EVIL~! alkeiper

Dan Uggla got a nice ovation for both of his two assists.

Something I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned yet. With the trade of Joe Blanton, every player from the A's first round in 2002 (the "Moneyball" Class) is now out of the Oakland organization. Nick Swisher, Blanton and Mark Teahen were all traded. Jeremy Brown made it to the majors before retiring. Ben Fritz made it to AAA (he's now pitching for AA Erie). Stephen Obenchain and John McCurdy topped out at AA and are out of the organized minors. The only player from that draft class with the big club is Brad Ziegler, who they did not actually sign. He was re-drafted next year by the Phils, dropped into Indy ball, and was picked up by the A's. One notable player who did not sign was Jon Papelbon. He was a 40th round pick but elected to return to college. Eight pitchers from the draft played in the majors this year. Swisher, Blanton, Teahen, Jared Burton (Reds), J.R. Towles (Astros), Ziegler, Papelbon and Ty Taubenheim. The 2002 Oakland class ranked by Win Shares: 1. Nick Swisher (62) 2. Mark Teahen (54) 3. Jonathan Papelbon (41) 4. Joe Blanton (41) 5. Jared Burton (13) 6. J.R. Towles (5) 7. Brad Ziegler (3) 8. Ty Taubenheim (2) Three players signed and became regulars in the majors. That's really not a bad record at all.

Doug's son? Yes. He's out with Tommy John surgery, but set to return soon.

Not if you're looking for pitching, which all of the major deals have involved.

You're not supposed to have Backlash or a Raw episode at this time.

I worked out the Phils' new top ten prospects. 1. Carlos Carrasco, RHP 2. Lou Marson, C 3. Kyle Drabek, RHP 4. Joe Savery, LHP 5. Dominic Brown, OF 6. Jason Donald, SS/IF 7. Greg Golson, OF 8. Travis D'Arnaud, C 9. Edgar Garcia, RHP 10. Freddy Galvis, SS Just missed: J.A. Happ, LHP; Drew Naylor, RHP; Antonio Bastardo, LHP; Andrew Carpenter, RHP

That seems like a dead end. Phils have no holes in the outfield, unless their intent is to ditch Burrell after the season.

Gah! Seriously, Adrian Cardenas? For Joe F'n Blanton?

Let's see. Jason Donald, Greg Golson and Lou Marson are still in Reading's lineup. Cardenas would suck. Not that he's untouchable, but he could have attracted a better pitcher, IMO. Edit: Outman too? Jeez, I hope the Phillies have a good supply of lube.

Source? it was just on espn news Anyone know the players going to Oakland?

Source?

The Richie Sexson signing indicates to me that Shelley Duncan's shoulder injury is season ending. It's funny that I've heard no news of that. Eric Milton is a AAA Yankee? Dear lord.

1. 1992 was really the last great War Games. Some of the last ones were downright mediocre. 2. WarGames is not as simple as setting up a cage. You need two rings, that involves changing a lot of things around. The rest of the card has to work around the format, and one side of ringside can not see matches in the other ring as well. The production people may have found it's just not worth the trouble. Honestly, I've found the concept a little overrated. Most of the matches barely clear 20 minutes. 1996 had a good concept with Sting but the rest of the match felt flat. 1993 was awful. I refuse to even call 1998 and 2000 honest War Games matches.

One of my great frustrations in watching a Vince Russo booked promotion is a match where the rules change to suit the booking. Let's take a look at War Games 2000. Sting and Jeff Jarrett start off for their respective teams. Of course the matchup states that one wrestler must win the title, this negating the team concept right off the bat. And Jarrett had to wrestle two matches already; evil commissioners I guess. Steiner is out next. Within the concept of the rules, the three are not doing a bad job of things. Next is Kronic, both of them. Steiner gets to the second level, and has bolt cutters?! Nice crack from the announcers. What can be more dangerous than Scott Steiner with a pair of bolt cutters? A microphone. Kronic makes it to the second cage. Here comes Vince Russo in hockey helmet and jersey, with the Harris Brothers. Joy. The Harris's climb the outside of the cage. They invade the second level of the cage and fight Brian Adams and Bryan Clark. Sting takes the opportunity to beat up Vince Russo. Of course Russo can not sell properly, so he makes Sting's offense look like a joke. Kevin Nash is out, the present World Champion. Russo makes it right back up of course, because you can do that after you have been in the Scorpion Deathlock for over a minute. The Harris Boys and Kronic are now brawling outside the cage, on the floor. Booker comes out as Russo's team argues amongst themselves. You know what would make this match better? If it were a four on four competition. It's essentially four on two with Booker T and Sting on the floor. "Boring" chant from the crowd, with good reason. Or maybe they are chanting Goldberg. Ah, there we go. Baseball bat from Russo puts Goldberg down. And now he's handcuffed to the ropes. This was a recurring problem for WCW. Sometimes, the fans want the FACES to look good. Steiner and Sting are on the second level as well. Steiner is on the outside, using the cage door to his advantage. So you can leave the cage, essentially. Remember that. Booker climbs the outside of the cage to the roof of the top level, and acquires the belt. He has to get past Jeff Jarrett, and he strikes Jarrett with the belt. Next he strikes Steiner with the belt. Let's pause the action a moment. Booker T has the belt. From where I sit, he has two options. A: He can attempt to fight his way past the heels going through the cage. Kevin Nash is standing at the door waiting for him. B: He can climb down the outside of the goddamn cage. Since this is Vince Russo booking, Booker must take option A, the option that makes less sense but is necessary to fulfill the tired and retarded booking. Of course, Sting is handcuffed, and Scott Steiner gets ahold of the belt on the second level. Steiner drops the belt to Vince Russo on the fist level. The Cat interferes and KO's Russo. It would be great if you could somehow lock a steel cage. Nash knocks down Cat, people attack one another, Goldberg breaks the cuffs and gets the belt. Of course, Bret Hart has to slam the door on Goldberg's head. The heels argue over who gets the belt. It was a SWERVE~! Russo hands the belt to Kevin Nash who walks out the door for the win. Let's review again. Vince Russo is the booker and on-screen power. He wants Kevin Nash to retain the World Title. He can... A. Book a convoluted War Games match with stupid rules. Make it a three-tiered cage, fill the second with weapons, hang the belt 50 feet above the ring, allow nine people to enter the match and get three people to interfere on his behalf. B. Not book Kevin Nash in a title match at all. This is generally why I refuse to watch a Vince Russo promotion today. Nothing means anything, except the crap Russo is throwing against the wall this match to get someone to take notice. Terrible.

Was McDougal one of them? My next player is a left fielder who was better than Jim Rice, dammit. Roy White produced OBPs of .380-.390 in his prime seasons. He stole 233 bases in his career, and had a fair bit of power for a righty in that ballpark. He pushes Keller to the DH role, and occupies either the 1st or 2nd slot in the lineup.

I wake up for work at 6am. Many games end past midnight, even games played in the eastern time zone. That's galling, and unnecessary. Here's where it gets frustrating. The Pacific side needing to get home from work, that has merit. But they do the 8:30 start times on Saturday and Sunday! There is no reason a weekend game can not start at a more reasonable hour. The Super Bowl starts at 6:30, and they certainly have no problem attracting viewers. Personally, I find baseball much more entertaining the less people are interested in it. All-Star game? It'll start at 8:45, broadcast by Fox, announced by Buck and McCarver, and tickets start at several hundred dollars apiece. NY-Penn League? Doubleheader starts at 6, you can walk up and buy a grandstand ticket for $5, and they actually assign two players to the concourse to sign autographs pre-game. It's no contest.

Gil McDougald A utility infielder who spent time at third, second and shortstop, fielding well at all three positions. (Casey Stengel loved moving his players around.) McDougald hit .276/.356/.410 in ten seasons for the Yankees. He made five all star teams and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1951. Yankee Stadium killed his home run power. He hit 56 home runs from 1956-60, only 12 of them at home. While McDougald can play three infield positions, I anticipate making him my starting third baseman.

WarGames '98 actually wasn't that bad for awhile. Once Hogan entered and they did the Warrior crap, THAT completely sank the match.

Thanks for the heads up. I usually miss these things.

It's all better now! I'll take a positive over a negative any day of the week.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1365 The U.S. Olympic roster was announced. Congrats to Phillies' prospects Lou Marson and Jason Donald for making the club. Of course, I think it's 50/50 at best that Donald is still a Phillie by then.

The All-Star game itself was awesome. My only complaint is the start time. Pitcher usage, I don't think you can reasonably criticize managers for not having a contingency plan in case the game goes 16 innings. That never happens.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/16/markets/oi...sion=2008071615 Oil is down $10 a barrel the last two days.

I'm pretty sure Arn was legit hurt at the time.

You get into dicey territory because obviously no pitcher is perfect. I don't know how Podsednik took him deep. Game four Lidge got beat by two singles, and he came back for a scoreless ninth. Game three he was outstanding. None of them were games he obviously should have won.