EVIL~! alkeiper

Sent that to Bruiser earlier. An obvious concern, and an indicator that pitch counts ARE important (hear that Dusty?)

Feel the REALISM~!

For the record, they are third.

Yeah, but when you have consolation playoffs, everything gets muddled.

All I can tell is from what I've learned playing MVP baseball. Dimensions are about the same as before. The offense should go up some because of the weird angles in the outfield. The wall is higher and lower at some points.

I don't know what is going on with our offense. 13 runs in six games is absolutely terrible. Well, a Reds series is the perfect chance to turn it around.

I'll add one of my own. The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. Dick Allen, Tony Taylor, Senator Jim Bunning, Johnny Callison. The standings on September 20th..... Team Name G W L PCT GB RS RA Philadelphia Phillies 150 90 60 .600 - 645 564 Cincinnati Reds 150 83 66 .557 6.5 616 535 St. Louis Cardinals 149 83 66 .557 6.5 655 612 San Francisco Giants 150 83 67 .553 7.0 607 546 Milwaukee Braves 149 77 72 .516 12.5 721 691 Pittsburgh Pirates 148 76 72 .513 13.0 629 577 Los Angeles Dodgers 152 75 75 .500 15.0 569 539 Chicago Cubs 149 67 82 .449 22.5 598 681 Houston Colt .45s 151 63 88 .417 27.5 472 577 New York Mets 150 50 99 .335 39.5 527 717 6.5 games up, with 12 to go. The Phillies lost their next ten games. They lost the pennant by a single game. One of the most spectacular collapses in baseball history.

Its never worked. The Yankees had 77-78, and that was it. Every dynasty since then (Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland, and the Yankees) have been built on the foundation of a solid farm system.

No it shouldn't. Why should I be penalized because I had three good weeks in the consolation bracket?

I'm fairly certain he meant years, and not appearances.

7 games, 14 runs scored. Ouch. Only Bob Brenly's ineptitude let that series go seven games.

The Hall stepped in and put a stop to it. I believe it was due to Wade Boggs receiving a deal to wear a Devil Rays cap in the Hall.

Future Hall of Famers? I see Mike Piazza. Otherwise there's maybe four-five players who ever had any business appearing in an All-star game. The team went for the gusto in 2000, and fell short. I see no reason anything should have been expected from this team. There were serious concerns about Park due to his road ERA. The runs have been there, but the pitching was abysmal. I certainly don't see this team as a should have been.

1. Salary Floor. I worry this will encourage teams to pick up mediocre free agents and play them over their young kids, thus lowering the quality of play. Agree with no salary cap. 2. Revenue Sharing based on market and attendance. Attendance is the #1 stream of revenue for most clubs. If you base revenue sharing on attendance, you have a system where successful clubs get more, and un-successful clubs get less, and the chasm grows each year. High attendance clubs don't NEED more money. If there is revenue sharing, it should go equally, regardless of W/L records, market siz, etc. Each team gets 1/30th of the pool. Either that, or no revenue sharing at all. The Yankees weren't an issue until revenue sharing was created in the first place. 3. Eliminate Interleague play. Agreed. As a budding analyst, it really fucks with the numbers. 4. Speed up the game. If you impose a time limit, the players will take the maximum time alloted. I would simply like to see the umpires not grant time out to hitters every time they request it. Reduce stepping out of the box as much as possible. 5. I'd like to see once-a-month testing. Just something where you can assure the public the players are clean. 6. I don't see the need for a 7 day DL. Honestly, you can make it through the game with just 23-24 players. 7. I see no issue with the current strike-zone. I do think Quistec is a good idea, and umpires should be encouraged to call a consistant zone. 8. Player of the Year Award. This one I'm taking aim at. First off, its ridiculous to exclude individuals due to the performance of their teams. Besides, the best player usually comes from a winning team anyway. A-Rod was the exception, not the rule. Using Bill James' Win Shares, I looked up the best players in the league for each year, for the last 25 years. 20% of the time a player on a losing team was AMONG the best, and only 10% of the time was a player on a losing team THE best player in the league. So that's 80-90% of the time where a player of the year award and an MVP award would go to the same player. If we combine the top ten in Win Shares from last year, 3 of the 20 players listed (A-Rod, Todd Helton, Richie Sexson) came from losing teams. That's just 15%. Should the MVP be about more than stats? I don't think so. Creating subjective parameters to the award gives writers leeway to create some utterly stupid MVP candidates, such as Shannon Stewart. These selections lower the quality of the award in general. The Player of the Year award would come to recognize the best player, and no one would give a crap about the MVP anymore. You've now fucked up a system which had only a small problem, if that. A player from a losing team deserves the MVP about 10% of the time. Is it really that hard to recognize their performance? 9. Current owner yes, past owner no. I just don't see a reason to close off the hiring pool. 10. Make an exception for cold-weather cities, such as Toronto and Minneapolis. Besides, a handful of artificial-turf parks are good. It provides some variety. 11. Agreed in most part. Allow pads, but no more plastic. Especially on the upper body. Shins are ok. 12. No need. Just call the strike zone, regardless of where the batter stands. 13. He IS permanently banned. No decree, because that makes him look like a sympathetic character.

Tony Womack's double in the 2001 World Series. Bud Smith's no hitter. He was up to 135 pitches, facing Nevin and Klesko back to back. Easily the most nerve-racking no hitter I've ever witnessed.

-The Cubs and White Sox have simply never had truly good teams. Each time the Cubs come close, it was due to a group of over-achievers, who they promptly re-sign and act shocked when they regress. -The Red Sox had the dark ages after Ruth, though the extent of that firesale is often forgotten. Of the twenty five players on the 1923 Yankees, nine were former Red Sox. Two more came over in 1922 after half a Sox season, but they don't really count. That first great Yankee team was in reality an extension of the Red Sox dynasty of the teens. -What I find remarkable about the Red Sox is that for all the ballyho of a curse, they've been the recepients of incredible good fortune. 1967, Carl Yastrzemski has the best two weeks in baseball history, and the Sox win the pennant by one game. 1975, the Sox are four outs away from losing the Series, and Bernie Carbo hits a three run HR with two strikes to tie the game. 1986, three runs down, three outs away from losing the ALCS (and down 3 games to one), the Sox score four go on to win the A.L. pennant. For every occasion of the curse, there's an anti-curse at work.

Similar in theory to the best team thread. I'll leave you with one example and join the discussion later...... 1961 Philadelphia Phillies 47-107. They were dead last in the league in runs scored and allowed. They finished the season 46 games out of first, and 17 games out of SEVENTH. Famously, they lost 23 games in a row at one point. So what went wrong? The Phillies were similar to last year's Tigers, in which they played a lineup of youngsters who did not produce. Robin Roberts collapsed, going 1-10 with a 5.85 ERA. Happier times were ahead, as the Phillies nearly won the pennant three years later, before finishing the season with a 2-10 run.

Well, the '37 squad had four HOFers (Dickey, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Lazzeri) in their starting lineup alone.

Byrd's the regular starter in center. I don't think batting order matters terribly. The problem is that Byrd, Abreu, and Mike Lieberthal have started off on bad slumps. I think the team will rebound, but its tough going.

Why am I trapped in a bizzaro world where Jose Mesa and Armando Benitez get effortless saves? Phillies are 1-4. Its easy to make too much out of the first week, but man this is depressing.

Roberto Hernandez is the new Jose Mesa. This organization sucks at finding quality bullpen talent.

6th Inning, and Choi hits it out. Unbelieveable. The Phillies have allowed a six inning run EVERY GAME this season.

Popped up to short.

Phillies in trouble in the 5th. It seems our pitchers hit a wall constantly around the 6th inning. This year alone, the Phils average 1.75 runs allowed in the 6th.

The 80s Yankees had abysmal shortstops. Roy Smalley, Bob Meacham, Wayne Tolleson, Alvaro Espinosa. Well, Smalley was good, but the Tolleson years were absolutely terrible. If the Yankees had a decent shortstop at all, they would've won in '85 and probably '88.