eSDee

It's a little about a month after the break and my team just pulled out of an 8 game nosedive. The Padres are in a huge 2 month slump but for some unknown reason they are still in first place. The NL West this year has the potential to be the worst ever. But the Padres had an incredible May which is the only reason they are still up despite being 1 game over .500. Injuries are major, and the fans hate at least one of the players. It's not the brightest season we've ever seen that's for sure.

I saw that Minnesota picked up Brett Boone. That's a solid pickup although I just saw him hotshot a play and give up some runs. I haven't heard anything new about Clement. Something about the A's being on fire? Post the news if you got it.

__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 days ~ Willie Nelson

3 days I dread to see arrive
3 days I hate to be alive
3 days filled with tears and sorrow
yesterday today and tomorrow

TofuNinja

My Dodgers look like they are getting a bit better....only 5 games back... yeah the NL west is horrid even the Giants have a shot hahaha sad huh. I think the Dream Weaver will be traded for sure... he didn't do too hot tonight.

__________________
"To search for the old is to understand the new." -Gichin Funakoshi-

===>>>LABELED CANTACUZENE'S DUMBEST PERSON ALIVE!!!<<<===

gear02

I blink and the Astros go from bottom of the league to second in the central, 7 games above .500, and only 1 game out of the wild card. Oswalt went from starting like 4-4 to now 14-8, leading the NL in wins.

WTH????

Where did this come from? I left the Astros for dead!

A note to dear Carlos Beltran: How do you like them apples you fat bastard.

Merlin

A note from the Yankees camp - All people who can throw a ball in the general direction of home plate please report.

When 3 of you 5 starters are on the DL at once you know you are in for some trouble. Then their replacements start getting hurt as well (Wang).

The pitching is in a shambles. Kevin Brown is done. There is no other way to put it. Release him and free up the roster spot. Wright - I don't expect to ever see him again either. Pavano, maybe he'll come around. He was overhyped this offseason. A good pitcher but a middle of the rotation guy. Middle relief is a disaster - Scott Proctor and Buddy Groom are not names you should expect to see on a contending team's roster. But the back end of the Yankee pen is very strong.

R. Cano should be the rookie of the year. The kid was thrown into a tough situation and is hitting over .300 and has a great streak going. Best thing to happen to the team this season.

Everyone on the Yankees has a baseball glove. Why? I don't know as none of them can catch. I mean this team is poor on defense.

The Yankees need a centerfielder. God Bless Bernie but his time has passed. His knees are shot so he really does not have the range. His arm is substandard to people are taking liberties on the bases. And now he is even dropping balls. Maybe taking a flier in Rickey Henderson is not such a bad idea.

Tony Womack does not belong on a major league roster. Kudos to the Yanks for benching him.

Jason Giambi has really been mashing lately. You may hate him for the roids thing but at least he has been a man about it. All but admitted it (had to measure that for legal reasons) and apologized. He was man enough to face the music. and not run and hide like a crappy excuse of a man SF Giant that will go nameless.

All in all the team does have a couple of glaring holes in it but they will score runs. The schedule is also tough on them from here on out so catching the Red Sox (who have a much easier second half schedule) may not happen. The wild card race should be pretty exciting.

__________________

baggio248

I think this from Fox Sports says it all:

__________________
Peter: Lois, you've got a sick mind!
Lois: Peter, I'm talking about making love.
Peter: Oh, I thought you wanted us to murder the children and harvest their organs for beer money.

Cubsfan

I don't want to talk about it

Showtime

Yep, considering all the injuries and everything we are still in the hunt.

__________________
NBA REPORT 10-11/ The 3-Peat!


1948 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1972 1980 1982 1985 1987 1988 2000 2001 2002 2009 2010 Reigning NBA CHAMPS!

Yossarian

Braves good, Pirates

__________________
"So cheers all and remember, don't mistake my old age for maturity. Just because I grow old does not mean I grow up. " -Merlin

"Now that your limelight has been sufficently trashed I will leave"- Nija

Each religion has got their own way of making you feel like a victim. The Christians say 'you are a sinner', and you better just zip up your trousers and give the money to the pope and we'll give you a room up in the hotel in the sky.
~Timothy Leary

GraingerGuy

I must admit...I gave up on my Astros also. But, they have turned it around! Willie Tavaras is looking like a ROY candidate. Up from AA ball and hitting at almost .300! Morgan Ensburg is a frickin' machine. He's so awesome this year and I really hope he continues. It's really nice that Berkman is back and hitting well. And of course, three of the most dominate pitchers ever (Oswalt, Clemens and Pettite) are lighting everyone up.

I can truthfully say that I am surprised and very happy to eat the crow that I'm sure most people are eating right now when they made their predications about the Astros!

__________________
potato gun + marshmallow gun = FLAMING MARSHMALLOWS OF DOOM!!!!!
-Welfareloser
4/13/05

Time to switch to AMD now I guess... (just kidding... )
-Darkfury
5/23/05

I don't think this'll stop anything though - the better you idiot-proof a system, the more impressive the idiot becomes.
-ShawnLee
5/30/08

raimin

I've been to 4 of the home games since the break

go A's

tupacboy

A's are the hottest team in baseball by far... considering they were 15 games under .500... amazing turn around...

no my red sox... we're in first... but we have a TON of injuries... we'll see what moves we make this weekend.

This is my favorite time of year (minus october) in baseball... with the trade deadline... you basically see which GM's think they have a chance and see who has given up on their season...

Merlin

That shot off the head was just plain nasty.

booger73

Braves just swept the Nationals and opened up a 3 game lead in the division, hopefully headed for #14 in a row..
Chipper's back, Pitchers are back.. Smoltz is playing good, and even the rookies are getting in on the action. Things are looking good.

ialsohaveadream

My team was always the Cubbies back when I watched baseball. Of course, now I don't. I imagine they aren't doing well, because whenever the Cubs have a shot, it's all over ESPN, because Cub fans go nuts.

__________________
Web log

navyones

Padres lost again today!!!! Enough said?

JLemonjello

The Indians will hopefully turn it around and I have faith in a Yankees AL East Victory

__________________
===========
Jason Lemonjello

"Insert witty signature quote here."

attgig

freakin mets. disappointment after disappointment. please don't do any stupid deadline deals. please don't do any stupid deadline deals. i want my Kazmir back!!!!!

__________________

Merlin

He dodged a bullett the other night. That spikes up slide could have done a lot more damage than just ripping the hell outta his pants.

baggio248

I miss dollar days!!! It sucks living here in LA. The only time I get to see the A's games are when they play the crappy teams down here. Though, I'll be home in a few weeks, maybe my friend and I might go to a game.

Let's Go Oakland!!!!!

zenbooty

__________________
Common sense is what tells you the Earth is flat.

Merlin

I wouldn't pay too much attention to Manny. He has a pretty short attention span. Give him some time and weed and everything will be status quo.

PrObLy

Cubs update:

Well, the Cubs really pulled one out of their asses today against Arizona after blowing a 2-1 lead in the 8th inning.

Prior had another solid outing until getting into a jam in the 8th.
He should be good to go for the stretch of the season *crosses fingers*.

Our number two starter is injured again (big surprise, eh?) and will be missing every start for the rest of the season. Kerry Wood will be coming out of the bullpen when his ****ing shoulder stops acting "cranky". The hope is that throwing <~30-40 pitches out of the pen will keep his shoulder from acting up again until he can get som orthoscopic surgery in the offseason. I think this is a hopeful idea as the bullpen could really use some help and Kerry's shoulder has only been bothering him after throwing +60 pitches or so, so hopefully limiting his pitches can keep his shoulder in tact.

Wood also has something like a .170 opponents batting average in the first inning he pitches. So, providing he doesn't have walk issues, he should be solid.

Greg Maddux has turned into his usual (old man) self. His era isn't spectacular, but he's been very reliable over the past month. It is typical for him to get off to a slow start and then pick things up in june/july for the rest of the year. It was nice to see him reach 3000K's the other night.

It sure is nice to have a fourth starter in the rotation like Carlos Zambrano. He has tremendous "stuff" and can keep the ball over the plate. He could be a number one or two starter on just about any team, but he's in our "4 hole" because Dusty wanted to throw 2 hard tossers (prior ,wood) 1 soft tosser (maddux) then another hard tosser (zambrano) at opponents, and he wanted Zambrano going for the first game against the Cardinals after the A.S break.

Jerome Williams has been a pleasant surprise and a great bargain considering we got him and a good prospect in a trade for the horrendous Latroy Hawkins. Without this trade the Cubs would have had to throw Rusch back into the rotation and lose out on his help in the bullpen.

In Kerry Wood's absence the Cubs called up left hander Rich Hill, who is a tall and lenky kid with some good stuff. He left AA ball in late May and still leads the league in strike-outs. For only being in AAA for a couple months he also leads the league in strikeouts. He has a huge overhand curveball that not only has 12-6 movement but breaks strongly towards the back foot of right handed batters. His fastball reaches the low 90's. If he can show consistency I think the Cubs have a solid chance of making a run towards the playoffs.

As it stands right now, the Cubs are 2.5 games behind houston/washington for the Wild-Card.

I've been saying for a while that the Wild Card will probably come from the Central because the whole N.L East is very good and they will end up defeating eachother and balancing out at ~.500 records after the Braves take over first for good (and, what, the 14th straight year?).

Injuries have plagued the Cubs this year on the offensive side as well.

Todd Walker ****ed up his knee after Carlos Lee took him out on a double play effort at second base. He ended up missing some significant time.

The fan favorite (and career .320 hitter) Nomar Garciaparra tore up his groin and abdomen coming out of the batters box at the beginning of the season. He is currently doing a rehab assignment in Peoria, then probably a few games at Iowa. They are hoping Nomar can come back sometime next week.

In his absence Neifi Perez has done about as good of a job you could ever hope a utility man could do, including hitting an extra inning game winning grand slam against the Cardinals just the other day.

Jerry Hairston has also started to step up in replacement of the struggling (read: stubborn) Corey Patterson who was sent down to Iowa becuase of his long uppercut swing was causing him to miss just about every pitch up in the zone.

I like the trade of Jason Dubois to Cleveland for Jody Gerut. Dubois has a lot of power but couldn't seem to hit a breaking ball to save his life. Gerut is a fantastic defender who has pretty good wheels and a decent left handed bat.

The Cubs don't have an easy trip to the NL Wild Card, though, the way Houston has been playing recently. Houston came from seemingly nowhere (just like last year) and has won 9 of their last 10 games, while the Cubs have only gone five and five over this period.

I have seen some promise, though, as the Cubs have been starting to win some one-run games including today's bottom of the 9th ralley and took two of three from the (albeit, banged up) Cardinals.

__________________
Facebook me if you so desire.
Guns don't kill people.
Chad Greenway kills people.

eSDee

My Padres just pulled out a blockbuster deal sending Phil Nevin to Texas for....Chan Ho Park? Are you serious? This season went from bad, to down the frigging drain.

raimin

wed afternoon days are my fav, especially if work is light, and i bart out there

PrObLy

Well, they really wanted Nevin out of there. It would have been great for you guys if Nevin would have accepted the trade earlier this week to go to Baltimore in trade for Ponson. If Phil stayed they had already told him he wouldn't be getting much playing time because they want to get Xavier Nady playing first base more frequently.

Out of the teams that can't be vetoed by Nevin, Texas was the team that was willing to ship off a starting pitcher.

Don't lose hope eSDee, you guys are still in first place, even with that ~.500 record...and that's all that matters: getting into the playoffs.

Sure, if the Wild Card comes from the NL Central you guys will have to play the Cardinals, and that will be rough, but I'd rather play a 5 game set than a 7 game set against them, so it could be a blessing in disguise.

Chan Ho Park has really gone down the crapper over the past four years, so I definitely feel similarly confused as why they would even trade for him instead of trying to get some almost-ready pitching prospects. Since Chan Ho likes to leave the ball up in the zone these days, he might actually be an alright fit for Petco Park.

Brian Giles and Ryan Klesko are quality players and hopefully by the time the playoffs roll around Khalil Greene and Sean Burroughs will have found where they lost their bats.

Jake Peavy is a fantastic pitcher and if Adam Eaton can keep healthy I think you guys can provide a good 1-2 punch in the playoffs.

RIVERWIDOW

And what the Hell is wrong with them???? Now Nevin is gone, who knows what the hell's bells Powers is thinking. It sure isn't "What a nice win that was!" I 'm not jumping ship yet but they better get with it. Or that sound you hear will be them falling out of first place.

__________________
My grandkids are cuter than yours !
Rock on Chargers !

Lets go Padres !! All the way in 2009

navyones

Kevin Towers and John Moores have made the Padres non-contenders for the last seven seasons. Why should this season be any different? The Padres' management has lied to the fans repeatedly. We were promised that once the new ballpark was built, they would put a contender on the field.

The recent trade of Nevin and the trade of Blum are proof of the desire of Kevin Towers to sabatoge the Padres.

Here is a great example of Padre management or mis-management: Fan favorite Eric Owens is traded for Mark Kotsay. Kevin Towers states: "Mark Kotsay is the future of the Padres." Where is Kotsay now? This is the type of lies that Padre fans have bought for the last seven years.

Plus, the fans were promised affordable tickets at the new ballpark. Has anyone, besides me, been to a game at Petco? If you have, then you know that the good seats are overpriced; they are reserved for the filthy rich.

If the Padres really want a winner, they should start by getting rid of the biggest loser on the team: Kevin Towers.

sunrisetech

And again.
And again....
And again.....

Sure was fun being in 1st place while it lasted.

PrObLy

On behalf of the city of Chicago I would like to apologize to the Padre fans that we disappointed over the past few days by letting the D-Backs (or, D-bags, as I like to call them) take 3 of 4 from us and pass you in the NL West.

I thought it would be good news that you guys are getting Adam Eaton back, but I just read that he won't be allowed to throw his curveball, has lost velocity, and will be placed in the bullpen.

Sorry guys :-(

navyones

Thank you! Most Padre fans are used to this type of let down though. I have become very humble over the past few years thanks to the poor management and ownership of the Padres.