EVIL~! alkeiper

He seemed to lose all semblance of control. In 137.3 innings at AAA, Floyd issued 66 walks, threw 10 wild pitches, and hit 19 batters (a new club record). Floyd's strikeout rate was not particularly impressive, and the only positive was that he only allowed 11 home runs.

Robinson Tejeda will miss Sunday's start and Gavin Floyd will make the start instead. On one hand, Floyd can't find the plate and we're screwed. On the other hand, I watched Floyd make six starts live this season, and it is about time the rest of you suffered.

The only thing that gets me really upset about the gas prices is that a local station by the interstate raised their prices to $3.45 for regular, while I bought gasoline 15 miles away for $2.79 a gallon.

A hit is always better than an out, except maybe for a run-scoring sacrifice fly. The measure of a leadoff hitter is whether or not he gets on base. Almost everything after that, even stolen bases, is secondary.

Thats what someone else posted...I'm beginning to doubt it, but the link was straight to the USGS page for earthquake activity.. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> 5.0 is fairly week, especially if you're used to them.

I'm sure there are other reasons and remember, Hernandez signed with the Mariners organization in 2002, when he was just 16.

That's the nice thing about the Dodgers. Their television and radio feeds are actually simulcast.

A don't have old prospect reports available, but I do have his minor league statistics. Johnson walked 6.8 batters per nine in the minors, but struck out 9.6. His stuff was so good that he could survive in baseball with abysmal control because he was unhittable. His hit rates were consistantly low throughout his early career. Given those qualities, it is no surprise he threw a no-hitter since you can't lose one on a walk. Of course, once he harnessed his control in 1993, that was the end of anyone scoring runs off him. Usually pitchers with poor control don't find it at 29. But once in awhile it happens. As a young pitcher, Hernandez probably resembles Bert Blyleven. People don't remember that Blyleven was a great young pitcher, reaching the majors as a 19 year old. They do remember the curve though, and Hernandez features a great breaking slider of his own.

It wasn't their fault. The odds of Betancourt getting the hit was around 1 in 4, and the odds of Johnson getting the no-hitter was around 2.8765%. No-hitters aren't ruined because they're jinxed, they're ruined because they are so damned hard to get.

Jeremy Hermida becomes the second player in MLB history to hit a grand slamn in his very first at bat.

Ah yes, Galveston Texas. But that was back in 1900. It did kill 6,000, which probably puts it up top.

I don't know where that comes from. Using the 1995 World Almanac as a source, that earthquake killed around 700. A 1928 Hurricane in South Florida is estimated to have killed 1,800, Unfortunately, this could top both of them, and if it did, it could easily be the worst natural disaster in American history. Looking over all that, we've never had 5,000+ deaths from a natural disaster in this country?

Sad what qualifies as a meltdown these days.

I know conservatives will get up in arms about how much assistance we sent to the rest of the world and now they should trip over each other to run to our aid. Realistically though, our capacity to handle disasters is much greater than in the third world. It is not quite the same.

Yeah, yeah. But seriously, the early innings of a Dodgers broadcast sounds like Scully is reciting the press notes.

Congratulations to Shane Victorino for winning the International League's MVP Award.

Actually, I think using Abreu as the leadoff hitter is quite a sensible idea. Give a high OBP guy more at bats. Also, I would use Jason Michaels if there was a lefty on the mound. The main concern with the Phillies lineup is that you MUST use Burrell to break up the lefties. Otherwise, the other team can use their situational lefty and kill a late inning rally.

Vin Scully's a great announcer, but I think he recites too many statistics. That's minor though. The big problem is that when he takes a break, that pompous ass Charlie Steiner takes over.

Go ahead. Personally, I think Liebverthal's done too much for the franchise to dump on him for a bad season. Same with Bell, to a lesser extent. I'll be attending the Phillies game September 9th.

Because you've determined that Tucker can't play? Tucker owns a career .782 OPS against right handed pitching. Burrell's career OPS against righties is .805. A 23 point drop in OPS three or four games is going to ruin our pennant hopes? Burrell is going to need a day off here and there, and it's better than seeing Endy F'n Chavez as our left-handed bat off our bench. There's a difference between "spelling" and "platooning" a player.

Morgan is good at explaning what is happening on the field. For example, noting Abreu's walking lead on Sunday and that the catcher was probably warning the pitcher. As an analysist, he has gone completely insane. Dave Campbell of ESPN Radio is, to my knowledge, the best color commentator today. He used to appear on Baseball Tonight before ESPN decided that knowledge of the game was a detriment to programming.

Rule 6.08 states a runner is awarded first base when "(b) He is touched by a pitched ball which he is not attempting to hit unless (1) The ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, or (2) The batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball; If the ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a strike, whether or not the batter tries to avoid the ball. If the ball is outside the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a ball if he makes no attempt to avoid being touched."

Did anybody say anything about the distance on that sucker? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> 425 feet I think I heard.

And Ryan Howard wins tonight's "Holy Fuck" home run award.

To address the last point first, any prospect list is going to carry its uncertainties, especially in regards to pitchers. The Phillies' Robinson Tejeda was never listed on any prospect list, nor did he give any reason for it. You never know what these guys will do sometimes. Jeremy Hermida is in a word, awesome. He probably leads the minors in walks, but no one has a combined leaderboard that I know of. He does lead all of AA in On Base Percentage. The only guys who have him beat at other levels play in hitters' paradises. And on top of the hitting, Hermida has stolen 23 bases in 25 tries. He looks very, very good right now. Perhaps one of the top 5 prospects in baseball.