TransMonk

I keep forgetting it all starts on a Friday this season. In my mind, I keep thinking the real games won't start until the 4th. On edit: Now I understand why all of the hotels on the northside of Chicago are booked for 04/01/11 and I'm having to stay in Evanston. Duh.

Doc = Jimi?

metirish wrote: ...let's be honest here , most anyone I knew who liked the Pixies were chancers , upper middle class poofters really... What did you just call me?

The CPF is the Derek Jeter of matching HOFers with their comparable musicians.

Per Metsblog: Justin Turner has been optioned to AAA.

Ah...forgot about Harris. I feel better now.

Per Metsblog, Angel Pagan left today's game with lower back pain. Jason Bay moved to centerfield. Jason. Bay. Centerfield. Yikes!

Is it just me, or does Angel seem to have to have a little more swagger this season? He just seems to have a much more easy-going-yet-confident attitude this spring. Maybe it's because he has a starting job this year...or maybe I just never noticed it before. Either way, I like it. Ceetar's picture captures it for me.

I'll remember that he looked better without the douchebag facial hair.

Yeah, I was just about to post that LWFS had an overlooked BOC here.

Better than I expected. It ended rather abruptly for a long-ish film. Reznor deserved the Oscar for scoring the film. Very nice work. It was nice to see Eisenberg playing a different type of character than those he's played in the past, although I still find his acting pretty mediocre.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Not his fault but got a contract that was four times the length it should have been. Not his fault but Mets were never good enough during his stay to thrive with a player of his limited usefulness in the everyday lineup. Not his fault but the Mets didn't have or couldn't find a better option. This. I don't care about the popup. If it were done against the Marlins, many Mets fans would barely remember. That game meant less than nothing to me in the long run of that less-than-meaningful season.

avi (Where have I been?)

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Long story short, I think I see how people who lose an eye, or the use of an eye, can learn to compensate. I've got two eyes (one, two), but I have heard that this is true.

Through 3/12/11: 24 AB, 2 R, 7 H, 1 2B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 10 K, 0 SB, .292/.292/.333/.625

Utley injury highlights cause for concern in Philadelphia Chase Utley, 32, seems to have aged quickly. He suddenly seems older for an everyday middle infielder with significant injuries to his hand, thumb, hip and right knee over the past four seasons, older for a guy who late last season already looked less fluid trying to play second base. Now, after his knee did not respond to rest -- ominous for an overuse injury to be this troublesome after a winter of rest -- he may need surgery. Guess how many second basemen as old as Utley played 130 games at the position last year. That would be one: Chone Figgins, who was awful (84 OPS+). Welcome to baseball in the Testing Era, where the actuarial tables have been rewritten. Ten years ago, in 2001, before testing, six guys 32 and older played 130 games at second base -- that's four years worth of such players in today's game (2007-10). Utley's ferocious work habits and hard style of play, not to mention plain bad luck, could be catching up to him. And that's the problem with the Phillies, your presumptive 2011 National League champions. They are an older team: Ryan Howard, 31, Utley, 32, Carlos Ruiz, 32, Jimmy Rollins, 32, Placido Polanco, 35, Raul Iba�ez, 38 . . . and now they want to replace Utley with Wilson Valdez, 32, who never batted 350 times in a season? The fallout from signing Cliff Lee is that the Phillies don't have room to add an established player at significant cost. But that may not be a bad thing for Philadelphia. It is better off finding a young, athletic, defensive-minded second baseman to stand in for Utley if he is out for a lengthy spell -- especially with all the money it has invested in pitching. Oh, and about that great starting rotation? Do you expect them to make all of their starts? Lee is 32, Roy Oswalt is 33 and Roy Halladay is 33. It is unusual for three guys on the same team age 32 and older to make at least 32 starts. It's happened only seven times since 1901, only four times without a knuckleball pitcher among the trio, and only once in the past 17 years -- back in 2001 when John Burkett, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux of the Braves made the 32/32 club without the strain of needing plus-velocity. The Phillies are still a force to be reckoned with in the National League, but the Utley injury brings their worst-case scenario into play. They look like a great team on paper, but because of age, durability is Philadelphia's concern. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/03/11/utley.pedro.film/index.html#ixzz1GKCiQ37U

I never knew that. Good for Rey!

I thought they might have been for Rey Ordonez...but I'm guessing he didn't wear #10 with the Cubs.

The power/finesse was in response to your Dickey comparison. It's no secret that Ollie's best years were when his fastball was effective enough to set up his slider. Dickey never had the fastball that Ollie did. Edgy DC wrote: Obviously, he still got to get his game together, but I don't see any reason not to work with him hopefully on that, like they do with every pitcher with some good pieces and some missing ones. We've been waiting for him to get his game together for years. Has the coaching staff not been working with him during that time?

He's all yours.

Apples and oranges. -Power vs. finesse -Ollie had something, then lost it...Dickey never really had it, then found it -Dickey made a fraction of the amount Perez did during the points in their carrer that you are referencing -Dickey has worked in the minors every year of his career while Ollie refuses to go Whatevs. IMO, management has given him more than enough opportunity to show that he has something left (not just this spring...I'm talking since 2008, when he lost whatever dominance he once had), and he hasn't proven that he has it to me. I believe that they should focus on looking to pieces that do fit into this puzzle, rather than trying to find find a way to fit a square peg into a round hole.

What are you expecting him to give you for those $2?

He shoulda been cut 9 months ago. I'd rather see him in another team's bullpen if that it is his fate. I have little confidence in him being worth one dollar of what remains on his contract.

I'm caustiously optimistic about the bullpen. Having too many arms is better than not having enough.

I think so. Young's gonna give up HRs, especially on the road. If he can limit the amount of runners on when those dingers come, he'll be OK. In the end, I think Young's stats when he pitches will be fine. It's all about his durability in my book.