naiwf

So, with his HR just now this is Ryan Howard's career statline . . . .291 (165-567) 46 HR 122 RBI, 59 BB, 173 K, .358 OBP, .591 SLG. He also has 28 2B, 2 3B, 335 TB If he ever cuts down on his strikeouts he'll be a legit MVP threat.

I was actually a Nielsen family for about 4 years until we moved.

Papelbon's ERA didn't take a hit since the run was charged to Hansen. The Sawx regained the lead with a walk, single and sac fly in the bottom of the 8th.

Papelbon just blew his 1st save of the season, however it was with men already on the corners but 2 out in the 8th.

Your # 2 starter is pitching worse than Jaret Wright lately. I'd be concerned if I were you. The Yankees only play for championships and they're not getting one this year with this team. Steinbrenner will be pissed. And there's the matter of him being owed another season's worth of money next year. Good luck with trying to dump him on someone else.

Wow, Bernie's throw from shallow right went about 100 feet in the air. Fucking pathetic. The Yankees are decomposing this season. Randy's getting squeezed here, but he deserves it for being so wild.

Antonio Perez is 1 for 33, with 17 Ks and he's on a major league roster? WTF? Just as I wrote that he takes RJ deep!

True, but in baseball at least both teams are TRYING to score since you can't pick up ground in the standings without doing so. Inferior teams always try for the nil nil draw in international or cup competition. You can actually gain ground on rivals or advance by not scoring in soccer. No other sport we watch is set up that way ever since hockey added the shootout.

In three words, "nil nil draw". Americans don't have the patience to see a game end in a scoreless tie. Our society wants two things out of sports, scoring and a clear cut winner and loser. In soccer, not only are we frequently denied a winner, but we're not even guaranteed any scoring. I can't watch those second legs of European Cup competition when a team is encouraged to turtle up and play 11 guys on the defensive half simply because they have a road goal advantage. That's just not conducive to capturing new fans.

Since you referenced the billion people number. Isn't table tennis insanely popular in China? I'm pretty sure it's one of their national sports. That country has about 20% of the world's population alone, so if it's televised on any kind of scale over there, I'm sure that does as well as anything we've got over here in the States too.

Big Hurt go Boom!

Works for me if it's true. Kaz is barely batting his weight this year and we all know his defense sucks. Good riddance.

Ecuador wins 2-0 as Poland waited way too long to start attacking, and then hit the frame twice down the stretch. Poland might have just eliminated themselves with this result.

He didn't say he'd quit his job. He said he'd take the day off. I'm assuming he'd still get paid for the day.

The fact he did it IN Arizona was even better. The D'Backs got fleeced and the rotation looks much better with the two Cuban defectors at the back end now. Sucks for Bannister and Maine, but thank God that we probably won't see Lima or Gonzalez again. The lead is back up to 4.5, and Atlanta's slip sliding away. Not a bad evening at all.

Miami's going to regret losing this winnable game since there's not a chance in hell they win 3 straight at home. If Dirk hulks up at any point in this series, Dallas will cruise to victory.

El Duque just had a THIRTEEN pitch at bat. He struck out at the end, but that was still pretty impressive nonetheless.

If it makes you feel any better he's got 3 hits and an RBI in late inning situations. . . in 21 ABs with 6 K's. He's also 1 for 16 this month, but I'm sure he'll pull out of it as soon as Boston leaves town.

And it's not the first time either.

Mets fans got the Tommy Treatment last night I think, but Howie Rose had to cut him off because he was going to tell us all about how Kirk Gibson hit that famous HR despite the last out of the inning being made. Senility's a bitch.

Dallas is winning the series. How do I know? Tony Mejia from CBSsportsline picked Miami. That dude is a walking kiss of death.

I almost feel sorry for Cubs fans. Almost.

Amare averaged nearly 40 against the Spurs and the team lost. Barbosa started games this postseason, unless you think Bell and Nash are only gonna play about 28-32 minutes per next season how does Barbosa not see his minutes cut in half when Amare comes back and plays 38-44 a night? Those are the minutes he and Thomas got for the most part. Tim Thomas might have been a bench upgrade in another year, but he carried the Suns past the first round. I'm not saying Amare couldn't have done the same, but it's ridiculous to act like the guys who "replaced" him weren't effective. Diaw disappeared at times, Marion was invisible for long stretches and Nash was burned out by Game 6 of the Semis. Barbosa and Thomas were huge for the Suns, but then again they didn't make the Finals so I'm done posting about what might have been, or what might happen next year.

I watch the USA Women's team more frequently than NASCAR. Does that count?

Barbosa and Thomas combined did as much as, if not more than, Amare would have this postseason from the perspective of creating match up issues and knocking down key shots at times. Thomas was the main reason the Suns didn't lose in the first round. No one in their right mind would take him over Amare over the long haul, but his deal with the devil was huge in the Suns getting as far as they did. I'd even go so far as to say he was consistently their best player over the 20 game stretch.