fromthestretch

I think Wood has the potential to be a very good closer but I also think he's getting a free pass because so many of us like him. And if you want him to reach that potential, perhaps removing him from the closer's role after a one month isn't the best idea. He's not the only one who has had some problems this season. Howry and Wuertz have a history of success and both have been shaky at best this year. Marmol is most valuable in the situations in which he's currently being used. I don't like the idea of taking him out of those situations and saving him for the 9th just so he can get a save.

C'mon, guys. Everyone knows you need a proven closer in order to win. I mean, just look at the success the Mariners and Padres have had this season with J.J. Putz and Trevor Hoffman, respectively. Let's face it, since they've had success in that role before, they are guaranteed to be successful everytime they get the ball. They'll never fail. Ever.

It's definitely a nice place to watch a game, and that HD scoreboard is pretty impressive. Watching the replay of Johnson's catch on that was great.

You can also park at RFK. I believe they run a free shuttle from the RFK lot to the new stadium.

The wife and I are going Friday and Saturday. We'll be down the right field line (first row, first deck) on Friday night. I should have my blue Fukudome jersey shirt on tomorrow night. No idea where our seats are for Saturday. Can't wait to get a look at the new stadium. Just hope the rain holds off Saturday night.

The Cubs, coming into today, had 32 runs scored from 35 chances with the bases loaded. That's not bad. Stop using facts. I'm not sure how that goes against what UMFan said earlier. When bukie said 32 runs in 35 chances, he means 35 plate appearances with the bases loaded. That's not to say that the Cubs have been bad with the bases loaded. They've actually been good. However, they have squandered some opportunities the past few games.

Were they not strikes? Not all strikes are good pitches to hit.

With some of the metro stations (not sure if it applies to all of them), parking is free on weekends. Friday would be a problem for you, but Saturday and Sunday may not be an issue.

Because as we all know, every prospect ever in the history of the game turned into an "everyday major leaguer" while they were in the minors.

Depends on where you set the floor for innings pitched. If you set it at 1,000 like it is on Baseball Reference, Mariano Rivera will take over as the leader soon. He has an ERA+ of 195 in 958.1 innings. The fact that Pedro is at 160 as a starter is a bit more impressive to me, but no other reliever in the history of the game comes close to Rivera's ERA+ of 195.

Funny thing is that Wagner really is right-handed. He only started throwing lefty at age 10 or 11 because he broke his right arm.

Well, yeah...that, too.

Moving Soriano to third in the order is not going to force pitchers to magically throw him a significantly higher number of fastballs. Besides, if you're that worried about his OBP, why on earth do you want him batting third? If you're going to move him down, why not just move him down to fifth or sixth?

I bet the Phillies are glad they didn't give up on Mike Schmidt after his first 200 plate appearances. Same for the Mariners with A-Rod and the Giants with Matt Williams. Jersey gave a great example with Aramis earlier. The sad thing here is that I have to add the disclaimer that I'm not claiming Pie will have the success any of them did. It would be one thing if Pie didn't hit in the minors or was 26 or was fat, slow and only capable of playing 1B. However, when he has shown promise at every level, is only 23, and is a very good defensive centerfielder, it certainly is an overreaction to write him off at this stage.

My memory might be aging, but 100% without a doubt the Comedy channel has about five minutes of commercials in between mediocre stand-up. Only way to get a true kick was recording it and skipping through commercials afterwards - which killed whatever true value my Inno had. Ah yes, I was just thinking of the music stations. The uncensored comedy station does play 60-90 second commercial breaks occasionally. So you're paying an access fee to listen to commercials. No thanks. Didn't XM put out a slew of ads claiming "commercial free" programming? Liars. Most of their music stations are commercial-free. I believe there are only two or three that play brief commercial breaks.

My memory might be aging, but 100% without a doubt the Comedy channel has about five minutes of commercials in between mediocre stand-up. Only way to get a true kick was recording it and skipping through commercials afterwards - which killed whatever true value my Inno had. Ah yes, I was just thinking of the music stations. The uncensored comedy station does play 60-90 second commercial breaks occasionally.

Aside undifferentiated music content, I hated the Commercials and Portability (or lack thereof). I found more use of the service by recording as opposed to listening live due to the insane number of debt free and male enhancements commercials. But what broke the camel's back was how weak the reception was when my Pioneer Inno was undocked - even while walking outside on the clearest day. P.S. In terms of music content, Internet Radio on a PSP (heck, I'll go out on a limb and say even Pandora and IMEEM) is not that far off XM Music (Rock and Metal) - and gratis. That's odd. To my knowledge, most of the stations have no commercials, with the exception of a couple of the pop muisc stations.

XM at work. If the Cubs aren't on, I'll listen to whatever afternoon games they have. I usually have it on the baseball station (175) most of the day. If a game isn't on, I'll switch it to music at 3 pm, so I don't have to listen to Rob Dibble's show. Just curious, but what didn't you like about XM? I would think just about anyone could find something they like to listen to on there.

Or it could just be that rational people aren't going to get bent out of shape after the first game of the season. You know damn well that if he continues to have outings like this, people won't want him taking innings away from more effective pitchers. Limited sample size aside, his 2.97 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 10.2 K/9, and .559 opponent's OPS in relief for his career coming into this season certainly don't look bad.

I'm curious why people keep saying he faded down the stretch. The only reason his numbers didn't look awful going into September was due to an insane July when he hit .348/.437/.483. That was the only month he posted an OPS over .700. Theriot never slugged .400 in the minors. I think it's a stretch to think he will in the majors.

He hit well in his first callup in 2005. And his K/BB ratio was not bad at all at AAA. In 532 at-bats at that level, he had 50 BB and 77 strikeouts. Sure, you'd like to see him draw a few more walks, but it's not like he struck out 140 times.

He played four games at 3B last year. I'm sure he could fill in there in a pinch. Defensively, they'd probably be better putting DeRosa at 3B during the games that Ramirez is out for injury/rest. Cedeno could take SS on those days, with Theriot or Fontenot playing 2B.

This would make SOME sense if he didn't put Granderson 7 slots lower than Grady. And I love the inclusion of Evan Longoria after the disclaimer "I will not put prospects on my list." Actually, he says: He does also include Adam Jones, but Jones actually has seen major league action in each of the past two seasons.

the only issue i have with this - and a very minor one indeed - is that the hr guy's run production isn't based on PA's, it's based on games played. I guess we could assume an average season or whatever, I dunno, I'll inquire further, but I'm pretty sure the HR guy would produce well over 106 runs, but perhaps not more than the walks produce. The basic idea behind Mr. HR is that he hits one HR per game. He stays in the entire game though. He might get 4 AB's or 6 AB's if it goes extra. But every other at bat that he has he makes an out. When I was having this argument with my friends I just always assumed those outs came as a strikeout. So by the end of the year the guy would have 162 homeruns (one per game played), and who knows how many RBI's, because you wouldn't be able to decide when to hit a homerun. I guess that opens up the question as to where you would bat a guy like that. Sorry if this has already been discussed, but if homerun guy hits his homer early in the game, can't you just take him out and replace him with someone else? If he's guaranteed to get out in the rest of his plate appearances that game, you're better off replacing him after he hits that homerun. "And I don't want any "Well, I'd sit the homerun guy until the bases are loaded, pinch hit and then immediately sub him." Pretend like you have to keep both guys in the whole game." From the first post of the thread. :) My mistake. Guess I missed that part.

the only issue i have with this - and a very minor one indeed - is that the hr guy's run production isn't based on PA's, it's based on games played. I guess we could assume an average season or whatever, I dunno, I'll inquire further, but I'm pretty sure the HR guy would produce well over 106 runs, but perhaps not more than the walks produce. The basic idea behind Mr. HR is that he hits one HR per game. He stays in the entire game though. He might get 4 AB's or 6 AB's if it goes extra. But every other at bat that he has he makes an out. When I was having this argument with my friends I just always assumed those outs came as a strikeout. So by the end of the year the guy would have 162 homeruns (one per game played), and who knows how many RBI's, because you wouldn't be able to decide when to hit a homerun. I guess that opens up the question as to where you would bat a guy like that. Sorry if this has already been discussed, but if homerun guy hits his homer early in the game, can't you just take him out and replace him with someone else? If he's guaranteed to get out in the rest of his plate appearances that game, you're better off replacing him after he hits that homerun.