Good Morning America is hosting a "Best BBQ Challenge" this weekend and Cousin's Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth has been nominated. The restaurant is one of four nominated for the award and the only one from Texas (the others hail from Iowa, Alabama and New York).

If anyone of you have eaten at Cousin's, you know that they make Texas proud. They're Bar-B-Q is amazing!  You can vote by going to Cousin's Bar-B-Q website and clicking on the link at the top.  Voting ends late tonight and the winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

Make Texas Bar-B-Q #1!!

This game day thread got a little activity yesterday, so why not repeat the concept for Day 2 of the postseason.

First up - CWS v TB

Vasquez v. Shields

MIL v PHI

Sabathia v Myers

LAD v CHI

Billingsley v Zambrano

Prediction:

Rays over White Sox 6-4

Brewers over Phillies 3-1

Dodgers over Cubs 5-3

Any one have thoughts on this or predictions of your own?

Go Rangers.

"Kettle corn. Fresh popped. Kettle corn. Fresh popped!"

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2004156612_webwilkerson31.html?syndication=rss

Looks like we'll still have to deal with him - but maybe in a limited capacity.

I like how the team describes him as a "hard-nosed competitor" and a "solid left-handed bat" How well did Whiffy hit against the M's last year for them to think he'll add to the team?

If the Bedard deal doesn't go through, he could wind up as in a 4th outfeilder/bench role. Update [2008-1-31 21:22:54 by mtex]: - One year deal for $3 million

San Francisco Chronicle reports 5-year deal. No figures yet.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/12/SP4ETSURO.DTL

What an old team, now. And, a little 'screw you' to the Blue Jays, who thought they might get Linecum for Alex Rios.

One-line diaries are prohibited on Lone Star Ball. Give your diary a bit more thought, then give it another shot. If you have nothing to add to your proposed diary, then it probably belongs as a comment under another appropriate thread.

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Didn't know we had interest. It apparently hinged on being able to get an extension worked out, but the team wasn't allowed to speak with Cabrera's agent. Glad to see we were involved with other things, though.

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071206&content_id=2320747&vkey=news_fl a&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla

Suggestions:

Which do you care more about this Christmas season:
 - Obtaining a CF via trade/free agency
 - Trading Gerald Laird (no matter what the return)
 - Making sure that Brad Wilkerson is not re-signed
 - The television writer's strike
 - The Broadway labor union strike
 - Vicente Padilla's strike zone
 - Skip Christmas - bring on American Idol!

What's the worst acquisition by any team so far this Hot Stove?
 - Torii Hunter to the Angels (5 years/90 million)
 - ARod to Yankees (10 years/$275 million)
 - Scott Linebrink to White Sox (4 years/19 million)
 - Jason Kendall to the Brewers (1 year/3 million?)
 - Doug Brocail to the Astros (1 year/2.5 million)
 - Kerry Wood to Cubs (1 year/4.2 million)

My wife and I share the hobby of baseball (thankfully). And, while I enjoy the stats, percentages, over/unders, and trivia of America's greatest pastime, my wife gets more attached to the actual player; she wants to know if they're a nice person or not. While most of the time I could care less if they're personable or not, there are always those players that seemingly irk you the wrong way.

So, by putting this interesting thought into my head, I propose putting together an All-Jerk team of Active players. Who are the biggest jerks at their particular position? Who makes the cut?

To get us started:

C: A. Pierzynski
1B: K. Youkilis
2B:
3B: D. Wright
SS:
OF: B. Bonds
OF: G. Anderson
OF:
OF:
DH: G. Sheffield
SP: D. Wells
RP: K-Rod
Manager: O. Guillen

Let me know what you think. Please try and refrain from saying you hate a whole team...

per TR

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070324&content_id=1857731&vkey=spt2007ne ws&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

Loe will either be in AAA or in the bullpen. Chen finishes in 3rd place and is probably trade bait before April 1st. He's preformed well enough that we may get something back for him, but I think his non-guaranteed contract will convince teams to wait on him.

Ugh.