road grays

in anticipation of the rabid/thedamned family's imminent move (in two months), and for the sake of readability, i am changing the blog into it's road grays. please let me know if the change is to your liking (or just comment on something; i don't care, i just like feedback).

if schumaker isn't switched out for ryan ludwick soon, i'm going to have to call in the goon temp agency my company uses for collections and have him placed on the dl. i love the defense, skip, but this is not a lineup that can afford to carry a .185 obp outfielder. we need some pop (hell some contact, even) in the worst way. since so taguchi has tony's vote for the "aging fourth outfielder with something to prove award," he's here to stay. sorry, skip.

various complaints about good things, game 9 post

with the game on the radio over my shoulder and everyone out for a while, i have a moment of calm at the ridiculously tense office. note to job seekers: never work for a family owned company with fewer than 25 employees if you're not a member of the family.

since my last post, we've found our way back to .500, which is good, and without carp or any real help from albert, which is amazing. last night's game winner hit by a sub who should have been a scratch himself was pretty damned cool. i'm still not convinced that this team isn't still in a decline phase, but at least we can still beat up on the weaker members of the division.

i am amazed at how many commentators and "experts" think that the astros standa chance this year. adding carlos lee doesn't make up for losing clemens and pettite, and very few teams can ride to glory on the backs of wandy rodriguez and woody williams (as a 41 year old).

carp's elbow is a worry, but i'm of the school of thought that says better to lose him for part or even all of this season than have him be less effective in the remaining years of his contract. i was relatively impressed with kiesler last night, though i hope we don't ink him in at the cost of utilizing other important minor leaguers.

how long before we release hamlet (despite the occasional game winning two run double) and call up ankiel (with amaury marti/cazana taking his roster spot in aaa)? ankiel is tearing triple a up, amaury x is tearing the mexican league up, whereas preston is swinging for the fences every time and coming up short. like our other logjammed outfielders, ankiel is a left handed hitter, so he's more likely to replace skip schumacher.

as i type this, the pirates have a run in and the bases loaded, so i'd better stop posting. if i go on too long, i'm sure someone else important will end up on the dl.