EVIL~! alkeiper

"In the end it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what it means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles." -Sandy Koufax "The losing streak is bad for the fans, no doubt, but look at it this way. We're making a lot of people happy in other cities." -Ted Turner "The fans like to see home runs, and we've assembled a pitching staff for their enjoyment. -Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators "If you hit [Luis] Polonia 100 flyballs, you could make a movie out of it: Catch 22." -Dennis Lamp "Reggie's a good guy. He'd give you the shirt off his back. Of course, he'd call a press conference to announce it." -Catfish Hunter "They shouldn't throw at me. I'm the father of five or six kids." -Tito Fuentes "Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women, and irish whiskey. The other 10 percent I'll probably waste." -Tug McGraw, describing what he'll do with his 1975 salary.

Pedro Martinez, 1997 & 2000.

A AAA baseball game once ran 33 innings, in 1982. Wade Boggs and Cal Ripkin Jr. both played in the game. That's a typo. Its supposed to be a sub-2 hr. Marathon.

25-50 points is too large. I'd say if it cost him anything, its MAYBE 5 points or so.

When does Wagner earn the closer's job? My fantasy team depends on it.

How often does that actually happen. No more than a few times a year, if that.

As long as Bonds makes it to first, its a hit. If he's thrown out at second, it still counts.

Got the game on MLB Audio right now.

I've got Gobble on my trading block in the AL-only league.

Thanks to Yahoo being slow in taking Jon Lieber off the DL, I was able to sneak him back on and pick up Gil Meche for a start. That's strategy!

The Diamondbacks are fun. They have a bullpen full of Kyle Farnsworth clones.

So by that argument, A-Rod created 20 more victories. Value means WINNING GAMES.

How can you be the best player in the league and not be the most valuable? The spirit of the award seems to be "screw A-Rod, he's overpaid."

Well, a PERFECT perfect game would be getting every batter on one pitch, via groundouts, flyouts, and such.

"When the team sucks, it is obviously the fault of the best players."

It doesn't have anything to do with A-Rod. The Rangers' pitching allowed the most runs in the league last season. This season, they're tied for second best.

Exactly. There is simply no evidence that players have an inate clutch quality about them, which makes them better players in certain game situations. Jeter has come through in big situations, but he has also failed in many others. In game 6 of last year's World Series, he came up with one on, no outs in the 8th inning. Down by two runs. He flied to center. What happened to his clutchness? Clutch hitting is defined by luck, and nothing more. As for the Hall of Fame comment, I am hard pressed to think of a single member who resides in baseball's Hall of Fame purely because of clutch performances. Andy Pettitte's "Clutch" Pitching. That's not meant to demean Andy Pettitte, but just to point out that Pettitte, like other pitchers, has bombed at times, despite their "clutch" ability. And honestly, what value is there in being "clutch" 50% of the time? The argument falls flat on its face. Well, MAYBE he'll be clutch? There are teams that build rosters like that. They're called the Brewers, Tigers, and Devil Rays. If a player has the mythical ability to perform in the clutch, why doesn't he do it all the time?

If you get them all out, a perfect game. If they're strikeouts, its a new record for strikeouts. Nothing more.

Tomorrow we have the Chicago/St. Louis series wrapping up, as former Braves Greg Maddux and Jason Marquis meet up head to head. Interesting series this week, from Tuesday to Thursday. Yankees and A's meet up, this time in Oakland.

That's not entirely true. Boxing also requires full body movement (to avoid punches), and footwork. Why else would boxers jump rope to train?

First off, no need to trade for a third baseman. Just move Polanco to third and play Utley. Bell is probably untradeable, but he'd be decent in a bench role as a backup 2B/3B. Second, don't trade Myers. He's young, good, and cheap. Trade Vicente Padilla instead. His peripherals aren't outstanding, and he's overrated by the rest of baseball. Trade him now while his value is high.

A few problems here. First off, Brown, Vazquez and Mussina are all better pitchers than Rivera. Vazquez is the best pitcher on that staff right now. Brown had a back injury which cost him time in 2001-02, but aside from those he really hasn't missed any games. Andy Pettitte had a 12.27 ERA in the 1999 World Series. A 10.00 ERA in the 2001 World Series. His career postseason ERA is 4.05. That's hardly impressive. Clutch performance is a load of crap. Its not an inherant ability. And before you bring up Derek Jeter, his 314/385/469 career postseason line is nearly equal to his 317/389/462 line in the regular season. And if you mean Vazquez, he IS that dominating. Easily better than any Yankees starter from 2003. How is the Yankees' pitching so much worse? Brown is equal to Clemens, Mussina is Mussina, Javier Vazquez is much better than Pettitte, and Jon Lieber should pitch better than Jeff Weaver.

Phillies- Doc Prothro. Three years as manager ('39-'41). Finished 50-103 in his BEST year. Dallas Green is second, purely for his tendency to make Dusty Baker look like Billy Beane.

They won't get Hudson until he becomes a free agent. I doubt the Yanks have anything the A's want in trade, and the A's are an organization more than happy to take compensation draft picks instead of trading an impending free agent. Zito would be a good fit for the Yankees. His K rate is down, but a move to Yankee Stadium would help, as lefties historically perform well in Yankee Stadium.

Reasonable for Rocky Biddle? I wouldn't take him off the waiver wire.