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July 6, 2002 Catching Up I just walked through the door a few hours ago after spending four tech-free days on the beach in Maine (no computer, only four channels on the TV and - unfortunately - no air conditioning.) As you might imagine, it wasn't easy for me to live without my umbilical cord attached to the internet for such a long time. As I made the journey back home, my first order of business tonight (after lugging all twenty billion of our suitcases up three flights of stairs, of course) was logging on and reaquainting myself with civilization. Unfortunately, my schedule suffered a bit of a delay. You see, my wife - who, god love her, can squeeze eleven pennies out of a dime - was in charge of locking up when we left for vacation, and she thought it would be a good idea to shut off our air conditioning while we were away. It would have probably been a decent money-saving idea if it weren't for the record heat wave the East coast experienced over the past four days. After I lugged the twenty billionth suitcase up the stairs tonight, I turned the corner into my office, ready to give my computer a big welcome-home hug, when I suddenly realized why the upstairs smelled like the ocean we just left. Nearly every fish in our 90-gallon aquarium had been boiled alive. But enough about my problems. What's going on in the world of baseball (both real and fantasy?) What did I miss? Rather than add 1,000 posts to the message board, I figured I'd jot down all my thoughts here as they come to me while I surf around the net. I invite you to accompany me on my journey back to civilization: -- My first stop, of course, is the BDBL message board, where I see that a respectable 21 messages were posted while I was away. Good work, everyone! Just a few comments on these posts:
-- With that out of the way, I moved on to TeamOneBaseball's boards, where there was just way too much going on to catch up all in one night. There are times (lately more often than not) when the TeamOne board is much more entertaining than our own board. It helps that there are a ton of people on that board with very strong opinions who aren't afraid to let those opinions be known. Among the many topics on that board worth touching upon:
-- From the TeamOne board, I ventured over to ESPN.com to check out the latest news and stats. WOW! This just in: the Yankees have acquired Jeff Weaver! You know, I really feel sorry for anyone who isn't a Yankees fan. I mean that. I can't imagine what it's like to root for a team where the owner cares little about winning or losing. I spent most of my life hating George Steinbrenner, but there's one thing I have to give him credit for: he truly cares about putting a winning team on the field. I'll guarantee that if any other owner in baseball right now owned the Yankees, he'd pocket as much money as he could, and wouldn't give the authorization for deals like this one. Steinbrenner will truly do whatever it takes to win, because he knows he'll eventually see a return on that investment. From all the evidence I've seen, no other owner in baseball understands that simple concept. It's very interesting to me that Oakland has given up on Carlos Pena. Why would they trade Mario Ramos for Pena, then trade Pena for Ted Lilly? Is Lilly really that much better than Ramos? I've seen Lilly pitch many times now, and I haven't been all that impressed. I realize Ramos is having an awful year, and that Oakland's current playoff hunt is probably a huge factor in this deal. But still, you'd think a player like Pena would be able to fetch more in return. And you'd think that with Oakland's pitching, they'd be looking to solidify the lineup right now instead of fishing for yet another arm. I was shocked when Texas traded Pena last winter, but I'm ten times as shocked that Oakland has traded him now. One more thought about all these trades lately. If the players really are going to strike, and the owners really aren't going to back down, then why are all these teams bothering to bolster their rosters for a stretch run that isn't going to happen? Kind of makes you go hmm... In a related news item on ESPN, it suggests that the players are on the verge of announcing a strike date. Color me unsurprised. My favorite part, of course, is the obigatory head-shaking quote from Allen Huber: "We keep making proposals, and they have no response. There is just no response. Our guys are frustrated. ... The magnitude of this is frightening." Can you believe this guy? Does anyone with a brain actually think that: a) Selig's proposals are worthy of a response?, b) the owners are really frustrated by these talks?, or c) that Selig or any of the owners are "frightened" by the "magnitude" of this turn of events? Puh-leeze. Onto the box scores, where I see Lance Berkman's bat is definitely NOT on vacation. I also see that Curt Schilling tossed yet another gem (9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K.) Ironically enough, he out-dueled Russ Ortiz, who managed to walk only three batters this game. Just for kicks, I check yesterday's box scores as long as I'm here. Mike Mussina actually managed to lower his ERA to 4.54. Great job, Moose. You'll be worth that $10m salary in no time. -- My next stop is BaseballAmerica.com, where I see they've posted a top-20 prospects list. Proudly, I note that three of the top ten are members of the Cowtippers farm. I see they've also posted that article about the "REAL labor talks", which I wanted to read last week. I'll have to comment on that one later on the board, as it's getting too late to read it all now. Onto the Scoreboard page, where I sadly note that Tim Hummel went 0-for-5 yesterday while Willie Harris went 3-for-5. Jesse Foppert is still pitching lights-out, so I do a quick search to find out which team he plays for. Allentown, of course. Newest Cowtipper Ryan Bukvich tossed another scoreless inning, so I make a quick detour to the Stats page to see if his hitless streak is still alive. Unfortunately, it looks as though it has ended, as he's given up two hits in 12 2/3 Triple-A innings. But those Bukvich trade rumors still continue to swirl... It's getting late, so I skip most of the Double-A box scores and head to the Florida State League to see if Mark Teixeira is still in the lineup and hasn't either been promoted or injured himself for the remainder of the season like every other Salem prospect. Yes, still there. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then, it's on to the Midwest League to scan the Cedar Rapids lineup for Casey Kotchman's name. Not there. My heart leaps into my throat. Better quit now and check my e-mail before I spend the rest of the night trying to figure out why he wasn't there. -- I log onto my BDBL ID. The stats: 56 new messages. 23 of them are for the KRFL, the BDBL's sister (or is it brother?) football league. 25 have subject lines like, "You're approved!", "Tutuorial to free teen sites!", "Make $6,000 a week working from home!", "Want another $500 check?", and "No obligation free loan!" It's nice to know spammers never take a vacation.
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