fromthestretch

please no please no please no please no Still no word on it You probably won't hear anything until gametime. Get used to that for most likely the remainder of the season, unfortunately.

Tejada never led the league in homers. He's never finished higher than seventh in the league in HR.

He's permitted to play as long as the pain isn't unbearable for him.

Hitting him with a car? That's a bit more extreme than the other things.

i have a hard time believing that a guy who is currently in the major leagues will rat on his fellow players. He'll just wait until his career is over and write a tell-all book about it.

While he's not really a big name these days, I would not be the least bit surprised if Troy Percival was a user at some point in his career.

So steroids are the sole reason there were more 50-homer seasons? Didn't have anything to do with smaller parks, better off-season and in-season training, use of video, better bats, etc.? And I'm still wondering why people only talk about home runs when steroid use comes up. What about the vast number of pitchers that used? You want to discredit Bonds and A-Rod and the like for home runs they hit while juiced up. Are you going to give them extra credit for the years they were clean when they were hitting homers off pitchers that were on something?

He posted a .965 OPS in 2008, which pretty much matches his career OPS (.967). He may have "only" hit 35 home runs, but he also only played in 138 games. On top of that, he "only" hit 35 in 2006, then bounced back with 54 (and a career high in OPS) in 2007. I wouldn't expect him to display the same power numbers he put up in Arlington, considering how high his slugging percentage was in that ballpark. I don't know if it's fair to say that his numbers have really dropped off.

The final pitch of the game was probably the nastiest of all. I like Dave Clark's at-bat in the top of the 8th. I've never seen a left-handed batter look so bad against a right-handed pitcher as Clark did on the last pitch of that at-bat.

Veterans Committee. Well, at least Purdue only loses Calasan and Green after this season. Scott Martin would be a big help right about now. Yes he would. I was never happy about his decision to leave. Even with a healthy Hummel (that sounds dirty to me for some reason), Martin would have added much needed depth to this team.

Veterans Committee. Well, at least Purdue only loses Calasan and Green after this season.

Javier Valentin is four years younger, a better hitter, and hits from both sides of the plate (he's a better hitter from the left side, too). He just got a minor league deal from the Nats. I would have preferred him over Bako.

Kramer gets a little too much attention from the announcers. That's a load of crap. It's understandable that fans of other teams can't stand the guy. It's another thing to let your hatred blind you to the fact that he's a very good defensive player. I can't really argue this. He does whine a lot, and he does flop on offense. Pretty much every one of his layups ends up with him on the ground.

What's worse is that it appears no one really discovered the extent of the damage to his shoulder for quite some time. Had it been found and repaired sooner, he might be healthy now. Then again, shoulder injuries can be difficult to come back from, so who knows.

Let someone unexpectedly break your nose with their elbow and we'll see how you react. One things for sure you would just stand there. Oh c'mon he embellished the hell out of it, if you can't see that then you are just being a homer. He had blood flowing out of his nose and he was hit unexpectedly. Ever seen some pull the prank of acting like they are going to throw something at someone? In this case Kramer actually got hit. I would expect someone who got hit unexpectedly to go down real fast and in a natural reflex try to get out of the way. Those of you trying to say he flopped when he filled a towel with blood are just plain being stupid. No way to cut it any different. You're letting your dislike of Purdue blind you. Seriously saying someone flopped when they are covered in blood ... I would expect that from people other than Cubs fans. I don't question the fact that he got hit pretty hard and that the impact and pain was enough to knock him down. But I wouldn't doubt that he still may have sold it a bit. You get hit in the nose like that, you're most likely not going to flip around in the air like he did. He hits the ground twice as much as Brian Cardinal ever did, and that's saying something. I don't doubt that he got hit hard. I just think he's used to over-acting a bit when he gets hit.

I'm surprised no one has claimed that the blood and broken nose was actually from hitting his face on the floor rather than the elbow to the nose. :-)) I thought about it, but thought I might lose credibility... Don't want to ruin your nsbb rep. I'll always have the post count. I can't compete with that.

I'm surprised no one has claimed that the blood and broken nose was actually from hitting his face on the floor rather than the elbow to the nose. :-)) I thought about it, but thought I might lose credibility... Don't want to ruin your nsbb rep.

was there any blood? noses always bleed like a B. There was quite a bit of blood.

I'm surprised no one has claimed that the blood and broken nose was actually from hitting his face on the floor rather than the elbow to the nose. :-))

Well his nose got broke so I'm pretty sure he did get hit and wasn't flopping. I don't know how all of you can say he flopped when his nose got broke. That tends to make people fall to the ground. Harris shouldn't have been booted though. I could see a technical maybe, but not booted. I can't see anything. Harris was doing something every basketball player in the history of mankind has done when facing tough defense and Kramer had his face in the wrong spot. Absolutely ridiculous. Him getting ejected was a bit much, but I can't argue the technical. As far as it being "something every basketball player in the history of mankind has done when facing tough defense", a lot of players don't swing their elbows head-high. Some will on a rebound in a crowded lane, but not typically at the perimeter. I won't argue the fact that Kramer flops way too much and tries to "sell" the foul a lot of times. However, he got popped pretty good on this one.

How is pointing out that the Cubs got worse at a position overreacting? And as goony pointed out, the difference between 83 and 62 in OPS+ is fairly significant. On top of that, Blanco is better defensively. Sorry, I don't agree. hank had a OPS+ of 6 in 2007? Is that indicative of his skill? His career OPS+ is .....drumroll please...63. Hank had a good 120 AB's last year. There's no need to label him a offensive threat. Give him an additional 200 AB's like Bako had and you'll see that precious, all so important on this site, OPS+ fall. His last four seasons (OPS+) 2005: 71 2006: 81 2007: 6 2008: 83 As has been pointed out, his 2007 was due in large part to a major injury. Is he guaranteed to put up an OPS+ over 80 this season? Of course not. But it wouldn't be a stretch to expect something in the mid-70s. And you can cut the condescending crap. No one is labeling him an offensive threat. Although, compared to Bako, he is. Your point about an additional 200 at-bats is moot, as well. No one would have expected him to get that many at-bats unless Soto got hurt. Even then, Blanco would still provide good defense if he's not hitting. Dude, relax, it's a conversation about Bako vs Blanco for christssakes. We're not talking about some important cogs to this team. Both are crap offensive players no matter what their meager OPS+ numbers are . It wasn't meant to be condescending pointing that out. It's much ado about nothing. Like another poster pointed out, what significant difference do you really expect out of Blanco over Bako in 150 AB's? You're making this sound way too critical. If Soto has to miss any significant time, they would be in just as much trouble with Blanco. Whatever, chief. I'm not the one claiming that everyone here is overreacting. I'm not the one that claims this board in general has "man-love" for certain players. Again, I never said Blanco was some sort of All-Star. I simply said he's better than Bako, both offensively and defensively. If Soto has to miss significant time, they would be in trouble, regardless of who the back up is. What people are saying here is that it is a downgrade from Blanco to Bako. That's all. Regardless of their role on the team, a downgrade is a downgrade. When you've downgraded in more than one area, people tend to take notice. Lighten up, Francis.

How is pointing out that the Cubs got worse at a position overreacting? And as goony pointed out, the difference between 83 and 62 in OPS+ is fairly significant. On top of that, Blanco is better defensively. Sorry, I don't agree. hank had a OPS+ of 6 in 2007? Is that indicative of his skill? His career OPS+ is .....drumroll please...63. Hank had a good 120 AB's last year. There's no need to label him a offensive threat. Give him an additional 200 AB's like Bako had and you'll see that precious, all so important on this site, OPS+ fall. His last four seasons (OPS+) 2005: 71 2006: 81 2007: 6 2008: 83 As has been pointed out, his 2007 was due in large part to a major injury. Is he guaranteed to put up an OPS+ over 80 this season? Of course not. But it wouldn't be a stretch to expect something in the mid-70s. And you can cut the condescending crap. No one is labeling him an offensive threat. Although, compared to Bako, he is. Your point about an additional 200 at-bats is moot, as well. No one would have expected him to get that many at-bats unless Soto got hurt. Even then, Blanco would still provide good defense if he's not hitting.

How is pointing out that the Cubs got worse at a position overreacting? And as goony pointed out, the difference between 83 and 62 in OPS+ is fairly significant. On top of that, Blanco is better defensively.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back. How is it silly to compare a player signed to fill a position this year that was filled by a different player the year before? because it wasnt a matter of choosing blanco or bako? You're right. Blanco wasn't the only better option than Bako out there.

blanco had 120 at bats last year, with a 717 OPS. through the same number of at bats last year, bako had a 774 OPS. bako isn't going to get 300 at bats this year, like he had last year. What kind of reasoning is that? It's not like he's guaranteed to post a .774 OPS in 120 at-bats again. Through his first 121 at-bats in 2007, he posted a .574 OPS. Through his first 120 at-bats in 2006, he posted a .553 OPS. Tell me which one is the outlier here.