It was a night for 3B as Josh Vitters kept up his breakout year hitting his 11th HR. Vitters OPS is now .805.
How many times did Jackson strike out? 2.
Junior Lake was 4-5 with a double and his 7th SB and is hitting .318. This is somewhat of a breakout year for Lake as his production is finally matching the tools we always heard about. He is currently sporting a .850 OPS.
Gioskar Amaya is a hitting machine. Amaya was 2-5 with a clutch triple in the 9th that lead to a walkoff win. Jeimer Candelario hit his 2nd HR in 2 days and added two other hits and a walk to boot. If he keeps this up he will wind up in Peoria to finish the year. Rock Shoulders has a REALLY good eye at the plate and walked 3 more times last night. He also went oppo with a single to win the game. I can't believe I am writing this but Hayden Simpson was dominating last night striking out 7 in 4 IP. He only walked 1 batter. Then again he is way old for the level so meh.
Young IL Jung struck out 3 in 3 IP. Tim Saunders was 2-4. I have no idea who the fuck these people are.
(dying laughing)
He trademarked it.
From the end of the last thread:
@ Rice Cube:
Do people still hate LeBron and Miami over The Decision? I haven’t paid attention and I didn’t understand why people hated him because of that anyway. I just assumed people were over it. If I had any interest in watching the NBA I’d tune in to see LeBron play.
@ GBTS:
That’s pathetic.
@ mb21:
I think people just need a sports villain to root against. I have no hatred for LeBron and from what I could tell based on the little I watched he was the main reason the Heat won. I’m sure it irks people to see him win though.
It’s my birthday guys. So be nice to Josh Vitters today. Future HOF.
@ Mobile Rice:
That’s just not something I’ll ever understand. From the little I read about the NBA he’s the best player in the game. It’s the equivalent of rooting against Pujols when he was the best or ARod or Bonds. I don’t get it. Part of the reason I watch baseball is to watch the best players and I want those guys to do well. If you can’t root for the best in a sport, find another sport. That’s how I see it anyway.
Couldn’t you just, you know, make shit up about how well Ben Wells is doing? Just kind of report on how Ben would have done if he actually did start the game? I’d follow an imaginery Ben Wells over a real Hayden Simpson any day.
So the jury in the Sandusky trial had to hear testimony again. You’d think it would be easy to convict, but I still think he gets away with it.
@ mb21:
People love a good villain, though. The selfish player who is all about the money. Or the guy who always plays dirty. You want to see that guy go DOWN (unless he’s on your team). That’s why Barry Bonds was so important for baseball. Likewise, after The Decision, basketball ratings went up all over the league. In Miami, they’re excited about having the best player. Everyone else wants to see hubris in action.
@ mb21:
It’s hard to make a determination either way without being there. I was on a jury once. It’s a horrifying feeling, that you might be sending an innocent person to prison. I didn’t need anyone to tell me about reasonable doubt, because that would have been my own standard. Just saying that it’s not an easy job. If the prosecution did it’s work properly, then the jury will make the right call. If not, or if there wasn’t enough evidence, then they won’t be able to. It doesn’t make them stupid or biased.
@ mb21:
It’s 48 counts. I’d be incredibly shocked if he got off on all of them. But I would be surprised if all 48 were a slam dunk. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Iowa plays its last game against Round Rock tonight, then flies home to Iowa….to start a home series against Round Rock. WTF?
Sickels has some stuff on Baez today
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/6/22/3109322/minor-league-prospect-notes-june-22-2012
mb21 wrote:
Eh, for my part the NBA ceased to be interesting a long time ago, right around the time Jordan broke Byron Russell’s ankles on that last shot to win the 98 title, and even then the game was on the outs with me. It’s just not all that compelling to watch anymore.
Then again, neither is baseball right now. I miss the steroid era. (dying laughing)
@ Smokestack Lightning:
700-foot homers were awesome.
@ josh:
I wasn’t implying they’re biased. I trust the jury will convict if the evidence calls for it and I realize I wasn’t there so there’s a lot that I don’t know.
@ josh:
I think I’m in the minority who doesn’t care how “villainous” a player is. I just want him to not suck at sports
Smokestack Lightning wrote:
Same here. 10 runs per game is a hell of a lot more exciting than less than this shit they have now. Get ‘em on, move ‘em over is today’s game. I liked get ‘em on, hit the home run a hell of a lot better.
@ Rice Cube:
I’m that way too. I can’t think of a single athlete I’ve rooted against. I don’t follow the NFL and despise what Vick did of course, but I was hoping he’d do well in his return. People deserve second chances and I hope he’s learned some things, but I was and still am rooting for him. I root for Ryan Braun to do well and I know a lot of people dislike him though I have no issues with him. I don’t care if he sells stupid clothes. All the power to him for making money and creating a business. That’s a lot more than most of these dumbass athletes can do.
For me, the hate for Lebron comes from a few places. Growing up playing sports, you were trained not to take the easy way out. So for Lebron, joining 2 of the top 15 players in the league was the easy way to win a championship in my opinion. I’d not saying this because I wanted him on the Bulls, because the Bulls would’ve had the same effect as Miami. I would have rather him stay, go to the Clippers, etc.
Let’s look at baseball. A lot of people hate the Yankees. But the Heat are like the Yankees and then some. There are about 375 players in the NBA. Wade, Lebron, and Bosh are in the top 4% of the league. It would be like the Yankees having 60% (about 5) of their starting position players in the top 4% of the MLB.
Secondly, the prep rally. I realize it was probably the Heat PR team who came up with this idea. But that doesn’t mean the players can’t say “No, we haven’t won anything. Why are we having a prep rally?” In fact, the players did the opposite when Lebron said they were going to win 8 championships.
mb, if you felt passionately about basketball, would you not understand the reason why people are turned off by Lebron and the Heat? This isn’t saying that Lebron and the Heat aren’t entertaining because they are. That doesn’t mean I want him (or the Heat) to win anything.
@ mb21:
Given how much pitching is dominating for the past season in a half, I’m surprised the game hasn’t moved more towards the 70s-80s type of stolen base machine players. It’s probably just that there aren’t a lot of Vince Coleman types developed.
jtsunami wrote:
No, I would not understand it just as I don’t understand the hatred for Barry Bonds.
I figure the guy took less money to play with some friends of his. To me, that’s admirable. Most of these guys are chasing the biggest buck regardless of whether they can win or not and LeBron said he wanted to have fun and win with his friends.
As for taking the easy way out, I don’t really understand that either. The goal of the players is to win and playing with good players helps you win. If I was a great NBA player and I wanted to win more than anything I’m going to the team with the best talent. I’ll own those rings forever and my satisfaction in winning them will be the same as it would be if I played for the Clippers or Cavs. It’s a championship. People go to the Yankees to win championships. They go to the Cubs to lose. (dying laughing)
@ jtsunami:
I guess my counterargument is that if the team wasn’t willing to help the star player acquire his own version of Pippen and Rodman, he’d go find his own elsewhere. Not even Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson won championships “on their own”. In the end it seemed like LeBron pretty much put the entire team on his shoulders (Bosh got hurt, Wade sucked for a bit) and despite the strike-shortened season putting a bit of an asterisk on this title, he earned it. But I’m sure people will tell me how wrong I am (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
I don’t care that LeBron went to Miami. I’m actually surprised that situations like this don’t occur more often. And I’d be shocked if he really took “less money” to go there – if you’re going to go to a place with a bunch of good players around you and try to win a ton of championships you’re clearly going to make a lot more money, especially given the off the court money swirling around NBA stars. Not that I think that money was a big motivator in this, it’s not like he wasn’t making tons already. Most of the hate is for the PR stuff, especially how incredibly dickish The Decision came off. If LeBron had just simply signed with Miami instead of making it a media event the vitriol wouldn’t even be 20% of what it has been.
I also don’t give two fucks about the personal shit in sports. I don’t care that Barry Bonds took steroids. I wouldn’t even care if he was the ONLY one taking steroids. I didn’t care that Milton Bradley was an asshole. I don’t care that Sammy Sosa wasn’t well liked by his teammates. The same is true for Zambrano. That stuff just doesn’t matter to me. I’m not watching sports to root for good guys over bad guys. I’m watching sports to watch them play it well and those who do I’m going to root for them to keep doing it. Without them the sport is much less entertaining and eventually no fun at all to watch.
If I was alive back then I’d have rooted for Ty Cobb. I would have rooted for John McGraw.
Berselius wrote:
His salary is much lower. He was going to earn more money than any basketball player regardless of where he played. He probably could have retired and been the highest paid basketball player alive.
Can’t wait to see you rooting for PSU this year, MB (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
Seriously. This was obvious to me when I was 10 years old. Why didn’t the best, or at least some of the best, players all want to get together on the same team and kick the shit out of everyone? That was before I understood budgets (dying laughing).
Berselius wrote:
I disagree. He was going to be hated by every team he didn’t sign with and especially in Cleveland. I don’t think The Decision did anything to his reputation that wasn’t going to happen anyway. It’s just a convenient excuse in my opinion. They had that thing because the people wanted to see it. I said it at the time and it’s worth repeating, that thing existed only because people actually wanted to watch. So those upset over it are upset at themselves for wanting it. They’re not upset at LeBron. There was no way that thing wasn’t going to come off as dickish yet people wanted it and they couldn’t wait to watch.
@ Berselius:
I understood it because back then I watched basketball and you saw the Celtics and Lakers dominate every year. Then it was the Bulls. In basketball you need 3 players. LeBron wasn’t winning a championship anywhere on his own so kudos to him for realizing that.
@ Berselius:
That’s a team. There are lots of teams I don’t root for. I’m not rooting against any player or coach on that team at this point.
Is there now any good reason to not call up Anthony Rizzo?
My understanding is that today is the first day it won’t cost the Cubs an extra year of control.
he’s in a mini slump in Iowa. Other than that. No
also, this Candelario guy is probably making a case for a top 15 prospect and maybe top 10 before year is out. He murdered DSL last year at 17 skipped rookie ball and is doing well in Boise at 18. Switch hitter with pop on both sides. We got him for 500,000 a few years back
@ Aisle424:
REASONS. Also, BECAUSE THINGS.
mb21 wrote:
It’s slightly lower. Chump change compared to other income streams. And because of the way the cap has changed over time, he wouldn’t have been the highest played player in the game, regardless.
@ Aisle424:
If you call him up now he’ll be a super 2 and have 4 years of arbitration rather than 3. Had they waited about a month to call Castro up he’d not be arb eligible after this season.
@ Rice Cube:
Do you not remember the Bonds hatred? Granted, it was all coming from outside of San Fran. It’s hard not to see a certain amount of jealousy in that as well. I’m not saying I agree with it or subscribe to it. I’m saying that PR departments play it up because it improves ticket sales all over. PR guys love Bonds and Cobb and LeBron, because they are awesome and because they get people riled up. If you pay $100 to go boo Bonds from the front row, then you still paid.
mb21 wrote:
FWIW, I’m not sure his take home pay is that much lower. Florida has no income tax. Income tax is pretty high in some states. Not sure of all the teams that had higher bids.
@ GW:
I think it was like $2 million lower and it was going to be chump change compared to other revenue no matter what.
@ mb21:
If I’d been alive during Ty Cobb’s time, I’m pretty sure I’d have been lynched for being a damn dirty commie anyway.
I’m pretty sure the two dumbest Americans are at my house right now installing a new furnace.
mb21 wrote:
Huh. Doug Padilla says he could be coming up this weekend:
mb21 wrote:
Todd Ricketts and Alvin are installing a furnace at your house?
@ mb21:
I have had the A/C people come by 3 times this week. The first time was to install a zone control board that broke. So they replaced that and everything was working and the next day we had to call them back because apparently the thermostat broke. Everything was working and then the next day we had to call him back because the capacitor on the condenser broke. I’m just wondering what will be broken when I get home tonight (dying laughing)
Luckily the parts and labor were covered since they had just finished a service inspection last month. Not sure what they were inspecting since all this shit broke (dying laughing)
mb21 wrote:
With the new CBA we can’t even call him up until Mid-August if we want to avoid him going Super-2, IIRC, because super-2ing is easier now than it used to be. I severely doubt we’re going to essentially make him a September call up, because they’d probably like to get a decent sample size of him in the majors.
@ mb21:
right. nba stars are hugely underpaid because of their crazy cap structure, which incentivizes these superteams.
Regarding Lebron, I don’t blame the guy for wanting to play for the Heat. He’s young, rich, and it’s Miami. I would agree that he took an easier route to a championship but he put on a clinic in the finals. I think his legacy will always be that he had to play on basically an all-star team to win and that’s too bad. He gets compared to Jordan a lot and I don’t think he’ll ever live up to the comparison because he picked Miami. He’s a bit of pussy on the court though. He sure does whine a lot. Can you imagine him playing against the Detroit “Bad Boys”? But the guy sure can ball though.
mb21 wrote:
Do you care that Bill Wennington has a monster Gorilla Cock?
tommy john for felipe paulino, hopefully the royals are getting a package discount.
@ josh:
Sure I did. Anyone who wasn’t a Giants fan hated Barry Bonds. Even his teammates hated him. But I didn’t care because he got on base like 60% of the time and even back then I knew that was a good thing (dying laughing)
the amount of TJ surgery this year seems very very high
@ GW:
Wasn’t he the Astros 5th starter for the past few years? Sounds like a classic Royals acquisition (dying laughing)
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
I hate to be the one to point this out, but gorillas have much smaller penises than humans. Didn’t you see that Daily Show piece?
@ Rice Cube:
I’m not debating he was good (I regularly post things on my facebook basically saying anyone who doesn’t think he’s a first ballot hall of famer should die in a fire), point is that people hating him drove up ticket sales. The non-Giants fans saw him as a villain, not a good player. They in fact tried and still try to discredit his ability. But all that contributes to interest in baseball. Hence, LeBron is good for basketball.
@ Rice Cube:
It’s okay to dislike a player. When I watch a game that one of my teams aren’t a part of, you have to pick a side. If one of those teams has a Tom Brady or a Lebron James or a Milton Bradley, then maybe I’ll root against them instead of the other team. Outright hatred of a player is probably unwarranted though.
josh wrote:
maybe the penis is the size of a whole gorilla
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
Now that would be impressive.
josh wrote:
@ WaLi:
I think that’s fine, but what seems to be happening all over the interwebs is that people are discounting a player’s achievements because he A) never won anything or B) this that and the other thing, and I don’t feel that is being objective. The guy is good at sports, but it just seems silly to make up reasons to not like him. I prefer to root against an entire side rather than single one guy out. I guess it’s too much to ask of sports fans in general though
Although the A and B I pointed out above is what HOF voters do to keep guys out. I’d rather just try to figure out whether the guy was good at sports or not. I don’t dislike Koyie Hill because he kicks puppies (he doesn’t) or is bad at carpentry. I don’t like him because he sucks at baseball.
@ Aisle424:
He can get the 7th year at any time now, but you may as well wait so that additional year is cheaper. I’d be very surprised if the Cubs called him up and left him on the roster at this point. More likely is he’s called up and then sent back down at some point. I’ll be surprised if he accrues enough service time this year to qualify for super two at the end of the 2014 season. In other words, I think they keep his service time below 86 days. Whether that’s calling him up for a week and sending him down is something we’ll have to wait and see. I just see no point in calling him up right now when you could wait 2 to 3 weeks and pay him less overall.
Aisle424 wrote:
May as well be. I’m not exactly filled with confidence that our new furnace and AC is going to work properly, which kind of sucks since it’s already 81 degrees in our house right now. I’m not joking. I think the two dumbest Americans are at my house right now. It’s frightening listening to these guys.
If they want to have some sort of video expressing why high school students should study and go to college all they need to do is let these two people talk to the class. Then tell them if they don’t do well in school that’s how they’ll end up. High school graduation rates would be 100%.
@ mb21:
I thought we were trying to win ballgames!
Ha ha, just kidding, you’re totally right.
@ Doogolas:
That’s not true. To avoid the possibility of being a super 2 you cannot have 86 days or more of service time in the season prior to being on the active roster for 2 full seasons. In other words, as long as Rizzo does not have 86 days of service time this year he cannot qualify. That date is the first game after the all-star break. They could, however, call him up for a week now, send him down and call him up again.
@ josh:
If the Cubs were any good or were going to be any good in the near future I wouldn’t care about the additional money. Not my money. Since they suck you may as well save some pennies everywhere you can and that’s an easy way to save some money. They still have to spend, which is why I’m not against signing Garza or even Dempster to an extension. They can run out the Iowa Cubs every day and expect anybody to watch. Not even Alvin would watch that.
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
Who doesn’t care about that?
@ Rice Cube:
That shit’s been going on since long before the Interwebz. I bet you can go back to every major era and find players who were the best at their position and who got passed over for HOF because their team sucked.
I don’t really much appreciate it when I go see a game in St. Louis and see someone wearing a shirt that says “Cubs Suck” or “Zambrano mows my lawn” I think that shit is stupid and antagonistic. And it’s not about the player. Zambrano will never meet that guy, but it’s a way to be aggressive toward other fans. And that is my least favorite aspect of sports. In fact, if I had to follow sports only by going to games rather than by watching on TV, I doubt I would like any sports at all.
mb21 wrote:
Huh?
I thought the 46 days or so he was called up for last year count too. Maybe that’s what you are saying in that first statement. But don’t those days not count if it’s during the September callups? I don’t know, the whole thing is confusing (dying laughing)
Rice Cube wrote:
This. Way too much focus is on what these players do away from the field. If there was this much focus on players in the early 1900s few of the players in the HOF would be today. They’d be judged entirely different and it’s not fair to use different standards. There are pieces of shit in the HOF. It’s as simple as that. You cannot argue that another piece of shit should not be allowed in the HOF. They have already decided it is OK so that’s the criteria. Pieces of shits are allowed in the HOF. They’re even celebrated. To use piece of shit or some such nonsense as an argument for why someone should not be in the HOF is something that should be immediately dismissed as nonsense by any person with half a brain. I’m pretty sure the two guys at my house right now wouldn’t even use such an argument and I’m quite positive they don’t have half a brain between them.
@ mb21:
I seriously agree. Wasting money for 2 weeks of a young player is stupid at this point. I like the team to be as rational as possible right now. The last thing we need is to bring the guy up with big fanfare and declare him our 1B of the future. That’s kind of what they did for Castro, and all it did was waste money and put a lot of unreasonable expectations on him (did it cheat him out of some development? Maybe, maybe not.)
@ WaLi:
So in other words, the money issue won’t matter for a couple of years, but they’re planning ahead.
@ josh:
If we were ever at a game together I think we’d be the only two talking about in-game strategy, matchups and defensive positioning rather than how big of a dick Player X is.
@ WaLi:
@ WaLi:
His service time last season and whatever he may have this year counts as his overall service time and counts towards being eligible for free agency. However, he must have 86 days of service time this year followed by 2 full years in order to qualify as a super 2. More than likely though, he would not qualify if called up today. I still would not take that chance.
@ mb21:
I guess the question is whether they can drum up enough future revenue to cover that increase in salary if Super Two. Since it’s only 2-3 weeks worth of tickets I’m thinking not. Yo-yoing him back and forth seems like it would piss off the player and the union though.
Mark Cuban is f’n awesome.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I don’t see any point in bringing him up and sending him down again. I’m fine with just waiting, barring injuries.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/06/22/sandusky-supporters-wear-release-the-tickle-monster-t-shirts/
@ Mish:
Every sports reporter ever:
Most sports reporters don’t even seem to like the sport they report on, they just want to drum up emotional response (which sells papers).
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/06/22/child-abuse-expert-matt-sandusky-abuse-beyond-statute-of-limitations/
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Surely that’s satire? I never know with people anymore.
The jury has asked to re-hear McQueary’s testimony and the testimony of the psychiatrist who said even if Sandusky has a personality disorder, it is not a disorder that manifests in pedophilia.
http://deadspin.com/5920382/lisa-the-ball-girl-reduced-the-padres-announcers-to-puddles-of-goo
Fukudome ————> DFA.
It’s beginning to seems like the jury is going after McQueary or the psychiatrist. They’ve asked about supplemental charges (filed when a witness lies on the stand), and are asking about circumstantial evidence. So instead of trying Sandusky, they’re trying the witnesses.
If Sandusky doesn’t get punished by every extent of the law, then somebody needs to wipe their ass with the Constitution and a new one needs to be written. To me, it seems the only way this guy gets any sort of relief is because of loopholes. I think jail is to good for this guy. He probably can’t wait to get there and get butt fucked.
@ Mucker:
There aren’t even loopholes here. The only way he can get off on every count is for the jury to ignore evidence completely.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
But if they are rehearing McQueery’s testimony, is it because the defense wants to try and rip it apart? Looking for any inconsistency? I can’t rememeber what I had for lunch yesterday so I don’t know how somebody could remember every moment from something that happened 10 years ago.
@ Mucker:
I’m not sure. It could just mean they are doing the victims in numerical order and are on victim 8, and since McQueary’s testimony so closely mirrors that of the janitor, they’re going back to check it out. That they’re asking about standards for perjury and hearsay evidence is what worries me.
@ Mucker:
I don’t even think the defense is doing anything anymore. THey rested already. And I’m sure they attempted to rip it apart as much as they could. That’s their job. If you had a defense lawyer who didn’t try to rip apart a witnesses testimony, would you think that man had done is job? That’s why we have a system. If someone’s testimony can’t stand up to questions, then it’s no good. The human memory is fallible. We remember things that didn’t happen. Our memory of events can be influenced by things that have happened since. That shit has been proven in scientific experiments. That’s why cases like this aren’t open and shut.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
They may just be trying to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Take a reasoned approach, rule out reasonable doubts, etc.
@ mb21:
According to Gammons this morning the Cubs can call Rizzo up on Mon. and avoid all Super2. He’d be 1 day short of Super2 qualification.
Another possibility just mentioned on The Score is that since the jury’s questions are centered around the only two victims that did not testify–victims 6 & 8–it could be that they have already decided on the counts concerning the victims that did testify, and are now trying to puzzle out the counts concerning the victims that are unknown and did not testify.
@ pinetar:
That doesn’t make sense unless there have been a bunch of guys called up already to bounce Rizzo out of the top 22% or whatever of player service time…
@ Rice Cube:
I hear you. A full year of service time equates to 172 days is where the confusion lies.
@ josh:
Yeah I understand that. It’s just a shame that it’s a matter of a job when all those boys were molested like that. I can understand if McQueery was the only witness but when there’s 8-10 witnesses, one of which is the man’s own son, the defense doesn’t really have a leg to stand on.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That makes sense.
I find it very troublesome that there are people out there that support Sandusky just because they went to Penn St. or Penn St. is their favorite college football team. It’s making me hate people more and more each day.
I still don’t like that the questions seem to center around impugning the witnesses.
@ Mucker:
All I can say is that I’m glad there’s a process that encourages people to approach it rationally and that I’m miles away from having to make the decision or to even have to participate. If all of it is true, it’s truly horrifying.
@ Mucker:
I think this is more about Paterno than Sandusky, and I think that the type you describe is probably a smaller number than we imagine. It’s just that inside the state of Pennsylvania, these people can wield much more power than elsewhere. But I have two friends who are PSU grads and I can assure you that they are as horrified by Sandusky and the behavior of the school as anyone not affiliated with the university.
@ Mucker:
Vonnegut called such an association a granfalloon, and it’s effects can be as horrifying as the crime itself.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Good to hear. That’s the other thing with media coverage, they focus on the crazies. I’m always skeptical when the media makes something sound a certain way.
josh wrote:
FIFY
@ josh:
Well, OTOH, there’s pretty clear evidence that there was a fairly widespread conspiracy to coverup Sandusky’s proclivities from 1998 until he was busted, then there are the riots on the PSU campus, and journalists covering the trial and who will be outside the courthouse, have today been notified that they should take the utmost care for their safety once the verdict is announced. So the craziness is not manufactured or even miniscule. I think it’s less than what we think, but inside of Pennsylvania seems to be a different story.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It doesn’t take a majority being angry for shit to get crazy.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m sure the support is only from people inside Penn St.’s realm. But it’s disturbing that one person supports him let alone a bunch of idiot’s wearing that tickle monster shirt. My cousin went to Penn St. and at first he was like it wasn’t that big of a deal. But he’s definitely sang a different tune when he found out how serious and how many accusations there are.
Mucker wrote:
Probably as small as the ratio of Cubs fans who want to murder Steve Bartman to the population of total Cubs fans
@ Mucker:
Yeah that shirt is beyond the pale.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
This.
I also haven’t heard one non offhand mention of Paterno since the trial started, which was smart on the prosecutors’ part.
I’m fine with baseball being somewhat lower-scoring. It’s more similar to what I grew up with, and too many home runs can be boring/frustrating (it doesn’t feel as though the offense “earned” its runs enough). The reason we aren’t seeing as many steals as in the 80′s is because it takes time to adapt and develop players. Stolen bases are up compared to the last decade.
@ Berselius:
Yeah, but all it takes is one crazy juror who still thinks s/he can vindicate Paterno with a not guilty verdict here, and a child rapist walks free. That’s what scares me about this jury. It only takes one.
@ ACT:
I’ll agree with this. I like when runs are difficult to get. Makes it more exciting when you do get them. I prefer speed.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Oy, ignorance of the law here. Didn’t realize that it had to be unanimous.
/moran
@ josh:
I like a happy medium of well-placed bunts, gap-to-gap power, taking the extra base, guys running amuck, and guys blasting the baseball into orbit.
Wait, I guess that covers everything.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Well, a hung jury results in a mistrial and they can prosecute again.
@ Berselius:
My cynical side says these people went in there and are doing the defense’s job for them.
The last shred of me that has hope for humanity says they took 5 minutes to vote guilty on the cases where the witnesses testified and are now wrestling with the cases where the victims did not testify.
@ Rice Cube:
Balance is good. A walk-off homerun is very exciting.
One more note on the current run-scoring environment. Home run rates are still quite high: not quite as high as they were in 2000, but historically very high. The low-ish run scoring over the past three years seems to be due to 3 main factors: strikeouts, strikeouts, and more strikeouts.
@ josh:
Another trial plucking from the same jury pool is likely to yield similar results. If there’s a mistrial/not guilty verdicts, he’ll be federally indicted and Pennsylvania won’t get another chance to try him. I think that was part of the point of the feds giving Sandusky a target letter the day before the trial began; they essentially warned the state that if they couldn’t prosecute the case, the feds would.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It seems unlikely to me that one person, let alone multiple people, could do that. Yeah, there are some people in the world who would do that, but that they would find their way onto a randomly selected jury seems highly unlikely to me.
@ josh:
I hope you’re right.
@ ACT:
Probably the lack of steroids. Steroids gives you the power to strike out less, according to Barry Bonds’ critics.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Worst case, if Pennsylvania can’t convict him and the feds take over, then most likely they’re going to get a conviction, if the one thing holding it back is Joe Paterno loyalty. Either way, at some point, there’d be justice.
@ josh:
Sure, but you have to hate to think that these guys got on the stand and relived their pain in front of their abuser (which no doubt resulted in some sick joy for him), only for it to be flushed down the shitter because of some person’s crusade for Sandusky’s chief enabler.
@ josh:
The way I understood it was that steroids were technically illegal but baseball did nothing to enforce the ban on steroid use, so all’s fair in that arena. It’s kind of like overlooking amphetamines or the spitball.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
For sure. It would be horrible. That’s why it’s difficult for me to imagine it happening. Then again, I’m aware that my own sense of propriety doesn’t always translate into reality.
Mini-preview
http://www.obstructedview.net/previews/series-preview-chicago-cubs-24-45-at-arizona-diamondbacks-34-35.html
@ Rice Cube:
I know it’s been getting heavy on here today, but I was attempting levity.
Despite a gag order being issued to both sides, Sandusky’s attorney apparently spoke with a newspaper. He has been summoned by the judge.