Piniella's Idea
Lou Piniella, manager of the Devil Rays, hinted at starting games with relievers and putting the starters in the game around the 3rd inning. Why on earth would an intelligent baseball man want to do that?

"These kids never get a chance to pitch meaningful innings, to pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings," Piniella said. "I think pitch counts rob Minor League pitchers of that opportunity, and this would allow them to do that."

That's true, I never thought of it that way. That's a great point. He did also add that he won't be trying it any time soon.

Scott Podsednik
OK, so the guy got the last spot on the All Star team. Rightly so? No. I love the guy; I love prototypical leadoff hitters, guys that cause havoc on the basepaths, guys that bunt and score tons of runs - I love those guys. I love the underdog: guys that spend years and years in the minors and manage to put it all together and be successful in the big leagues.

I love Scott Podsednik.

But he just didn't deserve to be there. Not when you compare him to the other guys in the running.

I hate the Yankees but Derek Jeter deserves to be there over Podsednik.

I said it.

Look at the numbers:

Pod Jeter
.289 AVG .308
.363 OBP .395
48 R 66
41 SB 10
.337 SLG .446

Yes they are both leadoff hitters, just in different molds. Jeter is not your prototypical leadoff man and Pods is. The real issue that is being debated here is the value of certain statistics over others. Yes, Pods has a ton of steals. But what has that gotten him? More runs? Nope. Has it caused a lot of pressure on the defense whenever he gets on or even comes up to bat? Of course. There is no number for that, and that's why it's tough to say he deserves the all star nod.

The other thing that worries me is that Pods' numbers are down, way down, from last year. His average is up and so are his steals - but that's it. He is on pace to maybe hit one homerun and one triple, if any at all. He hit 12 homers last year. Seven triples too. Sure he only hit .244 and it's good that he's hitting in the .280s now but still. It's the same argument I have about Ichiro: unbelievable numbers - depending on which ones you look at. Ichiro can hit .350 in a season and get tons of hits. He's awesome.

Last season he hit .372 but his OBP tends to be about 40 points higher. That's not great for a leadoff guy. Sure, he'll score 100 runs a season, but shouldn't he?

Ah.

Toe Nail
The right toe nail is almost completely gone. THe left is purple but still there.

Pain level: None, just feels very weird.

My elbow feels funny. Reason? Overwork after pitching.
Pain level: 2. It doesn't really hurt as much as I know how much it will hurt if I try to throw.

My knee is skinned. Pain level: 7, when I tap it against something.

Shipshewana, Indiana
So I spent my fourth of July in Amish country and it was pretty fun. The huge flea market over there was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see all the people that came from all over the place. It was nice to see something different and get my mind stimulated in a different way.

If you get a chance to go, go. I had fun.

Scientology
Sounds like a made up word, doesn't it?

Anyway, I can't see the official website because it's blocked here at work, but check out the Wikipedia entry.

It reads just as wacked out as any other religion until you get to this part:

Xenu
Most famously, those who reach OT level III will learn about Xenu, the galactic tyrant who stacked hundreds of billions of his frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. The traumatised thetans subsequently clustered around human bodies, in effect acting as invisible spiritual parasites that can only be removed using advanced Scientology techniques. Reportedly, the cost of reaching OT III approaches $360,000.

Now that just sounds like a cheap-ass movie right there, not a religion.

Here's more:

For instance, the 1958 book Have You Lived Before This Life (ISBN 0884044475) documents past lives as described by individual Scientologists during auditing sessions. These included incidents such as being "deceived into a love affair with a robot decked out as a beautiful red-haired girl", being run over by a Martian bishop driving a steamroller, being transformed into an intergalactic walrus which perished after falling out of a flying saucer and being "a very happy being who strayed to the planet Nostra 23,064,000,000 years ago".

I agree with scientologists, robots are cool.

Man these people are wacked out.

ABC reality show is pulled
Get the full scoop here. Basically, it was a show where "alternative" families would compete for a house in a conservative neighborhood in Austin, TX. Asians, blacks, gays, everyone was competing. Why would they want to live in uber-conservative America is anyone's guess but this is what I found funniest:

GLAAD was concerned that the gay couple might get grilled by the neighbors, while the Family Research Council was worried that the conservative neighbors might be ridiculed for their Christian beliefs.

Hee hee!

Racialism?
Check out these stamps that were released in Mexico. Some people are saying it's worse than what Vicente Fox said a while ago about blacks and mexicans.

Whatever.

What caught my eye was this:

But NAACP Interim President Dennis Courtland Hayes countered that "laughing at the expense of hardworking African Americans or African Mexicans is no joke and it should end at once."

African Mexicans? What are there like 17 of those?

Bigger Bust?
I'm trying to figure out who is the biggest bust of the past free agent season so far. Here are my candidates:

Carlos Beltran:
.261 AVG, .315 OBP, 9HR, 38 RBIs, 1SB
Salary: 7 yrs, 119Million, average of 17mil per year.

The big dog of last year's free agent class is having a mediocre year, at best. Considering he stole 42 bases last year and is one pace to steal about 3 this year, you know something is going on. He'll probably bust out in the second half and get his numbers closer to his career averages of .282, .351 OBP, and .486SLG.

Adrian Beltre:
.257, .301OBP, 6HR, 36RBIs
Salary: 5yrs, 65 mil, average of 12.8 mil per year
COming off a monster career year, he's been a total bust for the Mariners so far. No one expected him to have the same season he had last year (48HR, 121 RBIs), but he's been way below his career averages.



Both of these guys have sucked but I guess since Beltran was hyped up so much he's the winner of this one. Any other suggestions? Anyone? Hello?

Jeff Kent is a moron
Boo hoo, if being paid to play pro-ball is such a tough thing, then get the fuck out.

That kind of shit makes me sick.

I understand the point they are trying to make, sure, but you can't complain. You simply CANNOT complain about this. Yes, it's tough. Yes, there are tons of sacrifices. But there is no crying in baseball, especially when you're being paid 7 million dollars to play the best sport in the world 162 times a year.

You just can't.

It's obvious why the Catholic-hood can't maintain the "one strike you're out" policy on sex abuse towards children. While everyone probably wants it, for the sake of the kids, the priests can't let it stand. In this article you can see them resisting it. Why? The whole religion is based on forgiveness. They must, theoretically, be capable of forgiving anything. Even the molesting of children.