Jake

Alexei is far from perfect, but one day we'll miss having a shortstop that makes those plays look easy

When I think of bad lineups, I think of this one: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CL...200510010.shtml People were pissed that Oz called off the dogs after we clinched and we still beat their ass

I like Caldwell-Pope a lot, too. He will probably end up scoring quite a bit in Detroit as their backcourt is hardly better than the one he was a part of at Georgia (which was also bad). It's too bad, he could do better than just be a bulk scorer.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 02:44 PM) Fixed

Rios continues to be hopeless playing balls near the wall

Bad call. Tekotte call was questionable too

Brian Anderson laughs and says "I hit two bombs against a Cy winner as a rookie"

Gordon's current 118 wRC+ is better than his 2009 mark.

I was on the same wavelength with Hawk there

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 12:50 PM) The problem is...even if people try, sometimes it doesn't work. Particularly if a guy has enough money to make problems go away, which for the last few years has been the case with Hernandez. Given that it seems like this isn't the first time he's killed someone while a Patriot, I'd say there's a good chance that the Patriots staff had no idea what was going on. They may have thought he had the help he needed, or they may have just been willing to look the other way for some things while having no idea what was really happening. I was thinking more in terms of whether or not Urban Meyer deserves blame since most people seem to not be looking at the Pats. s***ty people are s***ty, but what I wonder is if anyone ever leveraged his future against him when he was 18-19-20-21 years old. I'm not saying nobody did, but I don't know. He also didn't have money to make his problems go away when he was in college, but we wonder if he had the talent to make it go away. I think the thing we learn from this is that part of the point of sports is that you try to make young men and women into good humans, not let them leverage their talent against you as you try to keep them out of trouble. Once they are getting paid, it is almost always too late. When they're still trying to get into school, trying to make it to the pros, they actually have reason to listen to their leaders.

Stuff looks iffy with Danks

The responsibility ultimately falls to Hernandez, but when everyone knows a kid has issues, it should be impossible for him to get through all these different coaches (HS, college, NFL) without somebody putting it to an end. The older he gets, the harder it is for it to stop. If one of those coaches put their foot down about what he was doing and who he was with, lives may have been saved. Maybe not. What nobody is sure about is whether people like Urban even tried. I don't know.

Why is it starting at 12:40? Strange start time

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 07:20 AM) Paul Goldschmidt was also old at every level. That's what happens when a player goes to college for 4 years. Yet Goldschmidt is a year younger than Dan Black and playing his third MLB season

I agree with the earlier posts about enjoying the good moments -- this board stinks at that. When we should be savoring the few fun moments of the season, we just use them as a reason to bring up all the bad things that we're already dwelling on all of the time. Now that we're out of contention, especially, it is best just to focus on individual positives when we can.

Put me in the Steve group of loving Silver Linings Playbook

I won't be voting for him.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 06:33 PM) And Garcia is out for the year, Shelby Miller is on pace to majorly surpass his previous high in innings, do you really trust Jake Westbrook to keep his ERA under 3? They have been the best rotation, but they do need help if they want win it all. I'm happy to send them Peavy if they want to give us Kolten Wong or Matt Adams

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 06:30 PM) Ah, grand. I think not having Hawk has me a bit addled. For sure. These chumps are boring

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 06:26 PM) Was that not last year, though? Or do they just chuck in a random one every now and again? It was last year, for us. This is a Tampa promotion

QUOTE (WKamm @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 06:24 PM) Turn back the clock uniforms? I don't remember TB ever wearing that uniform. The Rays didn't exist in 1972 so it's a kind of tongue in cheek event

Turning back the clock to 1972

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) Haven't they already lost 2 starters for the season? I was referring to their rotation's best ERA in baseball

I would be highly surprised if we ditch Axe completely even after trading away two starters

St. Louis Cardinals message boards are convinced they're trying for a top of the rotation starter. Why they would do that is beyond me