Balta1701

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Aug 19, 2006 -> 03:54 PM) Sure Crede's had a breakout year, but he's also had mad protection in the lineup, and he's getting to the years in his career where his play can start to dictate his yearly income. I've heard(read) nothing but good things out of Crede's mouth about staying in Chicago and how Boras won't dictate where he goes, but at this point in time, Boras is still his agent, and he hasn't fired him yet. Chris Widger, Sandy Alomar, Alex Cintron, Juan Uribe, and Brian Anderson are "Mad protection"? It's not like he's hitting 2nd in this lineup.

QUOTE(rafacosta @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 04:20 PM) Even with that...we lead the WC by one game. "Even with that, we still have the best record in baseball." - people in April/May. "Even with that, we're still in first place" - folks in May "Even with that, we're still in the wild card lead" - people now "Even with that, we still finished 20 games over, and since the AL Wild Card and the team with the best record in baseball were in the Central, it's ok to finish 3rd." - October.

We are now 1-5 in our last 6 against the team 1 game behind us for the Wild Card Slot. There is no possible way to be happy about that performance. If we had done our job in those games and even come out with a split, we'd have 3 times as much breathing room as we do right now. It is too late in the season to start looking for hope for the future of any sort. If we want to win this season, we have to actually win. Especially against teams who are gunning for us.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Aug 12, 2006 -> 01:19 PM) I bought V for Vendetta and watched it again. I absolutely love that movie. By watching it a second time, I was also able to figure out the connection between the whole St. Marys and Lock (sp?) Hill incidents. It definitely has become one of my favorites... Rented that movie over the weekend, saw it for the first time, also thought it was quite good. I think it's Lark hill, and I was able to follow that connection pretty well as far as I could tell.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:43 AM) I put together a promotional slide show with about 120 pictures. The damn thing will not load on some machines, takes forever. I also need it to be self starting, or, at a minimum, not need Powerpoint to start. Can this be done? What sort of machines are you trying to load it onto, and what format are the pictures in? The easiest way to correct PPT flaws I've found is to go in and manually convert every photo to JPG format, because usually everything that can install powerpoint can read those. Also, if having it take forever to load is a problem, you have a couple options. If you're converting things to JPG anyway, it may be worth the effort to save the images as a smaller file size. Depending on the size of the screen you're presenting on, you may be able to get away with each of them being a few tens of kb...if you're loading 2 mb images, then it's going to take forever no matter what, and you're never going to need that sort of detail unless you're projecting on the moon. Smaller file sizes might make it easier for older machines to read the files as well. I'm afraid the "Self-starting" part I simply don't know how to help you with. You might be able to get away with it by putting a link to the exact file in your "Startup" folder in the start menu, but that's just a guess.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 07:22 AM) Well, in order to get to the Mets, every single MLB team would have to pass on Garcia/Vazquez. I doubt they get by every last team. And to get Milledge, wouldn't he, too, have to pass through waivers? Ok, so who do the Mets have in their farm system who wouldn't have to pass through waivers?

Detroit acquires Neifi Perez from the Cubs for a class-A catcher who is mainly a good defender. Watch out Chicago, Neifi Perez is coming to town.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 02:47 PM) The Dodgers are takin' the NL. I think this was decided at the trade deadline, not today. They could have a healthy Glavine and I still am going to take the team with the most pitching, and that's NOT the Mets. Hell, now they even have Mota. Yikes, how many holes does your staff need to have before you realize this isn't your year? Anyone think Garcia or Vazquez could clear waivers? I bet they might move Milledge now.

So, on occasion, I'll run into an article on a topic about which I've given absolutely no thought beforehand, and Here's one of them (from the NYT). In the last few weeks, Youtube seems to have made a remarkable impact on politics in this country. We've got the prime example of former leading 2008 GOP Presidential Hopeful George Allen making an African Monkey out of himself by using an obscure racial slur, we've got dozens of Anti-Lieberman montages, we've got sleeping through a hearing. So, one side in this article argues that Youtube might be a bad thing, because it will force politicians to constantly be "On", they'll never have time to practice, work on a line, or even just be themselves, because even if they're caught swearing, hundreds of thousands of people might be able to watch it the next day. I think I fall on the other side...I for one think that America is probably getting pretty tired of these people who make news by saying stupid things. Howard Dean deserved the flak he got for some of his remarks, George Allen deserves what he's getting now, and so on. There are ways to be a decent, real human being without making yourself look like a fool. So, am I the only one who finds this interesting? Do you think this will suck even more emotion out of campaigns, or do you think it might bring a little life back into that lobbyist-dominated world?

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:58 PM) A 2 run game is a bloop and a blast away from being tied though. If that game is out of reach, then this team might as well forfeit the rest of their games. We don't have to get that bloop/blast against Nathan in every game.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:57 PM) Ozzie was worried that Anderson might be tired from playing 8 innings today. Gotta rest him up for winterball.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) Why do I get bashed for saying that Cotts shouldn't be in a game that is still possibly winnable? Riske hasn't pitched much all weekend....why not use him? You and I have very different definitions of "Possibly winnable". Not with Nathan sitting there.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:55 PM) That one I dont understand, at all. Ozzie is drunk.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:54 PM) It's not a bad call by Oz at all.(Im sure Fathom will say it is, whats new) However, Cotts is just not helping his cause AT ALL. It is going to start getting hard to find spots for Oz to use him in if this keeps up. With our starting pitching this year...there are PLENTY of garbage innings Ozzie can throw Cotts into. If Logan shows any more promise at AAA and when he gets called up in Sept, I also wouldn't complain about dealing Cotts.

Well, I gotta go make a phone call. At least Neal made the game end earlier.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:51 PM) Don Cooper has done an amazing job with our returning pitchers this year. I especially like the work he's done with Neal's offspeed pitches. HOW IN THE HELL DID NEAL COTTS ONLY ALLOW 1 HOMER LAST SEASON? Talk about a miracle year. How in the world can the same pitchers be so good last year and so bad this year? It just blows my mind. One or two I understand, but only 1 or 2 putting up the same numbers? Yeesh

Well, i guess the good news is we don't have to worry about facing Nathan in a save situation to start the 9th. They may still put him in just to kill us.

Jesus Christ, what the Hell happened to Neal? My God, this is almost as bad as the dropoff we saw in Koch. Does neal have a skin disease?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:42 PM) I still think it was the right call. Eh, could have gone either way, but I think I'd rather have the more powerful guy in there in Uribe, just in case he connected. Especially since Ozzie's PH made the Twins take the pitcher who was struggling out of the game.

Man, thank God we pinch hit for Uribe...

QUOTE(CWSOX45 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:39 PM) We threatened against him last time we faced the Twinks at the cell....at least I thought we did... He's still never blown a save against us. We've scored 4 runs off of him in his career, 3 of them this season.

Their is what, 1 closer in the AL of any quality that we have not yet beaten this year? Street, Rivera, Papelboner, Ray, Jones, etc.? He'll get used today.

Aw hell, now Ozzie starts bringing in the pinch hitters. Come on Alexi.

Ole!

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 01:36 PM) Haven't they won at a pace over .667 over their last 65 games? Something like that probably...but you're still covering up their recent weakness by lumping it in with their hottest stretch of the year.