EVIL~! alkeiper

I've seen that play. The difference is that the ball would have been a home run regardless. Jason Michaels is the unquestioned king of that play, worse than even Jose Canseco.

Ok. How many times are the Yankees going to bring out this fat bastard to sing "God Bless America?" Every time they do that at a game I feel like I'm in church.

For some reason this is the most fun deadline as a Phillies fan that I can remember. I guess that's the minor league fan in me. Anyway, you'll hear a lot of rumors and speculation that are maybe 10% fact. Abreu's under contract through 2007 and there is no reason whatsoever for Pat Gillick to accept a lesser offer because of the deadline. If a deal isn't done, there's still the offseason.

Danny Sandoval's been called up to the Phils.

Funny how that worked out. Pennants for the Astros: 1. Pennants for the Yankees: 0.

Deadline Trades Baseball-Reference provides a list of all deadline trades from the last 20 years. Incredible.

How so? Willie Aybar's about as good as Wilson Betemit, and the Braves got relief help in the process.

Laureano's struck out 62 batters in 63 innings but walked 36. He's 22 years old and in the Sally League. Until he develops better control, he's just a warm body.

The Giants gave up Shairon Martis in this deal. Martis is the pitcher who threw a 7 inning no hitter in the World Baseball Classic.

I doubt even the Phillies would take the backlash from placing a .150 hitter in the lineup, or at least I hope. Chris Coste played well at third base last year for Scranton, and I think he can hold down the job. What's convenient here is that this move also frees up a spot on the 40 man roster for Randy Wolf.

It's a fairly even trade I think. What impresses me is that the Brewers snagged Scott Podsednik off waivers and flipped him later on to the White Sox to get Carlos Lee in the first place.

Two hints. 5.65 and 5.08.

The effect of lineup protection is minimal, if not non-existant. Yes, statistics are effected by their run-scoring environment. The effects are across the board, so they don't make one statistic more or less important than the other.

To answer the querys regarding RBIs. Yes, the main reason is that it is a team dependent statistic. When you look at offensive statistics, Batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, even walks, doubles, etc. are measuring something the batter did directly. Only RBIs, runs scored and sacrifices are really team dependant. Sacrifice flies are less revealing than anything else, but no one pays much attention to them anyway. Runs scored are the same way, but the batter does have more control, because he can use his baserunning skills. But people don't overrate runs scored the way they do RBIs.

The Tour De France is quickly urning from a race to finish in the lowest time to a battle over who can hide their Performance Enhancing Drug usage.

1. Injuries. 2. I think if he can start and pitch effectively, he absolutely should be moved into the rotation next year. A starter is much more valuable than a closer. 3. Not at all.

Right now they are where they should be. They have some very nice pieces in the minors and offensively, could be as good as any team in the league in a couple years. Whether they make a playoff run depends on how much pitching they develop. Kazmir's a great start. 1. It's not. Look at Tony Gwynn. His batting average tells you something important about his hitting ability. I think RBIs are the most overrated "official" statistic, followed by strikeouts. 2. I think he's in the running considering his record is one of the best in the NL. He won't beat out Brandon Webb though unless he lowers his ERA.

That's very frustrating for me, because every time ESPN shows the Yankees it gets blacked out and I get two channels of ESPNnews. That would get annoying I suppose, but on the other hand I don't get ESPN News here so at least if I got them blacked out I'd get that for awhile. Yeah, but then you have to spend your weeknight wondering what's become of your life.

Awesome. What about any recent injuries that could possibly be on video. Sorry for the stupid questions. The only one that comes to mind is Buck Martinez making a double play on a broken leg in 1985. Recently, Aaron Rowand's was pretty gruesome. 1. He has a chance, but he's still a career's worth of home runs away. 2. I don't think we'll see it under Selig. 3. I've never heard Mike Tirico announce. 4. His cholesterol, because it doesn't have decimals.

Of course he has value. The Giants can trade him, but they've never shown any tendancy to rebuild.

Ray Chapman getting killed by a pitched ball. About a dozen more have died in the minors, but none in the last 50 years. I hope not. Generally great players want to play.

That's very frustrating for me, because every time ESPN shows the Yankees it gets blacked out and I get two channels of ESPNnews.

Sal Fasano's the kind of player working class fans adore. He's slow and undisciplined at the plate, but always gives his full effore. When he was DFA'd, he spent time catching at single A Clearwater. He bails and wails, but when he tags one he can hit it as far as anyone. As for the Astros, they've got to compete with eight or so teams to win the wild card. Baseball Prospectus gives them a 3.3% chance at the postseason, basically a 33:1 shot.

I'm sorry. I just can't see Gatti as a Hall of Famer. You can't get him in by comparing his credentials to the worst Hall of Famers, and even then, Gatti never beat anyone on the level of Archie Moore.

I think Nomar Garciaparra (1 year, $6 Million) was the best value.