the pinjockey

Wanted to mention that Ryan Howard hit homers number 30 and 31 for AA Reading tonight. Only 2 shy of Greg Luzinski's Reading record.

Maybe someone can explain this to me, as I have never figured it out. Is there a purpose to the retarded "if you draft a second round guy, you can only sign him to the mid-level exception" rule? Basically, you get punished because you did your job and got a worthwhile second round pick (Arenas last offseason, Okur this).

I didn't realize Barry Bonds had his RC/27 up to over 20. That is just stupid. Also, Abreu is now second in the entire league in RC thus causing a complete al meltdown if he doesn't make it.

I am not saying he deserves it, but nationally he is a bigger star. Put him together with Berkman and now we are down to one open spot. And I would be shocked if McKeon didn't grab Cabrera.

Would Beltran be put on the NL team?

I have a feeling something is going to be wrong then. With Sosa and Griffey making the team, I think Abreu is going to be the snub. As for Abbott, I agree he isn't trustworthy. But with Wolf up tomorrow, I would want to have my bullpen ready for a possible long night (figuring Wolf will be on a pitch count again). Since Madson went three last night, he likely won't be available and now Cormier and Worrell probably won't be used.

No, just the fact he really blows as a coach. I would also like to mention how he complains that the relievers are getting worn out and the starters aren't going deep enough into the game. Then tonight he pulls Paul Abbott after 5 innings when he only had about 75 pitches. Was getting the pinch hitter in really that crucial in the 5th inning while they were ahead IIRC.

Because that would mess up Bowa's nice clean Cormier, Worrell for an inning, Wagner for an inning routine.

Are the Red Sox built to do any of that? Looking at the lineup there are a lot of walks and strikeouts, so you can't hit and run. With Ortiz, Manny, Nomar, Nixon and Varitek I wouldn't want to take the bat out of their hands with bunting. With Reese having a sub-.300 OBP he can't justify a regular lineup spot. So that just leaves Damon to do anything along the small ball lines. They just look like they are built to get on base and knock the hell out of the ball. They don't have the speed like the Marlins did throughout the lineup last year.

Eh, forget that. Neither Millwood or Milton are worth the risk money wise and I don't want Polanco blocking Utley next year. Also, I hope Bowa will now get it out of his head that Michaels is not capable of playing a quality CF. He has more than show he can handle CF.

Thank god Boras had that ridiculous contract idea in the offseason, otherwise we might be looking at him for 2-3 more years. Will they get picks for him, Milton, and Polanco if they all walk?

Come on now, I am in the twilight, limping to 500 stage of my career.

I guess this means Guardado is going to be available. I would hope the Phillies would go after him. But looking at his stats, while he fills the age requirement for a Wade addition, he doesn't quite suck enough to be their midseason bullpen addition. I think I would be up for a Ryan Howard for Guardado deal.

But his splits show that he is better at home, because he keeps the ball in the park there. He is homer prone (which is helped by Seattle's field) and now he is moving to a field from what I saw in the Sox-Phils series is as much of a Coors Field Midwest as CBP is a Coors Field East. And if Morse is a good enough fielder to play short (I don't know that much about him), looking at his stats he could be a SS with some pop. Combine that with Olivo (a catcher with some pop) and you could have some power from two weaker positions.

That seems like way too much to give up for Garcia. I think I would rather have the package Seattle got for Garcia, than what the Royals got for Beltran.

Couture/Ortiz by default As for the shows I would go UFC 44 - This show was pretty awesome. Only 2 of the 9 fights going to decision and those 2 aren't too shabby. UFC 46 - I haven't watched this whole show yet (just picked it up today). But I liked Lee Murray/Jorge Rivera, Sims/Mir II, and Penn/Hughes. And I haven't watched Verissimo/Newton yet, I am interested in seeing him again since the Hughes fight. You certainly aren't going to get this for Couture/Belfort. UFC 45 - Yves Edwards/Nick Agallar was good, Baroni/Tanner I was entertaining standup and then all the side drama, Abbott/Cabbage had the freakshow quality to it, and Hughes (spelled Huges on the match list sheet)/Trigg was good.

I guess Mick Foley is a wizard since he knew what Sting was making at one time. I guess sports writers are wizards considering they get a hold of the contracts with undisclosed terms eventually. Salaries typically aren't the most confidential pieces of info floating around. Hell, go to a regular work place and you find someone who knows what everyone else is making.

BTW, in case you ever wanted to get al a gift for doing his baseball columns. Here you go.

Why didn't they shake hands? I tried to find the article about it to give a more detailed reason for it, but I couldn't find it. IIRC, the idea came about while they were in Colorado. They just decided to abandon the tradition of going out on the field and that whole bit. They didn't feel like all the hand shaking needed to be done on the field and didn't think they should be having a celebration about going out and winning a regular season game. Larry Bowa was getting ready to run out on the field and start the routine when Todd Pratt told him that they weren't going out there. Apparently it was something they had wanted to do for a while, but were afraid to go against tradition. Since that point, when they win they just run off the field. On a related note, for all the talk that the Phillies are Thome's team, I believe that every single one of those guys were run through a wall if Todd Pratt asked them to.

It still looks weird seeing the Phils just leave the field after a win instead of the whole line up and shake hands bit.

There have been Eagles chants all game. I love the Eagles, but jesus tapdancing christ there is a time and a place. A June baseball game in Boston is neither.

Don't say stuff like that Spiff.

The first scene when they are all together in the dining area. The first time we see Vera. And as soon as the opening credits roll.

I think starting at Pride 19 (Bad Blood) they started to pack on some good extras. I haven't seen any of the newer ones in stores yet, but according to Sherdog descriptions they look pretty good.

Like I said, I like getting it out there before the big blockbusters. I would be all for moving it up a couple weeks to get a month out of it before the barrage of sequels. I do think, though, that out of all the sequels they could have drawn Mission Impossible is not that bad.