Sarcastic

BP projects Milwaukee to have a 65.6% chance of making the playoffs. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/ps_odds.php On the Angel's chances at winning the division, BP thinks 95% is actually a little low. They put it at 98.5%.

That makes some sense. I'd still like to know how it wandered into baseball terminology, and if Brenly is the only person who uses it that way.

Over the last couple days Bob has repeated the phrase "sniffing the barn" a couple times in his color commentary. I've never heard this phrase before so I did a google search on [baseball "sniffing the barn"] and got two articles back from 2002 with a quote from, you guessed it, Bob Brenly which included that phrase. Does anyone have any idea where this originated or even a source quoting somebody else saying it? The really weird thing is I don't remember him ever saying it on the air until a few games ago.

Is anybody else in the Chicago area watching this on cable and getting static on every channel all of a sudden?

Should the others be penalized because they aren't replacing a black hole? And I'm not sure where you're getting the Soto numbers from. His OPS was .894 before the game today, and it will probably go down 7-8 points after today. A player who can put up great offensive numbers at a defensive position with few good hitters is definitely more valuable to the team than a player putting up great offensive numbers from a position played by better hitters. Not to take anything away from Ramirez or Lee, but playing as a catcher definitely makes Soto more valuable. Soto's OPS is actually higher than Lee's right now, and a bit below Ramirez's. I think I'd have to go with Soto for first half MVP. He's a huge improvement over what the Cubs put behind the plate last year.

I cannot believe Marmol was allowed to pitch so long in that trainwreck inning.

Since this is Harden's first start here, it almost has to be a let down.

Just got my first internship and assignment at 18. Woo. The best part is that now I can quit my other part time job.

What the hell is the bear in cap #3 doing?

The dead arm thing is based off of this quote from a bad outing Harden had last week on July 2nd: http://www.rotowire.com/roto_to_gnews.htm?ID=262110&sport=mlb

You can definitely give your opinion. I think we're in agreement now on everything but the injury, and we don't have any new info on that so... back to the game.

I bet it's broken. of course YOU do. It's a fastball right off the hand that is clutching a bat. That most likely will result in a broken bone from what I've seen. Just being honest. What exactly have you seen? An awful lot of situations just like this one that resulted in a broken bone, that's what I've seen. There's no point hiding our heads in the sand because of Cub bias. The man just took a fb off a part of the body that has very little protective flesh and a very hard object underneath. There's a strong possibility it's broken, that's all I'm saying. I amazed at how many people confuse this for wanting it to be broken, which I most definitely do NOT. I'm not saying that you want it to be broken. I'm not saying anything is or isn't broken, because I have no idea at this point. But unless you have some specific context for forecasting the extent of his injury, like significant medical experience, your predictions are probably not much more unbiased or accurate than anyone else's here. If you do have some significant experience with diagnosing or treating sports injuries or in any other related field of medicine, I'm sure everyone would like to hear your insights. Otherwise, it's fine to make predictions, whether you are professionally certified to do so or not. But your predictions aren't necessarily less biased or more accurate.

I bet it's broken. of course YOU do. It's a fastball right off the hand that is clutching a bat. That most likely will result in a broken bone from what I've seen. Just being honest. What exactly have you seen? I have no idea how serious the injury may or may not be. Although Soriano going to the hospital to get x-rays doesn't sound good.

I don't think he was intentionally hit. Soriano wouldn't have been hit at all if he hadn't thrown his hand up and towards the plate as he was turning away. It wasn't even close to his face until it bounced off his hand.

I'm not sure I quite fit in this poll, but I'm a student considering journalism as a career. I didn't want to do get a pre-professional degree for undergrad, so if I do go into journalism, I may end up getting a masters degree after I graduate. Considering the limited job opportunities and pay in the field of reporting though, I'm not sure that's where I'll end up. I'd rather do something I enjoy and make less than do something I hate just for the money, but I have no idea whether I'll be able to get a half-decent job even if I get an advanced degree in journalism.