TWIB No. 2: 10 April-16 April

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Note to Charlie Manuel...

 

This is what a mop-up man looks like...

 

The reason he's a mop-up man is because he sucks. He's proven his sucktitude over multiple MLB seasons. You use him to eat innings. You do NOT put him into the 8th inning of a ball game. That's a situation for a "set up" man. Here are several examples of better set-up men than Franklin...

[devo 0]

I knew that was coming, but I still laughed pretty hard.

[Guest Smues]

Damn Gordon gets the save and Atlanta loses 7-6. Same pattern we've seen so far this season: Give up a fuckload of early runs, get back within a run or two but come up short. At least Francoeur looked good.

[Guest Smues]

Note to Charlie Manuel...

 

This is what a mop-up man looks like...

 

The reason he's a mop-up man is because he sucks. He's proven his sucktitude over multiple MLB seasons. You use him to eat innings. You do NOT put him into the 8th inning of a ball game. That's a situation for a "set up" man. Here are several examples of better set-up men than Franklin...

 

As a Braves fan I was really sad Franklin didn't make the starting rotation.

[Guest NYankees]

Are Red Sox fans going to question the Yankees rotation when Clement and Wells get smacked around like that on back to back nights???

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Note to Charlie Manuel...

 

This is what a mop-up man looks like...

 

The reason he's a mop-up man is because he sucks. He's proven his sucktitude over multiple MLB seasons. You use him to eat innings. You do NOT put him into the 8th inning of a ball game. That's a situation for a "set up" man. Here are several examples of better set-up men than Franklin...

I love it when Al gets even moderately pissy; just because he's usually so calm and collective that when he's not, it's hilarious.

[Guest NYankees]

It must be tough being a Phillies fan when the last significant game the team played, Mitch Williams was giving up a walkoff homerun to Joe Carter.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Geoff Geary is 1 goofy lookin' dude.

[Failed Bridge 0]

Are Red Sox fans going to question the Yankees rotation when Clement and Wells get smacked around like that on back to back nights???

Clement is the #5 starter and Wells most likely won't last the year in Boston. So to answer your question, yes. I expect the rotation to look like this at the end

 

Schilling

Wakefield

Beckett

Papelbon

Clement

 

with either Foulke (who looks to be coming back to form) or Craig Hansen closing down the road.

 

Lets not forget that the Toronto Blue Jays actually have a good line-up, unlike the Kansas City Royals.

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

Take into account that Josh "The Last Few Seconds Of 'Helter Skelter'" Beckett will miss a handful of starts.

 

By the way, in spite of that annoying hair-puller of an offseason, I want Boston to win their division handily.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I've got a feeling that Beckett might be alright now that he doesn't have to hit or run the bases at all.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Are Red Sox fans going to question the Yankees rotation when Clement and Wells get smacked around like that on back to back nights???

 

Wells/Clement > than any combo of Wang, Chacon, Wright and Pavano

 

Wells is a notoriously slow starter. He doesn't work out in the offseason and he just came in with no spring training. But if he doesn't round into form we have Paps waiting in the wings.

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

I've got a feeling that Beckett might be alright now that he doesn't have to hit or run the bases at all.

Yeah, I was out jogging last week and it gave me blisters all over my hands, what a mess.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I also love when Al gets pissy. It's so different.

 

And isn't the Phanatic red now, or something.

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

Former MLBPA lawyer Marvin Miller was on 720 today to talk about the steroid issue. Basically 57 varieties of "you can't prove they help you be a better baseball player!" The new drug policy "stinks" in his words; it's too strict, and this is like Prohibition somehow inasmuch as they're expecting private employers to enforce federal laws. Whatever. As you can expect, this interview just went in circles,

 

"There's been no conclusive proof that steroids make you better!"

"So why are they putting syringes in their backsides."

"That's not our business! I'd just like to see the proof that they make you better!"

"Well I can tell you is that their heads go up three hat sizes, they lose hair, and gain 30 pounds."

"But does that make them better?"

 

AGH. He derailed the argument by saying that tobacco is more dangerous than steroids but isn't being dealt with because Bunning and Davis receive big donations from Big Tobacco, which given their constituencies and affiliation, is most likely true, and while that should certainly be addressed, wasn't really what he was there to discuss. The hosts were respectful throughout his bluff and bluster--the guy turns 89 in a few days--but as soon as the phone call was over they just cut loose on what a hack he was and how he knew how full of it he really was; come back in a few years when players are dropping dead of enlarged hearts.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

From one extreme to the other apparently. Mike Schmidt was on Stephen A. Smith's show yesterday in part defending Barry Bonds. It is apparent many athletes are defending their friends and it is influencing their judgement. Just witness Rob Dibble when he gets on his high horse. But I have yet to see a massive outbreak of death among athletes taking steroids. Most of the victims, such as Ken Caminiti, had their hands in drugs far beyond performance enhancers.

 

And isn't the Phanatic red now, or something.

 

Philadelphia had a "paint the town red" week to promote the opening of the baseball season. Given our 1-6 start, that should never happen again.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Now we get to hear more conspiracy theories from Hawk about the ball being juiced.

 

The fire is spreading - Mike & Mike on ESPN's morning radio talk show were apparently talking about an interview that they had with Hawk on that very subject. Apparently, home runs are up a whopping 11% from last year. Nevermind that there have been two "flukish" games with a team hitting six home runs already, one involving a pitcher experimenting with a knuckleball and another involving the Cubs on a windy day in Wrigley.

 

Speaking of the Cubs...

 

Dusty Baker Not Worried About Cubs' Hot Start

[Brett Favre 0]

The bottom of the 10th inning, of the 1986 World Series re-enacted in RBI baseball. Pretty amazing.

 

http://www.infendo.com/2006/04/1986-world-...ted-in-rbi.html

[Failed Bridge 0]

Bored posted that at the start of the thread.

 

Sylvan (real name with-held to protect him), for some reason I think some of his blister problems came from hitting and his oblique problems came from both hitting and rounding bases. Of course this could just be blind optimism.

[Brett Favre 0]

Oh yeah. Damn. My bad.

[2GOLD 0]

Now we get to hear more conspiracy theories from Hawk about the ball being juiced.

 

The fire is spreading - Mike & Mike on ESPN's morning radio talk show were apparently talking about an interview that they had with Hawk on that very subject. Apparently, home runs are up a whopping 11% from last year. Nevermind that there have been two "flukish" games with a team hitting six home runs already, one involving a pitcher experimenting with a knuckleball and another involving the Cubs on a windy day in Wrigley.

 

Speaking of the Cubs...

 

Dusty Baker Not Worried About Cubs' Hot Start

 

It's a shock the Cubs are winning, what with Zambrano getting flustered by anything and half the rotation on the DL. And let's not mention Glendon Rusch. Losing to the Reds yesterday wasn't as bad considering the line-up the Cubs put out there. Anytime you have Blanco AND Perez in the line-up, scoring more than one run is a shocking turn of events.

 

In Orioles news: Daniel Cabera looking outstanding with an ERA of 11.23 with 11 walks and 16 Ks in two starts in a amazing 6.1 innings pitched. I smell a Cy Young.

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

Why is Hawk Harrelson an expert on the physical properties of a baseball? Hawk Harrelson isn't an expert on fogging a mirror.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Yeah Reality Czech time!

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

I suspected you were my stalker, but you don't have time for that. DoCock is also a suspect. He does have time for that.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5505934

 

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A television station declined to broadcast a baseball game because it was being played on Good Friday.

 

WNEP-TV, which traditionally televises the home opener of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, said it would not air Friday night's game against Norfolk at Lackawanna County Stadium.

 

"Good Friday is not an appropriate day for us to do that," C. Lou Kirchen, the station's president and general manager, said on a recent broadcast.

 

Instead, the station was to air local news, followed by the tabloid show "Inside Edition," an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and then "Primetime," featuring an interview with Tom Cruise.

 

Good Friday is one of the most solemn days on the Christian calendar, when believers mark the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

Jeremy Ruby — general manager of the team, which is a minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies — said he was not surprised by WNEP's decision. He noted that he had decided against holding a fireworks show after the game because of the holiday.

 

"We were getting pressure from the Catholic community, and that's understandable," Ruby said.

 

Bill Genello, a spokesman for the Diocese of Scranton, said Good Friday is "a very solemn day in the life of the church." But he said the diocese cannot prohibit anyone from attending a sporting event on Good Friday.

Huh? Why isn't Good Friday an appropriate day to televise a baseball game?

[Hawk 34 0]

A show about glorifying hollywood celebs and a show focused on a wacko like Cruise is more appros then a minor league baseball game?

[Vern Gagne 0]

No baseball game, but they'll air an interview where it's likely a non-christian religion will be heavily discussed.

 

So how does Hawk Harrelson explain Jim Thome having six of the teams nine HR's? The rest of the team isn't seeing any juiced balls.

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

The same way he calls the later innings:

 

.................

[2GOLD 0]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5505934

 

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A television station declined to broadcast a baseball game because it was being played on Good Friday.

 

WNEP-TV, which traditionally televises the home opener of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, said it would not air Friday night's game against Norfolk at Lackawanna County Stadium.

 

"Good Friday is not an appropriate day for us to do that," C. Lou Kirchen, the station's president and general manager, said on a recent broadcast.

 

Instead, the station was to air local news, followed by the tabloid show "Inside Edition," an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and then "Primetime," featuring an interview with Tom Cruise.

 

Good Friday is one of the most solemn days on the Christian calendar, when believers mark the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

Jeremy Ruby — general manager of the team, which is a minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies — said he was not surprised by WNEP's decision. He noted that he had decided against holding a fireworks show after the game because of the holiday.

 

"We were getting pressure from the Catholic community, and that's understandable," Ruby said.

 

Bill Genello, a spokesman for the Diocese of Scranton, said Good Friday is "a very solemn day in the life of the church." But he said the diocese cannot prohibit anyone from attending a sporting event on Good Friday.

Huh? Why isn't Good Friday an appropriate day to televise a baseball game?

 

So what? They trying to say Jesus Christ doesn't like baseball? Eddie Harris disagrees with you Lou Kirchen!

[Guest Sylvan Grenier]

I'm such a lazy Christian, I think the day after Good Friday is called Better Saturday.

 

EDIT: This one was bad. Waaay bad. Amazing Rando bad. But I'll take the fall on this awful joke.