Balta1701

You know, I can't help but wonder when I sit here looking at the Around the Horn page why we don't have an official "Cubs suck" thread to go along with the Twinkies one. Anywho.. The Chicago Cubs are in kalapse mode. They went into the 8th inning with a 4-3 lead, and decided to bring in Roberto Novoa. He promptly gave up a triple and a bomb to Andruw Jones, giving the Braves a 5-4 lead. After a hit to Larouche, the Cubs brought in Rusch, only to see him give up a hit on an attempted bunt and then a 3 run homer to Jeff Francoeur. This team is completely falling apart. This will be the 8th game the Cubs have lost in a row. Dempster came in after a double was given up to Pete Orr...followed by a base hit by Marcus Giles. It's now 9-4, and a 6 run inning for the Braves. Not that I'm gloating of course...

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 05:28 PM) i saw that, no shocker, the only contending manager for the manager of year to this point would have to be frank robinson Do they give an award in each league or overall?

The Douchebag of liberty also has thrown his name into the hat on this topic.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 05:25 PM) Ask yourself this, Would Podsednik deserve to be in the ASG with his current .289/.363/.337 and 41 SB with the Sox 5 games under .500? Ask yourself this...would you say a guy is an all star starter if he's hitting .259/.317/.430 with 9 home runs and 36 RBIs?

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 04:43 PM) I don't know why he stayed on this long being that he's sick with cancer. There's at least been some suggestion that Rehnquist might be interested in a record...the longest serving court in history without any changes or vacancies ran something like 11 years or so...I believe that this group would hit that number this September if they stayed together. (O'Connor's resignation takes effect when her replacement is confirmed, not immediately or upon nomination, so there's still a shot it could happen)

QUOTE(AbeFroman @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 04:41 PM) Wow.... I know you need to be careful about these things... but with the detailed information they state, it has the indicia of reliability. I've also heard it from multiple sources and that suggests to me that something may be up as well...I don't know if they were independent ones, but none of the sources Judith Miller used for her Iraqi WMD reporting were independent either, so if the NYT can do it, why can't I? Like I said...take it for what it's worth...I just like being the first to post things if I'm right about them.

I bet this was some guy who was googling John Titor for some reason (along with some other random word appearing in this thread) who managed to find our page and decided to post in this thread.

"Well it's the fans game, and if the fans want Mike Piazza to start at catcher or if the fans want to vote for Nomar to start at short, why can't they" -Paraphrasing the statements made every year by people justifying why undeserving all-stars get voted in.

Well...since this is the internet...and I can always just blame bad sources or totally ignore this post if it doesn't happen... I have read rumors from multiple sources that Chief Justice William Rehnquist may be ready to either make a major speech of some sort or simply outright announce his retirement tomorrow morning. Here is one source. Naturally...since I'm a mere White Sox fan in California, I can't confirm this...but if you like paying attention to random rumors that rapidly circulate through the internet...here's a good one for you.

Keith Foulke had surgery on one of his knees today.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:48 PM) (Heck, if I were an Angels fan, I'd be pushing to improve the starting pitching too.) Just like they should have in 2002...they had plenty of prospects to trade...I'm sure someone would happily have given them a veteran starting pitcher for this rookie named Francisco Rodriguez sometime in July that year.

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:59 PM) Well i'd be worried about a guy that only seemed to be successful with one team his entire career and had been mediocore with every other team he was with... I'd be more worried about a guy who has a Juan Rincon style jump in performance all of a sudden when his fastball dramatically improves and suddenly he becomes a strikeout pitcher... SO 97 136 98 158 99 148 00 51 01 142 02 196 03 208 04 251 Sudden jump in 2002 out of no where, and he goes from being a .500 pitcher to a near-20 game winning pitcher? I don't like the phrase "4 fluke years" better than anyone else...but come on...i'm not going to say the real word myself.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:20 PM) I'm not buying SF's and the Sox' denials about Jason. This deal still makes the most sense for both teams, including the swap of shortstops. (And isn't it just the kind of deal KW would pull? After all, hasn't he added a middle infielder and starter at the trade deadline just about every year?) He added a starter last year. He added Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett each of the last 2 years.

QUOTE(DePloderer @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:33 PM) I quote; Behold Britain now, ablaze with fear and terror, horrified from its north to its south, from its east to its west. Er hardly. May I refere these tossers to my previous comments. You may refer them to the infernal regions for all I care. (I just ask that you give them a trial first)

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:27 PM) That's all I need to know. But Vafan thinks he can't outpitch the mighty Paul Byrd. Assuming SI.com's numbers are right...the mighty Paul Byrd is 11 and 10 Career in the postseason, with an ERA of 5.20. link

Well...if we can believe anyone when talking about Boston...

I don't know if anyone else is interested in this...but in case you're curious...here is a translation of hte purported Al Qaeda message posted on a website this morning by a previuosly unknown group claiming responsibility.

QUOTE(moochpuppy @ Sep 18, 2003 -> 11:04 AM) If a major nuclear war "happened" in 2012, how the Hell was he able to construct a time machine only 24 years later? Hey, in the Star Trek universe, we go from a postatomic horror (600 million dead) in the 2050's to launching our first warp ship in 2063. How the Hell did someone find this thread to bump it anyway?

Loaiza's problem last year was that he couldn't keep the ball in the ballpark when he wasn't pitching in a pitcher's ballpark. This year...he's in more of a pitcher's ballpark, and keeping the ball in the park more. In fact...he has a 5.24 ERA outside of Washington.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 03:02 PM) I heard Kevin Millar also wants to be traded since Olerud is taking up his time. Any idea where you "Heard" this at? Millar's another one of those guys who's numbers have taken a severe hit this year compared to last. Season G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2004 150 508 74 151 36 0 18 74 57 91 1 1 .297 .383 .474 .857 2005 72 249 28 68 13 1 4 32 25 35 0 0 .273 .351 .382 .733 You know...looking at his numbers, I can't find anything that tells me he's gotten less playing time than last year...we're barely over 1/2 way through the season, and he's 5 at bats away from having 1/2 of his at bats from last year. His slugging is also way down this year...less power, lower average, and it seems to be stuck that way. I wouldn't be surprised if Olerud took more of his playing time the 2nd half.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 02:51 PM) I think what you will see next year is Dye at 1B, Anderson/Everett platoon in RF and Konerko gone with Frank as the DH. I don't think there's a chance in Hell we'll be re-signing Everett to a contract in the offseason. I think there's a decent chance KW might trade for him again, and that's being completely serious...especially if Thomas or Dye goes down with an injury. I also think that Gload might get the shot in the 1b hole before Dye...and Anderson could pull off something of an Everett type role this year if he doesn't get traded this year.

QUOTE(He_Gawn @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 02:50 PM) ^ You mean Ryan Howard? They would trade Thome before him. That's not what i've heard at all this year...back when the Phils had their winning streak it seemed left and right almost everyone was feeling like Howard was a piece that they would deal to try to improve their team this year...particularly their pitching staff.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 02:49 PM) I am assuming you mean Ryan Howard. Yes, thank you...we may very well have an open slot at 1b next year...I think he'd be a tolerable fit and he might be able to generate as much offense as Konerko...and I doubt he could run any slower.

I wouldn't mind seeing if we could do something with Borchard and a pitcher not named McCarthy or Gonzalez to the Phillies in exchange for that Wagner kid who's stuck behind Thome. I believe he's out of minor league options as well, or nearly so.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 11:30 AM) He had a stretch of 4 starts where he pitched poorly in 3 of them. Besides that, he's been good. Once again, nobody uses a 5 man rotation in the post-season. Contreras would be in the pen. And you do know El Duque's career playoff record is like 9-3? Jose has had 2 pretty good starts against the Angels this year. He's given up just 5 earned runs in 13 innings. And yeah, the Red Sox have owned him. But like I said, he'd be in the pen come playoff time anyway. El Duque is 16-9 in 33 career starts, 35 career postseason appearances. His postseason ERA is 3.59.