UeckerAddict

I'm not about to give Anibal Sanchez THAT much credit going in.

People who want to devalue the save statistic always refer to a save as "a three run lead in the ninth." Sometimes it is, but it's ludicrous to suggest that this is the universal situation. By the rationale you are using, it was fine to pitch Julio in the sixth last night. I know most people on this board didn't think so. It's true, I put more value in winning the games we are up 2 late in the game than down 2 late in the game, because in a 162 game season you must when the games you are supposed to win. Not throwing Hoffman when you are down 2 does not mean you are throwing in the towel. You just hope to win the games you should and have a few comeback wins along the way. Finally, the blown save stat tells you that teams that didn't blow leads late in the games miraculously won more games. Sounds obvious, right? It is, but it shows that you must keep the lead late in games to win. How do you do this? Throw your best pitchers. I'm not saying you should never use your best when you are behind, but the original poster suggested the argument was to throw your best when you are losing INSTEAD of when you are winning.

I do think Conan is the best talk show personality, but for me that's like saying what toddler is best at the bench press. I can't help it, but I don't think talk shows are funny- none of them.

Do these numbers include watching on the internet via mlb.com? If so, I'm contributing every day. If not, I'm contributing nothing.

But was he one of the first three?

It would be wrong of me to suggest that I am an authoritarian on this matter. It is likely one of those questions that is difficult to state as a declarative (for instance, asking who invented baseball. Some would say Doubleday, some would say Cartwright). The catch is that people always say Robinson, and the really educated also say Doby. I don't think there is any dispute about Fleet Walker being one of the first three. I had always believed that the other two were William Edward White and Bud Fowler. However, this may just be one interpretation about who those first three were (a la Rashomon). Fatter Than Joey could be right about Walker's brother. I just love the way this question goes against the obvious answers that we were all taught. It does not make me cringe to hear Jackie Robinson labeled at the first black player in the major leagues, as he deserves all the credit in the world, but it is one of those historical truisms that are not completely factual (i.e. The entire Continental Congress signing the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, three wisemen in the Bible-no number was actually specified-, Edison inventing the lightbulb, etc). So, the answer may not be what I thought it was, though it might be, but it still always proves to be a different answer than most people expected.

If you want to start this one back up.......no, I wouldn't, cause it serves no purpose. I won't put duct tape on your mouth, so there's no reason for you to put words (or sounds) in ours.

We're in serious danger of Florida turning this into a laugher.

What are the odds your team wins if it's trailing in the 8th inning? 10%-20%? What are the odds your team wins if it's winning in the 8th inning? 80%-90% Why would you consistently wear out your best pitcher in games you have little chance of winning. In baseball, you HAVE to win if the opportunity is there. We are in first by one game right now. Would we be in first if we used Trevor Hoffman in 13 games we were losing and used Villanueva in Hoffman's 13 save situations (granted, we haven't lost 13 games since Hoffman came of the DL)? In baseball you have to win when you put yourself in situations where you're supposed to win, rather than using up your best weapons in kamikaze suicide missions "just in case you come back." Take last year: NL WILD CARD Brewers win wild card (26 blown saves) Mets finish a game behind the Brewers (29 blown saves) Cardinals finish 4 games behind the Brewers (31 blown saves) NL WEST LA Dodgers -- (20 blown saves) Arizona 2 (23 blown saves) NL EAST Philadelphia -- (15 blown saves) NY Mets 3 (29 blown saves) AL EAST Tampa Bay -- (15 blown saves) Boston 2 (22 blown saves) AL CENTRAL Chicago -- (18 blown saves) Minnesota 1 (23 blown saves) I know blown saves aren't always charged to the closer, but this pattern amplifies the fact that teams who kept leads simply made the playoffs over teams who didn't. 7 of the 8 playoff teams last year had fewer blown saves than the team immediately behind them (the only exception was the AL wild card where the Red Sox had more blown saves than the Yankees).

I'm starting to smell a point (run) shaving scandal.

What was that? Fielder? That was just weird.

Fatter Than Joey got one. No, it's actually not a trick question. Breaking the color barrier does not make you the first black player if there were black players around before the color barrier was set up.

Name the first three black players in the major leagues.

If we're just talking about "ones that got away" and not necessarily via the trade, then number one is the easiest answer in the world. Paul Molitor.

5 of his last 6 starts (dating back to last year and the playoffs) he has not pitched more than four innings. In his last eight starts he has not pitched more that 5.1. I know that the small sample police are on the case, but how long do you really let him go before there just has to be a better option? I wanted him in the bullpen to start the season, and I feel hat if he didn't have this contract, he might be. I don't know if Defelice or Wright has the ability to step up and produce, but someone has to eat some innings if our bullpen is going to last through June. I really hope Suppan can figure it out, but I'm not betting on it.

I think the Brewers are throwing Suppan past his "use by" date.

NOOOOOOOOO! As soon as I saw the second clue, that was my immediate guess. Eddie's father. Dang, I would have had that one.

The piano key necktie?

I know this is knit picking, but there was something that always bothered me in "Major League"; a lineup problem. Stay with me here. We know Willie Mays Hayes batted first and, obviously, Jake Taylor batted second right after him. Roger Doran batted third (he got the hit after Taylor got out in the 7th) and Pedro bats fourth. Pedro hits a homer in the 7th with two outs to tie the game. Let's assume (for the sake of the movie) that the number five hitter gets out to end the inning. Again, for the sake of the movie, let's assume hitters 6,7, and 8 go down in order in the 8th. The ninth would have the 9 hitter leading off with Willie Mays Hayes on deck. However, Willie mays Hayes comes to bat with 2 outs in the ninth, which is impossible. The only way it could have happened is if the Indians batted all the way back around in the 8th, which couldn't have happened without the Tribe scoring. Anyone else catch this, or am I the only loser who caught this error?

Congrats to you on your upcoming move to Austin. I moved here from Madison in August and have had the best time. When it comes to Austin, I had it (cornily) described to me as such: It is like a giant twinkie. You want to live in the creamy middle. If you look at a map, the "creamy middle" is the area between the four highways. Ben White and 183 (on the south and north) and 35 and Mo Pac (on the east and west). Anywhere inside of these boundaries is a great place to live. I started out in Hyde Park, which is north of downtown (6th street is seen as the epicenter) and south of 183. Anywhere off of South congress is also great. I presently live in a three bedroom house, with a large band space, that is a total of $800 per month. Not bad. Unfortunately, I can't really advise you on apartment locators since that scouting job was pretty much done for me by those I live with. What to see and do depends largely on your interests. Live music is anywhere and everywhere. Great places to hangout include The Spider house (awesome outdoor coffee/beer/food venue), then there are many cool bars. I prefer the Red River District, which is perpendicular to 6th Street, for music, which includes the famous and infamous venues such as Emo's, Stubbs, Red 7, and the new hot spot (which is last on this list for me) The Mohawk. Too bad you missed SXSW, but it will be around next year. Austin City Limits comes back in the fall. My favorite bars are Shangri La (a lot of hipsters, but yet it avoids the trendiness of most hipster bars), Lala's (a little north, but a cool little place run by two old ladies who play all 50s music and have the place decked out in Christmas lights. Reminds me of the bar in Goodfellas where joe Pesci took out Billy Bats.), and Barfly's which is a bit of a dive, but I personally like dives. Lovejoy's is another dive off of 6th street and is a bit of an oasis if you're looking to avoid the college type places. Not sure Lovejoy's and Barfly's are a place for your parents, though. Presently I am managing at a restaurant while I get my certificate to become a teacher. I just turned 28 and graduated from the UW last May (I took a number of years off from school before going back). A bunch of my friends moved down here for band purposes and, after visiting a few times, I was sold. Their band can be found at myspace music under the title Watch Out for Rockets. I haven't been through a whole summer yet, and I hear it can get pretty miserable weather wise. However, as my friend put it, for four months the days are really bad, but I have air conditioning and the nights are great. It beats the winters of Wisconsin. Barton Springs and the swimming holes are apparently unbelievable in the summer. The Alamo Draft house are the greatest movie theaters there are (three locations), I luv video is the greatest video store, and Waterloo records is an unbelievable record store. I've gotten my share of breakfast tacos and the nashville sounds will come and play the Round rock Express (about 5-10 miles north and named after their owner, Nolan Ryan) twice this year. I also am catching the Crew in Houston. There is a Packer bar that only plays Packer games (no matter who else is playing) when they are on. It's called Billy's. The big sports bar is probably Dave and Buster's, though I must admit, I haven't been to many sports bars since I moved because there are just better places to be. I'll definitely be around come May. If you get a hankering, feel free to drop me a line on here.

I live in Austin. I moved here, quite simply, because it is the best city that I have ever been to in this country, and I've been to a lot. Pros: Weather, best live music scene in the U.S., South x Southwest (Two weeks away!), Alamo Draft house (even Roger Ebert admitted that the Austin Alamo Draft houses are the best move theaters in the country), Lake Travis, best music and movie stores I've ever scene (I know the world has gone gaga over NetFlix, but I could never abandon the awesomeness of I Luv Video) Big 12 football, many movies being filmed here (common to see Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, and Richard Linklater around) and The Round Rock Express are 8 minutes out of town, meaning I get to see the Nashville Sounds a couple times a year. Plus, I can make the two hour drive to Houston when the Brewers are here. The one con is that job competition is stiff. Austin is still where it's at.

With Ned, this topic would have been useless because we all knew what the batting order was going to look like. But with a new regime, possibly looking to shake it up, what do you think the lineup will look like? Is Weeks automatically the leadoff hitter and JJ in the 2 slot, or could Coey or Camo be up there. With Ned, the lineup would likely have been: Weeks Hardy Braun Fielder Hart Cameron Hall/Lamb/Counsell/Mcgehee Kendall But, will Macha do it the same way. How would you like to see it?

86-76. I hope for better than this, but something tells me I might be being a little optimistic in the first place.