soupcan

MFS62 wrote: ...stay away from my crotch with that hot soup, buddy. Huh, what?

Willets Point wrote: ="seawolf17"] That said, I completely agree with Soup. Get your religion out of my face. It's a commercial anyone's entitled to buy air time. Personally, I find more odious things shoved in my face through advertising than religion. But we can all exercise our right to tune out commercials. Or change the channel. Hey, there's nothing illegal about it. Personally I find it unappealing and distasteful. They want to keep running something thats controversial, thats their choice but they run the risk of alienating a lot of folks and possibly harming the image of their stars. MLB would be smart to act before a lot more people than me get turned off.

A healthy Martinez, a solid Glavine, a steady Trachsel is not so horrible. Wouldn't the odds favor one of the group of Pelfry, Bannister, Maine or Hernandez having some success from this piont forward? I'm with Yancy - I don't think that in the long run the pitching is as bad as people are being led to believe. Go get another starter be it Rodrigo or Livan and throw them into the mix as well. Why not?

*62 wrote: ="soupcan"]Disheartening. I can't imagine why. Last time I checked we still enjoyed freedom of religion here. Doesn't meam I'd invite him over for dinner, either, but ......... I've got no problem with exercising one's constitutional rights. I do have a problem with someone shilling for a snakeoil salesman.. I also have a problem when its a young influential athlete who is fast becoming role-model to a lot of impresionable people. You're Southern Baptist and proud of it and want to thank the Lord Almighty every time you interviewed? Knock yourself out. You're a Jew and proudly wear your wrapped tifilin on a box on your head while shagging flies in the outfield? Be my guest. But please don't come on my TV when I'm watching a game with my children who very much look up to you due to your athletic success and and insinuate that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the real deal, that there's no little dude behind the curtain and if the kids listen to you and go see this guy, like of course you will, then they wiill be that much closer to being you. I respect other people's beliefs just don't try to sell them to me, 'kay? I'm glad the ads have been pulled. "Next time do a little research."

BTW - I've heard at least two commercials on the FAN today for this self-same faith healer. One was narrated by Jerry Manuel and the other was Jay Payton. Odd. And getting odder.

="cleonjones11"]Linda DeRoulet? Lorinda.

Disheartening.

="OlerudOwned"]Mets Win I just got a BlackBerry and all week I'm struggling trying to figure out to use it. So yesterday on the train home I finally figure out how to surf the net, dial this place up and -BAM- the first image to appear is the above one that takes up my whole screen! Scared the crap out of me.

Guys watching on TV - was Woody's hit out or not?

Beltran - 'soreness in his right knee' according to Eddie Coleman on the 'FAN

Oh, dem bases on balls.

The 'Corpulent Carib'?

That kinda excuses Bonds.

Bannister, Brian - 10 Delgado, Carlos - 10 =red]Floyd, Cliff - 0 Glavine, Tom - 10 =red]Heilman, Aaron - 0 =red]Hernandez, Orlando - 0 Maine, John - 10 =red]Milledge, Lastings - 0 Trachsel, Steve - 10 =red]Valentin, Jose - 0 All or nuthin' baby.

More on Bannister from today's New York Times July 14, 2006 Mets� Bannister: Forgotten, but Not Gone By IRA BERKOW PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., July 12 � It looked lonely on the ball field. Under an overcast morning sky, with a wind picking up that swayed the nearby palm trees and portended rain, a man alone � a man who had seemingly and suddenly fallen off the baseball map � threw from the mound. Brian Bannister wore a Mets cap, a blue short-sleeve shirt, gray knee-length shorts with a Mets insignia and thigh-high black socks. He threw to a masked catcher in a batting cage. A coach stood in the batter�s box without a bat. A radar gun was off to the side of the cage. No one else was on the field at the Mets� spring-training complex. Brian Bannister, who has a 2-0 record and a 2.89 earned run average in five starts, has not pitched for the Mets since he was injured running the bases in a game against the Giants on April 26 �Fastball away,� called the coach, Steve Merriman. Pop. �Excellent,� Merriman said. The radar gun posted 86 miles an hour. �Cutter right there,� Merriman motioned to the inside, having moved from the right side of the batter�s box to the left. Pop. �Good, repeat it,� he said. Bannister nodded, wound up and fired again. �Bingo!� Merriman said, ending the session after 40 scheduled pitches, as the sky grew darker. Bannister is the bright 25-year-old, right-handed rookie pitcher who, with an outstanding spring training, unexpectedly cracked the Mets� starting rotation. But less than a month into the season, he was back here for rehabilitation. At first, it was to heal a pulled hamstring muscle in his right leg, an injury sustained while running the bases in San Francisco in a game against the Giants on April 26. Later it was to overcome a problem with sciatic nerve tissue that had formed around the hamstring when his muscles atrophied in his thigh. While Bannister was gone, the Mets built a huge lead in the National League East and found themselves touted as a potential World Series team. None of it, of course, had to do with Bannister, who was out of sight, out of mind in Port. St. Lucie. Now, after nearly three months away, he may actually be getting closer to returning. �His explosiveness is coming back,� said Merriman, who has been working with Bannister since his injury. �He has a big-league mentality. He hasn�t gotten depressed. He knows how to make adjustments in the physics and biomechanics of his body, tremendous attributes for a big-league pitcher.�� On Saturday, Bannister, who was an academic all-American when he pitched for Southern California and has developed a photography business in his hometown of Phoenix, will pitch five innings in a simulated game with the Mets� Class A Port St. Lucie team. If all goes well, he plans to start a game next week. At that point, New York could actually come into focus again. The Mets, for all their success this season, have had to continually improvise a starting rotation, and a healthy Bannister would be a welcome option. Omar Minaya, the Mets� general manager, said a return by Bannister to the starting rotation by Aug. 1 was a distinct possibility. �He�s a young pitcher who we like a lot,� Minaya said. �If all goes as planned, he�ll have two or three starts in the minor leagues in the coming weeks and then be ready for the big leagues.� Which is good news to Bannister, who had a 2-0 record and a 2.89 earned run average in his five, sometimes high-wire, starts for the Mets in April. �It�s hard being here, very hard, being down here for so long,�� he said. �You get only one rookie season, and I hate spending most of it so far away. And this team has a special chemistry that money can�t buy. I went back to New York a few weeks ago to get my thigh checked again with doctors, and I visited the clubhouse. The guys kidded me about when I was coming back. And they had thrown all their extra stuff in my locker. It was funny. It was great. It�s tough missing out on all that.� The rehab life in Port St. Lucie is not a particularly compelling one. Bannister, who is here with his wife, Megan, comes to the ballpark at about 8:30 a.m., and after workouts and deep-thigh massages, is gone by lunchtime. �You can only eat at Chili�s or Outback so many times,� he said. �And we have an unlimited membership to Blockbuster. We�ve rented so many films that they�ve got to be losing money on us.� He said that he also watches as much baseball on television as he can. �I want to stay involved,� he said. �You know, we came here for spring training on Feb. 11, and I wasn�t sure of making the team, though I had confidence in my ability,�� Bannister said. �And then I made it, and we moved to New York, and we lived in a Ramada Inn near Shea Stadium until we found an apartment in Long Island City, where some other players live. And we were scheduled to move in May 1. But then we had to come down here and we�re paying rent on that apartment as we speak. We still haven�t unpacked our suitcases. Basically, it�s been a five-month road trip.� Hamstring injuries are known to be frustrating; Jos� Reyes�s unending hamstring problems in 2004 drove the Mets to distraction and helped lead to the installation of a new medical staff. But when Bannister first hurt himself, it did not seem that serious. �But it was a nagging, nagging thing,� Bannister recalled Wednesday, sitting under the dugout roof of the field as rain fell. �I could throw just fine, but it bothered me when I had to run any distance. I couldn�t go off the mound to field a bunt without hobbling. I couldn�t run the bases. I wouldn�t be able to score on a sacrifice fly.� He was so eager to return to play, however, that he made a mistake in hurrying his recovery. He pitched in a Class AAA game and unfortunately did more damage. Back to rehab. Bannister sees some of his long stay here as a blessing. �I had nothing else to do but work on my pitching,� he said. He added that he had developed �a new curveball and a new changeup,� having learned them from Pedro Mart�nez and Tom Glavine. He said he was also �leaner and in better shape� than when he began spring training. �I weighed 215 then,�� he said. �I�m down to 208 now.� He added: �I�ve only thrown 28 innings this season. When I come back, I�ll be as fresh as I was in spring training. I know I�m better now than I was then.� The rain stopped. Bannister said he would be going to Blockbuster, but was not sure what movie he was going to rent. And what was the last one he saw? �Mary Poppins,� he said. �That shows how bored we are.�

You know what though? Home field should be determined by best record and if its the Tiggers or Chisox then odds are they'll have the better record anyway. So really it will probably be as it should be.

Tivo? How about just staying up wuss?

The difference I find between Garvey and Wright is that while Garvey was this robotic model of consistency and perceived perfection. David is just really good with an 'aw shucks' type of attitude. I loved Garvey when I was a kid. I trained for and ran a 10K simply because it was the 'Steve Garvey/Pepsi 10K' and Garvey greeted the runners at the finish line and shook their hands. And by the way and a bit off topic.... ="G-Fafif"]Jeff Kent? After he couldn't play second and before he turned into the greatest-hitting second baseman ever, he tried third for us. He didn't like it, which was OK since we didn't like him. Thank you.

Wright on the 'FAN after being asked about this - First plane got grounded, switched to a different plane, limo driver that picked us up at the airport hit the curb and got the flat, rather than show up at the event in a limo with a flat tire that was riding on the rim, David and Party (LoDuca I think he said) walked the rest of the way. "No idea where you got the idea that I ran..."

From the gossip pages of today's New York Daily News: MIA-Rod in Pittsburgh The Mets beat the Yankees 1-0 Sunday, at least in the hearts of some disappointed fans. The Amazins' David Wright and Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez were scheduled to host an All-Star Game party in Pittsburgh for the Major League Baseball Web site, MLB.com. Wright, starting at third tonight for the National League, made it despite a raft of obstacles, including his plane being grounded (oil leak) and his car breaking down (flat tire) a mile from the event. He ended up jogging the rest of the way, making it in time to celebrate with sportsmen like Freddy Sanchez, Ryan Howard, Goose Gossage and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly. But despite already being in town, A-Rod was a no-show. The Bronx Bomber dined at Morton's steakhouse with his wife, Cynthia, and opted to hit the town with fellow Yankee and American League starter Derek Jeter instead, partying at the nightclub Diesel. Event organizers were livid. "He never even called to apologize," complained a source. A-Rod's camp claims there was a miscommunication. "Maybe he had been invited. But they did not have permission to use his name on the invite. He didn't know that he was down to be the host of the party," a pal of the slugger insists.

Saw Hoosiers as a sneak preview before it was released to the general public. There were no expectations so as a result it just blew my socks off.

Very very good. A bit long and the story is predictable. Liked it but was not as good as Nemo, Toy Story 2 or the benchmark - The Incredibles.

My son gets SI For Kids and in this latest issue there is a profile of 'the best 13 year-old player in the country' Interestingly enough, the kid's name is Delino DeShields, Jr. I tried to Google some info on him but came up empty.

32.

Um, I was kidding.