Clem Fandango

First off, St. Pete as a whole isn't great, but the area Tropicana Field is near actualy has a nice nightlife/indie vibe to it. There's a lot of local restaurants, cigar bars, music venues, art galleries, etc. And it's not a very far drive form the waterfront, including the Salvador Dali museum (which is awesome as [expletive]). It has it's share of homeless folks, and the surrounding areas away from the Trop have some shady neighborhoods, but a lot of major cities are like that (Turner Field, for one). And as far as it being difficult to get to, that's false. It's literally right off the interstate. You take an exit, make your first left, and then the parking lot to the stadium will be on your left. It's like two turns off the interstate. The problem with the Rays boils down to two things: 1) Tropicana Field is a [expletive] joke. A new stadium would go a long way for them. Even if they tore down the Trop and put up a new one there, it would do better. St. Pete is not too far from Tampa, it's actually a good middle ground between Tampa and it's outer suburbs (Bradenton, Sarasota, etc). THe distance to get to St. Pete from Bradenton is roughly the same distance to get to it from Tampa. The location is not a big deal, it's the stadium. It's an artifact that was built long before it was repurposed as a baseball stadium, and it's purpose was a multipurpose arena for various events. It's not a baseball stadium, it's a gigantic civic center that was built for monster truck rallies, musical performances, etc. The Rays need a real stadium. 2) Florida fans are the [expletive] worst. They are fairweather as [expletive]. I grew up there so I've got a lot of friends who still live in Florida. They were going crazy once Tampa made it to the semi finals of the Stanley Cup. I didn't even know they were in the playoffs before that because NO ONE GIVES A [expletive] ABOUT FLORIDA SPORTS TEAMS UNTIL THEY MAKE IT. And then when they finally do they all come out of the woodwork like "I've loved this team since they got here!". No, they didn't, they likely forgot they existed before the season started. No one gave a [expletive] about the Bucs before they got a new stadium and uniforms. Then they did, they got better, and started selling out. But like you guys are saying they're not so good and attendance has been down. Florida fans don't give a [expletive] until their team is good because they didn't grow up Florida fans. Most of them are transplants from the north, or they grew up in a time when there were no Florida teams. That's why most of my childhood friends are Braves fans. Seriously, Florida fans are the worst and don't deserve nice things. [expletive] them.

Any update on Soriano? How he's looking, how far he's gotten in his conditioning to get to MLB level, how much longer it may take? Been 2 weeks now, yeah?

The most interesting thing about this story is that the former federal prosecutor who led MLB's investigation on Pete Rose is named John Dowd

[expletive] no there won't be.

In case people hadn't noticed, Chris Sale has struck out 10 or more in 7 of his last 8 games. His K-log for the last 8 games is... 14 12 14 13 12 10 7 11 That's some early 2000's era level stuff.

What a [expletive] [expletive] Tabata is.

You shut up I want my pizza

He would work out at my parents' gym in the offseason. Got to meet him once, gave me and my brother and autographed 8x10 and ball. Genuinely nice guy.

Something something free pizza

Dempster, too.

Marmol in 2010. Walked a lot of guys, but it was almost a guarantee he'd K at least 2 guys and get out of whatever jam he'd put himself in.

Anyone using MLB.tv have a pretty shoddy buffer rate with their new video player? Mine is constantly losing it's high res image and buffering between terrible low quality and mid range quality and cutting in and out for the past week or two. I've been using the old player which works just fine, is anyone else having this issue?

I hadn't realized how bad Nicolino's K/9 has been since he went to Miami. I wouldn't mind Koehler as a Bosio experiment. Hand is kinda crap. Hand's FIP intrigues me

And that's a justifiable assertion, I just happen to think that in the long run for the Cubs a Schwarber behind the plate is more valuable than a Buxton in CF. No he won't you dolt.

That's one way to get a double play.

Its gonna take months for the media to forget about that one.

madness Not really

If Schwarber truly can stick at catcher I'm not sure I'd want to move him for Buxton.

The Harper injury is apparently just a strained hamstring

I [expletive] love you, Kyle Schwarber

Yeah, but what if he doesn't

Maybe later tonight. Busy today.

Yay!

http://i.imgur.com/P1EywIp.gif

Honestly, this should be a good pitching matchup. Salazar's K/9 is 3rd best in the majors, so he might be tough on our guys.