LouisEly

Those who follow the Minors forum know I've been on the Mike Walker bandwagon for some time. Not going to be a star, but a high OBP guy who could be a left-handed bench bat. Jacob Barnes has put up some good numbers striking out almost one per inning. I think the Brewers are high on him as they converted him from a reliever to a starter late last year. The one I was really high on, and am anxiously awaiting to see how he comes back from injury, is "The Mad Bahamian" Sean Albury. Had a great start to his career in Helena last year but is hurt now. The last guy drafted from Nova Southeastern University turned out pretty well...

I didn't say it was the case, I said I wondered if it was. And all of my African-American friends prefer to be referred to as "black". As Balkin said, the other dark-skinned players on the team are Latin, not "black".

I think you're on to something, and I'll take it a step further. I wonder how Rickie feels about being the only black player on the team? Yes, he is 30 and there could be some age decline but at 30 I would not expect this much age-related decline so quickly. I just wonder how much he enjoys playing in Milwaukee without any other black players on the team. His decline has also corresponded with the number of black players on the team. 2013 - Weeks 2012 - Weeks, Morgan 2011 - Fielder, Weeks, Morgan, Hawkins 2010 - Fielder, Weeks, Cain, Dickerson, Hawkins, Jeffress 2009 - Fielder, Weeks, Cameron, Hall, Bourgeois, Patterson

The challenge with that is whether umpires will think that changing a call will make their fellow umpires look bad. Will they make the right call, or will they be more concerned about perception by their peers?

This. It is the arrogance of some (not all) to refuse to admit they made a mistake. My opinion is that it is a combination of things mentioned. Only certain events are reviewable (like safe/out plays and run scoring plays, not check swings, balls/strikes, etc.), teams are limited to a certain number of reviews a game plus one review that can be used in the 9th inning only (keeps a team from blowing all their reviews early), and the decision is made up in the booth by someone who is already reviewing it as the umps are leaving the field. I keep going back to Armando Galarraga and how he should officially be recognized as one of only 23 players ever to have thrown a perfect game. To be a member of a club that exclusive, but have it taken away by a bad call, is what makes replay worthwhile.

Let's take a look at the Cardinals have built their team: Jason Motte (2003, 19th round, Iona College - drafted as a catcher) Jaime Garcia (2005, 22nd round - says high school but was drafted in 2004 by the Orioles in the 30th round but didn't sign) Mitchell Boggs (2005, 6th round, University of Georgia) Mark Rzepczynski (acquired as part of Colby Rasmus trade, was 5th round pick in 2007 from UC-Riverside) Allen Craig (2006, 8th round, UC-Berkeley) John Jay (2006, 2nd round, University of Miami) Daniel Descalso (2007, 3rd round, UC-Davis) Matt Holliday (traded for Clayton Mortensen - 2007, 1st round, Gonzaga University - and Brett Wallace - 2008, 1st round, Arizona State) Pete Kozma (2007, 1st round, HS) Lance Lynn (2008, 1st round supplementary, University of Mississippi) Shelby Miller (2009, 1st round, HS) Joe Kelly (2009, 3rd round, UC-Riverside) Matt Carpenter (2009, 13th round, TCU) Trevor Rosenthal (2009, 21st round, community college) Matt Adams (2009, 23rd round, Slippery Rock) Carlos Martinez (2009 amateur free agent - prior signing by Red Sox voided) Adam Wainwright (part of trade for J.D. Drew, 2005 1st round, Florida State) You know what I see? Not many HS players. Lots of college players drafted after the 1st round. To me that says coaching and player development more so than player identification. One thing is for sure - the Cardinals have not focused their drafts on high school pitching.

Well, it's a long season. If you have too many blowups this early in the season the team will tune you out. Like others have said, it isn't RR's fault he has to choose between Yuni/Gonzalez/Lalli at 1B, RR isn't the one constantly swinging at pitches down and outside of the zone, and RR isn't the person walking the #7/#8 hitters. He isn't perfect, but his hands are tied a bit. You can't lose Ramirez and Hart for most of the first 5 weeks and expect to put a lot of runs on the board. While I was an early member of the Axford bandwagon in his minor league days, my question is this - who is responsible for making the ultimate decision about whether he is sent down, RR or Melvin? The injuries to Gamel/Hart/Ramirez/Green/Narveson have caused a 40-man roster crunch, but Axford has two options left - why isn't he sent down to figure out his stuff? Sanchez is on the 40-man and could easily take his place for a few weeks.

If Garnett and Pierce retire would Doc Rivers want to come home?

For a guy who is only 5'10" (listed) Gennett's walk rate is abysmal - worse than Gomez and almost as bad as Yuni. It's not like he's 6'6" and has a huge strike zone like Corey Hart. Maybe the lack of power makes pitchers less careful when pitching to him and thus they throw him more strikes than other players, but for having a relatively small strike zone compared to taller players his walk rate should be higher. Especially in the minor leagues when facing pitchers that have less control than major league pitchers. He's a guy I'd have no problems trading if another team is high on him and willing to give up decent value.

So here's a dumb question. I looked at Wooten's line to see how he was getting the non-strikeouts and the box score said two groundouts and two flyouts. But Wooten pitched 3.1 innings (10 outs) and only had two strikeouts. So I looked at the play by play and there were three pop-outs and one line-out. So pop-outs are not considered fly-outs for statistical purposes? While I've been on the w00ten bandwagon since the start, even though it's a small sample he's only yielded six hits and two walks in 13.2 IP. The 0.68 GO/AO ratio has me a bit concerned with what will happen at the major league level in Miller Park, but he's two years removed from TJ surgery so he should be fully recovered and last year his GO/AO in AAA was 1.14. Not closer material, but a cheap average bullpen arm from a 13th round draft pick is not a bad thing at all.

There was a running store on University Avenue (north side of the street, kind of across from Smokeys) but they moved a month or two ago. Not sure where they are now, but I don't think they moved too far away. Edit: Berkeley Running Company, still on University but now in the shopping center by Subway and that Thai restaurant. Same owner, he's usually there.

This is one of the many things that stats can't quantify. Playing with this type of effort, enthusiasm, and energy rubs off on the other guys in the clubhouse and helps pick them up after a tough loss, on a long road trip, and keeps them loose over a long season. He seems to be the ring leader of the post-game shaving cream pie delivery service, a valuable role on any team over a long season.

I suppose it beats Fox Sports Chicks or Fox Sports Babes...marginally. [sarcasm]But it doesn't beat Fox Sports Broads![/sarcasm]

I'm not sure how long Gmail has been doing this, because it seems like it hasn't always been this way, but I've noticed within the last year that when I delete an email on my Android phone (HTC Evo) via the standard/default Mail app it also deletes the email on the server which then deletes the email on my computer (Thunderbird email). I don't want this to happen. I don't have this problem using the same Mail app when I switch to my Hotmail email account though. I noticed that my Hotmail account has a setting that I can uncheck that will not delete the mail on the server; I don't have that same option in Settings for my Gmail account though. According to my research, this is due to POP vs IMAP settings. When you set up a Gmail account on the phone using automatic settings it automatically sets it up with IMAP protocol and IMAP does not give you the option to delete on the phone but not on the server. Apparently the reason I have that option with my Hotmail account is because my Hotmail account is set up with POP protocol. So I looked up the POP protocol settings for Gmail and changed the settings of my Gmail account on my phone, but my phone would no longer download email from my inbox. I looked up POP troubleshooting for Gmail and it suggested changing the username to "recent:username@gmail.com". When I did this it downloaded my email, but it also downloaded not just my Inbox but also my Sent mail. Does anyone know how to set up a Gmail account on an Andriod phone using POP settings, or any other settings, so you can delete email on your phone but not on the server without downloading all mail (Inbox and Sent) to your phone? Thanks!

Don't know if it made it out here, but Kona Brewery's Koko Brown made my top 5. 1) Leinie's Berry Weiss 2) Miller Chill 3) Kona Koko Brown 4) Leinie's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter 5) Shocktop Raspberry Wheat

Leinie's Orange Shandy, here I come... ... decent, just a hint of orange flavor. Wish it had a little more orange to it, like a raddler (beer and orange soda).

Packers 2nd round pick is up - chime in with your vote

This is why I didn't go into sports broadcasting. Former pro athletes who talk like Mushmouth and pretty long blonde haired women are hired long before competent, knowledgeable male non-former-athlete journalists.

Seats for both games are sold.

Surprised to see Michael Strong back at Wisconsin after his 2012 line of 42.1 IP, 30 H, 60K, and .195 BA-A. Maybe they want to see his walks come down first. Good step in the right direction for Fiers. Just need a little better control.

Open mock draft over at Lambeauleap.net (look for thread "2013 LL.net Mock Draft?"). You don't have to pick a team, it's a group effort - anybody can take whatever pick is up. On post #4 on Page 1 I will keep tabs on who has been drafted by each team so you can see if a player has been picked. Use the hot swap link above (Lambeauleap.net Forum Jump) to go right from here to the NFL Draft forum.

Like Harris, Henson's big games have come against bad opponents or opponents who are without or holding out their star players. Yes he put up big numbers against OKC, but OKC held out Durant and Perkins and Ibaka only played 8 minutes. Henson was matched up mostly against Perry Jones, another rookie drafted after Henson who has only seen action in 38 games this year. Yes, Henson has some skills, but he still needs to get stronger or he will get tossed around. Against Denver McGee and Koufos combined for 12 offensive rebounds, McGee had more offensive rebounds than Henson had defensive rebounds, and Faried didn't even play.

I have two tickets for both Friday 5/3 and Saturday 5/4 versus our classy friends, the Cardinals. [sarcasm]Make sure you wear your suit and tie[/sarcasm]. Field level, 6th row (Section 109, Row 6) - great seats. These are on the first base side so for Saturday's game you won't have the sun in your eyes like on the third base side. Friday 5/3 - $35 each (box office price is $42 for this section plus $5.25 service charge) Saturday 5/4 - $45 each (box office price is $50 plus $5.25 service charge)

Sorry, someone snatched the tickets off of Stub Hub before I got your message.

The point isn't that players shouldn't be sent down to the minors. The point is that young players shouldn't be sent down because of the results of a small sample of starts/ABs/etc. Unless there is an obvious mechanical flaw or the player's confidence is shot, they should be given time to succeed - that is what builds their confidence. Three starts isn't a large enough sample to judge results.