Roast

i don't see how Soriano is a borderline HOFer. He played on the Yankees and was on a WS champion, but that's not enough to ignore his lack of numbers. I assume the reasoning is that he's one of only a few guys with 250HR/250Steals plus he's hit fifty-some leadoff homers. Not that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with that, but I think that's the argument.

+1

Oh, please. I hate this ridiculous "it was better in my day!" sentiment. Pat Hughes is a hack? Bob Uecker? It's kind of ridiculous to say that it will be 'the end' of great announcers.

In the one brief pass I had with him he was kind of holier-than-thou in his attitude. Then again, I'm pretty sure if some of the people i've met for 10 minutes or less were to judge me they'd call me a grade A prick too. We're not all awesome, all the time.

But he showed signs of wearing down long before he approached the 100 game mark, let alone the full season. He did, but there's a lot to adjust to and I think a full season of experience helps. Language and cultural differences obviously, but also travel. I imagine the effects of traveling across the US for 6 months v just Japan can be pretty significant. He still may tail off or fall off completely, but I think there are a number of reasons why he could improve significantly with a year of experience. Yeah, and plus - not to sound like a broken record - but he never trained his body correctly in the past. Or at least in th way that most major leaguers today train. He worked only on hitting, throwing, and catching. Baseball skills. This offseason, apparently, they did a lot of core work with him. I don't doubt that he'll fall off a bit come the end of the season - but not nearly as quick. And I think the longer he plays here the better he'll do with the MLB season/travel requirements.

I hear the cubs would love to have him. They get decent exposure....

Nah. People say he was a bit of a prick when he played but he's not on the level of some of the hardcore douchebags in this thread.

Yeah, if he can keep up this gap power, that would really help his productivity. I've been pleasantly surprised. Indeed, I don't know where it came from but if he can split gaps once in a while that'd be amazing.

Soto is out as well. If Bradley is the only one hurt our lineup is much better than 06 but with Soto and Bradley out its similar in level to 06. Uh - yeah. Which is why i said TODAY's lineup looks 2006-esque because all three of Soto, Bradley, and Ramirez were riding the pine.

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Jesus. He is really, really good at baseball.

Both were out. I'm pretty sure Roast was here posting and not working this game. Ahh ok... yea I've only seen the TV shots of Roast that other's have pointed out never really seen him in person. It was a rowdy crowd... he's lucky he wasn't there. Lot's of "tough guy" [expletive] to the ushers when asked to sit down. I never knew so many people out there to have a good time could be such jerks. Yeah, I took the day off because I have a six-hour class that I couldn't miss. My first game will be Friday. And yeah, those 'tough guys' are the biggest hassle on the planet.

Please tell me you are joking. Why? The whole "they played so they know better" line is a bunch of bull-puckey. I have no doubt that Lou is probably better at managing a 25 man clubhouse, practices, and all the other crap that a manager has to do than any of us in here probably could. But when it comes to in-game moves, I can think of 5-10 guys here off the top of my head I'd rather have making moves than lou.

I don't always watch baseball. But when I do, I prefer seeing the Cubs win. Stay thirsty, my friends. =D>

I prefer wins.

*Whew*

Yea-no. Not cool.

Good Job Ted.

Was there some sort of opportunity for Fontenot to run him over? I think Helton wins that collision every time. Yeah, if Font would have ran straight over the bag he would have creamed Helton. And by that I mean bounced off of him.

I hope there's either a hit or a 5 or less pitch inning here.

I heard Ted Lilly is throwing a NO HITTER? Is it true that he has NO HITS? That's freaking incredible that he hasn't allowed a SINGLE HIT so far in the entire game. no hits.

Wow.

Where teh eff was that?

It was a half inning ago because the cubs were in the lead.

To be fair, he's OPSing like 1.300+ right now. Most of that is OBP. :) .600 He's actually slugging like .700. At least he was before this game.