NorthSideSox72

With all this Palin dirt stuff... I think the issue with her kid is a non-issue, and should be left alone. Glad Obama took the high road, and I hope others do too, but I have a feeling it won't go away. But I do think that a couple of items that have come up ARE noteworthy. Her membership in AKIP is interesting. But the biggest thing to me, is the now-obvious fact that McCain's campaign did minimal research into Palin ahead of the pick. That is telling of McCain though, more than Palin. The AKIP thing, her 527 ties, and most importantly her scary social-right wing views are enough to influence my opinion of the McCain-Palin ticket. That and the bungling of the VP process tells me that McCain has some pretty poor decision-making skills under pressure, and that ain't good. What was a 10% chance I'd vote McCain has become a 2% chance.

END OF REGULAR SEASON UPDATE, 2008... Kevin's first season of professional baseball started pretty badly, with his average well below .200 for his first month of play with Bristol. But he got his feet back under him and finished strong - in his last 10 games, Kevin hit .290. His monthly averages for June, July and August were .100, .237 and .264. Here are his final overall numbers: .238/.316/.297/.613 That .297 SLG is a concern. In 101 AB's he had just 4 XBH's - 3 doubles and 1 HR. But he did get better as the season went on, and hit well with runners on and RISP. 2009 for Kevin? Because of his short time in play, this depends a lot on how he "looked", which I don't know. Worst case, he's in Great Falls. Best case, Kanny. The system is pretty much bereft of serious catching talent, so I'd lean towards him being in Kanny.

END OF 2008 REGULAR SEASON UPDATE... Lin struggled a bit upon landing at GF, but came back stronger. He was used exclusively out of the pen. Better than looking at his brief numbers for the year, look at his games log while there... Date: IP, H, ER, BB, K Aug 01: 2.0 4 2 0 3 Aug 04: 1.1 4 3 0 3 Aug 13: 2.1 4 1 0 2 Aug 19: 1.1 1 0 0 2 Aug 31: 2.0 0 0 0 2 Note that he improved as the season went on. He also didn't walk a single hitter in his 9 innings pitched (against 12 K's). Also, he had a 1.33 GO/AO at GF, which while not great, is better than the 0.94 he had at Bristol. 2009? I'd guess Lin is now pretty much a bullpen guy, and will probably start 2009 at Kanny. He may get another chance to start, but, its hard to tell.

END OF 2008 SEASON UPDATE... Charlie put up a pretty good season in Kanny this year. He had his shaky moments, and missed about a month on the DL (may have been a dead arm period), but his overall results were strong. Here are his final stats for the year... G: 22 IP: 112.0 W-L: 6-6 ERA: 3.54 WHIP: 1.23 GO/AO: 1.77 AvgA: .249 BB: 25 K: 82 HR: 8 Note the WHIP and BB numbers. He walks very few guys, which is good, and keeps his WHIP down and runners off the bases. That plus the .249 avg against, and he looks ready to move forward. 2009? I'd say Charlie starts the year in High A (Winston-Salem), though depending on how things fall out, B-Ham is not out of the question. Shirek was a high round talent at one time who fell into some problems, but still has a lot of promise.

END OF 2008 SEASON UPDATE... Justin had a very good year at B-Ham, and looks to be a legitimate SP prospect. He was only drafted in 2006, a year in which he didn't play. This was only his second season of minor league ball, and he put up strong numbers in AA - no small feat. Here are his finals for the season... G: 28 IP: 165.0 W-L: 10-4 ERA: 3.11 WHIP: 1.38 GO/AO: 1.47 BB: 57 K: 104 HR: 7 Pretty impressive for a 23 year old in AA and a year's experience going in. What does 2009 hold for Justin? I think we have to assume he's in the Charlotte rotation in 2009, where he's just a step away from the big club. This guy is pretty well under the radar - you don't hear his name mentioned much. But I think that will change soon, especially if he does well in AAA next season. its even possible, depending on how the 2009 Sox rotation shakes out, that Cassel may get a long look in ST for the big club.

END OF 2008 REGULAR SEASON UPDATE... Miranda was promoted to W-S on August 15th, and he took his hot bat with him. Here are his numbers at W-S from promotion to end of season... .333/.343/.455/.797 in 33 AB's Note the slugging - that's his best total in a while. He finished Kanny with a .306/.383/.375/.758 line, in 216 AB's. He also drew almost as many walks as he had strikeouts - he only struck out 28 times in the 249 AB's since he was demoted to Kanny. Quite a season for Sergio. After a surprisingly strong 2007 rookie campaign, he was started at A+ W-S, and did very poorly. Demoted to Kanny, spun his wheels briefly, then took off and put up a very good season. Promoted BACK to W-S and did well there in his last couple weeks. He played SS, 2B and 3B at various times with each team. What does 2009 hold in store for Miranda? I think it really comes down to whether or not they see Sergio as a SS or a 2B in his future. If he's a SS, then Beckham will almost assuredly jump him and go to AA, leaving Miranda back at W-S again. But, if they feel his bat is ready for AA, and/or they think his future is at 2B, then look for Miranda to start 2009 at B-Ham playing opposite Beckham. Before we go TOO far though, W-S made the playoffs. So let's see if he can do some things in the post-season - he does have a record of being quite good in the clutch, as exhibited by his numbers being higher with runners on and RISP.

Michael Moore, regarding hurricane Gustav htting on Day 1 of the GOP convention: its proof there is a God in heaven. Between this asshat, Rev Dobson praying for bad weather for Obama's speech, and people saying tornadoes in CO were proof that God hates Obama... I really can't figure out how these people have followers. Do these people not have brains? At all?

Why am I what I am? In terms of political affiliation? I am not, because of what they are.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 05:32 PM) pick some random person out of a crowd and they could have done what Obama did in the Senate (which is basically nothing). You have got to be kidding. You say the thread is full of snark without even reading it, and then you throw this gem out there?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 04:15 PM) That's still not a very smart thing to say, especially when Iran is developing nukes, threatening to use them on Israel, and has significant influence on global energy prices. Hence the "judgement" issue. Making a comparitive statement like that, as a side mention, means little. And besides, I agree with him. The larger issues of judgement, as metered by votes and positions taken on important issues (Iraq, energy, critical incidents, etc.), are what matter to me. I think Obama has generally (though not always) done well with that.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:12 PM) There's like 6 attractive women in all of politics, I think it's reasonable to expect people to be a little uppity over it. You are welcome to think so. I simply disagree. Its irrelevant to me, as well as others who care primarily about the direction of the country, and I think some of the female posters here may see it as mildly offensive.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:11 PM) If demographics weren't a consideration, I agree. But he may not have garnered the soccer mom vote, which is what almost certainly tipped it towards Palin. I think that's probably true, for that segment.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:07 PM) Centerfold spreads. This, and the MILF post earlier, are the snark and B.S. that I think mr. genius was referring to.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 02:52 PM) I would have been livid had he picked Romney or Huckabee. I could have lived with Pawlenty. And the roles were almost reversed. I seem to recall Tim Kaine as very high on the potentail list. Less there than with Sarah, but nary a peep in the negative from anyone here. Ya know, strange as this sounds, I would have liked Huckabee. He's got a positivistic appeal, like Obama has, and that is something that most of the GOP candidates lacked. Its something that appeals to the masses. And as a Governor, I got the impression he actually was pretty good at compromise with his legislature of both parties. Plus he has executive experience, and was moderate on the environment and energy, which works well with McCain too. Huckabee is not ideal of course - he's got some issues. But I think he would have been more valuable than Romney, or Palin.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:40 PM) Oh wow, there is no one I'm reading through this thread. at least 14 pages of snark and meaningless posts. Eh, I'd call 60-70% of it snark and B.S. There is that 30% that is worth reading.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL... QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 28, 2008 -> 09:14 PM) It should actually be Ochenta y Cinco unless he literally means his name to be Eight Five Wait, he also couldn't even get the grammar correct? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:28 PM) Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to speculate that Palin will garner him more votes than Romney or Pawlenty would've. True on Romney, I'd agree. Not sure on Pawlenty.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 03:32 PM) It's a good VP pick Of course the rapid Obama supproters HATE it, but that is good. I don't think it will play well with most of the independents - that is why I think its a bad move. She is VERY conservative, especially on social issues. Nowadays, the independents are mostly socially moderate or liberal. And the Clinton-supporting women they are theoretically targetting will not necessarily be attracted to Palin as a candidate, given her opposite stances to Hillary. I really see this as a loser pick on most (though not all) levels. I think he made a mistake here.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 02:18 PM) McCain is basically trying to beat Obama at his own game. I'm not saying that it'll work, but his chances of winning are MUCH better today than they were last night. I think the opposite is probably true.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 12:47 PM) I don't see which swing state will improve McCain's chances with the Palin pick. AK

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 12:15 PM) If that is the meaning of bipartisian, then every single member of congress falls under this umbrella and we should seriously stop using the word, because it is meaningless. Its not meaningless - I just think you are trying to turn it into something on or off like a switch. Its not. Its a descriptive, as in, to what extent is someone bipartisan? Some in Congress virtually never work on bills with the other side, or vote with the other side. Others do it a lot. Obama is in between.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 12:04 PM) Bad analogy. There aren't mountains and mountains of evidence supporting English and some religious texts supporting Spanish. I don't know much about Palin, but those statements is a big negative for me. I think its a pretty darn good analogy, because how much "evidence" there is, isn't the relevant point (IMO). Creationism isn't science, therefore it doesn't belong in the science classroom.

For those who asked, here is a link to watch the Obama speech.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 11:17 AM) Link. See what she did there? Very slick. She pads her statements with all this "inclusive" talk. But what she is trying to "include" is the bizarre idea that creationism is science. That's like saying they should teach Spanish and English in English class, because "you know, we should be inclusive, and teach other theories".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 11:33 AM) Universal insurance=Democratic issue. Lugar-Obama: Is keeping weapons away from terrorists something the Democrats don't believe in? Coburn-Obama transparency bill: you might have one here... I don't know much about where the party's lay on this one. Sorry to be me being bipartisian means that you can breakaway from your party and work for a bill that isn't something your party wants to see happen. It doesn't mean co-sponsoring bills with the opposite party. That isn't being bi-partisan, that's being a maverick or an independent. Those are good things too, but come on. You asked when Obama worked across the aisle, you were given multiple examples.