Exile on Waveland

Yes, there is a nice semantics debate regarding clutch hitting. Obviously, Ortiz's hit was "clutch". Is he, or anyone, a "clutch" hitter? Maybe, maybe not. Obviously, clutch exists in the way that any game changing/winning play is seizing the moment.

No doubt. If he traded Ortiz, it'd make the media reaction to the Penny/LoDuca trade look minor. As for Ortiz, if he had consistantly been much better in "clutch" situations throughout his entire career, I might be inclined to believe he's some magical clutch hitter. But he hasn't. Heck, this year, his RISP numbers are below his total #s. Back in '03 he was significantly worse with RISP than he was without. Same thing happened in '02. I think whats happened is simple. He's become one of the best pure hitters in the game today, and thanks to a couple big postseason hits and a somewhat fluky year last year, he's thought of as the greatest clutch hitter ever. He's probably not, he's just a fantastic hitter who gets his hits any time, no matter the situation. I hear what you're saying, I honestly do and I've looked at the numbers myself - but all I can tell you is that watching the games, the guy has a mighty uncanny knack for driving in the winning run. Listen, I have no idea if clutch exists or not. However, numbers with RISP tell you nothing about clutchness. A single with runners on the sixth inning winning 11-3 isn't clutch. Ortiz's constant game-winning hits are clutch. I don't really mean to say Ortiz is clutch, just that numbers with RISP and, for that matter, "close and late" numbers tell you nothing about clutchness. I just want a better statistic to measure if clutchness exists before conceding it doesn't.

Not as much as the Beatles or Led Zeppelin... I don't know what your thoughts are, I'm just putting it out there. You must be joking. If Cliff Burton-era Metallica can be called over-rated, than so can the Beatles and Zeppelin. I'll agree 90's and later Metallica is nothing special, but the first Metallica 3 records are as much masterpieces as any Zep or Beatles recordings. Uhh, sorry, but no. Nothing Metallica has ever done can compare to Revolver or Rubber Soul in the "masterpiece" category. For that matter, nothing they've done can compare to Sgt. Pepper, The White Album, Abbey Road... well if you need to be picky, I'd say that Master of Puppets is the best heavy metal record ever made. If you don't want to put it up with beatles stuff, fine, but it's definitely one of the best records ever made Best heavy metal recod, sure. One of those Beatle albums would simply be the best rock/pop album ever.

I violently dislike these announcers.

Why? He's our only decent hitter in the lineup without D-Lee. Problem is that he only starts hitting when you're 20 games below .500. You may actually be able to fool someone who thinks he can hit with pressure on. Yeah, the pressure wasn't on when he hit that first inning grand slam in game 4 of 2003 NLCS.

Not as much as the Beatles or Led Zeppelin... I don't know what your thoughts are, I'm just putting it out there. You must be joking. If Cliff Burton-era Metallica can be called over-rated, than so can the Beatles and Zeppelin. I'll agree 90's and later Metallica is nothing special, but the first Metallica 3 records are as much masterpieces as any Zep or Beatles recordings. Uhh, sorry, but no. Nothing Metallica has ever done can compare to Revolver or Rubber Soul in the "masterpiece" category. For that matter, nothing they've done can compare to Sgt. Pepper, The White Album, Abbey Road...

Photogs don't write their own captions. They do at every newspaper I've ever worked at.

Of all the players of his generation, he will be the most difficult for the USMNT to replace. IMO he was far more important than Reyna, and what's worse is that while we have some midfield talent to replace Reyna, we don't have anyone ready to replace McB. Do you guys think that Johnson has enought talent to fill that role? In the current system Johnson is an off forward alongside a target guy. The wings cross in or play up top to the target, who wins 50/50 balls in the air and knocks the ball down for the parter forward or the outside mids. I don't think using him to fill in for McB would be a wise use of his skillset. Right now the guys who would technically be replacements would be Brian Ching, and maybe Taylor Twellman and Nate Jaqua, which is why a new system is needed. I'm certainly hoping US Soccer sees the system as a fit to players (target in McBride) not the system as a fit to US Soccer. The target player just retired and a new system is needed.

Or it could be both. See: 2005 Indianapolis Colts.

Go Colts!

Not only can I not believe that GNR has the best chance to win, but only 1 of your last 2 sentences is true. And it's not the latter. Agreed. GNR is a nice little band and Appetite For Destruction is quite good, but in no way are they one of the greatest of all-time. Pink Floyd, on the other hand, definitely is.

Silly? I'd hardly classify it as "silly" if The Beatles or The Rolling Stones won.

Me too. Well, no, actually, I'll be studying for the bar. Good times.

I miss the World Cup. Oh well, go Liverpool!!! You'll Never Walk Alone.

I think the point was that Walker's stats in 2004 and 2005 were artificially inflated by keeping him on the bench against tough lefties. Put another way, do you think Walker's OPS+ in those years would have been just as high if he played every day? Who are "tough lefties"? As noises pointed out, Soriano's struggled against some good pitchers (Harden, etc) and also some average to bad pitchers (Washburn, Kennedy). So if you hand pick the guys that a player struggles against and remove those ABs, yes, his #s will go up. But how do you know that the guys Walker didn't face are guys he would struggle against? Dusty sat him almost randomly last year, more often against LHP, but it's not like there are a ton of dominant LHP in the NL anyway. So no, I don't think his OPS+ would have been significantly different and you have nothing but speculation to support your claim that it would be. And oh, as far as sitting Walker against LHP - his OPS against lefties last year was .980, so that doesn't really help you. Walker was having a very solid year last year and Soriano was struggling. In '05 (and 04) Walker was just the better player. I'll look for his plaque in Cooperstown in a few years. It'll be right next to Soriano's.

Rubber Soul.

Ramirez's lack of hustle has been apparent since he first broke into the big leagues -- of course, it was probably only apparent to me the first series I watched the Cubs play against the Pirates. Last year, people wanted to excuse it with "he has leg problems" or "he's kind of soft, next offseason he's going to work really hard and get into shape". Well, here it is a year later and he still dogs it at times and he still doesn't seem to be in tip-top shape. Just like you can't tell a .280 hitter from a .300 hitter by watching games, stats don't tell you everything, just most things. Ramirez's lack of hustle is indefensible. I do think it's an insult to the fans, his teammates, the game of baseball and the Cubs organization. That being said, this is nowhere -- NOWHERE -- near the top of the Cubs' problems. It's not even close. Ramirez is currently the teams most productive hitter, and, overall, most would say the second best hitter behind a healthy Lee. Ramirez should not be run out of town or scapegoated. Of course, as goes for any player, he can be had for the right price. But the Cubs have third base covered for the first time since Santo, so I certainly wouldn't actively shop him. If blown away by an offer, then fine. What should be done is something that won't. Either Dusty makes him run hard or the Cubs get someone who will. I would obviously prefer the latter (nearly anything sans Dusty sounds good to me). Players play the way they are allowed to play. The organization doesn't hold anyone accountable for anything, from top to bottom, and lack of hustle is symptomatic of that.

I haven't posted forever, but this trade is mind boggling. They gave up two starters (and two young, at least decent starters) for relief help? Seriously? I am in total shock right now. Just a terrible, terrible trade. I also can't help but think, why didn't the Cubs do this with whatever reliever the Reds would've wanted? Maybe that's not fair, maybe they don't make the trade within the division. I don't know, but, hopefully, this puts a premium on relievers and the Cubs can cash-in.

Why would Dusty care how much money Hendry is paying a particular player? I think we've all agreed that Hendry has little input on who Dusty plays, so why does Dusty care? If I understand this correctly, Dusty's thinking is "I think that Murton would be a better player than Alou, but because Jim is paying Alou $7 million I guess I better start him instead." I can't imagine why Dusty would care about what anyone is being paid. I'm pretty sure Dusty has been quoted saying "Player A isn't being paid X to sit the bench" or something to that effect. If I can find a link to that I'll have to change my sig. I'm pretty sure he said that as well. I'm not going to search for the quote, but has definitely said it -- on numerous occasions, in fact.

I don't really see how we're jumping to conclusions on Hendry. Maybe in regards to this offseason -- maybe. The man's been on the job for three years, overseeing a top-5 payroll team. He's never put together a 90 win team. His last team finished below .500. They finished below the Brewers. This offseason he's already overpaid for crap like Perez and Rusch. He also didn't fire Baker. It's pretty clear he's placing a higher premium on leadoff/speed/defense than the teams biggest need, OBP and OBP against. Hendry already has to make up for poor moves this offseason. If he does so, maybe this offseason won't be a failure. If it does turn out to be a success, it will be the first one under his watch. The FIRST one. We've had plenty of time to evaluate Hendry, and the prognosis isn't good.

Wow, this may be funnier than the Castilla-Lawrence deal. Man, my dad's a Dodger fan, he's gonna hate this news. Even if it doesn't happen, it doesn't exactly bode well for the franchise that they believe Bowden's the answer. Hahahahahaha.

My opinion of Pierre isn't that high, but I'd do that deal. Probably wouldn't hesitate. It would improve CF -- how much may be in question -- and does give Dusty a guy he'd always leadoff with (no more Perez or Macias or the like). Now, that move coupled with Burnitz or Jacque Jones in RF won't cut it. But if the outfield is Murton/Pierre/(Giles/Abreu/Ramirez/etc), I'd be very happy.

Hahahaha. What? I mean, seriously? Really? I can't stop laughing. This is mind-boggling. I've got nothing else to add. PS Hahahaha

Yeah, as long as he's a good S.O.B., I'm all for it.