EVIL~! alkeiper

You forgot to mention fielding. The Yankees have the worst defense in professional baseball, and because of that they allow more runs than they should. Are the Orioles for real? You bet your ass they are. This is a team with the best run differential in the A.L. East, and a 4.5 game lead. The Yankees are aging fast, and the Red Sox are without Schilling until July. The Orioles can very well win this division.

As an aside, I really wish MLB would start making distinctions on center fielders on the All-Star ballot.

Hogan/JYD versus the Funks and Putski/Brody make this a good set from my end. DOesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for the Miss Hancock character. WWE REALLY needs to dress Stacy in that outfit again.

She is. Her father was the late Leroy McGuirk, a former NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion. He quit wrestling when he lost his sight, and became a respected promoter. He's in the WON Hall of Fame.

I would give Graves the benefit of the doubt. There's a difference for a flyball pitcher in Cincinnati and one in Miami.

John Ruiz's claim as "champion" is as legitimate as my own. He has now lost his ABC title three times, yet he is still there.

I'd put that in the "difficult but possible" category.

I think the original plan was to move one to third base, but Koskie throws a wrench in that plan. On the whole though, having two MLB caliber shortstops is a nice problem to have.

I think the spirit of the accomplishment holds. Players at that age have no control over their destiny. We want to think players are loyal. A traded prospect does not cross that line in any manner. At the age of 40 no less. Just goes to show how long knuckleballers can last. What I find interesting is only three of Niekro's games ended with a no decision.

He had one MVP award which he didn't deserve. He never won a ring. He was always a borderline elite player, rather than a truly great one, even in his own time. Sure he was a star in Utah, but over the scope of the existence of the NBA, he's nowhere close to being the second greatest scorer of all time. Truly great? Definitely. Elite? Perhaps. Second greatest scorer of all time, even if it is statistcially true? No freakin way. Well, it depends on how you evaluate things. Is the simple count of points scored an indicator of who is the greatest scorer? I doubt it. We're not talking about how great Malone is. We're talking about how likely someone is to break the points record. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record with 38,387, and it took him 20 years to reach it. Malone missed it by just over a thousand, playing for 19 years at what we can at least agree was an All-Star level. Number three is Jordan, and he missed the record by 6,000. Jordan, Magic, Bird, Chamberlain, Erving, Oscar Robertson, Reggie Miller, and many many others. All these players, the greatest scorers in NBA history, have yet to come close to the award. Regardless of Malone's status, the award is Kareem's, and it is going to be difficult to break.

He was in their farm system, merely a AA prospect when he was traded. He never played for the big club. In terms of abilty, no. But all those other players did not score as many points as Malone did. Which leads me to believe the record is not so easy to achieve. Malone wasn't the greatest player, but he was one of the most durable players in NBA history.

Well, the next best streak is 44, set by Wee Willie Keeler in the 1890s, and Pete Rose in the 1970s. The era has little to do with it. Dimaggio's streak is a freak occurance. It is so outside the curve of baseball performance that it is completely unexplanable by mere statistics. Malone was mediocre?

I could actually find quite a few examples of starters coming out of the bullpen. Grover Alexander is the most famous example, but teams did not carry specialized relievers in those days. It used to happen all the time, and the only reason it stopped was because of the rise of the closer's role.

I hope not. I want to see managers put their closers in challenging situations and not adhere too stringedly to only using closers in "save" situations.

I fucking pray that you're a gimmick poster ... did the NHL pick him as the poster boy when he was lighting up leagues as a preteen? And during his teenage years? And in the WHA? Was it all an elaborate ruse, planned a decade+ in advance in order to raise the NHL to the ranking of "4th major sport" in North America? And did every goalie just allow his shots to go in, or the shots of players that he passed to? Nice fucking acting, looking like they're trying to make saves while purposely letting goals in. I wish this conversation was in Hardcore Discussion so I could call you a dumbass ... but it's not, so I can't. Go ahead. You have mod permission on this one.

Let's see.... http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?...dpost&p=1808439 "Dan Kolb earned the "proven closer" tag, despite a non-existant K rate, and a 4.88 Post All-Star break ERA. The Brewers did well to trade Kolb while his value was high." -Me, March 18

Give me a General Manager who makes personnel decisions based on 100-200 at bats, and I'll show you a 100 loss team. I am not choosing my starters based on who had good years two or three years ago. I am choosing based on who are the BEST players currently. Tino has four more home runs than Teixeira. Teixeira hit 15 more home runs than Tino last year. Do those four home runs really make Tino a better hitter than Teixeira? It is unlikely thatt Martinez will outhomer Teixeira by July, let alone the entire season. I do not make selections based on miniscule sample sizes, and I apologize if I am not sold on Martinez just yet. The ballot is drawn up before the season, based on projected starters. That's why you see elite players like Koyie Hill and Alex Sanchez. Bonds on the ballot can't be helped, and for all anyone knew when drawing up the ballot, Bonds could have been back by May.

No.

Do you have any substantial proof or examples to back up your point, or are you just shouting out of your ass? We hold a higher standard of argumentation in this forum.

The real problem is that a punchless middle infielder is playing left field in the first place. They could call up any outfielder from Colombus and get better production.

Marlon Byrd went 3-4 with a double last night. Some broadcaster commented on how the change of scenery seems to have helped. Of course, having a manager who will pencil you in the starting lineup, leave you there, and not trade you for Endy F'n Chavez seems to help as well.

There's a law that both players have to play at the same time? Well, because Giambi HAS to get these ABS in to see if he can still hit, which he hasn't shown, Womack, whos hitting over .300 on the trip has to sit. and because Giambi can't play D for his life, he HAS to DH, which means Bernie has to play center. Here's a crazy thought. Since Matsui is a better defender than Bernie, they could play MATSUI in center, and move Bernie to left. Of course, these are also the same minds who thought Jeter was a better shortstop than Alex Rodriguez.

There's a law that both players have to play at the same time?

I agree with this one. Terry Norris looked like a hell of a fighter, and he completely fell off the map in an instant.

Sure they do. You've already mentioned Derek Jeter. The record though is at least 23 seasons, and I think either Carl Yastrzemski or Stan Musial has it. Who else could you think of that may challenge that record? No one at the moment. The problem is not only staying with one team, but being good enough to even play for 23 seasons.