http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=240928101
Yahoo says the game has been postponed and will be made up as a doubleheader tomorrow.

That sucks.

And Rogers is subing Boston & Tampa Bay.

Any chance tomorrow's game will be on Sportsnet?

Any chance tomorrow's game will be on Sportsnet?

Don't worry Wilner, if you run out of material I've prepared some topics for you:

1) Remention your MLB re-alignment (which I was fascinated with) and wait for caller rebutles.

2) Mention that goofy story about the Colts moving to TO

3) SAY THRILLHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dang it! This bites. I was looking forward to today's game. I guess I won't get 2 starts out of Lilly for fantasy purposes either. And I won't be able to watch another Jays game til next year. Pretty depressing. Best of luck to the boys, go catch those friggin Devil Rays.

Wilner's re-alignment won't work due to the 15 team split.

Excuse my ignorance, but why is it so awful to have an even number of teams in the two leagues?

And Rogers is subing Boston & Tampa Bay.

Hopefully they switch over to Anaheim at Texas once that game gets underway.

Who cares if it wont work? It's fun just to talk about it and mess around till a viable option is found.

Because it means on any given day, one team in each league won't be able to play.

This really blows. I had the day off of work, and I've been looking forward to watching Lilly's last start of the season. Instead, I will likely miss BOTH games tomorrow.

Excuse my ignorance, but why is it so awful to have an even number of teams in the two leagues?

Because that would mean there would be an uneven number(15) in each league, which causes a lot of problems when you try and come up with a schedule.

Excuse my ignorance, but why is it so awful to have an even number of teams in the two leagues?

He ment there would be 15 teams in each leauge, meaning there'd always be an odd team up when everyone pairs up for series'.

riiiight...

If you didn't mind having interleague play all the time, though, it would no longer be an issue.

Hope you're all tuned into the rainout show, it's gonna be good! And Thrillhouse? I still don't see it. Enlighten me, please.

JP should come on the rainout show to make up for missing last week's WWJP. ;-)

Don't worry Wilner, if you run out of material I've prepared some topics for you

I gotta say, Jobu, you've got to be the strangest poster on the Box. Given the diverse set of personalities we have here, that's a real accomplishment, unlike, say, being the prettiest girl in the leper colony.

I don't get "THRILLHOUSE", either. :)

What's Wilner saying now? They have the Jim Rome show on Radio 98 in London instead. Blech.

He's talking about the Jays likely being active in the trade market, rather than free agency, and focusing on on-base rather than slugging.

Wilner:

j) Whip it out.

Hey alright! Im unique! But I'm usualy the strangest person in any given context.

As for THRILLHOUSE. Where have you guys been all week?

It started innocently enough with this post by Fozzy about Russ Adams
http://www.battersbox.ca/archives/00002439.shtml#243946

that snowballed throughout the entire thread, and into the posts of the next few days after Milhouse became THRILLHOUSE (a specific episode reference) so as not to humiliate Adams. Then it became visual with my "creation"

http://www.battersbox.ca/archives/00002446.shtml#244642

to cememnt the nickname into the Hall of Super Weird Fame. And now that I've heard the ALL MIGHTY WILNER pick up "Hawaiian Punch Out" it's been my goal to hear him say THRILLHOUSE on the air.

What's it gonna take to make my dreams come true Mr. Five Tool Host?

What's Wilner saying now? They have the Jim Rome show on Radio 98 in London instead. Blech.

Why not listen live on the fan website?

http://www.jr-digital.com/cjcl.asx
COMN for FAN link, Moffatt (or anyone).

Why not listen live on the fan website?

I thought it'd be blacked out. I'll check it out now. :)

Can anyone listen to Rome's show for more than 5 minutes without wanting to dig their brain out with a spoon?

Here's a transcript of every Jim Rome show:

"DUDE SAID X THAN Y"

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.. X *THAN* Y"

"WHAT KIND OF MORON SAYS X THAN Y"

"YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT. X THAN Y?"

"X THAN Y?"

"I WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU CLONES THINK"

"DEAR JIM, I USED TO DO X THAN Y BEFORE EVERY GAME. THEN I'D GO BANG THREE CHICKS. SINCERELY, WADE BOGGS".

Blech.

I used to listen to Rome when he was on 640, just to hear how bad he is. Now I have the pleasure of listening to a THRILLHOUSE of a radio host like Mr. Wilner.

Obu, that was gold.

The Expos game is on Headline Sports, if you're so inclined.

Wilner probably won't want to read through the whole game thread (although he is a five-tool radio host), so I'll summarize the Thrillhouse stuff for him here:

Basically, we kept using famous Milhouse quotes when referring to Adams the other night. I don't know if you watch The Simpsons, so some of these might not be familiar.

- "Everything's coming up Adams!" for his bloop singles.
- Adams on possible trade rumors: "I can't go to the NL, they use guys like me as currency!"

And on, and on, into the night. We concluded that Milhouse was a geek, so his name wasn't good enough for Adams. We took Milhouse's nickname from some video game he played -- Thrillhouse, which appeared as THRILLHO on the 8-character max screen -- and declared it the Official Russ Adams Nickname.

Now you know. ;)

And there's a guy named Bart on the show right now. Perfect timing.

And if the explanation doesn't entice you, behold THRILLHOUSE in all his glory!!



You don't even have to reference him directly.... you could slide it in like "there's a THRILLHOUSE of a game going on in Tampa Bay tonight".

If you thought that was a long explanation, don't get me started on The Brandon Heat King Major League SHOOGY Flyin' Hawaiian Punch-Out with Goggles, which would take longer than a 20/20 update to read through...

Thanks for the run-through, Rob. I read that thread, and love the Simpsons (any of you catch my Simpsons reference when I was talking to the caller from Seattle?). I read that thread at the time, but I gotta be honest - Thrillhouse for Russ Adams doesn't do it for me like Hawaiian Punch-Out for League does. It just doesn't speak to me. Maybe if you guys keep calling him that, it'll stick. Heck, I'll even mention it to him when the Jays get home from Baltimore, see what he thinks.

Heck, I'll even mention it to him when the Jays get home from Baltimore, see what he thinks.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?

any of you catch my Simpsons reference when I was talking to the caller from Seattle?

Please. That was an easy one. ;)

Congrats to Rob for remembering "Flyin'" this time ;)

But boo to Jobu for confusing Babs with Bette. :)

Just cuse she didn't write the song doesn't mean she couldn't sing it with me. Remember I'm the token strange one ;)

The problem is, Thrillhouse makes no sense at all if you haven't read the thread. Flyin' Hawaiian fits, as Wilner says.

And I'm keeping my fingers crossed the word "THRILLHOUSE" somehow slides onto the air...

I admit that THRILLHOUSE is much more inside and not as obvious as Flyin Hawaiian. I would never contest that, I'm not that insane. I'm not faulting the 5 tooler for not saying it. Just keeping a little dream in back pocket.

Exactly, Rob.

If only Adams had blue hair and wore thick glasses.

When you think about, the Flyin Hawaiian is more THRILLHOUSE like ;)

But I figure if we keep using it like Mighty Wilner said, and THRILLHOUSE starts to make thrilling plays in his career, we'll wonder what we used to call him in the days before THRILLHOUSE.

LOL. Mulderized.

By the way, does anyone know a website where I can find the jersery numbers of any player to ever play for the Jays? I'm trying to compose a unique "pinch hit" over the next few weeks.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Well, if you Google "Russ Adams" and "Thrillhouse," you do get 3 hits. It's a start, Jobu.

So it begins...

Warren Sawkiw on now.

Will Caroll on soon. I missed the other guy's name.

Mr. Fordin is the other guest on this THRILLHOUSE of a show Wilner is pitching till 11pm.

http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2003&t=TOR
Jobu, COMN for 2003 jersey numbers and you can edit the URL for all seasons.
("y=2003" becomes "y=1996" or whatever year you want.)

**

Sawkiw is on the FAN now. I might just turn Wilner off here. He (Sawkiw) just called the Flyin' Hawaiian "Brandon Leagues."

**

Well, if Adams = Milhouse, what are the other Simpsons equivalencies on the Jays?

Some ideas...
Menechino = Ralph Wiggum
Batista = Lisa
File = Martin Prince
League = that teenager with the squeaky-voice
Delgado = Carl Carlson
Cat = Lenny Leonard

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Try this site.

Sawkiw takes a lot of heat on here, but I really love his enthuiasm.

Rob! You're aces kid! Thanks!

PS. Menechino = Ralph Wiggum = funny.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Damn your oily hide, Rob! I think that's twice you've done that to me now... You must now request at least 1 ticket to Friday's game. :)

Honourable mention to Jim from TBG. I'm excited about this project I'm taking on. Hopefuly it's deemed post worthy whenever it's done.

Now if I can just find all the coaches numbers I'm set.

It's too bad Sawkiw never made the big leagues. He would have had some good nicknames.

We will...we will...sawkiw.

Rob! You're aces kid! Thanks!

You're welcome, and sorry, Jim -- it's a posting gift I have.

Jobu, I'm assuming you're basically my age (born 1987 here), but I will gladly go along with the joke. ;)
So watch what you say, old-timer!

Don't worry Rob, im in '83 and I call people twice my age that. I have alot of catch phrases to annoy my friends.

Coach's numbers are proving much more difficult.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Nickname-wise, League has it all over Adams.

Cool Birthplace: League. There are all kinds of cultural references to Hawaii, and Hawaiian rhymes so easily: Flyin', Cryin', Fish Fryin' - the possibilities are endless.

If he ever claims #50 from Chulk, he can be Hawaii Five-0

Name: League. He's the first major leaguer whose name is actually League. You could look it up (I had to).

Physical Characteristics: League has the funky goggles going for him, while Adams could play Generic Big Leaguer #3 out of central casting.

Skills: Adams has a nice mix, but as a pitcher League is the centre of attention when he's in, and throws blazing heat, which has been a staple of dozens of nicknames: Dizzy, Big Train, Rapid Robert, Sudden Sam, Rocket Roger, Ryan's Express, etc.

So nicknaming Adams is an uphill climb. You could do some Adams Family riff on his name, but that's about 35 years past its expiry date. If he'd wear #86, you could pull some Get Smart references, but that's similarly dated. We could try something that evokes his style of play, but we've hardly seen enough of him.

Damning with Faint Praise: Russ "Better Than Terry" Adams
Generic baseball nickname: Rusty
Just plain mean: Better than Woodward

I even tried an anagram generator, which cranked out: AS ASS DRUM

Suddenly Thrillhouse isn't looking so bad...

WHY is Sportsnet showing BOS/TB and not TEX/ANA ??

Boston clinched a playoff spot, and the D-Rays were eliminated a looong time ago. This game is meaningless. Boooo.

Speaking of nicknames, what baseball nicknames do you wish would make a comeback?

My number one choice is Pants.

That's the name I'd want if I was a manager.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
That's make a helluva headline the day you were fired:

Blue Jays Drop Pants

Brandon League: Enron, a bad glue.
Russ "D.E." Adams: Ass Arms, Dude!

Advantage, Adams.

Wait, is it only me, Jobu, Moffatt, Ryan, and Jim here now? Nobody else has posted since Wilner did almost an hour ago...gotta love rain delays.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Should read "That'd," and I seem to have completely butchered "hell of a"

Trivia just for y'all:

Anyone know what Babe Ruth called Lou Gehrig?

Hint 1: inspired by a couple of earlier posts. Hint B: Not Thrillhouse. :-)

Yes, I am ridiculously bored here. I'm playing blast billiards and listening to Wilner.

Hint B: Not Thrillhouse. :-)

.....Sawkiw?

what are the other Simpsons equivalencies on the Jays?

I just want to know which latin player gets the honour of being the Bumblebee Man.

Speaking of nicknames, I guess my "Inspector Speier" to the Inspector Gadget Theme didn't take off when we were discussing it way back when. But I still can't help whistling the tune every time he's in a ballgame. It still makes me chuckle. Do do do do do, DO DOOOOO.

That would be Biscuit Pants, me thinks.

Pants would be a damn sight better than Blondie. But, if my name was William Aloysius, and take Blondie over anything but Bill.

Anyone know what Babe Ruth called Lou Gehrig?

Uh, Babs or Bette?

Wait, wait.... I got it:

The Brandon Heat King Major League SHOOGY Flyin' Hawaiian Punch-Out with Goggles

It's a good thing Richard Harden shortens his name to Rich and not the alternative.

That Blast Billiards just wasted 20 minutes for me, Ryan. Thanks for keeping me from typing up my chem lab reports! ;)

It's a good thing Richard Harden shortens his name to Rich and not the alternative.

If you remember the Olympic team (damn that Grecian Wind!), Stubby Clapp's real first name is Richard.
Make up your own puns.

Biscuit Pants? Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but I suppose Babe earned the right to make up whatever nickname he wants.

In the parallel universe dept. (paragraph courtesy of CBS Sportsline):

"Rookie left-hander Adolfo Chacin will start the second game Wednesday and throw to rookie catcher Guillermo Quiroz, Gibbons said. Quiroz caught Chacin in his last start, a four-hit effort through seven shutout innings in his major league debut, Sept. 20 against the Yankees."

8:59 to 9:12 is only 13 minutes. So 20 is a bit of an exaggeration. ;)

Blue Jays Drop Pants

What about when I uncover the other team's dastardly strategery:

Hidden Ball Trick Revealed By Pants

Stubby Clapp's real first name is Richard

Stubby sounds better than "The" as his nickname I guess. I'm sure he's been called that at one level of the minors or another. Poor guy.

That's gold, Moffatt. Just need to work Thrilhouse's flood pants into there.

We've already eclipsed Saturday's game thread length, and it's a rainout tonight. Nice.

More bored rainout stuff, with anagrams:

Ryan Lind could not find a spot at the hotel for thin people, so he was forced to take a room at the LARDY INN. Mike Moffatt saw the Most Irritating Man (alive) Today, and screamed TAKE OFF, "MIMT!" Yours truly had his POT RECIPE BEAT by a professional grower at the National Marijuana Contest.

And I couldn't work "Mike Wilner: I RENEW MILK" in there anywhere, but it's funny.

Sorry, Jobu. All I could do with the limited knowledge of your name I have is Bujo, Ujob, or Ojub.

LOL, that's good. What do you have for our pal Spencer Fordin?

Also, Mike Wilner can also be "WIENER MILK"

I'd like to see you work that into a paragraph while keeping it PG-13.

Mike Wilner was just on with Spencer Fordin. Spencer slammed (politely) Wilner's playoff ideas.

I actually like the wildcard tournament idea - which I would do as follows:

1) Go back to two divisions per league
2) Allow 4 wildcard slots and have a two day tournament at a neutral site.

I never liked the 3 division concept - all but one of the divisions have 5 or fewer teams and in my book it isn't a great accomplishment to win a division if your four competitors happen to be medioicre (e.g. Twins).

On another topic - Batista as closer:

I'll say upfront that I don't know if it's a good idea for Batista in particular to relieve. Both Mike and Spencer seem to agree that thinking, as Batista is prone to do (Spencer called it overthinking), may be detrimental to a closer's performance.

Counterexample - Eric Gagne. Gagne has a vast array of weapons in comparison to most other relief pitchers. When he gets in a tight spot, he often walks around the mound and I can almost "see" the wheels turning in his head. My impression is that he's going through the sequence of pitches and scouting report trying to determine what to throw. During his walk about he never looks at the catcher.

Of course Batista is not Gagne. The number of relievers who have Gagne's stuff might be counted on one hand. But if Batista improves his command, he has the stuff to be a notch below the greatest relievers in the business.

Is that worth more or less than 200 average innings from a starter? I think yes. Two questions for the readership to reflect upon:

1) Is Batista capable of sharpening his control in his role as a relief ace?

2) Is he likely to be an above average starting pitcher if used that way over the next few years.

I'd like to see you work that into a paragraph while keeping it PG-13.

Q: What would you like for dinner, Mike Wilner?
A: A hot dog is fine. And some milk.
Q: Pardon?
A: Wiener, milk.

If I heard Gibbons right, Ryan Glynn is going to be starting on Sunday. I'm planning on going to that game, and I'd rather see just about anybody start than Glynn.

Ryan Glynn? Not exactly leaving an exciting off season bridge for all the casual fans who show up for the last game of the season. Like all the ones who were turned off after the first game of the season.

What do you have for our pal Spencer Fordin?

"Fenton Fordin", Spencer's little brother, is sometimes annoying. Once as children, he turned off Spencer's music, to which the writer-to-be responded "FEN, SPIN RECORD!"

Maybe this will help you out Rob:

Jobu = JOe BUscemi

I gotta say, Jobu, you've got to be the strangest poster on the Box. Given the diverse set of personalities we have here, that's a real accomplishment

Moffatt, wait until you go to a game with the guy. He's pretty quiet until he shouts "Punch him in the face" at the top of his lungs, apparently at random.

Did anyone call in to talk about taking a run at Fordin's mom? I gotta say, that was possibly the funniest thing I've read on here, ever. I'm kind of sad I was at a prenatal class and missed the rainout show.

Frankly, I'm pessimistic about a 33 year old pitcher who has never had great control "sharpening his control" to become a relief ace. If he could do that, why didn't he do that a long time ago? In 1998, Miguel was used mostly as a reliever (56 games, 13 starts,) and his BB/IP was 0.48. This year, his BB/IP is 0.49. Remarkably similar, really. Whether he's a starter or a reliever, I don't see Batista being able to improve his control at this point.

P.S. I'm just looking at Batista's career stats, and I see that he made his MLB debut in 1992. He pitched 2 innings with the Pirates, and then disappeared until 1996. What happened to 1993-1995?

Boy, my name inspires some weak anagrams. I can promise you this, though: Wilner will hear plenty about "Wiener Milk" during the season's final weekend. And it probably won't be PG-13.

That's as PG-13 as Beaver Cleaver. Never mind.

My own view from Batista's career record (and particularly his regular September fade, and his performance after he gets into the game, but before he gets tired) is that he's best cast as an ace reliever, going 2 innings plus mostly, 50-60 times per season. With Speier also being able to go more than an inning, this is a workable and valuable role.

Making a whistle dog requires a simple list of ingredients : grated sharp cheese, a wiener, milk or water, and Bisquick.

I want four rounds of playoffs, NHL-style. I'd prefer having 16 teams make the playoffs, but I would also settle for (and I think most people would prefer) six teams per league, with two byes and two real series, best-of-three or better yet best-of-five, all played at the better team's park over five days.

Robert's suggestion is actually great as well.

An even more exciting (though probably too radical) format would be like Robert's, but instead of having two division winners and four wild card slots, keep three divisions and let EVERYONE in for the final slot in a single-elimination tournament format. Imagine how nuts that would be... essentially a two-day tournament, and using the current NL as an example, you would seed the 13 non-division-winners 1 through 13. 1 through 3 would get first-round byes and you'd have 4 play 13, 5 play 12, and so forth, to get eight teams that would then be whittled down to four with a night game.

The next day, they'd play the semifinals in the morning and the finals in the evening. The tournament winner plays the top team in the league in the first round of the playoffs. The best thing about this format is that no team is ever out of it, which is one of the biggest complaints that fans have at this time of year. Imagine if teams were still jockeying for seedings in the playoff tournament right now, with all eyes on two insane days over a single weekend at the end of the regular season.

This sort of thing probably only appeals to anarchic, chaos-loving people like myself but it sure as heck would make baseball relevant again. You'd need to hold the tournaments in cities where you had two parks close together, or where there were two cities close together. You could definitely make it work though.

All a pipe dream, I know, but a fun thought. I have to try playing a DMB league like that sometime.

About Stubby: In Quebec City there's a theater in a crazy pyramid-shaped mall called "Le Clap". I wish I'd taken a photo.

Continuing the Simpsons / Blue Jays connection:

If Delgado is Carl, and the Cat is Lenny, does that mean that he's spent one magic summer carving Mount Delgado-more? Or is that what he's been up to while he's rehabbing?

There's also one comparison that's so obvious, I'm surprised that no-one's caught onto it:

Dave Berg = "C'mon, old Bergie needs a hit!" (he moans as breaks his bat) "Oh, I only had one more payment on that bat!"

As for Batista, in 1993, he was in Harrisberg (AA) for 3 games, not sure what happened (injury maybe?) In 1994, he was back in Harrisberg, but only pitched 11 innings (injury, maybe). In 1995, he was in Charlotte (AAA) He pitched 116 innings, had a 4.80 ERA. In 1996, he was in Charlotte again, for 77 innings, then went to Florida. Then from 1997 - 2000, he got shuttled back and forth from the minors (Iowa, Ottawa, Omaha) to the parent clubs (the Cubs, Montreal, Kansas City). Only in 2001 did he spend a whole season in the majors.

Jobu: all at once now, change your name to a six-sided 3D figure, cry over spilled apple juice, and urge yourself to turn into the art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition:

I'M JOE CUBES...*SOB*, ME JUICE...JOE, BE MUSIC!

Lots of interesting comments about Sally League prospects (including Diaz, Roberts, Marcum, Mastny, and others) in John Manuel's chat wrap on Baseball America:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/chat/040928jm.html

How do you do that COMN thing?

Moffatt, wait until you go to a game with the guy. He's pretty quiet until he shouts "Punch him in the face" at the top of his lungs, apparently at random.

Just wait till the Yankee's are in town and I only have two games left to get "Punch him in the face!" out of my system.

Craig B: Do you realize, in essence, you just invented a new holiday with that idea that would keep men and female ball fans indoors away from work and family for two days straight? And thats a good thing.

6-4-3: Berg as Gil? I'm still laughing....

Rob: That's frighteningly brilliant.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/chat/040928jm.html
greenfrog - paste the link into the Homepage box.

http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html
For anyone wondering how I keep coming up with these brilliant anagrams, COMN for DIY-fun.

Well, let's see Spencer... we have one racial insult (NIPS CONFERRED), a little bit of domination action (FORCED SPINNER), bizarre car pictures (SIC FENDER PORN), modular swordfighters (DROP-IN FENCERS), a command regarding fridge parts (FEND NO CRISPER), Cesar and his buddy (CRESPO 'N' FRIEND),

My favourite one that doesn't make much sense is NORDIC SERF PEN. Actually, my very favourite one that doesn't make much sense is NERF CORD PENIS.

I think I'll just call you DR. PRISON FENCE from now on. Or maybe I'll call you PROF. DR. INCENSE. I also like DR. INFO SPENCER.

More Simpsons:

"Hi, I'm Gregg Zaun. You might remember me from such teams as the '95 Orioles, the 1997 Marlins, and the 2001 Royals. You don't? Oh". Although he doesn't have any rumors of bad behaviour at the aquarium, so . . .

The entire relief corps could borrow the name of Lionel Hutz's firm : "I can't believe it's a bullpen!"

Just saw that Glynn stuff. Ugh. I'm going on the last game, too. I'd rather see a "bullpen start", like St. Louis is doing, of Speier, League, and Batista. I'm not even joking. I'd rather see Justin Speier pitch 2 innings, then give League a few, then Lighterfluid, Frasor, Chulk, etc. I wish they'd jiggled the rotation to give a decent starter on the last game.

My anagram possibilities are endless: there's the common 4-6-3, there's the rarer 4-3-6, there's the even rarer 3-4-6, Mayber a 6-3-4.

Okay, fine. What's my vulgar reaction to the Jays spending 6 million dollars on "the next Ken Griffey Jr."? "Cruz? Cue oath"

Craig's suggestion could lead to a 65-97 team winning the World Series. If that happened, the baseball world as we know it would vanish in an instant and be replaced by one that was infinitely more complex, though no one would be aware of it.

10,000,000 points to the first person who catches the literary reference.

It's probably wrong, but I'll take a shot anyway.

1984?

By the way, how can we discuss Mike Wilner anagrams without calling him, just once, IRWIN LEMKE? This is brilliant.

I also like I, WE, KREMLIN which sounds like an extremely short precis of an old Yakov Smirnoff routine. Also there's ME, I WRINKLE and MR. LIKE WINE.

Robert, it would still be more comprehensible than Brockian Ultra Cricket.

Does anyone know who is going to pitch for the Jays for the rest of the season? Why can't they just decide. I just read that Halladay will pitch 90 pitches on Saturday. Who's supposed to pitch Friday? Bush? And tomorrow would be Lilly and Chacin, and Towers on Thursday. So who pitches the finale?

That's brilliant work, Mr. Burley. See what I get for playing word games with Bauxites?

By the way, I'm more than happy to respond to Dr. Prison Fence. Nips conferred is still making me laugh -- and I don't see it as racial in origin. I much prefer the body part reference.

Frank Catalanotto gets traded to the Braves, but then suffers yet another rare baseball injury knowns as "ATLANTA CRANK FOOT"

I wish Batista would be traded for a baseball in the off-season. You can put me in the I hate Batista Fan Club

Considering the Jays have a small budget I don't like the idea of paying a closer over 5 mil a season (I believe he's due 9.5 mil the next 2 years)especially an aging player who doesn't have control of the strike zone and is not a strike out pitcher.

I wish the Jays still had Escobar.

Like I've said numerous times next season is put up or shut up time for JP. For the first time since becoming GM he has money to play with.

I know DA Box is pro JP but I'm starting to lean towards the dark side............

I will say I'm jacked up about the off-season.

A modification of my playoff format. 4 wildcards, but instead of single elimination, have a 3-day round-robin with the two best records going through (head-to-head and then run-differential as tiebreakers). That's 6 games in 3 days in one city - a great festival of baseball.

Modification #2: best-of-three series played over two days. Two neutral sites chosen at the beginning of the regular season (thus 4 for the majors). #3 seed v #6 seed; #4 versus #5. If series tied 1-1, deciding game played in the evening. Two teams advance and join division winners.

Major legaue wide, you'd have 4 games on Tuesday; and between 4 and 8 games on Wednesday, with the deciding game in prime time if necessary. What a festival of baseball that would be in the 4 lucky cities. It would take 7.5 years to rotate through all the teams in baseball for this neutral site round.

Best-of-seven League Semi-Finals begin on Friday. The great thing is it would actually shorten the post-season, while increasing the number of teams in contention. The Union would love it.

Now if I can just find all the coaches numbers I'm set.

56 Mike Barnett
53 Joe Breeden
55 Brian Butterfield
58 John Gibbons
47 Gil Patterson
52 Bruce Walton

Do you need historical ones too?

I guess the 10,000,000 points stays within the roster. Craig, you and I are truly birds of a feather.

Best game thread of the year is the one with anagrams, Simpsons references and no game, and I miss the whole damn thing while working. There is no justice....

Im afraid so Mr. German. So far my efforts have turned up nothing.

Actually, my first name creates a perfect anagram in and of itself: PC Sneer. There isn't much that sums up my personality better than that.

Just to return the favor, I dub thee: Cigar by rule. Yes, I have no constructive idea on how to use my newfound free time.

Okay, so it wouldn't be shorter, but would add two days to the postseason. Unless they scheduled no off days within each series in the semi-final round and only 1 off day in the LCS round, in which case the length would be exactly the same.

Alternative solution - cut the season back to 154 games and end it a week earlier.

How far back, Jobu? I can tell you 2001, 2002, 2003.

Robert, that would be a reference to the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. Possibly one of the finer works to come out of the publishing houses of Ursa Minor

Frankly, I'm pessimistic about a 33 year old pitcher who has never had great control "sharpening his control" to become a relief ace. If he could do that, why didn't he do that a long time ago? In 1998, Miguel was used mostly as a reliever (56 games, 13 starts,) and his BB/IP was 0.48. This year, his BB/IP is 0.49. Remarkably similar, really. Whether he's a starter or a reliever, I don't see Batista being able to improve his control at this point.

I don't think _great_ control is necessarily a prerequisite for being a good closer. Armando Benitez has some control issues, but it hasn't prevented him from coming in and slamming the door. Batista has electric stuff, and I think he could end up posting similar numbers.

Doh!

Trilogy The increasingly inaccurately named HHGTTG trilogy.

thats what I get for rushing my post :(