soccer10k

8 IP, 5 H, 1 R for Z tonight and he goes 2-3 with a HR at the plate.

There is almost no reason at all for a team that loses a Heisman finalist to be ranked in the top 5. Maybe they will be fine, but it's ludicrous to put them that high. Hell, USC lost TWO Heisman winners and are ranked 3rd. Just because a team loses a Heisman trophy winner or finalist doesn't mean they shouldn't be ranked high in the polls the next year. USC lost Carson Palmer going into the 2003 season and ended up winning a share of the National Title. Last year USC returned both Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart but their downfall was their defense. Oh, I don't disagree that teams can turn out to be just as good without their Heisman finalist/winner. I just don't believe that you can assume that said team will be just as good by ranking them so high. I'll probably be saying this again next season when ND is ranked way too high in the preseason polls. I think another part of it is the fact that there aren't any clear cut favorites to make the national championship game this year like USC in the past couple years, Texas last year, Oklahoma a couple years ago, etc. All of the potential contenders have serious question marks. Ohio State is replacing 9 defensive starters. Texas is replacing Vince Young. USC with Leinart/Bush/White. Notre Dame's defense. Oklahoma was replacing a big portion of their offense and have now lost Bomar. The SEC teams all seem to beat up on each other and none of them stand out. West Virginia plays in a weak conference and should be cautious because Louisville was expected to roll through the Big East last year. I actually don't have a problem with the rankings at all and I don't think anybody was ranked more than a spot or two higher or lower than they should have been.

While ND is the specific example used in this thread, I wouldn't say this is "separate thread"-ish. I think examining where traditional powers are helped out by polls and nontraditional powers are hurt is a valid discussion on all counts. True, but you guys who have huge wood about the upcoming season can barely keep it in your pants now. Just think what's going to happen once the season starts. I think a separate ND thread is a very good idea. Notre Dame fans have a right to be excited. They're return 16 starters and have a quarterback that is a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. If their defense (where they return 9 starters which is very important) improves a bit, they are going to be tough to stop. That is the question mark and I like their chances going into year 2 of the Charlie Weis era. I don't blame Notre Dame fans for being excited about the upcoming year. Wow. I can't believe I just defended Notre Dame and their fans. I must be in the Bizarro World right now.

There is almost no reason at all for a team that loses a Heisman finalist to be ranked in the top 5. Maybe they will be fine, but it's ludicrous to put them that high. Hell, USC lost TWO Heisman winners and are ranked 3rd. Just because a team loses a Heisman trophy winner or finalist doesn't mean they shouldn't be ranked high in the polls the next year. USC lost Carson Palmer going into the 2003 season and ended up winning a share of the National Title. Last year USC returned both Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart but their downfall was their defense. The thing that should matter when it comes to Texas losing Vince Young is the fact that the team's offense will be radically different this year without him as quarterback. Young had so much leeway in the offense and was able to do things that few other quarterbacks can do. Texas will have to get rid of a good number of offensive plays (re: virtually every play that involved Vince Young running the ball or given the option of running) because the new quarterback can't do what Vince did. It's much more likely that USC will be able to have another quarterback step in to replace Leinart without missing a beat (much like Leinart replacing Palmer) than Texas replacing Young without missing a beat. Another thing that favored Texas, and favors them even more now, is the Big 12 not being a great conference. With Bomar out, I expect Texas to run the gauntlet and finish at least 11-1 going into the Big 12 title game. The winner of the Texas-Ohio State game will be an easy pick to make the National Title game.

Can we give Baker an IQ test? Is this possible? I think he would set the record for lowest IQ by a manager. EVER.

Wow on Maddux's pitching line. 68 pitches in 8 innings. I hope Maddux gets to pitch against the Cubs during the series in September. He could set the record for least number of pitches thrown in a complete game.

CUBS WIN!!

Wow. I knew Marmol walked a bunch of guys but I didn't realize he walked 8 and the Cubs have allowed 10 walks on the day. I guess it's not surprising that the Cubs have walked the most batters in the majors this year. Yup-what was shocking to me was how easy it all was. It was pretty easy for the Rockies to stand up there and walk all day when few pitches get even close to the plate. It seemed like that one batter he would throw 3-4 strikes in the at bat, and then walk the next guy on 4-5 pitches where very few if any were borderline pitches-and that seemed to happen all day long. 106 pitches today and less than half (52) were strikes.

Wow. I knew Marmol walked a bunch of guys but I didn't realize he walked 8 and the Cubs have allowed 10 walks on the day. I guess it's not surprising that the Cubs have walked the most batters in the majors this year.

Jeter had to run much further than Lowell did. Lowell was also able to slow down before he went into the stands whereas Jeter was at full speed and didn't have time to stop. Both were great plays though. EDIT: I think part of why Jeter was idolized for that play was because he was bleeding after. Lowell wasn't. Think of the Rowand play. Do you think we would have seen that play 10000 times in a week if he would have run into a padded wall, gotten up, and jogged off the field? Probably not. It was still a good play but the blood made it look more spectacular. Same goes for Jeter's play.

I've been thinking this for a while. Had my doubts when the Sox were down 10 games but the thought never left my mind. Kenny Williams made a good point on PTI on Friday (I think it was Friday). He said something along the lines of "we almost blew a 15 game lead last year so we know no lead is safe."

Theriot!!

They can.

Bump. To update, ARam's OPS is currently at .879 and rising.

Coming into the game he had a .879 OPS.

ARAM!!!

Sorry Bob, you're wrong. The reason Holliday can do that is because he knows Pierre has no arm whatsoever.

Slappy is rubbing off on Cesar already.

Hey, it's only a 270 ERA for the game...could be worse :D Before the game, his ERA was 4.65 and his WHIP was a 1.39. His WHIP is now 1.60.

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA L Hudson 0.1 8 11 10 3 1 1 47-26 6.39 Good line eh?

Surprise! Surprise! Murton's starting today! Jones is hitting 3rd though for some odd reason. This lineup is a real head-scratcher. Look at these guys' production over the last 10 games......... 08/03 - 08/12 AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Marmol 4 0 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0.500 0.500 0.750 1.250 The only solution is to bat him fourth.

Izturis, Perez and Mabry in the lineup. Dare I even watch this game?

Zeppelin.

I'm not upset that the Beatles defeated Zeppelin so that doesn't have an affect on me. Beatles it is.

If MLB had real testing I wouldn't have wrote that. Wait, some guy in Brazil just tested positive and will be suspended for 50 games. The raid involving Grimsley opened everybody's eyes to the fact that pitchers likely take roids/HGH just as much as position players do. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Prior did take steriods, growth hormone, or something along those lines. Fact is, we just don't know. doesn't house encourage his students to use andro or other near steroids? I don't really understand what you're trying to say here. Please clarify.