Cheech Tremendous

Not only have I not seen any movie on that list, I've never heard of any of them.

It's inferior because the balance of power has shifted. It's why the National League gets smoked in interleague and the All-Star game. It's not like I'm making some argument that I can't back up. Regardless of whether or not the DH upsets the purity of the game, it's part of the fabric of baseball now. And it's a hell of a lot easier to face a pitcher in the lineup every 9 spots than David Ortiz.

The Wizards started 31-21 and IIRC, had the best record in the Eastern Conference. If they kept up that pace, they would have finished with 49 wins. From that point on, they had only a handful of games where Butler, Arenas and Jamison all played. Every team has to deal with injuries, but the Wizards could be a 50-win team when healthy.

The Montreal Screwjob was a big slap in the face to Bret, but I never had much sympathy for him either. When you are on your way out of a territory, you do the job. I don't care if he offered to do it somewhere else, his employer asked him to do it in Montreal and it was right for business to do it then. That match was 18 months in the making... you don't do a DQ finish and then drop the belt at a house show or Raw. I don't care what the circumstances were.

The Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Angels are all better than any team in the National League. Mariners, Twins, and Blue Jays could all probably win the NL as well. Are we presuming that these teams would be playing baseball correctly, sans DH, like the National League does? Maybe that has to do with some of the disparity. Also, I remember Piniero getting roughed up a few times with the Cardinals, so I think calling him an ace is a reach. Partisan. This so-called disparity offends my baseball sensibilities. I grew up under the impression that the National League was the one that mattered, and the AL was "just the other one," like the NFC and AFC. This may have to do with where my teams reside, but that's what I was led to believe. I'm tired of the AL East Coast arms race with the major sports broadcasting arm conveniently located equidistant of the two, and I'm tired of the oldest organized sports league in America being reduced to an instant punchline because they let the pitchers bat. I want this fixed. You grew up thinking the NL mattered most because the Cubs are an NL team and you grew up in an NL town. How long has it been since the National League was on par with the American League? Ten years? Fifteen years? The NL is the "senior circuit" and the old-timers think it's more pure. In reality, it's developed into an inferior game partly because of the lack of DH and partly because there are just a bunch of bad front offices in the league right now. But moreso than that, it's just a product of the current environment. It's true that the Red Sox and Yankees have the biggest payrolls in baseball but they also have two of the best front offices in the game. Every team that competes with them has to up their game that much more just to stay in the race. It just increases the disparity. It's not like the Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Mets don't spend money. It's just that they've been really poor at doing so.

The Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Angels are all better than any team in the National League. Mariners, Twins, and Blue Jays could all probably win the NL as well. Want a good example of the disparity: Joel Piniero is banished from those double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox for looking like shit with a baseball cap on his head and now he looks like an ace in the NL Central.

Boston has the second best record in the American League since the All-Star break. It's not so much that the Red Sox are blowing it as the Yankees are playing out of this world and look like the hands-down best team in baseball. It's no longer about the Yankees coming back. They are in it today and it's going to be a fight the rest of the year. Gagne was still hitting 95 today. It has nothing to with his velocity. It's pitch calling and location. Gagne is not this bad. Something is wrong, whether it's his comfort level pitching in a set-up role, his relationship with Varitek, hiding an injury or some other factor. I don't want to absolve Gagne for what's happened, but something is clearly not right. He just cost us two games in a weekend series. His ERA is 14.55 in Boston. No one could have seen this coming.

Francona brought in Papelbon yesterday because of the bullpen's near implosion in the ninth inning. He blew through Okajima, Gagne and MDC in the 8th and 9th inning. Timlin was already used in the 7th. Snyded was really the only choice, but only because of his own poor bullpen management. As for bringing in closers in save situations, it's usally just a comfort thing. Pitchers are still human and they get used to getting mentally set for their save situations. There are a lot of elements that go into bullpen usage that fall outside of what might be optimal given numbers of expecatations.

Kyle Snyder pitching in the bottom of the 10th. Good choice, Tito.

The Yankees have a team OPS of .956 since the All-Star break. That's just insane. It's like playing with a lineup of 9 Albert Pujols.

I have no idea honestly. I would guess that they'll just carry one less pitcher instead of dumping WMP or Hinske. Rosters expand soon anyways so it shouldn't really be a problem. As for Hinske, the Brandon Moss promotion signalled the beginning of the end for him. But who knows if Kielty ever makes it to Boston. His Pawtucked debut saw him go 0-6 with 5 Ks.

I laughed at this.

It was Vince's idea. He wanted the company's biggest and most recognizable star to give the final toast to Owen. For the general masses that were watching the show, it was probably the best idea, even it felt forced to those a little more in the know.

Humber did not make the list. As for other Mets, Deolis Guerra was ranked 4th among right handed starting pitchers. Fernando Martinez was 4th among corner outfielders. Francisco Pena was the ninth rated catcher.

And I was being crucified by my own fellow Red Sox fans for asking why we needed another closer. He's only pitched three innings! That's not just a small sample size, it's a miniscule sample. Gagne is not a shell of his former self. He was lights out all year long in the best hitter's park in the American League. I'll admit that he hasn't looked good in Boston so far, but I'm not even close to giving up hope yet. Papelbon hasn't made it through a full season as a closer. Okajima is going to shatter his career high in innings pitched. MDC has been inconsistent his entire career. Donnelly has to have Tommy John surgery. This team needed another insurance arm for a postseason run. Gagne was the best reliever on the market and they got him for practically nothing. It was an excellent move to make at the time whether it works out or not.

Hanly Ramirez leads the majors in VORP this year. That's unexpected. Bet he doesn't get any MVP votes either.

Who was it on this board that said Igawa would be better than Matsuzaka? Was that you Bauer? I remember calling him the Japanese Jeff Suppan. I would like to take this time to formally apologize to Jeff Suppan. If anything, Petco would be a great place to pitch for Kei. All those bombs he gives up would just end up as outs in that mammoth outfield.

Baseball America released their Prospect Pulse Positional Rankings this week. You have to have a subscription for the whole article, but I have it. If anyone wants to know where certain players were ranked, just let me know. Real quick, here are the top prospects at every position: C- Jeff Clement, Mariners 1B- Joey Votto, Reds 2B- Matt Antonelli, Padres 3B- Evan Longoria, Rays SS- Reid Brignac, Rays CF- Justin Upton, D'backs Corner OF- Jay Bruce, Reds RHSP- Homer Bailey, Reds LHSP- Clay Kershaw, Dodgers RP- Radhames Liz, Orioles

Czech, you're headed to a big Hollywood party... who do you invite? Felix Pie or Joba?

I think the unis are okay. There's nothing special about them, but they are simple and clean. At least there's no stupid Hawk eating a basketball on a purple and teal uniform or anything like that. They're more bland than anything else.

I didn't see much discussion about David Wells being released earlier this week by the San Diego Padres. This could likely signal the end of his career as a major league pitcher. In my mind, he's just short of consideration for the Hall of Fame, but he did have a very long and productive career with many highlights (and an equal number of lowlights). If this is the end, he finishes with 235 wins, an ERA+ of 108, a perfect game and three All-Star appearances. He was one of the best strikeout to walk guys of his generation. He had a career postseason ERA of 3.17 in 125 innings of work. Nice work, Boomer.

It was really funny reading the Hoops Hype Rumors page today. There were stories about Penny Hardaway, Allen Houston, Reggie Miller, Keith Van Horn, PJ Brown, Charles Oakley, Antonio Davis and Shawn Kemp. It was like I was accidentally linked to a news page from ten years ago.

I don't think it's that odd that JBL would ask Regal if Benoit might've killed his son. Regal, at least at one time, knew Benoit very well and Layfield was probably just kicking tires to find out whatever he could since he was just as confused and inquisitive as the rest of us were. There were people in this thread floating the idea of murder-suicide within twenty minutes of the news being posted on wwe.com. It's not much of a jump to hear about three deaths, feel shocked/sad and then start asking the next logical question.

He didn't really hold them up for money. JR let his contract expire without bothering to get the belt off him. Jarrett offered to vacate the belt since he was leaving the company, but Vince wanted him to come back and do the job. JJ asked for $200,000 to come and do that. It's just business.