Balta1701

Joe Flacco was 5/17 for 23 yards in the first half against the Bengals.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) It really did at first, Balta. I know you like to keep Fathom honest, but this time he wasn't being that ridiculous... Which tells you how ridiculous it is to rip a team as a college team or as so awful after a possession or two. Or after a game or two. Minnesota shut out for the first half. Packers only up 6 on the Bills and the Bills actually with a TD. Remarkable.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 02:35 PM) Romo's 2 INTs weren't all bad... he's playing pretty decent and the Bears D is playing pretty tough right now. One of those picks was his WR's fault IIRC and the other got tipped (I forgot by whom). Dallas is getting blitz-happy and they are leaving receivers open, and Martz is letting Cutler exploit the holes. It just shows you how bad Turner really was. The key for the 2nd half Bears is to keep the TO number at zero.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:23 PM) This looks like an NFL team vs a college team. Just have to hope we get a few defensively touchdowns. For a college team to be up 6 on an NFL team at halftime...well, we just have to marvel at the miracles of youth I guess.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) Oh, COME ON, Balta. You know DAMN WELL our offense has been absolutely horrid since mid-2006. Don't try and tell me otherwise. Ok...2007 I'll give you as not worth discussing. 2008, the Sox were the #5 offense in the AL. 2010, the Sox have been the #6 offense in the AL. 2009 the Sox dropped quite a bit...and that fell almost entirely out of JD and Quentin having awful years. If that's absolutely horrid, then the only teams in the AL that haven't had absolutely horrid offenses are: the Yankees, Rangers, and Red Sox; every other team has had at least a year well outside of the top 6.

Back in early August, NSS and I had a discussion about whether the Sox were likely to get their average attendance up to 28k to avoid a significant drop from the 28,199 the Sox averaged last year. At the time, the Sox were averaging around 26,500. The Sox have gotten extra people through the gates, but it's only been enough to push the Sox to 27,300. Last night, on a Saturday, the Sox only pulled in 27,828. Friday was 28,500. There are 4 home games against the Red Sox remaining and 3 against the Indians. The season sure looks like its over, so I think it's getting less and less likely that we'll avoid losing about 1000 tickets sold/game.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) why are the cowboys blitzing so many guys? They can get to Cutler by rushing 4. Martz > Turner. Maybe the answer is that they actually can't get to Cutler without the extra blitzer.

QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:35 PM) Does anyone know why the attendance was about 30K for each game, but almost all the seats were taken? I heard something about "comps", but I still don't get it. How can there be 9000 comps for each game, and who did these free tickets go to? Were they all in the upper deck? I was just curious.. When I flipped through, I certainly didn't feel like all the seats were taken.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) Don't worry, he'll be long gone after they win 4 games this season. Bears are an awful team. 10-7 lead on the road against a supposed super bowl contender by an awful team is pretty good.

This Titans/Steelers game is just flat out ridiculous so far. No one seems to have a clue what they're doing.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) I never said he should lie to the NCAA. But do you know where the NCAA got the picture? No one's reported that yet. Nor does anyone seem to know who took the picture(s).

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:50 PM) Of course Viciedo is an upgrade over Kotsay/Jones, but as of right now we have Manny as the DH. Manny > Dayan, no questions here. We need a big LH bat there next season, I'm talking Dunn type of bat. Not sure if Dayan can bring enough for this team to win 100 games which might be needed to win the division again. (pending an offseason failure by the twins) I don't think Omar can pull another season like 2010, while I have to admit he was outstanding this year and I hated the thought of him being a fulltime player here - gladly admitting my mistake, thank you Omar. I think Morel will be fine, we bring Omar back as a IF backup and if Morel pulls a Teahen, Omar can save the day.. again. Last there is the RF situation (I assume Pierre/Rios aren't going anywhere). We either take our chances with Q (possibly platoon?) or find someone more consistent and less of a defensive liability. I note that this post actually addressed nothing of the argument I made. We've gotten crap in terms of total offensive production from both 3b and DH this year, that includes Manny Ramirez. In terms of treading water with the bats, Morel and Viciedo taking over 3b and DH could easily be a significant upgrade for next year.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 05:20 AM) Uh, wrong. Perhaps you haven't noticed that until earlier this year our offense hasn't been the least bit smart or even fundamental since mid 2006. This is not even close to being true with the pitching. Really? What fundamentals on offense have we been so bad at, and what things have we gotten better at this year? I feel like this has been flat out the worst year in terms of silly excessive bunts and CS's I've seen. They were better at hitting with 2 outs and RISP this year, but that's a pretty small bit of "Fundamentals".

First 0:28 of game time in Tennessee: 97 yard kickoff return 40 yard kickoff return followed by a fumble Minor brawl.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:19 PM) The thing that makes me lean towards taking Tony over Ozzie...it'd get Walker's ass outta here (which should merit a Grant Park parade IMO). LOL, the Sox bats have a better season than I think any of us expected, everyone shuts up about Walker for about 3 months, and now that the season's over and no one cares any more we can go back to normal Walkripping.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:11 PM) He has a point, we need those upgrades, at RF/C/DH if we're gonna stick with Morel at 3B. Point 1...Dayan Viciedo at DH is not an upgrade? Point 2. We've gotten great production from 3b this year with the bat? Point 3. We've gotten great defense the whole year from 3b? Basically, Viciedo would need to outproduce the .725ish OPS from Kotsay and Jones, and Morel would have to match the .723 OPS we've gotten from 3b this year and improve upon the .937 fielding percentage we have at 3b for that to be a substantial upgrade (We have the 2nd worst fielding percentage at 3b in the AL thanks to all Teahen's errors).

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:06 PM) And Ozzie coaches them. Ozzie's strategy this season was supposed to keep everyone fresh. Instead, we see a team that has absolutely quit down the stretch. I don't even think LaRussa is a great coach. Rather, I think Ozzie's time has run out with the Sox and it's time for a change. I think the guys are plenty fresh...except for the bullpen, which fell apart towards the end. A veteran team that is beaten though is always going to respond differently from a young team like Baltimore.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 06:32 PM) Larussa's teams make the post season at a much better rate than Ozzie's. And the pile of used needles that it took to get a lot of LaRussa's teams to the postseason dwarfs the pile leftover from Ozzie's teams.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:07 PM) Is our goal to get 3rd place in the AL Central? Oh come on Fathom

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 07:05 PM) Didn't Barry Bonds have a freak 15 games or so a few years back? I don't remember the exact amount. I'm sure that he's had a 15 game stretch with a 2.000 OPS during the real THG seasons.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 06:34 PM) Have you ever seen anything like this ever? This is f***ing amazing. I've never seen a 15 game run like this. Sammy Sosa, July 1998 was pretty darn close.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 05:29 PM) I have been thinking about how great it would be to add Rasmus since that "trade me" incident. Pierre-Rios-Rasmus OF would be great. You know...I wonder if Rasmus for Quentin...might not fit the needs of both

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 05:50 PM) The total number of times in the last 10 years that the Tigers have been over .500 in the second half? 0. Ozzie Guillen's teams always fall flat during the 2nd half.

5 IP, 3 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks for Harrell. 5 K's in 5 IP isn't bad, the WHIP still is through the roof.