ToupeeOnFire

Was this his 1st start off the DL? I believe so, yes. And he's batting for himself in the 8th. The Brewers are carrying 14 pitchers...which is ridiculous.

Marty Brenneman is a crank and an idiot. His talentless son isn't much better. Speaking of throwing things on the field, I seem to remember an incident in which he incited fans to throw radios on such on to the field over a blown call......yes, I found it... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DD1739F937A35756C0A96E948260 So before he blows his colostomy bag in outrage, he might want to look into the mirror.

A good 50 hours until the next reliever has to throw. Marmol's arm is rejoicing.

Unfortunately, the ump took it away from him.

Sympathy strike.

He's doing his best Carmen Pignatello impersonation.

Finally!!!!

How about an Aramabomb?

I'm not sure why that is a surprise. Say what you want about him, but he has always been a pretty patient hitter. he has? 81st percentile in the majors last year (95th amongst shortstops).

So how will the Cubs blow the scoring opportunity this inning?

I'm not sure why that is a surprise. Say what you want about him, but he has always been a pretty patient hitter.

Please don't hack Soriano.

I'm calling it, Zach Duke walk-off home run.

Somebody put this game out of its misery. Preferably a Cub.

Ugh.......really can't....take this.......anymore.

I predict that in the future all walks will be referred to as basecloggers.

The Reds are honoring Nuxhall today. Harang is pitching wearing a Nuxhall no. 41 jersey. Who's Nuxhall? Joe Nuxhall was a former Red pitcher who made his MLB debut at the age 15. He was probably best known as a longtime Red radio broadcaster with Marty Brenneman. He died over the off-season.

I'll miss Dusty for his crazy quotes. I just came across this doozy on a Reds forum: "Home runs are fine, but I'd rather have RBIs and sac flies or ground balls to 2nd with the infield back."

His biting appraisal might of have had the sting of truth to it if Theriot... a) was a poor base runner b) had poor range c) constantly flailed away at breaking pitches out of the strike zone Oh well, one out of four ain't bad.

Have you looked at his stats? If he could come anything close to his 2005 he would be 3x the hitter Theriot is, and they are equal in the field, Lopez may even be better. I'm not sure where you get the idea that Lopez is the defensive equal of Ryan Theriot, but defensive systems that use play-by-play data (which BP doesn't) like PMR and Fielding Bible's +/- seem to agree that Theriot is solidly average while Lopez has been one of the worst fielding SS's in baseball over the last several years. His awful defense was pretty much the justification for the Reds trading him in the first place, despite a very good year at the plate in 2005. He is clearly not a SS. Not sure how he would perform at 2B. Offensively, at his best, he seems like a poor man's Brian Roberts. He's a switch hitter with speed, so you can see why Jimbo might like him, but I doubt he'd be an upgrade over DeRosa. He also seems to have a bit of an attitude of problem. It sounds like he is going to sulk on the bench if he doesn't get to play every day. BP had Theriot as a -6 SS last year, and projects him to be -4 this year, that's not average. Lopez was -12 last year, and was as high as -5 in Cinci, and they project him to be -4 this year. Neither are great options, and Lopez will make up for it a ton more than Theriot will with the bat. Once again, I'm not sure why you would trust BP's defensive stats which estimate how many plays a fielder should make based on a variety factors (pitching staff, balls in play, baserunners, etc.) over newer, more advanced systems that actually use batted ball data. Not to say these metrics are infallible, but they seem to agree with the general consensus that Felipe Lopez is a third baseman playing shortstop. Likewise, Theriot, if you watched him last year, seemed to make all the plays he was supposed to make. That pretty much jibes exactly with the data. Not to mention that he was one of the better SS's in baseball at converting DP opportunities. He was not gold glove caliber and his defense might not be good enough to overcome his bat, but he was not a poor fielder.

Have you looked at his stats? If he could come anything close to his 2005 he would be 3x the hitter Theriot is, and they are equal in the field, Lopez may even be better. I'm not sure where you get the idea that Lopez is the defensive equal of Ryan Theriot, but defensive systems that use play-by-play data (which BP doesn't) like PMR and Fielding Bible's +/- seem to agree that Theriot is solidly average while Lopez has been one of the worst fielding SS's in baseball over the last several years. His awful defense was pretty much the justification for the Reds trading him in the first place, despite a very good year at the plate in 2005. He is clearly not a SS. Not sure how he would perform at 2B. Offensively, at his best, he seems like a poor man's Brian Roberts. He's a switch hitter with speed, so you can see why Jimbo might like him, but I doubt he'd be an upgrade over DeRosa. He also seems to have a bit of an attitude of problem. It sounds like he is going to sulk on the bench if he doesn't get to play every day.

Can't believe he just walked Ervin Santana. And now Kendrick hits the Angels' second triple of the inning. 6-3 and counting.

Dempster is getting bombed.

Did Lou just say Kerry Woods? Shame on you.

Is Matsui to the Astros official yet? Because I seem to remember just a couple of weeks ago Yorvit Torrealba was all but signed, sealed and delivered to the NY Mets according to reports. Since then, Torrealba has re-upped with the Rockies and the Mets just traded for Brian Schneider.