EVIL~! alkeiper

The DQ was fine, and pretty common for matches at that level at that time. The problem was that Vader took forever coming down the isle, and it was very obvious that Michaels and the ref were stalling for time. Think about it for a moment. You're in a cage with your most hated enemy and he's jamming a large wooden stake around your eye. Are you really going to stop and think about what exactly you have to say to get out of that predicament? As for Heenan, he spoke highly of Hogan in his autobiography. I think his wrestling hatred of Hulk Hogan was entirely a face/heel dynamic. After all, Heenan made a TON of money in the '80s playing heel manager against Hogan, both in the WWF and in the AWA managing Bockwinkel.

During the Cardinals/Phillies radio broadcast on Tuesday, one of the Cards' broadcasters referred to Chris Coste as a young player. At the time, Coste was the oldest player on the field! In fact, Coste is the second oldest position player on the club (only Mike Lieberthal is older). Also a fun note from the Phils' broadcast last night, the five shortest players in MLB are all Cardinals or Phillies (David Eckstein, Ron Belliard, Aaron Miles, Jimmy Rollins, Fabio Castro).

I know there's likely going to be some controversy over the call. It's not an easy scorer's decision.

And it's a hit once again.

Utley extends his hitting streak on an infield hit. EDIT: Damnit, they changed it to a fielder's choice.

Bud Selig has expressed no desire to expand anytime in the near future. To answer CanadianChris, I don't believe there is any dilution in the talent base. Is there really any meaningful difference between having the best 750 players or the best 800 players making up the major leagues? People forget there were bad players even when there were 16 players in the league. I think MLB could easily take two more teams. The problem is that you really run into problems if you go past 32, and also that limits the possible relocation threats. It's easier to threaten to move a team when there are viable alternatives. Call me crazy, but if the embargoes between here and Cuba fall, I think Havana would be a great place for an MLB team.

Last year Tony LaRussa kind of admitted to giving Jimmy Rollins a pitch to hit to extend his streak. It'll be interesting to see if the same thing happens this time.

Agreed. I mean, he just looked awful stealing those 20 bases in 24 attempts.

Well thank god we kept Rowand and got rid of the player that doesn't run into walls and just stays productive.

Wait....what?!

Just to play devil's advocate here, doesn't it bother you that the organization cares more about cutting payroll than winning games? EDIT: Keep in mind we don't get to face Jeff Weaver every night.

What's so bad about not trading Soriano? If they let him go to free agency, they'll get two first rounders in return and get better players than they would have if they traded him for pennies.

I don't recall something like it in my recollection, though I'm sure it's happened before. Keep in mind though these pitchers are still performing a bit above expectations. They could tail off a bit.

If you think those are bad, you should see Greg Golson's stats.

I usually refer to Baseball Prospectus' Playoff Odds Report. They give the Blue Jays about a 4% chance of the division, and 5% at the wild card, for 9% overall. That sounds low, but it is a shot. As long as they have a chance, sit back and enjoy the race.

What surprised me is that virtually no prospects were traded. Joel Guzman is the only one who showed up on anyone's top 50 lists. It's a bad idea to trade your best prospects for rentals, but if all you give up are "C" level prospects, you make those moves.

Just to add to this, my local AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons are up a game in their division. In the last 48 hours we have lost SS Danny Sandoval, OF Michael Bourn, SP Scott Mathieson and RP Brian Sanches. That's our shortstop, center fielder, ace and closer. That's going to be a depressing place tomorrow night.

Nice spin on the Cormier trade by the Phillies site... ...where he was ranked 21st in the Cincinnati organization prior to the 2006 season, also by Baseball America.

The Tigers, sorry.

The Pirates dealt Sean Casey to the Pirates for a yet unnamed minor leaguer.

The firesale continues as Rheal Cormier has been traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Justin Germano.

That's how I know he's full of shit. A team that just dropped a doubleheader to the Phillies is interested in a highly paid player that makes almost as much as their entire roster? A fun thing to do is check out which prospects sat out today. I see that Joel Guzman did, I'm going to look for more. That's a good indication of which teams are looking to make deals, and by the quality of the prospect, what they want to get. Scott Mathieson was pulled from his AAA start because he could get a call-up to replace Cory Lidle. I think Ryan Madson probably preserved his rotation slot however and Mathieson will pitch Tuesday in Scranton (which I'll attend live). The Phils' rotation currently stands at Myers/Lieber/Hamels/Wolf/Madson. If Lieber gets traded however, Mathieson steps in.

Gonzalez is just 20 years old and tearing up the California League. The raw numbers look impressive, but Lancaster is a hitters' park in a hitters' league. I'm a little cautious until he hits AA. I think he's for real though.

Abreu would ideally bat second, but Damon-Jeter makes that impossible. The sooner Abreu bats in the lineup the better, because his on base skills make him an ideal table setter and provides RBI opportunities for Alex Rodriguez and (especially) Jason Giambi. By the way, I noted a couple weeks ago that David Ortiz gets tons of clutch hits because pitchers challenge him rather than face Manny Ramirez. Anyone notice that Giambi gets tons of clutch hits batting in front of Rodriguez?

He's right. Yes he sucked, but it's a slap in the face when the organization brings up retreads like Adam Bernero rather than give you a shot.