vivalaultra

I also heard that rumor. $120 million seems like alot to spend for fourth place if you ask me...

Oh, come on...Lidge isn't anywhere near as much a headcase as BK Kim. And Kim seems to be doin' a nice job for Colorado lately. I still think Lidge for Wily Mo and Hansen or some other upper-level prospect would be fair. Lidge still strikes out a bunch and towards the end of the year, he seemed to be getting his act back together. Supposedly the Astros are in a furious bidding war with the Orioles for Carlos Lee according to the local AM station in Houston. The Houston offer is, according to them, at least $80 million for 6 years. It's not Soriano money...but still...that's quite a long commitment... Maybe if the Astros hold off on signing anyone until January, they can scoop up Preston Wilson for cheap...since it turned out so well last time.

Hey, Texans have Pac-Man Fever...what can I say? And my Mom's a Yankee. I don't love her any less because of that. Re: Wily Mo Pena- I don't really see what's so great about him. I mean, he's got power out the wazoo, for sure, but he seems pretty one-dimensional. He's not a good on-base guy, he's not particularly fast, he's got a K/BB rate of about 5:1 for his career. When there were rumors of Lidge for Wily Mo, I was incredulous that that trade would be even discussed. Now, Lidge for Wily Mo and Craig Hansen would work, but Lidge for Wily Mo straight up...I just couldn't do it...even with Lidge's horrible 2006. Is there something about Wily Mo that I'm missing or is it just that he has enormous potential?

< doesn't look like an L! The < is all slanty! How did you New Yorkers learn the order of the planets from the sun? Was it "My Very Eager Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas" or did you have a...less convoluted method? Teach me, naiwf!! So, anybody hear about the Chad Cordero for Wily Mo trade rumor that's been bandied about? I think it would be a good deal for Boston, but I don't have any real opinion. I only ask as a way to get out of this monkey business with naiwf.

Well, a bunch of Texan 4th graders can understand the concept. If you can't, it might be something you're doing wrong. Oh well. Next week, we'll tackle multiplying fractions with unlike denominators.

Apparently Texans don't teach/learn math properly. < is less than > is greater than Ah, naiwf, you have misunderstood me yet again. Let's look at an example: 4 < 6. It is true that 4 "is less than" 6. With me so far? Good. Going back to my "Pac-Man" reference where I said "Pac-Man eats bigger numbers", would Pac-Man not eat the 6 since it is bigger than 4? Still with me? Good. Let's try the inverse. 6 > 4. 6 "is greater than" 4. Now, look at Pac-Man? Which number is he eating? The bigger number! See? Pac-Man always eats the bigger number, be it on the left of the inequality or the right of the inequality. The designations of < meaning "less than" or > meaning "greater than" do not come into play in my example, as I've covered for both. Any questions?

The way that I remember the difference between < and > is that < means "greater than" because the < symbol resembles Pac-Man with mouth agape, and Pac-Man eats bigger numbers. In other news, the LA Times said today that Carlos Lee doesn't want to play for a West Coast team, ruling out the report that he had signed with the Giants. The article mentioned the 'Stros and the O's as the two biggest suitors for El Caballo, with the Phillies as the Wild Card. However, if the Phils did get Carlos Lee, I think it would be probable that they'd be looking to trade Pat Burrell, and, if it came to that, I'd love for the 'Stros to jump on the much maligned Pat "the Bat". And I find it interesting that yesterday the Astros added two AAA players to the 40-man roster, 1...Johnny Ash a 2B who is supposedly better than Chris Burke, and the other a CF, Mike Rodriguez. Could this be signalling an impending trade of Chris Burke and/or Willy Taveras? Possibly.

Wow. If Carlos Lee really did sign with the Giants, I bet that'll probably significantly hurt the Astros' chances of signing Carlos Lee...

This offseason is shaping up like MLB 2006 for the PS2. I have the feeling that by midseason alot of GMS might want to reset their console...

When Juan Pierre gets a deal like that, I can only imagine what Carlos Lee and JD Drew are going to command... I bet Dave Roberts gets some ridiculous amount of money.

As far as singer/songwriters go, Damien Rice has one of the better voices...and only occasionally drops into maudlin territory. And I agree with naiwf about Lisa Hannigan. Has she done any solo stuff?

Brad Ausmus is clearly the MVJ of the NL. Edit: There's been a blockbuster deal between the Mets and the Marlins involving pitchers... Mets trade Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom to the Fish for Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. Blockbustah~!

Two more points about Soriano, is he like...OFFICIALLY 31 or did he get caught up in the Agegate thing? And 8 years? Egads...better hope his legs hold up. And, is he insistent on batting leadoff? If he is, that's going to decrease his value a bit, depending on how well the bottom of the order hits...and where's he gonna play? Is he playing in left and blocking Matt Murton? Hell, I'd stick him at 2nd base and sign Dave Roberts or somebody to play 2nd. I'm glad Berkman got 3rd in the MVP voting.

I have a signed copy of that. Nolan signed it "Don't mess with Texas-Nolan Ryan". He's cool...and he makes good steaks. Very lean cuts of meat, those.

They've already got Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Wade Miller. What more do you want? I tried making that joke a few days ago and I got called a "fucking tool"...

I guess the Cubs are proving that they're committed to not finishing behind the Pirates again... If Hendry doesn't use some of his Monopoly money to sign some starting pitchers, the Cubs are still gonna lose every game 15-13.

The best no-hitter in baseball history...in my...opinion, of course... Roy Oswalt starts off, but his groin falls off and he has to leave, so Pete Munro comes in and walks a few guys, but doesn't give up a hit. Neither do Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, or Billy Wagner. I remember Lance Berkman made a Hell of a diving catch on...Matsui, I think to preserve it. I wish I could find a video of this game somewhere. It was great. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06110NYA2003.htm

According to Gammons, Alex Gonzalez is siging 3 yr/14 million with the Reds. And Moises Alou is bringing his urine-soaked hands to the Mets for a 2-yr deal, which makes the dread(lock)ed Lastins Millege expendable.

I did a Yahoo! image search for "Christmas Chaps", and all I found were these douchebags... You know they're British by the redhead's teeth. Zing!

Was there actually a report in the Boston Herald that suggested the Sawx might try to get Clemens to come be their closer? I find that ridiculous! Guffaw!

I thought this thread was going to be about Christmas Chaps...like leather Cowboy chaps, but red and green ones...with like...tinsel on them...and a light up Rudolph nose on the crotch. Those would be sweet.

Oh, I remember that I was disheartened this past September when I was in Austin for ACL and I missed seeing Tom Petty (who I heard was really good, despite a 45-minute rain delay) and a TV on the Radio show at a club that I had to miss, seeing as how I had to drive back to Houston and get up for work the next morning at like...7 AM. And when I was sixteen, I remember being really pissed that my parents made me go with them to my relatives for Thanksgiving and made me miss seeing Buck O' Nine. Anybody remember Buck O' Nine? Yeah...me neither.

Sly Stallone looks good for an octagenarian. Seriously, I'm fuckin' pumped for Rocky VI. My Dad's actually gonna go see this in the theatre with me. He hasn't been to the theatre in damn near 10 years. It's gonna be a good male bonding thing.

Final Fantasy makes me sleepy, but in a good way. The two shows I regret missing the most are...the Magnetic Fields two Decembers ago in Houston and Sufjan Stevens in Austin a couple months ago. However, both were playing two shows and I saw each of them once. I just wish I woulda seen both shows for each of them.

My one favorite Dwight Yoakum song: 1. "Guitars and Cadillacs" He's a good actor, though.