EVIL~! alkeiper

VICTORINO~! The Flyin' Hawai'ian is clutch.

Giants/Phillies has become a battle of attrition. Moises Alou was carted off earlier, and now Pat Burrell is hurt.

Someone tell Jolly Cholly that it's no longer 2001, and it's not like Gavin Floyd is getting everyone else in the lineup out.

Gavin Floyd vs. Barry Bonds tonight. Bonds has an excellent chance at #713.

What would you give up for Craig Wilson. From what I heard, the Pirates turned down a deal for John Thomson.

Since I did the blog, Michael Bourn has raised his batting average over 50 points. He is now hitting .286.

Around the All-Star break, if possible. The potential problem is that they might not leave him at a level long enough for him to learn what happens when hitters adjust to his pure stuff. You want to get a few starts to get a better picture. But if the Phils are desperate for pitching, it probably wouldn't hurt to bring him up. I will say I wouldn't do it before June 1st at the earliest.

VICTORINO~!

The tickets for the Lakewood/Delmarva game are $14 for field level, $20 for diamond club.

I disagree on the Moussoui comment. After all, how much do we really hear about Ted Kuszinski nowadays? It's going to take a major ideological shift to get Moussoui any kind of favorable treatment.

I'm giving very serious consideration to attending that game, seeing how I do not have work or school, and tickets will be much less expensive than usual for those seats. It's a good opportunity really, especially if you have never been to the park.

I need to catch myself sometimes. 19th Century teams are rarely used. Usually I'll run '06 or something shorthand for a 20th century club, and spell out the year from 2000 onward. Luckily there aren't any good post-2000 Cubs teams to confuse anyone.

The record for consecutive scoreless innings is 59, set by Orel Hershiser in 1988. That one's fairly recent and famous. As far as batter/pitcher matchups, Nick Altrock at 57 years old pitched against Rube Walberg at 37 years old, a combined age of 94.

On a final note, I'm headed up to Scranton tonight. Instead of Cole Hamels, I get to see the Indians' top pitching prospect, Jeremy Sowers, take the mound for Buffalo tonight.

Here's my opening ballot... A.L. 1B: David Ortiz, Bos 2B: Placido Polanco, Det SS: Miguel Tejada, Balt 3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY C: Victor Martinez, Cle OF: Vladimir Guerrero, LAA OF: Manny Ramirez, Bos OF: Gary Sheffield, NYY Most of these are self-explanatory. Placido Polanco nearly led the Majors in batting average last year. I'm weary about Brian Roberts being a one-year wonder, and Robinson Cano isn't quite established. I am VERY unsure about the pick, and might switch it to Luis Castillo if he's still hitting .330 or higher next month. N.L. 1B: Albert Pujols, StL 2B: Chase Utley, Phi SS: Rafael Furcal, LAD 3B: David Wright, NYM C: Paul Lo Duca, NYM OF: Jason Bay, Pit OF: Bobby Abreu, Phi OF: Brian Giles, SD I do not look at current statistics when I fill out my ballot. A hot start might get my attention, but I am more concerned about what a player did in 2005 and to a lesser extent 2004. Now understand I am NOT advocating the election of washed up stars to the event. Rather, players should have established themselves as stars, and not just flashes in the pan. A player should have some name value, although that is not necessary. It helps in a case such as the NL catchers' spot where there are really no standouts. Some fans fret about popular players being elected to the game. It is a small problem, but it is not really that big a deal. Any group of voters, be it fans, players, coaches or the media, are going to make some stupid decisions. The players voted some bad players as reserves. The coaches make bad votes on Gold Glove awards. The media makes bad MVP decisions. If we are going to see mistakes, I would rather see a bad choice that at least fans want to see. The biggest problem the All-Star voting has is the outfielders. The AL's best three are Sheffield, Guerrero and Ramirez. That's an awful defense. It is about time MLB started separating the outfielders into three separate categories: left, center and right. The balloting should require a center fielder directly voted into the starting lineup on each side. After all, wouldn't it be silly to vote for four infielders and stuff Pujols, Helton, Howard and Delgado in? Of course.

The big problem with that whole excuse is that it should be Dusty's responsibility to FIND a damned LH batting practice pitcher. Or they could make Matt Murton (.400/.500/.600 against lefties this month) a roving batting instructor. Actually, the big problem is that they have several left handed hitters (Pierre, Jones, Walker, Mabry) in their lineup. While Jacque Jones is an extreme example, most lefties have a lot of trouble facing left handed hitters. The real problem is that their big right handed power bat is out. None of that is Dusty's fault, ultimately.

There's always hand wringing this time of year. Remember how I pointed out Jeter's stats in an earlier thread? To give another example, in June of 2005 Zambrano posted a 5.79 ERA, with 26 strikeouts and 17 walks in 28 innings. He somehow went 2-1 over that stretch. The point is that players have bad weeks and months all the time. We only notice it now because they haven't had a chance to pad their records with a period of good play.

I'm closing this. The idea of site feedback is that posters can bring legitimate concerns and questions to the TSM forum. We have other places where posters can goof around and be silly.

Next round, 16 teams remaining. Each team plays a three game series against one opponent, with the winners advancing. The former team listed in each set gets home field, while the latter team gets home field advantage for the next two games. 1921 New York Giants vs. 1906 Chicago Cubs '21 Giants 6, '06 Cubs 2 '06 Cubs 5, '21 Giants 3 '06 Cubs 5, '21 Giants 0 1906 Chicago Cubs win series 2-1 1924 Washington Senators vs. 1929 Philadelphia Athletics '29 Athletics 5, '24 Senators 4 '29 Athletics 7, '24 Senators 6 (10 Innings) 1929 Philadelphia Athletics win series 2-0 1962 San Francisco Giants vs. 1953 New York Yankees '53 Yankees 2, '62 Giants 1 '62 Giants 6, '53 Yankees 2 '62 Giants 12, '53 Yankees 5 1962 San Francisco Giants win series 2-1 1961 New York Yankees vs. 1939 New York Yankees '39 Yankees 5, '61 Yankees 0 '39 Yankees 5, '61 Yankees 3 1939 New York Yankees win series 2-0 1980 Kansas City Royals vs. 1980 Philadelphia Phillies '80 Royals 4, '80 Phillies 3, 10 Innings '80 Royals 8, '80 Phillies 1 1980 Kansas City Royals win series 2-0 1977 New York Yankees vs. 1975 Cincinnati Reds '77 Yankees 2, '75 Reds 1 '75 Reds 5, '77 Yankees 4 '77 Yankees 7, '75 Reds 3 1977 New York Yankees win series 2-1 1988 Oakland Athletics vs. 1998 New York Yankees '88 Athletics 2, '98 Yankees 1, 11 Innings '98 Yankees 3, '88 Athletics 2 '88 Athletics 10, '98 Yankees 1 1988 Oakland Athletics win series 2-1 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks vs. 1995 Cleveland Indians '95 Indians 5, '01 Diamondbacks 4 '95 Indians 2, '01 Diamondbacks 1 1995 Cleveland Indians win series 2-0

It's almost a crime what Florida is doing this year. There have been some nice performances so far from Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and Randy Messenger, but the team as a whole is a mess. The defense is awful. The myth about the 1962 Mets is that they were fun to watch despite the losses. It's not.

Good lord Bruiser, they're 14-11!

His first SWB home start will likely be this Sunday, but I'll have work. I could probably make his second start on Friday the 12th. The Red Barons' consecutive scoreless innings record is 29 1/3 (set by Tim Mauser in 1991). I'd like to see Hamels take a shot at that. Hamels already holds the Barons' single game record for strikeouts by a lefty. I have already seen Hamels make a AA start in Binghamton though, so it wouldn't be a complete loss if he got called up.

Hamels: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks, 89 pitches. Edit: Final Line, 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 Ks, 114 pitches. That's 26 strikeouts in 16 AAA innings with one walk, five hits, no runs allowed, and a 2-0 record for his efforts. I think the Phils' should leave Hamels in AAA through the next homestand and evaluate him from there. Obviously though I want to see him make a start in Scranton in person. I honestly can not remember the Red Barons' EVER having a pitching prospect of this caliber come through.

Cole Hamels' line so far: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 Ks. I'm worried about the lower strikeout rate. Clearly AAA batters are catching up with him.

Phillies' fans (and other interested parties), Cole Hamels takes the mound for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre today at 2pm ET in Richmond, and the audio is available online at redbarons.com.