EVIL~! alkeiper

Its weird. The Phillies game is in its second rain delay. I live 90 miles North, and we've had no rain whatsoever.

The Phillies game is official.

I don't mean to knock Everett at all. Its better for the Astros with him at short and Ensberg at third. But Jimy Williams refusal to play Ensberg at times borders on insanity.

You'll find inherant biases in any era. But Barnes is obvious, and its clear his success was due to nothing more than exploiting the rules.

Yes. Can you imagine if the Astros were forced to play Morgan Esnberg every day? He might actually prove himself.

Thome hits #400 and ties the game in the first inning.

Tom already stated most of what needs to be said about MLB. There's a system in place where you retain your players for six years. This keeps the balance of power with player development and drafting, not free agency. In fact, with draft compensation, free agency sometimes hurts teams long term. Ah, the obligatory bitch about how much athletes earn. One, athletes work HARDER than the average individual. Two, athletes get paid what they are paid because they are NOT replaceable. If they were, they would have been replaced already. There's always someone willing to buy a healthy sports franchise. There's not as many people who can play shortstop and hit 57 home runs. Last I checked, there was one.

I got my copy of The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers in today. Interesting book, mainly giving an extra look at pitchers, and what kind of pitches they threw. In the back, Bill James criticizes the Pitcher Abuse Points system, and states there is little evidence that high pitch counts alone cause injuries. I'll have more in my column, but its an interesting critique, and really could force a rethinking of how we view pitchers' workloads.

Probably the same evil mastermind who set traps and collected enemies for Mario, but also left these great big boxes with power-ups sitting around.

Picking a team was an tough choice. I took the '93 club because they finished 5th in runs allowed. The '92 club finished eighth, which is hardly impressive for a great team. The '92 club had a horrific bullpen, with only Tom Henke and Duane Ward posting sub-4.00 ERAs. Their back end of the rotation was shaky as well, until they acquired David Cone at the trading deadline. But those runs allowed totals were the key. Eleventh or twelth. That they didn't win another division title (at least until 1987) played a big factor in their missing the cut.

Yes. Last year he played under the limits of 45 games and 150 at bats (not sure if those are exact, but they sound good).

I've got to mention this one. Barnes is a special case, because he really wasn't that good. In 1876, a rule was in place that stated a ball was considered fair as long as it landed in fair territory before bouncing foul. Barnes exploited this rule and perfected a method of bunting a ball so it would bounce foul, and he collected cheap base hits. The league changed the rule after the season, and note how Barnes career falls off the cliff.

Scott Layden. And No, he wasn't THAT good even before his knee injuries either. Essentially the problem is that the Knicks made the finals as the eighth seed, and ownership thought the team was better than it was, and desperately needed to retain its top players. Hence, bad contracts abound.

Luis Gonzalez is the same. His season in 2001 was a fluke, but he's produced at a consistant level the other four seasons. As for D'backs vs. Marlins. The Diamondbacks needed just two years to capture a division crown. They won a World Championship in their fourth year. In six years of existance, they've won a title, three division titles, and finished above .500 five times. The Marlins have won two titles, but what else have they done? Nine out of eleven years, they finished below .500. They have never won their own division. If it were not for the abomination known as the Wild Card, they would never have won anything.

In my latest column, I compile the top 10 MLB teams of the last 25 years.

The game begins at 7pm Eastern.

Football fans are morons. They are a different breed. Wow. Prior vs. Clemens tomorrow.

Honestly, Philly fans have an undeserved reputation. They are quicker to boo than most fans, but it is generally deserved, with the exception of Scott Rolen. I think they would cheer 500, as long as it doesn't win the game for the Reds. Remember, Griffey is very popular throughout the league, and many fans will show up because Griffey is there.

Interesting game tomorrow between the Phillies and Reds. Jim Thome is sitting on 399 home runs, and Griffey is sitting on 499.

Consider picking up MLB's Gameday Audio. Its $15 (American) for the entire season, and you can listen to any game this season via the archives.

More likely still reeling from the 61 pitches he threw in game 4.

Did anyone notice that Bobby Crosby now has a higher slugging percentage than Miguel Tejada?

Because only Duchscherer is having a better season. The great thing about the save stat is that Jose Mesa doesn't even get charged with a blown save, because he had a FOUR run lead, and not three runs.

Is Francisco Rodriguez having the best year of any relief pitcher? I'd put him above Gagne right now.

Now if Hairston had hit, there's a 1 in 3 chance that he reaches safely, or even drives Bigbie home.