JimH5

I always sleep best when I'm in an exercise routine. I also don't use any caffeine products after 3:00 p.m. I try to get to bed at the same time every night--no weekend late nights I have to sleep in a t-shirt. No naked. No heavier clothing. No TV in the bedroom. I use Breathe Right strips and spray for snoring. I use one of those curved foam pillows (Tempurlike), and try to start on my back.

This just based on personal opinion or is there something else backing it up? I fail to see how Melky's career does not make him a starting CF on some team and the majority of teams probably think of Kennedy as at least a 4th/5th starter. A 6th SP is a 5.50+ ERA type of guy. Melky's .341 SLG pct. last year, and .374 career mark are troubling. I don't think he can hit enough to contribute every day. He' probably a good enough CF to start on some teams, but I can't see him starting on a NL playoff team. Kennedy was supposedly close to being ready last year, with limited expectation (think Kyle Peterson). He bombed badly in the majors. . .made it through 6 IP just twice enroute to an 8.17 ERA. The Yanks were giving starts to Sidney Ponson and Carl Pavano instead of giving Kennedy a chance to showcase himself.

Melky is nothing more than a 4th OF. Kennedy is nothing more than a 6th SP. Pass.

We had a Rinnai tankless gas (propane) heater installed in our house when we lived in Jacksonville, FL. It was mounted on the outside, so venting wasn't an issue. Not sure if you can do that in Wisconsin--though temps in Jacksonville did get down to +15 F on some winter evenings. Loved it, except that it required extra piping, and it took awhile (and water down the drain) for the hot water to get to the furthest taps.

It is pretty remarkable, in that they were the #1 or #2 station for so many years. I guess Milwaukee grew tired of Phil Collins records. As for the whole all-music, pre-programmed stuff. . .there's nothing special about that. I don't need wacky banter around every song, but it would be nice to have a local voice, telling me what's happening locally. Concert info, Summerfest appearances, weekend activities, weather forecasts, etc. That kind of stuff gets lost when it's just a random shuffling of songs.

Why do I think this is like when the lone woman leaves the International Space Station? All the men astronauts sitting around, bummed that that one girl is now gone, and all that's left is a bunch of other guys. She was a marginally-attractive, somewhat-talented reporter. But very easily replaceable. When the new one is batting her eyelashes at you while reading the lineups you'll forget this sadness.

Hotmail is fine. I've used it for several years. They recently introduced a newer interface, which I guess is fine. The way people are gushing on about gmail, I suppose I should take a look, but for now I'm with Hotmail.

Why is my map not here? I need to get to Alaska & New Mexico. . .the other omissions aren't too high on my priority list.

Of course, they excrete the same smelly liquid in the vacuum cleaner bag, so that unless you change the bag after every battle with them, you have the smell of asian beetle juice every time you start the vacuum. I have the same issue, but not with the beetles, but with parmesean cheese that my daughter often spills on the floor. Once that stuff is stuck in the vacuum bag, vacuuming is even less fun. As for the beetles, I'm not sure if those are the same bugs as were called "Japanese beetles" when I lived in NJ. The local garden center there sold beetle traps that contained a scent which would attract love-seeking beetles into a plastic bag, where they couldn't escape. Like in the movie Bordello of Blood. Unhooking those bags and throwing them away was one of the more unpleasant things I've had to do in my life. Plus, it seemed as though I was drawing beetles from neighboring yards to mine, so I just stopped with the traps.

My thought --though it's certainly not mine alone--is that players in their late 20s are in the prime of life, physically. I'm going under the assumption that their physical bodies are as good as they're going to get. And then, it gets worse from there. So with Sheets missing so much time in his late 20s, I was looking for a comparable guy, who missed significant time in his 20s, and then turned it around in his 30s. Beckett doesn't qualify under my narrow scope, as he's not yet on the other side. He hasn't done his post-30 stuff yet. Schilling does qualify, so there is at least one example of a guy doing what we hope Sheets can do. And I think that only looking at the previous 3 years and assuming something less is a poor way of projecting future innings. There are a lot of other things to consider, IMO. I just don't know how many innings the guy can throw. You put 160 out there. Maybe he can reach it, maybe not. Maybe more. I used the 3-year average, since that's what he's done in his most recent past. I can't project him being healthier than that. With Sheets, I don't think you can start with 180 and work backwards. I think you start with 0 and work forwards, and in doing so, understand that he's older, he's currently injured, and remember that last year was a contract year. If you think that equals 160, then that's fine. But I don't want to just criticize your guesstimate without providing one of my own. . .so I'll say he's good for 120 IP per year for the next 3. And there was absolutely no methodology in pulling that number from the air. Just my own pessimism.

Ennder. . .thank you for that. You shut me up a little bit, but I have to argue with a couple of your comparables. I will grant you that Schilling's '94-'96 years do absolutely give you one guy who had a stretch like Sheets, missing considerable time in his late 20s, who then had great success later in his career. And IF Burnett makes it another year or two with good health, then that would be an example. He hasn't done it yet, though, so let's hold off for now. I can't call Beckett a fair comp. He's younger, and his bounce-back years came at age 26 & 27. Halladay only missed time in two seasons, '04-'05. Sheets has missed time in 3, plus at the end of last year. Pettitte has only had two injury seasons, each of them after turning 30. And Johnson is a lot like Pettitte, in that he missed time in his age 30 & 32 seasons, and then again, much later. Schilling is really the one guy who best stands as evidence that you can miss as much time as Sheets at a similar age, and then find health and success.

Is there a comparable guy in recent history who you could point to, who was similar to Sheets and his injury history, who later turned in the 160 IP average for 3 years? I'd be more willing to listen to your side if you could show a guy who missed so much time, and then later in his career maintained a medium level of health & success.

Ave. 30 Year Old: 180 IP/year Ben Sheets: 160 IP/year From his age 27 through 29 seasons, Sheets has actually averaged less than 149 IP per year. So even to suggest 160 is to say you think he'll pitch more in the next three years than he's pitched in the last three. I think that's a stretch.

I watched as much as I could. All of the clincher, a lot of the rain game, some other playoff games. I have no interest in the NFL or NBA. . .college football, golf, etc. Baseball is the only thing for me. Baseball generally isn't a good tv sport because of the lack of action. I do wish they would speed it up between pitches, but it is what it is, and I watch it when I can.

It's definitely worth something. . .It's just that the market for such a ball is very very limited. . . Maybe something to put on ebay with a higher reserve. . . If you sell to a dealer, you're probably not going to get much for it, as they will need to make a few dollars, too. I bet to the right guy, that could be a $300-$500 item. Maybe even $1000. . .But how in the world could you find him other than at auction? Get it authenticated and take it to Omaha one year when USC is back in the CWS? You might want to check with premierauctions.com They do a TON of business in autographed balls. Kevin Keating of Qualityautographs.com is also very well respected. I wouldn't consider it a catalog item for Mastro or REA or Hunt, but it's still very cool, as it could be exceedingly rare.

Dan Patrick is okay, but the things that are annoying about him are REALLY annoying. He goes off on these preachy rants every so often that just are irritating. "C'mon, now Commissioner, you're BETTER than that". . .that kind of stuff. He drones on and on about some moral high ground about stuff that doesn't always need his moral supremacy. He also can't tell a story that doesn't include himself. Despite quitting ESPN, he sure uses them for a bunch of material. . .Nearly every day, he'll tell a story about "this one time, when I was doing SportsCenter. . ." or he'll complain about how much they're hyping the latest story-of-the-day. And his interviews with black athletes, he will often yuk it up with them, inserting himself into the conversation (of course), and then quipping in a faux-blackness "I feel ya, dog", kind of schtick. It's just tiresome.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/346242276.png Starhub in Singapore. . . It's seemed slow lately. And I was not aware of that Speedtest.net site. Very cool.

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/images/bob_ryan.jpg Bob Ryan seems like a good guy.

I used to live in NJ, and we visited Philly a number of times. The Philadelphia Zoo is the nation's oldest, and it's excellent. They have a newish exhibit space for their big cats. The old architecture within the zoo is very cool. Take the Ben Franklin Bridge just across the river to Camden to see the Adventure Aquarium. Very awesome space. My daughter loves the hippo exhibit, and spent nearly an hour just watching them swim from the underwater viewing room. It's very large and impressive. There's also a minor league ballpark very near the The cheesesteak "war" is pretty funny, and the two classic places are at 9th and Passyunk as jimmyjeromehardy7 mentioned above. Pat's King of Steaks is the original, and is housed in an unimpressive looking, but still cool little building, while Geno's is across the street and full of neon. There's another group of cheesesteak places called Steve's Prince of Steaks that is also very good. And another guy (Rick's) who is part of the original Pat's family has a place in the Reading Terminal market across from the convention center. The market is cool and worth a walk through, if you're in the area. And cheesesteak is good and greasy wherever you get it, though again, I'm partial to Pat's and Steve's. I'm not as into the history stuff in the Central City section of Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell is there, on display, and it's cool. . .but it's a bell. They do have tour guides around, if you're into the history, but the old courthouses and meeting places for our nation's founding fathers are all in Federal-style buildings that are kind of dull in appearance--in my opinion. There are some ships docked in the harbor. . . some warships, a schooner. . .we never visited them, but I think some accept visitors. Outside of Philly, you're not far from Bucks County, a very pretty area along the Delaware River. There is also Lancaster, Bird in Hand, etc. The Amish settlements are fun, though a little too touristy. You'll find covered wooden bridges around a lot of that area, and can probably google the whole list of them. Very quaint. It should be beautiful this time of year. . .Enjoy the trip!

hawing. . . Wow! I'm impressed with your confrontation. Perhaps you've shooed him away for good. Not sure I would have done that. . .I may have been more likely to start up the lawnmower. Cheers for the directness!

This will be terrific, if only for the offseason opportunities to watch baseball and baseball-related programming. The current MLB.com has some video content that might become part of the lineup, along with other shows. I'm very excited about it. It's likely going to be East Coast-centric at least at the start, mostly because of its location, and the huge numbers of Yankees and Red Sox fans there are nationally. Plus with Tampa and Philly in the WS, and all of Florida Spring Training, the opening of Yankee Stadium & Citifield, etc. they'll have an excuse to hit the East Coast markets pretty hard. Regardless, I'm thrilled. This has the potential to be awesome!

I spent my college (and shortly after) years working in the bar business. When you see how alcohol affects people on that grand a scale, it hits you. Also, during those years of working 60-80 hours per week, I didn't want to spend a single one of my off hours with a hangover. Plus, I could tell tangibly that I wasn't funnier or sharper when I drank. I wasn't mentally sharp, and that bugged me. Then, after leaving Wisconsin and seeing how people in other areas didn't drink as much, it really hit home that Wisconsin has a drinking culture. It's weird that so many activities are built around alcohol. Fishing, hunting, golf, watching sports live or on tv, softball, shooting pool or darts, bowling. . .It's like those events aren't enough by themselves, lots of people just use those as vehicles to justify drinking. I'm hardly a prohibitionist. I like beer and wine, but my days of ever having more than 2 in a night are over.

I'm happy for him. . . He's a classy guy and it's nice when nice guys get prizes. I like Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, too. And Shane Victorino, who I saw playing for the Jacksonville Suns, when I lived in Jacksonville. I guess I'm happiest for Jamie Moyer. It's nice that he gets some attention after his long career. I guess I'm just happy for everyone. My only hope is if Brett Myers wins a ring, he loses it to his wife in a divorce settlement, or just loses it in a swamp somewhere after a session of binge drinking.

I was going to go up to $800 for it if i had to. Well, at least I don't have any regrets about not digging deeper! And you're right about that one base being the premium one.

Congratulations! Very cool item, and something to remember a great season. I was in on that one for awhile, but reached my limit and then became a spectator. Hopefully they'll put some more of those up for bid. . . FYI--I wouldn't get it signed--that's just me. I like it plain with the dirt.