Bruiser Chong

Haha yeah. That shit was pretty obv. thrown together with minimal effort. I mean, half of its recycled We Got it 4 Cheap Vol 3 verses put over new, shittier beats and the other half is generic floss-rap (cf. "Fast Life," aka the worst Clipse song ever released). But then again, who expects real quality from a Koch release. The thing's pretty clearly just a stopgap until Till The Casket Drops, uhm, drops in January (or whenever the release gets inevitably pushed back to). My love for all things Clipse taken into consideration, this was probably the most disappointing album of the year for me. So disappointing, in fact, it made me feel inclined to dust off my one-entry blog and write about it. Clipse has generally been great about beat selection, even when they're reusing someone else's, but they totally dropped the ball here. I don't want to ever hear another Sleepwalkers-Clipse collaboration again.

If a bullpen can't hold a seven-run lead against a .500 team for ONE inning, then they shouldn't even think about playing in October. This isn't a one, two or even three-run game we're talking about. Had it been, I would've seen the justification for leaving CC in. I would've probably even advocated it. But in a blowout game, you might want to let the pen go work one inning and rest the guy who's already thrown a boatload of pitches that you're pinning all of your playoff dreams to.

There was no excuse to let him finish the game tonight. And I'm not just saying that as a Cubs fan. The game wasn't much of a contest by the midway point, so there's no reason to let him throw almost 130 pitches. I understand the part about getting their money's worth, but is being able to say he has another complete game worth putting him at risk to run out of gas by time he's supposed to be pitching in October? If you can't trust your pen to go get three outs against a .500 team in a seven-run game, then there's an issue.

Porter sure has been touchy/irritable lately.

Phillies have been getting some mad Sunday Night Baseball love the last month or so, no?

If it was, it was a tremendous loss.

Yeah, Hawk was getting really righteous about that. "You want to lean into one, THERE'S a fastball!" Two pitches later, the game's over. Awesome.

I like how Kurt Suzuki only needed to get a flyball for the A's to win the game and then on the 3-2 pitch, he gets one that keeps sailing and sailing and just barely gets out for the walk-off homer. For as much shit as I rightfully give Hawk, he's able to be blunt about the team's performance when it is not good. They made a lot of mental mistakes tonight and he flat out said they didn't deserve to win.

Gavin Floyd strikes me as the sort of guy who's got potential, but lacks the ability to put away batters, which makes for a lot of 100-pitch, five-inning outings. Question for Bored: What's the general consensus for what Beane's doing out there? I get the feeling from various online outlets that his once universal recognition as some sort of genius mad scientist has been damaged the last two years. Is there a feeling that the team Beane's pieced together through his latest wave of moves is going to be able to compete in a year or two? It's a shame Beane was able to construct some great teams with minimal resources and in the end, don't have a terrible amount to show for it.

They won the first two games. They were facing one of the best pitchers in baseball in Jake Peavy yesterday. I don't care how good your team is, securing a victory is a real crapshoot when facing elite pitchers. I'm just pointing out Howry's awfulness this season. I thought the post was done in calm, matter-of-fact manner. It wasn't like I was calling for his execution or anything. And since I think we're to the point where Lou isn't trusting him in non-blowout situations, I'm not exactly frantic about the situation. I understand the Brewers haven't been in the playoffs in nearly 30 years, but they've got a good grip on the WC. The Cards, and second place team in the East are the only two viable contenders for that spot other than the Brewers. The Cards just lost Carpenter again, so I honestly can't see them sticking around down to the wire.

They just won eight damn games in a row and are leading the Wild Card. They've lost like six games since the ASB. What exactly do you want?

Watching Bob Howry pitch allows me to briefly sympathize with Tigers and Mets fans. Whether it's a tied or one-run game or a blowout, he sucks. He probably hasn't jeopardized the Cubs' victory tonight because they plated 11, but his appearance forced Lou to actually get someone competent in the pen into the game. Meanwhile, Michael Wuertz continues to rot in AAA because he struggles with his command at times, which is much worse than a guy who gives up a homer every time he tows the rubber.

The White Sox hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers today. Impressive feat, even if it was against the Royals.

I remember that six-man MSG match being aired on Prime Time and Bret absolutely does the Bushwhacker walk along with Luke and Butch.

Speaking of the Yankees, I know they're never really out of it, but at what point does the media fess up and admit it's not happening? They aren't winning the East and they aren't exactly poised to snatch the WC either. I know it's the Yankees and ESPN and other media outlets have to pander to them because of the immense fanbase, but if this is just about any other team in their position right now, the media isn't even acknowledging them as being still in either race.

Watching the Tigers right now is like watching the Yankees in October the last few seasons. Lots of big names and potential for success, but looking utterly listless at the plate.

Something tells me that for better or worse, this is going to wind up being quite the thread.

How many times does Soriano need to mistakenly identify a ball off the wall as a homer before he starts at least trotting out of the box. Dummy just turned a ball that smacked off the wall into a single because he spent 10 seconds admiring it. Not a big deal in a six-run game in the middle of August, but he's done that a couple times this year. It's pretty inexcusable.

I can eat the shit out of Taco Bell when I'm really drunk.

That and for all of Czech's hysteria this season, I don't believe he's claimed to be an embarrassment to be a fan. Even if it was hyperbole on Cartman's part, it's a silly thing to say. It's not easy to watch a team piss away a lead, but strange things happen to every team every year. Even the good ones. Get off the damn ledge.

Did someone just say they're embarrassed to be a fan of a team that would be representing the American League as the wild card if the season ended today?

Being bored and being unproductive are two different beasts. It's easy to keep yourself entertained and not really get anything done (I'm looking at you, video games). But I agree with Milky, too. I'm not an avid reader, but I generally think people who complain about boredom probably don't read.

I will. I was in North Carolina most of last week for my brother's wedding, so I didn't want to give Milky the screen name, disappear, only to return and find out I was three days late in seeing the girl had slit her wrists after talking to him.

Cincy seemed poised to have a producing outfield two or three seasons ago with Dunn, Pena, and Kearns. Odd to see they're all gone now. I guess if the Reds weren't going to re-sign Dunn, it made sense to trade him for something. I just can't get past this notion that he's not a very good player. He strikes out often and would rather watch fishing shows than game footage, but is that really enough to cancel out his ability to draw walks, see lots of pitches and most importantly, hit for power while driving in a lot of runs? Juan Pierre hardly strikes out and he was considered a great player in many circles up until the last season or two. I think that shows you the unnecessary amount of emphasis placed on the strikeout in evaluating good hitters. No, they don't move runners along or score them from third base. But those types of hitters generally see a fair amount of pitches and what's more, stay the hell out of doubleplays. There are over 20 instances in which a strikeout would've been better than the actual result in a Derrek Lee at-bat. But whatever. Dunn's gone and now that dinosaur Brennaman can find other scapegoats to explain why the team is perennially bringing up the rear of the NL Central.

Haha, Brian Giles a "big name."