Balta1701

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 03:23 PM) Right, but we that player in the organization right now, and is in your sig. Given the lack of speed with this club, along with Ozzie love with speed, I don't doubt Owens would be matching the numbers Taveras is putting up right now, which isn't much of an accomplishment. I think JO would probably be putting up significantly better numbers than Taveras in the big leagues, just based on the fact that he did so last year, if he were called up.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 02:12 PM) I like that plan. But there is no way we give up one of our young starters. Maybe KW can make a strong push for a guy like Willy Tavarez again? It doesnt look like Colorodo is going anywhere this year. Is Willy Taveras's .239 batting average or .294 OBP something that Jerry Owens couldn't better? (He did better them last year)

QUOTE (29andPoplar @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 01:49 PM) Sounds good in theory but the latest buzz was the Orioles starting point was Ramirez, one of either Danks or Floyd, plus another player for Roberts. Emphasis on starting point. Which is, frankly, just about what it should be. If they're going to trade him, they ought to hold out for a solid young starting pitcher and a cheap/young position player. Poreda might be useful in such a deal, but frankly, outside of Poreda, we have nothing that should genuinely interest them outside of our big league roster. Broadway might work as the throw in 3rd player, but Poreda + Broadway wouldn't get it done if I were running the O's.

One other thing, this one came out a few years ago by one of the guys on my Thesis committee...Hydrogen can also be pretty harmful for the atmosphere. It's very hard to contain at 100% levels, and it has the ability to do damage when it gets in to the atmosphere, possibly including some combination of increased storm activity due to more clouds and damage to the ozone layer.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 11:11 AM) I'm mildly psyched about this. The actual news is basically meaningless since we don't have a fuel cell station network, but I imagine if everything keeps moving in this direction, it eventually will. I was reading from somewhere that hydrogen can be produced from solar power too? Yes it certainly can be produced from solar, wind, etc. It's just not a very efficient use of the energy generated by those sorts of plants right now.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 10:56 AM) Without STRONG leadership from a president, nothing will happen. He needs to say "in 20 years, we will be all ____, let's make it happen". "We chose to go to the moon" type of statement. My problem with this statement is it's really, really hard to predict exactly where breakthroughs are going to happen. Let's hypothesize that President Obama gives a speech like that in March of next year calling for a hydrogen economy, and we spend a few tens of billions of dollars on it over the next few years. Then, 5 years from now, there's a major breakthrough in capacitor technology that dramatically pushes down the cost of those devices as an energy transportation mechanism well beyond where hydrogen is sitting at the time. What do you do? Do you admit you're wrong and shut down the program you've dumped so much money in to? Do you dismantle the infrastructure you've invested in? Do you ignore the newer technology in the hopes that H2 will catch up within a couple years?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 08:57 AM) Honda has begun mainline production of the FCX Clarity, its hydrogen fuel cell car, and the first production car rolled off the line today. This first run will be very limited, and only a few hundred will be produced in the first few years. Only California has fueling stations for it, in three cities. But the car itself is getting rave reviews, and has a 270 mile tank range. It gets the equivalent of 74 mpg (hydrogen), and is a zero emission vehicle. I'm not sure how much a gallon of hydro costs, though. The lease price includes maintenance and collison coverage, at $600/month. They received 50,000 applications from people wanting to buy it, but only accepted some of those that were near the three current fueling stations. Small step, but still a step. Trib article. The problem with hydrogen cars right now is that our only way of generating hydrogen is still...fossil fuels. Unlike say, oil, there's no gigantic reservoir of hydrogen on earth that can be simply tapped as an energy source. The hydrogen must be generated by electrolysis, using some sort of energy to split oxygen and hydrogen from water molecules or by splitting it off of other hydrogen containing substances (i.e. natural gas). So when you say it is a zero emission vehicle...it's zero emissions at the spot where the vehicle is. But it's not zero emissions in terms of the total process any more than my car would be if I said it was zero emissions if I didn't count the engine. Its also entirely possible that depending on the source of the hydrogen, a hydrogen car could put out more total pollution and CO2 per mile than a similar gas fueled car, if for example, the energy source being used was coal, and you've inserted an extra step instead of taking electricity directly and using that for energy by inputting the "Converting to hydrogen" step, and every step you add allows that pesky 2nd law of thermodynamics to come in and screw you over more.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 09:00 AM) Its all negotiating. There will be at least a few debates. Bush and Kerry did, what, four or so? I'd bet these two do around that many. If Obama truly avoids them entirely, or only does one, then I'll be disappointed too. But I doubt that happens. Bush and Kerry did 3, and those 3 debates were LEGENDARY in terms of how scripted they were. There were something like 32 pages of rules. The candidates weren't allowed to address or question each other directly. The cameras weren't supposed to stay locked on the candidate that was speaking and couldn't show the reactions of the other candidate. The candidates weren't allowed to be filmed from behind. And on and on. During the primary season, how many times, especially towards the end, did we hear about how tedious the debate schedule was getting?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 09:31 AM) I guess Obama is scared to debate McCain... McCain wanted 10 townhall meetings, and instead has proposed just one, and that was on the 4th of July. In football, this would be known as the prevent defense. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/elec...-townhall_N.htm This was one of those proposals that the "Underdog" makes to try to make the "Front-runner" look bad. As a classic example, I'll give you John Kerry saying in 2004 "Let's debate once a week until the election". If the front-runner accepts, then it hurts him because instead of going out and campaigning, holding events, rallies, etc., he's spending all his time either preparing for the debates or actually being at the debates, and meanwhile it helps the underdog because it's giving him a ton of free media even if he doesn't perform that well. On the other hand, if the front-runner doesn't accept what is again an absurdly large number of events (deliberately so btw) then the underdog can attack him for not wanting to debate as often.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 08:49 AM) My only worry is that Kong tries to play through it, or thinks that a few days of rest will cure it. So far, that seems to be the route everyone has taken this season...they've been really, really hesitant to use the DL for people or even to give them days off when they're clearly hurting. Quentin keeps playing, Konerko took forever to get an offday to cover the hand, Uribe they waited a week with before putting him on the DL.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jun 16, 2008 -> 07:10 AM) What prognosis would KW need to get on PK for him to pull the trigger on a big trade for a power hitter? PK would have to go to the doctor and have the doctor tell him that Paul has regressed in to a studly young 22 year old AAA level prospect that other teams might be dying to have...because there's nothing else in our system that is going to interest anyone for the power hitters on the market (Holliday, Gonzalez/Giles, etc.)

QUOTE (quickman @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 07:32 PM) I have never seen a team collectively all shut down at the same time. In addition, I have been calling to drop quentin from the three spot for the last week. it is clearly time, in addition its time to move AJ from the 2 spot as well. Time to shake this crap up. Get the missle back in and bat him second. AJ had 2 of our 3 hits today. He's actually hitting .400 in June. I think everyone can see that Quentin needs a couple of healing days.

QUOTE (rafacosta @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 06:57 PM) How can somebody suck so bad after such a strong start?????? Injury.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 06:53 PM) AJP is having a horrible game offensively and defensively. AJ now has 2 of our 3 hits.

AJ Singles to make the next 3 guys the tying run or a DP candidate.

QUOTE (G&T @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 06:49 PM) BTW, Balta got his wish for Taverez to get on. Damn batter should have known not to swing to give him a chance.

Taveras at 1b with a chance to tie the record...

LOL, Jim takes one for the team Alexei better be running for him.

Take 2 brian...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox15 @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 05:38 PM) BA, Juan, OC, we need runs. I just want 1

Come on BA, we need your sexiness here.

QUOTE (BFirebird @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 05:36 PM) I just got home...what record would he be going for? Earlier in this thread I linked it...he has 5 stolen bases. The MLB record for steals in a game is 7, set back in 1881 and 1894.

Taveras will be coming up 3rd next inning. Am I being masochistic for hoping that he gets on with no one else on base?

Masset getting another chance to prove himself in the "Serious setup man role" here.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jun 14, 2008 -> 05:51 PM) I think gas prices in China and Russia around $3 per gallon. So how do they have cheaper gas when their demand is through the roof. Cant be all taxes b/c we know that we dont tax gas $1 per gallon, we tax gas like 20-30 cents a gallon. So either American gas companies have artificially inflated the price from the wholesale cost, or somehow China and Russia have sweetheart deals on oil that we dont. Either way it blows. You're missing the one other option...the Chinese government, like the governments covering roughly half the people on the earth, subsidize the cost of gasoline purchased by their population. This of course has the net result of driving up demand artificially in those countries, insulating the people from price spikes, and leaving the parts of the earth without major subsidies stuck having to deal with explosive demand growth in the areas that do have them.