Marky Mark

QUOTE (Real @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 09:26 PM) Have you ever seen such a 1-sided affair with regards to the umpiring crew, for one team and against another? I swear to god any Ump Crew that has Phil Cuzzi on it is almost a guaranteed screw-job to the Sox Can't use that excuse every game. We should have simply done better.

I cried during Benjamin Button. I have no idea why. Never cried at a movie other than that, but my wife makes fun of me for it all the time. I must have been on my man period.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 10:47 PM) What is the aquarium? Or rather, what is so exciting about it? Its huge, and you can walk through a tunnel in the middle of it. Last time I was there, you could pet the sharks and sting rays for free in a small tank. I don't know if they always do that though.

-Minnehaha Falls is fun for a nice walk or hike -The Old Spaghetti Factory is always a favorite restaurant (right next to the Dome). -There is also the Waterpark of America which is huge (not affiliated with MOA I think) -Indoor ice skating at "The Depot" -The Village Wok in Minneapolis is one of my favorites for lunch. -30 min outside the cities is Stillwater. They have boat cruises, there's a cave tour, a nice italian place called "Luna Rossa" -The premiere steakhouse in the cities is Manny's. -I hear the Midtown Global Market is cool for different ethnic restaurants and markets. -If you're looking for something simple and free, you can watch them change the water levels at the barge on the hudson river, some might think that's dull, but its actually pretty interesting (if you park by the old spagetti factory its within walking distance). -You can walk past all the really old huge victorian homes. If you actually want to do this and want to know where, PM me and I'll ask my wife where it was). -Go see comedy sportz in Uptown (personally I hated comedy sportz, but a lot of people love them). -Or just simply walk through Minneapolis. Its super clean and safe in the downtown area at all times of day. If you're looking for different types of ideas let me know, I may have more for ya.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 08:55 PM) I don't believe so. If the pitcher comes into the game, then picks off the guy at first, ending the inning, he never faced a batter, yet can be replaced. I assume that if Randy Williams came in to face a lefty in the 7th and they pinch hit for the lefty, Guillen could go get him and bring in another reliever. If this was possible, then in situations when you needed a certain reliever to come in but wasn't ready yet, lets say Thornton in a crucial lefty situation, couldn't you have Omar Vizquel come in to the game as a pitcher, take his warm up tosses, check the runner at first a couple times (providing Thornton with an extra 4 minutes of warmups) , then take him out for Thornton?

Is there a rule in baseball, that a relief pitcher must face at least one batter before another reliever enters the game?

More often than not, his bad managerial decisions piss me off. But then when I think about what other managers might do...Ozzie doesn't seem so bad. After all, going from Manual to Guillen is a good switch. In reality, it is not hard to make in game decisions as a manager. Play who's hot, play the splits, and don't be stupid. Its keeping guys loose and working together as a team that matters. Supposedly Guillen does that well, I guess.

Screw you! Those long galloping strides out there made up for tons of ground on balls he didn't track off the bat right away! He was the type of player you knew would always be willing to sacrifice his body at the fence if only he could beat the ball there. On top of all of that, the man was what...6 foot 4? Massive height advantage that most right fielders don't have. He was and always will be the greatest defensive right fielder in Sox history!

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 18, 2010 -> 12:27 AM) David Ortiz, Josh Hamilton, Alex Rios, Brian Buscher, Coco Crisp, Josh Wilson, Wilson Betemit, Marco Scutaro, Howie Kendrick (.900 OPS last spring), Gary Matthews Jr. (.828 OPS last spring), Robb Quinlan (1.000+ OPS, 5 HR last spring), Brandon Wood (.900+ OPS, 4 HR last spring). That's a few names from the Angels who put up a .910 TEAM OPS last spring. I can name 100 players who's 60 spring AB were the complete opposite of what they gave their team during the season then you can come back and name another 100 who kicked ass during both. All it proves is that you have no idea if a player can match his spring production because it's all you're getting is a small sample size of glorified batting practice, it would be irresponsible to attempt to derive anything meaningful from such a tainted, tiny sample. I have hope for Andruw Jones, I have ever since we signed him but that has absolutely nothing to do with his 20 or so spring ABs, no, it's because of his talent, re-dedication to conditioning and the promise he showed last season before succumbing to a strained hamstring a little over halfway through the year. There's simply no way I can bring myself to get excited about 20 AB in the thin Arizona air. I don't post on Soxtalk that often, but I read it all day, everyday. Kalapse, you are the best this website has. Wear it proudly.

3 years later I still hate Andy Gonzalez' guts. Even if that's not a correct answer to your question.

QUOTE (quickman @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 01:01 AM) so I get this is not good for the player, but he is easily two years away from playing in the majors, maybe three. so how does this effect this year again? I mean s*** happens, but lets not blow this thing out of proportion. A major piece in a pre-deadline trade for AGon or someone else may have just significantly diminished in value.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 4, 2010 -> 05:07 PM) So I'm adding Sports Package to my Comcast Bundle that includes MLB NETWORK and a whole bunch of different sports channels, only 7.99, how come I didn't know about this before. Don't pay 8 dollars for it. Remind them of some part of your Comcast service that you dislike then talk them down on the sports package. They have nothing to lose. I pay 2 dollars a month for the sports package.

How is this game compared to MVP 05? I haven't loved another since.....

Outside of attitude, Rios is so much better than Rowand. He had a poor second half last year. It happens it guys' careers. But you can't forget about Alexis Rios before that. He has a history of doing everything right. We'd be foolish to think that he's gonna be bad forever. Aaron Rowand had a great attitude, but its not like he was an all star caliber player here.

So I've been a commissioner of a 20 team league for the past 6 years. I work really hard to try and make sure that the league is as fun as possible for the teams in the league. I'm wondering from other commissioners or fantasy participants, what kind of things do or would make your league more fun? I consider my league to be exception already, but I'm always gunning for bigger and better ideas to make it fun and essentially, the best fantasy league anyone could join. Any suggestions? Things my league already has -20 teams that are devoted and participating from game 1 to 162. -Replacement teams are by reference only, no public join ins -Side betting -League website (team pages, news, forums, statistical graphs/charts, career points/stats, league records, 6 year ranking system) -League intro video -League 3rd party beat writer -League binder containing draft logs, league email and phone directory, rules sheet, welcome letter, refrigerator magnet (to remind teams of draft day) -Live video of draft order lottery -No league fees Obviously I have a lot there, but I'm sure people could pitch in some extra ideas. Let me know if you can think of anything that would make my league better. Thanks!

You guys are scaring me away from the idea. Is it hard because its so much different information you need to know, or because its just extremely hard to grasp? Or just a huge mess of both? So I assume, someone with no background in math or stats needs to be incredibly dedicated to get into this.

Is anyone on Soxtalk an actuary? I've been keeping my eyes open for a career change, and I've run across the idea of being an actuary. From what I'm reading, it appears to be a career for very smart individuals. I've always considered myself to be the type of person who can really do and learn anything when I really try to apply myself to it, but I've never been the smartest kid in the class either. I don't consider myself below average, but would you say that if I'm not a top of the line thinker to begin with, that I should forget about this career? I have no background in Math or stats, so I'd be starting from scratch. If anyone on here is an actuary, let me know, I've got a lot of questions.

Konerko = Kong

Bartolo Colon = Big Fat Ass

Nothing wrong with a baseball player using steroids.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 12:00 AM) Merkin was quoted as saying he believes the sox had about 4 Mil to throw at Damon. If thats the case were not looking good, but if JR can actually stretch the payroll some like he has said in the past then we got a chance. I figured 4 million already was the stretch.

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 12:11 AM) Milkman Delivers, if you doubt the integrity of baseball to the point you think Beckham is a roider, and you still watch games, mad props to you.....if i thought EVERYONE was on steroids theres no way in hell I'd watch with any degree of enjoyment..props If everyone was on roids it'd be perfect, but the problem is that some are and some aren't.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 09:06 PM) Yeah, other than Frank Thomas, I give up guessing who is and isn't roiding. My thoughts exactly. Him and Craig Counsel.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) Mauer's going to be overpaid within 4 or 5 years - when he can't be a catcher anymore. My thoughts exactly

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 30, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) Which we kind of don't have, thanks to our rotating DH filled with bad players. Sounds about right.