Balta1701

Probably helps the Cardinals quite a bit towards making sure they stay in front of Cinci, but I still think they're in trouble when they hit the playoffs. Whichever team in the NL pitches the best down the stretch will have the advantage.

QUOTE(bulokis @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 05:05 PM) I dont know why we keep trotting Mack in center. I know we are not making moves but we need an OF in our bench. We don't need an OF on our bench...we need to stop putting our best defensive outfielder on the bench.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 04:40 PM) I'm with Rowand. If we play like we're capable, we're fine. The Yankees won't "scare" me unless Randy Johnson reverts back to his pre-2005 form. He's been utter garbage since joining the Yanks. The White Sox don't scare me unless Buehrle, Garland, and Garcia find some sort of 05-like form either. Pitching, pitching, pitching. Whoever has it will go far in the playoffs. Whoever does not will probably not even make it.

Shouldn't Iggyd have posted that?

QUOTE(CWSOX45 @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 04:17 PM) I seriously hope you're wrong, but it probably is just wishful thinking on my part.... I'm just frustrated because I feel Bmac is better suited for the rotation, and I'd like to see him get a couple spot starts.... Spot Starts = terrible idea. Won't let him get comfortable in either the bullpen or in the rotation. If you're starting him, he can't leave the rotation, no matter how indecisive the people making the decisions are.

34 children die in Israeli Air Strike . Israel will slow down/halt operations in southern lebanon for 48 hours in response.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 04:23 PM) I think it's 1.5 million but I could be wrong. Anyway, Im fundamentally opposed to any estate tax of any kind. The people who built their estate did so by working hard and paying taxes on their earnings all through their lives. Why should the government get a second, and much larger, crack at that money just because it's being left to the heirs at the time of death? It's $2 million now, which I think is a very fair level. In 2009, it'll be increased all the way up to $3.5 million, as per current law. And it's also not "Much larger" by any stretch of the imagination, even on the largest estates (and when you get to those sized estates, a significant majority of the income has probably never been taxed anyway, due to it coming in the form of capitol gains.) Here's a chart of how small the impact actually is on almost any reasonably sized estate.

"Don't. Stop. Believin'."

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 04:16 PM) I am right with you on all of this especially the last part. Brady Clark is the 1 player out there who I think fits this team ridiculously well and fills 2 huge needs for the team, possibly 3. He'd be a steady righthand bat off the bench, fill the 4th OF role and could possibly start over Pods if that's something Ozzie wanted to do. We have a good right handed bat off the Bench...Brian Anderson. He only is allowed to play 2/3 of the games each series, so that covers a lot of it. (mainly this post is just me being annoyed at Mack getting the start today.)

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) While I am i no way rich now, with the life insurance I have, and the business I own (which would also be paid off if I die), my wife would inherit just about $2 million. I would like for her to keep that, not go to some government that didn't earn it, sweat for it, starve for it and pay for it. I earned the money, I am building the business, I am paying for the insurance (at a hefty price, I might add), and any benefit should belong to my family, not the government. I love this line from the story ""The Senate has rejected fiscally irresponsible estate tax giveaways before and will reject them again," Reid said" Like the taxes belonged to the government in the first place! No, you pompus ass (Reid, not you, Greg), the 'taxes' came from the very people you and the rest of the congressional idiots supposedly represent, the people. Well, that's great to know. And I'm sure you also know that the estate tax doesn't touch any estates valued at under $2 million.

Simply put, this team looks like they're in trouble.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 01:01 PM) I still stand by my statement that the outfield that started the game for the Sox today is the worst in baseball. I doubt it's actually the worst, but it's pretty damn close. Why the Hell is Mack starting in CF with a lefty on the mound? Is Anderson THAT out of shape?

QUOTE(loltrain @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 12:43 PM) With Sheffield and Matsui back, noone in the majors, Detroit or Chicago included is better than New York. The key thing is that this is *on paper*, they were better than Chicago on paper last year, and look how that went. But saying it doesn't worry you is silly, it worries me, and we're alot farther ahead of them than you are. Can Sheffield, Matsui, or Abreu pitch?

It would also have helped, you know, earlier in the game, had we had a center fielder out there who could have made a couple of those plays that wound up being short-hopped. Seriously, with a lefty on the mound, why the hell do we put in our worst center fielder?

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ Jul 29, 2006 -> 05:58 PM) the way Sweeney is hitting lately -- up to .300 and showing more power -- he might be in lf next year I still want to see Sweeney have 1 more full year in AAA to grow up, maybe add some muscle, and be ready to replace JD after 07.

CS Monitor

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 29, 2006 -> 06:31 PM) If I see another outing where 5 Inning Javy pitches a gem for the first 2 times through the lineup and then craps his pants, I will vomit all over the TV. If the leash after 5 innings for Javy isn't ungodly short, then I don't know what it'll take to get through Ozzie's skull.

Reuters McClatchy newspapers Israel's really in trouble here. Anything less than what they asked for at first, the total destruction/disarmament of Hezbollah, is going to be viewed as them backing off, surrendering, and will be declared a victory by Hezbollah. The only problem is, the only way they're going to accomplish that goal is to level the entire country of Lebanon and kill everyone there. The air attacks haven't done it, the ground attacks have met a more determined and capable enemy than the Israelis expected, and Hezbollah proved it was able to hit Israel in ways that before this started, no one thought they could. Nasrallah is winning the public image campaign throughout the Middle East, and there really doesn't seem to be anything the Israelis can do to turn the tide right now. The best option seriously might be for the U.S. to step up and demand an immediate cease fire, because then the inevitable cease fire will be imposed from outside, and it might lessen the "Victory" declaration Nasrallah will make whenever the shooting stops and his group still exists.

Well, hitting is going in the right direction. Pitching...well...needs to find some more balls.

SHOW SOME COJONES JAVY!

Man I wish I could have watched. FISH FOX!

So, I can only imagine how entertaining this must have been for the police involved. Pulling over Mel Gibson in Malibu, giving him a field sobriety test, finding him with a BAC of .12, and then having him go off on an anti-Jewish rant...well that just had to be the icing on the cake. Gibson issued a public apology for the statments today.

Both of you are forgetting the key point...just because the government of those countries says one thing doesn't mean the people of the country won't say the exact opposite. If, for example, Israel and the U.S. really made all-out war against Iran, the Iraqi government we're holding up would probably protest but it couldn't declare war or anything like that, but the Shia population of that country would absolutely explode. The same thing may very well happen in Saudi Arabia. It's the same thing that has driven the dramatic turnaround in the statements of the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia...regardless of whether Hezbollah is Sunni or Shia, they're fighting a country that is considered a bigger enemy, and the strong support that has built for Hezbollah across all of the Middle Eastern countries amongst the people has forced their governments into a much more hard line with regards to this current conflict.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 29, 2006 -> 05:14 PM) Why can't Mackowiak get at least a few starts out in LF this year? Just see how it works out. He can't POSSIBLY do worse than Pods does. Anything which prevents Ozzie from starting Mack in CF is a good thing.

QUOTE(Jake @ Jul 28, 2006 -> 11:07 PM) Fair enough. But previous numbers support my case that it appears the past 4 outings are an abberation not a return to mediocrity from a hot streak. Unless of course you'd like to argue that he's been on a 3 and a half year hot streak that is now coming to an end. (And FWIW, he is listed as Day-to-Day, citing "personal reasons") Still, IMO, a top 10 in the league RH setup man is simply not worth a potentially 20-30 home run hitting 3rd baseman who has not yet started his arbitration clock, especially considering that your RHP setup man is close to hitting arbitration years and having his salary go up. Especially with Macx2 and Jenks out there. If a starting rotation hole were to magically appear along with a monster hitter (say, some random shortstop from Baltimore) due to a trade of an SP and the move of our best starter (BMac) to the starting 5, I could understand a deal like that. But beyond that, it's too high a price.