Dan Gould

Well, its interesting that there are all these direct quotes, but no real mention of his physical/medical status, except for the lead-in to his "I am in full control" quote. I'd have expected a mention of whether the interview was phone or in person, and how he sounded. Anyway, it seems clear to me an attempt to rally the players, who of course shouldn't need it. Tonight may very well be the end of an era, with Torre and Clemens gone and decisions to be made about Posada, Mo and possibly A-Rod. Posada is set on testing free agency, the interesting thing would be if any of them suddenly have second thoughts about re-signing if they know that Torre is gone. Like I said, could really be the end of an era.

Astute observation, Trot is in fact in the starting lineup! Hopefully this will work and hopefully Clemens won't be nearly as effective as Schilling... I TOLD you he should be in the lineup!!!

He's already said he'd insert Giambi (who owns Westbrook in his career) and I can't imagine pulling Matsui and leaving Mientkiwiecz at first. Even though Matsui is struggling, it makes more sense to keep him in and have Doug available for a late inning defensive replacement if the Yankees have the lead.

Hey Patrick, is there any chance Trot gets the start against the Rocket? Its been five, six, seven years, but he has had some huge hits off the old man.

Ah, now I see. I didn't think I'd given you a good reason for being ornery. A good way to avoid such confusion in the future is not to start a sentence aimed at the general population with someone's name. I always report these things to the appropriate "spoof" addy. In fact I've noticed that the new Hotmail has an option for reporting phishing attempts, unfortunately this one showed up at my gmail account.

As we head into two days of Game 3s with four teams facing elimination, anyone care to make predictions? Which team still has a chance? Which team is toast? Which team is still dangerous? I'd say the team with a chance is the Phils, if their hitting busts out. I also have a feeling that the Angels won't get past Schilling tomorrow. Something about the way Friday's game went, the injury problems, and the recent history against Boston. I think the Red Sox bats will pound on Weaver and provided Schilling doesn't make any egregious mistakes and is kept on a short leash, the Sox should complete the sweep. New York remains the dangerous team for several reasons: They play well at home and are facing fairly mediocre starters; If Wang comes back and pitches well on three days rest, Pettitte pitches Game 5 on regular rest and could repeat his Friday performance. So ... the Tribe needs to go all out to win Sunday night. Hopefully Clemens either doesn't have it or tweaks his groin and walks off the mound in the third with a big deficit and the boos raining down on his mercenary head. I have to stay positive about the Cubs but they can only turn it around if everything swings their way - pitching and hitting.

Anyone else think that their "pitch track" is either calibrated way off or else all of the umpires are having terrible days?

And you're in an equal spot of trouble if you didn't catch the facetiousness of my thread title, or the fact that I pointed out his failure to disguise his phishing URL.

:party:

Well, some of them are. This one, not so much. Yes, they're getting mighty tricky now - this particular phisher didn't even bother to 'disguise' the link, or attempt to duplicate the appearance of a Paypal message.

Thanks for your concern, but the voice is fine. What a critical win, considering how poorly Dice-K looked. Now they can go to LA needing just one, and we shouldn't have to use Dice again in this series. In fact, I am wondering if they plan to readjust the schedule for the ALCS, depending on how long it takes to finish off the Halos. I do think they want to keep Dice on a longer schedule of rest, if possible. Ideally, of course, Schilling gets it done and then the ace, Beckett, is lined up for the first game. But I wonder if they'd skip Dice and have Schilling go in Game 2, if the days of rest work out, which I am pretty certain it will. But a great win, with the bullpen doing its job (I hope no one really thinks Delcarmen was trying to get Vladi out of the game) and finally someone really paid for walking Papi to get to Manny. Now if I could just get the Cubbies in gear, all would be right with the world. But it doesn't get much better than being up 2-0 while the Yanks are down 0-2 and looking at Clemens and Mussina to send it back to the Jake. I just hope that everything holds up the rest of the way, and that the ALCS is as good as it looks like it should be.

If Carmona pitches well today, I wouldn't expect it. And working in the Indians favor is the fact that they had tremendous success against lefty starters this season. Pettitte better put his poor September behind him and pitch like its 1999 or the Yanks will go home the same way that the Cubs are: hoping to go on a three game win streak. I also find it interesting that Torre says he is considering bringing Wang back on three days rest for Game 4. How much of that is worry about Mussina and how much of that is wanting Wang to pitch at home, where he is much more of an ace, than on the road where he's basically mediocre? ************* Patrick, I'm surprised you're asking; the format for all seven game series is as its been since forever. 2 - 3 - 2.

I went to a Catholic school in 7th grade. We were still learning fractions. I wasn't in Catholic school but I know I didn't encounter quadratics before eighth grade, and I was in "advanced" math. Most of my classmates didn't get it until 9th grade.

Yes, and it really boggles the mind that in all of his regular season starts, he has two complete game shutouts while in the post-season he is already tied for second all-time with three. Now we'll see if Dice can follow it up with some magic of his own; seeing as the Angels have never seen him, I have a good feeling that he will. Not to mention the fact that they really only have one home run hitter, Vladi, and if Dice has a problem its the long-ball, I like his chances even more. So long as we hit Escobar, we should be well situated. We'll have to see if the Rockies win was a crushing one for the Phils or not, but no doubt its a very bad day when your one decent starter can't get the win at home. You could say the same thing about the Cubs except for the fact that after the number 1 starters, I think its fairly clear that the Cubbies smoke the D-Backs two and three. That's why I was telling my Mom that while it would be nice, a win in game 1 is not critical. On the other hand, having to face Webb twice in a five game set means its possible that Arizona only has to win one other game.

Unless I missed a third person reference to himself, I don't think aloc wrote this.

There's one big difference in what you said, Matthew: Turns out the Red Sox weren't safely out in front on September 8. So its not really true that Drew came up with some decent stats when it didn't count. It did count down the stretch in allowing them to clinch the division and home field.

Chris, what you actually said was "Realistically, prayer won't do it" - meaning, pray all you want, it can't have any effect on George's health. Not only does it denigrate the beliefs of some people, but Evan's article suggests that, your atheism aside, there are measurable health benefits to spiritual "assistance". Regardless, all that needed to be said is the latter half of your post: "I hope George is getting the best of care and that he regains his health."

Even worse if she found the stash of junk food with the stash of porn. That would be the Organissimo perfect storm of reasons to kill your significant other.

Count me as a fan. The one Argo that must be heard is Early In The Morning which features a front line of Basie players (Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Al Grey, Joe Newman). Great album and well worth the search.

Interesting roster decisions for Boston and the Angels: Bartolo Colon and Gary Matthews are both out for the ALDS. Matthews hurts more than Colon since Colon was out for most of the year anyway, but it leaves a big hole, offensively and defensively, for the Angel lineup. Presumably Figgins moves to the OF, and I don't think that's his best spot. Meanwhile, Wakefield had a cortisone shot in his back on Saturday and is off the roster. They do think/hope that he will be available to make a start in the ALCS and/or World Series if they go that far. Jon Lester is his replacement as starter insurance, which is an interesting choice over Julian Tavarez. Tavarez didn't get much work in September but he certainly has experience coming out of the pen if a starter has to come out early. Lester made his first relief appearance of his career on Sunday, and has been pretty darn inconsistent in his comeback season. I think the two of them are equally likely to blow up a game; they probably went with Lester because he's going to be with the team for a long time while Tavarez' option probably won't be picked up. They also made what I see as a foolish roster decision, carrying three catchers - Tek, Mirabelli and Kevin Cash. The main value Kevin Cash showed was that he could catch Wakefield when Mirabelli was hurt. Now Wakefield isn't on the roster but they keep Cash? Makes no sense, even if Tito talked some BS about making sure that they are covered if/when they need to pinch-run. Does this mean the only time they will pinch run is if Tek/Mirabelli or Cash is on base? And if they do that, that means they don't expect to use Ellsbury as anthing other than pinch runner? I just can't figure out that roster move, but with Matthews out and Colon not coming back to help out, at this point I have to say that it will be a major, infuriating upset if the Angels advance.

Let me get this straight - you think that poor novices come to a bulletin board like this, have never heard the term "cover" and walk away sadly misinformed? You have got to be kidding me. No rational person in this day and age can be unaware of the modern usage of "cover". There is no thought necessary. You didn't get the memo about how language evolves. We're sorry about that, but feel free to continue to tilt at those windmills. Back in my day we didn't have people callin' new renditions of songs "covers"! We knew what was meant by that term, and we liked it!

Well, now that the teams are set, time to entertain with my impressions/judgments of the contenders. NL: There are basically three teams that for various reasons are lucky to be where they are, and then there are the Cubs, who always seem to need some luck to reach the post season and in this case had the good fortune to have the Brewers as their main competition. Rockies/Phils: Too bad that the two hottest teams in the senior circuit have to play each other, as one or the other will find itself booted after going through major tribulations to get this far. Logic says that the Rockies are the more balanced team, but somehow I think the Phils will move on to the NLCS. Cubs/Diamondbacks: First of all, I think we should all hail the D-Backs for turning the whole "Pythagorean" theorem of win percentage prediction on its head. Its one thing when the Pythagorean theorem predicts that a team with a negative run differential should have a losing record, but who would guess that team would have the best record in the league and be the only team with 90 wins? Score one for the Baseball Gods against the stat heads. So will the D-Backs keep it up or can the Cubbies come up big and reach the NLCS? I really don't know the answer, I just wish that the games weren't on so late on the east coast. AL Red Sox/Angels: I know I was on record as preferring that the Angels play the Yanks but that was only because of their consistent success against Joe Torre. With John Lackey carrying a lifetime 1-9 record against the Sox and lined up to start two games, I have a hard time seeing the Angels win this series, and that is before considering that both setup men had poor second halves, Gary Matthews is hobbled by knee and ankle problems, and that elbow problems may force Vlad to DH. The Red Sox, on the other hand, are my slight favorites to win it all. Best record in the league and most balanced combination of run production (second in the league to the Yanks) and pitching (best in the league in ERA). What keeps me from making them prohibitive favorites are question marks about the bullpen, specifically Okajima and Gagne, concern about Dice-K and Schilling, and concern about Manny and his troublesome oblique. Yankees/Indians: The reasons that the Yankees may bring home the long-awaited 27th championship can be summed up very simply: The offense Joba Chamberlain + Mariano Rivera But there are big question marks about the rest of the team. The team ERA trails every other playoff team except the Phils. Andy Pettite has been a big-time October performer, but his September ERA was nearly 6. Wang had a better September and season, but he's lined up to start on the road, where he had an ERA of 4.91 and BAA of .300. After that its Clemens/Mussina/Hughes and no one has a clue what will happen there. Add to that the fact that Torre has no good options in his bullpen outside of Chamberlain/Rivera and that the Yankees will have to win on the road to get to the WS, I expect that the wild ride of 2007 will come to a premature end. The Indians are a deep and dangerous team with the best 1-2 combination at the top of their rotation, excellent setup relievers, and a deep lineup that replaces one or two big boppers with a lineup with a lot of guys who can rake. The one obvious flaw is the closer and his staggering 5+ ERA. If the Division Series go as I expect, the biggest challenge the Indians will face will be closing out a win or two at Fenway.

If we already have a perfectly good word for recording a tune that somebody else has recorded, what is it? Revival or reinterpretation. MG So bar bands playing classic rock shouldn't be called "cover bands" but in fact should be "revival bands"? I propose we rename them "Lame Musicians Who Play Other People's Music In Order to Get Girls Because They Can't Write Their Own" bands?

The term is not being misused. It has evolved just as the practice that gave rise to its original meaning has virtually disappeared. The original meaning is nearly as archaic as those who are now bitching about its modern meaning and those who use it for its modern definition.

No doubt one of the greatest one-game playoff games in MLB history, sad for Hoffman to blow it twice in three days when his team just needed one win, but extra sad that the umpires blew two critical calls. No doubt in my mind when I went to bed that he was blocked from the plate, and what was the ump doing, waiting til the catcher started to go apply the tag to make the call? I know he's slow on the balls/strikes thing, but if the guy tags the plate and the ball scoots away, signal safe! If the guy misses the plate and the ball scoots away, don't signal anything. That was really pathetic.