AFCubsFan

Oh cool...now I get to watch Rocky! That should get me in a good mindset to watch the fight tonight.

Wow...Houston is up 9-0 on the Cards. I guess the bright side for them is that Carpenter doensn't need surgery or anything.

it's 8 walks

He doesn't even have a hit today does he? He should be benched. Oh...wrong manager.

the nat's are turning to jesus to try to turn this game around.

Patterson's bicep is what knocked him out of the game. The Nat's announcers are stressing that it is NOT a problem with his elbow.

That ends Hill's RBI streak. What a streak it was.

I believe he was referring to Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn from Major League. I believe their manager had some similar comments about being a contender.

It kind of sucks that a double play ended the inning...but at least no one got caught stealing. I was worried they'd attempt a triple steal once I saw that DLee was batting.

How are these runs possible without hitting? They're called runs BATTED in, not runs walked in. Lou may need to bench these lazy batters for not swinging.

I'm in Virginia so I'm watching the Nationals announce team today. They said Patterson was hit by a ball in batting practice yesterday. They speculated that maybe his equilibrium was off or something. I really couldn't tell what was going on from watching.

I think the rule change is almost right. I like that the home team gets the last at bat. However, I'd rather just see them complete the bottom half of the inning the game was suspended in. So today the game would have ended after they completed the 7th inning, then they would have taken a break, then come back to play the 2nd game. It seems more fair to me that way. I don't understand why they feel the need to go the complete 9 innings in that situation. After all, if the home team is ahead after 4.5 and the game is called....the home team just gets the win...there is no obligation to play the full 9 there. Something just doesn't seem balanced with the rule the way it stands. I think they should just let the home team get the last at bat after suspending the game and then move on.

I'm definitely in favor of retracting the Florida teams. They simply don't draw enough fans. Although several people acted like they were Marlins fans when the team went to the World Series...they just don't support them during the rest of the year. I think there's just too many other things for people in Florida to do. As far as the Royals go, I think they should stick around. They actually have a history and they have fans...they just happen to suck. If they didn't suck so much I'm sure they'd have more fans show up at the ballpark. I can't say the same for either of the Florida teams (unless they are actually in a World Series.) Do you think it would be better to retract the teams or relocate them?[/code]

The Pirates announcers said they were glad to see Itzuris in there...because Theriot was in last nights lineup and the Pirates pitchers kept walking him.

Well...at least the team is entertaining so far this year.

Cubs will have the wrong part of the lineup batting in the bottom of the 9th.

How about on how expansion, contraction, and relocating teams has changed the league? You could go with more recent history like the Expos, Marlins, Devil Rays, and Rockies...and the annual threat to contract the Twins. Or you could go way back to the Dodgers, Giants, etc. Another idea for a paper could be on free agency in baseball. I don't know if you've ever seen the Ken Burns series on baseball, but it's really interesting to see how much power the "reserve clause" gave owners over players until Curt Flood finally became the sports first free agent in the 70's.

Well, if your Cox Cable is like my Cox Cable (even though we're in different states,) tonights games are: Tampa Bay vs NY Yankees: 7:05 ET on NHL Center Ice Game 13(mine still doesn't list it as MLB Extra Innings but the game is on right now) Arizona vs Washington: 7:05 ET on NHL Center Ice Game 14 Oakland vs LA Angels: 10:05 ET on NHL Center Ice Game 12 I hope it works out for you :)

Did you call or find it on line? I called. BTW, it turns out that they are already showing the free preview games. My cable company's website doesn't mention that they have a deal....and my program guide doesn't list the channels as MLB Extra Innings. But I called and the first thing I heard was a prerecorded message saying they had the MLB Extra Innings package and there is a free preview. I flipped the channel on my TV while I was on hold and sure enough, the games were on for free (in my case on some of the NHL Center Ice channels.) I ordered the package and got the early bird price (I forget what it was but I believe it was in the $150 or a little lower range.) Cox cable right? Where are you (if you don't mind telling me!) I live in Newport News, VA. I don't know if they'd do their sports packages the same way in Tulsa. If you have digital cable already though, you should flip through the NHL Center Ice stations and see if any of them has MLB Extra Innings schedules or games. The program guide doesn't list it but it's there for me.

For some reason this reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Costanza convinces the Yankees manager to switch to cotton uniforms because they'd feel cooler than the other uniforms. The first game went great. But then the uniforms shrunk and it was a disaster. I guess the Cool Base unis don't have the shrinking problem lol.

Did you call or find it on line? I called. BTW, it turns out that they are already showing the free preview games. My cable company's website doesn't mention that they have a deal....and my program guide doesn't list the channels as MLB Extra Innings. But I called and the first thing I heard was a prerecorded message saying they had the MLB Extra Innings package and there is a free preview. I flipped the channel on my TV while I was on hold and sure enough, the games were on for free (in my case on some of the NHL Center Ice channels.) I ordered the package and got the early bird price (I forget what it was but I believe it was in the $150 or a little lower range.)

Woohoo! I just ordered mine from Cox Cable. Thx to whoever posted the good news in this thread. The only bad thing is that I don't think any of the games will be in HD :( Oh....and the other bad thing is that the Cubs lost today.

In Jayson Stark's latest update, he says he believes Lugo will sign with the Red Sox by the end of the meetings. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/news/story?id=2686831

If some of the rumored signings come through and Hendry became really smart they would make Derosa a bench player and move Soriano to 2B. No disrespect to DeRosa intended and I think the contract they gave him shows they value him. Part of his strength is that he can play pretty much any position so he should take on the super-sub role. He would still get plenty of playing time because he plays so many positions. I just went over his stats again and he did play 60 games in RF last year compared to 26 at 2B. Oh, and his splits show that he was really tough on LHP last year....his OPS against lefties was .983 compared to his OPS of .746 against righties. His 3 year splits also show that his OPS is roughly 200 points higher against lefties (.876 vs .686.) Hey...we don't have any outfielders who are tougher on righties than lefties do we? The position player deals they would still need to make include: Sign Lofton Trade Itz Sign Lugo Sign Cliff Floyd or Trot Nixon If they keep Jones, he can fill in at CF when Lofton needs a rest. Otherwise, promote Pie or get someone else to back up Kenny. If all of those deals can come through, then I think the lineup is fairly tough. I don't know what order Lou would choose and I'm not sure how set they are on Soriano being the leadoff guy. I know they introduced him as the new leadoff hitter. Maybe Lofton would be the new new leadoff hitter. There are several good lineups you can produce with those players though. There are also possible platoons in both corner OF spots. If Jones stays and Lofton comes on board, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Jones start in CF against lefty pitching. As drastic as Jones' split is, Lofton struggles more against lefties.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5231 I saw this in the "player news" section of his ESPN.com player page. Maybe he will be available.