GAME05

How many saves would Axford have to have at seasons' end to factor into the discussion? K-Rod was never really considered in his record year, and Lidge had a perfect year in the Phillies' WS year and didn't get a mention. no way Axford even enters into the conversation, especially considering a lot of his saves have been close calls and not the no-chance 1-2-3 innings that Eckersley got in his MVP season. it seems like you're at an immediate disadvantage with the Cy Young if you're a closer and not a starter to begin with.

guess i don't mean to turn this insane thread on a tangent, but as long as we're on the subject ??? what are you methods of landing a chick, or if you have one, how'd you sucker her in? ignore me if this doesn't quite fit in with what we're talking about here. although what are we talking about here?

i've always heard that pit bulls are very affectionate dogs. i'd agree that the way an animal behaves is 99% related to the owner. that said, pit bulls are just that much scarier for what they've been bread to do, and that a mean one is far more vicious than other breeds. i was almost torn up by one once, but i guess that's another story. a good friend had his lab for a few years before his baby was born. he loves his dog dearly, but whenever the dog and baby were in the room together he was on the edge of the chair thinking "Dog, I love you, but if you so much as growl at my son, I'll be on top of you in an instant." great part about good dogs is they seem to understand human infants. his dog will just lie there as it's getting poked in the eye and having its face slapped by a baby. all it does is get this pathetic look on its face that says "hey, help me out here, man."

a 12-hour rotating shiftwork schedule is just absolutely awful. it's 5am right now and i'm almost done with my shift. two days ago at this time i was waking up to go to work. also, it took me about 45 minutes to write this post, because for the last 44 i'd been staring, unblinkingly, at a coffee cup.

that's awesome BUC. plus now she's got that one extra candy bar to sell. if anyone really liked those fundraiser candy bars, you can get discounted ones for cheap at Delaneys. it's the place with the metal sculputres in the yard real near that abandoned ammunition plant up 12 as you head to Baraboo. but don't ever buy the cheap boxes of cereal, because they're all stale.

i'm going to set myself a deadline that whether or not i have a new job waiting for me, i'm going to leave this job and this town in six months. in about six months' time, i'll have reached that magical two years of experience in my field which every mid-level job seems to require. some businesses are loose on this, but i've known some (government) municipalities who won't even consider resumes that don't show two years of experience if that's the requirement, regardless of other qualifications. Plus, six months more at this job will put me at 10 months total time, which is enough to say i've learned the skills of the position. i can't bear it here any longer than that. saw a job back in NC that was perfect, required a degree plus two years' experience, and then it said it paid all of $24,000 per year. a person couldn't afford a cheap apartment on that. i'd be almost tempted to take that sort of job (but in a good city) and work my way up from there. maybe i could trade in my car to get a minivan and sleep in that. i'd save up good money even on $24,000 and could shower every morning at the Y. i know it's been done and i'll try, but i don't hold out much hope of finding a low-level out-of-state job. eventually they'll want to interview you in person and i can't afford to fly to a bunch of interviews.

now this is all getting stalker-y.

go to a game and hold up a sign that says "Marry me Tube Top Girl" with your real cell phone number.

to complain that his first career HR celebration wasn't totally appropriate is a bit St. Louis-y.

there's no versatility with Overbay, and the only way Fielder is going to take a day off is if he's chained in his home. i'd like him off the bench, but for the amount of playing time he'd see, there's really no point in picking him up.

just thought i'd update everyone on how things were going...sorry, though, i realized i kind of bogarted this thread and didn't mean to make it all about me or anything. been at the Park Ranger job about three/four months now. absolutely miserable there. have a very hard time transitioning from the night shift to the day shift and back again, and the work isn't satisfying. but i can't complain all too much, as i'm banking $100/200 per month and this time i have a job while i look for another one. it should be interesting to try and look for government work in a struggling industry while applying out of state. i might as well have a criminal record for the impossibility of that search. but i guess i can always jump to that zipline tour guide next year if i feel like i need to. this town has been rough, too. nothing like not fitting in wherever you go. the best way to advance in my industry is to stay in one place and work your way up, so i'm going to be a little picker this time about landing in a place i know i'd want to stay at for a good while. but not to make it all about me, if you're looking for work and are good at physical labor, withstanding the heat of Texas and know something about machinery, i live right where all the shale fracking/oil exploration is down here, and workers are flooding here because you can make $100,000 for six months worth of work. people are taking home $2500 in a paycheck after taxes and i see a lot of people walking around town with $100 bills. granted, there's no available places to live, so people are living in RVs in parking lots and getting bussed to work, but so be it for that kind of money. oh, and Kilgore, so far i've been able to withstand the heat fairly well. some days are bad, but i drink a couple gallons of water per day. i also regularly dip my head in the sink and then wear a wet rag under my hat to keep my head wet. i heard once that old-time ballplayers used to wear a cabbage leaf under their hat when they played in the field to keep themselves cooler--i haven't tried that one yet, but i'm curious.

uh, i'm pretty sure Dillard was released last year and retired or something. i thought we were going with a 24-man roster since Kameron Loe takes up the space of two men. sure, next thing you'll be telling me is that Matt Stairs didn't retire five years ago.

i feel like i need to donate $5 to the CAP Fund every time i laugh at this thread. i think i owe them $4 Million now.

it was happening to me very late last night on Political Scene, too. i just hit refresh and it loaded the second time.

i'm SO cheering for something to actually come out of this--i wouldn't stop laughing. besides, don't most relationships start out with a drunken "So what's your name?"

surprised not to read McCutchen's name yet. Fielder stands out to me among the Brewers great players, but not head-and-shoulders above Weeks and Braun the way I think an MVP should stand out to his team. I'd think of Reyes, but I'm one of those who believes an MVP should come from a contending team (or at least above .500). McCann and McCutchen are the two players who stand out strongest to me.

my paternal grandmother listened to every single Brewers game on the radio since their inception. when Selig let Molitor go, she got really upset, and never listened to another Brewers game again.

Wade won't be around to see any of the prospects materialize. even if their new ownership group makes a splash in free agency, that team is still bound to lose 90+ games for the next three years. no GM can keep a job through that unless his name is Bando.

i was quietly hoping the Brewers didn't trade away the last of their farm system to get Furcal.

mlbtraderumors also reported the $1 waiver claim, though they probably picked it up from McCalvy. i bet Nieves got really sick of friends calling him about the $1 thing. but for all the people who would joke about it to him, Nieves has played in the Major Leagues and they haven't. that and i sure wouldn't mind the salary he's making this year--wow.

Pence has two years left on his contract after this season, so i don't know if the Phillies are necessarily overpaying. and Pence isn't making Carlos Lee money, either. the radio said it was Philly's #1 pitcher and #1 hitter, but neither are at AAA yet, so i guess you have to pay more when you're digging from the lower levels (we certainly had to with Odorizzi). i live in Texas and was listening to both the game and then their 10th inning show. a small number of Houston fans understood that he had to be traded, and a small number of fans are saying that Pence is "the next Ted Williams" (seriously). it seems like the slight majority of people don't like the trade and thought that Pence could be that "player to build your future around." I think Pence is a very very good outfielder, but he's old enough that he'll be in decline when Houston's good prospects come up, so no real reason to keep Pence around. so apart from Dominick Brown, I guess Houston has the rest of Philly's minor league system after trading Oswalt last year. ... radio caller: "what we can't know is if these prospects we got have any heart, and Pence had that. i don't care how much talent they have if they don't have heart, and heart is more important than talent." radio DJ: "well actually, i just looked it up, and Cosart had an 850 Heart Rating last year, and Singleton had a 760 Rating, so that's not too bad at all." [click] a great comment. i'm liking these Houston radio guys.

...and haunted.

too soon, man. too soon.

a lot like Liverock, i hate having to listen to people's dreams. "I had the craziest dream last night..." guh. i don't care! why are you telling me? yeah, i have dreams, too, but i don't go around telling everyone about them. --- slightly overqualified for the job--check. moves me back to Carolina--check. a nice work location--check. a fun job--check. ...and then at the bottom I see it pays a whopping $24,000 per year. they've got to be kidding.

worked 12 hours today, all outside, in thick jeans and 100-degree heat. (I understand the rest of the country is like this, but this is pretty mild by me.) The boss adds "And we're not even into the heat of the summer yet!" i felt like quitting right there and moving to Canada.