Cheech Tremendous

No one in their right mind would start Gary Payton over Luke Ridnour. At this stage in his career, Payton is not a starting PG.

What an idiot. Just makes him look worse.

Also, Wes Littleton "earned" a save in last night's 30-3 blowout.

List is okay. I don't like Parker over Keith Hernandez or Morgan over Mazeroski.

Teams that overperform almost always regress. The question is whether they regress to the point where the Padres can make up 3.5 games. They could, but I don't get the sense that the Pads are that dominant. I don't necesarily agree with this. While the general rule dictates that teams regress to their true talent level (i.e. pythagorean record), most good teams outperform their expected win-loss and most bad teams underperform. There are several reasons why this happens. Teams with strong bullpens generally do better than expected because they win close games at a higher than normal rate. Second, teams that rely on young players and good organizational depth (e.g. the Braves) can overperform because their run scoring isn't normally distributed. They have the ability to make themselves better during pockets of the season than their previous underlying statistics might suggest. Therefore run differential maybe significant in one portion of the season but not enough to balance their earlier performance. The D'backs probably fall into that second category of team. Here's why I don't expect them to regress: The team is about 10 games over the pythagorean record right now. However, all those wins are banked alreay, so to speak. There is nothing in their current performance that would suggest they might start underperforming down the stretch. As long they play as an average to above average ballclub it won't necessarily matter that they have a better record than they should because they'd actually have to start underperforming to lose those "credited" wins.

I'd wager that he has been hurt and that mostly explains his bad performance. Some reporter asked him a couple weeks ago if he was hurt and Jennings replied "I don't know." Good pitchers rarely become that bad overnight. His ERA+ was 127 last year with a 142/85 K/BB ratio. His ERA by month this year goes 3.00, 0.00, 4.42, 11.35, 8.06. Looks like something went wrong earlier this summer. He may not be the #2 starter he looked like after last season, but the Astros could do worse than re-signing him for next year. They'll probably be able to get him on the cheap given recent performance and perceived injury risk.

Well despite being a wrestling fan, I also have good taste in clothes. I'd never be caught dead in any of that shit, even if I liked the guy. Don't know how old some of you are, but I'm in my late 20s and I dress appropriately for that stage of my life. I have no interest wearing a cartoonish picture of some greased up guy in his underwear.

Austin 3:16 and nWo were the only good wrestling shirts ever made because they were simple designs. They were cool because no one knew they were wrestling shirts. Every once in a while there is a passable one made, but it's very rare. Personally, I wouldn't be caught dead in a wrestling shirt.

Not that I want to hone in on Al's thread, but steals can actually be very valuable. However, the risk associated with a steal often outweighs the reward. Generally, even guys like Rickey Henderson add little to their team's offensive output with their steals. I don't want to take the time to reproduce run expectancy tables, but basically run probability is very high with a runner on first base and no outs. It's slightly higher with a runner on second and no outs, but much, much worse with no one on and one out. Unless you are stealing at an 80% clip, it's usually damaging to your team. It all depends on context, your team's offense, who's batting, etc.

Didn't DeShawn Stevenson bag himself a 14-year-old a few years back and getting her drunk?

There are a lot of non-conventional MVP candidates in the NL this year. Eric Byrnes is leading the league in Win Shares and plays for the best team in the league, but he doesn't have any flashy numbers that entice voters. Ryan Braun probably has the best performance and plays for a potential division winner, but he missed a good chunk of the season. Cabrera and Hanley are the two best players, but they play for a mediocre team. Bonds played himself out of the race during his home run chase. Utley had the best all-around case, but now he's injured. I guess Fielder and Holliday are probably in the running as well given their "power" stats. The last six weeks will go a long way in deciding the winner.

Chris Mortensen reported this afternoon that Michael Vick had no idea how serious these charges were until a few weeks ago. It wasn't until he was barred from coming to camp that he realized the severity of the situation. Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw had to help him get legal counsel. If that's true, Vick must be living in some place other than reality.

I'm guessing that the prosecution will ask for a 12-18 month sentence. The judge will likely go for 18 months, maybe even tacking on an additional six. Somewhere around 1.5 - 2 years in prison. As for the NFL, Goodell will lay down an indefinite suspension that will last during the prison term. Once his term ends, he'll have a meeting with Vick to work out some sort of rehabilitation plan. At that point, he'll administer his own punishment. Probably a year based on the precedent set by previous cases. All in all, that will put him out the leage for 3 years. Someone will probably take a chance on him later on. But he'll be 31 years old by that time. His days as an NFL-caliber QB will be over. Let's face it, he's not really a skilled QB right now. I'd hate to see what he'll look like when his legs are gone and he hasn't seen NFL defenses in 3 years. He'll get a shot as a WR or punt returner somewhere.

Please be joking... Do you have a better choice? As a Red Sox fan, I have a certain love-hate relationship with Francona, but I respect the fact that he's taken a team that is just a little better than average to the best record in baseball 120 games into the season. By pythagorean records, they should be behind the Yankees right now, not 4 games up. They've flourished despite shoddy production from Lugo, Drew and Crisp for most of the season. He stuck with Pedroia when he looked completely lost as a major leaguer. The bullpen, which was one of the worst in the AL on paper, has dominated. If Seattle didn't have the mid-season switch, Mike Hargrove would've been my choice. No other performance jumps out in the AL. Most of the good teams have underperformed relative to their talent. I basically have Francona, Wedge and Scioscia in a dead heat, with Tito getting the nod because of the better overall record.

AL MVP: A-Rod AL Cy: Johan Santana AL ROY: Dice-K Matsuzaka AL MOY: Tito Francona NL MVP: Hanley Ramirez NL Cy: Jake Peavy NL ROY: Ryan Braun NL MOY: Manny Acta

That is all he is worth a PTBNL? FWIW, there's a rumor that it's Jon Rauch, who has some decent value as a bullpen arm. The whole player to be named thing is being use because the traded player in question is currently on the 40-man roster and thus can't be moved to the Red Sox without clearing waivers first.

Matt Bush needs Tommy John surgery.

You do make a lot of good points about media perception and the inherent bias that comes with their coverage. But I think much of your point of view is hurt by living in Atlanta where Vick is a controversial figure. And without trying to race bait, I think a lot of your perecption is hurt because you are black and there are so many problems in this country with race relations. But there is an obvious difference in where we are getting our news from and how we interpret media coverage. From my point of view, Kobe was dragged through the streets and spit on all along the way. I remember him being guilty from the moment that story broke. He lost all his endorsements and was basically barred from the public images of the NBA. I still don't think he's recovered and that story's been dead for what, 3 years now? When the Michael Vick story broker, it was "Dog fighting at house owned by Vick." It seemed like it took quite a while before he started being linked to the story. And the reason he started being linked is because of the reputation he's earned. Michael Jordan isn't going to get bad press for punching Kerr because he's got ten plus years of being an upstanding citizen and good teammate. Vick has had a string of stories that imply bad decision making. Dog fighting isn't a jump when you consider his past. Media bias is something that works both ways. Vick may be getting skewered today, but just two or three years ago he was pegged as the future of the NFL. He got the richest contract in league history, the cover of Madden and daily coverage on ESPN. And he got all this despite the fact that he has never proven to be much more than a mediocre quarterback. Being a public figure will bring the good and the bad.

I'm better at catching a knuckeball than Josh Bard.

Depends on how bad Mirabelli's injury is. I wonder who catches Wake if Miraebelli goes down for a period of time? EDIT: From what I've been reading, both Alex Cora and Mike Lowell can catch. The crazy stuff you learn some times.

There's no way Ellsbury gets the call now. They're going to have to call-up Kottaras or Cash to catch tomorrow. Tek's going to be dead by the end of the night.

WMP and cash to the Nationals for a player to be named later. The Wily Mo era didn't really play out the way they expected it to, did it?

So Wily Mo Pena is not in Boston today and his locker has been cleaned out. But get this, they still haven't announced whether he was designated for assignment or traded. On a sidenote, is there anything worse than being stuck at work on a Friday afternoon during a doubleheader with pennant implications? And just to make matters worse, your favorite team is debuting their best pitching prospect in 20 years. Yeah, such is my life.

Led Zeppelin, circa 1975. No other choice is acceptable.

They're getting smarter.