Derwood

I'm late to the thread, but why, exactly, did Dusty take most of his power guys out of the lineup on a night with the wind blowing out? WHY? WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

Except that Harang isn't a bad pitcher. His numbers were mostly better than Maddux going into tonight.

I'm pretty sure I read on the Reds website that Randy Keisler will take Luke Hudson's place in the rotation. Even better, right?

Not that I think it will happen, but we can break this down one series at a time. Starting today, we have the Cubs vs. Cincy for 3, Florida at Houston for 4, Atlanta at Philly for 4. Starting tomorrow, we have Washington at the Mets for 3 and Milwaukee at Arizona for 3. Thursday sees the Cubs start 4 vs. St. Louis. Friday starts 3 game series with ATL at NYM, PHI at FLA, WSH at SD and MIL at HOU. Monday: Maddux vs. Harang (Derwood's Prediction: CIN) Willis vs. Backe (FLA) Hudson vs. Brito (ATL) Result: 6.0 back Tuesday: Milton vs. Zambrano (CHC) Thomson vs. Floyd (ATL) Patterson vs. Glavine (WSH) Beckett vs. Rodriguez (FLA) Capuano vs. Vazquez (MIL) Result: Still 5.5 back Wednesday: Hudson vs. J. Williams (CHC) Ramirez vs. Lidle (ATL) Loaiza vs. Benson (WSH) Burnett vs. Clemens (HOU) Davis vs. Webb (MIL) Result: 5.0 back Thursday: Suppan vs. Prior (CHC) Hernandez vs. Seo (NYM) Ohka vs. Estes (MIL) Vargas vs. Pettitte (HOU) Result: 4.5 back Granted, these are all "on paper" type predictions based on starting pitchers.

Cards. :twisted: If Neifi goes to the Cards and does well, I may lose hope and interest in the game of baseball. he can join Grudz for the "Double Play Combo that Dusty Kept Playing Despite Better Players on the Roster"

I'm guessing now that they have to wait for the NY-Penn League playoffs to finish before they can announce anything. Perhaps because affiliations will change with other teams? I know that this happens now and again (Kane County changing from Florida to Oakland, plus AAA teams like Indy, Edmonton and Ottawa all changing recently). Is there a rule that says that a new team can't make any announcements until a season has concluded?

Your body is lying to you. Never listen to your body.

No, but then again I didn't even look at the W/L total until I scrolled down and saw you mentioned it. I edited the two pitchers. You got in before I could change it :oops:

Okay, another comparison for discussion: Who has been a better pitcher this year? PITCHER A: 9-12, 3.60 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 2.98 K/BB, 7.1 K/9, .253 OBA or PITCHER B: 11-5, 3.64 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 3.34 K/BB, 9.9 K/9, .221 OBA Pitcher A is Aaron Harang, while Pitcher B is Mark Prior. Prior's OBA and WHIP are a bit better, but is Harang really that much worse just because "he can't win?" I think wins are very circumstancial

I think it's all about finishing hot, and being a crucial member of your team's success (unless you just have silly good numbers like Dawson or Bonds) Lee started hot, cooling off: APR: .419, 7, 28 MAY: .313, 9, 18 JUN: .407, 7, 19 JLY: .303, 9, 18 AUG: .284, 7, 11 SEP: .297, 2, 5 Jones, however: APR: .239, 3, 12 MAY: .283, 9, 18 JUN: .317, 13, 26 JLY: .253, 7, 23 AUG: .272, 11, 29 SEP: .297, 6, 13 Bad batting average? Sure. But his RBI numbers have been awesome, especially since June.

And the wildcard "best case scenarios"!

Two more dingers by Andruw tonight. Another nail in Lee's MVP Coffin?

nice, 2 WP's in one inning

No. Two outs, 1-1 count to Niekro, Ellison at third. Is Williamson just taking 2 minutes between every pitch or something?

gamecast is taking forever to update. Has Ellison scored yet? :roll:

I agree. It helps that ESPN is treating his every at bat like that of Barry Bonds. Plus other media sources are really putting some stock in AJ. I just find it hard to believe that Albert or Lee do not win it. Jones has had far more RBI opportunities and his supporting cast is far better than that of the Albert's. Moreover, I do not see how you can give the MVP to a hitter that is batting around .275 when you have two guys batting .340ish with better OBP and Slg %. Here are the number is comparison with the NL leaders: OBP 1. Albert .434 4. Lee .423 31. Jones .358 Slg% 1. Lee .674 2. Albert .633 3. Jones .601 BA 1. Lee .343 2. Pujols .338 40. Jones .275 I could see how voters could reward D. Lee for a great season or Albert for being so consistant on the best team in MLB (record wise). Yet, to give it to Jones is just absurd. What are the numbers for runs, RBI and runs created?

If you switched Perez and Murton, you might have something

Venice is largely a theme park. I've seen historical areas of German cities and I like how they were restored, but I wasn't familiar with them before the bombing in the 40's. As for New Orleans, maybe I'm cynical, but in America in the year 2005 I can't see any rebuilding project not having a cheezy commercial flavor. I've been to NO before the flood and even then I thought it was already overly commercial and touristy. Ever think that you were probably in the commercial and touristy areas of the city? Still, while I think they will definitely have to do something to entice people back to the area, I doubt that they are going to build a large scale version of Celebration, FL

Finally, a game I can watch. The other 3 I was either working or blacked out by the demon spawn at FOX

Why do you think certain pitchers get more run support than others on the same team? As long as my team scores more than the other team, I'm happy... Yeah, it's too bad now that Clemens is old he sucks at getting his team to score lots of runs. that's what your argument boils down to, and it's just absurd. I can't believe anyone would want to argue your side of things edit: I can't believe anyone other than joe morgan would want to argue your side of things I think you're looking at my argument the wrong way. Joe Morgan thinks that the pitcher with the most wins should be the Cy Young winner because he is the best pitcher. I think the Cy Young should go to the pitcher who has done everything in his power to win games, meaning era, whip, baa, etc. because that is the individual who has literally "pitched" the best. (Clemens has pitched the best this season). That being said, a pitcher who cannot win is not as valuable to his team in a particular contained season than one who can, regardless of other stats. I guess I don't have any other way of phrasing this... I've said it several times. Perhaps "valuable" isnt the correct word to be using, because people tend to associate value with achievement. Trust me, happening to get more run support than a teammate doesn't make your personal accomplishments any greater, but for certain players, it does occur. It's almost certainly luck, but it happens, and the bottom line is, the team wins more often when the guys with the greatest differential between runs scored and runs allowed are pitching. If I had to take my pick for one season, I would take a mediocre pitcher who was incredibly lucky over an excellent pitcher who was unlucky if 10 more wins for my team was the bottom line. That being said... when trying to build a team, do you look for a pitcher like, say, Russ Ortiz, to anchor your rotation because he won 20+ with a higher era? No. You have no idea how the offense will support him the next year. Maybe he had a lucky season. Maybe the team felt more confident when he was pitching.. you just don't know and for that reason you need to look for guys who allow the least runs per game. I'm just trying to say that when the season is said and done, and you're looking back on it (as we are with Maddux), can you honestly say (as a team) you were better off with a pitcher who has a low era and less wins, or one with a higher era and almost double the wins? So please don't lump Joe and I together. Other than a taste for Ron of Japan and fine silk suits, we don't have much in common. With that note, I think I'm going to stop trying to get this point across. I don't know if it is a lack of eloquence or what, but I continue to get misinterpreted (e.g. 'Yeah, like way to credit a picher for getting run support') and it's not worth it for me to continue to try rewording my original post. I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. :D Can I assume, then, that given a vote, you would choose Carpenter to win the CY over Clemens because Clemens just "can't win" this year?

If the MVP was given out by sabermetricians, all this talk of VORP and Win Shares and such would be fine. But it's not. It's given by people who likely either cast their ballot at the 11th hour in a rush, or give people awards based on the "sexy" numbers like HR and batting average. I think Andruw Jones wins it simply because of his HR numbers and his hot finish to the season. I'm not saying he should, but that he will.

Glad to see an offensive outburst from Penn State, especially the three lightning fast freshmen. Too bad the defense tired out/gave up/stopped playing at the end. Cincy scored 2 TD's in the final 39 seconds to make it 42-24, when it was really a 42-10 domination by the Nittany Lions.

I think Dusty brokered a deal with Hennessey before the game to get his boy back in the lineup. "Go for the hand dude, go for the hand."

FOX doesn't make the rules. Complain to MLB. With its myriad of Internet and mobile ventures, MLB is at the cutting edge of sports broadcasting. Why they conduct Saturday regional telecasts like it's 1972 is a mystery to me. Thankfully there are ways around the regs. I know, but FOX did broker the deal, as you said, like it's 1972. We have sattelite TV for crissake, people don't need the "Game of the Week" in order to follow their favorite teams (and with FOX, your favorite team better be the BoSox, Yanks, Cards, Cubs, Braves, Dodgers or Giants)

Ah. Gamecast isn't playing nice