vivalaultra

So, Joe Blanton tried to kill Ichiro? I didn't see it, but apparently there was a benchs clearning brawl, and Blanton gave up 6 earned just because he hates my fantasy team.

I dunno...Aaron Sele might not be available tomorrow. That would be a blow that would devestate the New York Metropolitans.

When you start getting shutdown by Aaron Sele and Brian Moehler, you know it's been a long game.

I wish this fuckin' Mets/Astros game would hurry up and end. It's going into the 16th. Carlos Beltran made THE GREATEST CATCH IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL~!! with runners on first and third, 2 outs, off of a deep drive to the hill in CF by Luke Scott to prolong the madness.

If Bobby Hebert couldn't do it, nobody could. I loved Bobby Hebert as a kid.

Blowing games for the Phillies?

Wandy Rodriguez threw a complete game, 4-hit shutout of the NY Mets tonite. Seriously, is there any way to explain how Wandy has improved so much this year compared to his last two seasons? I mean, you could write it off as some type of abnormality, but Wandy's just been ridiculous for the most part of the year. 2005 and 2006, Wandy was a combined 19 and 20 with an ERA of 5.56, 178/116 K/BB rate. This season, he's 6 and 7 with an ERA of 3.87, 90/26 K/BB rate. Even more ridiculous is his line at MMP: 5 and 2, with an ERA of 2.00, 51/12 K/BB rate, allowing just a .210 BAA. He's only been average in away games, but, my God. I know that before the season started, there was a story that Woody Williams helped him with some of his mechanics, but this is quite the turnaround, and I hope it continues cuz I just put him on my fantasy team.

Bottom of the 3rd, one out, Ausmus on second, Biggio up to bat. Ausmus breaks to steal third. Castro throws to Wright and Wright goes to lay the tag on a sliding Ausmus, but, Ausmus, being a crafty veteran, stopped his slide about a half-foot in front of third, popped up and stepped on the base. The homeplate ump for this game has an absolutely horrible strike zone, by the by.

By that same token... What if Shoeless Joe hadn't been kicked out of baseball? What if Roberto Clemente hadn't died New Year's Eve 1972? What if J.R. Richard didn't have a stroke in 1980 that cut his HOF career short? What if Dizzy Dean didn't get hit by Earl Averill's line drive, breaking his foot and causing him to lose his fastball? What if Lou Gehrig didn't get sick in 1938? What if Satchel Paige (and other Negro Leaguers) were allowed to play in the majors before the tailend of their careers? It's interesting (and a little depressing) to think about things like that; how great those players were and how much greater they could've been if their careers hadn't been cut short for various reasons.

I'd say Peavy and Haren, the early votes for the Cy Young.

Hey Al, thanks for that. I haven't ever gotten the chance to see the inning in realtime; I've only seen highlights and read about it. I knew that the inning was basically just a series of soft hits and bad luck (minus Bowa's leadoff single). I didn't know if Vidron had Sambito hot in the bullpen at the start of the inning, so hearing that he didn't start warming up until after the leadoff single, and that it went from nobody on, nobody out to bases loaded no outs in the span of about a minute and a half, makes it easier to understand why Vidron stuck with Ryan so long; it was a combination of it being Nolan freakin' Ryan on the mound and having no relievers hot. Still, in retrospect, it's fun (and frustrating) second guessing the manager and speculating on what could've been.

I'll bite. It is worth pointing out that the Phillies were not hitting Nolan Ryan particularly hard. Boone and Greg Gross's singles were infield hits. Rose worked the walk on a full count. When you look at the innings before that, Nolan Ryan had faced the minimum 15 batters in the last five innings, giving up three hits, all singles. Those runners were erased via two double plays and a caught stealing. There was no reason on earth to pull Ryan out before the inning started, except for clairvoyant visions into the future. And the Phillies hit the succeeding relievers harder. That game more than anything is baseball's equivalent of "shit happens," nothing more. Yeah, in retrospect it's easy to say that Vidron should've either started the inning with Sambito or Dave Smith, but by all accounts Ryan was in a rocking chair until Boone got the 2nd hit of the inning to put runners at 1st and 2nd w/ no outs. Still, game 5 of the NLCS, winner goes to the World Series, once Boone gets on, I don't understand how Vidron didn't immediately turn the game over to, arguably, the best relief tandem in baseball (Sambito and Smith). I can understand sticking with your starter (especially if your starter is Nolan Ryan), but still... I could've done the same thing about Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. What if Dave Smith would've started the 9th instead of leaving Bob Knepper in to give up 2 runs and a man on 2nd? Mike Scott would've come back for Game 7, shut the Mets down like he did in Games 1 and 4...yeah. But, hindsight's 20/20 and all that.

What if... Preston Wilson hadn't slid into Biggio and tore up his ACL in August 2001, causing Bidge to miss the rest of the season and some of the next, probably allowing Biggio to get his 3000 hit sometime in late 2005/early 2006? The Astros had used their 1st rd. draft pick in 1992 to draft Derek Jeter instead of Phil Nevin? The Astros had never bothered with Clemens or Pettite? The Astros had let Biggio go to the Rockies in 1995? Jeff Bagwell was never traded for Larry Andersen? Carlos Beltran signed with the Astros after the 2004 season? The Astros had started the 8th inning of Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS with Joe Sambito instead of waiting for Nolan Ryan to give up 3 hits and a walk to force in a run and load the bases with no outs with the Astros up by 3?

I agree. Bill Hall sprained his ankle today. Typically, that takes 6-8 weeks to heal, but the Brewers didn't put a timetable on it. Tony Gwynn Jr. should get another shot now.

Oswalt got the spot because he was next in line in player votes, so when Smoltz went down, Oswalt got the nod.

I love Smoltz, but I'm glad that another Astro gets an All-Star spot, especially Roy who is still one of the most underrated pitchers in the game today.

The first base ump totally blew a call in the 9th inning of the 'Stros/Phils game. Bases loaded and Carlos Lee grounded to short and it totally shoulda been a double play. Howard beat Lee to the bag by at least a step. Somewhere, Don Denkinger is smiling. And I just realized that Dice-K didn't make the All-Star team. Hrmph!

The Reds have dismissed Jerry Narron. Peter McKanin will serve as the interim skipper. This news affects me in no way whatsoever.

I thought the Moz had to cancel shows cuz his throat was messed up.

So, if Chris changed his life insurance policy weeks in advance of the murders to take out Nancy and Daniel, wouldn't that seem to suggest that he most likely had thoughts of offing them prior to last weekend? I wonder if the news media will report that, as reporting it would seem to dillute the validity of the 'roid rage' angle.

I agree that this is sort of turning into a witch hunt, but, if pro wrestling is something that you really enjoy and this 'witch hunt' causes a serious, conclusive investigation into pro wrestling, wouldn't you, as a fan, be in favor of action that cleans up the industry and makes it safer and, wouldn't you, as a human being, be in favor of an initiative that would possibly lengthen the lifespan of the people in the industry considerably? I'm not a wrestling fan (though I used to be), but I can understand how having so much negative stigma put on something you love on a daily basis would be tiresome and you would just wish they'd stop talking so bad about it so you can get back to enjoying it, but, really, even though the means might be a little shady, if the end justifies those means, I would say that, as a wrestling fan and a human being, I'd be in favor of those means.

I also used to have Full Collapse. I thought it was decent, but that uh...what's the lead singer's name? Like...Geoff or something? Yeah, he got a little too whiney on some songs and the screaming came off as a bit forced in places. Thinking about Thursday, I remember this band that I used to like that was kind of like Thursday called Glassjaw. They were a little whiney and they screamed a lot, too, but I liked them a good deal a few years ago.

We had to win at least on Biggio's 3000th hit nite! El Caballo with a walk-off slam! Good good stuff. Moehler still sucks, though.

That was straight up marketing. That's how Uncle D rolls. Edit: Biggio went 5 for 6. It doesn't matter cuz Brian Moehler sucks.

Pfft. Biggio got 8 hits on the last road trip and he's 4 for 5 tonite to bring up to .247. He's one of our hottest hitters! Damn, that's sad.