strandedx02

Let's go Tigers...clap clap clap clap clap. And as far as Jeter goes: had A-Rod hit that 8th inning homer everyone would have called it a stats-padder. Jeter does it and it's clutch. Still, can't take anything away from having 5 hits in a playoff game.

...and the Mets just ripped off the Red Sox. :|

Wow, Mota looking confused as runs keep scoring...can't say I've ever seen that one before. Nomaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! OMGDime

Wait what did they say when Duca got a hit? Looooo? That makes no sense! Stupid Mets fans.

Black authentic cap, both official WS ones, and... a teal one autographed by...Richie Lewis! (does anyone remember him)

just like I used to do in Boston when I'd get out of my office at 6:30, walk a block to the "Downtown Crossing 'T' Station" take the Red Line to "Park Station" transfer on to the Green Line to "Kenmore Square" and make it to Fenway in time for the first pitch, then take the "T" back home after the game! That's how baseball is viewed, not in a "football" manner of driving and tailgating. Yeah but nobody drives in Boston and the parking around Fenway is $25 anyway so taking the T to the game makes perfect sense to people there. The same sentiment does not apply to 95% of the people who live in South Florida. To me, the main location concern is to make it easily accessible from the major highways (95, Turnpike). Beyond that, I think having a roof on the new stadium will be a much bigger factor in attendance, because then people making a last-minute decision on the game won't have to worry about the possibility of rain delays or cancellations.

wow...if gonzalez doesnt coach the fish then id love to see Alou. btw would love to have Jackson and Wallace if our guys go with Girardi which is very likely. Meh on Wallace, because of what I read about the Red Sox limiting the number of curveballs Beckett threw between starts, which I'm assuming is something that would come from the pitching coach. He said that it didn't affect him any but the times I saw him pitch said otherwise; the rare times he did throw a curveball, a lot of them didn't look particularly sharp, which I'd attribute to him not really having practiced it in his between-start sessions. We all saw how devastating his curve was with the Marlins and he was handcuffed into hardly throwing them this season...and I don't know if I saw him throw a 2-seamer the entire year and that was something that he'd used effectively with the Marlins in '05. In other words, I don't relish the idea of someone who turned Josh Beckett into a 1-pitch starter with a 5+ ERA working with the Marlins' staff.

I hope it's nothing more than just a sore tricep...in his throwing arm that seems a little worrisome if it's actually the elbow or something like that.

Alright I have only head about 10 minutes of this, so forgive me. I have heard he took 35 pills, is that true? I have heard suicide attempt or a reaction? Isn't there medical evidence? Either he over dosed or he had a reaction right? Can't we find that out? All I know is I hope he is telling the truth. I like T.O. He was catching passes on the sideline today and just gave the press conference and looked fine, so it appears the first part is false. Medical records can't be released because of federal privacy laws. He says that it was a reaction to mixing supplements with pain medication and the hospital will never release his medical records to confirm or deny that.

Michael Smith is right--it seems like it was a miscommunication between his publicist and the police. If the report of him taking 35 pills was true, I doubt he would have been catching passes from the Dallas QB's today. Glad to see that he looks to have recovered from the allergic reaction or whatever it was that he was treated for.

This is a very bizarre story but regardless of what actually happened to him, there was obviously some serious medical situation and I hope he'll be OK. Re: the police report, if TO is the only person whose statements formed the basis of that report, I'd question the credibility because if he'd just taken a bunch of painkillers I'm not sure he'd really know what he was being asked.

PTI yesterday: This is why NFL players are going to want to be on the cover of Kornheiser NFL 2008 instead!

Boog just made a joke about someone else referring to Girardi as "The Mad Bunter" and picturing him in the offseason running around to Little League games, screaming at the #3 and #4 hitters to bunt in the first inning. :lol

Using my new camera and new photo editing software I made a couple "interpretations" of album covers, this one is Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends for my 22nd birthday. Here's what the real album cover looks like.

TOUCHDOWN TEMPLE!!!!!! sorry....doesn't happen that much. You must have that Roy Williams/Lions "40 points per season" offense.

Actually, uh...Sergio Mitre. Think about it. 1-hits us in 2005 and kinda killed us this year too.

He pays Beinfest's salary...that's seemed to be pretty much all we've needed to have a respectable team up to this point.

What is your Marlins all time team? Mine is: Pierre CF Uggla 2B Lee 1B Lowell 3B ConineLF Cabrera RF Ivan C Rentaria SS Beckett Dempster Willis L. Hernandez K. Brown Bench= Lo Duca C Kevin Millar 1B, LF, 3B, RF Cliff Floyd LF Delgado 1B Sheffield RF Castillo 2B Alex G SS Bullpen = Closer- Robb Nen Alfonseca Benitez Jones Looper Tejera Moehler Burnett Penny Johnson :| Also I'd definitely start AJ or Penny over Dempster.

If Howard wasn't killing us even more, Niner would be a strong candidate for '06. :|

You guys really think Cabs is only worth 10 mil a year?

:lol Yeah, I've been flipping between Firefox, Opera, and now recently Flock. I think i'm going to be sticking with Flock for a while as it is great for people with photbucket accounts and I use my account alot and use it for alot of mass uploading. It's by far the best browser I've ever used. Mostly like Firefox but built in blog posting, photo uploading, and RSS reader...what's not to like?

You use Flock too, JJ?

I'm not sure I agree with that scenario either, but can you explain the FO failure to add 3-5 million this season when it was clear we needed bullpen help and outfield help. I'd have to blame the inactivity more on Beinfest than Loria, but I still don't understand why they somehow seem not to want to win this year. They may have had a 3 year plan, but you strike while the iron is hot. There's no guarantee that Olsen, JJ, Willis, Sanchez, Nolasco, Cabrera, Hanley....will stay healthy and improve season to season. . . Could it be that it's not in the Marlins best interest to win this year? I think that's the case, but I don't understand why. I thought Beinfest said that he was looking for bullpen help at the deadline but the deals just weren't there--people were asking for too much. And that being said, the team was a lot more "out of it" at the end of July than they were a month later. I doubt he was going to trade someone who can help us 2 years from now (which was probably the timeline they were looking at being competitive) for short-term relief help.

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to injuries (broke my arm once and had a really bad sprained ankle once, that's it) but I "permanently" have shin splints...so I guess it's kind of a give-and-take.

By Jeff Pearlman Special to Page 2 One hundred twenty-five. That was my guess six months ago, based on every statistic and scouting evaluation and gut feeling within my body. The 2006 Florida Marlins would lose 125 games, fielding what would surely be the worst lineup and pitching staff in the history of major league baseball. Hell, how could they possibly do any better? Florida's $15 million payroll was the league's lowest, and any Marlin worth his weight (Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, A.J. Burnett, etc.) other than Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis had been dumped . In their place was, well, liquid crud. Nobodies like Dan Uggla and Reggie Abercrombie. Has-beens like Matt Herges and Joe Borowski. Grade-C youngsters like Mike Jacobs and Chris Aguila. Minor league lifers like Matt Treanor. Matt Treanor!? "This is the worst team I have ever seen," I told a colleague at the time. "I mean, the absolute worst." I was not alone. While on assignment for ESPN the Magazine at the Marlins' spring training facility in Jupiter, Fla., I spoke regularly with the handful of beat writers and columnists and radio and TV reporters following the club. "A joke," said one. "Pathetic," said another. "Little Leaguers." "Don't belong here." "Embarrassing." "Pathetic." I took an unofficial poll. One writer thought 110 loses. Another said 115. A young radio reporter -- the wisest of us all -- settled on 95. "If a few things go right?" she started to say. A veteran TV guy cut her off. "Things can't go right. They'll lose 110 games if everything goes right." It was the surest bet since Mike Tyson-Steve Zouski. Even if the Marlins were to shock the world and play, say, .450 ball for the first three months, there inevitably would be the midsummer lull of performing in 100-degree heat before 376 fans in a run-down football stadium. "I'll admit that could be a challenge," Uggla told me over lunch at a Cheesecake Factory, where he was recognized by absolutely no one. "Hopefully we won't be in that position. Hopefully we'll be winners." I laughed. Not outside, of course, but in my head. Winners? Yeah, right. The next day I stood behind the batting cage before an exhibition game and interviewed Joe Girardi, the rookie manager who surely, beneath his breath, would admit to hoping for 70 wins. Girardi had been around a long time -- a gritty former catcher who knew the truths of major league reality. There was a reason he won with the Yankees and lost with the Cubs; a reason Ken Griffey Jr. hits 40 homers a year and Mark Merchant is lying on a couch eating Ho Hos. It's called talent, and the Marlins didn't have it. Right, Joe? "Our goal is the World Series," he told me. What? "I mean it," he said. "We enter this season with the same aspiration as any other team." I peered closely at his features, desperate for a raised eyebrow or slight smirk or wink or nod or nudge or ? something. "Do you really mean that?" I asked. "I mean, your team has no?" Girardi scowled. He knew the next word would be less than flattering, and he cut it off. "I've always believed that hard work, discipline, attention to details -- those are things that make a profound difference," he said. "Are we young? Yes. Are we overmatched? Maybe. But can we surprise people? I truly believe so." I didn't. Upon leaving the Marlins after four days, I wrote a lead to my story that dumped on the club as a bunch of misfits running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. "These are the Marlins," I wrote. "Your Marlins. They are Willie Mays Hayes and Rick 'Wild Thing' Vaughn and Pedro Cerrano -- men who barely belong in Triple-A, not to mention the major leagues." The lead never made print. Too harsh, I was told -- and boy, was my editor right. The Marlins -- your Marlins -- are not the potential baseball story of the year. They are not the potential story of the decade. They are the potential story of my lifetime -- the long-awaited proof that heart and desire and grit can actually prevail. Once 20 games under .500, Florida is now right at .500 and 3? games behind San Diego in the wild-card race. The Marlins boast four rookies in the starting rotation, three rookie infielders, two rookie outfielders. Uggla, the most unlikely MVP candidate in history, was a Rule 5 pickup from Arizona. Willis, superstud, is their third-best starter. Most of all, there is Girardi. Turns out the BS he was spreading in spring wasn't BS after all. Turns out he truly believed that this team -- this wacky, wild team -- could compete with the best. If only I could say the same. link