EVIL~! alkeiper

The game's going into the bottom of the 10th (and last) inning. This has been very enjoyable.

Actually, the World Series hasn't had two teams that played in the regular season since 2000. Its only happened twice actually, in '99 (Yankees/Braves), and 2000 (Yankees/Mets).

I'd like to point out that I was the first to fight the good fight against Scooter. Hold on there. All you did was introduce the topic, and state you got flashbacks of Fox's glowing puck. I expressed vehiment hate, before the damn thing even made the air..... http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?...alking+baseball

The Derby itself started way too late into the program. All the pre-game nonsense was bothersome. And I hate people who win contests.

I don't think it takes away from the World Series necessarily, although there is a good case for that. I object to it from the standpoint that there are too many interleague games, and they really fuck with the schedule. Its also a real drag that the Phillies only play 6-9 games against cross-state rivals the Pirates so that they can play 18 games against the AL Central, only 3 of which (Royals) hold any real interest.

There was a baseball game? I must have missed it between all the crap I was subjected to last night. Here's an idea for Fox. If you want kids to watch baseball, don't show them a talking baseball. Show them the actual game. Baseball is a terrific sport, if its left alone. There were so many stops, gaps, and breaks in the action last night that it got very tedious and boring. I was sick of the cross-promotion before the game even started.

Just because a franchise lost a good player doesn't mean it was for cost cutting purposes. I don't have relevant salary data available for Carter or Carew. I just know that they left via trade. Andre Dawson certainly wasn't a cost cutting measure. He was a casualty of collusion. He made $1,047,000 for Montreal in 1986. The next season, he signed with Chicago for $700,000. Cost cutting? Andre Dawson shoved an open contract on clubs, and dared them to sign him. He's not applicable for this example. Essentially, the '95 Labor Agreement funneled revenue sharing money to the lowest revenue teams, and the clubs in Montreal and Minnesota had no incentive to improve their teams, because the losses in revenue sharing would be more than the gain from added gate reciepts and other revenues. What interest has the Wild Card created in the game? It was instituted in 1995, and I don't recall the baseball renaissance beginning at that point. Meanwhile under Bud Selig, MLB has funneled its TV Contract to the most dispicable bastards ever to broadcast live baseball, lied to Congress, lied to the fans about finances, blackmailed cities to build new stadiums with public money, permitted a convoluted sale which permitted a scumbag owner to piss on the Montreal Expos, and continues to piss on the game of baseball. Oh yes, and he attempted to sell advertising space on the pitching rubber to a fucking movie.

Tied at 2 in the bottom of the 7th. Good pitchers' game. If the game is tied at the end of nine, they get one extra inning.

No thanks. I'm watching pure baseball on ESPN2. After the shameful presentation that Fox displayed last night, its nice to see a game that's short on hype and long on the actual game.

That Morneau is still in the minors is absolutely criminal. He is, without a doubt, twice the hitter Doug Mientkiewicz is. He's perhaps the best hitter the Twins have, either in the majors or the minors. He's hitting 305/377/615 in Rochester. He has nothing left to prove in the minors.

On another note, 2B Adam Morrissey is hitting .315 in AAA Sacramento, and OF Nick Swisher sports a .428 OBP. It'll be interesting to see if and when they show up in Oakland.

I wouldn't call that contract minimal. It runs for three years, at $21 million total. For a pitcher who's consistantly among the most overworked in baseball, its somewhat of a risk.

The Triple A All-Star game is beginning now on ESPN2. There's an interesting group of players, featuring some A level prospects (Justin Morneau in particular), some lesser prospects, and some journeymen like Trenidad Hubbard, Ernie Young, Lou Collier, and Jamey Wright. Other notable players include Dave Williams, Calvin Pickering, Dan Haren, Clint Barnes, Ben Hendrickson, Geronimo Gil, Jhonny Peralta, and Corey Hart.

ESPN stopped doing Sports Journalism a long time ago. Its sad that they essentially control the sports news market at this point.

Yes. The Twins somehow kept Shannon Stewart after trading Matt Lawton midway through the 2001 season. Teams trade players all the time, and I have NEVER heard of a player refusing to sign with a team because that team traded a player midseason. It also needs to be remembered that this is all based on idle speculation, of a trade rumor not involving any other team, or any other player. We get hundreds of trade rumors ever year, of which about 1% go through. Its utterly stupid to make assumptions of organizations based on trade rumors.

Ok, I'll take into account what else you have to say...... It's bullshit. Players don't make personnel decisions based on whatever mid-season trades teams made last season. When has a player ever said, "Well, they made a terrific offer, but they traded Toolsy McClutch last year, so I don't trust them."? Players have learned long ago that baseball is a business, and teams do whatever is in their best interests to win. If (hypothetical), Livan Hernandez were dealt, I'd look at that team and say, "this is an organization that cares about winning more than it cares about keeping a few people happy." And that's the kind team who decides its time to show Brad Ausmus the door. And that team will win games.

I'd buy a Wrigley Field 100th Anniversery All-Star game.

So now idle speculation equals solid fact? Any GM worth his salt will trade a player like Hernandez IF a suitable trade comes his way. But I don't think the Expos are actively shopping Livan.

That's 29.1%, and its a big drop from his previous totals. The worst catchers in the league only catch about 20% of basestealers. That means Ausmus has added a grand total of 5 outs thanks to his runner-killing abilities. No way that makes up for a .292 OBP.

I don't believe it. Understand when I refer to tipping pitches, it refers to pitchers falling into a predictable pattern. For example, a pitcher will shake his head once to agree with a fastball, and again to agree with location. If he doesn't shake his head twice, its a breaking pitch, because those aren't located. So the batter (or team) figures out the pattern, and they know what is coming. Notice both home runs came on sliders. As for the trade, it'd be a bad trade for the Sox. They're third in runs allowed, just three runs behind the A's for the lead in the AL. They don't need pitching. Hell, they're only five runs behind the Texas Rangers for the lead for runs scored. If the Sox simply stand pat, they're in good shape. They don't need anyone.

I'm currently going around my leagues looking to make trade offers. I'm open to offers as well.

Note to players in the AL/NL Only Leagues. If a player is traded to the other league, he no longer accumulates statistics for your team. You can keep him on your fantasy team, but he won't accumulate stats unless he's traded back to the league.

Personally, I think the problem was Piazza. He and Clemens probably worked out a simplistic sign system, and Clemens ended up tipping his pitches. Just my theory. I can't imagine a pitcher like Clemens collapsing. Nothing. 116 Ks and just 27 walks in 130 2/3 innings. He's given up just seven home runs despite playing in a hitters' park. By any measure other than hits allowed, he's among the best in the league.

Bagwell isn't the Astros problem right now. His OPS is 818. Ken Harvey's OPS is 805, and he's considered a success. Here are their problems, the way I see it..... 1. Unacceptable offense from two positions, catcher and shortstop. Adam Everett (257/296/343) and Brad Ausmus (237/292/314) are absolutely dragging this team's offense. There are probably ten guys in AAA who could outhit Brad Ausmus. The Astros need to face facts and find a new catcher. 2. Andy Pettitte has been a relative bust. He's missed half the season so far, forcing the Astros to reach deeper into their pitching depth. 3. That aforementioned pitching depth isn't there. The Astros cast aside extra starters such as Jerome Robertson and Kirk Saarloos. Tim Redding has pitched horribly this season. Brandon Duckworth has given up 10 home runs in less than 30 innings. An injury to Wade Miller exacerbates the rotation's problems. 4. A complete lack of organizational depth. Only Chris Burke and Taylor Buchholz raise eyebrows. The Astros need to fill those black holes in their lineup, and find an innings eater starter.

MLB Radio will air the Astros announcement live at 2pm.