EVIL~! alkeiper

Anglesault? HAHAHA. Maybe if you checked my ip address or my email address you would realize that I am not Anglesault. I hope Verne Gagne gets the same talking to about him bitching about the Twins. I also recall in my last post trying to strike up debate as to why Torre left in a right hand pitcher when Granderson is horrible against lefties. I'm not playing the IP or email address game. I'm going on you saying the EXACT same things he did. And why would a new poster know what Anglesault means? But that aside... Why did Torre leave Proctor in instead of using Myers? First off, we know Torre isn't going to use Rivera in this situation. He's got no reason to risk overusing his top bullpen arm with a sizeable lead in the pennant race. So Proctor's in. Inge is on first base with Granderson at bat. Yeah, Myers is probably better than Proctor in that specific matchup. But there are a few variables. 1. Granderson would need an extra base hit in that situation to tie the game, and a home run to win it. Both are unlikely outcomes in general no matter who the pitcher is. 2. If Myers fails to record the out, now you've got the same situation, two on, but now you're forced to take Myers out of the game, and you have to put in a worse right handed pitcher on the mound than Scott Proctor. Maybe Torre brings in Myers. Detroit could pinch hit. Marcus Thames is sitting on the bench with a .902 OPS against lefties. Then you need to take out Myers for a lesser reliever, before he faces a batter. Then you've got a righty against Thames, and Thames' OPS is even higher against righties. It could be that Torre has a choice of Proctor vs. Granderson, or Farnsworth vs. Thames.

Anglesault, give it a rest. The entire game was decided on a three run home run with two outs. You file that directly under "shit happens." They didn't lose the game because Proctor sucks, or because Torre made the wrong decision. They lost because baseball is a contest of equally skilled teams, and sometimes the other team wins, even if you do everything right. And if you're going to flip out every time your team wins a close game, you really need to re-think your priorities. And before you respond, let me remind you about our rules concerning pbps, and that you're on a short leash.

Seconded.

Montreal used to be a great baseball city before its owners actively pissed on the franchise. With Toronto, Miami, etc., wins translate into attendance. It's that simple. Fans won't come out to support a bad franchise no matter how great a baseball town they are.

The problem is that Las Vegas is a tourism mecca and doesn't have as much as an entrenched population. There are concerns about whether they would draw well enough to support a team. That's doubly true when it comes to media saturation. Las Vegas is surrounded by a desert.

Portland's a candidate for an eventual MLB expansion team.

I think that it's mostly small markets, with the added issue that there really isn't potential for an expanded regional market in those areas. College football fills the void.

Ignore any and all reports about how a free agent wants to be on this team, or has family in this neighborhood, or anything of that nature. It's all filler, and doesn't mean anything. Trust me on this one.

And to end this thread, WP is not getting banned.

I've become somewhat soft in my old age. Brian may have deleted his own profile. You guys should know that we generally have a different method of banning people, as far as editing their profiles. I'm fairly certain none of us actually banned him.

My first class is on Monday, and I'll be able to relate some of the books after that. I can tell you one of them is Homer's Illiad. Philip Roth's novel isn't on there. I really should read that sometime. I should come up with my own Baseball Lit course.

I'll make this easy. The next person to derail the thread with petty verbal slapfights can take a short vacation from the board. That out of the way, several months ago we instituted an ignore feature on the board. This allows you to effectively silence posters whom you do not wish to read. For posters that have not crossed the ban line, this is the best you can do. If no one responds, the poster is effectively silenced. I probably have a slower ban trigger than any other mod. Someone in a thread mentioned that UTSU was banned for less. Yes he was, and I lobbied for his reinstatement. You're not always going to like whom you correspond with on a messageboard.

I assume this is in regards to attempting to reduce the level of offense in Major League Baseball. Offense has been down in the minor leagues, so I would be curious to see what the key differences are between the International League and the Majors. Bill James wrote in his Historical Abstract that baseball should not raise the mound or expand the strike zone. His reasoning was that strikeouts are already at an all time high, and taking those measures would make baseball more boring, a game with more walks and strikeouts, and less action. I disagree. If strikeouts went up, batters would adjust and hit for less power and for more average. That's what baseball needs. The problem isn't hitting specifically, it's hitting for power that needs to come down. The big difference today is the ballpark. If you remember the cookie-cutter stadiums, they all had deep power alleys and plenty of foul territory. The new parks have brought the fans closer to the game and cut into open ground. I do not think people fully appreciate the effects the new parks have had on the game's offense. Offense should come down, but I'm not sure exactly how it can be done. It wouldn't harm MLB to look into the matter. Lately, they've been too concerned with business and not enough with the on-field product. With Thome out, I'm going to take Minnesota.

Isobel Alliende is incredible if you can get into her subject matter. I'm taking Literature of Sport and Games this semester. Most of the books have nothing to do with professional sports, but I've had and enjoyed the professor before so I'm interested in seeing the approach he takes.

I'm about 2 miles from there. Knoebels is definitely cheap with the free admission and parking. I believe that weekend is the last of the season, except for the Covered Bridge Festival later in the fall. Goddamn. It's late August and everything's in full swing. This time next month the area will be DEAD. No Knoebels, no Red Barons, etc. Summer ends too quickly in Pennsylvania.

Maybe you need new mods.

Cubs' offensive rankings in the National League Runs: 16th HRs: 10th Total Bases: 8th Batting Average: 5th On Base Percentage: 16th Slugging Percentage: 12th Strikeouts: 2nd (meaning 2nd least) Walks: 16th Stolen Bases: 5th Sacrifices: 2nd This should stand as an object lesson in offense. The Cubs hit for a high average. They don't strike out. They steal lots of bases. They move runners. And they CAN'T SCORE RUNS. Why? Because they don't work the count.

You shouldn't say either. The only difference is that one has a word filter (though I couldn't tell you the origins).

Many of you keep bringing up the problems with the forums. What are the problems exactly? Specifically. Speaking as a mod here, I usually get a grand total of zero PMs a month asking me to deal with a specific issue. Most requests are either to post a topic or to change a username. And truthfully, there's usually nothing I need to do to keep things running smoothly. Most of you realize that mod overaction in any forum breeds resentment. We don't want to see that. So I ask, what needs to be changed. We need new mods? Why do we need new mods? What exactly would they do? I'm interesting in hearing your responses.

KingPk had approval on this before acting. The rest of the conversation here is concurrent with discussions going on elsewhere in the folder, so they can continue elsewhere.

Cleveland pulled out the win after giving up 10 runs in the first inning.

I live about two hours away in the Northeast. Goodness, Tominator lives right in Elysburg and you can't spring for Knoebels? It's even cheaper!

It shouldn't be used in any form outside of the NHB folder. There are other ways to get your point across. From here on, don't be surprised if you end up with time off from the forums. And no, I'm not talking about this particular thread.

Someone really needs to study that and find a baseline. Last year it was said that Ortiz had 20 of those HRs, and then I looked myself and counted 19 for A-Rod. Were they all unusual cases, or are half of ALL home runs game tying or go-ahead shots?

Geoff Geary coming in, officially making this a bullpen by committee.