TruffleShuffle

and there was great rejoicing in pittsburgh

someone go punch him in the face

looks like i picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines

guess nobody else likes the onion...

if by "pull a hammy" you mean "get run over by a dump truck", i vote for ankiel

Are we talking about what is the case right now? If so, Gallardo is certainly not as good as Hill, and Villanueva is nowhere close to Lilly. If we're talking about potential then I guess we can also say that Pie >= Corey Hart too. Gallardo has a career 103 ERA+, Hill has a 104 ERA+ and Gallardo's is extremely heavily influenced by one bad start in Colorado. He also gave up 7 ER against St. Louis and 5 ER in SF. And Rich Hill's career ERA+ is highly influenced by 40ish innings in 2005 and his first four starts of 2006 combined. Yeah, Hill's ERA+ the second half of last year (after the call up) was probalby about 130 and this year it's 118. He's pitched better than Gallardo this year and he's a better pitcher than Gallardo, at least for right now. In the future, I'd probably still take Rich, but I'm biased.

i'm going to this game!

if hawai'i goes undefeated (I've picked them to do so) and brennan puts up more ridiculous numbers - say, 60 TD passes, close to 6000 yards, QB rating above 180 - I think he may win it. btw, my friend sent out an e-mail asking several questions before the season started - here were my answers: 1) Pick a team in the preseason top 10 who will NOT be in the top 10 when the regular season ends. Virginia Tech 2) Pick a team not in the preseason top 10 who WILL finish in the top 10 at the end of the regular season. Louisville 3) Predict the regular season record of your favorite team. Penn State: 9-3 4) Predict the order of finish (top four teams) in your favorite conference -- if you pick the SEC or Big 12, pick the top 2 in each division. Big Ten: Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State 5) Predict the biggest upset in your conference (must be a conference game). Michigan State over Michigan, 11/3 6a) How many undefeated teams will there be at season's end (NOT including bowl games)? Two 6b) Which teams will be going undefeated? USC, Hawai’i 7a) Predict the BCS teams -- in other words, pick the following ten teams: ACC champ, Big East champ, Big Ten champ, Big 12 champ, Pac 10 champ, SEC champ, then the four next best teams. Remember, only two teams from the same conference can be in the BCS. ACC: Georgia Tech Big East: Louisville Big Ten: Wisconsin Big 12: Oklahoma Pac 10: USC SEC: LSU Other four BCS teams: Hawai’i, Texas, Michigan, Florida 7b) Out of those ten teams, predict the BCS championship game and the national champion. USC versus Oklahoma, USC wins 8) If you could attend only one regular season college football game this year, which one would it be? Boise St @ Hawai’i (exciting, high scoring game – and I’d be in Hawai’i)

You're not exactly going out on a limb by saying this... without injuries, McFadden and Brohm are the two guys virtually guaranteed to go in the top 5 next year. Probably Jake Long, too.

no the rick ankiel comeback is a terrible story

stopped receiving, meaning he's got 20 years' supply left stacked up in his basement

Crap, I'm in the maximum number of groups make a new yahoo id and use that... i had to do this for fantasy football purposes

somebody instruct vitters on how to hit

carlos pena, although probably not after this year. and i have to throw in a mention of my boy jack cust.

and yes i realize that NFL football is redundant, but i've been drinking while playing poker tonight, so sue me

okay here we go... i sure don't feel like scoring it manually every week so i set up a yahoo league: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/pickem ID: 68435 Password: gocobs

if only they had a defense...

Is anyone interested in doing against the spread picks for the NFL this season? We did that last year and I enjoyed it (mostly because I did really well at it).

Are we talking about what is the case right now? If so, Gallardo is certainly not as good as Hill, and Villanueva is nowhere close to Lilly. If we're talking about potential then I guess we can also say that Pie >= Corey Hart too.

First of all, Ward is probably just as good a hitter as some of the players that have started games in the outfield for the Cubs this year (Pie, DeRosa, Jones, Pagan). Second, the Cubs play a lot of day games in hot weather. Randy Hundley lost 25 lbs over the course of the 1969 season, and if a guy plays every day in those types of conditions, he will suffer by September and October. It's called a spot start - that's why ARam doesn't play every game, good catchers get days off, etc. You keep guys fresh for the long haul.

hey check out the t-shirt i have on the way:

Maybe, but if they do fade, the offense will be the culprit. Hell, it's the reason that the Cubs aren't running away with the division.

Ted Williams would be not far behind Babe Ruth in career numbers if not for the two stints in the military. He was just an amazing hitter.

I see that too... but the big question is, does Jim Hendry see that? I've read numerous times now that Soto came into this year lighter and stronger. It doesn't seem to be a case of him being fat and unmotivated previous, so much as getting on a proper diet and lifting plan. This gives me hope that his 2007 season isn't a complete fluke - that plus the fact that catchers often take a little longer to develop. Hopefully he stays with the new program through the winter. If the Cubs are at all competent - big if - the catcher's job should be Soto's to lose in 2008.