EVIL~! alkeiper

I see where you're coming from, Czechsault.

Gorilla Monsoon promised to retire if he lost to Ken Patera in the Spectrum in 1980. Monsoon lost, fulfilled a few contractual obligations and except for filling in for Andre the Giant in 1981 (after Killer Khan injured Andre), Monsoon never wrestled again.

Well, Greg Valentine actually DID main event shows in his prime.

I think Busch Stadium is still the greatest story behind naming rights. When August Busch bought the team in the early '50s, he wanted to rename the park "Budweiser Stadium." Team owners would not allow that (and now we have Coors Field and Miller Park). So Busch named the park after himself, THEN set about marketing new Busch beer.

13 scoreless innings now for the SF Giants.

Chris Coste's The 33 Year Old Rookie. I was disappointed, honestly. Coste's is a nice story, and that he wrote this without a ghostwriter is phenomenal. It is short however, and is desperately lacking in details. The 2005 Red Barons for example are covered in less than two pages. What is there is largely fact driven. It is good to get the story of what happened, but at no point do you really reach to the soul of the participants. You get the facts, but you don't really get a deeper understanding of the game in any fashion. Recommended only for Phillies fans or fans of the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.

I'm heading to Reading tonight to catch the IronPigs/R-Phils exhibition game. Carlos Carrasco vs. J.D. Durbin. The advantage of a minor league exhibition game is that teams don't feel the need to hold back on their starters.

You can't, it's locked once the season starts.

I figure the nature of a drafted league will keep most teams close to .500.

Eh, it's Dames. He's entitled to a catch-all topic.

Major League 2 is awful, awful. Halfway through they gave up and just made the first movie again!

I have the EI preview. The problem is that the Mets, Yankees, Phillies and Pirates are in the blackout range. First three teams no problem, I get their games on local cable. The Pirates? Not only do their games not air in my region, the city is over a five hour drive away.

I'd love to watch Pittsburgh/Atlanta, but it's blacked out. Can't infringe on the Pirates' territorial rights ya know.

Yeah, 78 games last season. He also started 20 games leading off in 1997.

In a perfect world, he's have a center field job somewhere for a non-contender. He's not a great outfielder, but he's probably better than some starter out there in the majors.

Shoot, thanks for letting me know.

Nothing beyond a 1-0 game going into the fourth.

Anyone else watching the Angels/Twins game?

For comparison's sake, the 1968 White Sox hold the record for fewest runs in a full 162 game season, with 468. That was a pitchers' paradise, but six position players failed to clear a .300 OBP. Pitcher Joe Horlen posted a 2.37 ERA and got a losing record for his efforts. Pity starters Gary Peters, Cisco Carlos and Bob Priddy. The trio combined for a 3.77 ERA in 59 starts, and went 11-38 combined.

I gotta say, while the Phils' game was disappointing there have been some good openers this year. Red Sox/A's, Nats/Braves, Royals/Tigers and now this.

Holy Shit! Fukudome. Edit: There's a strike for you.

I propose a pair of three-way trades, on May 31 and July 31. The jist of it would be that the Phillies, Cubs and Brewers would all exchange Gagne, Wood and Gordon and hold them for two months apiece.

WWE really needs to do a full dvd on Andre. It's uncharted territory, Andre would obviously sell, there's tons of footage, seems like a no brainer.

Thank goodness the Nats weren't able to get to the backend of the Phils' bullpen, or that might've been ugly.

What the hell is the point of a double switch when you're down by four in the ninth? If you get to the tenth, you have to send seven men to the plate at minimum.