EVIL~! alkeiper

Something has changed with blackout rules, as recently ESPN has begun airing Yankees and Mets matchups that were previously blacked out. This is a great development as Dan Shulman is one of the best announcers in baseball and Michael Kay is, well, not. Orel Hershiser made a joke that Casey Blake had a chance to tie a record for assists in an inning. I have no way of checking, but that may not be true. It is fully possible to record an assist without an out. If a first baseman commits an error by missing a throw for example, the fielder who made the throw would still get an assist. It is fully possible that some third baseman has collected four assists in an inning.

Don't give up, 12 of those 36 are head-to-head.

Now not to defend Roger Clemens, but shouldn't this require more evidence than the say-so of a guy sued in a defamation lawsuit?

36 games left, we're in the last two weeks of the simulation. I've got a four game lead on Bored, eight on HarleyQuinn. I think I can improve my team going into the stretch run by cutting unproductive pitchers and running my guys on shorter rest.

The Phillies/MLB produced a new dvd of Richie Ashburn. It is really a tremendous package considering the treasure trove of archival material unseen for a long time.

Diamondbacks on TBS and Fox. So much for that national bias.

I'm blatantly ripping off a concept from Bored. The best player from each pick in the draft. The MLB June draft has run from 1965 to the present. 1. Alex Rodriguez, SS 2. Reggie Jackson, OF 3. Robin Yount, SS 4. Dave Winfield, OF or Barry Larkin, SS 5. Dwight Gooden, RHP 6. Barry Bonds, OF 7. Frank Thomas, 1B 8. Todd Helton, 1B 9. Barry Zito, LHP 10. Mark McGwire, 3B Not one #1 overall pick has yet made the Hall, though Junior Griffey and A-Rod certainly will. Having no player better than Zito at #9 is a surprise, ditto for Doc Gooden at #5. 11. Greg Luzinski, 1B 12. Billy Wagner, LHP or Nomar Garciaparra, SS 13. Manny Ramirez, OF 14. Derrek Lee, 1B 15. Chase Utley, 2B 16. Lance Parrish, IF 17. Roy Halladay, RHP 18. Willie Wilson, OF 19. Roger Clemens, RHP 20. Mike Mussina, RHP 21. Rick Sutcliffe, RHP 22. Craig Biggio, C 23. Jason Kendall, C 24. Rondell White, OF 25. Chuck Knoblauch, 2B 26. Alan Trammell, SS 27. Vida Blue, LHP 28. Lee Smith, RHP 29. George Brett, SS 30. Mike Schmidt, SS Where are the Hall of Famers? Currently, 19 members of the Hall of Fame began their careers out of the amateur draft. Only six of them (Jackson, Yount, Winfield, Puckett, Fisk, Molitor) were chosen in the first ten picks of the draft. Five of them were not picked in the top 100, and Ryne Sandberg was the 511th pick in his draft. Nolan Ryan was the 226th pick, Goose Goosage was chosen 204th.

Winfield played in a tougher offensive era, so his numbers don't look as good as they would in Larkin's age. Larkin was better at getting on base, Winfield hit for more power. Without adjusting for era, Larkin was actually a better hitter. Winfield comes out ahead slightly when you make the adjustment. On pure ability, Larkin would beat Winfield. The only additional consideration is that Winfield played in 800 more career games.

The problem with Raven is that there are a ton of wrestlers who fit on that level. Mr. Perfect, Ted DiBiase, Arn Anderson, the Honky Tonk Man, Brutus Beefcake, etc. That a guy has great matches, interviews, "gets" the business, etc. has nothing to do with making the list. A guy has to stand out. In regards to Gene Kiniski and company, I am looking for star power in their own time. Kiniski was the NWA World Champion for three years when that title was the biggest drawing card in wrestling. Vader, Hall and Nash were all considered, I just had to make a cut somewhere. A lot of guys from say 35-70 could fall anywhere on the list. Mil Mascaras headlined MSG a few times in his heyday. I think he's still the most recognizable mexican star in this country.

Lugo's not a terrible player, he'd make a suitable utility infielder. Morris has been unspeakably awful. His 9.67 ERA in 22.3 IP doesn't even take into account his seven unearned runs allowed.

Bingo. If you give non-wrestling fans the name of George Steele, I bet you the vast majority of them can identify him as a professional wrestler. Luke-O, why Raven?

If I'm not mistaken, CJ's been welcome back for years, but he has no interest in returning. It's been quite a while since I talked to him, I really should get back in touch.

Umpire Kerwin Danley was injured, perhaps badly, at the Rockies/Dodgers game. He was struck by a pitched ball from Brad Penny, and taken off the field on his back in an ambulance.

I'm guilty of that at times. It's a bad habit, and you're absolutely right.

Real competitive night, three games are tied in the ninth or later, another tied in the bottom of the eighth.

The Pirates have made a third baseman out of Doug Mientkiewicz. Interesting move. If he can hold up and maintain his career batting numbers, he becomes a useful player again.

I'd say only if Gary Sheffield hits the DL for good.

For $1-2 Million yes, but I think Bonds would want more than $10 mil.

Really tough question. Both made twelve All-Star games, both won several Gold Glove and silver slugger awards. Winfield generally did better in MVP award balloting but Larkin actually won the award in 1995. I'll give the nod to Larkin, but it is very close.

It may be a situation of needing to get innings out of some guys. You can go balls out to try and win games now, but that pen will collapse come August.

Then it's not a real blizzard. In a true blizzard, the snow and wind is so blinding that you can not see more than a few dozen yards around you. If you keep your eyes shut and uncovered, the snow and ice will freeze them shut within half an hour. In 1888, 200 people died in the middle of New York City from a blizzard. Reliable forecasting prepares people nowadays but if you get caught in one, the shit is deadly.

Piper's Pit on MSG is quite amusing, to see Piper and Heenan go on about the Mets/Red Sox World Series (the Sox had taken a 2-0 lead at that point). I can just imagine the Brain character going apeshit when watching Buckner and the tenth inning.

I caught that Brennaman clip on Youtube. Small point, but it's probably worth noting that it was Brantley that specifically said, "they blame that goat."

There are few GMs more capable than Jocketty on the trade market. Jocketty's strength is that he often trades prospects who will not develop into stars, and deals them for useful players at the MLB level.

This is a false meme. Who would you have build it? None of the big oil companies WANT to build more refineries. They are happy with their bottleneck. Sure they would. One of the basics of supply and demand is that as prices rise, sellers desire to sell more goods at that price.