Including Albert.

My theory: the World Baseball Classic. Anyone up for doing a quick analysis of players who A) Played in the WBC and B) Didn't, with their April, 2006 vs. their past Aprils? I'd do it, but finals start this week.

I'm just guessing a quick analysis would do the trick, but who knows: I know several Yankees who went have been mauling the ball (Derek Jeter is just going to miss .400 for April).

Can't find another way to contact you, so here it is: I've noticed a lot of past threads having odd spammer postings

( http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/story/2005/7/18/112713/662 for example).

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Ok, my girlfriend and I were discussing the topic of earned runs while watching the Yankees' game - how the Yankees' starter left in the 6th with 1 out, man on 1st and 2nd. Reliever promptly allows a double and a walk before getting the other two outs (one earned run for the starter, none for the reliever).

Now, how about this idea: Starter gets 3 total bases (not 2 total bases for two walks, but 3 for man on second and man on third) and reliever gets tagged for 7 total bases (man from home, 1st and 2nd each advancing 2 bases, man from home advancing to 1st on a walk).

Any idea if this could be a beneficial stat? I know 'total bases' exists, in adding 1 for singles and walks, 2 for doubles, etc., but I was thinking a better way of negotiating this iffy topic of 'earned runs' might be better.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/6CB63C00AF167B32862570330013B4D2 ?OpenDocument

Personally, if we're looking for a fourth outfielder to retain after Walker leaves, I'm leaning towards Mench or Wily Mo Pena.

Also:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/berniemiklasz/story/1E73B345EA5C918286256F280 0112506?OpenDocument

Free Jim Edmonds.

The All-Star center fielder has asked team management to pick up his contract option for 2007 and extend his contract through at least 2008 so he can retire as a Cardinal. Word is, he'd take less money in '08, too. Sounds like a good idea.

Take Jimmy through 2008? How much would he cost? Worth it?

One note, I considered pitchouts and attempted pickoffs as pitches. Other than that, the rest is self explanatory.

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Ok, this is going to be rather lengthy, but just to let you know, based on my calculations, and cbs.sportsline's game logs so far this year, Suppan has his final inning (whether he completes it or not) to claim a full 0.81 on his ERA and 0.19 on his WHIP. Ouch. Does TLR leave him in too long (he only has 1 perfect inning of his final innings). The data's below. I might check the other pitchers soon to see if we should be bringing in the bullpen sooner - I wish I had pitch counts at the time of his meltdowns to see if there's any indicators to when he SHOULD be pulled.

I included his final inning (whether completed or not) and his final completed inning (really bad for his 04/09 start).

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Ok, so Thompson had another good outing before TLR pulled him too early and made a game of it - I had a question - wasn't he a starter in the minors? If so, I was thinking we'd be serving him better with some long relief, instead of these 1-2 inning stints every once in awhile - I haven't yet seen him get into trouble, and while that's a good thing, I don't like that every time he gets taken out, it seems like the next guy screws up.

Couldn't think of a better place to put this, as I doubt you'll be reading comments from posts almost a week old, but this was neat:

"And he even hit a first pitch the other day. I'm rubbing off on him a little. I said, 'Hey, man, if they lay it in there, you've got to hit it.'" (Grudzielanek talking about Eckstein).

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/1C33CA27F576BFC386257004001E259F ?OpenDocument