Tom Strange

hush hush... voices carry...

Clams??? aren't those the things that taste like and have the consistency of phlegm? ChasU!!! ...Kristopher wants to go to another ball game before the season ends! Hurry!

well... since our motto now is "I will cry no more forever"... we've called up Nelson Cruz. You guys may remember we talked about him a while back... in AAA this year he's hitting .342/.429/.695 with 37 home runs, 99 RBI and 24 steals in 383 at bats over 103 games. The problem he's had before is that he just hasn't been able to carry those numbers over to the big club... It's make or break as he's out of options and can take FA the next time the stRangers take him off the roster... of course, we hope he is able to carry his success over this time... if he doesn't, he may be coming to a ballpark near you next year...

I can see that side... but when I read the story it certainly came across to me as being just as much about "the bible class" he took as it was about him... You should reply back to him and tell him something like "that's fine, but in your piece on the young man you spent as much space talking about this wonderful bible class and TWI as you did the kid..." OM! here we go again... yes, of course it is... and other folks have the freedom to tell about the cult and it's evil ways...

"Second Hand Lions"... very good movie, great story and it'll get you a little misty... (not me of course)

yeah... we're somewhere near the record for number of pitchers used and number of different people on the 25 man squad...

Anyone is welcome to drive with me... although (at most) there would only be room for three others (assuming not much luggage)... gotta save room for the beer! 45 minutes??!!! It only takes me two hours door to door, assuming there are no radars out on the highway... it's sometimes a thrilling ride! Don't worry Dave, neither does anyone else apparently! The past two years it has been Ex10Jr's responsibility to clean and fill the tub (or overfill if you count the year before last)... but it just sits there not being used... and I won't need a map this year! ...my phone has GPS!

It's his birthday!!??!! Guess it's time for the annual bath and beard shaving... Somebody go dust him off! Happening Day dude!

looks like pie crust to me...

girl movie!

love the LL World Series... tonight we use our 28th pitcher (15th starter)...

I know what you mean... and it seems like (in the past) we've done a great job of developing pitching and then trading it away ao they can succeed in the bigs on other teams... OUR HOPE (all stRanger fans) is that that will now be a thing of the past... if you look in that blog there's quite a few ex-stRangers in that list of the top 40 ERAs... all of them pretty much given away except for Volquez and we're happy with the outcome of that one... That being said, and the points in his blog being taken, I still feel we need to go out and get a legitimate number one... whether it's Sebathea or Sheets... they seem to have proven themselves and the only reason their teams wouldn't resign them is dollars... IIRC Zito was a Billy Bean move... maybe he saw something there, he's always been of the 'trade them a year early rather than a year late' mode... but Zito may bounce back... we've had some real nice reports from the farm this year on pitchers... so we'll see... I'm still of the opinion that the reason we can't land any real number ones is because nobody wants to come here and pitch in the heat for three months straight...

Here is some interesting fodder for us to discuss until it makes our ears and fingers bleed: Debunking the Myth of Money: A Manifesto on Pitching It's a stance that buying FA pitching is not the answer... (it's in response to a majority of stRanger fans screaming for Hicks to bring someone in... something we've been screaming for years btw)... I can see his points and they make sense... even he points out that if the stRangers had just taken a similar stance to the Twinkies (we will not trade young pitching) we'd have one of the best rotations in MLB right now... BUT... IMO, while I agree with him I also see no problem with going after a legitimate number one to be your ace... and that's something we've never done here. Sometimes it was our fault they wouldn't sign most times it was the stRangers being used to help drive up their price... so we end up signing folks like Millwood and Chan Ho who are really number three's to assume the ace role... Anyway... enough of my blabbering... there's a lot of stuff to chew on... I think it takes a balance of both: You have to spend money (not just on pitching) AND build and groom talent...

maybe that means the middle picture is "General Lee"??? ...and the first picture is "fleece lined boot"???

two words: programmable robots!

Maybe there's something to the help El Presidente Ryan is giving to the lads... From Newberg:

I feel ya P... as most all know here I have family that is still in... way, way, way in... but the way I've always looked at it (and the way I really think it works) is that there is nothing at all that I could post here that would bring any harm or ill fortune or whatever you want to call it to them... because I'm the evil pozzesed outsider... anyone who has read my posts through the years knows exactly who I am and who my family is... it has caused them absolutely no problems from twi... now... if you want to talk about 'inter-familial' problems that's another story... but that was already there anyway because I "left the ministry". I guess a question I have for you P is: do your folks know exactly how you feel about twi? ...or is it someplace you just don't go? which I can certainly understand because they are your folks... the only folks you'll ever have which is something I don't have to worry about. my family (both in and out) know exactly where I stand on twi so it's no 'news' to anyone, and maybe it's just dawning on me that perhaps you don't want your folks to feel undo pressure from within by someone in twi coming up to them and saying stuff like "do you know what P is saying?"... is that where you're coming from? if it is, then it makes it a little easier for me to understand (not that it makes any difference) I've just never even had these thoughts... oh... and P-Mosh... I don't think you have any worries about making friends with people on this site... I consider you a "friend" as I'm sure many do... we don't always agree (mostly cuz you're a young whipper snapper) but I don't take any of that personally... contribute or not at whatever level you feel comfortable regardless of the reason for the level of comfort...

I was only kidding... mostly... he was a bench coach for John Narron here in 2002 (they were keeping the seat warm for Buck).

yeah... I know... I was lucky enough to be at that game! It was great!

Simon, he's not the pitching coach he's El Presidente of Base-a-bol Operations... he just steps in and lends a hand (and a great deal of credibility) whenever he thinks it may help the youngsters... like the incident I cited with McCarthy, he was talking to him about leg kick and balance... one of the reasons that he looked like he could fire 95 mph fastballs from a lawn chair was his leg strength and kick (and a heck of a lot of natural ability)... hey... it can't hurt... he did mention today on the radio, when asked if maybe he could get out there and maybe take a turn every 5 days or so, what he could throw... he said that last year in an exhibition in Japan he pitched to Bobby Valentine as a promo thing... didn't really train or anything, just warmed up and threw... they clocked him at 85! at 60 years old (then) Today we got some really bad news (like we need any more)... Kinsler is on the DL and may have to have season ending surgery for a "sports" hernia... on the dull side (there is no bright side to losing your spark) we get to see Spider Arias make his MLB debut... so now we have 30 available from our 40 man... oh... and don't forget mstar, Francona learned his managing/coaching skills HERE!

he's usually been pretty good in long relief... maybe it's because there's no pressure, but he does stop the bleeding more often than not...

good points simon... but sadly it's not Washington's management that is hurting the stRanger pitching... half of them aren't very good, meaning they've been in the bigs long enough to have figured it out but lack the concentration/skill to do it consistently... and half of them are very young, with great 'talent potential' that haven't figured out how to use it yet... the biggest thing is that at least half of our staff should still be in AA or AAA learning their way and enjoying moderate success doing so (which is what they all were doing prior to their call ups) but injuries (mostly) and failures (some) have forced them into a trial by fire situation... which is where El Presidente Ryan comes in... Matt Harrison had eight strong innings against the Ray on Saturday and showed improvement again... then yesterday we had to use Nippert as a starter (he has been pretty effective in long relief) because, you guessed it, Padilla had to be moved back again (hmmm, facing the Ray???) but I get whatcher sayin bout crazy pitching usage...

Last night Rays manager Joe Madden chose to intentionaly walk Josh Hamilton in the bottom of the ninth. After the game Madden said: "Let's face it, this is Hamilton's year and I didn't want him to ruin ours." Byrd was batting behind Hamilton and Madden said he wouldn't have done it if Bradley had been next up... still a gutsy call since Byrd already has a walkoff GS this month and has been hotter in the last month than Manny... but it worked out for them... He should be (IMO)...

Oops, okay, now I saw mstar's link... I didn't know that Mattingly and Guidry had been retired...

I knew the last three of those RS numbers... I'm pretty sure that Billy's number is retired, well, if not retired it's honored with a plaque... I don't know why, but I was kind of thinking that the NYY didn't formally retire numbers... they just don't issue them! ...and they made the decision to give Jeter the single digit because they felt he was gonna be a hall of famer one day... I always tried to get number 7 and was able to most of the time since I was usually bigger than most of the other kids and one of the better players (at least in my memory I was!)