Oh man, what a sad event.

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according to himself...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3217415&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

I can only think of one way to fill up 300 characters...

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

"The bugs caused a lot of drama tonight. But Fausto didn't flinch. He didn't blink. That says a lot about him. You've got to give him credit. There was some adversity thrown at him. That might have been my favorite part of the game. He didn't step off the mound once, and the other guys on the Yankees were acting like there were bullets flying around their heads, not gnats. I mean... this is the big leagues."

I love it. Now he'd better hope that Cleveland can finish this series off or he'll surely get some "This is the big leagues" comments thrown at him, but he's right here. The Yankees went all spaz about the bugs and started to worry more about them than playing the game.

It was pretty comical.

Because UDubDish hasn't been updated in 2 years....

Jake Locker is can ravage my wife at a time of his choosing.

14-0 UW. I will put 100 posts in this thread by myself if I have to!

Go Dawgs. WOOF WOOF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Ok folks here is the place for you McFucknut defenders to have you voices heard so feel free to sound-off. As I stated in the game thread, this will not be without consequences though so please post the following information about yourself below.

Address:

Married: Y/N

# of kids and ages (not that it matters):

I need this information so that I know exactly how many people I will be punching in the face when I get there.

Also, please make sure to either warn your family prior to my arrival or at least answer the door yourself as to give your family a fighting chance. I don't think that your 7 year old would appreciate you not warning him/her that answering the door could result in a black eye.

Honestly I hope that no one defends this assclown because gas is expensive and I really don't want to have to punch anyone in the face, but I have to do what I have to do.

Looks like it may be 3 years. I hope that the 3rd one is an option year.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/329422_mside29.html

What do you guys think? I was dead set against this until a few games ago. Ichiro may be the face of the team, but Guillen and Beltre are the heart of this team so he needs to stay around for a while.

Yes, I know that we are only 4 games back. Five days from now we may be looking at the Angels in the rear-view mirror. Unlikely, but possible.

However, if I were Bill Bavasi I would consider doing something drastic.

Am I crazy for trying to package together Jeff Weaver and Jose Guillen to get a stud AA or AAA prospect? basically someone's else's "Adam Jones."

If there is anything that is true, it's that MLB GM's will overpay for ML veteran talent. If the M's were an established starter and a lefty mashing OF away from being a legit contender would you deal Adam Jones for those two? Is that thought proposterous?

You have to remember that these two are established Major Leaguers that can help or even put a team over the top. Who fits that bill? I don't know. Atlanta? Cubs?

I'm really just trowing it out there knowing that GMs will overpay for vets in the middle of productive seasons (minus Weaver's April). I know that teams rarely give up "that guy" for a rent-a-player, but the M's could fill TWO holes for a given team out there. That cannot be underestimated.

Maybe you can't pry a Salty out of Atlanta, but wouldn't it at least be worth trying or the is white flag too much of a pride buster for a team?

There is something about Adrian Beltre that is just driving me batty.

I think we can agree that Beltre is as strong as an ox. He certainly has the physical strength to hit many balls out of the ball park over the course of a season.

After watching him hit that long foul ball today that just looked smashed coming off of the bat. I was surprised to see the ball land in foul territory, well short of what would have been homerun distance. This is a recurring thing with Beltre. Time and time again, I see the guy hit a ball that looks gone off of the bat only to land short of the wall.

The question I have is: Why does the ball not "jump" off of Beltre's bat when he makes contact?

In theory it takes 3 things to happen to hit a homerun:

1. Contact with the baseball is made somewhere around center mass of the ball.

2 and 3: Momentum = Mass x Velocity. Velocity is imposed on the baseball in the form of batspeed. Mass is imposed on the baseball in the form of the size of the bat itself.

I've never heard anyone comment on Beltre's batspeed as being anything but normal.

Is it possible that the guy uses a bat that is too light? Is he not as strong as we perhaps think that he is?

There has to be an explanation as to why Beltre can't get balls over the wall on a more regular basis.

Anyone have any ideas?

FUCK JOSE VIDRO!

So, this AM I am perusing the Rainiers' box score like I do almost every morning and it dawned on me that team has as sick of 3-4-5 hitters as there are on Earth right now.

While Jones is something like 0 for his last 10 or 11, Jeff Clement and and WLAD! (<--- which I started by the way) are now beating the living shit out of the baseball.

Jeff Clement appears to have taken Dave @ USSM's comments personally about him being nothing more than a role player.

Many of us have not really taken WLAD! seriously as a prospect, but I think that it has become time for us to give the guy some props. He's 22 years old and putting it all together in AAA. If someone can make a valid argument as to why he's not the real deal, I'd love to hear it.

All three of these guys are going to hit 30 bombs this year if left in AAA. This is the lines that these guys are putting up:

Adam Jones
Overall: .316/.389/.589
At Cheney: .295/.360/.521
BB/K: 27/68

WLAD!
Overall: .322/.402/.568
At Cheney: .328/.418/.530
BB/K: 37/57

Jeff Clement - Let's remember that he got off to an awful start.
Overall: .276/.363/.519
At Cheney: .255/.342/.415
vs. LHP (65 AB): .354/.440/.738
BB/K: 29/46 <--- Yeah!

These guys are posting OPS's of .979, .970, and .882 respectively. In the meantime, we have our fat turd of a DH tied up for the next 2 years. This is a travesty of epic proportions.

Again I say: FUCK JOSE VIDRO!

Does anyone know of any Tacoma area places that will be showing the fight tomorrow?

Boxing has been garbage for years, but this one has piqued my interest. I was thinking about getting the PPV but $60 is pricey unless at least a few people are going in.

I wish that Jose Guillen would shank the 300 character limit in the god damn neck.

"We got some good news today and it looks like it was just some stiffness."

It's not the official word, but I feel at least a wee bit better.

Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit. Screw the word limit.

I am not sure why more hasn't been said about this, but Felix has unveiled that much vaunted slider of his.

I've seen him throw it 7-8 times so far over his last 5 starts or so and I must say, wowzers.

He threw that pitch at 91mph to Vlad last night. That's Rob Nenn like, or if you will, a right handed Liriano like.

The guy is already backing up 96mph 2-seamers with the 86mph Royal Curveball and His Highness' 82mph diving chage-up and now he's throwing a pitch that is virtually impossible to hit.

I am glad that they appear to be limiting it to 1-3 times a start, but as he gets older and he uses that pitch more, there is no reason at all to think that he's not going to be dominant. And I am not talking about Doc Halladay type of dominant, but the kind of pitcher that teams give thier best right handed hitter a day off against because he doesn't have a chance anyways type of dominant.

Anyways, I just had to throw this out there, because his slider is definately worthy of discussion.

JONES OUT OF LINEUP: The Mariners aren't saying anything, but the club may not be done making roster moves.

Rookie Adam Jones has not started in center field in the past four games, and at 21, it's not doing him a lick of good sitting around and watching other people play.

Willie Bloomquist has been the center fielder for the past four games and is 3-for-14 during that stint.

Jones made his big league debut July 14, the Mariners' first game after the All-Star break. The Mariners were looking for center-field help and they figured their No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft might be the answer.

He'd been a shortstop when drafted, and it was about 12 months ago that he was converted to center field, the rationale being that Yuniesky Betancourt was going to be the Seattle shortstop for years to come. So Jones was raw defensively and still learning the game offensively at the time of his promotion.

He has a .217 average in 69 at-bats, but he'd hit in four of his previous five games before taking his spot on the bench. The problem seems to be an error he committed on a ball hit by Texas' Matt Stairs that is costing him playing time.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/281772_mbok18.html

Seriously, I am speechless.

An offense that struggles to avoid shut outs at home and horrible in-game management have made the M's a non-factor in the AL West. The further the M's fall, the more likely the M's are to be major sellers in the trade market come next week. Bavasi is going to be faced with some very difficult decisions during the next week and a half. Most notably: What to do with Meche and Ibanez.

There are a lot of teams that are within striking distance of playoff spots, which means that there SHOULD be a ton of buyers out there and not a lot of sellers. Which is going to lead to two possible outcomes:

1. There will be come terribly lopsided deals coming down the pike, with contending teams giving up a king's ransom in prospects for solid vets.
2. The Contending teams will deem the market TOO HIGH and go with what they have. In which case, you'll see a dead deadline.

I don't buy into the idea that Meche needs to be held onto because it increases the M's chances of re-signing him. That's hogwash. He'll follow the money/regional preference mantra, just like every other free agent. The M's will have the same chance at signing him in the off-season whether he's traded or not.

Potential Suitors:
Braves
Yankees
Mets
Dodgers
Cardinals
Astros

PLU Tim's Prediction: He's pitching elsewhere August 1st.

As for Ibanez, the situation is a bit different than Meche's. The M's are going to have to address the rotation in the off-season reguardless of what they decide to do with Meche. If the M's decide to deal Ibanez and "sell high", they are going to be creating a hole that needs to be addressed if Ibanez is dealt. That factor makes it a much more delicate situation. Ultimately, the M's should allow teams to discuss Ibanez, but unless they step up with THAT PROSPECT that just makes you salivate, he shouldn't be moved.

Potential Suitors:
Yankees
Astros
Dodgers
Twins

PLU Tim's prediction: Raul Ibanez will be manning LF in Safeco Field on August 1st.  

along wih Cash considerations for Travis Chick.

Well, it's something...

Fact of the day: Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone! Eddie is gone!

As some of you may have read last season. I did a regression analysis on OPS vs. Runs scored. The resulting equation was something that looked like this:

Runs = 2096.8*OPS - 806.6
(Then divide by 162 and mutiply by the number of games played to get the number of runs a team SHOULD have scored to this point in the season)

For credibility's sake, this equation predicts that 5518 runs should have been scored in the AL thus far. In reality there have been 5499. Pretty damn close.

All this talk about the M's run differential has gotten me to update the numbers for this season thus far.

Let's start with the M's standard pythag numbers:
Runs Scored = 403
Runs Allowed = 373
Pythag Wins = 43

Now onto OPS differential:
Offensive OPS = .759 = 388 Expected Runs
OPS Allowed = .756 = 384 Expected Runs
Adjusted Pythag Wins = 40

So, despite the M's having an impressive run differential and having 2 fewer wins than what Pythag would tell us, the reality is that they are about right where they should be when you adjust the RS and RA for OPS and OPS allowed.

OK, enough peeing on your Cheerios. Here is the rest of the AL West

Oakland +5
Texas -3
LAAoAHAHAHAHA -2

So OPS differential says that Oakland is 5 games up from where they should be, while Texas and LAAoAHAHAHAHA are a few games back from where they should be.

Keep in mind that this analysis is merely a snapshot of what has happened and is probably a good predictor of what should happen if everything stayed the same for the rest of the season. It doesn't take into account the fact that Raul Ibanez is unlikely to end the season hitting like David Ortiz or that Bobby Crosby and Mark Teixeira are unlikely to hit like sissy girls for the rest of the season.

On being hit in the thigh with a foul tipped JJ Putz fastball:

"Kenji said that if it [the pitch] was Joel [Pineiro] and his 85 mph fastball, it wouldn't hurt, but with J.J.'s 97, it did," Griffin said.

Of course that is a fourth hand quote that started with a Japanese fellow being translated to an old fart who relayed it to another old fart who wrote the paper.

Still, at least someone has noticed that Joel's fastball isn't terribly intimidating.

Fun game. Good to come away with a win. Felt bad for those guys though because it was about 450 degrees out.

http://rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=MLB&id=1537

I guess we can all breathe a little easier now.

300 character fact: If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

Fact #2:
If you ever find yourself in the jaws of a crocodile, jam your thumbs into each of its eyes. It will release you instantly.

By Michael Barrett. I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds like a similar play to last night's Ichiro throw.

I hear that Brett Tomko has already ordered a singing "thank you" telegram for Barrett.

300 Character Fact:
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

Most of you know that I am pretty patient with most M's players, but Eddie is just killing me. Is he just bad? Is he just having misrable luck? I don't know what it is, but he is killing this team right now.

I was working tonight so I am not sure if I witnessed what I thought I did.

The next knucklhead that I want to bash is Grover. Did Hargrove PH for Petagine with WFB because MATT FUCKING THORNTON came into the game? Is that what I saw? I really need someone to confirm that I am not in some kind of an odd alternate reality where that makes sense.

Seriously, that move is so idiotic, that even a novice manager wouldn't be able to rationalize it, but not Mike Hargrove. Did that dummy even realize that the guy on the mound was the same guy he watched get sharted on by every lefty in the universe last year? HE WATCHED IT for crying out loud. I mean, he didn't even have to consult the little black binder in the dugout. HE WITNESSED the mess that is Matt Thornton last season and it didn't stop him.

Welcome Mr. Bobby Livingston, who, according to Jason Churchill, is taking the spot of Clint Nageotte.

Also, there are rumblings that Bobby Livingston will be starting in the next couple of days. Likely for one Jo-el Pineiro.

We may have seen Jo-el's last start as a Mariner. We should know something in the next 48 hours. I hope Jim Bowden is involved.

So in this series there were seven hitters nailed with pitches. Six of them were Washington Nationals and the other one was a New York Metropolitan. The one beanball the Metropolitans took results in a 3 game suspension for Felix Rodriguez (remember when EVERYONE wanted that guy to be thier closer?). The Metropolitans recieve nothing but half of a warning issued by Major League Baseball before the start of thier next series.

I can't possibly see the three game suspension being upheld after an appeal. Especially in these circumstances.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2403787

In lieu of the Angels-White Sox debacle (haha), I think we should have a discussion on the idea of instant replay in baseball.

This is pretty hot button issue with MLB fans so keep it civil.

I usually find that there are 3 different groups of people when it comes to IR in baseball:

Group A: Yes. Get the play right. I don't care what it takes. No team deserves to lose a game to incompetency with the technology we have today. Besides, if the umpires are going to be graded by computers, they should be able to utilize such technology to help themselves.

Group B: Baseball is 100+ years old. Umpire errors are a part of baseball like Death and Taxes are a part of life. I don't care what the circumstances are, a 3 hour game shouldn't have stupid replay delays.

Group C: Replay is OK on a trial basis, but there had better be massive restrictions on it's usage. If the umpires can't use it effectively then get rid of it.

Where do you fall? I have to say that I'm in group C.

Balls and Strikes should under no cicumstances be reviewed. Fair-Foul calls only reviewable to determine if a called fair-ball was foul. Questionable homerun calls should be reviewed at will.

My problem lies in the out/safe calls. Maybe each manager gets one challenge a game or something similar.

So what do you guys think?

OK. It's time for some fun speculation. Who is the one guy that you feel the M's MUST acquire to have a successful offseason and how far should the M's go to acquire said player?

Here are the rules:

1. Don't list someone totally unrealistic. Jason Bay and Miguel Cabrera are not available. So please don't bring up players of thier ilk.
2. If the player is to be acquired via a trade, it must be a player that stands a good chance at being traded in the offseason. Aubrey Huff would be a decent example.
3. This isn't indended to be a long drawn out "If I were the GM..." breakdown of every move you'd make in the offseason.

Kevin Millwood. Millwood will be 31 in December so it wouldn't be wise to go too long term with him. The Market for starting pitching is pretty thin so overpaying is a likely scenario.

I think the MAX I would go with on Millwood would be:

4-40 w/ the 4th year being an option year. Preferably front load the contract.

I am a LITTLE BIT concerned here. I know he basically made the Blue Jays look like Boy Scout Troop 315 out there, but his velocity was was prediminantly in the 92-93 range. He did top out at 96 late in the game, which is good but still down from the 97s and 98s that he was popping with regularity his first 6 starts. Quite frankly, we haven't seen those eye-popping numbers in 2-3 starts.

An article today said that they are telling Felix to stop overthrowing his pitches. That could explain the slight drop. This really bothers me though. Price has already turned one power pitcher into a finesse "pitch-to-contact" pitcher in Meche. I really hope he isn't doing the same with Felix. Felix has shown the ability to control his 97-98 mph fastball to some degree, teaching him how to control a 92mph fastball isn't going to help him control his 97mph fastball any better. He needs to learn how to pitch at the top of his abilities, not a notch below.

Just my $.02.

Apparantly Javier Vazquez is allowed to demand a trade in the off-season and if the D-Backs can't trade him, he becomes a free agent.

Looking at his ERA you'd immediately be scared off since it is 4.57 in the DH-less NL.

Vazquez is still striking out nearly 8 hitters per 9 innings.

His K:BB is over 4.00.

This season he appears to have turned into a flyball pitcher after posting many years of a sub 1 G:F ratio.

I'm seeing a guy who can he had on the cheap in terms of sacrificed talent. Yeah, he's paid a ton, but there is still a lot of hope that he can be worth a good amount of his salary.

Just thought I would throw that out there...

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/story/2005/7/12/213451/815
This is a progress report of sorts.

As of now:

Oakland leads The Angels Angels of Anaheim
Washington is in last place
White Sox are slipping and Cleveland is surging. (Yeah, there is still work to do there)

2 of my predictions have flown way off base. My system did say that Texas would finish above The AAA and the O's would win the east. In defense of my system, it assumes that a team will hit and pitch at the same level that they did in the first half of the season. This is something that the Rangers and O's have failed to do.

Even if Cleveland fails to pass the White Sox, which is still probable, it'll be a success if they simply finish close, expecially considering the 4 game sweep that the White Sox handed the Tribe after the ASB.

I am really happy with the results of this system at this point in time. So happy in fact that it may change the entire direction of my senior capstone paper.

Jesus Fing Hernandez.

Winn is going the hell off in SF. I wonder if he's using Bonds' locker.

Reminding myself: Winn wasn't going to be a part of the next great M's dynasty.

Now I must fill up 300 characters so it must be said that it is hot as shit in my house. I may lose a few pounds watching Felix pitch tonight.

http://www.plu.edu/~fergustr/img/el-cartuela

Man this took me ages, it's not terribly complex, I just suck at photoshop.

I think it makes a pretty awesome desktop though. Anyways, it is 1am and I am filling up space. Props to Joel Pineiro for not getting blown to smitherines, even if the White Sox have a paltry offense.

All of this stupid filler just to post one picture. Who runs this joint?