BERIGAN

Are you kidding? I'm thrilled the Brew-crew are having a banner year! I'm even more excited for Coco, proving once again that any pitcher that gets out of the incompetence of the Rangers "organization" always flourishes. Yeah, I am happy for them, in spite of it being Selig's team! Dan, this might be the best team against an AL team. They have a fair bit of offense, and Yovani Gallardo just made his first career start, and looked pretty good. So along with Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, and Claudio Vargas they have decent starting pitching as well. Sheets and Cordero have to stay healthy for them to have any chance though. But, I guess that is true will most teams, isn't it? If Beckett and Dice-k got hurt in Sept, how far would the Sox get in the playoffs?

Hey, that's great!!!!

Yeah, we are a weird team. After the first game of the series, we were 3-1 against the AL central leader, and the AL east leader...then shut out back to back nights! You expect it from Beckett, but from Tavarez??? Hope you got to see some of the brilliance of Bobby Cox, leaving in a starter till there is a 7 run lead in the 2nd, leaving the hottest hitters on the team (Next to Edgar) on the bench(rookies Salty and Escobar) for the series. Not that we need offense, clearly we are a terror with Thorman and McCann in there,(Hey, McCann hit a 85 MPH pitch for a homer, he is back!) and Chipper saying he can only hit singles right now. And who can forget bringing in future closer Soriano in during a blowout, something he has had problems with all year(He even says he has trouble concentrating when the game is not on the line) and what do you know, he gives up a bunch of runs! I don't care if he is the manager most players in baseball want to play for, or how many games he has won, he is not the guy you want to help you win when it really matters ...he is the Gary Sheffield, the A-Rod of Managers.... And if we trade Salty, or Escobar for anything less than a teams #1 starting prospect, I will just start following the cubs, or Cards again....

Dan, hope Schilling is ok. Mike Gonzalez was lights out, had some pain in his elbow, 2 MRI's showing no problem. Was pain free, pitching great, then had a 80+ fastball all of the sudden, but no pain(right away) 3rd MRI showed he needed Tommy John surgery....good sign he didn't feel pain the next day though... Oh, and look out tonight, we actually have a chance! We have benched Willie Mays,(Scott Boros was saying that the other day!) AKA Andruw Jones!! .202 BA. Guess they want him to slip under .200 against the Tigers.

China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter John Vidal and David Adam Tuesday June 19, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Cyclists pass a factory in Yutian in China's north-west Hebei province. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show. The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China's growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. China's emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world's biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, soaring demand for coal to generate electricity and a surge in cement production have helped to push China's recorded emissions for 2006 beyond those from the US already. It says China produced 6,200m tonnes of CO2 last year, compared with 5,800m tonnes from the US. Britain produced about 600m tonnes. Jos Olivier, a senior scientist at the government agency who compiled the figures, said: "There will still be some uncertainty about the exact numbers, but this is the best and most up to date estimate available. China relies very heavily on coal and all of the recent trends show their emissions going up very quickly." China's emissions were 2% below those of the US in 2005. Per head of population, China's pollution remains relatively low - about a quarter of that in the US and half that of the UK. The new figures only include carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production. They do not include sources of other greenhouse gases, such as methane from agriculture and nitrous oxide from industrial processes. And they exclude other sources of carbon dioxide, such as from the aviation and shipping industries, as well as from deforestation, gas flaring and underground coal fires. Dr Olivier said it was hard to find up to date and reliable estimates for such emissions, particularly from countries in the developing world. But he said including them would be unlikely to topple China from top spot. "Since China passed the US by 8% [in 2006] it will be pretty hard to compensate for that with other sources of emissions." To work out the emissions figures, Dr Oliver used data issued by the oil company BP earlier this month on the consumption of oil, gas and coal across the world during 2006, as well as information on cement production published by the US Geological Survey. Cement production, which requires huge amounts of energy, accounts for about 4% of global CO2 production from fuel use and industrial sources. China's cement industry, which has rapidly expanded in recent years and now produces about 44% of world supply, contributes almost 9% of the country's CO2 emissions. Dr Olivier calculated carbon dioxide emissions from each country's use of oil, gas and coal using UN conversion factors. China's surge beyond the US was helped by a 1.4% fall in the latter's CO2 emissions during 2006, which analysts say is down to a slowing US economy. The announcement comes as international negotiations to produce a new climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012 are delicately poised. The US refused to ratify Kyoto partly because it made no demands on China, and one major sticking point of the new negotiations has been finding a way to include both nations, as well as other rapidly developing economies such as India and Brazil. Tony Blair believes the best approach is to develop national markets to cap and trade carbon, which could then be linked. Earlier this month, China unveiled its first national plan on climate change after two years of preparation by 17 government ministries. Rather than setting a direct target for the reduction or avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions, it now aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20% by 2010 and to increase the share of renewable energy to some 10%, as well as to cover roughly 20% of the nation's land with forest. But it stressed that technology and costs are major barriers to achieving energy efficiency in China, and that it will be hard to alter the nation's dependency on coal in the short term. What China needs, said a government spokesman, is international cooperation in helping China move toward a low-carbon economy. Chinese industries have been hesitant to embrace unproven clean coal and carbon capture technologies that are still in their infancy in developed countries. http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatec...ed=networkfront

http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf

Congrats!!!! Buy two Mosaic sets every time you get one, for his college fund!

Anyone own this? If so, just a one time play kind of thing? Personally, I like hearing the word shit said from someone in the 19th century..... http://www.venerablemusic.com/AudioLinks/ARCH_1007_09.rm

He's pretty fuckin' funny! Side note, can a Red Sox fan talk about their team without using the word fuck every fuckin' 5 words?

Ah, that's what I get for just looking at the paper catalog! Thanks! A bit more digging, and it shows under coming soon, and that it came out in April. Methinks there was some sort of delay....still, wonder why Jazz Oracle doesn't have it on their own site, no matter when it comes out??? Sounds like the Eddie South set is one to save my pennies for! Just checked Amazon, and no listing at all for this set. More pennies for Worlds records, which is fine.....

Can't go wrong with this set!

Funny, I never noticed an email mentioning this sale starting 6-1(did anyone get it?) but I got one yesterday saying Saturday was the last day . SUPERSALE is the code....hope it works for everyone!

Oh, and Andruw Jones is hitting .215 for the season, but has played in every game and is STILL batting clean-up! No need to rest him, or bat him lower in the order!(I think he batting 5th once and 6th twice)

Patrick, glad it was fun for you, just made me mad again! Funny thing, last night Cox had the 3rd baseman on the line late, and the Thorman on 1st for the 9th! Like Dan says about the Sox, you hate to lose games that were all but won, or that Cox and Francona seem quite content to just win 2 out of 3 and put scrubs out there for getaway day, or whathaveyou. Cox has blown about 5-6 games leaving starters in too long, or using Wickman and other relievers 3 nights in a row...and every time we face a lefty(and I don't know whats going on this year, but we have faced perhaps 40% lefty starters this year!) wanting to Bench McCann, Scott Thorman or Kelly Johnson for Woodward or Pete Orr. Orr and Woodward are next to useless, yet Woodward is on a pace to get 250 AB's! Hopefully, Cox will get over his love for at least one of them and at least make Escobar the main backup infielder/right handed bat off the bench. Really, he should play regularly, but no place for him right now. Hey Dan, want our current shortstop???? As for Soriano, except for last night, he has been unbelievable. I mean something like a hit every 3rd inning he allows? Great guy to have pitch the 8th..for now. He will be a great closer for us. Still don't know how Seattle traded him for the often injured Horatio Ramirez. "HoRam" can be very good, but as usual is injured. EDIT. Saw I said Woodward was on pace to get 20 AB's meant 250!

Hey now!!!! Wickman has been very good since coming over last year. It's just that Bobby Cox is turning into a complete idiot this days. It looks like we are going to have quite the June swoon again. Cox rode Wickman hard, and put him in two of three games against the Rockies, where his pitches were doing a whole lot of nothing. Next thing you knew, he was on the DL with back issues. Ok, fast forward a few weeks. Rafael Soriano, who we completely stole from the Mariners is amazing, giving up only 11 hits in 28 innings, has had several saves while "Wicky" was out, then Mike Gonzalez, who we got for Adam LaRoche had Tommy John surgery. So, it looked like it might make sense to keep using a guy that throws 98 MPH for strikes as the main guy, but we didn't. I actually understood this, It worked just fine for Detroit to have a soft tosser after the flame throwers, BUT you have to pick your spots. Soriano came in during the 8th, with a 2-0 lead, got two outs, and did it so convincingly, you'd think Cox would let me take care of the 9th in another building where Wickman hadn't always had a lot of success. But, no lets send him out there and lets send him out there with our super switch hitting catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia(Forever more known as Salty, ok?) playing his very first full game at first base! Nah, no sense taking him out and putting the guy(Scott Thorman) who has been at first base all season in, besides, Salty's the backup catcher because worthless middle infielders Pete Orr and Chris Woodward have photos of Bobby having sex with a yak(allegedly;) ) So, no 3rd catcher, even though you want to give the kid a chance to play somewhere, anywhere!!! Oh, I could go on about the stupidity of leaving Andruw Jones in cleanup with a .215 average, or the fact that Andruw and "Frenchy" have played every game (Great, we only have 4 outfielders total, 2 catchers, and 3 backup infielders!) But, back to the game! So, Wickman comes in, and not only do we have Salty playing in the 9th, but so is rookie 3rd baseman(really a SS) Yunel Escobar! And no one tells him, or motions him to guard the lines!(Classic Cox ball is to NOT guard the lines late in the game, burned us at least once during the playoffs-but, Cox doesn't exactly learn from mistakes) so, a left handed hitter Castillo bounces a ball to his left(gotta love astroturf-which no one has in the NL these days) for a single down the line, another bouncer finds salty-he stops it with his chest, but couldn't do anything else with it. Then Cuddyer tripled past Escobar(Who really is a good fielder-but ain't near the line, again!) one run is in. 2-1 game. Wicky gets Torii Hunter to pound the ball into the ground, but it takes one of those lovly astro turf hops, Escobar backs up, the runner tries to score from 3rd, and he has to throw over the head of the runner, and the formally good catcher McCann can't get 1 inch off the ground to catch the ball, but makes a nice tag on the Cuddyer, so nice the ump calls him out, but the ball has gone back to the screen. Runners 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. Then, Redmon singles, Twins, win. So, if you just see the boxscore, you see Wickman gave up 4 hits. It was all his fault you'd think, but it wasn't. His manager, who between playing, coaching, and managing, has probably watched games for 45 years, didn't put him in a very good position to win with raw rookies and 1st and 3rd, and not telling the coaches to have the players guard the mother-fucking line!!!! Shit, and I sometimes defend Cox,but there is no way a team will ever win a WS with him in charge again. He is great with players, they will run thru walls for him, play hurt, whathaveyou, but he just doesn't think much anymore.......Soriano should close in situations like last night, 2-0 in a park like that one....

Ok, I see the cd in the worldsrecords.com catalog. Don't know how new it is, but assume pretty new relase from Jazz Oracle. $17 thru Worlds records. So I just thought I'd see if was much cheaper somewheres else. Couldn't find it on Amazon. Ok...Then I remember Oracle has there own web site! http://www.jazzoracle.com/ So, I check there. And, I can't find the cd!!! Must be my mistake. I dig around some more. The only new releases are a Jack Teagarden called, Jack Teagarden 1930 Studio Sessions Sounds pretty interesting. So does this Eddie South set Eddie South Cheloni Broadcast Transcriptions, 1933 (3 CD set) Then I see that they haven't updated the website since august of 2006!!! Hmmm. Could that be the problem? Why would you put out a cd, but not update your website to show this fact? I still feel it may be buried somewhere there, but I can't find it. I have done a google search, and didn't seem to pull up any info except a link to worlds site. http://www.worldsrecords.com/cgi-bin/store...mp;phrase=60793 There was a cd I picked up several years ago that had their commerical releases, I think it was on the "Teagarden" label, but looks to be long out of print.(What a shocker) I checked out the www.jackteagarden.com site, but no mention of either relase. So....anyone own it yet???

Eh, shit happens. Here's a rare feel good story about Philly fans and an ex-Philadelphia sports hero.... Thome gets appreciative rise out of Phillies fans By MARCUS HAYES hayesm@phillynews.com White Sox' Jim Thome tips his helmet during ovation before his first at-bat in Philly since 2005. DAN BAKER, the public address announcer at Citizens Bank Park, added the relish and flourish normally reserved for the home team when he unfurled Jim Thome's name in the first inning of yesterday's game, the first time Thome's name was announced during a Phillies game since 2005. The crowd of 42,677 reacted predictably: It rose and cheered. Thome stepped out of the batter's box and enthusiastically doffed his batting helmet. "I tip my hat to the people of Philadelphia," said excitable White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "That's a class act." That's what Thome was in Philadelphia. He revived interest in the Phillies when he signed as a free agent for the 2003 season. A season later, the club set records with more than 24,000 season tickets and more than 3.2 million in total attendance at new Citizens Bank Park. For his part, Thome hit 96 homers with the Phillies before he was traded to the White Sox to make room for ascending first baseman Ryan Howard. He left part of his heart in Philadelphia. These days Thome is a designated hitter. He started at first base for the first time since the White Sox played the Cubs last July. He did not even get an at-bat in the first two games of the series, so he and the crowd were primed for a lovefest. "They showed me the love when I was here," Thome said. "When I tipped my cap, I showed them the love back." Very nice of them to do this!!! Not a battery was tossed I hear! Seriously,

We joke about Yankee injuries but at that point I will be sticking pins into any Yankee object I can get my hands on. Note to Ghost, stay away from Dan all season long!!!!

I am a bit confused about this. Before the tapes are sent to iron mountain, will "they" transfer all these tapes, or have they already been transferred to a digital format? If not, aren't they likely to continue to degrade, even in a decent vault? I never heard about old films being "frozen" at the current level of disintegration, they keep up their progress into dust. Of course, I am thinking about nitrate film....which is quite unstable as it ages.

I sure hope the Chung family can somehow counter sue this piece of shit!!!!! A Washington judge sued his dry cleaners, seeking $67.3 million. By ARIEL SABAR and SUEVON LEE Published: June 13, 2007 WASHINGTON, June 12 — Roy L. Pearson Jr. wanted to dress sharply for his new job as an administrative law judge here. So when his neighborhood dry cleaner misplaced a pair of expensive pants he had planned to wear his first week on the bench, Judge Pearson was annoyed. So annoyed that he sued — for $67.3 million. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press The shop’s owners are Jin and Soo Chung, Korean immigrants. The case of the judge’s pants, which opened for trial in a packed courtroom here on Tuesday, has been lampooned on talk radio and in the blogosphere as an example of American legal excess. And it has spurred complaints to the District of Columbia Bar and city officials from national tort reform and trial lawyer groups worried about its effect on public trust in the legal system. “I don’t know of any other cases that have been quite this ridiculous,” said Paul Rothstein, a professor of law at Georgetown University. The trial, laced with references to inseam measurements, cuffs and designer labels, got off to a rocky start. Judge Judith Bartnoff of District of Columbia Superior Court limited Judge Pearson’s last-minute bid to broaden aspects of his case and cut short his efforts to portray himself as a “private attorney general” championing the rights of every Washington consumer. “You are not a we, you are an I,” Judge Bartnoff said in one of several testy exchanges with Judge Pearson, 57, who is representing himself. “You are seeking damages on your own behalf, and that is all.” Later, while recounting the day he says the cleaners tried to pass off a cheaper pair of pants as his, Judge Pearson began to cry, asking for a break and dabbing tears as he left the courtroom. The lawsuit dates back to spring 2005. Mr. Pearson, a longtime legal aid lawyer, was appointed to a new job as a District of Columbia administrative law judge. Judge Pearson says in court papers that he owned exactly five suits, all Hickey Freemans, one for each day of the workweek. But the waistlines had grown “uncomfortably tight.” So he took the suits to Custom Dry Cleaners, in a strip mall in gritty northeast Washington, for alterations. When the owners, Korean immigrants who came to America in 1992, could not find one pair of pants, Judge Pearson demanded $1,150 for a replacement suit. The owners did not respond; he sued. Using a complicated formula, Judge Pearson argues that under the city’s consumer protection law, the owners, Soo and Jin Chung and their son, Ki Chung, each owe $18,000 for each day over a nearly four-year period in which signs at their store promised “Same Day Service” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” In opening statements, Judge Pearson cast himself as a victim of a fraud on a historic scale, perpetrated by malicious business owners who had no intention of delivering on those promises. “You will search the D.C. archives in vain for a case of more egregious or willful conduct,” he told the court. He called a series of witnesses who complained of rude or unresponsive treatment at Custom Dry Cleaners. The defendants’ lawyer, Christopher Manning, told the judge that his clients were the victims. He characterized Judge Pearson as a man embittered by financial woes and a recent divorce, who had nursed a grudge against the Chungs since a spat over a different pair of pants in 2002. “The plaintiff has decided to use his intimate knowledge of the District of Columbia laws and legal systems to exploit non-English-speaking immigrants who work in excess of 70 hours per week to live the American dream,” Mr. Manning says in court papers. Mr. Manning said there was no mystery about the whereabouts of the pants: They have been hanging in his office closet for a year. Judge Pearson, however, has said those are “cheap” knockoffs the Chungs had substituted for his pinstriped Hickey Freemans. He has rejected three settlement offers, the latest, in March, for $12,000. Last week, Judge Pearson revised a few claims and lowered his damages request to $54 million. Judge Pearson’s future as an administrative law judge is in limbo. His two-year term expired on May 2, and a judicial panel has yet to decide on his reappointment. In the meantime, Judge Pearson remains on the city payroll as an attorney adviser to the Office of Administrative Hearings, at a salary of $100,512.

Another belated Happy Birthday!!! Hope it was a great one!

Amazing game by Verlander! 102 MPH in the 9th???? You know what is even more amazing?(Kinda, sorta) Buster Olney said the Padres could have picked him in the 1st round in 2004, and skipped him for a guy named Matt Bush, who was an infielder, but who now is going to try pitching. Can you imagine how good the Padres staff would be with Peavy and Verlander???? Double

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz............... Now AL, to be fair this was his second home run in just the last 4-5 weeks....he just needs to adjust the meds a bit, and he will be killing the ball again!

Though a good thing for a pitcher & team to be able to do, I don't recall running across any study that showed a strong tendency of high team pitching strikeouts as being key to winning. I'm guessing WHIP would be stronger, but last I read the best measure still seems to be some multiplicative combination of (batting) OBP & SLG as being the best predictors (not OPS, as one of the 2 is slightly more important - I think OBP but I'm not positive.) Truth is I'm not the quant freak I used to be (hey, I got a life!, or a better semblance of one), so I've likely missed a few studies in the past few years. Not telling you anything you don't know, but the low K rate on the Yankee staff reflects the patchwork rotation they've had. Also Wang is a highly unusual pitcher in that his numbers shout out there's no way for continued success, but the reality of trying to hit the "heavy ball" of his that results in DPs is another matter. Still, the guy looks like a candidate for a Scott Erickson fade-away when he hits his 30s, if not sooner. The August onwards numbers will improve if they get Hughes back and otherwise don't suffer more damage to the staff. I wouldn't want to be betting against injuries at this point, though maybe they've used their allotment up. Well, as a long time braves fan, I know that soft tossers get you nowhere more often than not. Glavine, Maddox? Swell pitchers, great control, always changing speeds....an ability to convince umpires that a pitch 3 inches outside might have had a stitch go over the front corner of the plate. But, never had consistent success in big games. Just take Glavine's pitch to left field, over and over(hats off to him for what he did with the Mets last year) And with Maddox, you know he will throw around the plate, and can't throw one past you, so just look for something early in the count. Smoltz found this out after sitting in the Bullpen for 3 years in the playoffs, and seeing that without a power pitching starter, the braves kept getting knocked out, and all he could do was watch. That, and his bad elbow were reasons he went back to starting.....

A story to make you feel all warm and fuzzy!!!