sfaJack

Oh, I'm not saying the wild card doesn't suck. I'm opposed to the wild card, actually. I'm just pointing out that the fact the Sox are in the playoffs, too. You should know from last year that all that matters is that you get in. And I think I posted the stats on "home field advantage" from the 2000-03 playoffs before, but I'll do it again. Home teams are 71-67 in playoff games, which is an insignificant advantage. The only series it even seemed to really matter was the '01 WS.

I hate the Cubs for getting me all excited in the ninth before falling short again.

I'm not sure how two legitimate challengers in the East is equal to one in the Central And again...who gives a shit? The Sox won the wildcard, thus rendering the great division chase utterly meaningless.

True, but then no one's talking about the NL East are they? But if you want to really get technical on this, the NL East had three teams in contention for playoff spots late in the season, the AL East had only two. By your weird logic, that makes the NL East a tougher division.

In a race that means little because of the wild card. And, once again, the Yankees and Sox spend 1/3 of their season fiercely entangled with the O's, Jays, and Rays. What's your point? It's pretty much a wash in the end.

If you're enough of a dumbass to risk possibly blowing out one of your top pitchers or having an injury strike a key player by going all-out to win a regular season game that means nothing (and it doesn't, don't kid yourself) just because you think you have to "prove" that you can play with a particular team, then you deserve whatever might happen to you. It isn't as if the Twins could have overtaken the Yankees for home-field (which is overrated anyway), so what is there to play for? "Confidence" against an opponent? If the Yankees beat the Twins in the playoffs, it won't be because the Twins lost 3 straight to them in late September and were emotionally devastated by it--it'll be because the Yankees are the better team.

While not a huge hoops fan, I too am curious to see how Yao/T-Mac will work here in Houston. The Rockets have many, many new faces this season and I'm anxious to see how long it takes Van Gundy to get them molded into a team. It seems wrong that basketball is starting again already, though.

According to ABC, who sampled 35 Republicans and 35 Democrats, Kerry DID do better than a tie. You said that already. I ignored it b/c it's ABC. Oh, and b/c you said it. Horse with blinders. You aren't banned yet?

Well, I can't speak for the people in Chicago since I'm 1,200 miles away, but I don't hate Austin Kearns. I hate the Cubs' pathetic offense for blowing multiple scoring opportunities. With just ONE key hit in each game the last two days, the Cubs would likely have taken 3/4 and not be on life support now, Austin Kearns or no Austin Kearns. This will annoy Al, but the Cubs proved these last two days that clutch hitting is not necessarily a myth.

What the fuck was I thinking when I bought tickets to the potential one-game Astros/Cubs playoff this morning? I didn't actually think I was going to get to use them, did I? Well, fuck this. The Cubs need a whole lot of help now, and I don't expect them to get it considering THEY CAN'T EVEN SCORE AGAINST THE FUCKING REDS. Go Giants, I guess, since I cannot, in good conscience, ever root for the Astros. I maintain faint hope for the Cubs, but what a disappointment this is.

The best part of it is that he's only thrown 52 pitches through 4 innings. They could really use 8 or 9 fabulous innings from him today. Maybe it would allow them to not pitch Hawkins in the ninth.

Can you really blame LaRussa? I'd probably do the same thing if I were him. What incentive do they have to win the game, other than winning it just for the sake of winning? How can the Astros even consider picking up Biggio's option for next season? He's a horrible outfielder (as further evidenced by his attempt to "catch" the ball on the play the Cardinals scored their runs) and he has an OBP of .283 since August 1. They don't really have a spot for him either, which makes it that much easier a decision. "Quest for 3,000 Hits" or whatever he wants to try for next year or not, they just can't bring him back for $3 mil.

As far as I know, Alou is a free agent with no option for next year. How many rally-killing, lameass double plays can one team hit into in a single game? My God. The Cubs are bailed out if both the Astros and Giants somehow lose tonight, but with Clemens on the hill I don't see that happening. The Cubs MUST win their last four, and I don't care what they have to do to win them. 3-1 is NOT an option. At least they'll have Prior, Wood, Zambrano, and Maddux lined up to save their sorry asses. Let's hope those four can live up to their billing.

Wow...the Cubs paid off Satan or something and escaped that monster jam in the 7th. I was sure Dempster was gonna cough a hit and blow but, for once, he came through. Can't lose this game...can't lose this game....can't lose this game... EDIT: And, of course, despite loading the bases with no outs, the Cubs only get 1 run on a sac fly before Aramis bounes into his second DP of the day. This team never fails to amaze me, though I suppose I should be happy that they actually have a lead.

Depends. If I was in my last year or two and had never won a title, I'd probably leave if I had a chance to go to a bona fide contender, and I'd probably go for less money. I'd also leave if I had the chance to play for a team I grew up cheering (the Cubs, for instance). Otherwise, if I really loved the city/team I was with, I'd probably stay. Money isn't everything.

Yeah, the one ref fell down, but the question I have is why didn't the back judge (I think it was the back judge, anyway), who was standing in the middle of the field not 10 yards away, make the PI call? Replay clearly showed he was in position to make it...why didn't he?

Yeah, I don't know if it's gotten worse either, but they have to relax some of the rules. Might as well allow only 10 defenders on the field they way they're going now. I guess points=ratings, or whatever. The problem I have with the officials is that nothing ever happens to them when they repeatedly blow huge calls. It's always, "Oops, sorry we cost you that victory; we'll do better next time!" or something similar and they move on. Why the fuck does Jeff Tripplett still have a job? Or Ed Hochuli? These guys suck as officials, yet they're still employed. Why?

The manual for the first Ken Griffey SNES game was pretty cool. It had a timline for the beginning all of the MLB franchises (including moves and name changes), and others bits of info on the game of baseball itself. Much more than your standard game manual.

I figure 3/4 from the Reds and 2/3 from the Braves ought to do it for the Cubs. I don't see the Giants doing any better than 4-2, nor do I expect the Astros to win all 5 of their remaining games.

You don't read many of kkk's posts do you, Abdul?

They should have signed Quincy Carter. ... Well, maybe not.

Thank God it's football season.

Fuck this. I knew I shouldn't have taken so much joy in the asskicking the Astros took today. Leave it to the Cubs' bullpen to completely suck all the joy out of baseball today. RYAN DEMPSTER SHOULD BE FIRED FOR WALKING A PAIR OF WEAKASS HITTERS IN THE NINTH INNING.

If I added everything up correctly, using playoff results from 2000-03, the record of the home teams is a whopping 71-67, a small advantage at best.

The Astros are 27-8 over their last 35 games, which is a fabulous run no matter which way you look at it. That said, they MUST win these next two games with the Giants. Anything less than that and they would be 2 (or 4, if they get swept) games back of two teams with only 9 left to play and no control over the teams they'd be chasing. That would likely be too steep a hill to climb. Something I've been wondering about since this last weekend: why didn't Houston adjust their pitching rotation to get Clemens on the mound for the Giants' series? Why use him against the Brewers, a team you should be able to beat without him? Your whole season rides on this Giants' series and you go to war without your best pitcher?? It doesn't make sense to me.