YASNY

I was hoping this thread would stir up some interesting chatter, and it did. Personally, I don't think there should be any expansion of the playoffs. In fact, I like the current format, except for the 5 game 1st round. That should be 7 games. As far as interleague play, scheduling and so on... I like the interleague play, but it needs to be tweaked in some way to make it more uniform so that each team within a division plays basically the same schedule. I think the "rivalries" match ups are worth any scheduling blips they cause, but having one team play the Tigers and not the Twins, and another team in the same division not play the Tigers but have to face the Twins is not right. I also feel that 2 teams should be contracted. The city of Montreal should not have a franchise. The franchise itself, is deserving of not being contracted. They have always had a great farm system, and when they could keep some of these players, they have for the most part been a solid ML team. With the Tigers and the Mets both being in such horrid shape, I can see MLB eliminating Florida or TB and Montreal, merging them with the Tigers and Mets. But, both owners should be forced to sell since they have so mismanaged their franchises. That would give 2 important market areas a boost, and eliminate to poor market areas from the leagues.

The Yankees did, in fact, draft Prior in an earlier draft thatn when the Cubs got him.

HSC, you hang in there Hon. Clu seems to be the type to spread venom whenever he has the chance. He's attempted it with me before, but this fish wasn't biting. As you can see, you have some people in here that think very highly of you and jumped right to your aid. And from what I've seen, anyone that wants to tangle with you should just take their best shot and .... But, they better bring their big guns.

If MLB wanted to expand the post season and add another round of playoffs, would you be in favor of it? Also, in order to this, they decided to go back to a 154 game schedule. How would you feel about it? How many teams from each league should make the playoffs if they do expand?

These were the guys I was going to suggest we get rid of

Here's an interesting little Yankee stat. Derek Jeter is putting up some Sosa-esque numbers. He has struck out in 12 of his last 19 AB's.

Sure they can. That one guy was outnumbered by the whole nation of France. I'll bet he gave them a good fight. too.

Bannister was a big free agent signing for us. He came from KC iirc. Lamar Hoyt, Rich Dotsun, Floyd Bannister. Britt Burns. That was a great rotation in '83. Burns pitched that game 4 against the O's that we should have won. He had battled arm problems all year, but sure gutted it out that game. Took a shut out into the tenth before Tito ... No! I can't bring myself to mention that name again.

Rogers and, if memory serves me here, Mariotti have been hammering on Sammy pretty good. I hope thay keep at it.

You know I'm planning on meeting you there, at least for the Sunday game.

Thank you. I'll check it out.

You can find examples both ways on that. There have been some very effective non-strike out type pitchers. Hell, Eddie Stanky used to buy a suit for any starting pitcher that got 20 or so ground ball outs in a game. That was back in the Gary Peters, Joel Horlen era. They didn't get many strike outs, but they were damn good. That said, K's can be a good tool for evaluating a pitcher.

Boston's pitching has been struggling early, and the Yankmees sidn't take advantage of it. Now it appears the BoSox pitching is rounding into form. Gonna be an interesting race.

Mark is too good of a pitcher for this to continue. No way that he'll lose 20.

Mickey Mantle vs. Joe DiMaggio... hmmmm ... flip a coin, I guess.

Kelton will probably be the DH when Sammy starts his "vacation".

The Trib web site's headline on this incident is "Idiot taunts Sosa on field" ..... When I first read the haedline, I thought the O's fans were taunting Sosa by calling HIM an idiot. LOL ... Which seems much more appropriate, BTW.

The Baron's defense choose to pick on our buddy Jim Bullard. 3 UER allowed. Ouch.

He's not only playing every day, but he's playing well. Hey folks... I think we actually have a major league caliber catcher!

Majewski... 5 K's in 2 innings. Sweet!

I've read every one so far, and will continue to do so. I enjoy them. Thanks for taking the time to post these.

I'll say Ordonez. Very solid all around ballplayer, and a class act too.

It looks like "Judy" proved you wrong. Gave up that monster to Bonds, but then pitched a helluva good ballgame.

Maybe so. No offense taken.

Cotts knows how to pitch. He moves the ball in and out, up and down. He keeps hitters off balance and is good at coming up with a big pitch in a great location to get the strikeout. A negative of all the strikeouts is he goes deep into counts with most hitters, giving him a higher pitch count than most pitchers. His longest outing this year has been 6 2/3. Most of his outings have been in teh 5 or 6 inning range. When he finds a way to go deeper into games without losing the edge he has (even if that means a few less strikeouts), he could be quite dangerous down the road. That is one reason I feel that strike outs by a pitcher are over rated. Take Colon for example, his strike outs are down from previous years, but he is a much better pitcher than he used to be. He's learned how to let the hitters get themselves out. Which, in the long run, will save wear and tear on his arm.