Balta1701

Can we have the version of A.J. that was hitting over .300? That'd be nice. Anywho...this guy has been a godsend to the pitching staff. If nothing else, he deserves several years here for that.

QUOTE(bighurt2719 @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 08:32 PM) seems like most people agree instant replay has no place in baseball. I have to agree with that, always have. that said, mccarver is someone who i have no respect for. to me, mccarver is the jerry glanville of baseball If the fair/foul home run ball call isn't a place in baseball for replay, I don't know what is. It takes just about as much time as having the manager argue and get thrown out, and at least we could get that call right.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 07:01 PM) I think Baghdad Bob found himself a new employer. LOL!

Pujols.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 12:18 AM) oh i agree, but if it came down to jon garland game 7 i'd piss myself. sure he's been great this year but i dont know about the pressure... You can't tell me that the iceman would crack under that pressure. He's eaten pressure alive on the mound this season. He's been beaten when his best stuff wasn't working for him or when Ozzie left him in too long...but when he's been out there and its become crunch time...no one on this staff has done a better job of cinching it up and hunkering down than Garland. Case in point: Tejada. Strike 3.

There are simply some plays in baseball that are screaming out for instant replay, I don't care what you say. Fair versus foul balls...that's the definition of what Replay is good for...especially on a home run ball, those can change an entire game, or even an entire season (Crede last year). Lots of times the umpires will get it right...but there are just so many cases where it could be useful...near-ties at bases (especially home plate...Jason Kendall), or even something crazy like last night, that I think it'd be worth the extra 5 minutes per game. But yea...last night...the call would have been completely inconclusive. It still is.

Oh great, now I don't have a clue what to believe about that letter. Could it have been a forgery? Sure, why not. We tried to justify an invasion with one. Could Zawahiri be panicking now that a letter got out? Sure, why not. Somehow, I doubt telling the truth is one of his biggest priorities.

Hmph, I guess I was so automatic in voting for Hermy that I didn't even notice Clifford on the ballot. Couple of other people were close to him in my head...Hermanson might have even deserved it had he stayed healthy at the end of the year...but that's one that went to the right guy.

Strangely...I don't see him with a clenched fist in the photo the guy posted.

I believe you can catch the audio of the pre-interview scripting here.

Here's Scooter this morning also...

QUOTE(3E8 @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:41 PM) I agree with you completely. I calculated that the attendance increase plus home playoff games has generated at least an extra $15 million revenue IN TICKET SALES ALONE compared to 2004. If we make it to the World Series, that number exceeds $20 million. Isn't the value of our radio contract about to significantly decline, on the other hand? (Also, I believe adding in $15 million basically would push our payroll to that $90 mil plateau)

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:30 PM) listening to talk radio in LA you can bet the angels are going to come out fired up - they feel like they had one taken away from them and they're not happy. I'm nervous as well. You know as well as I do that sometimes being "Fired up" can be a detriment when you're playing baseball...you try to make the great play and end up throwing the ball away, you try to lead off the game with a home run and pop out, you want to be the hero and do something stupid. This game will come down to what every game comes down to...the performance of the pitchers and the hitters facing them. It won't matter which team is more "Fired up". For crying out loud, it's the playoffs. If you're not fired up, there's something wrong with you. They'll be angry, sure. But that doesn't translate to anything. The question is...will big Jon be able to do his job on 12 days rest. That's the thing that matters. Hell, they can all be angry, fired up, and swinging for the fences for all I care...if they try that and Jon has that sinker working they'll be beating the ball into the ground.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:35 PM) I think AJ just started running on his own. His throught process was probably "f***.." and then "oh yeah that may have hit the ground, i should run in case Paul throws the ball down the right field line" Players do this quite often. I think AJ's the only guy on the field who would have realized something happened...because he was catching Buehrle, and Buehlre had like 4 strikeouts. So AJ was used to hearing the "You're out" spoken on the strikeout, and when he didn't hear it, he suddenly realized something wasn't normal. He may very well at that moment have thought about the play in San Fran, and took off, or just took off because he didn't hear it, but I think that was the real key - our catcher didn't hear something he was expecting to hear and it clicked.

QUOTE(heavyduty @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:33 PM) By the title of this thread, I thought you were going to talk about his commitment to the nuclear plant instead of concentrating on softball.

I don't care if we aren't as good of a story...the Marlins weren't as good of a story, the Angels weren't as good of a story, the Diamondbacks weren't as good of a story as the Red Sox in 04 either.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:09 PM) We all know it bounced. We just don't know where. Correct...it's entirley possible that it barely taped the webbing on his mit and bounced up due to the webbing being pressed against the ground. But there's not a chance anyone's going to take any images of that pitch and say for certain either way. IMO, of course.

Thank you Jesus, for slightly improving the quality of commercials during The Simpsons, Family Guy, Prison Break, 24, and American Dad.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:16 PM) This from Rotoworld. Manager Ozzie Guillen intends to do whatever it takes to retain Paul Konerko during free agency. "To me, this kid is my leader," Guillen said. "This kid just does everything in his power for us to be what we are, on the field and off the field. I will do anything and (general manager) Kenny Williams will do anything to keep Konerko here. He showed up to play every day. He's a gamer. There's nothing negative to say about him." The Angels, Mets, Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Orioles are some of the teams expected to pursue Konerko IF that's true, and a good part of me hopes it is...they will sit down and work this thing out a week after the season is over, and it'll turn out to be a fair deal for both sides. I feel fairly confident that KW doesn't want to endure another Ordonez style long-term negotiation and negative parting.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 01:13 PM) I am going to go out on a limb and say $85 million is the lowest that our 2006 payroll will be. With a 20% attendance increase, on top of a large ticket price increase, plus at least two playoff rounds, there is some cash to be spent. Don't doubt it for a minute. If we play one or two more LCS games at home, and make it to the World Series, we could realistically be looking at a $100 million payroll for 2006. I could imagine the chairman spending $90 on a team that makes the world series. I can't imagine him topping triple digits. Not yet anyway.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 12:46 PM) If you'd like to now divert to the question of whether or not 85 million is realistic, that's an entirely different discussion. 3 more wins and it stands a chance of being an underestimate. I hope. P.s. Didn't the Yankees send us a total of $6 million or so with Contreras, taking his total cost down by $3 million a year?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 12:49 PM) The sole reason Brantley agrees suggests to me we're wrong. What reason is Brantley giving?

If I were an Angel fan, I would want Josh Paul's blood. The ump was going to make some sort of call. The reality is that the ball was very close to the dirt, and may very well have hit the dirt. It was then entirely Josh Paul's job to tag the runner, just in case. I've seen catchers tag batters on balls that weren't nearly as close-run things as that pitch was, just because they don't want to risk giving up the base on something so stupid. You can agree with the ump's call or disagree. I look at it, like I've said several times, like a truly inconclusive catch in football...there's just nothing that shows it either way. But Josh Paul should have tagged the guy out. He does that and nothing matters. The Angels got really unlucky when about the only guy on the field, AJ, who would recognize that the ump was calling outs verbally, was the guy at the plate. But even with that, Josh Paul was the only guy who could have eliminated the whole problem.

You have got to be sh*tting me.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Oct 13, 2005 -> 11:57 AM) You have to do better than Ryan Howard if you're trading Garland. Yeah, I know he's young and cheap, but he's basically Willie Harris hitting against lefties (.148/.175/.246). Hell, I woulnd't care if he was hitting .050 against lefties...I'd make that deal. a.) The kid's going to hit 40 home runs next year if he doens't get hurt, and maybe for the next decade too. b.) The kid has time to learn to hit lefties.