JUGGERNAUT

The Yanks don't work that way. They use $ & vets to secure young players from a 3rd team to get what they want from the 2nd team. So if they think Burnett can get it done they won't hesitate to trade a Sheffield, Godzilla, Willams, Giambi & a boat load of cash to get what Fla wants from a 3rd team.

Bizarro world & fishy no doubt. Nature has standard deviations of error like anything else but for this 21 yr old woman to claim she just woke up with a penis & no breasts ... me thinks that's beyond nature's capability

Then again if Comcast doesn't allow competitors to rent their infrastructure states do now have the power to annex that infrastructure & rent it to competitors themselves. This decision goes both ways. You can steal from the poor to profit the rich (Pfizer) or you can take from the rich to profit the poor.

No thank you. Moving Crede right now is a chemistry buster. Especially with the way Ozuna played everyday as his backup. Lowell is owed $18M/2yr for 2006/7. Lowell's ZR .758 vs Crede's .831. These two have similar innings played. That's a substantial decline.

It seems to me the asking price for both Schmidt & Burnett is too high. Garland for Schmidt? Hell no. A Penny like pkg for Burnett? No. Burnett & Ozzie are not good friends nor do they share any family like ties. Burnett is a rent-a-player no matter who trades for him. He's not going to pass up what he's likely to get on the open market in an off-season where he'll be the #1 target. With Halladay down Lilly has been promoted to #1 in the TBJ rotation. They do have a fan base to appease so his price just went up. You're asking them to trade their current #1. That won't come cheap. They had to promote from w/in for their 5th & with Lilly gone they would be expecting at player in return who could be a #3/#4 on their team. I think KW should concentrate on Omar & Randa since they seem more likely candidates on teams going no where.

My wish list: Lilly for spot starts & long relief Randa to backup Crede at 3B Omar to make Uribe the sub at SS, & 2B If KW does that we can beat OAK & anybody else in the ALDS & ALCS. The moves Beane made make perfect sense in terms of who has fueled their 27-11 record since May 30th & what that team needs to be even better. They are my pick to win the ALWC & face the White Sox in the first round. That being said I will be rooting against them (Oak) with all my heart

I know you don't care but starting 1B Rogowksi was 1-3 w 3 RBI in last night's AA all-star game. C Chris Stewart scored a R. The South got beat badly 11-6. Two Baron pitchers got in the game. One pitched a scoreless inning & the other did not. Okay onto the trade talk. My point about NL pitchers is that you really should look at their numbers from 1-6 & ignore what they do from 7-9. Since the advent of moden free-agency the DH position in the AL is becoming a haven for past all-stars, HOFers, & just all around decently sized members of the monster bash. Piazza is expected to join the ranks next year. The weak hitting pitcher in the NL has a dominoe effect. It hurts the #1 guy & the #8 guy. When you hurt the #8 guy that hurts the #7 guy as well. That's why 7-9 in the NL is usually 200 or more points lower in OPS than in the AL. On some teams a weak #7 cascades all the way down to #6. But most #6 hitters in the NL are strong enough to where it doesn't matter. That's why it's never about where you hit in the lineup as it is about who hits around you. So let's look at the off/on AJ Burnett: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2005 Batting #1 .135/.328 - wow! Batting #2 .275/.704 - pretty good. Batting #3 .260/.679 - awesome! Batting #4 .227/.699 - awesome! Batting #5 .265/.627 - wow! Batting #6 .200/.599 - cool! Batting #7 .310/.891 - wth? Batting #8 .267/.757 - really? Batting #9 .195/.408 - duh! http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...4&type=pitching 03-05 Batting #1 .222/.655 - pretty good! Batting #2 .219/.622 - wow! Batting #3 .265/.664 - awesome! Batting #4 .234/.720 - wow! Batting #5 .231/.678 - awesome! Batting #6 .246/.699 - pretty good! Batting #7 .144/.486 - stupid pitcher effect Batting #8 .234/.692 - stupid pitcher effect Batting #9 .138/.372 - man do they suck! Stupid pitchers can't hit a lick I agree Burnett looks to be 100% AL proof. Too bad his record doesn't reflect it. Schmidty has post season success & experience. Burny doesn't. But if the asking price for Schmidt's is Garland - sayonara dude. I think it all comes down to what's the asking price. I think we all can agree that Lilly will command a much lower price. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/6223/gamelog Damn impressive. It's a who's who of contenders & lineups in the AL & NL. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/6314/gamelog Less impressive. My vote still goes to Lilly. His fastball is more livelier than in 2004, & he features a good curveball & changeup. When I think of Lilly I think of a head case like Contra before he came to the Sox. If you were a betting man you would say Lilly has greater odds at greater success with the Sox than the Blue Jays. Contract wise: The Sox would inherit an option for 06. The reason why I'm leaning towards Lilly is because you can pick him up as insurance for El Duque. Say what you will but I really like the idea of El Duque finishing strong for the Sox in Sept & into Oct. The less the AL sees of him the better. I don't care if that means El Duque sits all of Aug. If we play .500 in the 2nd half we win 95 games. We can do that with Lilly in place of El Duque easy. El Duque' is 9-3 in 14 post-season starts in his career with a 2.65 ERA. Call it luck, call it skill, call it temperment, call it guile, call it whatever you want but time & again he gets the job done. I believe as Yankee fans do that if he held Brown's spot in the Yankee's post season rotation vs BOS the Yankees win that series. There is no doubt in mind. BOS WS championship was built on Brown's collapse & there was nothing in his Sept performance to believe it wasn't coming. Guillen: "I think he’ll (El Duque) be ready to perform. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his shoulder and he’s had time to rest. We expect him to come back and pitch like Duque.’’ One word on chemistry. I think El Duque is part of it. I think he has bonded well with Jose, Garcia, Vizc, Marte, & Uribe. A happy solidly performing El Duque is better than any one else we can get at this time. Lilly's acquistion makes Beane like sense for this team. We need a guy who can give us solid spot starts & solid long relief down the stretch & into October. We don't need another solid front line starter.

He's definitely going over the top for his own amusement but some of the points he's mentioned are true: Canada has been sympathetic & supportive of people linked to support of terrorist organizations & depending on where you go there is strong anti-american sentiment there. But I don't think it's as much to do with America, the Cons, or the Bill of Rights as it is to do with capitalism. Canadians (from my own experience) are not as obsessed about profits & money as we apparently are. There is a greater sense of brotherhood there than here. Canadians are more all for each other whereas Americans are all for one. Greed is the gospel of America & sharing is the gospel of Canada. Gibson will never say this though. He'll never say anything that looks inward on America's capitalist engine or how American mega-corps exploit regions throughout the world. in Gibson's world view American capitalism is a humanitarian cause that extends progress to the economically illiterate. He puts Canadians at the top of that list. I do not share his view. While I do embrace capitalism much more so over socialism I think it works best when confined to a local/state level. I would favor a review of existing anti-trust laws in America to consider the modern day size & scope of markets. Does it make sense that monopolies control a market the size of the Chicago met? Hell no. It's not good economic sense either. If Adam Smith were alive today or could speak from beyond the grave he would chastise the anti-trust laws in America. Not just their doctrines but the total disgregard in terms of enforcing them. He was a pragmatist & not a politician. For those that argue bigger is better he would argue bigger is only better when it reflects the average scale. Are super/mega corps the exception or the norm in America? Adam Smith would argue anti-trust laws (a form of regulation) were intended to serve the norm & not the exception. I think if were to move in this direction not only Canada but much of the world would take notice & applaud us. If we just able to change the American gospel from one of greed to say tempered greed the world would likely hate us less. It's been reported now in USN&WR, Newsweek, & the WSJ that the real wealth in China lies with the communist leaders & American mega-corps. China is often looked upon as a man's world & America as a female one. So it's like your wife sleeping with the gigolo overseas that she both pimps & complains about. Who wouldn't hate a cheating b**** like that?

I agree with the assertion that the literacy is a smokescreen to hide the fact they really chose Canada because it is much cheaper to employ the workers there when you consider pay & benefits. What the article totally ignores is that America is #1 in the world & everyone else is a distant 2nd when it comes to migration of workers. Even in the boonies of AL & MI Toyota can find more than adequately trained & literate workers from all over this nation to relocate & work there. There is no dependancy on locality any more in America when it comes to the work force. A self-employed worker in the states pays no less than $200/mo in premium costs for basic health insurance & it continues to rise. That's a burden Toyota & other companies have to share when employers in the states. Our rising health care costs are making America less friendly to do business.

This is a small microcosm of this whole issue: Comcast SN in the Baltimore area is suing Angelo's Orioles. Apparently Angelo worked a deal with MLB prior to the Wash Natl that gave him rights to the Expo's games on his sports cable net (Mid-Atlantic Sports Net). The agreement with Comcast is set to expire this year. Comcast has refused to air MASN games because of course it wants the Nat's on CSN. What's interesting is that CSN's rhetoric continues to paint Angelos as not being fair & the O's rhetoric continues to label Comcast a monopoly that shouldn't exist. It remains to be seen how this is going to play out or whether CSN has a legal leg to stand on here but anti-Comcast sentiment in America is growing. The courts have supported Comcast of late by stating they do not have to provide access to their infrastructure to their competitors. But the eminent domain ruling has an interesting twist here. What is infrastructure? Private Property. Though the ED ruling was thought mostly in terms of houses it's greatest impact could be on infrastructure. Backed by the USSC a competitor could now entice the state of IL & or city of Chicago in annexing portions of that infrastructure that would both weaken Comcast & allow them to build their own. The transformation of the Public Use Clause into the Public Purpose Clause could become the state's best weapon against monopolies.

The last part of the article tells the real story: 1-rapid rise in corp profits led to unexpected corp tax rcpts : unsustainable 2-corp tax breaks expired leading to unexpected corp tax rcpts : unsustainable - they will lobby those breaks back in 3-increase in energy prices brings in an increase in tax rev (% based). : expected 4-increased real estate assesments & taxes : expected 5-increased state & local taxes : expected If 3,4,5 are sustainable we're headed for s***sville in America. I think the average American does not understand that a large portion of the Federal deficit comes from state budget deficits. When states like CA run $50B into the red who pays to keep them afloat? All of us. How many major market states are operating in the black these days? Very few. The Democrats need to stop counting the profits on their oil stocks & start standing up for the workers in America before it's too late. Corporate America holds no loyalty to us. That loyalty lies in the region where they can earn their most profits. Regions were ethics & humanitarian causes & reforms are an afterthought.

It depends on how you view the pill. As an influx of tiny nanobots to augment areas of the brain then yes I definitely see that reality. Cyborg technology is coming & it will change the world as we know it.

I'm sure their public education taught them to hold human life to be sacred. <denote sarcasm> Surely, along with the need to teach adolescents how to f..k responsibly & how to seek out PP when they don't they must have included the need to value human life :headshake

He was hospitalized for a high fever recently. Rehnquist is going to have no other choice now but to step down. His health is looking worse. I disagree with Dick Morris. The key for Bush is to appoint moderates who share the mainstream conservative views of the American people. Abortion: 60% believe it should be legal. Partial-Birth Abortion: Only 20% believe it should be legal. The avg American doesn't give a s*** about D&X or D&E or any other technical muble-jumble on the procedure. They see a baby partially born & murdered. Only the radicals believe that should remain legal. School prayer/vouchers: 80% believe it should be legal. The bulk of the American people have no problem with school choice, voucher extension to parochial schools, or even allowing prayer in the schools. Surveys of new immigrants from asia & latin america prove they are less concerned with separation of church & state than the traditional Americans are. The ACLU & AU are declinng in their support for a Godless state mainly because the parents of these new Americans grew up in regions of the globe where such separation did not exist. For them it's a non-issue. Gay marriage: Bush is on record as saying we need a cons amendment to protect the traditional sense of marriage. Not just in terms of it's definition but the laws pertaining to it. Whether you agree with him or not, his election was hinged on this issue & exit polling proved it to be one in which he gained major support. On the issue itself it looks to be nearly 80% of Americans agree with Bush on this issue. Those are the 3 kettle topper issues for Rove to use in appeasing the religious American in this process. It's also a perfect opportunity to show on cable/network TV the divide that exists between the two parties on these issues. That can only hurt the DNC's 2006 run. The key of course is for the RNC to stay away from RvW as possible. Focus on DvB & how it's made partial birth abortion legal in this nation. Focus on how DvB has led to the abandonment of the 3 trimester rule of RvW.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-bur...ports-headlines By no means are the Marlins resigned to dealing A.J. Burnett before month's end. Before the Marlins trade Burnett, they must be certain they can find a suitable replacement in the rotation. Hmmm .. the Marlins thing Burnett is easily replaceable. Go figure Rogowski's playing 1B. Go watch.

http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/ev...mes.jsp?mc=_sou While you are dreaming that the Marlins will trade you Burnett for reasons that defy logic check out your AA all-stars. (LH) Paulino Reynoso - Birmingham (RH) Sean Tracey - Birmingham (LH) Ryan Meaux - Birmingham Chris Stewart - Birmingham Casey Rogowski - Birmingham STARTING 1B

Beware of NL strike out pitchers: Brown, Johnson, Vazquez, Pavano .. the list goes on & on. The AL is 13-4-1 vs the NL all-stars over the last 18 yrs! NL hitters suck.

What is it that I am suppose to like about Burnett? 2002 mo era's: 2.11, 5.35, 2.54, 4.99, 1.64, 4.05 2003 mo era's: 4.70 over 23IP .. that's it 2004 mo era's: DNP Apr, May. 5.04, 3.99, 2.83, 2.51 2005 mo era's: 2.43, 3.48, 3.57, 5.23 (early in Jul) The Marlins are 2 gms over .500, 7 gb of WAS in the NLE, & 4.5 gb of ATL for the NLWC. Let's be realistic. If they are trading Burnett it's because 1) they are buyers & using him to upgrade their rotation or 2) they are sellers & throwing in the towel. If it is 2) they are not going to want El Duque or Marte because throwing in the towel means bringing guys up. They don't have a fan base to concern themselves with as far competing after trading Burnett. That means they will hold out for the highest offer possible before trading Burnett. I think is very premature thinking to believe they are sellers. Apr 14W, May 13W, Jun 13W, Jul 4W. They are on pace to win 81 gms. Last yr's WC won 92 gms. They need to win 48 of their remaining 76. They have 4 solid starters in Beckett, Burnett, Willis, & Moehler. Olsen has come on nicely in place of the failed Lieter. If they can win with Olsen why would this team sell? It makes no sense. Schmidt is the only guy I've heard so far that makes sense. SFG are all but done for in 2005.

Let's consider the rest of the rotation's post-season experience: Mark - 1/3rd of an inning in 2000. 0ERA Freddy - 15IP, 2W-0L 3.60ERA in 2000. 19IP, 1W-2L, 3.79ERA in 2001. Contra - no post season experience. Jon - no post season experience. El Duque has more experience than the rest of the rotation combined. Look at Burnett, Schmidt, & Rogers: Burnett - no post season experience Schmidt - 9IP 1W, 0ERA 2003. 24IP, 2W-1L, 4.24ERA 2002 Rogers - < 2IP, scoreless 2003 If you are going to spend the prospects for a starter then go for Schmidt. Schmidt outlasted Beckett to pitch a CG 2-0 SO in the playoffs. He's yours for $10M in 2006 then he's a FA. So that gives you two runs with Schmidty. That was a special year for him: Apr 03 35IP, 3W-0L 1.77ERA May 03 35IP, 1W-1L 3.31ERA Jun 03 47IP, 4W-2L 1.53ERA Jul 03 26IP, 3W-0L 3.81ERA Aug 03 35IP, 3W-1L 1.27ERA Sep 03 28IP, 3W-0L 3.18ERA

All I can say is this about El Duque: It's always better to be LUCKY than good But this guy just doesn't benefit from luck he is a lucky charm in itself! From 1998 thru 2002 Orlando Hernandez Post Season #'s: 97IP 9W 3L 2.51ERA (-1.52 vs regular season) He did not play in 2003, & he had 1 post season appearance in 2004 & earned a no-decision. I agree with everything your saying as far as logic goes. Nobody in their right mind would expect a guy with a career 4.03ERA in 147GS to have those kind of post season #'s. No one would expect such a guy to have lost only 27% of his starts over his career. But somehow, someway, whether it be vodoo, blessing, or he's a baseball God he manages to defy the odds. Some Yankee fans believe to this day that if Torre had started El Duque over Brown in game 3 there is no way the Yanks lose that series. It was a weird series. 2 in NY, 2 days off, then 5 days straight between BOS & NY. Brown lasted 2 innings, Vazquez 4, Quantrill 2, Gordon 1. The Yanks prevailed 19-8. Brown's inepitude gobbled up the Yankee pen. The next night El Duque pitched 5, in what would be a marathon night of 12. Another 7 more innings gobbled up by the Yankee's pen. The Yankee's pen had pitched 14 innings in those 2 games. No pen can survive that without a day off. Mussina outpitched Pedro in the next game but Gordon collapsed having pitched 3 innings in the past 2 days. Schilling outpitched Lieber to tie the series, & Brown's inepitude (not even lasting 2 ip in gm 7) completed the downfall for the Yankees. Replay it with El Duque instead of Brown: Gm 3: Let's say EL-D does his 5IP/3ER (he's never done worse in the post). That gives the Yanks a 13-3 lead after 5 in that game. Sturze pitches 2 & Quantrill pitches 2 to end the game. Vazquez, Gordon, & Rivera good to go in Gm 4. Gm 4: Brown vs Lowe. The Yanks pretty much concede this game after Brown leaves after 2IP/4R. Vazquez takes over & gives up 4R. The Yanks send E-LO out for mop up duty. Gm 5: Mussina vs Pedro. With Gordon, Rivera rested odds are the NYY's close it out. Gm 6: Schilling vs Lieber. No one could beat Schilling that night. So if you say BOS wins Gm 5 then you have to say they win Gm 6 as well. Gm 7: El Duque (3 days rest) vs Lowe (2 days rest). El Duque did not surrender a run until the 5th in his 1 start vs BOS. Lowe had surrendered 2 in the 3rd & 2 in the 6th in his start vs El D. I believe we can assume a similar type game with El D surrendering 3R over 5IP & Lowe surrendering 4R over 6IP. It's a lot easier for Lowe to pitch with a 6R cushion that a scoreless game or behind. Past the starters both bullpens go on to surrender 2R. It's a much closer game & it comes down to Rivera in the 9th. Torre made it easier for Boston to come back down 3-0 by starting Brown over El Duque.

CE 05 RON 108AB 46RBI, .352A/.397O/.593S FT 05 RON 033AB 15RBI .242A/.349O/.545S PK 05 RON 147AB 43RBI, .231A/.325O/.435S BEST AT DRIVING IN RUNS ()-highest & lowest AB's RBI T10 05 Apr: CE 20, PK 17(87), JU 12, JC 9, TI 9, JD 8, SP 8, AR 7, CW 3(26), AJ 2 RBI T10 05 May: PK 20, AJ 17, TI 15, JD 12, JU 11, AR 11, CE 10, JC 9, TP 5(23), SP 4(102) RBI T10 05 Jun: CE 18, JD 17(89), JC 17, PK 16, AR 14, FT 13(53), AJ 12, JU 10, TI 8, SP 4 RBI T10 05 Jul: FT 10, JD 8, CE 5, JU 5, PK 2(33), JC 2, TP 2(10), AR 2, AJ 1, SP 1 BEST AT SCORING RUNS R T10 05 Apr: AJ 12, JC 12, PK 11(87), AR 11, SP 10, CE 9, JU 9, TI 8, WH 7(29), JD 6 R T10 05 May: SP 17(102), PK 16, AR 15, TI 14, JD 13, AJ 11, JC 8, CE 7, JU 7, PO 5(18) R T10 05 Jun: PK 19(92), JD 16, SP 16, TI 14, AR 13, FT 11(53), CE 11, JC 11, AJ 10, JU 8 R T10 05 Jul: JD 7, SP 7, PK 6(33), FT 5, TI 5, AR 4, AJ 2, JU 2, WH 2(9), CE 1 BEST AT GETTING ON OBP T10 05 Apr: WH 394, JC 368, TI 357, SP 354, PO 348, CE 330, AJ 329, PK 320(87), JU 315, CW 310(26) OBP T10 05 May: CW 500, SP 383(102), AR 374, WH 364, TI 353, PK 350, PO 350, AJ 346, JD 340, FT 333(2) OBP T10 05 Jun: JD 404, PK 387(92), SP 344, CE 344, AR 344, PO 343, JC 333, TP 333(13), FT 328, TI 319 OBP T10 05 Jul: TP 600(10), JD 423, SP 417, FT 375, CE 364, PK 314(33), TI 300, JC 278, AR 273, PO 263

You asked the question so I will answer it: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings/grid BAL 2-2 LEADING the ALE at the time CLE 6-3 DET 7-1 KCR 9-0 LAA 4-3 LEADING the ALW MIN 4-1 LEADING THE ALWC OAK 2-7 SEA 2-1 TBD 4-2 TEX 2-3 TOR 3-0 ILP 12-6 BOS 0-0 NYY 0-0

The only team that scares me this year is OAK. It's a team stacked with good RHP & 5 LHB's. That's enough to scare any team. They have 22 gms left w ALC opponents. They'll likely feast on them. I will be rooting for Minny vs Oak because I do not want Oak to win the ALW or the ALWC. I'll take my chances with facing Minny as the WC.

No. We have 76 more gms to play. We've got 86 in the book & are 28 gms over .500. All we need to do is go 6 gms over .500 in the last 76 & we'll finish 98-64. Same as the 2004 WC RedSox. Another way to look at it: We lost 34% of our games in the 1st half. We can afford to lose 46% of our games in the 2nd half & still compete for the best record in the AL. Home field adv in the ALDC & ALCS are all that matter now.

Let's put it this way. We've played 86 gms & finished 28 gms over .500. Is is reasonable to suggest that over the next 76 gms we can play 6 gms over .500? If we do that we finish 98-64. The same record as the 2004 World Champion RedSox.