Balta1701

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 05:16 PM) Where was this in April....and May.....oh and June? Bats don't work in the cold. And JD was hurt.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:45 PM) Could have missed it, but any word on Porcello? As of earlier this week, no he had not signed, and the ESPN chat folks seemed to seriously have no idea which way it'll go.

Gonzalez in CF? Seriously?

QUOTE(juddling @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:13 PM) I've said it before and I'll say it again....gravity is a b****!!!!!!!! F*&%ing Isaac Newton.

How does El Duque strike out 9 batters in 6.2 innings?

QUOTE(BearSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:16 PM) If it was up to me, I'd do everything in my power to try and get Hu and Betemit in the offseason. I'd then have Hu be my SS and Betemit basically platoon with Fields and Hu at 3B and SS while playing a little 2B and 1B as well. You do know Betemit was already traded to the Yankees, right?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:12 PM) Nevermind... I thought this was the comment about us invading Pakistan that Obama started saying. I should have actually clicked the link instead of assuming what it was about... I'm sort of torn on this one. I wouldn't "attack" anyone over that statement, but I can see where you can't ever SAY you're going to take ANYTHING off the table. IMO, the only reason why someone would think it's a bad thing to say "I'm taking nuclear weapons off the table in all circumstances in this area" is that the folks running things right now have moved things so far off the deep end that sensible things look out there compared to what we've heard the last few years. (More terrorism? Nuke Mecca!) Anyway, the invading Pakistan thing is a much more debatable issue, because I for one still have no idea what the right answer is. If you know UBL is in a village in Pakistan, do you risk going after him to grab UBL, but at the same time risk destabilizing or even knocking out the entire Pakistani government and letting its nukes fall into the hands of God knows who, or do you watch him and try to hope for a better chance to arise but at the same time risk losing him? Those damn nukes that country has makes this so freaking hard...

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:02 PM) Purist baseball fans should love the Braves, especially over the Yankees who are a successful organization but a repulsive one as well, IMO. I for one am very interested to see how the Braves handle the next 2 years, where there's a chance they might really have to rebuild. Tex, Smoltz, Hudson, Jones, Jones, Wickman, Renteria, all seem to be getting either up there in years or hitting the end of their contracts. They'll net a boatload of draft picks if they all walk, but Atlanta could well be looking at a genuine couple-year rebuilding process coming up here soon. (Which, I think, may well have been why they traded for Tex; figure they have the Jones's, Hudson, Smoltz, and a couple other guys for either this year or this year and next year, and they might as well go for it while they can)

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:58 PM) (2003... and I don't believe that had anything to do with his hip). One of the CSN post-trophy specials said that PK fractured his foot late in the 02 season, played through it because they were in a pennant race with the Twinkies, and never had time to fully heal coming into 03.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:09 PM) It's sad that this even needs to be said. But in this day and age of people believing that "tactical nukes" are morally acceptable armaments, and believing that America thumbing its nose at non-proliferation I guess it has to be said. And more than that, it's certainly worth wondering exactly what kind of people would decide to go on the attack over that statement.

One thing that is also worth thinking about is trendlines. Specifically, a pitching and hitting coach is not exactly needed as much when everything's going well as when things are going terribly. If you're hitting the cover off the ball, you don't exactly need improvement. But when you hit that week long slump and blow 3 saves or 2 starts in a row, that's when you need the pitching coach. Or when you're a rookie or kid first learning the league, that's when you need the hitting coach. In those terms, there are compiments and complaints about both. Buehrle and Garland struggled last year, but both of them pulled out of it. Contreras struggled in 04 and early 05, but pulled it together. Marte couldn't pull it together with coop. A few other guys only did for a while. Konerko and Dye have each had struggles in recent years, but pulled through them. On the other hand, you have a kid like Anderson, who was talented but who seemed to take forever to start learning anything from Walker.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 12:08 PM) I guess I'm commenting on last year as well. The starting rotation sucked until late in the year when the offense went away. And I hate hearing excuses that the pitchers were tired because of the extended season in 2005. Vazquez wasn't even on the team the year before and how do you explain the Braves pitching staff kicking ass for 12 seasons straight? I can explain that in 3 words. Maddux. Glavine. Smoltz.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 11:53 AM) I'm of the opinion that this was botched on purpose... you know, wink wink nod nod... So, Jefferson slips $10k to Gonzalez, and voila... You know, I could believe that

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 11:56 AM) Obama is starting to really hurt himself badly with these ignoramous comments. Um, I'm agreeing with Barack there.

And on another subject, is there anyone out there who honestly thinks it'd be a good idea to nuke a city in Pakistan under any circumstances?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 11:13 AM) Look up Dewon Brazelton on wikipedia. You will laugh. There was the "change of scenery" trade. A decent spring training, followed by horrible starts, and now 3 releases. No one really ever gave the poor kid 10 or 15 starts in a row to see what he could do. Its really a shame. KW should sign him up. God, in fact, everyone from that draft sucked. I can't wait until the guy drafted after Floyd is released

Edwards has actually been leading in Iowa in quite a few polls, or it's been him and Clinton, which isn't that surprising because he has the "Lieberman 04" type head start having been on the ticket 3 years ago. Here's the full TPM poll tracker: the big surprise if that one is accurate would be a surge of support for Barack.

Well, it's only a single poll, and thus should be taken with a bunch of salt, but it is interesting: Iowa poll, ABC/WaPo. Statistically, that's a dead heat.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 09:26 AM) It could be. I was under the impression that in his first season with the sox he put a TON of pressure on himself to try and replace maggs and went into a slump which was VERY similar to this years. He got over it that season just like this season as well. I think Dye comes back huge next year. My impression back in 05 was that a.) JD at least had a reputation as a slow starter, and he was coming off another set of leg injuries from back in 04.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 09:26 AM) Huh? I've read some articles on the bill and have seen nothing of the sort. Link? The Dems are trying to push through an expansion of the SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to allow the popular and effective program to provide insurance to every uninsured child in the U.S. (naturally, Bush has threatened to Veto, can't be showing that government run healthcare actually works or giving the Dems a policy victory.) In this version, the Dems have removed the requirement that people provide proof of citizenship in order to qualify for the program, at least according to this report.

Can anyone else possibly imagine a situation where the Department of Justice was so unbelievably inept that it could take something like a Congressman being caught with $100,000 in bribe money in his freezer and wind up botching it so badly that the Department of Justice comes out of it looking bad?

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 09:00 AM) Why would you say that? I would say that his production dropped ALOT because of his contract situation and the extra pressure he put on himself. It seemed to me like he was always trying to hard at the plate, and was still fielding fine in the field. I think we extend him a couple of years and he is the JD of the second half this season. I fulled expect something like: .284 .354 30 100 I was under the impression that one of the big things hurting his performance this year was that bad hamstring that finally sat him down for a few games in June, and he finally seemed to turn it back on to me when his legs finally felt better.

QUOTE(WHITESOXRANDY @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 08:33 AM) I can't see why you wouldn't give Floyd the rest of the season. It's only about 10 starts. He needs that and the Sox need that to make a decent evaluation. The Sox already know what they have in Contreras and Haeger. You know? I'm not sure the Sox know what they have in either of those 2 right now. I have no idea what happened to the other Contreras or if he can find his way back, and I have no idea whether Charlie will be able to get to the point where he can throw the knuckler for strikes enough to be effective. But still, I agree with you on giving Gavin the majority of the remainder of the season to see if he can do anything, under the "no risk high reward" rule.

QUOTE(kwolf68 @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 08:56 AM) Still, I want to see how he performs over the last two months and with the team out of the race, I'd like Anderson to be called up and given a chance again, but he has to get his AAA average up, as a .255 AAA average gives no indication he will hit major league pitching this year. Then we can talk about this again. Anderson is out for the season with an injury. Part of the reason he put up a .255 average in AAA was that he was hurt the whole time except for just a handful of games. He spent most of his time at DH while nursing a shoulder injury, and now he's down with a wrist injury that probably won't heal before the season ends.

I understand why people would want JD back, but to me, the fact is, he should be a DH somewhere next year, and if he isn't a DH, he'll wind up just like this year; struggling for a month or two with some sort of nagging injury that winds up preventing him from putting up good numbers. I just don't think he has it in him to be a full time outfielder next season.