1776

Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which greatly influenced the authors of the Declaration of Independence, was published.

1863

The first underground passenger railway, the Metropolitan, opened in London.

1920

The League of Nations came into existence.

1946

The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.

1967

The first African-American senator elected by popular vote, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, took his seat.

1984

The U.S. and the Vatican reestablished diplomatic relations after a 117-year break.

2003

North Korea announced that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

I have literally nothing worthwhile to post here for the 75 word limit, so I leave with you the first thing I get from a Google search for best haiku ever:

Pointing at the moon
Reminded of simple things
Moments matter most

Once more in case you missed it:

Pointing at the moon
Reminded of simple things
Moments matter most

So what do you guys think?  Best haiku ever or what?  Just Four More Words.

1812

The U.S. frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, defeated the British ship Guerriere during the War of 1812.

1934

Germans voted to make Adolf Hitler Fuhrer.

1960

American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow.

1977

Comedian Groucho Marx died in Los Angeles at age 86.

2003

U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello was one of 22 killed when a suicide car bomb struck the UN's Baghdad headquarters.

TGIF and all that.  I'm having fun moving in 110 degree heat.

Good ol' random wiki:

Canadian music genres identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music made by Canadians.[1] The music of Canada has reflected the multi-cultural influences that have shaped the country. First Nations people, the French, the British, the Americans and many others nationalities have all made unique contributions to the musical genres of Canada.[2][3]

 

So today's lesson is about Simon Butler:

From wikipedia

In 1712, Simon Butler, with his good friend Simon Mathews, immigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania. They landed in Philadelphia and lived for a time in New Castle County.[2] In 1720, he purchased 176 acres of land that included much of the then-standing "Village of Chalfont" from a former land grant founded by William Penn. In 1730, he finished construction of his house and mill and then purchased over 400 more acres of land in 1745 including much of present-day Chalfont and New Britain. During this time, Butler built a number of gristmills on the sites of original mills, such as the Funk sawmill and the Shellenberger's mill. He then acted as the sole Justice of the Peace in the County, and until his death he was the economic and legal power in the area. Among other important duties he wrote wills and was well known for his extremely sound judgement. He was also a devout Baptist and helped construct one of the first Baptist churches in the area, the New Britain Baptist Church. After his death in August 1764, his land was parceled to many people, most notably George Kungle, who opened a public house in the 1760s.[3]

Cool stuff huh

After receiving 21% of 142 votes,Robbie Erlin has won the right to be called the Rangers #30 prospect!

The Final List:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. LHP Michael Kirkman

#25. LHP Edwin Escobar

#26. RHP Neil Ramirez

#27 SS Luis Sardinas

#28 RHP Braden Tullis

#29 C Vin Difazio

#30 LHP Robbie Erlin

So we're finally done and hopefully D-Tron returns this season to do the midseason rankings.

Feel free to leave your own personal top 30 (or how many ever you feel like doing) in the comments section.  The rankings are a bit interesting to say the least with how the voting process goes.  My personal list looks a good deal different than this one.

After receiving 20% of 134 votes, Vin DiFazio has won the right to be called the Rangers #29 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. LHP Michael Kirkman

#25. LHP Edwin Escobar

#26. RHP Neil Ramirez

#27 SS Luis Sardinas

#28 RHP Braden Tullis

#29 C Vin Difazio

Its time to finish this thing off and vote for the number 30 prospect in the Texas Rangers system.

After receiving 22% of 136 votes, Braden Tullis has won the right to be called the Rangers #28 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. LHP Michael Kirkman

#25. LHP Edwin Escobar

#26. RHP Neil Ramirez

#27 SS Luis Sardinas

#28 RHP Braden Tullis

 Its time to vote for the number 29 prospect in the Rangers system.  Just one more after this and then we're finally done,

fter receiving 19% of 147 votes, Luis Sardinas has won the right to be called the Rangers #27 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. LHP Michael Kirkman

#25. LHP Edwin Escobar

#26. RHP Neil Ramirez

#27 SS Luis Sardinas

 Its time to vote for the number 28 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After receiving 17% of 102 votes, Neil Ramirez has won the right to be called the Rangers #26 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. LHP Michael Kirkman

#25. LHP Edwin Escobar

#26. RHP Neil Ramirez

 Its time to vote for the number 27 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After receiving 20% of 100 votes, Edwin Escobar has won the right to be called the Rangers #25 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. RHP Michael Kirkman

#25. RHP Edwin Escobar

 Its time to vote for the number 26 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After receiving 24% of 100 votes, Wilfredo Boscan has won the right to be called the Rangers #24 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

#24. RHP Michael Kirkman

 Its time to vote for the number 25 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After receiving 31% of 100 votes, Wilfredo Boscan has won the right to be called the Rangers #23 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

#23. RHP Wilfredo Boscan

 Its time to vote for the number 24 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After starting off close, Mendonca ran away with the run off to win the right to be called the Rangers number 22 prospect.

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

#22. 3B Tommy Mendonca

Its time to vote for the number 23 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

So after waiting a while, it looks like we have a tie for the number 22 prospect.  So time to choose between Wilfredo Boscan and Tommy Mendonca.  For this run-off, the winner wins the number 22 spot and the loser goes back to the voting pool for a shot at number 23 so it won't be like last time where the loser automatically goes to number 23.

Time to vote for the number 22 prospect!

After garnering 29% of 111 votes, Eric Hurley has won the right to be called the LSB Community #21 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

#21. RHP Eric Hurley

Its time to vote for the number 22 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After garnering 33% of 132 votes, Miguel Velazquez has won the right to be called the LSB Community #20 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

#20. OF Miguel Velazquez

Its time to vote for the number 21 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After garnering 25% of 135 votes, Joe Wieland has won the right to be called the LSB Community #19 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

#19. RHP Joe Wieland

Its time to vote for the number 20 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

Also, I'm thinking of removing names that haven't received any votes or haven't been requested to keep for the next poll in the comments.  If you guys don't want me to do this, just say so in the comments and I'll keep everyone in the poll.

After garnering 27% of 112 votes, Tomas Telis has won the right to be called the LSB Community #18 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

#18. C Tomas Telis

Its time to vote for the number 19 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

After garnering 19% of 125 votes, Omar Poveda has won the right to be called the LSB Community #17 prospect!

The List So Far:

#1. RHP Neftali Feliz

#2. LHP Martin Perez

#3. 1B Justin Smoak

#4. RHP Tanner Scheppers

#5. RHP Michael Main

#6. LHP Robbie Ross

#7. RHP Wilmer Font

#8. RHP Danny Gutierrez

#9. RF/DH/1B Mitch Moreland

#10. LHP Kasey Kiker

#11. SS Jurick Profar

#12. C Max Ramirez

#13. RHP Blake Beavan

#14. RHP Pedro Strop

#15. CF Engel Beltre

#16. RHP Guillermo Moscoso

#17. RHP Omar Poveda

Its time to vote for the number 18 prospect in the Rangers system.  If there is someone you want added to the list, please say so in the comments.

Its the offseason, I'm tired of Darren Oliver, and I need my CPP fix gosh darn it.

Continue reading this post »

Just got a newsflash from Jamey.  Padilla is going on the DL with some shoulder discomfort while Francisco takes his roster spot.  Holland is going to make the start in Padilla's place.  I hate seeing Holland be forced into the rotation like this and Padilla's injury isn't supposed to be serious.  On the other hand, I am excited to see Holland make his first Major League start and he should be able to dominate Houston tomorrow.

So after seeing Tricer and THE dirkatron go at it over Millwood and Padilla and hearing about how Millwood was actually decent this past year, I wanted to look up some numbers on them past just TRA, FIP, etc.  Here is some interesting stats on both of these guys (stats are taken from FanGraphs and THT:

_______LD%_______BABIP____DER____K/9___BB/9

Millwood-25.3%_____.366______.645____6.67___2.61

Padilla-19.2%______.309______.697_____6.68___3.42

So from looking at that, its easy to see why Millwood has the better FIP, TRA+, xFIP, or whatever your defensive independent stat of choice is.  But the LD rate makes things interesting.  Millwood let a lot of line drives get hit against him which makes his BABIP and DER worse.  His K rate also isn't greater than Padilla's which means that he simply can't be allowing that much contact to be made against him with a LD rate that high.  When you look at Beckett or Santana, they're striking out enough guys to make up for the higher LD rate.  Furthermore, the general rule with BABIP is that it should be about .120 higher than a LD rate.  Padilla would then sit at around .312 while Millwood should be around .373.  Here are some more stats to chew on:

_______Contact%_____O-Contact%______Z-Contact%

Millwood-85.6%_______74.4%__________89.7%

Padilla-81.6%________65.3%__________87%

This pretty much just shows that regardless of if the pitch was in the strike zone or out of the strike zone, hitters didn't have much trouble making contact with Millwood, holder of the 90mph fastball.  High LD rate, high contact rates (16th highest overall contact rate out of all ML starters), and of course the unimpressive K/9 made Millwood have a poor ERA last year.