BERIGAN

Scott Rolen is likely to retire...a possible HOF'er, I've heard a few managers say he was the best 3rd basemen they've ever seen.. http://www.cbssports.com/general/blog/eye-on-baseball/20546139/scott-rolen-sounds-like-hes-going-to-retire

Funny, they never mentioned Raul Ibanez is 40. what a game for him!

http://fakeconvos.com/view.php?id=54171

Seeing the O's win was nice, but I felt bad for the Rangers in the same way I feel bad for the Braves...a very good year, yet it's like you ended in a tie and you had to play one more game to decide who gets to go to the playoffs...but it's a "playoff" game...I think Bud loves this, because baseball is in the news...just spell the name right. As for the Rangers...nah, they are still loaded to the gills with talent(Even if a lot of elbows have grenaded themselves) . IF they can/want to trade Profar or Elvis for say, David Price... A rotation with Price, Darvish, Matt Harrison(gee, but I'd like to see him pitching for the Braves, but Tex has been so good for the braves since the trade) Derek Holland, and I'm sure Jim and Al knows much more about the really good arms that are close to being ready...and you know the Rangers will always hit. And you have to have some vets, I seem to recall a certain Phillies team winning it all with a bunch of guys MUCH older than the rangers, and hell, those old shits had to play on that green concrete to boot.. I think at least part of the braves problems was most of those guys haven't played in the playoffs before, and that's why they choked on defense(I think Chipper had to be tense knowing it could be his last day to ever put in uniform on) It seems so simple, to just relax and have fun. Who knows how much of it was steroids boosting his confidence,or what, but Manny Ramirez always looked like he was just playing a spring training game when he was in the playoffs, and he was the most dangerous hitter out there....

If they lost after basically choking on defense, that's sad for we braves fans,(And Chipper should not have the end of his career come because he threw wide) but God, what a horrible call! Why can't the umpires talk amongst themselves to resolve this? and I am just seeing the call was made as the ball was 15 feet from the Cards SS!!!!

I hate that. That's what was done in the '81 strike season. The Cards & Reds had the best records but neither won a half and so were left out of the playoffs. This format is used in single A short season ball (and perhaps other leagues) though the minors are different since the best players are promoted along the way. I'll screw up something I read somewheres(hopefully not here! ) anyway, someone suggested if a team won the division with a so-so record(like Detroit) then they face the team with the best record, basically, forget division or W.C. team, worst team recordwise plays the best team....too radical for Bud, no doubt...

Happy Birthday Brad!!!! :party: :party: :party: Are you still....53?????

Hey, can you mention any names the el-cheap-o Braves could get for 20% of Tex's numbers???? Please, I beseech you, don't make me defend Tex! End of the year, he will still have 30+ HR's and 100 + RBI's and will play stellar defense... And no team can look as bad as the braves did being swept by the Mets....no hitting, overrated starters...we have a GM telling the press who will and won't be a starting pitcher weeks before spring training ends(A really clever GM would trade for Kris Medlen and have a guy who would win 12-15 games with a 3.50 ERA, but with the braves, he will be our 4th best bullpen guy) Medlen had a 0.82 era in S.T.(they wouldn't let him start anymore, cuz you know..he's 26, he is just a bullpen arm) Julio Teheran , AKA the next Pedro Martinez #1 had a sparkling 9.37 ERA , but just couldn't make the cut out of S.T. Nope, Randall Delgado, AKA the Next Pedro Martinez #2 beat him out with a microscopic 7.89 ERA. I am being really mean to them, they both pitched decently late last year but were both out of steam at the end of the season. Delgado is only 22, Teheran is only 21...but, they are clearly, CLEARLY not ready now...neither made it past 5 innings the entire spring. Medlen was 6-2 in 107 innings, in 2010, with a 3.68 ERA...then blew out his elbow...He should start, show other teams he can still start, and perhaps get traded for the outfielder we so desperately need. Doesn't anyone have a crowded outfield with a need for a good #3,4 starter? We can trade you Medlen and Prado...give our stoopid GM a call, he might finally wise up that the team that collapsed late last year is the same team they are trying to win with this year. Well, good thing no GM was smart enough to listen to me! And the Braves GM wasn't dumb enough to trade him (or Prado for that matter) Medlen has a 1.57 ERA for the year, about 2 runs per game lower than I would have expected. And his ERA as a starter was lower than that...still don't believe for a second they were "saving" his arm after T.J. surgery, for the stretch drive. He's going to 27 in a few days! Worry that the one game playoff is just ripe for the braves to lose 2-0. Cards have just about the most potent lineup in the NL, and after all, they won the W.S. with basically the same lineup, save for Phat Albert. Glad he's not playing tomorrow...It's an impossible dream, but I'd LOVE to see Chipper play his last few games in Yankee stadium. By the way, A.J. Burnett, in one of the few classy moves of his career (he wouldn't come to Atlanta a few years ago when the Braves offered a ton of Moola, because the misses likes to take a limo to the game, and it was too darned far from wherever they live on the east coast to ATL, so the braves had to overpay for 4 years of Derek Lowe, and our own Dice-K, Kenshin Kawakami, who got paid 7-8 million to play in AA last year) Burnett. tossed a fastball down the middle, that Chipper spanked into right in his last regular season AB. Might have missed Ben Sheets pitched in his last game yesterday too. Started his 250th and final game. Pitched one inning, struck out 2. Was hitting 95 MPH. Seems his arm was fine, but the dunces(Manager? Pitching coach?) didn't think about using him for over a month, so he decided it was time to bow out. I'd love to have him in the bullpen, IF the braves make it past the 1 game playoff....

Who is manager of the year? Showalter, or Melvin? Almost as cruel to have one of them lose as it is for one of the teams to lose. As for the Rangers...well, I've seen other teams, say, Yankee teams look worthless, then viola, find the magic seemingly out of nowhere. 1996 WS, the Braves beat the Yankees, at home 12-1, then 4-0. I bet you couldn't find anyone that would take a bet that the Yankees would win the W.S. (and they did, winning 4 straight games) Granted, different teams, no Jim Leyritz on 'roids , but a day of rest, and the feel of the playoffs...and I also recall a red sox team in 2004, that played TERRIBLE defense, yet won it all...Oakland and Baltimore have very young, very inexperienced starters...never know how they will react under pressure...could go all the way like the Marlins did against the Yanks, but so many of these guys have never pitched in September before, nevermind October... we shall see!

I was going to look that up, I remembered he had a really "low" top BA. Guess we know why they lowered the mound after that year...

Wow, have your psychic powers told you the braves will beat the best hitting team in the NL? Ok, Rockies are hitting 2 points higher, but they don't count! I'm talking about the Cards.... That's a load off my mind! I also thought "we" were going to have to face the Nats. Don't tell me who wins, let me be surprised! Quincy, you if no one else will appreciate this. Hunter Pence has 104 RBI's(Well, Goodspeak is probably happy about that fact) in 101 games with the Phils, 59 RBI's. .271 BA. in 57 games with the Giants, 45 RBI's, yet is only hitting .224. How do you do that? He must have gotten some tips from Adam Dunn...

Well, news to me, and after all, isn't that all that matters? I wonder if Samsung has thought of charging a bit more, to make up for the lawsuit?

I'm a Yankee fan, but this year's Orioles might just be one of those teams of destiny. Much as I hate to say it, they're enjoyable to watch as they keep playing hard and keep on coming. It's teams like Baltimore and the A's that make baseball, baseball. No one could see those two teams being in the hunt (well, more than being in the hunt) with just a few games left! And both teams are doing it with truly no name, very young starters.

I was seeing everyone and their brother talking about it a few months ago...started using it, started to get what seemed like a fair number of ads,so did what I do with pandora, hit mute on the keyboard...well, Spotify doesn't like you to do that...the ads would freeze! Even if you did it for 10 minutes, unmute, there was the ad. Something about that really burned my britches, so after awhile, I gave up on them. Hmmm, wonder if I just turned the volume way down, if the ad would still freeze?

True enough. But Darvish has also been displaying a change up that is more typical (i.e. - 85 mph or so). So the uncertainty factor for the hitter is just multiplied that much more. If you see one change-up enough, a good hitter can time it and do something with it (even if it's just fouling it off to stay alive in the count). But now you're looking at a guy who is becoming even more unpredictable in both what pitch he will throw and what speed he will throw it. Timing gets a little bit more complicated now, especially when you throw in some of those "gotta be an optical illusion" breaking balls he can throw. Darvish's big issue this year has been control, way too many walks, way to much falling behind in the count, way too much nibbling instead of going for the jugular. His last 5 starts or so, have seen a dramatic (and consistent) improvement in all of that, so it looks like he might have begun to get around that learning curve, in which case...really good things might be in store. Time will tell. I don't have any facts to back it up(but why should that stop me? ) but I wonder if hitters in Japan are more the "hacker" type of hitter than hitters in the U.S. ? Just seems like a lot of Japanese starters seem to have issues with walks(Daisuke Matsuzaka, and , well, thought Kenshin Kawakami walked a lot with the braves, not true, just not all that good) Everyone remember me totally predicting the Braves sweeping the best team in the NL(Nats) after the braves were swept by the Brewers? No matter how long you watch this game, you just can't figure it out... And it's nice to see Chipper finally get a fair bit of press, at the very end of his career. I remember checking out the Red Sox blog, The Sons of Sam Horn just a few years ago(the place where Dan would seem quite calm in comparison ) and someone asked if Chipper was a HOF'er . And almost to a fan, no one thought he was. He's had a quiet career for a guy who was on so many division winners....3rd most Homers by a switch hitter, most RBIs of players who mainly played 3rd, and a .304 career B.A.

The Brewers and Phillies are both 4 back in the W.C. Race! http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/_/type/wild-card Imagine if the Brewers had signed Papalbon, they would likely be battling the Reds for the NL central. Don't know what the Phils could have done, short of be healthy all season... Even though the Braves likely have one W.C. slot sewn up, they are really having offensive issues the last few weeks. (they won back to back games without scoring via a hit, which must be some sort of record) starting pitching and bullpen have been great. But...whether you get the "top" W.C. slot or the bottom, it sucks to basically have a one game playoff. And Curt Shilling and I agree(I'm sure he cares deeply about that fact!) There is a pretty decent chance that there will be the need for a 163rd game before the one game WC playoff. And there is no space on the schedule for one. Anything that will upset Selig...is aok with me!

I thought everyone knew Airplane was the funniest film ever made, who needed research to tell us that fact?

Ha! They're nothing compared to Yuni Beatencourt. Apparently, you guys have never heard of Jeff Francouer.

need a SS. Yeah? Yeah...they got one too....the personality challenged(Just like his older bro) Stephen Drew..but I may have been wrong about really needing one, they are really on a roll...Baltimore and the A's are the most unlikely teams to be playing so well coming into September...

Funny, I don't recall seeing this thread before...also funny, but not surprising to see most of my favorites mentioned.... Airplane is , IMHO, the funniest movie ever made, or ever will be made. Love 30's comedies, but it's not that often I find myself doubled over in laughter watching them, but films like My Man Godfrey, Easy Living, Lady Eve(Ok,thats the 40s) are forever fresh. As for the Marx Brothers, love all their films(well, except for the Big Store) but the first 10 minutes of Horse Feathers is about as funny as you will ever see a film be. There's a Wheeler and Woolsey film (Just looked it up, Hold 'em Jail) that's like that too, great lines one right after the other, then about 15 minutes into the film, either the main writer either died, or was fired, and the film tanks. What About Bob...man, wish they had made other films together, they really worked well together. Dryfuss is great in what could have been a thankless role. Housesitter, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn(as an habitual liar) is right up there with What About Bob. When Martin has to sing Tura Lura Lura , that is the definition of painfully funny! And Yes, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a great film! John Candy should have won an Oscar for his performance. Bruce Almighty...I don't know that I have ever laughed harder than during this scene...

Ok, ok, I know...everyone is saying to themselves, what does Berigan think about this trade that doesn't affect the braves in any way, shape or form? First off, Beckett is going to pitch better because he will be in a much, much bigger park, facing teams like the Braves (but, the braves aren't playing the Dodgers on this west coast trip, weird) who have a backup shortstop playing everyday hitting .206 in the 8th spot, the some lame pitcher that hits worse than your granny, batting 9th. That is going to help. Plus, like HoRam, he will want to prove it still can pitch. Carl Crawford...don't think he can live up to that contract, but he was hitting .282 (19 RBI's in 31 games) with that bad elbow. But, he will miss half of next year...nope. Position players can come back much sooner. Zack Cozart, the Reds shortstop, had TJ surgery last August, and was the opening day shortstop this April. And it would seem a SS puts much more stress on his elbow than a LF'er. Plus, anyone ever see him work out? He might even outdo Matt Kemp's workout. Might. Anyway...the Dodgers will have a very good, if overpaid leadoff hitter next season, and Matt Kemp, HoRam, Andre Either, and oh yeah, the best pure hitter of all of them, Adrian Gonzalez driving him in...their offense has been terrible this year...no more.... So really, it depends more on whether the prospects the Red Sox get pan out or not, cuz I think it's going to work great for the Dodgers...time will tell. But, I am rarely wrong...when it comes to baseball.

In their early days it was just maddening how bad they were at trades! The All Star team was full of players Houston had traded away. Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Denis Menke, Jimmy Wynn. Cesar Geronimo. And a bunch more. It wasn't all bad. They made out like bandits in the Nolan Ryan/Jeff Bagwell trades Edit. Just realized that they signed Ryan as an FA.I got them confused with the Angels. Still that Bagwell trade had to be one of the greatest fleeces in MLB history. True that....Mike Scott was transformed once he left the mets.He had 5 seasons in a row where he was one of the top starters in all of baseball. Imagine how good the Mets in the mid 80's would have been with Scott and Gooden! Another amazing rookie may get the call up soon, Slide Billy, Slide! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1308245-cincinnati-reds-will-we-see-billy-hamilton-in-the-majors-this-season As I recall, Scott had more than a little help. Learning how to cheat is NOT a transformation. FYI, the Mets already had the best pitching staff in baseball by a wide margin in the mid-80s. Gooden, Ojeda, Darling, Fernandez, Aguilera, Cone. It's true the Mets had a very good starting staff(though Aguilera was never a full time starter) but Mike Scott was great...it's funny how players just swear someone is a cheater(remember how Nolan Ryan was supposedly throwing a spitter/scuffed ball, in Texas?) Seems someone mentioned recently, Enos Cabell, helped turn Scott, into great Scott... http://espn.go.com/page2/s/1986/011011neyer.html What do you know? I lived it, and I lived close to it. Aguilera was the 5th starter, whenever they needed one. Mike Scott was never great. He was scuffing, and that was not rumor. What the heck would Enos Cabell know about pitching? I assume you just wanted to bitch at someone, and didn't read the article. You are right, Mike Scott was never great, like in 1986? 18-10, 2.22 ERA,(lowest on Mets that year, Bob Ojeda 2.54) 275 Innings(Most on the Mets that year, Gooden, 250 Innings) 306 strikeouts, (Gooden, Sid Fernandez 200 Ks) Between 1985 and 1989, Scott never pitched less than 218 innings, nor had an ERA above 3.29 any year. 86 wins over 5 seasons on a team that never scored much. But, he sucked cuz some Mets players said he scuffed the ball. Amazing how he was able to do this all the time, and was never caught. Guess MLB was just biased against the Juggernaut that is the Houston Astros.

In their early days it was just maddening how bad they were at trades! The All Star team was full of players Houston had traded away. Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Denis Menke, Jimmy Wynn. Cesar Geronimo. And a bunch more. It wasn't all bad. They made out like bandits in the Nolan Ryan/Jeff Bagwell trades Edit. Just realized that they signed Ryan as an FA.I got them confused with the Angels. Still that Bagwell trade had to be one of the greatest fleeces in MLB history. True that....Mike Scott was transformed once he left the mets.He had 5 seasons in a row where he was one of the top starters in all of baseball. Imagine how good the Mets in the mid 80's would have been with Scott and Gooden! Another amazing rookie may get the call up soon, Slide Billy, Slide! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1308245-cincinnati-reds-will-we-see-billy-hamilton-in-the-majors-this-season As I recall, Scott had more than a little help. Learning how to cheat is NOT a transformation. FYI, the Mets already had the best pitching staff in baseball by a wide margin in the mid-80s. Gooden, Ojeda, Darling, Fernandez, Aguilera, Cone. It's true the Mets had a very good starting staff(though Aguilera was never a full time starter) but Mike Scott was great...it's funny how players just swear someone is a cheater(remember how Nolan Ryan was supposedly throwing a spitter/scuffed ball, in Texas?) Seems someone mentioned recently, Enos Cabell, helped turn Scott, into great Scott... http://espn.go.com/page2/s/1986/011011neyer.html

In their early days it was just maddening how bad they were at trades! The All Star team was full of players Houston had traded away. Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Denis Menke, Jimmy Wynn. Cesar Geronimo. And a bunch more. It wasn't all bad. They made out like bandits in the Nolan Ryan/Jeff Bagwell trades Edit. Just realized that they signed Ryan as an FA.I got them confused with the Angels. Still that Bagwell trade had to be one of the greatest fleeces in MLB history. True that....Mike Scott was transformed once he left the mets.He had 5 seasons in a row where he was one of the top starters in all of baseball. Imagine how good the Mets in the mid 80's would have been with Scott and Gooden! Another amazing rookie may get the call up soon, Slide Billy, Slide! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1308245-cincinnati-reds-will-we-see-billy-hamilton-in-the-majors-this-season