Balta1701

Well folks, the guys up at JPL are trying it again today. We've got another probe set to touch down on the surface of Mars about a day from now, if things work out. The Phoenix lander is aiming for Mars's north pole, with the ability to drill down somewhat in to the ice caps that are there and take analysis and samples down through it, hopefully to look at climate records amongst other things. Here's the landing schedule: -- Cruise stage separates, 4:39 p.m. -- Spacecraft turns to attitude for atmospheric entry, 4:40 p.m. -- Spacecraft enters atmosphere, 4:46:33 p.m. -- Likely blackout period as hot plasma surrounds spacecraft, 4:47 through 4:49 p.m. -- Parachute deploys, 4:50:15 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Heat shield jettisoned, 4:50:30 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Legs deploy, 4:50:40 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. - - Radar activated, 4:51:30 p.m. -- Lander separates from backshell, 4:53:09 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Transmission gap during switch to helix antenna 4:53:08 to 4:53:14 p.m. -- Descent thrusters throttle up, 4:53:12 p.m. -- Constant-velocity phase starts, 4:53:34 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Touchdown, 4:53:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Lander radio off 4:54:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Begin opening solar arrays (during radio silence) 5:13 p.m. -- Begin NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:28 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Begin Europe's Mars Express spacecraft playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:30 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Post-landing poll of subsystem teams about spacecraft status, 5:30 p.m. -- Mars Odyssey "bent-pipe" relay of transmission from Phoenix, with engineering data and possibly including first images, 6:43 to 7:02 p.m. Data could take up to about 30 additional minutes in pipeline before being accessible. If all goes well, live television feed from control room may show first images as they are received. The first images to be taken after landing will be of solar arrays, to check deployment status.

Well, that has to knock down that 29.70 ERA he's sporting.

Go get em Ehren.

Boone versus Vlad is not a matchup I'd like. Ditto Boone versus Hunter.

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 24, 2008 -> 03:05 PM) me neither hes a one dimensional player, and that one dimension shows up for only half the games Gordon's problem is that he isn't set up to be a number one scoring option. He's not great at creating his own shot. The Bulls offense was at its best in 06-07 when they had the ball moving around like crazy, because no one was really good at creating shots for anyone else, so Skiles's offense played in to that and created open looks by moving the ball around more. We saw the occasional game where Deng or Gordon would get hot and start creating, but when that wasn't happening and the ball wasn't moving was when they struggled. But, IMO, if you stick Gordon in as a number 2 option...where even if he's off with the jumper, you have someone else, say a driving and slashing point guard who can push the lane and break down a defense, creating open looks for Gordon, you might see him as a lot more effective. When he's your number one scoring option, you're in trouble. When he's your number 2, you're in much better shape. Gordon, btw, is to my eyes the big reason people have wanted "a low post threat" the last few years, because a solid low post threat would have done exactly that, given us someone who could create open looks for Gordon on the outside. I think better slashing and driving PG play will do so even better in this league, which is why I lean to rose.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 24, 2008 -> 02:09 PM) Masset has so much movement on his FB and such a nasty curve. I think it's time to start trusting Nick a little more with some more innings. Save Liney and Dotel a bit more.

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ May 24, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) feasting on Seattle, SF, and Cleveland teams that are all baaadddd, that 8gm streak was very deceiving Um, 0 wins in that streak were against Seattle, 2 were against these Angels, and Cleveland took the WS Champs to 7 games in the ALCS last year.

Hmmm, interesting stat. The Sox have actually scored the 2nd most runs in the AL Central in May. The #1 offense in the Central right now, by far? Minnesota. Both the Sox and Detroit are at 84, Cleveland is at a league worst 69 runs this month.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2008 -> 02:47 PM) So sad that with this division so there for the taking that we have an inept offense holding us back. Let's just hope nobody from our division gets hot. Yeah. Someone in our division hitting an 8 game winning streak would put everyone else away.

Yowza.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ May 24, 2008 -> 01:31 PM) True, but it looked like a changeup right down the pipe. Not very hard to hit for someone like Vlad. At least throw it off the plate some. By my line, I meant he probably tried to do so.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ May 24, 2008 -> 01:28 PM) Why throw anything in the zone to Vlad on the first pitch? That was like pitch 98 by JD. I wouldn't be surprised if he just didn't have anything left.

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 24, 2008 -> 01:24 PM) pablo ozuna was a nice little player for a year or two, who frankly truth be told wasnt a very good player, but had some good results...hes pretty worthless on this team except for right now hes the only guy who can play third should crede go down Actually, right now he's the only backup infielder period. Unfortunately, most teams don't have .350 hitters sitting on their bench. They have guys like Pablo, who aren't terrible at anything but sure aren't great at anything, filling in the gaps.

Just stepped in. Man JD has thrown a lot of pitches.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ May 24, 2008 -> 11:32 AM) I agree, and I'm not saying it's a sure thing. But I imagine any deal would involve at least one of Hinrich and Nocioni being shipped out (probably Hinrich). Swap that for a contract that expires at the right time, plus Hughes's deal, and the Bulls could be a major player. (As the time gets closer, maybe deal another one off -- though I can't really imagine the Bulls dealing Deng.) Figure the Knicks and Nets are looking at that group, as well, so I'm not assuming it would be automatic. But we could realistically have a better supporting cast already in place, plus Wade is from Chicago, plus I won't listen to anyone who wants to quash my dreams, and voila, the Bulls return to prominence! The nice thing is...your dream and my dream don't exactly have to be incompatible. I want to have the Bulls spend the next 2 years developing their 25 and under, peaking 5 years from now or more crowd, of Tyrus, Deng, Noah, Rose, Gordon/Thabo. You want the Bulls to replace Nocioni and/or Hinrich with someone who's contract expires in that key year. I'm sick of seeing guys like Gooden and Noc come in and take minutes away from Tyrus, Noah, Deng, and Thabo when we're trying to develop them. One potential solution to this problem is to try to turn Hinrich, Noc, Gooden, and perhaps that trade extension we have this offseason in to a big contract in that year. That way, we clear out some of the roster, get rid of the excess guys, maybe pick up the expiring contract, set ourselves up for 2010 in the FA market, and create playing time for the young guys like I want. The one problem with that strategy is that it seems to require holding on to 3 starting shooting guards in Hughes, Thabo, and Gordon. I don't mind holding on to Hughes, because even if he doesn't play a minute next year his trade value goes up simply as an expiring contract if we decide we can't make the run at the big 3, and if his performance were to recover after the bad years in Cleveland his value could go up more. But that log jam there is something that we need to do something about....and if we're holding Hughes, IMO, the odd man out might well have to be Gordon.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 24, 2008 -> 12:10 PM) I hope it lasts longer than 1.5 months for a guy who's below his career averages. I gave JD longer than this to pick his head up on 05, I'll keep putting Swisher out there. But it'd be darn nice to see some positive signs.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 24, 2008 -> 11:57 AM) Swish is going to be fine. I think we're all really hoping this will be the case...but patience can only last for so long.

If Swisher had been doing his job with the bat, no one would be even thinking about this no matter how well Sweeney was performing. Especially considering that neither Gio nor DLS are putting up solid numbers for Oakland this year and in particular DLS was the guy that I was worried about giving up. But frankly, the Swisher suckitude is starting to get annoying and needs to stop.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ May 24, 2008 -> 10:32 AM) The other thing to think about, though, is the contract. There's still a lot of uncertainty about the big fa class a couple years down the line, but if you get an older guy whose contract comes off the books soon, it puts you in a position to offer the max money that LeBron, Wade, and Bosh will command. And as much as I like Deng's potential as a 'complementary star', I can't help but think that that group you mention is just not good enough to win a title. Not now, not in two or three years, even. But with a core of Wade, Rose, Deng -- who knows, but I'd like our odds. Well, in terms of freeing up cap space, there's a couple things the Bulls have going for them if they want to go that route. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but would 2010 be the summer where Tyrus and Thabo become RFA's? That would mean that if we still held them, that would help free up cap space because they wouldn't be under contract right when the bidding starts. Noah would still be on his rookie deal, ditto Rose. The Bulls already hold 1 big expiring contract for that year in Larry Hughes. If you hold Hughes that covers a chunk of it. Gooden expires at the end of this year so he's no worry either There are 4 problem guys though. Gordon, Deng, Hinrich, and Nocioni. Assume that the first 2 pick up $10 mil a year extensions this year, and even with the way Hinrich's contract is structured, that's going to be a $40 million chunk right there. If you could turn 2 of those 4 in to an expiring deal for that year, that sets you up. But you can't hold more than 3 of them and expect to have the room. The other problem is...there are more than a few teams looking for those contracts. The Knicks are the big fish there, and they're in a position where if they make no moves they'll have good cap room after 2010.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 24, 2008 -> 08:23 AM) Olbermann skewered Clinton once again with a special comment last night.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 23, 2008 -> 08:38 PM) Derrick Rose (Freshman @ Memphis): 14.9 ppg, 4.7 apg Chris Paul (Freshman @ Wake Forest): 14.8 ppg, 5.9 apg Rose is a better NBA prospect coming out of college than Chris Paul and Deron Williams were, but people are expecting him to be a superstar as a rookie. So, this statement is one I agree with, and I think it illustrates a lot of the problems with the trade for a vet scenarios. Brand is 29, has been in the league for about 9 years, is coming off a major injury, and has a lot of miles on his body. Redd turns 29 later this year, but has played 8 seasons. Both of them are right around the age where they're nearing the end of their performance peak (like 26-29 years of age). Now, if we were trying to assemble a team to compete this year, both of them are solid options. But you just made the key point. No matter how good a prospect Rose is...even if he wins the ROY over say, Oden, and has a very good first year, if he's going to develop in to a star, that's still a couple years away. He'll be the equivalent of a 20 year old college sophomore next year. If you pack guys like Brand and Redd on this team, you make a run at the conference finals next year, but then as Rose develops, you expect to see them starting to go downhill, get hurt more, and just be less productive per unit time. This is one of the reasons, whether or not you like hte particular guys, that I like the "all recent draftee" lineup of Tyrus, Deng, Noah, Rose, and Gordon/Thabo, because you can grow them together. None of them are at their peak ages yet, and when Rose does start developing and going upwards, so will the rest of them.

I'm impressed, it only took a few pages for this to turn in to the "Tyrus rules/Tyrus stinks" discussion. Just to state the obvious...there are going to be people unhappy with TT, and there are going to be people who like him. Both sides can spout out comparisons, stats, and info. But if all we do is get bogged down in that back and forth, then this thread's going to just get annoying. Let's try to avoid that ok?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 23, 2008 -> 06:40 PM) Nice showing by Floyd after the 5th inning. He's pitched well enough to win. Not the way these guys are hitting.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 23, 2008 -> 04:55 PM) Am I the only person who likes how Drew Gooden plays? He would have been an excellent addition to the 2005-2006-2007 Chicago Bulls and would have fit their style of play very well. My problem is, I really don't want him on the 2008 on Chicago Bulls. He's an average post player. That'd be an upgrade from sticking Noc et al. in that position like we did for 2 years. But the way this roster evolves, one of a few things is going to happen. Either if he stays, he'd slow down the team and take minutes away from Tyrus and Noah, which I didn't like last year and will like even less if they draft Rose (thus, if he's getting 30 minutes a game, he continues to prevent development of the kids), or he's going to be taking playing time away from Beasley if we draft him. The worst damn thing Boylan did in a third of the games he helped the team lose was stick in a lineup with Gooden and like 4 guards. I really never want to see that again. On top of that, he's an expiring contract, which is always useful. But if we draft Rose, I want to see the Kiddy lineup with Tyrus, Noah, Deng, and Thabo/Gordon, and I want to see if they can develop that in to a high octane offense that wouldn't fit Gooden's talents. If they draft Beasley, then I don't want him getting 25 minutes a game while Beasley sits on the bench.

D'OH. My bad.