You are not logged in. Please register or login.

#1141 Re: The Garden » The MLB Thread » 755 weeks ago

Axlin12 wrote:

The biggest issue that always perplexed me with Prior was all I remember being told during those years of Prior coming up fast, was how he had "perfect mechanics". That phrase was thrown around everywhere, including Mr. Peter "It's Not A Question of If Mike Lowell Will Be A Cub, But When" Gammons. Mark Prior was touted all those years as basically the perfect pitcher. Completely injury-proof, because his mechanics were flawless. The power of Roger Clemens, with the finesse of Greg Maddux. This kid was gonna be the second coming of Cy Young.

Literally. It was an exciting time for Cub fans during that 2002 dark period.


Honestly if anyone is to blame for Prior mechanics going out of wack, it's Larry Rothschild. THAT is who I blame. Think about it. Wood and Prior were absolutely FINE until they worked with Rothschild. Then again Zambrano had alot of success under Rothschild, and Ryan Dempster came back as a top-line starter under Larry also. So there was some success.

But I would look at him, before I would Dusty. I just feel lucky that I got to see Prior pitch a 1-run, 5-hit, 8-inning game in person literally just before the fall. I saw what the kid was made of, and he was absolutely brilliant. Such a shame for him too.

Actually, some guy did a dissection of Prior's mechanics and found that it wasn't as good as advertised and that his mechanics would lead to further arm injury.  FWIW, the analysis was on mainly Prior's delivery from his USC days.  I think Prior was already an injury case waiting to happen, add on the pitches thrown and Rothschild's "help" and that's why his career flamed out. 

Adam Lind got stuck on waivers by the Blue Jays.  With so many teams needing offense, he'll be moved somewhere.

I'm still perplexed as to why the Tigers are treading water and struggling.  Note to Tigers: avoid pitching to Andrew McCutchen.  Pitch to the other 8 batters in the Pirates lineup.

On to a happier note, anybody watch the vid of the Mets catcher pitching the eighth inning on Friday?  That thing is hilarious on several fronts.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?conte … 558485&v=3

There's the Terry Collins nod at 0:20, the pbp guy calling Johnson a popup machine.  My personal favorite is Ron Darling providing the scouting report.  Dude was throwing in the mid-high 80s, not bad for a position player.  You know that guy who struck out to end the inning is going to catch hell from his Blue Jay team mates.

That still doesn't beat Chris Davis of the O's though.  That guy was throwing fastballs in the low 90s and struck out a Red Sox batter with a nasty changeup.  He also picked up the win too.

#1142 Re: The Sunset Strip » Most Recent Movie You've Seen » 755 weeks ago

Bono wrote:

saw The Avengers tonight. I thought it was really good although I got slightly bored and annoyed with the excessive action sequence at the end of the movie. It was like 45-60 mins long and it got a little bloated. 

Hidden Text:

I mean seriously with all that destruction going on they are worrying about civilians trapped in a  bus? Gimme a break. Also Black Widow jumping up off Cpt. America's shield to grab a  flying space ship.... lame

Action scenes typically ruin movies for me BUT the quality of the characters in this movie held it together. Hulk had two pretty hilarious moments.  Thor and Hulk were my favorites. Mark Ruffalo was aboslutely perfect as Bruce Banner in my opinion. Better than Ed Norton.

I liked it less than you did but I have some of the same sentiments.  Ruffalo brought a different dimension to the Banner character.  I fell asleep when I watched the Norton version a few years ago.

Agree on the finishing acting sequence being somewhat irrelevant,  the one in the middle was far better.  The ending one just seemed tacked on.

I found Hawkeye and Black Widow pretty underdeveloped as characters and as a result they bored me.

Also:

Hidden Text:

What exactly is Black Widow's special power or ability?  They never exactly went over that in the film.

I found the main villan to be kind of weak as well.  I think the acting of the main characters carries this film.  Let's put it this way, if they had crappier actors in the roles, I'd hate this film.

#1143 Re: The Garden » The MLB Thread » 755 weeks ago

Axlin12 wrote:

I could easily see Wood getting an Assistant to the GM job and working alongside Epstein & Hoyer. He and his family live in Chicago year round, and Wood has pretty much because the next generation Ron Santo for Cub fans. He's an icon to the organization, even if alot of his legacy outside of Wrigley will be written in "failed matererlization".

Is he even interested in being a front office guy at all?  I know he does some charity work in Chicago.

Wood was just not blessed with health on his side.  Whether it was his mechanics or early (I read he threw a LOT of pitches in HS) and later workload issues, his arm just could handle the workload on a consistent basis.  He's got nothing to be ashamed of though his career was probably better than most major leaguers.

Anyway, I'll most remember Kerry Wood for clinching the NLDS in 2003 with the Game 5 win on the road vs the Braves.

As for the 2004 Cubs, Dusty Baker and pitch counts and pitcher workload will always be an issue wherever he manages.  That and they basically just choked the last week of the season.

I can't really blame all of Wood's problems on Baker, but on Prior Dusty Baker deserves a whole shitload of that for torpedoing his career.  Prior is still hanging on I think and is pitcher in the Red Sox minor leagues somewhere.

#1144 Re: The Garden » The MLB Thread » 756 weeks ago

Random thoughts:

Derek Lowe is 6-1 with a 2.0 era.  This guy was pretty horrible last year for the Braves.  Still he's pitching to contact (had a shutout with O ks) and he should regress to the mean in the later months.

Angels still suck on offense.  They've been shutout 8 times.  The A's, Pirates and a couple of other teams are second with 4 shutouts.  Speaking of the As, I think it is remarkable that they have a winning record despite being last in the AL in avg, 2nd to last in OBP and last in SLG, and last in OPS.

Nats have injury problems, specifically at catcher.  Their 1st string guy Wilson Ramos (acquired from the Twins for Matt Capps a few years ago) blew out an ACL.  The second stringer Sandy Leon suffered an ankle injury and got placed on the sixty day dl.  They are down to their third stringer and are in the market for a catcher.  The Cubs should be shopping Soto hard to the Nats in the upcoming weeks or months.

I'm not sure the Orioles as much as people think.  I was pretty shocked that the Orioles were tied with the Yankees for HR's hit.  I think their hitting might keep them in this longer than I would expect.

Red Sox are playing a lot better now.  With the 2nd WC, they actually aren't as far out as they appear to be.  Beckett and Lester pitched well the last 2 games.  But those were against the Mariners.

Anyone kinda surprised that the NL East is one of the most competitive divisions?  I still expect the Mets to fall off.  I think the Braves stay in it.  The Marlins and Phils are the wild cards.  Marlins are playing well they've won something like 11 of their last 14 games.  Nats have been winning with pitching only.  Their offense is pretty suspect.  Same with the Phils.  One of these 3 teams will fall off.  I just can't figure out which one.  Nats probably have the best minor league system so they can make trades if needed.  Philly is counting on Howard and Utley returing at some point during the year.  I personally think Utley is done with at all the knee problems he has had.

#1145 Re: The Sunset Strip » NBC Greenlights Pirate Drama » 756 weeks ago

I'm actually looking forward to watching this.  This is only because I loved the Luther series (available on Netflix).  I have zero confidence that NBC will not screw this up by canceling it or putting it on a shitty timeslow.  This would have been far better on a cable channel though.

The only upshot is that by being on NBC if it draws ANY decent ratings at all it stands a good chance of getting a second season.  NBC's been in toilet for the last few years.

#1146 Re: The Garden » The MLB Thread » 757 weeks ago

Axlin12 wrote:

Dempster for Youkilis and Buchholz and maybe a PTBNL and cash sounds like a good deal for me. The Cubs look at Demp as 35, and the Red Sox NEED pitching, even if it's a rental. The Cubs NEED a 3B, but Youk ain't no different than Jeff Baker at this point, unless a change of scenary turns him back into his true self. Buchholz simply would be a "Chris Volstad" placeholder simply to fill Demp's slot in the rotation.


As for Garza, Theo knows Garza is his "big gun". He's not gonna just give him up, unless he truely thinks he's getting something in return. Whether it be multiple young pitchers ready for the rotation in a couple of years (think Friedman & the Rays), or it be a big outfield bat ready right now.

But something tells me Garza is being saved for more pitching prospects.

I think you're selling Dempster short.  He'll probably get a top 10 prospect from some contending team.   If they really want Youkillis, they can sign him in FA after Boston declines his large 2013 option and he hits the market.  The other thing to watch is the Phillies, if they continue to tank they will trade Cole Hamels to whichever team ponies up the best prospect.

As for Garza, Cubs will definitely be shooting for the package that the Pads recieved for Latos or what Oakland got for Gio Gonzalez.  Detroit is in win now mode and has a young 3b in the minors (Nick Castellanos) and he's obvious not going to playing in front of Miguel Cabrera anytime soon.  That would be a logical trade partner. 

I guess maybe the Braves might be another trade partner.  Their starting pitching has been suspect.  They have some major league ready pitching prospects but I can't imagine them trading for Garza since they've been pretty cheap since they've been bought by Liberty Media.

Vlad Guerrero signed today with the Toronto Blue Jays.   He needs 410 more hits to hit the magical 3000 number.

Last Red Sox comment, Bobby V looks like he has aged ten years.  I saw a clip of him the other day and he looked ragged.

The Cubs are also fucked with Marmol's contract.  With teams like the Angels, Red Sox, Yankees (maybe) looking for bullpen help, his implosion could not have come at a worse time.  He is worthless at this point.  The best they can get is a bad contract or a failed prospect type.

#1147 Re: The Garden » Nfl Draft - Free Agency » 758 weeks ago

misterID wrote:

At least we did get Lamar Miller.

That was a great pick.  I've read that Reggie Bush is a FA after this year too.  So it's good insurance in case he asks for too much money.  He has a different skill set than Daniel Thomas as well.

No matter how bad you thought your team drafted there's always this: at least you didn't take a punter in the early 3rd round like the Jaguars.

#1148 Re: The Sunset Strip » Guess The Flicks! » 758 weeks ago

3rd one has me stumped.

But the 1st one is definitely DePalma's Blow Out with Travolta and Nancy Allen.

2nd one is Precious.

#1149 Re: The Garden » Nfl Draft - Free Agency » 759 weeks ago

I found the first round kinda boring (could be the ESPN coverage which seemed to be giving away the picks).

Great move by DAL and PHI getting the guys they wanted (Claiborne and Cox). 

I hate to bash the Rams but I think they traded down too many times.  They probably should have stayed at 6 to grab Cox.

Bruce Irvin to Seattle is the shocker of Round 1.

I'm OK with the Kendall Wright pick for the Titans.  Britt is injury prone and I don't trust any other WR not named Nate Washington.

The Bills if they wanted to could probably trade up into Round 2 to grab Cordy Glenn.  OTOH they should just stay there and wait for Jeffrey or Hill or Randle to drop to their spot.

Best players left (list taken from Mike Mayock of NFL Network top 100 players):

23. Courtney Upshaw, DE, Alabama
25. Cordy Glenn, OT, Georgia
26. Jerel Worthy, DT, Michigan State
30. Vinny Curry, DE, Marshall
32. Stephen Hill, WR, Georgia Tech
34. Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford
36. Jeff Allen, OT, Illinois
37. Amini Silatolu, G, Midwestern State
38. Coby Fleener, TE, Stanford
39. Casey Hayward, CB, Vanderbilt
40. Peter Konz, C, Wisconsin
42. Devon Still, DT, Penn State
43. Dwayne Allen, TE, Clemson
44. Bobby Massie, OT, Mississippi
45. Trumaine Johnson, CB, Montana
46. Lavonte David, OLB, Nebraska
47. Brandon Thompson, DT, Clemson
48. Josh Robinson, CB, Central Florida
50. Cam Johnson, DE, Virginia
51. Alshon Jeffery, WR, South Carolina
52. Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State
53. Andre Branch, OLB, Clemson
54. Brian Quick, WR, Appalachian State
55. Janoris Jenkins, CB, North Alabama
56. Kendall Reyes, DT, Connecticut
58. Josh Norman, CB, Coastal Carolina
59. Derek Wolfe, DT, Cincinnati
60. T.Y. Hilton, WR, Florida International
61. Brandon Boykin, CB, Georgia
62. Mitchell Schwartz, OT, California
63. Rueben Randle, WR, LSU
64. Alameda Ta'amu, DT, Washington
65. Brandon Taylor, SS, LSU
66. Kelechi Osemele, G, Iowa State
67. Kirk Cousins, QB, Michigan State
68. Olivier Vernon, DE, Miami
69. Mychal Kendricks, ILB, California
70. Mike Martin, DT, Michigan
71. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
72. Brock Osweiler, QB, Arizona State
73. Tyrone Crawford, DE, Boise State
74. Ronnell Lewis, OLB, Oklahoma
75. Dwight Bentley, CB, Louisiana-Lafayette
76. Brandon Brooks, G, Miami (Ohio)
77. Isaiah Pead, RB, Cincinnati
78. Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska
79. Philip Blake, C, Baylor
80. DeQuan Menzie, FS, Alabama
81. Sean Spence, OLB, Miami
82. Lamar Miller, RB, Miami
83. Billy Winn, DE, Boise State
84. Jonathan Massaquoi, DE, Troy
85. Ben Jones, C, Georgia
86. Demario Davis, OLB, Arkansas State
87. Leonard Johnson, CB, Iowa State
88. Bernard Pierce, RB, Temple
89. Marvin Jones, WR, California
90. Jamell Fleming, CB, Oklahoma
91. Mohamed Sanu, WR, Rutgers
92. Orson Charles, TE, Georgia
93. Chris Polk, RB, Washington
94. Frank Alexander, DE, Oklahoma
95. Trevor Guyton, DE, California
96. Donald Stephenson, OT, Oklahoma
97. Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma
98. Bobby Wagner, OLB, Utah State
99. Robert Turbin, RB, Utah State
100. Zach Brown, OLB, North Carolina

#1150 Re: The Garden » Nfl Draft - Free Agency » 759 weeks ago

Draft is in less than a week and I have no idea how most of the Top 10 will shake out outside of the top 2 picks.

Minnesota is said to be seriously considering Claiborne, Kahlil, Blackmon and Floyd.  I think it comes down to Kahlil and Claiborne to be honest.  If that happens I don't think Kahlil falls past STL.  Fisher would cream his pants for a chance to get a starting LT at #6.  I don't think Minnesota trades down at all unless they really want a WR. 

I suspect Richardson goes 4 or 5.  Probably 4 to Cleveland.  Not buying the Tannehill talk there.  They're looking at Weeden in the late 1st and early 2nd stage.

Jacksonville also has interesting (and maybe weird) 1st round picks.  This year is no different at all.

Dolphins should just take Tannehill and grab a WR in round 2.  They could draft a DE or TE in that round as well.

No clue who the Titans are going to pick.  They be slaves to how the first round unfolds.  Don't be surprised if they take a WR at 20 though.  Outside of that any position on defense is a good bet.  Slight chance they take a C.

And to end, here's something to get you into the draft mood.  Or you could use it to laugh at the Jets some more.

Someone should update that to include Gholston and maybe Sanchez.

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB