Balta1701

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 01:36 PM) Unless NK has hundreds of nukes and the capability to deliver them across the ocean, this isn't a MAD scenario. This is more like a "oooo look at the pretty glowing mountains" scenario. A single one fired as Seoul or Tokyo is enough.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 09:32 PM) I believe he has no intention of actually doing something. Its all BS. That's what everyone in the media seems to be saying, this is him blustering to try to strengthen his regime...but the worry everyone keeps saying is that he might not know where the red line is.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 08:07 AM) Can't really complete an operation like this without ground troops Can't really send ground troops into a radioactive hole in the ground.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:25 AM) Looks like they are/were planning on either a strike or another test, according to intercepted communication: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/world/asia/k....html?hpt=hp_t1 This could be really interesting, the US might well be in position to shoot down whatever they test (or, alternatively, have the interceptor fail).

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 01:16 PM) As long as we don't do Sunday Teeball lineups, I'm fine with whatever. What a horrible strategy. We have an offday next monday and just had one so it's certainly ok to play the regulars today, but that is followed by 20 games in 20 days assuming no rainouts/DH's. I wouldn't mind getting one of the bench bats into the lineup each of the next 3 days at some position.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:40 AM) Man, I was hoping we could get Gillaspie some time and see if his spring hotness carried over into the regular season. Still, getting Kepp rolling in the #2 spot is important Ozzie Guillen would have had 3 backups playing today. Ventura has no one shuffled out, and last year that may have helped burn the team out. Can't there be a happy medium?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 08:13 PM) Outside of spy agencies, no one likely has any clue what is going on in NK. You also are assuming that the people of NK will actually fight for NK. For all we know they just immediately surrender in hopes of a better life. I have no idea if they would. They certainly have been seriously indoctrinated since they were born, so that counts against that, and they have leaders who would probably kill them if they tried to run also. A full scale ground assault would eventually shatter them, but with nukes and Seoul in the picture there's no way it ends well. Hate to say it...but that enormous minefield we built is somewhat reassuring right now.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 08:15 PM) I don't think our intelligence agencies have a whole lot of information on NK, either. That study covers both that aspect and the hypothetical fading away of the NK army as well, finding it much less likely than what we saw in Iraq. Yeah, last time we launched a war based on what some chunks of the intelligence community said, it didn't go very well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 06:53 PM) Big, big IF's. Outside of the nuclear weapons, those guns are the most important thing in their entire arsenal. Those guns are more valuable than the million people they have in their army. I for one would not risk that number of lives on a belief that all 17 of those guns will fail. Even 1 of them firing for a period of an hour will kill thousands and cause enormous amounts of panic.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 05:51 PM) Yeah I wasn't assuming nuclear. I was assuming thousands of tomahawk missiles exploding wherever the batteries are located, with the hope you knock out 75% of them in the first hour or whatever and then make another strike after that. Again, no idea if that's feasible or not. Of course, the problem with the U.S. launching a non-nuclear first strike is that the North is a nuclear country. The North has enough plutonium left to make probably 5-10 more bombs, give or take the size. Whether they're all completed or not who knows, but that's their trump card. Hitting one bomb is very difficult, and for all we know they could just do a suicide style mission; go ahead and shoot the plane carrying it down, but Seoul vaporizes anyway.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 06:03 PM) Right, I'm sure SK and Japan have missile batteries ready to go as well. I mean, it's obviously a closed country so no one really knows for sure, and there's a risk some batteries would be able to continue firing. But I don't think it's a case of total destruction within 5 minutes. Consider that if the Koreans have 20 guns capable of hitting Seoul, if they start shooting from all of them, a reasonable reload rate for standard artillery pieces might be a round fired every 20 seconds or so. Better training could make that happen faster. In the first 60 minutes, that means 3600 large shells could fall on that city. Imagine 3600 Oklahoma-City bombing sized explosions going off in a major city like Chicago or New York in the space of an hour. Those artillery pieces will get hit by airpower eventually, but airpower takes time to get there. Maybe my time is off and it's a round a minute, maybe 1/2 of their shells are duds, but also maybe the large concentration of mobile guns the North has in the area are able to blast their way across the minefield and into range within the first couple hours. There is no way to limit the damage if they open fire other than vaporizing the country.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 06:35 PM) Thinking about how effective the Iraqi military of the 90's was, with tons of more capital to invest in their military, I really get the feeling that NK is a paper tiger. Their military was remarkably effective until it was hit by a 30+ day U.S. led bombing campaign followed by a half million man ground assault. In a day, there would be nothing left of South Korea even if 1/2 of their shells failed.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 05:41 PM) So, how long does the world tolerate this nonsense? Should SK (and Japan to a lesser extent) sit idly by why generations of these nutbags threaten them with annihilation? If what Balta says is true, and at the flip of a switch Seoul gets obliterated, why aren't we OK'ing a preemptive UN strike? Yes, lost lives now, but potentially millions saved later. And those poor NK people might actually have a future. If you order a nuclear strike of sufficient scale to eliminate the threat from North Korea, there will be no NK people to have a future. And the collateral damage in the South will be significant. I'm not sure if you could target a tactical nuclear weapon precisely enough to knock out the military facilities along the DMZ without killing significant numbers of the U.S. and South Korean soldiers stationed in the DMZ. You could potentially evacuate those people, but there are civilian areas coming very close to the border as well, and evacuating entire cities would be difficult. Of course, that also says nothing about the radiation exposure for the people in the South, as well as in Japan, and possibly even the U.S. west coast along the prevailing winds. I'd find it reasonable to expect a significant loss of life, at least in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from radiation exposure.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 05:29 PM) didnt a Nolan Ryan mets team have like 7 no hitters in the pitching staff one season? The first ever no-hitter for the Mets was thrown last year by Johan, so at least it wasn't with the Mets.

Did Reed actually throw a 123 inning?

Did Reed actually have a 1-2-3 inning?

QUOTE (farmteam @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:40 PM) I saw some blurb somewhere about us putting a missile defense system in Guam? Yo. Literally no idea how effective this system is or how rapidly it can be deployed.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:54 PM) Was surprised to read that, in 2012, only three teams were more likely than the White Sox to have their baserunners score (including both RBI and non-RBI results) Except for September, the Sox were crazy good last year at hitting with RISP.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:24 PM) Just tuning in, why is Dayan out of the game? Defensive replacement, multiple misplays in LF.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:20 PM) Get me to The Cell immediately. I've already been bitten by the bug. Great job getting out of that jam. I thought Wrigley was the one with the infestations of things that bite you during the game?

Minnesota to hire Richard Pitino (yes, related, his son) to replace Tubby Smith.

Wise takes over LF.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 03:56 PM) It certainly was in their heads about Min. a few years ago. They lost before the game started. It doesn't appear to be the same with KC. Yet. that was the case with the Tigers last year as well, although i don't think anyone can blame Hawk for that one. They lost those games before they even started.

QUOTE (onedude @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 03:42 PM) The team is Adam Dunn-ing it out there today. Homerun or strikeout...no in-between. Ervin Santana will do that.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 03:32 PM) Youve already combed thru the 8 decades of calls? His voice cracked a bit on Flowers's HR call as well.