EVIL~! alkeiper

So Bonds' ball gets an asterisk. Nothing like defacing a historical piece of memorabilia to prove a point like a bunch of petty crybabies. What's next, they mail back Barry Bonds all of his love letters? Leave a bag of dog crap on his door step and light it?

Just watched the Angels-Kai/Martin matchup. Watching various WWE shows from 1985-86, it was apparent that the company constantly tried to find a replacement for Wendi Richter. Lisa Sliwa, Candice Pardue, Velvet McIntyre, etc. The Jumping Bomb Angels were OVER.

All the Phillies need to be is beat Tim Hudson and John Smoltz the next two days. Gah.

This is going to be a bad week. Half of me knows how this is going to end already. Beyond that, the process is agonizing.

Mesa's up? For the love of god why?!

I'm always game for a Jumping Bomb Angels match. Also looking forward to that Hansen/Martel match.

Link that says Chat in the gray bar up top.

I'll hold court in the TSM chatroom if anyone is interested.

Washington put up a four spot on the Mets at least in the first inning.

Hit one foul by a foot? No matter for Jimmy Rollins.

Worth mentioning that she'd still make a better umpire than C.B. Bucknor.

My response would have been that the comparison with the Braves was even more apt, but that's too mean for a moderator.

And if your aunt had balls she'd be your uncle. The Braves don't have a prayer in hell of winning the East.

Six days left, tied for the wild card, while the Phils' biggest rival just lost 2/3rds of their starting outfield. For the first time, the Phillies are the (slight) favorites in this race. A 4-2 or better finish will give them their best record since 1993. Ryan Howard is one strikeout away from the single season record. History comes tonight.

Now, why start the October thread if you have nothing to say about it?

I won't debate Bradley's actions. I don't see it as karma from the Phillies/Padres series though. He shined at the plate. If the Phillies didn't want him to showboat, they should've won.

Common mistake. While they are still technically in first place, they can get formally eliminated Saturday.

Coming into the home stretch this week. Both the Mets and Phillies (2.5 back) finish out at home. The Mets have four against the Nats and three against the Marlins. The Phillies have three against the Braves beginning Tuesday, followed by three against the Nationals. The Saturday Nats/Phillies game has been changed to a 3:55 start time so that fans in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre viewing area can miss the game. Milwaukee finishes at home with three against the Cardinals and four against the Padres. The Cubs finish on the road with three in Florida and three in Cincinnati. Arizona travels to Pittsburgh and Colorado for three apiece. The Padres finish on the road with three at San Francisco and four at Milwaukee. Finally, the Rockies play the Dodgers for three on the road and then come home for the Arizona series. The AL is locked up with Boston, Cleveland and the LA Angels securing playoff spots, and the Yankees on the verge of clinching. The Cubs are on the verge of a division title while the New York Mets have opened up a small lead. The D'backs have gained ground on the west. In the wild card, the Padres are threatened by not only the Phillies, but the Rockies as well. The big games Monday are Nats/Mets, Padres/Giants and Cardinals/Brewers to get rid of those pesky half-games on the standings.

Have you been watching the Mets bullpen all year? Have you seen Reyes since Randolph benched him in Houston? Have you seen Delgado, LoDuca, Green, whoever we put at 2nd stink all year at the plate? Have you seen a softer 25 game hitting streak than the one Moises Alou currently has? Plus the Nats and Marlins will be pesky this week because of the "we play well against New York" factor that caused the Nats to "lay down" to your Phillies this weekend, not to mention Thursday Tony LaRussa will probably manage that game like it was Game 8 of the 2006 NLCS if the Mets haven't clinched yet. There are plenty of reasons to be worried about this Met squad this week and IF they even get to October. As a Phillies fan, forgive me if I don't sympathize over your bullpen. Not counting yesterday's game, Moises Alou's "soft" streak counts a .425 batting average and .658 slugging percentage. Funny how the Nationals "laid down" against the Phillies by losing two of their three games by one run. In order to miss the playoffs, the Mets not only have to cough up the lead to the Phillies, the Padres have to beat them as well.

It's been quite amusing to see the rush by posters here to disassociate themselves from their teams in the National League. Steve Rogers thinks his Mets suck, Czech hates his Cubs and Richard doesn't think the Padres deserve the playoffs. I like the Phillies' chances as much as anyone's, the only issue yet is that they are still fighting from behind. Phillies/Nats at 12pm today. This is the swansong for RFK Stadium as a baseball park.

Yeah, but is that good for Sabathia, or good for Beckett? Sabathia started four more games and still has fewer wins. Of course wins aren't everything, but with four more starts and forty more innings, Sabathia's other numbers should be considerably better in order to beat out Beckett. Frankly, they're not. Carmona's also going to steal some attention away from Sabathia. A great problem for Cleveland to have, but in the end not good for individual award winners. The ERAs are nearly equal. Sabathia has also walked fewer batters in that span. The innings are certainly good for Sabathia, as they mark contributions to the team. Those are innings where the team didn't need to use inferior pitchers. As for Carmona, my experience is that players from the same team usually don't seem to effect the voting. Look at the 2000 N.L. MVP voting with Bonds and Kent.

Ryan Howard is charging fast towards history. Four strikeouts tonight put him at 194, one short of the single season record.

As for the schedule, one thing that makes baseball great (possibly the best thing) is the sheer availability of it. I love that for five months a year, I can decide to go to a baseball game and find something within driving distance. It's like going to the movies. Besides, there is no incentive or reason for MLB to cut games when such a percentage of their revenues is season ticket sales anyway.

The problem with attendance numbers is that they are fluid. The San Francisco Giants drew less than a million fans in 1985. The New York Mets even drew less than one million in 1979. The thing is, it is not the regions as much as their ownership and situations. Tampa Bay is an expansion team that lacks a winning season. Florida has the worst ownership in baseball. Kick Jeffrey Loria out of Miami and give the kids a chance in Tampa Bay for a few years, and things might look very different. Money helps, but ultimately developing your farm system is 90% of the battle.

Real quickly on the Beckett/Sabathia debate. Beckett averages 6.51 runs per game of run support, compared to 5.10 for Sabathia. The big statistic is that Sabathia has pitched 40 more innings this season. Let me address contraction first. I think contraction is a horrible move for any healthy professional sports league. It is a good move only when you are bleeding money to the point where you have to cut off teams to ensure the financial survival of the league. Contracting teams would kill two baseball markets, and then successive markets at each level of the minor leagues. I think the idea that talent is spread thin is demonstratively false if you look closely at the numbers. Alex Rodriguez's next contract will be an indication of how much money MLB currently makes. If the owners claim financial peril, it is only because there is more money to be made for themselves by limited profits by the players. The 1994 strike was a travesty, caused purely by the greed of the owners. It was wholly unnecessary, given that the league survived after the status quo was reinstated in lieu of an immediate settlement. On the first point, I think one of the unfortunate developments of modern sports is the corporate fan. Owners in all sports now realize that the most money comes from the well-heeled fans, and does all they can to cater to those fans. If you have money, MLB has never been better. More comfortable seats, modern amenities, catering, the works. The problem is that if you are a single-game, average fan, you get the leftovers. A family can affordable visit a game in most markets. The problem is that you will sit in the 400 level, or back past center field. Watching the Yankees invade Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was disgusting as the stadium lost all interest in promotions. I wish this could change but if the profits lay wherein, what can be done? The best true baseball experience in this age lays in the minor leagues.