EVIL~! alkeiper

It depends on when he gets started. Ichiro collected 1,434 hits in Japan. He started at age 18 however. Given the differences in the systems, he would have spent a couple formulative years in the minor leagues. Then you have the differences between leagues that would case him to lose a few hits. I think 700-800 hits is a fair estimate. That puts him slightly ahead of Rose's pace. The thing is, Rose got his hits by holding on far past his prime. The only guys who collected near as many hits after age 32 were Rose, Sam Rice and Cap Anson. All held on well into their 40s. It would be a question of whether Ichiro was willing to play that long, and that is something we will find out eventually.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/spor...ebichiro10.html Not yet official. This is a fairly big piece if news though. It keeps Ichiro in Seattle and away from the free agent market. He's a marketing force so whoever has Ichiro has the Japanese market on baseball. With that in mind, the price is not so outlandish. Ichiro's a unique player. He should age well given his athletic ability. I like this deal for the Mariners.

He sounded the same the day after the bodies were discovered. I get the impression that he wants to be open for questions, but he really doesn't have anything to add.

I think they should retire the concept, simply because the multi-man ladder match is overexposed and someone is bound to get seriously hurt again trying to continuously one-up previous matches. If they continue the concept, move it to a B level PPV like Backlash or No Way Out, where it can help spike buyrates.

I'm inclined to say no. Vizquel at his peak was never close to one of the top players in baseball, which is important. I know people will draw comparisons to Ozzie Smith. Ozzie was better with the glove however, and he was actually more valuable at the plate. Ozzie made 15 All-Star teams and drew votes in six MVP races, finishing as high as second. Vizquel made three All-Star teams, never started, and in his career was named on ONE MVP ballot. At eighth place. In Vizquel you have a player who was never considered a big star or contributor, but people give him consideration because he was a very good defensive player and played a long time. Essentially, he's the defensive equivalent of Harold Baines. I hope you're referring to Dustin Pedroia, because the Okajima love is starting to annoy me. I think there's a good argument for Matsuzaka. A 3.84 ERA is immensely valuable in Fenway Park.

Julio Lugo? You've got to go with probably Jason Kendall (lower OPS, less power, less speed). Craig Monroe is also a strong candidate since he plays a corner. In the National League it's (sadly) Omar Vizquel. Any of those choices are better than Pat Burrell. (Really now Jayson Stark, a player with an above-average OPS? Yes he's overpaid but that's not an MVP criteria. Otherwise we'd only give the MVP to players making the league minimum.)

Agreed. Dusty can still brawl when he needs to. He was never a high-impact performer so his advanced age isn't as much of a detriment as it was to a guy like Snuka. As long as they keep this under ten minutes it's completely watchable.

Of course. Usually that's the standard media response to a poor W/L record despite otherwise good statistics.

Also 3.43 in 2005. Which is an object lesson as to how a pitcher who obviously "knows how to win" can win just 13 games over a full season despite a 1.87 ERA.

These numbers are adjusted per 27 outs. Numbers are courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Brad Penny (5.31) Jake Peavy (5.02) Chris Young (4.14) What does it mean? Given a team with average pitching (4.5 runs allowed per game), the team scoring 5.31 runs/game would win 94 games a season. The 5.02 team would win 90 and the 4.14 team would win 74. That's just for perspective. If you click on any player on baseball-reference.com, check their gamelogs for 2007 and scroll to the bottom, you can check out their run support for the season.

Great stuff from Kenny Mayne. "Attention San Franciscans. Batting first, and playing left, Rickey Henderson!......Henderson. I have no idea who's batting second."

Absolutely. Foley had similar comments about King in his second book, that even when King doesn't know his subject, he appears to.

Why do I have my doubts that the Bronx is Burning will air at 10pm as planned?

Dusty's over, and if he's not give him two minutes on a microphone and he will be.

Erin Andrews is either freakishly tall or standing on a box. This has my attention until 9. Then it's Larry King, then Raw (or maybe this depending on if Howard is still hitting).

I just remembered how much I hate Chris Berman.

Judgment Day '06, King of the Ring finals.

If that were the case why would anyone ever buy a wrestling dvd? You know who wins already. I don't think we're all rushing to the shops to buy the DVD with Cena/Umaga on it. The thing with the Cena supporters on this board is they elevate anything Cena does. If he has a decent match, it's a great match. If he does a drop toe hold in a match he's fucking Dean Malenko. It's ridiculous looking at it from the outside. So is the opposite opinion. The truth is in the middle.

This is something I've never quite understood. When has the champion EVER been about who the best pure wrestler is? I think a lot of fans hate Cena but are overall entertained by the product. That's fine. If Cena is a heel to them, well the heel can withstand a long run as champion. To the eyes of the casual fan without a discerning taste for workrate, is it much different than say Ric Flair's heel run in 1988? Promoters have been able to sell a product with a disliked champion on top for years, and never had a problem.

If that were the case why would anyone ever buy a wrestling dvd? You know who wins already.

Pretty self-explanatory. AL MVP: Magglio Ordonez, Det Alex Rodriguez holds a slight lead in OPS. Ordonez however holds a 33 point lead in On Base Percentage, a key statistic. I don't think Rodriguez's defense covers the difference. NL MVP: Chase Utley, Phi Utley currently leads the National League in runs created. He is fourth in OPS and when you consider he plays a key up-the-middle position, I think it is an obvious choice. Barry Bonds has the rate statistics covered but is hurt by missing 10% of his games. AL Cy Young: Dan Haren, Oak I'm not entirely convinced (he looked shaky when I saw him pitch live), but you can't argue with results. Haren holds a 10-3 record and leads the AL in ERA. NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy, SD A close race between Peavy, Brad Penny and now Chris Young has pitched his way into the discussion. I give the edge to Peavy thanks to his league-leading strikeout total. AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Guthrie, Bal Surprise pitcher is second in ERA in the American League. Absolutely pathetic run support has hurt his win/loss record. As good as Guthrie is, his ERA strictly as a starter is a mere 2.16. NL Rookie of the Year: Hunter Pence, Hou It's not even close right now. AL Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland, Det A team many felt was a one-year wonder now sports a BETTER winning percentage than they did last season. NL Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox, Atl Atlanta is back in contention with another young core.

I liked MitB. Action-wise you may not have the best match, but there was a ton of stuff going on. You've got the Jeff/Matt/Edge ladder spot. Before that you had the Hardys attempting to repeat the same spot that injured Joey Mercury. You had Booker choosing the briefcase or Sharmel. Finlay almost sobbing post-match. I think storywise it's the strongest of the three.

It's already on Bret Hart's dvd so it's available.

In their clubhouse from what I heard.

Agree 100%. You can be outlandish, controversial, even childish. You can run a character like the Boogeyman if you want. But it needs to have well-defined, consistent rules. If there is one thing that bothers me in wrestling, it's when the rules of a match are changed to benefit the storyline.