Got this from the Everett Herald, via Rotoworld

Wow. Not sure if he really meant it like that, but if so then damn.

All those years in Kansas City, and this is the most enjoyable year? Yet another reason why I'm glad I'm not a Royals fan. Imagine if Alvin Davis said "Out of all my years in baseball, my favorite was that one with the Angels. Sorry Seattle"

Every day I love Sweeney more and more.

First off, I'm fine with Sims' choice of nickname. It's simple, clever and not too much of a stretch. (K-Rod? come on thats terrible)

But anyone else notice the "tell it to the..." part doesn't make any sense? I've heard "tell it to the judge" in movies and TV before, but people really don't plead their case in front of a DA.

Unless of course Sims is imagining a totalitarian society run by Mariners, where the DA is the only judge, the jury is Sweeney (who will hug you or not), and Branyan as the sexecutioner. I'm fine with that scenario.

OK here's the situation: Im living in a house without cable or satellite, and of course I had the terrible surprise of finding out that living in Seattle means that (yay!) MLBTV is blacked out. I could go on for days about how incredibly stupid and counter-intuitive this is, but im sure it has been discussed to death.

So im making do with gameday and radio until me and my roommates actually get TV, but now Im finding I can't listen online! Was it always like this? I'm at one of the libraries at UW, with my headphones in, all ready to listen to the game as I study, but whenever I go to the KIRO website (at least I think its their website...), I keep getting the same boring March Madness talk that ive had to put up with all month. The site says that Ms and Seahawks games will preempt any scheduled shows, but obviously they're lying.

How can I listen to games while away from home? I swear mlb.com used to stream it for free, but my god I've given up on that site in every way.

Does anyone else think it's kinda funny how the variation of speeds of pitchers seems to be a 100mph maximum (with a few obvious exceptions)?

Was that just a coincidence, or were the baseball diamond dimensions specifically built so the fastest anyone could throw was around 100? It just seems kinda weird that people would stop getting faster right around a nice round number.

Which also gets me thinking about why a normal pitch count, or even a set pitch count is usually 100. Again, was that planned at all?

OK, I dont know why ive never wondered this before, but me and a friend were just having a discussion about this.

What would happen if, before the all-star game, a first place leader in votes of the AL gets traded to a team in the NL? They wouldn't re-do the voting just because of one player, but what would actually happen?

I said that he would start out fresh with 0 votes, and any votes that he gets after he is traded will be his new total. My friend tried to argue that MLB wouldnt make someone miss the all-star game cause he got traded, but he doesn't have another option.

Now, I know the all-star game doesnt (well, shouldnt) matter, but is there a rule out there that says what actually would happen in a situation like this?

Someone has to know this, or at least know a pretty bad one. Or several.

I was just looking over the 2001 AL Cy young voting, where because of 9/11 and his famous name, Roger Clemens stole the cy young from Freddy. Which reminded me how retarded some (most) of these "experts" are. So there has to be some idiot that voted someone like Craig Counsell one year cause he got a game-winning HBP once and the writer was smashed and it made him cry.

BONUS POINTS: worst first place vote?

OK, this has been bothering me for probably years now.

Who, for the love of god, is the umpire that, when he's at home plate, calls strikes by pointing and literally shrieking "AAIIEEEEEEEE!!!" (im assuming hes trying to say strike)

My god its annoying and it always catches me off guard cause I never remember who this guy is.

First Prize: 1 free internets

Second Prize: A Big truck (with which you can dump things on)

Third Prize: You're fired

Whats the most awkward announcer moment you've heard? not just this year, but all time? 

It could be funny awkward, could be a situation where tempers start to rise, could be a situation where either announcer really doesnt know what to say next.

I seem to remember around 2002, where Buhner was announcing, and he kept saying something really awkward, but for the life of me i cant remember what it was at all. Anyone out there remember this who can help me out? it was a phrase and im sure he was just kidding, but i remember it sounded pretty, uh...gay.

EDIT: yea i should have said just "announcer" instead of "mariner announcer". makes no sense to limit it to just 1 team

I was just thinking, does anyone else think the struggle between many bloggers and people like Joe Morgan or sportswriters kinda reminds you of the issue of religion vs. science? on a much smaller and less significant scale, obviously.

Look at the way bloggers like Jeff or Dave or DMZ are treated by casual fans or certain sportswriters. They are constantly written off as if they don't already have a huge following, but sometimes these sportswriters will lash out at them and bloggers like them as if all of the sudden they are a threat. Like fundamentalist christians who don't think that athiests are significant enough to really matter vs. the majority, but get all worked up on the "omg WAR ON CHRISTMAS AND JESUS!". which makes it obvious that they feel threatened and angry at them sometimes.

The way sabermetrics developed also mirrors science vs. religion. At first, it was really only "baseball people" who had been in the game for a long time that could really decide who was good and who wasn't. But now, billy beane and others are proof that there are different ways of evaluating talent that work fine. so you could liken a scout to a priest and a "stathead" to a mathematician or scientist. which would make LL and USSM readers students of the bloggers.

it would also explain the argument between scrappy, hard-working white (sorry, "blue collar") players and "selfish" power hitters who "clog up the basepaths". Just like people who think abstinence is always the key to happiness and alcohol is the devil or sex is evil or whatever can be compared to writers who think that someone like Reggie Willits or Willie Bloomqist is more valuable than someone who isnt so scrappy and wasn't a punter for Nebraska (did you know Darin Erstad punted for Nebraska? how scrappy of him!); those values are simply outdated and not realistic in today's society.

so basically Bill James = Socrates wow that sounds weird but whatever.

kids, never major in Philosophy. it will fuck you up forever.

So recently Ive been looking at the baseball reference game logs for Felix, and I just noticed something that makes no sense to me.

Actually, this could work with any pitcher

As you see they have standard stats like IP, H, R, etc. but as I go along, I see: StC, StS, and StL. I assume that means Strike Called, Strike Swinging, ans Strike Looking.

what the hell?! How is a called strike different than looking at a strike?