Dan Gould

Sorry I'm late, Andy. Hope it was a good one.

The follow up to Tavarez is that there are whispers that with so many arms in the bullpen, someone is sure to be traded, with one possibility being Mota & Wells to the Dodgers for JD Drew ... an interesting possibility, I'd be more excited if Drew weren't so injury-prone.

But he's wearing sandals in the winter!?WTF??? That's a Coyote's game, not a Bruins game. It was probably 80 degrees that night. MEANWHILE, great news out of Boston (if the report is accurate): Red Sox Sign Julian Tavarez I tell ya, we may not have a shortstop of centerfielder, but with Tavarez, Seanez & Mota added, plus Timlin and the rookies who figure to make an impact, Hansen and Delcarmen, PLUS a healthy Foulke, there's no doubt in my mind the Sox will have the best bullpen in the majors next year. Especially if Foulke is the Foulke we've known and loved. But either way, with the shakeup in the Yankee bullpen, Yanks fans better hope Mo's arm doesn't fall off and that he doesn't start his inevitable late career slide. But either way, there's no question about it: The Sox have the better bullpen, and to top it off, they added a stud starting pitcher. Add a slim-downed, man on a mission Schilling and I'm ready to start the season with Cora at SS, cuz this team will win plenty of 4-0, 5-2, 3-1 games.

Unfortunately, Greenwell ain't going in, but the streak will start again with Manny.

I agree. And while I think Goose is more deserving that Sutter, I was glad to see that for once the writers looked at player's peak rather than being enamored with a long hanger-on career where "magic" numbers were reached. Hello. (Where's the wave emoticon?) He's wrong though. Most hitters from (for example) the Dodgers, Padres and Athelitics do better on the road. Most Rockies and Red Sox hitters do better at home. Park dimensions that are out of whack with the league norm have a tremendous effect on player stats. He was very strong. He may have lost home runs at Fenway because of the wall, but he did hit 54.4% of his career total there. He also lost fly outs to left field as the Monster ate those up & turned them into to hits so his batting average improved. Here's his home & away HR totals: Home Away '74 01 00 '75 12 10 '76 12 13 '77 27 12 '78 28 18 '79 27 12 '80 11 13 '81 10 07 '82 09 15 '83 16 23 '84 17 11 '85 11 16 '86 10 10 '87 07 06 '88 09 06 '89 01 02 Total 208 174 Sorry it doesn't look sharper - I've forgotten how to format tables. I'm not going to split up your comments, I'll just make several points: Number one, parks like L.A. and Oakland are pitcher's parks. Naturally players on those teams do better on the road. Number two, you are simply wrong about the wall eating up "outs' and padding Rice's BA. Undoubtedly he hit a few off the end of the bat that brushed the wall ... but anyone who watched him in those years knows that he hit far more rising line drives that would have gone out anywhere else, including the Bronx' "Death Valley," but became doubles or even singles at Fenway. Number three, I am fundamentally unimpressed with a split of 54/46 in homers. You act as if Fenway made him what he was ... if the split were even 60/40 I'd almost believe you. But its not. Look at some of those splits, and think statistically for a moment. Would you agree that a difference of three or less in a given year would be negligible and due to chance? Then lets look at his years of dominance, '75 to '86: Four of those 12 years show a significant difference in homer totals favoring Fenway. Three of those 12 years show a significant difference in homer totals favoring road homers. The remaining five years are either split exactly even or within 3 or fewer difference in homers. That might explain why your overall difference is so negligible. Hell, even looking purely at your year-by-year break down, I see 8 years that favored Fenway, 6 that favored the road, and 1 that split evenly.

Now you're just making shit up. But I tell you what, no more pics of Curt until pitchers and catchers report.

I just had to share this image with my Yankee friends: That's photo was taken just a week ago. Have you ever seen Schilling so slender? He sure looks to me like a man on a mission to prove that 2005 was lost to injury and rehab, not declining skills. I think Curt's gonna put up numbers like 2004. Now if Foulke returns to 2004 form, I don't care about Damon, the Sox will be very tough to beat.

There's no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Goose belongs, and as Shaugnessey in the today's Globe suggests, maybe after next year's party for Ripken and Gwynn, Rice and Gossage, two major combatants from the legendary '78 season, will go in together. That would be highly appropriate. Speaking of Rice, Shaugnessey identified Bill Madden of the NY Post as one writer who can't quite pull the trigger for Rice, and it all seems to boil down for him to the fact that Rice didn't reach 400 homers, which is bullshit. But as Rice himself points out, he reached 382 in relatively few seasons. He's listed as playing 16 seasons, but his first was a 67 at bat cup of coffee, and his last season only saw 200 at bats. So in reality, he played 14 1/2 full seasons. Last point I'll make, someone mentioned Fenway as some major factor in Rice's success. As Kevin Kennedy points out on foxsports.com, of course players do better at home; its part of the reason they're on the roster, because they figure to play well at a particular park. But more importantly, its not at all clear that Rice's homer numbers are inflated by Fenway. The guy was so strong, and hit so many screaming, rising line drives, can there be any doubt that the Green Monster actually took homers away from him? I think anyone who watched Rice at Fenway in his prime decade knows the answer.

A classic, and very important for the presence of Ike Quebec. Nowhere near enough was recorded by that man, so I appreciate every bit available.

I've thought about doing that, but I have this fear that even visiting such a site is going to do something to infect my machine or worse yet, find personal info on it, even if I enter the username and password you suggest.

I think he be spammin'.

As I understand it, there's no Vet committee vote this year, but I understand there's some sort of special committee looking at Negro League stars for reconsideration. And that means (I expect) that this man: Will get his due.

I hate to quote myself, but here's a telling reminder from the past, courtesy of ESPN.com: Three guys broke 60%, three guys made it in the next four years. Same thing will happen now.

And one more thing: I'd really like to know who voted for people like Walt Weiss, Gary Gaetti, Gregg Jeffries, hell, anyone who voted for any candidate from Dwight Gooden down. These people have no business casting ballots, they should be banned from any future balloting. They obviously have no clue what it means to be a hall of famer, so I would be curious to see who else they voted for. I wonder what would happen if you eliminated the ballots of fools who think Weiss or Gaetti or Gooden belong, and recalculated the results. I wouldn't be surprised if these are the same fools who refuse to vote for Rice, Gossage, et. al.

Only Sutter made it, which is how I looked at it this morning. Here are the votes: What's ridiculous is an idiot like Steve Phillips is now declaring that Rice, Gossage and Dawson now have no chance at ever getting elected, all because next year is reserved for Gwynn and Ripken. As if these players are dropped from the ballot now. Yeah, 2007 won't be an easy ballot to crack, but the fact remains that from 2008-2010, the only bona fide new candidate is Rickey Henderson. Now I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed that Rice didn't break 70% this time, but I also note that there are three candidates now resting in the 60% range, and I'll go on record right now: By 2010, all three, Rice, Gossage and Dawson will be in.

Anyone responding to any message in their email, whether it appearss to be from ebay or paypal or whatever, deserves what they get. Never follow a link in such an email message. Go to the website yourself and log onto your account there. I hope you sent this to spoof@ebay.com

See, Marty? THIS is why I'm thinking about over-stamping anything I mail in the near future!

The one factor you don't mention is the likelihood that enough writers will make their own judgements that regardless of what he might have accomplished, unjuiced, they believe he juiced and they won't vote him in. Remember, while steroids may not have been explicitly banned by MLB at the time, they were a controlled substance and possession without a prescription violated federal law.

Not all that bad but one time we were on final approach into Newark (and I mean, under 1000 feet) when all of a sudden the pilot went to full throttle and we climbed at a very steep angle. Everyone was looking at each other when the pilot apologized and explained that there had been aircraft on our runway.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind that Cal is in, right off the bat. If he isn't, send me an Orioles cap and I'll eat it.

I agree. McGuire was a shoe-in at one point, but if he cops to steroids after the statute of limitations expires, then he'll be finished. Admitting using them will be even worse than the way he handled the congressional hearing. I'll say right now that the chances are maybe 10% that McGuire makes it. Pretty sad.

We should probably wait til this year is done before talking about 2007 and beyond, but here are the upcoming first-time candidates, courtesy of Jayson Stark (my expected first-year electees in italics): 2007 Harold Baines, Derek Bell, Dante Bichette, Bobby Bonilla, Jeff Brantley, Jay Buhner, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco, Eric Davis, Tony Fernandez, Tony Gwynn, Darryl Hamilton, Pete Harnisch, Charlie Hayes, Glenallen Hill, Ken Hill, Stan Javier, Wally Joyner, Ramon Martinez, Mark McGwire, Paul O'Neill, Gregg Olson, Cal Ripken Jr., Bret Saberhagen, Jeff Shaw, Kevin Tapani, Devon White, Bobby Witt 2008 Shawon Dunston, Travis Fryman, David Justice, Mike Morgan, Tim Raines, Randy Velarde 2009 Mark Grace, Rickey Henderson, Dean Palmer, Dan Plesac, Matt Williams 2010 Andres Galarraga, Edgar Martinez, Robin Ventura Stark notes in his column that Rice has only three more shots after this year. I know that the number of votes he needs is still fairly high, but at this point I'd be happy he cracks 70% this year, because historically, virtually everyone who reaches that level has eventually made it, and after Gwynn and Cal go in a year from now, Rice will still have two more chances, and only Rickey Henderson is a first-year inductee in the group for 2008-09.

Its definitely been a pain in the ass at the PO lately, between holiday shipping and now the postage increase. Last time, I used the automated machine thingy for my package shipping, which is great because its as if no one understands what it does and you can beat a huge line in a minute or two. Now with the two cent increase, if things don't improve, I am thinking about using my last half packet of .37 stamps two at a time til they're gone, then buy a new roll at the new price. Call it my way of helping the USPS fight that never-ending operating deficit. And, keep my sanity by avoiding those lines.

I don't need the search function to find the political forum. I re-read the beginings of the thread and it still looks like the thread was moved and then Chris stopped posting for a few days. How does Dan know he left? Does he post with his broadband connection and then watch the political forum with a dial up connection on another machine? http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...topic=21591&hl= Read post 7. Hell, you're such a dumb fuck, you even posted in the very same thread. But what can you expect from a "musician" whose most complimentary press is, "It's fundamentally static, but I can listen to literally hours of the stuff. Its the best thing since Prozac."

Or just have it in for me because, like a former smoker who's now militantly anti-smoking, I am a reformed Political Forum junkie. Having seen how much better the board is without that garbage, I do my best to insure it doesn't infect the rest of the board. Albertson is no doubt sick of preaching to the choir and continuously starts topics in the Miscellaneous Forum which are obviously political in nature and I keep calling him on it. It even led him to "leave" the board but that obviously didn't take and now that a topic is posted without the slightlest connection to politics except the historical fact that the man had joined the Nazi party gives Chris leave to post as a fool does.