALLS- O.Virgil, J.Flores
WEB GEMS- Bot 4th: Jeff Blauser robbed Tim Redding of a base hit.
I don't normally blog too much about office happenings because that can be dangerous in these days of employers using the interwebs to keep track of their employees when they’re not being unproductive at the office.
However, this is a big day, for today's post is the first from my new digs as I have moved out of my cubicle home(s) of 7+ years and into a real office with four walls, a couple windows, and...a locking door!
Does this mean that I have crawled through the river of shit that is the DAMN HUSSEIN ECONOMY and come out smelling of roses with a promotion that comes with bigger pay, a fancy title, and the tiniest shred of power via a single thin line on some company organizational chart?
Uh, not exactly.
So what happened? Get comfortable; this could be a long entry if I put in all the details. The events are real, the names may or may not be changed.
A brief bit of background to our story: I spent the first six years of my time here working in the general accounting department, mostly doing account reconciliation and audit response. In 2005, my manager was forced to take this one lady, Doe, into our group because Doe’s previous position in the payroll department was eliminated and she needed to find a new home. Why wasn’t she ‘let go’ like most other people whose jobs are eliminated? Because Doe’s mother is a senior accounting manager here. Eh, whatever. I know that’s the way things go sometimes. I accept this…in most cases.
The problem here? Doe is a completely worthless employee.
Arrive late most days? Check.
Leave early often? Check.
Unexplained absences? Check.
Loud socializing/phone calls in the office? Check.
Poor attitude about work? Check.
Subpar work? Check.
Doesn’t know shit about accounting? Check.
Overly inflated sense of self-worth/importance? CHECK CHECK CHECK.
Bringing personal drama into the office? BIG GIANT FUCKING CHECK.
Within two months of starting work in our group, we all despised her because the rest of us—the ones that actually showed up to do our jobs each day—were constantly having to put up with her enormous amount of drama and bullshit AND cover her substandard work. This was made even worse for me early in ’06 when I was put in charge of reviewing/approving her work each month but was not given any supervisor/managerial authority to deal with her.
My manager, Sandy, responded to Doe’s poor work by refusing to give her any promotion or any raise beyond the company mandated ‘minimum living adjustment’ (usually 1-2%), which you get only unless you’re about to be fired or something. Things continued this way until the end of ’07 when management did a little shuffling of the deck chairs, resulting in Sandy going to manage another finance group and me getting shifted over to the project accounting group.
I was free! I still had to see her every day (the ones she’s actually here anyway), overhear her inane conversations, and deal with the constant noise—but at least her poor work no longer directly affected my ability to do my job. I even got to move to a different cubicle around the corner from where her and her pals all gathered for their daily social club meetings, eliminating some of the distraction. It was almost as good an office situation as one could hope for…
…and then Michaela, who did the tax work for the general accounting group—and whose office was directly across the hall from my new cube—recently left to go work for the corporate tax group. Who was anointed to take over her work? You guessed it!
So Doe started sitting across the hall from me on the days she was doing the tax work. She asked John, the new boss of the general group—apparently a competent accountant but completely inexperienced in dealing with Doe—if she could move into the office full time and was told ‘no’ because she is classified as an associate accountant—the lowest accounting rank we have—and that it was not necessary for her to sit there all the time. Doe was PISSED because she isn’t used to not getting her way.
So she rebelled by sitting in there a couple of extra days. And then a couple more. And then, before John knew (although those of us who know her know what she was doing), she had established a nice squatter’s existence in the office.
The problem? The noise was even worse than before because now she was armed with a speakerphone…which she used—at max volume—for every single goddamn call she placed or received. And I mean EVERY DAMN CALL.
This prompted myself and the two other old school guys—who are also not in John’s group—that sat in the same hallway as Doe to complain to John about the noise. We strategically spaced out our complaints over the course of two weeks so it didn’t look like we were all dumping on her at once. I was the last one to complain and was told by John that he had asked her to move back to her assigned space but that she had refused to do it but that he was going to act soon.
So here’s a quick multiple choice of John’s possible actions regarding this situation:
A) Reprimand her via formal written notice to HR
B) Choice ‘A’, along with getting our real estate services department to clean the stuff she had moved into the office out, return it to her assigned cube, lock the office, and leave instructions for security that that office was not to be unlocked without their consent
C) Fire her for insubordination and terrible job performance—my personal preference
D) Burn the whole building down so there’s no more noise for anyone
E) Allow Doe to keep the office, shuffle a couple of your own general accounting people around, and offer the complaining employees—who are all members of the project accounting group—the chance to move into the resulting empty offices on the next hall…where the rest of your general accounting group sits.
If you said, ‘E’, you are correct. Unfortunately, there is no prize.
So here I sit, out of cubicle hell in office #224. It’s great because I don’t have to see or hear Doe if I don’t want to but, more importantly, it’s a quiet, professional atmosphere.
At least I can read TSM in peace now. I just hope that no one can hear me continually laughing at the sheer absurdity of moving 6 different people around—and having THREE people who have nothing to do with your group sit with your group—just so you don’t have to deal with one headcase. God bless middle managers.
I'm starting up this blog again for goofy fantasy booking crap...this time, I hope it won't be so ridiculously detailed oriented and cause me to drop it a week after I started it. Course I could do that again anyways.
I'll be doing WWF/E 2002 by the way. Already have booked most of January and The Rumble!
See the first entry as to why certain players won't be on the list. And I think I should be commended for my courage in putting a certain someone on this list.
#80
Rat Piece of Shit, DH/RF
#79
Tony Phillips, 2B/LF/3B
#78
Matt Williams, 3B
#77
Mike Cameron, CF
#76
Tim Salmon, RF
#75
Lenny Dykstra, CF
#74
Johnny Damon, CF
#73
Miguel Tejada, SS
#72
Dave Stieb, SP
#71
Don Mattingly, 1B
#70
John Olerud, 1B
#69
Paul O'Neill, RF
#68
Brett Butler, CF
#67
Nomar Garciaparra, SS
#66
Moises Alou, LF
#65
Tony Fernandez, SS
#64
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
#63
Luis Gonzalez, LF
#62
David Cone, SP
#61
Carlos Delgado, 1B
After a sabbatical from wrestling, 24/7 got me interested again in the product. I'll confess that I'm a John Cena fan, and I think the in-ring product has been as good as ever perhaps. So with a live Monday Night Raw coming, my friend, his fiance and I picked up some tickets for the show. We lucked out with it becoming a three-hour special featuring the draft lottery.
-Legends! We got appearances from Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper and the Fabulous Moolah.
-Chris Benoit's last Raw match.
-Local product Snitsky got DQ'ed for beating up Miz after the bell. Like that merited a DQ. My friend actually worked with Snitsky a short time at a local resort.
-The limo explosion. What an odd event at a show, we found out later that it was actually filmed the night before. The arena is actually in a fairly isolated spot, which made it an attractive venue to pull off that stunt.
For those who bash John Cena, it is really obvious from most live crowds like this that he is a tremendous draw. What struck me more than anything though is that the sound feedback was incredible. During the matches you just heard this incredible hum through the sound system. WWE cranks up the music to the point where I'm surprised the announcers can function.
Next up: Smackdown
Thank Christ you people have resources that America doesn't care about (at least not any more -- damn you Civil War). Dealing with Middle Eastern culture is bad enough.
And speaking of HATE CRIMES~!
Gee, I thought flag burning was PROTECTED SPEECH? Didn't we go through this already back in the 1990s with Tommy Lasorda?
Did you at least remove the price stickers from the DVDs before giving them to one of our country's top allies? For all the spending you're doing, shitdick, I at least hope these movies are the super-special editions with commentary and other features.
8:30 p.m.
• So the toothless Mexican family has had quite the eventful month or so. The matriarch of the group quit her job. Why? Because of the PRESIDENT HUSSEIN RECESSION~!
…
Well, not quite.
You see, this person got paid $10+ per hour by the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania to clean half of the house where her aunt/mother lives. Who cleans the other half? Why, another person. They have two people getting $20+ per hour to CLEAN A FUCKING HOUSE FULL-TIME. Oh, and there’s a third person who is supposed to drive said aunt around for grocery shopping, etc. But there’s one problem here. This chauffer refuses to drive along the only stretch of state highway in which all these necessary stores are located. Not sure how much this person makes, but whatever. Your government in action.
Now why is this person quitting her job?
To HOME-SCHOOL her two kids.
Why is this significant? Peep this previous entry.
Now read the following.
This was WRITTEN BY THE SAME PERSON TAKING HER KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL TO HOME-SCHOOL THEM.
Oh, but the plot thickens. I knew there was more to this groovy mystery. You see, this lazy piece of human trash would have to have other reasons to get out of sitting on her fat ass watching television all day and getting paid $10+ per hour. With her household reduction in income, it turns out this family is now eligible for more welfare. Did I say “welfare”? I meant to say “benefits.” Or at least that’s what the welfare matriarch is calling this gift to the underclass. And when I say "more welfare" I mean "more than what she was making 'cleaning' her aunt's house at $10+ per hour."
But I’m not done with the updates. It’s time for a kkk Twin Spin~!
Remember this gem from a while back?
Well earlier this week we got an update. This happy couple has been divorced for quote some time now. And now the “Aussie Prince,” is suing his former better half for HALF THE PLANE/HOTEL BILL he rang up for his little intercontinental booty call. Oh, and he’s also suing for defamation of character.
How can I follow this? Goodnight, tip your waitresses and try the tortured baby cow.
Not a whole lot of movement in the A.L. as the division "leaders" are still the '79 Blue Jays, '82 Twins, and '79 A's with the '03 Tigers holding down the Loser Card spot. Only in the Loser League could Emil Brown lead the league in RBI.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1990 NYA 63 46 A.Huff TBA .362 A.Belle CLA 30 E.Brown KCA 87
2002 TBA 56 52 E.Brown KCA .343 E.Murray BAA 26 A.Belle CLA 83
1992 BOA 56 53 R.Kelly NYA .342 A.Huff TBA 24 A.Huff TBA 82
1988 BAA 49 60 R.Carew LAA .342 K.Hrbek MNA 22 J.Barfiel NYA 80
1979 TOA 37 71 T.Long KCA .329 K.Maas NYA 22 B.Grich LAA 77
1989 CHA 59 49 WINS SAVES ERA
2005 KCA 60 50 F.Tanana LAA 14 T.Niedenf BAA 24 C.Hough TEA 1.70
1991 CLA 51 57 C.Hough TEA 13 G.Harris TEA 19 R.Clemens BOA 2.39
2003 DEA 46 63 R.Clemens BOA 12 B.Thigpen CHA 19 G.Swindel CLA 2.96
1982 MNA 41 67 F.Martine LAA 11 E.Yan TBA 19 F.Martine LAA 2.99
T.Sturtze TBA 11 M.Macdoug KCA 19 R.Langfor OAA 3.04
1980 LAA 71 37
1985 TEA 56 53 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1980 SEA 51 57 R.Kelly NYA 19 R.Kelly NYA 41 R.Clemens BOA 160
1979 OAA 47 60 C.Fisk CHA 16 A.Sanchez DEA 41 F.Bannist SEA 135
D.Young DEA 12 A.Cole CLA 32 T.Underwo TOA 133
S.Sax NYA 9 S.Sax NYA 31 D.Darwin BOA 117
A.Sanchez DEA 9 J.Cruz SEA 29 C.Hough TEA 116
YESTERDAY'S GAMES TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS
DEA 5 at CLA 1 OAA-McCatty(5-7, 3.44) at BOA-Viola(9-9, 3.17)
CHA 10 at MNA 0 CHA-Hibbard(6-7, 4.15) at KCA-Greinke(7-7, 6.17)
LAA 5 at NYA 6 CLA-King(7-9, 4.71) at MNA-William(6-9, 6.13)
SEA 3 at TEA 4 LAA-Martine(11-0, 2.99) at NYA-Cary(3-7, 3.80)
BAA-Ballard(6-6, 3.95) at SEA-Abbott(8-8, 3.45)
DEA-Maroth(10-7, 5.32) at TBA-Sturtze(11-4, 4.28)
TOA-Underwo(9-12, 4.28) at TEA-Hough(13-5, 1.70)
YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES
BATTER TM OPP AB R H RB BB Ks HR SB
B.Bochte SEA TEA 4 1 3 2 0 0 1 0
D.Gallagher CHA MNA 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 0
B.Grich LAA NYA 4 1 1 2 1 2 1 0
C.Fisk CHA MNA 5 1 3 4 0 1 0 0
C.Monroe DEA CLA 4 1 1 2 0 0 1 0
PITCHER TM OPP INN H R ER BB Ks HR WLS
E.King CHA MNA 9.0 7 0 0 2 4 0 W
E.Plunk NYA LAA 4.0 1 0 0 3 7 0
D.Righetti NYA LAA 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 W
M.Sarmiento SEA TEA 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 0
D.Schmidt TEA SEA 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 S
WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
T.Armas OAA .281 32 9 10 3 4 A.Sisco KCA 5 1 0 0 5 0 000
B.Grieve TBA .343 35 12 11 6 3 G.Harris TEA 5 0 0 3 8 0 101
C.Fisk CHA .459 37 17 14 3 2 R.Clemens BOA 18 10 1 5 16 0 200
S.Cox TBA .429 21 9 6 4 1 G.Cadaret NYA 15 5 1 6 12 0 201
R.Johnson MNA .318 22 7 4 4 2 J.Kennedy TBA 17 10 1 1 9 0 110
WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
C.Wilkerson TEA .114 35 4 2 1 0 R.Hernandez KCA 9 14 14 6 3 6 020
J.Browne CLA .120 25 3 2 1 0 B.Havens MNA 12 25 16 2 8 2 020
G.Wright TEA .167 30 5 0 3 0 J.Tibbs BAA 6 11 9 5 6 0 020
O.Guillen CHA .212 33 7 1 1 0 D.Carrasco KCA 7 10 8 6 2 2 020
E.Williams CHA .182 22 4 0 3 0 P.Huffman TOA 6 16 10 5 5 0 110
INJURY REPORT
D.Murphy, Oakland - 9 more games
M.Edwards, Oakland - 3 more games
B.Campaneris, California - 6 more games
J.Cruz, Seattle - 6 more games
J.Anderson, Seattle - 5 more games
M.Tettleton, Baltimore - 5 more games
S.Lyons, Chicago (AL) - 3 more games
T.Hall, Tampa Bay - 3 more games
C.Pena, Detroit - 2 more games
B.Higginson, Detroit - 11 more games
E.Kingsale, Detroit - 4 more games
In the N.L. the only change was the '98 Marlins finally wrestled away the bottom of the N.L. East away from the '88 Braves although still both are very much on their way to postseason. The '81 Padres are only five games under .500 yet have now built a six and a half game "lead" in the West over the '93 Rockies but if you are under .500 in this league you really do suck.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
2000 PHN 62 46 A.Galarra CON .386 R.Lankfor SLN 34 S.Rolen PHN 100
1993 NYN 60 49 J.Mabry SLN .367 S.Rolen PHN 26 R.Lankfor SLN 95
2008 WAN 57 51 C.Biggio HON .343 B.Bonilla NYN 25 D.Bichett CON 81
1988 ATN 42 66 B.Gilkey SLN .341 E.Karros LAN 24 C.Cedeno CIN 75
1998 FLN 42 68 B.Butler LAN .340 E.Murray NYN 23 E.Karros LAN 75
1995 SLN 61 50 WINS SAVES ERA
2002 MLN 59 50 B.Sheets MLN 13 G.Olson ARN 30 M.Krukow SFN 1.65
1982 CIN 57 53 R.Reusche PIN 12 M.Dejean MLN 30 D.Bird CHN 2.45
1981 CHN 53 56 M.Krukow SFN 12 T.Henke SLN 25 J.Jones HON 2.50
1991 HON 50 57 K.Gross LAN 12 D.Holmes CON 23 D.Gooden NYN 2.51
1985 PIN 49 60 OTHERS TIED W 11 G.Lucas SDN 22 R.Person PHN 2.53
1985 SFN 65 42 CUR HIT STREAK STOLEN BASES STRIKEOUTS
1998 ARN 59 49 J.Ray PIN 14 E.Young MLN 42 M.Soto CIN 174
1992 LAN 59 49 J.Clark CON 13 V.Coleman NYN 41 P.Harnisc HON 151
1993 CON 59 51 L.Mazzill PIN 11 B.Butler LAN 40 B.Sheets MLN 149
1981 SDN 52 57 K.Caminit HON 11 A.Sanchez MLN 37 B.Berenyi CIN 129
E.Murray NYN 11 S.Finley HON 35 D.Gooden NYN 129
YESTERDAY'S GAMES TODAY'S SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS
CHN 5 at MLN 6 PIN-Rhoden(6-11, 5.53) at CHN-Bird(8-5, 2.45)
SLN 9 at ATN 0 MLN-Rusch(11-9, 4.30) at ATN-Smith(9-5, 2.72)
CON 5 at FLN 4 CON-Harris(10-8, 4.75) at FLN-Meadows(5-10, 5.17)
ARN 5 at LAN 4 NYN-Gooden(7-5, 2.51) at HON-Harnisc(10-8, 3.12)
PHN 1 at WAN 9 ARN-Anderso(9-7, 3.25) at LAN-Ojeda(4-6, 4.05)
PHN-Wolf(11-5, 3.58) at SLN-Osborne(5-3, 3.54)
SFN-Krukow(12-3, 1.65) at SDN-Eichelb(5-11, 4.98)
CIN-Soto(11-9, 3.37) at WAN-Bergman(8-4, 3.82)
YESTERDAY'S BEST PERFORMANCES
BATTER TM OPP AB R H RB BB Ks HR SB
J.Flores WAN PHN 3 2 2 4 1 0 1 0
T.Blackwell CHN MLN 3 2 1 3 1 1 1 0
D.White ARN LAN 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 0
T.Lee ARN LAN 4 1 1 3 0 1 1 0
G.Zaun FLN CON 3 1 1 2 0 1 1 0
PITCHER TM OPP INN H R ER BB Ks HR WLS
T.Redding WAN PHN 9.0 2 1 1 0 4 0 W
D.Holmes CON FLN 3.0 1 0 0 1 5 0 S
A.Watson SLN ATN 8.2 6 0 0 1 1 0 W
C.Puleo ATN SLN 2.0 0 0 0 1 3 0
A.Benes ARN LAN 5.0 2 2 2 1 2 1 W
WHO'S HOT - BEST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
R.Lankford SLN .325 40 13 15 6 5 C.Politte PHN 9 2 0 2 14 0 000
T.Blackwell CHN .286 21 6 5 6 2 M.Mantei FLN 8 1 0 2 5 0 003
D.Driessen CIN .323 31 10 11 4 3 J.Parrett SLN 5 3 0 0 6 0 000
C.Cedeno CIN .364 33 12 12 2 3 D.Tidrow CHN 9 5 0 1 8 0 101
P.Householder CIN .310 29 9 8 4 3 J.Gott SFN 18 8 1 7 9 0 200
WHO'S NOT - WORST IN LAST 10 DAYS
BATTER TM AVG AB H RB BB HR PITCHER TM IP H ER BB Ks HR WLS
J.Orsulak NYN .156 32 5 1 1 0 K.Coffman ATN 8 7 9 12 5 1 020
K.Reitz CHN .208 24 5 0 1 0 M.Portugal HON 8 19 12 6 7 2 110
M.Trillo SFN .233 30 7 0 1 0 J.Deshaies HON 5 7 7 9 1 0 010
K.Jordan PHN .130 23 3 1 2 0 J.Smoltz ATN 10 14 10 3 5 2 020
J.Leonard SFN .171 35 6 3 1 0 O.Daal PHN 10 14 11 5 9 1 020
INJURY REPORT
T.Fernandez, New York (NL) - 2 more games
T.Pagnozzi, St. Louis - 4 more games
G.Pena, St. Louis - 2 more games
M.Redmond, Florida - 5 more games
D.Lee, Florida - 1 more games
A.Boone, Washington - 2 more games
C.Guzman, Washington - 1 more games
The boxscore of the month for July again features the '82 Twins getting lit up and it was appropriately on the 4th of July this time in a 16-3 drubbing at the hands of the '91 Indians. Starting pitcher John Pacella's line: 5 2/3 IP, 13 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 7 BB, 3 SO. On top of that he was left out there for 142 pitches! He must have fucked Twins manager Billy Gardner's wife or something to be made to suffer like that. Albert Belle hit three home runs for the Tribe.
BOXSCORE: 1991 Cleveland Indians At 1982 Minnesota Twins 7/4/2008
Indians AB R H RBI AVG Twins AB R H RBI AVG
A.Cole CF 6 1 1 1 .268 M.Hatcher RF 5 1 2 2 .220
J.Browne 2B 5 3 3 2 .243 D.Engle LF 4 0 0 0 .288
C.Baerga 3B 6 3 4 3 .307 K.Hrbek 1B 4 0 3 0 .353
A.Belle LF 5 4 3 6 .326 T.Brunansky CF 4 0 0 0 .300
M.Whiten RF 4 1 0 0 .274 G.Gaetti 3B 3 0 1 0 .210
C.James DH 6 1 3 2 .257 J.Vega DH 4 0 0 0 .283
M.Aldrete 1B 4 0 2 0 .242 T.Laudner C 4 1 1 0 .265
J.Skinner C 4 2 1 1 .249 R.Washington SS 4 1 2 1 .308
F.Fermin SS 5 1 3 1 .282 J.Castino 2B 4 0 0 0 .275
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 45 16 20 16 Totals 36 3 9 3
Indians......... 2 0 2 2 1 6 2 1 0 - 16 20 0
Twins........... 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 - 3 9 0
Indians (39-48) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
G.Swindell WIN(7-5) 9 9 3 3 1 7 1 144 2.75
Totals 9 9 3 3 1 7 1
Twins (33-53) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
J.Pacella LOSS(1-2) 5 1/3 13 13 13 7 3 3 142 7.16
P.Redfern 1 3 2 2 0 0 1 19 4.69
P.Boris 2 2/3 4 1 1 0 0 0 54 4.54
Totals 9 20 16 16 7 3 4
ATTENDANCE- 11,478 DATE- Friday, July 4th 2008 TIME- Night
T- 3:25
LEFT ON BASE- Indians: 9 Twins: 7
DOUBLE PLAYS- Indians: 0 Twins: 1
DOUBLES- A.Cole(8th), J.Skinner(15th), K.Hrbek(19th), T.Laudner(23rd)
HOME RUNS- C.Baerga(11th), A.Belle-3(27th), M.Hatcher(2nd)
STOLEN BASES- J.Browne(2nd)
WALKS- J.Browne, A.Belle, M.Whiten-2, M.Aldrete-2, J.Skinner, G.Gaetti
STRIKE OUTS- J.Browne, A.Belle, M.Whiten, K.Hrbek, G.Gaetti, T.Laudner-2,
R.Washington-2, J.Castino
GIDP- A.Cole
Read my review.
So yeah, it's not perfect, but it's the most faithful adaptation we could have gotten (it's one of the more faithful adaptations in recent memory, I must say) and is a pretty good time all around. Now, some added thoughts (Warning: Spoilers ahead)
-On the lack of Squid in the finale: On one hand, it is a bit annoying that we don't get a Squid, and instead end up with Dr. Manhatten being framed. That out of the way, let's face the facts: the Squid most likely wouldn't have worked in the movie. What worked in the graphic novel would have failed here. I know, I know, "then why did they make a movie?" Well,
-It was going to be made anyway-Love it or hate it, somebody was going to do it. It took at least 20 something years, three different directors (Terry Gillia,, Darren Arronofsky, and Paul Greengrass) different screenplays for this to happen.
-There's no way it was going to be as good as the graphic novel-If you thought so, then congratulations: you are an idiot. Few adaptations are as good as the original. Even if you didn't like it, you still have the source material. Nobody's taking that away.
-There's no way it was going to be 100% faithful-Few adaptations are also 100% faithful. I love "Moby Dick", but I don't want a 100% faithful adaptation of it. Why? Because 50-60 something percent of it would be about marine biology and the biology of whales. Unless I want to watch the National Geographic Channel, The Discovery Channel, or PBS I don't want to listen to that. Want something that's more successful and better? read the graphic novel.
-SuperJerk and cabbageboy are the worst posters in the "Watchmen" movie thread-cabbageboy is being...well, he's being cabbageboy, while Jerk is showing 1.) A failure to understand how irony works that borders on CronoT levels of stupidity, and 2.) A stubborn, argumentative attitude (nothing new for him really.) Look Jerk: I liked it too. That out of the way, I'm not going to argue with those who didn't. It's a divisive movie, and guess what? People are allowed to have opinions that don't agree with your own.
-Love it or hate it, you gotta give the director credit for one thing-No, not for faithfulness or "getting it" or whatnot, I'm saying Zack Snyder deserves respect for one thing: he did what many said was impossible. He brought the unfilmable graphic novel to the big screen. Whether or not it was a success is totally up to you. He tried to be as faithful as he could. He bit the bullet. Hell, he filmed 40-50 minutes of footage that didn't make it into the theatrical cut, and will be featured in a (hopefully awesome) director's cut. Love it or hate it, you gotta admit that it takes guts to try to bring this to the screen without losing much of it's meaning, and in my opinion, he did it. And if you don't think he did, then at least admit it took guts to turn "Watchmen" into a movie, bad idea or not.
This is something I've wanted to do for a while and have tried a couple of similar lists before but ended abandoning them. I once had an almost completed list for the top 100 players since 1986, which I consider my sports lifetime, but I ran into problems when it came to evaluating players who may have had their peak occur after 1986 but had played several years before 1986. I also felt the list I had compiled was overly subjective and I just simply was not satisfied by my results.
Now of course trying to assemble a list of the top 100 players since 1979 was going to have the same problems. My intention was to only take into account what players have done since 1979 and nothing before. Tom Seaver for example is one of the greatest pitchers of all time but the majority of his career occurred before I was born so it wouldn't make sense to include him on this list. So I decided I would have to have a cut off year which would admittedly eliminate some players who if you considered on their career from 1979 on would warrant placement on this list. But I also want to be able to consider a player's whole career and not just a portion of it.
The cut off I decided on was I would only consider players who's official rookie year was no later than 1978 as I was born on the final scheduled day of the 1978 season (the day before the Bucky F'n Dent game). Now I emphasize their official rookie season as to include players who had cups of coffee in the Majors prior to '78. Now this obviously eliminates some great players who I did grow up watching as a kid but I had to put a cut off year in to real make this manageable. Because of this some of the players you will not see on this list are:
Mike Schmidt
George Brett
Dave Winfield
Eddie Murray
Robin Yount
Dennis Eckersley
Gary Carter
And that's just the Hall of Famers as there's also Andre Dawson, Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Evans, and Willie Randolph. I didn't put in a cut off debut year for active players but it ended up being 2001 by default because of 9/11....okay not really, it just kind of worked out that way. If I was just focusing on peak certainly someone like Chase Utley could appear on the list but since career is being considered Utley just wouldn't really fit on this list. That's important to keep in mind when it comes to active players and where they end up on the list. Albert Pujols on peak alone is one of the five best players of my lifetime without a doubt but we don't know if he'll have a serious decline at some point thus he won't be in the Top 5 on this list.
For the statistics I used, I went with Win Shares and Wins Above Replacement (WARP3). I went with them because both are good for career/peak evaluations and both take defense into account, although both have huge flaws when it comes to how they measure defense. To assemble a list of players to put under consideration I used career Win Shares with cut offs of 200 Win Shares for position players, 180 for starting pitchers, and 150 for relievers. I ended up with around 160 players to consider and I ranked them by the players primary position first, grouping designated hitters with first basemen and grouping left and right fielders together, before doing the main list. I will say I wouldn't completely rule that I accidentally left a deserving player off the consideration list who would have made the top 100, in fact I'd say the odds are pretty good.
As mentioned I mentioned part of the problem of prior lists I've tried to do is I felt they were too subjective. This time around though I decided that is almost impossible to not have subjectivity in a list like this. I could have put in several months of research to make this list completely objective but I'm not Bored enough to do that. In fact this list is probably too subjective when it comes down to it as for example I'm not a fan of career closers so don't be shocked but the dearth of closers on this list. I also say that my placement of pitchers in the list is a bit haphazard. I finished the list a few days ago and already thought about making changes but I said "fuck it" I'll just go with what I came up with originally, even if the final list sucks ass. In fact don't even bother looking at it.
Top 100 MLB Players from 1979 - 2008 (#100 - #81)
Disclaimer: If you didn't read anything above, cut off was 1978 rookies.
#100
Ellis Burks, CF
#99
Steve Finley, CF
#98
Bobby Bonilla, 3B/RF
#97
Juan Gonzalez, RF
#96
Lance Parrish, C
#95
Harold Baines, DH/RF
#94
Trevor Hoffman, RP
#93
David Justice, RF
#92
Mark Grace, 1B
#91
Cuck Finley, SP
#90
Eric Davis, CF
#89
Magglio Ordonez, RF
#88
Ken Caminiti, 3B
#87
Chuck Knoblauch, 2B
#86
Andy Pettitte, SP
#85
Andy Van Slyke, CF
#84
Darryl Strawberry, RF
#83
Pedro Guerrero, 1B/OF/3B
#82
Kevin Appier, SP
#81
Todd Helton, 1B
This post is a combination of being a mini 'State of the Forum' and some personal thoughts.
1. Crimson G is an excellent poster in the economy thread. He calmly and intelligently explains his Austrian economic views. But, literally everyone who has replied to him has taken a completely dismissive tone. The underlying message of each post is, "Here's why you're wrong, Crimson G." (Although, certainly, SuperJerk is much worse than At Home.) Conversely, it is clear that Crimson G carefully reads and directly responds to exactly what the other posters write, making his underlying message, "Here's the argument that I'm presenting."
I want to mention two other positive things about Crimson G. First, SuperJerk misspelled "poured" as "poored" in one of his posts. Crimson G quietly corrected the misspelling when he quoted SuperJerk. I'm usually adamant about not changing quotations, but, in this case, it was a gracious gesture. Second, Crimson G initially said that the majority of Americans don't support the stimulus. After Smitty presented a poll, Crimson G publicly conceded that he (Crimson G) had been wrong. It was good to see that he is more concerned with adapting to the truth than being an arrogant know-it-all.
2.
The boldface was added by me to the part where I laughed. There's no need for a 2009 Worst Poster Tournament. SuperJerk is your back-to-back champion.
3. I wish there were more people who shared my interest in Somalia. I appreciate that Smitty and Byron take it seriously, but there's not a lot of discussion. What really interests me about Somalia is that I think it offers a massive treasure chest of lessons to learn about politics, economics, history, law, relationships, and life in general.
4. Who added all of this Willy Aybar garbage to the Sports folder? Yes, we (eventually) found out the story behind it, but it's still stupid. Anyway, the 'Sports Page in the Business Section' thread is potentially the best one in the folder. I'm quite interested in knowing the teams that are going to have to move or contract. I foresee significant contraction in MLB and the NHL.
5. The Food folder would be more interesting if anyone were genuinely interested in nutrition. Vitamin X comes closest, but I think he's pretty much like everyone else. You're all a bunch of zombie addicts. It's funny when people 'go on a diet.' There's a 100% chance that they'll gain the weight back eventually unless they permanently change what they eat.
6. I'm happy that the Literature folder exists. We don't need more people to post there; we need the TSM intellectuals not to be 'above' posting there.
7. Graphics and Testing Grounds is a legitimate folder, but the quality there has been poor since Hotbutter Spoontoaster was banned. To reiterate, there are three purposes of that folder: (1) posting and discussion of images, (2) actual testing of message board features, and (3) parody and satire. The recent parodies have been terrible. "My best friend's grill"? Ugh.
For the TSM suggestion box:
8. I don't think that the General Chat folder has any purpose. All of those threads should be in other folders. Some don't quite fit anywhere, but they could. 'Current Events' is a bit limiting. It could be renamed 'World' or something like that in order to accommodate threads that deal with things like money, travel, or history. No Holds Barred is the meta folder in which TSM talks about itself and its posters, not General Chat.
9. Blogs aren't prominent enough. It would be better if there were a blog folder in the View at Your Own Risk section, and each thread were one poster's blog. Also, only nine people actively blog, including myself. A lot of people don't even know that there are blogs.
10. Finally, I wish there were a feature in which readers could give cumulative "+1" or "-1" ratings to each individual post. I know that this feature is possible, because I've seen it on other forums. It would help posters who are awful realize their awfulness, and good posters would be encouraged to post more because they would know that people appreciate their posts.
