EVIL~! alkeiper

It's not like Schilling has a 4.75 ERA. He is legitimately the 2nd best pitcher in the American League this season. Besides, Schilling is an old teammate of Kruk, so of course Kruk is going to support the reasoning that favors Schilling. And it is worth remembering that Kruk doesn't have a vote

Because what a tead did 5-10 years ago has surprisingly little bearing on what happens this year.

With today's loss, Philly is six games out. I think the dream is over. The Rangers are officially finished if they lose tonight.

Max, that was great.

For the three people that care, here are some odds I've worked out for the postseason, assuming it began today..... StL 24.32% Bos 23.95% Atl 16.13% LA 10.68% Oak 8.80% NY 8.33% Min 3.89% SF 3.89%

And the Sox are not being shutout anymore. Trot Nixon's HR made it 5-2 in the eighth.

Losing 5-0 to Scott Kazmir is a step up from losing 17-8 to Brian Anderson. The Sox are still 4 games ahead in the wild card race. The Chicago/Minnesota game was looking like a pitchers' duel, but the Twins exploded for nine runs. My fantasy team is liking this.

As always, great job on creating a fun, unique, and useful database. Kudos.

Buck O'Neill sighting at the Royals/Yankees game

It should be noted here that the fan that got hit with the chair was a female fan located behind the fans arguing with the Rangers' bullpen. As far as I could tell from the video, she was not actively harassing the players. And as bravesfan stated, Francisco was arrested, and indications are he will be charged with aggregated battery. I think the US Court System will do more with this case than MLB needs to.

This is the big week. My team against the Chicago White Sux. This time I have a plan. ONLY Johan Santana and Pedro Martinez will pitch.

I've grown tired of these shows. Its just shouting and more shouting nowadays. I'd like to see a more intelligent point/counterpoint show, where the guests strive for more than just quoting tired cliches.

Tomorrow Zach Greinke starts for the Royals against the Yankees and Mike Mussina. That's a classic veteran vs. rookie matchup, and should be fun to watch. Greinke is a phenom.

Today we've got nothing terribly exciting, unless you count the Expos vs. Marlins in Chicago.

I can't believe I forgot the Air Bud series. Every time I look there is another made-for-tv movie on the shelves.

There's a commercial that deals with this. Cheer for both teams, and when called on it, simply explain that player X is on your fantasy football team.

Pavano ranks 5th in Win Shares, and 6th in pitching Win Shares. The talking heads have begun to notice, so he does have a shot. His winning it will depend on whether the Marlins win the wild card. If they miss the playoffs, he has no shot.

NY Giants @ Philadelphia Atlanta @ San Francisco Dallas @ Minnesota

Oakland @ Pittsburgh Seattle @ New Orleans Cincinnati @ NY Jets San Diego @ Houston Jacksonville @ Buffalo Detroit @ Chicago Baltimore @ Cleveland Tampa Bay @ Washington Arizona @ St. Louis

"I don't care if he doesn't have 'intangibles'. That sucker can hit!"

On the subject of Rivera. Sometimes ERA can be misleading. We can use component ERA which estimates ERA based on peripherals. It is not a replacement for ERA, just a different look. Rivera's is 2.42, down from 2.29 last season. He is pitching worse than he was a year ago. But its all really quite silly. Rivera has allowed more baserunners this season. How many? About four. He is still very, very good.

I can see it. Loretta is playing Gold Glove caliber defense at second base while hitting .346 and slugging .518. His side-by-side hitting stats may not look impressive at first, but you have to remember that Petco Park is the most extreme pitchers' park in the Majors. Loretta's hitting statistics become more valuable in such a scarce hitting environment.

NL MVP 1. Barry Bonds, SF 2. Scott Rolen, StL 3. Albert Pujols, StL 4. Jim Edmonds, StL The same goes for the Cardinals. Rolen ahead of Pujols? Just the thought of that is absurd. Again, fielding counts in these things. Win Shares credits Pujols with 33.3 hitting shares, and 2.0 shares for his fielding. Rolen gets 31.0 hitting shares, and 5.4 fielding shares. Thus Rolen edges Pujols 36.4 to 35.3.

Because those teams don't exist in a world where A-Rod was the only difference with the same 24 other players every year. The Rangers improved because their pitching went from BAD (5.67 ERA), to respectable (4.50 ERA). Last season they had only three starters collect ERAs under SIX. That's why Texas sucked before this year. Their offense was always good, but they couldn't pitch. Likewise, the Yankees lost Clemens and Pettitte, and Vazquez and Brown haven't filled the void. Are their failures Rodriguez's fault?

Well, it's understandable, I guess... I honestly have no clue. While his hitting stats are down, they are still good. 285/373/512. He also plays gold glove defense, and he gets credit for 23 steals while getting caught only 4 times. The system doesn't only use base hitting statistics.