Trade Stuff

Atlanta is a serious contender in the NL East with the addition of Texeira (sp?), and they look to be close in getting Dotel. Look out Mets.

Castillo was a good pickup for the Mets. He's another pesky hitter that gets on base and can steal. With Reyes and Castillo at the top of the lineup as the tablesetters they should score a lot of runs.
Will Pedro coming back be significant???

Linebrink to the Brewers??? Why couldn't the Sox get him again?

I know everyone is hot for Jermaine Dye, but don't count me in as one of them. Not at this point. He's got pop. Yes...But his average is terrible and he wants to play 5 days a week. I have seen him make some great plays in the outfield at Fenway, so I wouldn't be uncomfortable with him out there (as I am with Wily Mo)...But, overall, not someone I would give up a promising arm for...

Gagne? Yes, I would give up the young arm.

I still think that Piazza would be a good fit in Fenway. He still has pop. Papi will need rest, and Piazza could DH. He could be the third catching option. He could play first (no, he isn't great, but he can handle it now and then). They are looking for a right-handed bat off the bench.

Let's continue with trade talk as we near the deadline...

Holy...

...wow.

Donnie? Not...Donnie!!!

Donnie Sadler was suspended for using a banned substance.

I'm with Schilling on this. I think all his records should be erased from the books.

X on Bonds

Today at 6:05 pacific, I will be settling into my seat at PacBell and sometime around 6:20 or 6:30 BLB will (possibly) take his first shot at tying Aaron. I say possibly, since I full anticipate him to get walked pretty much every at bat until he reaches the record. Who wants to be the pitcher that will be an answer to a trivia question, in a bad way. I doubt he breaks the record tonight, but it would be nice to be there - hell even pretty cool if he hits one and ties.

Attending tonight's game is a complete fluke - something that has been planned for about six weeks. Bonds have never really bothered me. I don't like. I don't dislike. I may be one of the few indifferent people in the country. But he IS going to break the record. And it would be pretty cool to be there.

Ironic that the week Bonds breaks the record may be less taxing for Selig than either David Stern or Roger Goodell. Who would have thought that.

This week in sports

This is excellent.

More fun

Curt Schilling, yesterday:

"If someone wrote that stuff about me and I didn't sue, am I not admitting that there's some legitimacy to it? If I wrote a book about Bob Costas and in that book I wrote about Bob Costas' girlfriend being on the road, and Bob Costas giving that girlfriend card show money and I outlined your daily steroid regimen, I've got to believe your first line of defense is to sue my (butt) off."

First off: where was this tough talk when he was testifying before Congress?

Second... uh, off: I love that a die-hard Republican calls "suing one's ass off" a "first line of defense". I was sure they thought lawyers were the cause of all our nation's problems. (Oh wait: I'm wrong. Gay marriage is the cause of all our problems. Never mind.)

Third off: he then points out

But I just always thought it was very simple: If you did something and someone asks you if you did it and you didn't do it, you say no. Any other answer than no is some form of yes, isn't it?

While this isn't true legally (innocent until proven guilty, etc.), in general I agree with him. What I love is the implications this has for the Bush administration. Torture, spying on people without a warrant, firing attorneys for political reasons...

Fourth off: Bonds's response is absolutely awesome:

"You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows jackshit about baseball..."

Midget? Schilling is like 6'4"! And I think he actually knows quite a bit about baseball. Oh wait a minute, Barry's not done ranting...

"...who never played the game before? You can tell Bob Costas what I called him."

OHHHHHH, now I see, you're blaming Bob Costas for something Schilling said. I see now.

Keep it up...

If the Sox win tonight, they'll be 23 games over .500. Which is something they haven't been all season. Meaning finally we can stop saying "They've been a .500 team since..."

Important websites

www.dougeddings.com
dougeddingsisadouche.blogspot.com
www.firedougeddings.com

Why, you ask? Just today I learned (at plunkbiggio) that Doug Eddings was the guy who made this godawful call also. I hate that man.

(Am I the only one who posts anymore?)

Refreshing

Yeah, it was a home run. All you can do is catch the ball, run it in and throw it back and hope that they don't call it.

- Rob Mackowiak, after Friday's non-HR call

I don't think I've ever seen a ballplayer be so candid about a bad call in favor of his own team. Usually it's, "I didn't see where it hit - I was focused only on getting to the ball and getting it back to the infield as soon as possible." Or "The umpires had a better view than I did." Even the most honest or smart ones only implicitly acknowledge the error: "You know, the umps get it right 99.9% of the time; when there's a difficult call, sometimes its for your team and sometimes it's against your team."

...Of course, the White Sox lost by 7. Had they won by 1 or 2, he might have said something else.

(Anyway, first back-to-back wins since July 4-5. Let's keep this up, please.)

Recap of the last 2 games (and last 6 weeks)

3 and 4

Since the All-Star Break:

Ortiz: 9-21, 5R, 7 RBI, 2 HR; .478 OBP, .857 SLG,
Ramirez: 7-20, 4R, 8 RBI, 2 HR; .381 OBP, .700 SLG

Obviously it's early, but pretty encouraging.

Dumbass of the week

From NYT's article on the "New Gilded Age":

Other very wealthy men in the new Gilded Age talk of themselves as having a flair for business not unlike Derek Jeter’s “unique talent” for baseball, as Leo J. Hindery Jr. put it. “I think there are people, including myself at certain times in my career,” Mr. Hindery said, “who because of their uniqueness warrant whatever the market will bear.”

He counts himself as a talented entrepreneur, having assembled from scratch a cable television sports network, the YES Network, that he sold in 1999 for $200 million. “Jeter makes an unbelievable amount of money,” said Mr. Hindery, who now manages a private equity fund, “but you look at him and you say, ‘Wow, I cannot find another ballplayer with that same set of skills.’ ”

I can think of roughly twelve reasons why I hate that man.

Dude...

...where is everybody?

Very important question

Last night I heard one of the WRKO guys say "So Manny now has 51 RBI on the season". Obviously I was struck by how small the number was; but I also noticed that he clearly said "RBI" rather than "RBI's". Is that the new thing now? Or have people always been doing that?

Anyway, I get the point - it's Runs Batted In, so the feeling is the "s" shouldn't be at the end. But since when has that been the rule? Like: what about "POW's"? Does anyone say "There may still be several American POW in Southeast Asia"?

Like I said, very important question. I think the rest of the Red Sox season may depend on it.

Also - Julio Lugo Awesomeness Watch: 9 for his last 26, with 1 HR, 3 BB, a 3 SB.

Anyone watch?

I don't think I've paid close attention to an ASG since 1999, which of course was one of Pedro's career highlights. He was so awesome that night, his arm fell off.

And it's hard to imagine that back then the scariest hitters were in the NL (McGwire/Sosa/Bagwell/Walker/Larkin). This year, which lineup scares you more: Ichiro/Jeter/Ortiz/A-Rod/Vlad/Magglio/I-Rod/Polanco, or Reyes/Bonds/Beltran/Griffey/Wright/Fielder/Martin/Utley? Umm...

So I missed Ichiro's inside-the-parker, which is too bad. But not having to listen to Buck and McCarver for 3 hours probably made it all worth it. Right?

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP BREAKING NEWS MOST IMPORTANT NEWS IN GYS NETWORK HISTORY MARK YOUR CALENDARS

October 6, 2007:
Ben Grieve's wedding day

First half: Good news, bad news

Bad news first:

1) The Sox have been a .500 team since May 27.
2) But, thanks to April/May, even if they continue at .500 the rest of the season the Yankees or Blue Jays need to win at a .620 clip to catch up.

So, while it'd be nice to see the Sox, you know, win for a while, it's nowhere near panic time. It should be an interesting second half. You have to assume some players will cool off (Lowell, Youkilis, the red-hot Julio Lugo), but if Manny and Ortiz actually start hitting like Manny and Ortiz, the Red Sox (not to mention my poor fantasy team) should be in pretty good shape.

Thoughts?

Flashback!

November 22, 2005:
Johnny Damon: "Most Durable Active Player in the Major Leagues"

Meanwhile, since June 13 (17 games) Coco's been slugging .759, and just passed Damon in OPS yesterday.

Where's the Power?

According to the Globe today, the Sox have hit 4 homers in the past 12 games. They have a commanding lead in the standings, and two sluggers in the middle of the lineup. Neither are, um, slugging.

So, where's the power?

Mike Lowell and Ortiz are tied for the team lead in HRs at 13! Can I remind you that we are just a few games from the All-Star break?

Now, HRs aren't everything. The Sox have scored 411 runs so far in 83 games. 4.95 runs/game if anyone cares. They are also 21 games over .500 at this point.

So, is there any reason for concern? I think so. The lack of pop in the lineup means that pitchers aren't paying for their mistakes. This could also hurt them come the post-season as teams need the long ball because stringing together solid at-bats against great pitching is tough. It can be done, but having power helps.

Magadan is the hitting coach. He was never known for power. He was a great contact hitter that sprayed the ball all over the place. Could he be the reason?

They have plenty of time and a big enough lead to really look at this situation. Yes, they need another reliever (although Timlin's last two outings have been more like his old self, Delcarmen has been impressive, and Oki and Paps have been great). But, they could definitely use another bat. Don't know who that is, or where you would play them once they got here...but I am sure the Front Office can figure that out...

Earl emerges...

...to once again state his opinion that J.P Ricciardi doesn't know what the hell he's doing.