Bruiser Chong

What happened to the website?

Seeing as how I rarely post these days outside of the baseball-related threads, I don't think you've got much of a case here. Since the beginning of April (aka the beginning of baseball season), it's been a rarity to post much outside of the sports folder.

It's true. I think even most of the TSM loyals will admit that the majority of the entries in that folder are far from "classic." Some threads are in there just because they've got 123,834 replies. OMG CLASSIC~!!! I think a lot of the early entries in the folder are worthy of being there, but the recent ones fall flat, whether it be because the thread simply isn't that good, has one of those "had to be there" traits or both.

I wouldn't count out Cleveland. They were the team that shut down these A's a couple of weekends ago.

Holy Lord. The Reds get back into the game, only down three and within the span of five minutes, it's a nine run game.

And thus, it fits in perfectly with virtually every thread in the folder.

I'm just finding it funny that Mondesi was saying that he wasn't going to play for the rest of 2004 due to personal reasons, only to sign with a different team weeks later, will now likely sit out the rest of 2004 because of an injury. Irony's a bitch. I'm just wondering how he tore it running to first, since I saw it and he wasn't even running quickly.

Griffey makes an ass out of himself by doing the homerun walk thinking he had just hit 499. That backspin's a bitch, though and he winds up with a single because of his cockiness. And Raul Mondesi is fighting right in with his new Angels teammates: he's injured. Tore his quad, so it looks like the acquisition definitely wasn't a smart move by the Angels.

Well, that's one positive for me today. *has Abreu on his fantasy team* Unfortunately, I also had Edmonds benched today because Prior was starting and Jason Schmidt is going to get a no decision after pitching seven innings of shutout ball, because the Giants' pen sucks. Guess I can't blame Alou, though, since Schmidt was up to the 114 pitch mark when he got the hook.

Some days are just like that. Neither guy had their good stuff today and in Prior's case, it was easily his worst game in his short career. Even the best have games like that once in a while, so it's all good. And when Edmonds and Rolen are as hot as they've been, well, you need to expect stuff to happen like what we saw today. There's still a shot for a split tomorrow.

And it's over with Mondesi grounding out to end it. Ouch, the Angels are starting to feel the pain of their depleted roster.

Brewers FINALLY break the scoreless game in the 17th with a two-out double, scoring Counsel. This'll be a heartbreaking game for the Angels, since they had their scoring chances, but they had two outs in the 17th when Counsel got a walk on a full count. That was a close play at the plate, though and it might have been in time had Guerrero gotten rid of the ball right away. He'll have a chance to redeem himself, though, as he's due up first in the bottom of the inning.

If I had been watching this whole thing, I probably would've stabbed someone in the face. Actually, I know I would've, because I'm feeling the urge and I've only been watching it on and off. Both teams are going to need complete games from their starters for the rest of the damn series just to rest their pen.

Pistons choked plain and simple. An amazing comeback that looked to be sending the team home up two games to none, but fell short. I don't know why they didn't foul Shaq on that last possession, but it may have cost them Game 2. Once Kobe hit, I knew it was over. There's a million could'ves and should'ves here, but the fact is, the Lakers worked some magic at the end and now we're all squared up going into Game 3.

Since Griffey Sr. played right field most of the time, I don't see how anyone could've been confused by that.

Ah and that stellar Reds defense shows what usually happens when you give a good team more than four outs. Should be a tied game, but instead, it's 5-1 and Bong has 30+ pitches because of the error that should've ended the inning. On a related note, Alou booted one of the most rudimentary flyballs you'll ever see, but Clement was able to work around it and get Rolen to ground out. Speaking of the Cubs/Cards game, that idiot Cedano got himself tossed after being difficult about getting in the batter's box. And then to touch and spit on the ump; yeah, real smart, moron.

Pettitte isn't progressing as quickly as most thought, so it's doubtful he'll make his return on the 13th as they had planned. Good news for NL Central teams who aren't the Astros.

The Reds getting slammed and the Stros down 4-0 to the M's is dulling the pain somewhat of a tough Cubs loss. Good game, though, as Carpenter was simply amazing. Rusch was solid, with the fourth inning being the difference for him. Aside from that, he was right on, but Carpenter was just that much better. The decision to send Macias with Ramirez on deck wasn't a smart move considering who was the centerfielder, but whatever. Putting things into perspective, you had the Cards' hottest pitcher against a guy who's not even supposed to be in the Cubs' starting rotation. Not to mention how well the Cards have played in the last two weeks. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, especially Wednesday, with Prior going against Morris.

I completely agree. Hitters standing there and allowing themselves to get hit is exactly what attributed to about half of the hit Pirates in their series with the Cubs. Jason Kendall is notorious for not moving and Craig Wilson doesn't mind taking them either. If you get hit, you get hit, but these morons who cover the plate and don't even attempt to get out of the way shouldn't get a free base. What's even more ridiculous is that there are times when the manager of the hit player actually has the nerve to complain.

Who wants to see Montreal play anyone, or Houston play Pittsburgh, or Detroit play Minnesota? The fact is most matchups don't draw jack in terms of interests. Those games at least have an impact on the team's respective division. Every game counts, but more damage can be done when you're playing within your own division. Um, which game would you like them to show instead? The Giants versus the last place Rockies or the Rangers versus the last place Pirates? Aside from Chicago and St. Louis, the games today are crap. They're called ratings. The teams you mentioned have the biggest followings of all of the teams in MLB. They're not concerned with appeasing EVERY fan of EVERY team. The Cubs and Cards is a classic rivalry that draws fans and ratings. They aren't going to pass up a game of that caliber for the Devil Rays against the Blue Jays just because a few schmucks actually want to see that game. Showing a game like that is death, so it makes no sense to not show games in which some of the teams you mentioned are included.

Like I said, I've been more receptive to it in years past, but most of these matchups this year are horrible. Montreal and Seattle? Houston and Seattle? Atlanta and Detroit? Who the hell thought anyone wanted to see these?

I liked Interleague play when they first did it, just because it was something new, but it's become painfully obvious that it's just flawed. Aside from match-ups like New York vs. New York, Chicago vs. Chicago, etc., the games are pointless and feel like pre-season. The Cubs are one of the few teams not playing interleague games the first part of the week, as they play a four-game set against the red-hot Cards. Not the best time to play them, considering the Cubs' problems as of late, but Pujols will probably miss most of, if not all of the series because of the injury he suffered today. Good news for the Cubbies, as he's just starting to turn it up.

This is the part where David Stern runs out and pulls a Dusty Finish, declarling the Lakers the champions on a technicality.

Watching those NBA Finals games with the Bulls on ESPN Classic yesterday just reminded me how poorly most guys shoot today. And maybe I'm in the wrong, but how can you justify being such a terrible freethrow shooter when you're being paid millions? I thought it was funny how Doc Rivers was mentioning how nobody ever talks about Ben Wallace's poor freethrow shooting, unlike Shaq. It's because Wallace isn't known at all for his offense, where as Shaq is regarded as one of the greatest offensive players of all time.

He broke his nose twice during the regular season, so they wanted him to wear it, since they can't afford to lose him at this point.