Gregory Pratt

QUOTE (rangercal @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 06:51 PM) I know. But it still wasn't the dead ball era. 120 OPS+ versus 96 OPS+ says it all. Of course, I'm all for a post that leads us to talking about the stache.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 02:23 PM) I'm just glad we never moved Dye for Willy Mo Pena at the deadline in 07, regardless of what happens. I'm sure we never even considered it.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 01:15 PM) I don't know. I was looking at Dick Allen's credentials the other day. Pretty impressive. In fact, pretty similar stats to Santo on many levels. People that saw him mention him as one of the best they ever saw, but something of a head case. Cut his career short because he got tired of the game and wanted to raise horses or something. Not HOF material to date, though. Santo gets a lot of documentaries and whines a lot about not getting in and people feel like he deserves it more than a lot of other almost HOFers. Why is he more deserving than these other guys that come up short? I personally prefer to limit membership to the elite players, but even if you take your approach and relax criteria a bit, I am not sure Santo should be the first through the door. If I were voting, all of Ronnie's lobbying and whining over the years would've lost my vote on principle alone. His son made that documentary. Kind of takes the effect away.

Pac wins when DLH refuses to get out of his corner for the ninth. Ouch!

I actually feel as if something really important has left my life. I won't be able to watch out Greg Maddux starts every fifth day anymore.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...ux/?eref=sircrc

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 11:45 PM) It's a sad day, I'll miss watching him pitch on TV. I wish I would've been able to see him. I take great pleasure in knowing that I watched his last start in Chicago, at Wrigley Field, and that I had great seats behind his dugout for it. There are few games I'd "empty" out the wallet for like that game. I just wish I'd watched him live, in his prime. But I'm really glad I defended him when this idiot was trashing him as he walked out of the game.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 10:04 PM) Man it's hard to fathom just how good he actually was. He put up a WHIP of 0.811 one year. Over, I think, seven years, he averaged a sub-1 WHIP, if I recall correctly. (I know it was over five years, and I think it was up to 7.)

Baines, in fact, never had 500 at-bats after 1989. He came close a few times but didn't do it.

It should be noted that Baines was basically a platoon player for a bunch of his last few years.

My girlfriend enjoys reading about religions and visiting their places of worship. She is a Christian, but let's not waste time going into her denomination or religious philosophies, as "She is a Christian" is I think enough. Well, we were talking a few nights ago and somehow we got on the subject of mosques. She has never visited a mosque. I have never visited a mosque. I said, "I'll take you to a mosque!" and she said, "Okay, take me to the mosque," and I said, "We will go to a mosque!" Actually, that's not really how it happened, but I said let's go to a mosque and check out the architecture and see what's going on. Problem is, I don't know any mosques in Chicago, but also, I don't want her to take her to any old mosque. I want to take her to a beautiful mosque! What's the most beautiful mosque in Chicago?

Tip O'Neill, who was the Speaker of the House (one of the more influential Speakers), a friend of the Kennedy family, and a Massachusetts politician, wrote in his book, Man of the House, that he and the Kennedy family all believe there was a conspiracy, but they didn't want to deal with the "pain" of that investigation and so they accepted the Warren Commission's findings. I don't know if Oswald acted alone, in terms of motivation and execution. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. But that's one of the weirder things I've read in an important politician's memoir.

True. Edit: I mean false. What? The person below me has been fired.

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 10:02 PM) Everybody seems to have their own definition of what a 'big game' is when it comes to Javy. I think his win against Cleveland on September 3rd was a very big game. The Sox were reeling... having just lost 5 of their last 6 games... on the verge of getting swept by a very hot Cleveland team on the road... the Sox were tied in the standings with Minnesota... Danks got knocked out in 4 innings the day before... Buehrle got slapped around in 4 innings just before that... And Javy stepped up, shut down the Tribe (in Cleveland) and put the Sox back in 1st place. Anybody who suggests this was not a big game is kidding themselves. That's fine, but here's my problem with that: it's just one game. I don't know if this example exists in real-life, but it's akin to pointing out that one time, Shaq was getting The Treatment, and he wound up scoring his free throws and the other team lost because of it. That doesn't mean he's a clutch free throw shooter or a good one. Vazquez, in his career, is bad in pressure situations and "big games" and big "spots." In hundreds of games, not one or two. That isn't to say he has his virtues, but the ability to win games when his team needs them isn't really one of them.

we need to buy oxtalk.com

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 11:29 PM) He's been league average or better in 8 straight seasons and has a career ERA+ of 108. I won't go as far as saying he's a great pitcher, but he's been a good pitcher who is durable as hell who has had a great career. Great career IMO makes him a great pitcher. Not a Hall of Famer, or one of the very best of his era, but he's earned the right to be called a great pitcher. At the very least, he's earned the right to not be laughed at on a message board because someone wants to be like him. He's had three 160 ERA+ seasons.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 03:08 AM) Wakefield is a great pitcher who has had a great career.

Matsuzaka but no Halladay? Jeez.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 16, 2008 -> 01:21 AM) Let's not pretend that Pujols isn't on HGH. I have the same suspicion. I also believe he's probably a little older than he says.

Gehrig is a great, great player beyond RBI, but Pujols is on pace to be the greatest first baseman of all-time. Of course, "pace" does not mean "guaranteed," but the point remains that Pujols is absolutely incredible.

I just don't think first basemen, unless they're Albert Pujols or Lou Gehrig -- incidentally, Pujols is on pace to be a much greater player than Gehrig, when all's said and done -- deserve all that money. They're first basemen! Teix hits well for extra bases but his career line is inflated by Texas and he's losing homerun power, however young he is. I just don't see where all this "Oh, Mark Teixeira!" swooning comes from by GMs. And I don't think Carlos Lee deserved a 100 million dollar contract, either.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 10:26 PM) Does anyone else not think Teixeira is worth this at all? He's a very good defensive first baseman who won't even hit 35 homeruns a year or hit for anything resembling a great average. There's nothing about Mark Teixeira that calls for even a hundred million dollar contract.

I mean -- TBS is showing Steve Harvey! The game's supposed to be on and it's listed as going to be on but it's not showing.

Why isn't the game coming up on my TV?

I hate Harold Reynolds. He talks too much and he clearly knows little about our team.