MPrior

I agree. I have never been impressed by him, and I would swap him out for Aardsma in half a heartbeat. It may just be my perception, but Wuertz seems to either dominate or flat out stink, especially when he pitches in a couple games in a row. When Wuertz gets even a little tired, it's BP. I agree that it makes me nervous that he's not doing well, but I have been impressed with him in the past. He can be pretty sick when he's not misused, so it mostly just makes me sad that he's getting roughed up so badly.

First off, I don't think many people out here idolize TLR. In fact, I've heard more people on this board criticize him than praise him. But it's pretty clear that Dusty has made an exceptional amount of undeniably stupid decisions. The manager's job is to put his team in the situation which is most likely to lead to success, and he repeatedly does just the opposite - it sometimes even seems like he's trying to. And it pisses me off.

I'm with you as well, although I base it less on all-star games (I think it's a lot more than four in a row, though) and World Series appearances, and more on the overall quality of the teams. There are a lot of mediocre teams in the NL, and while the AL has its cupcakes, its middling- to upper-range teams are generally better than the NL's.

How can you not vote for George Mason? It's destiny...DESTINY! Plus, they beat my Tar Heels. So if my team's gonna get beat in the second round by an 11th seed, I want 'em to go all the way, durn it! Plus, that would be pretty awesome.

Um. This bolded thing. Not really true. In fact, Maddux is probably the most groundball-oriented pitcher we've got, except maybe Z (I unfortunately don't have GB-FB ratios with me, so I could be wrong about the past year or two, but in general, Maddux has been a groundball pitcher throughout his career). And our pitchers tend to get A LOT of strikeouts. Those aren't the same thing as groundouts.

Um, this isn't true. A message board is intended as place for the exchange of ideas. If Corey or Dusty or Neifi don't want to hear what we're saying about them, then they don't have to come read the message board. They have no choice about hearing the boos, which, if they accomplish anything, as you claim, it's to belittle the player and shatter their confidence. EXACTLY what you want to do to them immediately before they have to perform. That's perfect.

Ryu, as impressive as he's been this spring, should probably be in Iowa. He's better off starting than relieving, especially if he's only gonna get a couple of appearances, which will probably be the case. And I think leaving Wuertz off the 25 man would be a bit silly. He's good; it's just that he's struggling a bit.

Wuertz relies pretty heavily on his slider, and, as all pitchers do, his control, as has been said. A slider's not an easy pitch to throw, so he might just not have it yet. Similarly, it takes a while to master his control. I think (read: hope) he'll be fine.

Good to see you're not rooting for Murray St. I'm a little upset with my Heels for letting them hang on this long.

Where I am, they're playing the Cal/NC State game. Makes me think I'm not gonna get to watch the Carolina game at all. Which makes me mad.

I SO hope Albany pulls this off. That'd be a first. Plus, I'm actually rooting for George Mason (don't hate me, you guys). It has nothing to do with Michigan State, other than the fact that I'm terrified of them and I really don't want to see them in the second round. If both those upsets happened, I'd feel a lot better about the Tar Heels' chances of going far in the tournament.

You do know that Duke basically gets whatever calls they want, right? There have been many worse than that. My favorite is when J.J. Redick, The Biggest Prick Known to Man, can't find a good shot to take, so he just dribbles it into the fray in the paint and haphazardly lobs the ball in the air. Since he's such a good shooters, the refs go, "well, he must have been fouled," and they call it on somebody. Drives me nuts. That and Shelden Williams' elbows. Of course, I am a little biased. And not just a little upset about losing to Boston College. UNC has had trouble putting it together in the ACC tournament recently. You'd take Redick in the 'Heels backcourt in a heartbeat :P Call me crazy, but no I wouldn't. Yeah, he's a great player, but I credit the team and the coach for his success more than his own natural ability. That team is constructed to give J.J. the ball as often as possible. When he has a bad night, he still scores 20 points because he takes so many shots - plus the free throws. I don't like a team structured that way. And I fully expect him to be a flop in the NBA, because the only thing he does really, really well is shoot. Plus, he's a prick. I love to see him go into a school like Temple, who is barely a division I team, and still taunt the fans. Yes, he'd make the Heels better, but I still hate him, and I don't want him. Plus, his poetry (yes, he writes poetry) sucks.

You do know that Duke basically gets whatever calls they want, right? There have been many worse than that. My favorite is when J.J. Redick, The Biggest Prick Known to Man, can't find a good shot to take, so he just dribbles it into the fray in the paint and haphazardly lobs the ball in the air. Since he's such a good shooters, the refs go, "well, he must have been fouled," and they call it on somebody. Drives me nuts. That and Shelden Williams' elbows. Of course, I am a little biased. And not just a little upset about losing to Boston College. UNC has had trouble putting it together in the ACC tournament recently.

There's no reason it has to be one or the other. It could be Hendry's actual valuation of Hill compared to Dunn even if the trade offer was not discussed. So what you are saying is that no one really knows for sure? I'm just trying to find out what the hard evidence on this report is because some people seem to be saying that it is a fact that Hendry would not have traded Hill for Dunn and others are treating it like its an off handed comment made by Miles that has no basis in fact. This was based on an actual quote, from Jim Hendry, sometime in the middle of the season - I could maybe find a link, but I'm lazy. It was some interview, and they were talking about the possibility of trading with the Reds. I believe they were specifically talking about Rich Hill as a trading chip, and if he would be traded for Austin Kearns or something, to which Hendry replied, "I wouldn't trade Hill for Dunn straight up." There was never an actual trade proposed, but it was still something Hendry actually said.

What if I'm an NBA team offering him millions of dollars? Then can I have him? Um, if you are an NBA team, please don't do that yet. It was bad enough losing our top seven players at the end of last year, leaving us with nothing but freshmen and the likes of Byron Sanders (who looks like a basketball player, cause he's huge, but surprisingly can't actually play basketball). Okay. Noel is good. But still, leave me Hansbrough.

So I haven't really been following this thread at all, and I know I'm a couple pages behind, but GO HEELS! I love UNC. I hate Duke. Especially J.J. Redick. So it's good for a lifelong tar heel fan to beat his team (with a bunch of freshmen, no less) on his senior night in Cameron. Also, yes, Hansbrough is awesome, and no, you can't have him.

A friend and I got $8 outfield seats, near the visitor's bullpen, for all three games. I'd love to actually meet a fellow NSBBer (would be a first for me), so let me know.

He was really good, and Dusty should get crap for not starting him there from the beginning when that was clearly Hendry's plan (he said it over and over all offseason). But reasonable people can still have questions about how he'll hold up. Control has always been an issue, and it didn't disappear. Inconsistency has been a part of his career. The optimist in me thinks that control will be less of a problem for him in a relief role, since he can rely more heavily on the fastball/slider combo, and not worry about using all his pitches as much. That way he'll throw fewer pitches that are tough for him to control, and while I'm sure he'll never be a corner-painter (that's right; "corner-painter") like, say, Glavine, he might struggle a bit less. Then again, the pessimist in me is a whole different story.

Expected but still disappointing. This means I have to wait even LONGER till I can watch him throw that incredible curve (by the way, I love watching Wood pitch).

You guys may be overlooking Rivera as the most dominant. He really only has one completely filthy pitch, but that pitch (his cut fastball) is about as filthy as they come. It's pretty much unhittable. And yeah, he may be on the near side of his heyday, but still. Any discussion of dominating closers has to include him (as much as I despise the Yankees).

An ex-Tar Heel, he must be awesome.

I think his hits probably have more to do with Hill and Koronka than him, unfortunately. But it's certainly tempting to think otherwise.

Um. This is awesome. I will no longer be getting anything done, at all, until I have to leave.

Unless Williamson nets someone REALLY nice for our offense, then I think this is a terrible idea. If he's healthy, he's definitely the best arm in our bullpen, bar none. And he's much less expensive than Dempster, Eyre, or Howry.

I don't really know much about pitch grips, but it could be some form of circle change? Yes. Circle change. I'm no expert, but no circle change grip I've ever seen looks anything like that. In fact, in all the circle change grips I've ever used or seen, the pinky is actually hugging one side of the ball. On further review, I suppose his ring finger could be fulfilling the function that the pinky usually does, but I don't see his forefinger where it ought to be. If I had to guess, I would bet that that's a slider, since he's gripping the outer third of the ball. But as I said, I am definitely not an expert - I just tool around with the stuff cause I love it. In fact, if anyone has some useful tips, throw 'em my way.