MFS62

Rotblatt wrote: ]Do you have a stake in this? I would think a torch would be more effective than a stake when battling one of Frankenstein's monsters. They don't like fire. Sorry. Elvira flashback. Now that I think of it, Edgy's "rising from the slab" could have been a great pun about the pitching rubber. Later

Edgy DC wrote: Joey Eischen rises from his slab to pitch for Washington. Do you have a stake in this? Later

1-1 end of five. No other details. Later

duan wrote: who in the name of jeebus is Sandy Martinez and when did he join the metskies? Career backup catcher. I beleive he was signed as aminor league free agent. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martisa01.shtml Later

I think he is, but he's been tougher to find than Waldo. EDIT Just checked their 2006 roster. He's not shown. (and now that I was on a Yankee site, I feel dirty). You owe me. Later

And those thoughts were...? Later

Figment http://www.figmentsimagination.com/ Later

]In fact, I bet there are many days when you wish you could just take a suitcase of money to Australia, drop out of society, grow out your hair and smoke cannabis all afternoon while having sex with whoever you felt like. Many days? How about every day? EDIT: Right now, the "growing hair" thing is the most enticing. Later

Horace, welcome. But, have you ever considered changing your medication? Later

A one-liner in today's Daily News noted that Victor Zambrano has been pitching in relief during the WBC, and has not had enough innings to have stretched his arm enough (number of pitches per appearance) to be a starter. Of course, there's the baseball adage thatsays you don't need five strters early in the season. How does that stack up with the Mets' early season schedule? Can they go with four starters with VZ in the pen in April? Of couse, Pedro's readiness to start, or go long into games, will effect the rotation too. Later

Depends on which casino. Later

If Edgy builds it, they will come. From architectural drawings I've seen, here's my prediction (depending on how close to actual those drawings are): High batting averages, because of the very small foul territory - the anti-Oakland. Power hitters will have to pull the ball to get homers - that centerfield fence looks like its in Maryland. Later

For you old,er, mature, fans. Syncopated Nady Hits the ball real hard Syncopated Nady You have me all a quiver Syncopated Nady We got you on our team Now syncopated Nady Go out, deliver Later

Anderson Hernandez is a relief pitcher? And Isn't that 17 year old outfielder they signed from the DR still "in camp"? He did play in a few games. Later

Endy Chavez just hit his second two-run homer in two days. Its 2-0 Venezuela. Edgardo Alfonzo was on base when he hit it. Later

The curse of Al Moran? Later

True mercy would have been bringing in Al Leaiter to give those guys a chance. Later

Didn't Ernie Lombardi lead the league in batting one year? LAter

Netherlands beats Panama with the mercy rule, 10-0 in 7 innings The Dutch starter Martis threw a "complete" game. He's 18 years old, and it was a no-hitter! Later

Derek Jeter can do anything, including cloning himself. How could you not know that? Later

Willets Point wrote: Former Met farmhand Robert Eenhoorn coaching for the Netherlands. Wasn't he originally a Yankee farmhand? IIRC he was a shortstop. LAter

Since we're on a similar subject about Jeter, here's baseball prospectus' look at Barry. How do we announce our intentions in these United States? That�s right, we sue. It would seem that if Barry Bonds has been defamed by the book Game of Shadows--if he had reason to be outraged by the falsity of its reportage--he would be lining up a battery of lawyers as we speak. Perhaps he will yet, but usually, the threat of a defamation lawsuit is the first thing that bursts from the mouth of the accused in this, our litigious republic. It is because we are a litigious society that we can go a long way in assuming that Game of Shadows--the work of two well-credentialed investigative reporters--is a fairly accurate picture of the truth. Take a moment, and try to estimate how many lawyers looked at the manuscript of Game of Shadows. Do you think that the publisher, a subsidiary of Penguin Books, one of the largest firms of its kind in the world, would let something as potentially slanderous as this loose without crossing their x�s and dotting their j�s? Not bloody likely. Knowing that their pockets are deep, we can assume they took extra precautions to safeguard themselves from charges of libel and a cash penalty that might result. Cooperstown? What are Bonds' chances at the Hall of Fame? From the sound of things, they're not very good. The general stinginess of the voting committee does not bode well for him and if I were Mark McGwire, I wouldn�t be busting out the scenic New York state tourist brochures anytime soon, either. As a purely academic exercise, though, where did Bonds� candidacy stand at the time of his great leap off the chemical pier? In terms of traditional statistics, this is how he ranked at the end of the 1998 season: Home runs, 411: High 30s. Between Darrell Evans and Duke Snider. Now at 708 (3rd). Runs batted in, 1,216: Not in the top 100 all-time. Now at 1,853 (11th). Walks, 1,357: High 20s. Between Reggie Jackson and, ahem, Rafael Palmeiro. Now the all-time leader with 2,311. On Base Percentage, .411: Low 30s all-time. Bobby Abreu, Hank Greenberg, Ed Delahanty territory. Has climbed to sixth at .442. Slugging Average, .556: Mid-20s. In the Mickey Mantle realm. Has moved all the way up to fifth at .611. Stolen Bases, 445: High 40s, just ahead of Steve Sax and Sherry Magee, a very good player once suspended for attacking an umpire and who then became an umpire himself when he stopped playing. Bonds has added 61 steals since �98, moving up to 33rd place. Based on traditional counting and rate stats, he was on extremely solid ground for election. Toss in three Most Valuable Player awards and he was a lock. There�s another very quick and dirty way to determine Hall of Fame careers in terms of cumulative worth and peak value. By looking at WARP3 we can determine how many historically dominant seasons a player had and how much career value they racked up. This is within the historical context that WARP3 provides. To make it easy on the eye, just count the number of times a player went into double figures in WARP3. This gives a pretty good accounting of dominant seasons. For instance, Stan Musial�s score for this exercise is 187.6/10--a total of 187.6 WARP3 and 10 seasons in double figures. Before Bonds allegedly started spiking, rubbing, dropping and popping, he rated a 134.6/8. No Hall of Famer has a configuration quite like that, but these are the closest: Mike Schmidt, 148.4/9 Lou Gehrig, 142.8/9 Wade Boggs, 140.0/6 Jimmie Foxx, 136.0/5 Eddie Mathews, 130.3/5 Those are all no-argument Hall of Famers, unlike the group that follows. As a quick aside, can we move the plaques of these unworthies to the walls of the Hall of the Fame tool shed? These are the corner men and outfielders who have been inducted without the benefit of short burst greatness or a cumulative wealth of contribution: Tommy McCarthy, 23.0/0 Chick Hafey, 49.0/0 Freddie Lindstrom, 49.5/0 George Kelly, 50.4/0 Earle Combs, 53.6/0 Lloyd Waner, 55.8/0 Heinie Manush, 62.3/0 George Kell, 62.9/0 Jim Bottomley, 63.0/0 You could also include Ross Youngs (54.4/0) if you feel his selection was of a purely sentimental nature and that he was not in the midst of a Hall of Fame career when he was felled by a kidney disorder. McCarthy is the single worst player in Cooperstown. I doubt he would make the top 1,500 all-time. His plaque should be moved to a tree in the woods six miles outside of town where it can be gazed upon by squirrels, deer and chipmunks. Getting back to Bonds, he is not well-positioned emotionally to rehabilitate his image. He is not the type to cultivate favor among the press. A tear-stained mea culpa is not likely on his agenda. Even if he could conjure such an out of character performance, it is highly unlikely that voters will give him a pass on his transgressions and judge him on the merits of his pre-enhancement days. I think he�s pretty much hosed unless he saves 10 or 20 babies from a burning building at some point in the next few years. Even then, those babies had better be related to men on the voting committee. A strange and distant future Unless� Things change. A lot. This is a stretch but there may come a time many decades down the line wherein performance enhancement is no longer a cause celeb. It could be that 30, 40 or 50 years from now researchers will have found a way to artificially improve the human physique and abilities without nasty side effects. These artificial improvements will become commonplace and accepted. In a climate such as that, it could be possible for a Hall of Fame veterans committee to look back at what Bonds did and either wonder what all the fuss was about or, stranger still, see him as some sort of pioneer in the proper method for artificial self-improvement. It�s not the sort of future I would endorse, but, given the great strides made in that direction so far, it is one that is certainly possible. Back to the courts Returning to our litigious nature, do you think it�s possible that a team like, oh, the 2002 Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals could demand some sort of retribution for having been defeated by Bonds at the height of his alteration? Both were defeated by Bonds� Giants in the playoffs that year, costing the teams and their players a good deal of money. ******************************************************************** Comments? What about that last question? Interesting. Later

Everything you said was true. I was just commenting on that comment about "bullshit categories". Jeter has the rings, and has been highup in MVP voting, too. But that was outside the scope of my comment. Later

If Jeter gets in, why not Trammell? EDIT: Or to put it another way, if Trammell isn't in, why should Jeter be? Later

="Rotblatt"]One of the real knocks against him are that he's only led the league in any categories only 5 times, and some of them are kind of bullshit categories: Yogi Berra is in the Hall, and he never led his league in any offensive category. And he never attained any "magic" number (like 3,000 hits), either. And Al Kaline led his league in only two (batting and doubles, once each) but had 3,000 hits. A few more pretty good years, and Jeter will probably make it. Although, I still look at the "dominance at his position" gate. He may have only been the thrid or fourth best shortstop in his league over his career, depending on the year. Later