EVIL~! alkeiper

That's still better than listening to Rick Sutcliffe.

Minnesota @ NY Yankees 1pm ESPN Johan Santana (12-3) vs. Mike Mussina (17-8) This series really doesn't look good for the Twins. They're 0-7 against the Yankees, and they open up the series in Yankee Stadium. Plus the Yankees' run differential is 100 runs better than the Twins. They'll need to count on Santana's best pitching to win this game. Florida @ San Francisco 4pm ESPN Josh Beckett (9-8) vs. Jason Schmidt (17-5) The Giants hold the NL's best home record, and they have quite possibly the best starter in the NL on the mound. Beckett for his part dominated in September. Good game between two premier pitchers. Chicago Cubs @ Atlanta 8pm FOX Kerry Wood (14-11) vs. Russ Ortiz Oh joys of joys, a game on fox! Please note that from this point forward, I will no longer capitalize fox, even if it begins a sentence. The Braves outscored their opponents by 167 runs, and the Cubs by only 42. The Cubs however have a starting two that should keep them in any game. The Braves should have a slight edge thanks to home field advantage and their league leading offense (they even outscored the Rockies this year).

Folks, the votes have been tabulated. Here are YOUR 2003 MLB Award Winners. AL MVP Carlos Delgado, TOR Carlos Delgado won the TSM MVP thanks to his four home run game near the end of the season, causing a few voters to change their votes. Delgado edged Rodriguez by only 8 points. Third place went to Manny Ramirez. Gammons' poster boy David Ortiz finished near the bottom of the pack. I was surprised by the lack of support for Bret Boone. NL MVP Barry Bonds, SF The NL MVP voting was much more condensed than the AL voting. Bonds finished 34 points ahead of Pujols. Both Bonds and Pujols finished well ahead of the other vote getters. AL Cy Young Roy Halladay, TOR Halladay outpaced the pack easily here, garnering all but three 1st place votes. Esteban Loazia finished 2nd, and Pedro Martinez finished third. No other candidate garnered significant support. NL CY Young Eric Gagne, LA A reliever wins the Cy Young. Oddly enough, Win Shares supports Gagne's selection. Mark Prior and Russ Ortiz finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Jason Schmidt just missed out of the running. AL Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa, KC Berroa finished a single point ahead of Rocco Baldelli. Hideki Matsui finished slightly out of the running. NL Rookie of the Year Dontrelle Willis, FLA Dontrelle Willis, Brandon Webb, and Scott Podsednik got most of the votes. Willis earned 42 points, Webb 36, and Podsednik 30. AL Manager of the Year Tony Pena, KC 11 different managers received votes. Pena easily won out, and only Grady Little and Ken Macha received more than three votes. NL Manager of the Year Jack McKeon, FLA No surprise here. Bobby Cox finished 2nd, and Dusty Baker finished third. Thanks to all who participated.

I'm not criticizing Burnett here. He's a great pitcher. My criticism is directed at the criminal misuse by Torberg & Co.

he had elbow surgery, didn't he? Bingo.

AJ Burnett too. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.....

That's just the problem. I'm not so sure throwing well over a hundred pitches an inning is an apparent skill. Its something that screams to me, "Dr. James Andrews on line 2."

Does it worry anyone else that Wood is seen as some kind of iron man by the Fox announcers?

With the fantasy season over, I think we can un-pin this thread.

I won't post tables, partly because of the work involved, and partly because I did them in notepad, but I can post point totals. (First place votes in parenthesis.) AL MVP Carlos Delgado, 124 (4) Alex Rodriguez, 116 (6) Manny Ramirez, 102 Jorge Posada, 66 Magglio Ordonez, 45 (2) Frank Thomas, 43 Jason Giambi, 39 Bill Mueller, 37 (2) Miguel Tejada, 36 Vernon Wells, 29 Garret Anderson, 27 Bret Boone, 21 Alfonso Soriano, 20 Shannon Stewart, 20 Carlos Beltran, 15 David Ortiz, 14 Ichiro Suzuki, 13 Roy Halladay, 12 Nomar Garciaparra, 11 Carlos Lee, 11 Pedro Martinez, 10 Torii Hunter, 2 Aubrey Huff, 2 Keith Foulke, 2 NL MVP Barry Bonds, 171 (9) Albert Pujols, 147 (5) Jim Thome, 95 Gary Sheffield, 88 Eric Gagne, 77 Javy Lopez, 69 Preston Wilson, 25 Todd Helton, 20 Sammy Sosa, 18 John Smoltz, 14 Jeff Bagwell, 13 Vladimir Guerrero, 11 Marcus Giles, 10 Mark Prior, 9 Ivan Rodriguez, 8 Mike Lowell, 8 Dontrelle Willis, 7 Richard Hidalgo, 6 Russ Ortiz, 6 Richie Sexson, 5 Juan Pierre, 4 Edgar Renteria, 4 Jim Edmonds, 3 Mike Lieberthal, 3 Chipper Jones, 3 Bobby Abreu, 1 Andruw Jones, 1 AL Cy Young Roy Halladay, 62 (11) Esteban Loazia, 30 (1) Pedro Martinez, 24 (2) Tim Hudson, 4 Jamie Moyer, 3 Keith Foulke, 2 Andy Pettitte, 1 NL Cy Young Eric Gange, 60 (12) Mark Prior, 19 Russ Ortiz, 18 (1) Jason Schmidt, 16 (1) John Smoltz, 11 Kevin Brown, 5 Woody Williams, 1 AL Rookie Angel Berroa, 38 (5) Rocco Baldelli, 37 (4) Hideki Matsui, 30 (4) Mark Teixeira, 12 (1) Jody Gerut, 9 NL Rookie of the Year Dontrelle Willis, 42 (7) Brandon Webb, 36 (4) Scott Podsednik, 30 (2) Marlon Byrd, 6 (1) Ty Wigginton, 4 Jason Phillips, 3 Jerome Robertson, 1 AL Manager of the Year Tony Pena, 58 (11) Grady Little, 26 (2) Ken Macha, 18 Ron Gardenhire (1) Eric Wedge, 3 Bob Melvin, 3 Joe Torre, 3 Carlos Tosca, 2 Jerry Manuel, 2 Lou Pinella, 1 Buck Showalter, 1 NL Manager of the Year Jack McKeon, 64 (11) Bobby Cox, 19 (2) Dusty Baker, 14 Felipe Alou, 13 (1) Frank Robinson, 11 Larry Bowa, 4 Jim Tracy, 1

Thank you. I have everything added, so if you make a last minute change, leave a post detailing it. Otherwise your change may not be included in the tallies.

Since its almost the end of the baseball season, I thought it would be a good time to conduct our own voting for the MVP awards. The idea is simple. Cut and paste the ballot below, and fill out your picks. -You don't have to fill every slot if you don't want to, but remember that every slot is worth points. -Please do not add categories like "Comeback Player of the Year." -No split votes. Only one player per slot. If you put two players in a slot, the vote is divided between them, and it hurts their chances more than it helps. Here are the guidelines for each award. MVP: All players are eligible, including pitchers. Points are tabulated on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Cy Young: All pitchers are eligible. Voting is tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis. Rookie of the Year: Players are eligible provided they have not accumulated 130 at bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 days on a major league roster. Voting is tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis. The following is a list of eligible rookies who have accumulated 300 at bats or 120 Innings pitched. AL -- Rocco Baldelli Hideki Matsui Angel Berroa Mark Teixeira Ken Harvey Jody Gerut Craig Monroe Covelli Crisp Russ Johnson Ben Broussard Brandon Phillips Miguel Olivo Eric Munson Jeremy Bonderman Jason Davis Mark Hendrickson Colby Lewis NL -- Ty Wigginton Scott Podsednik Marlon Byrd Jason Phillips Adam Everett Keith Ginter Xavier Nady Ron Calloway Jae Seo Brandon Webb Horacio Ramirez Jerome Robertson Dontrelle Willis Zach Day Jerome Williams Aaron Cook Manager of the Year: All managers are eligible, including managers who lost their jobs during the season. Voting is tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis. The following is the ballot. Cut and paste, and fill out your ballot. AL MVP 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. NL MVP 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. AL Cy Young 1. 2. 3. NL Cy Young 1. 2. 3. AL Rookie of the Year 1. 2. 3. NL Rookie of the Year 1. 2. 3. AL Manager of the Year 1. 2. 3. NL Manager of the Year 1. 2. 3. Voting will end 9pm EST on Monday, the 29th.

I need to know your previous choice for manager of the year. I have most of this added up, so I need to know who to take the point away from.

Less than two hours to go.

The funny thing is that the Red Sox beat the Cubs to win their last world series, in 1918.

I'd love a live draft, but with our schedules, I doubt its feasible.

At least he's an intelligent pompous asshole. McCarver's just an idiot. All things considered, I'd rather have Vin Scully, Harry Kalas, etc. In any case, a network besides fox might actually FOCUS ON THE GODDAMNED GAME.

Atlanta @ Philadelphia Greg Maddux vs. Kevin Millwood. The Braves need simply to win this game to gain home field advantage in the NLCS. For the Phillies, its the very last game in Veterans Stadium history. Hopefully, it will also be the last game managed by Larry Bowa. Los Angeles @ San Francisco Wilson Alvarez vs. Kevin Correja. The Giants have just about conceded home field advantage, choosing instead to rest their players. All home field advantage means is that they play 4 games at Atlanta IF they face the Braves in the NLCS. A win along with an Atlanta loss, and they get home field anyway. Minnesota @ Detroit Kyle Lohse vs. Mike Maroth. The Tigers are sitting on 119 losses. After last night's improbable comeback, they're one win away from avoiding the record. The Twins won't go balls to the wall to win, so this is the perfect opportunity for the Tigers to end the season on a high note. Colorado @ San Diego Darren Oliver vs. Jake Peavy. San Diego? They're playing their last game at Qualcomm Stadium before moving into a new park next year. Qualcomm is not closing, as the Chargers will still call the stadium home. Games that don't matter Baltimore @ NY Yankees Cleveland @ Toronto Boston @ Tampa Bay Montreal @ Cincinnati NY Mets @ Florida Milwaukee @ Houston Chicago WS @ Kansas City Texas @ Anaheim Pittsburgh @ Chicago Cubs St. Louis @ Arizona Oakland @ Seattle

Just a reminder folks. Voting ends tomorrow at 9pm, EDT.

A few problems a Union might bring about.... 1. Booking. What happens when a guy doesn't want to job? 2. Bumps. This is the big one. What happens the next time a promoter wants a ladder match or some other big blowoff match? Might the Union step in and say "nope, too dangerous." I'm not discounting a Union, just playing Devil's Advocate.

Its in jest. Besides, the Phillies already choked.

Easy. You take Choi, because of his monster minor league stats, youth, and ability to take a ball. You ditch Simon, because he swings at everything, and you ditch Karros, because he'll decline.

Ok. The Red Sox will choke again The Cubs will choke again The Braves will choke again Barry Bonds will choke again The A's will lose in the first round again The Marlins will sell their entire team by next year. Did I forget anything?

And then the playoffs end?

There's next year yet. The Phillies are bringing most of their team back next year, save Millwood. The Braves have to worry about re-signing Javy, Sheffield, and Maddux.