MJLiverock

Haven't watched it yet, the episodes are sitting on the DVR. I liked the first 5 or so season of The West Wing, Sorkin gets a little preachy at times which turns me off a bit but he is a good writer and in general I like his stuff. A friend of mine used to be a TV reporter and said she loves the show although cautions that the newsrooms she was in were quite a bit different that this portrayal. A lot of her colleagues have commented they hate the show because it is so unrealistic but I think that is how many fictional shows play out to those who really know how it works. I know just about every show or movie I have watched regarding the financial industry leaves me screaming at the TV because of factual errors, procedural errors, etc. but the average person likely never notices and just enjoys.

Watching the SNL paradoy of Zoey Deschanel is painful, it doesn't seem like much of a parody as is it is exactly a reminder of how much I can't stand her.

I know our office building management sent a memo to all saying that the most one can expect the A/C to cool the building vs. outside is 20 degrees. I am by no means an HVAC guy but I imagine even at 85 degrees inside Miller Park it would still feel pretty warm and I imagine it would take days to get it down 20 from 105. Keeping it cool after packing 40,000 adds to the load as well. My AC has been running almost non stop to keep it below 80 inside and that's with all the shades shut and a couple of bedrooms closed off. I know they said on one of the broadcasts that even if it rained they wouldn't close the roof because it becomes a sauna in there. I wonder how long it takes to cool AZ's field down? I just don't see that installing some super A/C system and running 5 times a year would be worth it to the team.

I would be interested to see the impact of the political and financial turmoil on Ersan's choice about going back to Europe. I remember a few years ago when articles were written about international sports figures wanting to be paid in Euros for some of the tennis, golf, and racing events. Now with the Euro in the tank vs. dollar and very real threats of massive tax increases on wealthy individuals I can imagine where being offered more money to play in Europe may not seem so attractive, especially in countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Russia and a deteriorating France.

I actually like him on Twitter and judging by some of the retweets he sent out of things fans were saying he should block more than few. He had some funny comebacks and in some cases just left it up to other fans to tear into idiotic comments. I end up dropping most athletes on Twitter because they only post promotional things about themselves, don't post at all, or seem to be just running a PR show. Axford is great because the posts seem to be his real thoughts, humor, and yes even frustrations.

It's refreshing to see people who actually appreciate Sheets. It seems as though the average fan ragged on him relentlessly after the injuries. As if he made the decision to get injured and, try to pitch through and eventually just make things worse. Especially the last year here when he threw knowing how badly we needed another big start and another ace starter, he went out there and tried to throw. Who knows, maybe if he just shuts it down he's pitching for Texas the following season and he's maybe even still pitching...you never know how one injury impacts another, how you adjust how you throw based on an injury. Anyway, he certainly made his injury worse, but his '04 season, in the midst of the steroid era is the best season by a Brewers pitcher IMO with Fingers MVP season coming in second only because Sheets pitched another 150 innings obviously. Seriously, I'd love to see what numbers he'd put up pitching in 2012 like he did in 2004. I think Greinke if he pitches here all year this year could challenge, but it'd still be tough to match Sheets 2004 season. He posted a ridiculous 8.0 WAR. Higurea had a 7.4 WAR and even CC's big year here and with Cleveland was only 7.6. It also puts Grienke's 9.3 WAR into perspective. I always liked Sheets and used to get so annoyed/frustrated when fans complained about him or acted like he wasn't any good. I think it stemmed from his record, I used to hear him glossed over because he never won 20 games and was usually only around .500. Of course no on considered how awful some of those teams he played on were and just limited their offense was when the bottom half of the lineup was filled with Tyler Houston, Royce Clayton, Counsell, Moeller, types and then Sheets. I remember going to games not expecting a single base runner after the 5 hole. Sheets would have needed to pitch a complete game shut out nearly every outing to have a chance at 20 wins on some of those teams.

I think Monty57 hit it with Ishikawa to Kotsay comp but the Izturis to YB's made a strong push. Still amazes me to see posts expecting good things from Izturis prior to the season.

A good reminder of how the Izturis signing was viewed and now how much he is hated. I think the Brewer tinted glasses that viewed him as good have finally worn off.

I probably consider that incident the low point of Fielder's time in Milwaukee. I didn't see it as leadership, just a guy being a complete jerk. I know I can't believe a player would get upset when a pouty teammate hit him with whipped towel after getting called out.

Where is Green going to play? ARam, Weeks, and now Hart are manning his positions. That leaves him as bench/role player getting an occasional start and PH, something he is not doing well at and isn't getting him a whole lot of playing time. He may be better served playing everyday in AAA and then pending trade deadline moves coming up later if more playing time is available. I can almost guarantee that if he remains on the roster, gets another 150 PA's and is still putting up .284/.377/.661 some will still be saying small sample and he wasn't given a chance and some will be saying he played and didn't play well. Sending him down or just keeping him around maybe the plan and then next year expect/hope for improvement and with Gamel coming back they will let Ishikawa go and use Hart as the veteran safety net at 1B for Gamel. As of now they may as well keep using Ishikawa since he has done OK in his limited role and as mentioned depth is never a bad thing especially when there aren't any players being held back at AAA by Ishikawa being around as the PHer spot starter at 1B.

I wasn't enamored with Lamb, (not that I think you were singling my post out) just thought that with trading for a big defensive minded stiff for a team that seems be loaded with them they would surely look to another position in the draft. I still remember being in China when the Bucks drafted Yi, the headline in the English language Chinese newspaper that day was "Draft Day Disaster!" I couldn't help but think to myself at the time, "For who?" They wanted Yi in a big market, I just saw another over rated too skinny project player that if he ever developed would want out of Milwaukee the second he was worth playing.

Which is significant evidence that simply having Greinke at the top of your rotation does not ensure success. If the only legitimate Major Leaguer on your team is Greinke, then yes this is true. No kidding, Brewers fans should remember the years of Ben Sheets and rotation fodder for the other 4 spots.

I admit I rarely watch the Bucks or the NBA anymore, the constant shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic that seems to be the roster strategy of Bucks just turned me off. I did end up watching all the NBA Finals this year for the first time in a long time mainly because I wanted to see good teams, exciting play and not have a Lakers/Celtics lovefest to listen to. I was somewhat intrigued to see who the Bucks would take, I like college basketball so I know most of the U.S. players. Of course the Bucks made an obligatory trade in the draft and really appeared to me to have done nothing to help themselves. All talk was by getting a 5 they would surely focus on a guard forward slasher scorer type. Sure enough I wake up this morning and see Henson, a guy even I as a fan who barely knows their roster, see and say to myself, "Don't they already have like 3 or 4 of him?" Then I notice the Rockets took Lamb (an all be it skinny player, but an athletic slasher guard forward they need) in the former Bucks spot and have to laugh at the almost willful creation of a horrible roster by Hammond.

The pitching rubber one I can understand being foul but like Turborickey stated I was under the impression the entire bag is fair and hitting it no matter where the ball ended up made it a fair ball. Searching around the internet everything I find says if the ball touches 1st or 3rd base it is a fair ball. A few places even describe that the entire bag is always fair territory. Which makes sense to me so you don't have guys trying to make judgements like part of the bag being fair/foul. MLB Rule 2.00, definition of Fair Ball: A FAIR BALL is a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first base, or between home and third base, or that is on or over fair territory when bounding to the outfield past first or third base, or that touches first, second or third base, or that first falls on fair territory on or beyond first base or third base, or that, while on or over fair territory touches the person of an umpire or player, or that, while over fair territory, passes out of the playing field in flight.

I had to post this one because I had never heard of such a ruling as happened in our game earlier this week. The guy in front of me hit a slow roller down the third base line while I was on deck. The ball was rolling right on the line so I was yelling for him to run it out because it looked like it would stay fair. Sure enough the ball rolled all the way to the bag and bounced off it into foul territory. The ump called it foul. Since it happened right in front of our bench everyone erupted that hitting the bag made it fair. The ump said he knew the third base foul line wasn't drawn perfectly straight in the right spot so you couldn't go by the line and that part of the third base bag was actually in foul territory and the ball hit the bag where it is in foul territory. Regardless of claiming the line shouldn't be trusted and the the ump was just going to eyeball what he thought the line was from home to 3rd, I had never heard of claiming part of the base is in foul territory before. We aren't talking about some line that veers way off, no one looking down it could see anything unusual about it and the bag placement looked totally normal. No one could figure out how part of the bag can be in foul territory.

Ishikawa IS a waste of a roster spot, he never should have been signed to begin with, he is WW fodder for a reason... Which goes back to my original question which guy in AAA is a better infield option? Especially for a bat off the bench. The Brewers aren't blessed with a bunch of spare good hitters lying around, as I said Ishikawa has OPS'd .740 at the major league level, not seeing any other bench guys available in AAA that have done that and Ishikawa has done just as much as Green in the minors while actually producing at a ML level hard to claim Ishikawa is waste of a roster spot given the alternatives this team has. Especially going back to the beginning when some thought Brooks Conrad was some obvious choice that the team was stupid to not have on the roster out of camp. Then the team was stupid for using him and congratulated for dumping. The bench weakness was pretty obvious from day one.

That's ridiculous in my eyes. Ishikawa has a career OPS of .740 or so and over .800 this year Maysonet can't match that for a bat off the bench, he's barely better than Izturis. Not talking about "Ishi", my biggest beef is with "Izzy" being on this roster. Everyone could feel the magic about to end this inning except for one person... I was going off your original post where you said Ishikawa is a waste of a roster spot.

That's ridiculous in my eyes. Ishikawa has a career OPS of .740 or so and over .800 this year Maysonet can't match that for a bat off the bench, he's barely better than Izturis.

Talking about Ishikawa. I've been against Izturis since spring training but was told his D would make up for his bat- cue eye roll.

So what infield bat in AAA is such a better option?

RobDeer you may want to check this out. I know of more than one person who has shown landlords and condo associations they can't just blanketly deny placement of satellite dishes. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/installing-consumer-owned-antennas-and-satellite-dishes intro Background In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules for Over-the-Air-Reception Devices (“OTARD” rules). The OTARD rules prohibit restrictions on a property owner or tenant’s right to install, maintain or use an antenna to receive video programming from direct broadcast satellites (DBS), broadband radio services (formerly referred to as multichannel multipoint distribution services or MMDS) and television broadcast stations (TVBS). However, there are exceptions to the OTARD rules, including provisions for safety and preservation of historic areas. The FCC later amended the OTARD rules to apply to rental property where the renter has exclusive use of an area, and to customer-end antennas that receive and transmit fixed wireless signals.

Look if they play Green it doesn't bother me but I do take issue with the constant complaining that it is some foregone conclusion that Ransom and Maysonet were getting all this playing time at Green's expense. They weren't. Or that Green is some great prospect being held back, his minor league numbers are very similar to Ishikawa's who people call terrible and not ML worthy or a failure (.736 career OPS as a backup player is a failure now). For whatever reason, the team doesn't seem to have faith that Green can hit LH pitching at the ML level, he's had 4 PA's vs. LHers in his time up. Green had a .741 OPS in the minors vs. LH pitching last year. Green has done absolutely nothing at the ML level to force the issue and make the team play him in the whopping 5 times Ransom started at 2nd or 3rd over him. Ransom may well be a .297 career OBP vs. Lh pitching but that is still better than anything Green has done at the ML level and again it was 5 games all vs. LH pitching. I just don't think the manager is an idiot for the decisions in this case. You can quibble with them but it isn't like he had his LOOGY walk Ryan Howard to face Pat Burrell.

Let me just show you this, since May 6th, when Green was called up: Ransom: 9 starts at 2B/3B Maysonett: 3 starts at 2B Green: 4 starts at 3B/2B Now, you tell me what is wrong with that situation? Maysonett's 3 starts at 2nd include one game where Green played third. Also includes a start against LHer Francisco Liriano in which Green came in at 2nd after Liriano was pulled. That leaves only the 05/12 start against the Cubs in which Weeks was hurt the night before where you could complain Maysonet started at 2nd over Green, of course Maysonet hit a Grand Slam so it didn't really hurt anything. One game is hardly anything to get upset over. I can only find 5 instances of Ransom starting at 2B/3B since becoming a Brewer on May 25th or so. May 26th started at 3B vs. LH pitcher, replaced by Green later in game. June 6th started at 3B, moved to 2B later in game. LH starter in game. June 13th started at 3B vs. LH starting pitcher June 22nd, started at 2B vs. LH starting pitcher June 24th, started at 3B vs. Lh starting pitcher, later Green came it at 3rd after starting pitcher gone. All I see is that RR has deprived some of calling him idiot for not playing a platoon split in using Green vs. LH pitching.

Considering Green can't play SS it seems a stretch to wonder why Green doesn't get in there ahead of those two stiffs. Green has done nothing to show he is better than Ishikawa so I don't get the constant complaints or calling RR an idiot for this situation, especially when Ishikawa was on the DL for most of the recent games. I do remember RR was some sort of fool in the complainers eyes for keeping Ishikawa over Conrand, then became and idiot when Conrad played and was terrible. Hart has now taken over 1B, Aram is at third, Weeks at 2nd, where is Green going to play? It isn't like he is some uber prospect that the team has to get in the lineup. His minor league numbers are remarkably similar to Ishikawa's and Ishikawa has outproduced him at the ML level. If the team finally throws in the towel and admits the playoffs are pipe dream then fine, try to get Green in as much as possible just to see if he can hack it at the ML level but at this point I can't complain about Ishikawa getting some AB's over him.

As mentioned I would check to be sure the TV is set to output in 1080p and the blu ray player is set to output in 1080p. The HDMI cable won't make a difference, the signal is digital, i.e. all 1's and 0's so it either works or doesn't and as long as the 1's and 0's come through the picture is solely up to the TV and player. I have no idea on the quality of a Zenith, I honestly didn't know they still made TV's. Calibration may be the culprit and/or lighting of the room. The color settings/contrast/sharpness all may be set differently and also incorrectly. Plasma's tend to produce deeper blacks and work better in dark to normal lit rooms, while LCD and LED's work better in brighter rooms. If the Plasma is really old or has a lot of hours on it, especially older models, the picture quality degrades. ( I see now you bought it last Christmas but some of the Black Friday deals are stripped down models and use inferior components and again I have no idea of Zenith quality anymore. I can tell you even Sony and Samsung have huge variations in quality between the various models they make at each TV size i.e. I can get you a 42" Sony with a pretty crappy picture or a 42" inch Sony with a fantastic picture depending on the TV specs and engine inside it.)