a700hitter

http://www.wbaltv.com/Mike-Flanagan-Found-Dead/-/9380084/8909480/-/10ne81rz/-/index.html

He's not the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's for sure. He got a lot of bad press and heat for letting Rocket and Mo Vaughn walk, which was unfair. Rocket revived his career by cheating and Vaughn was indeed done. Although he did miss the playoffs in his last 3 years, by 2002 he was building something special with Pedro, Manny and Damon among others. The bad season in 2001 (82 wins) was largely due to the absence of Pedro for the last half of the season, and the horrible job done by Joe Kerrigan when he took over for Jimy Williams. I still think that he can run circles around Theo as a talent evaluator and roster construction.

It was such a mess that the prior GM killed himself, because he felt he had screwed things up so badly.

He was nothing more than LL's gopher, and yes, he did fall in s***. He also left us with s***, and now his gopher is in charge. Duke had to go when the new ownership took over, because he was not a puppet. He's doing very well with the Orioles. He could take Theo and Jed and Ben to school.

I never considered you to be a pom pom waver. Although you are posting less (we all are posting less), you are still here regularly. My remarks were not pointed at anyone in particular and certainly not you. I was just referring to the overall dynamic of the forum.

This is funny. Thanks for the chuckle.

Give me examples where i have been short on patience for these types of pitchers. We need 1 front line guy and 1 innings eater. But according to you, I don't really mean it.

I didn't know that you fell in the optimist category. I have never viewed you as one. I just consider you to be a snarky prick often times.

When a team gets this bad and hopeless, there is almost nothing to discuss. But most of the pom pom wavers have been gone since the beginning of August. They returned briefly to discuss the huge trade.

This forum does have tendency to brand people thus making it hard for them to stick around very long. Pom pom wavers have a much better chance of staying than posters with critical analysis. Usually, banning is not rampant and many poster get away with stuff that shouldn't be tolerated. However, in a trying time like this season, there was less tolerance for negativity. I think negativity is appropriate when there is a solid basis in fact for negativity. There was absolutely no rational reason to think that Bard would be a solid starter with a mid-3's ERA, yet people posted those projections. There were plenty of facts and good reasons to believe that he would fall on his face. The posters who thought the Sox were toast on opening day are all gone with one exception. SCM is the only one left, and he probably would have been banned if he had posted more regularly. All of the pom pom wavers are still around and some are still looking for excuses, but the utter and complete failure of this team makes it almost impossible for even the most positive fanatic to find scapegoats. As some of the negative posters correctly pointed out, the organization has been poorly run in almost every aspect for several years already. This FO took over a talented roster, a competitive deep team, and after its initial notable successes they have driven the organization to the level of the teams like the Guardians and Mariners at all levels. They have returned this team to its status of the late 50's and early 1960's in a few short seasons. They had to be extraordinarily inept to manage such a precipitous fall in stature with a payroll of $170 million. Those who saw the signs and were willing to say so were denigrated as lousy fans and banned because they made us uncomfortable. There is a possibility that we could suck for a few years, because the same guys that helped to ruin the team are still in place. Maybe Cherington was not the problem and he will finally get his chance to shine. We can hope. If we suck for a few more years, we will have some pom pom wavers posting in April and May each season only to disappear when things go bad and this will be a lonely place with just a few tolerated posters who allowed to engage in critical analysis.

I don't think we need guys who will dominate, just guys that can keep us in games consistently and go into the late innings with some consistency. This would prevent the weaknesses in the pen from getting over-exposed and it would help to keep the good bullpen arms fresh. The last few years 3+ innings from the pen has been commonplace at least 4 out of 5 games. This has resulted in leaving starters in games for 7 or more runs too often, because the pen can't handle long stints with an already heavy workload. I don't think we need to get 2 studs, but rather1 good innings eater like a Mark Buerhle and 1 stud. Pitching will be available in the off season. Every off season very good pitchers change teams. :ast off season, I felt strongly that we missed the boat on Gio Gonzalez and I felt even more strongly after he signed his very reasonable 5 year extension. That guy is a tremendous value with his current contract. Instead, we decided to go pick from the trash heap.

Oh s***, my bad. i never clicked on October. Finishing the season against us shifts the advantage back to the Skanks. Damn it!

I just looked at the schedules for the team's in contention. The Yankees schedule at first looks easier than Baltimore's schedule, but the O's play us 6 times (the Yankees only play us 3 times). We will probably roll over in all 6 games against the O's. Tampa also gets us six times. The team with the toughest schedule is the A's. They have to play the Angels (4), Baltimore (3), Detroit (3), Yankees (3), Texas (4) and Seattle (4).

If they miss the playoffs, let them whine about that one call. They'll just look like jackasses. Good calls, bad calls they even out over 162 games. It pisses them off tonight, but if the O's win the Division it will be because they played better over the course of the 162 game schedule. The bad call will just be a whiny excuse.

It's not that bad. It's just a regular season game. Joyce's call denied Gallaraga history.

After tonight, we should be in undisputed possession of last place. To those who asked earlier in the season whether people seriously thought the Red Sox were a last place team, I think you have your answer.

Yep, he was safe, but the ump spared the yanks bullpen from humiliating themselves for a second night in a row.

Now that would have been worth watching.

I think the only two teams that he hits against are the Yanks and the Red Sox.

We are just guessing and basing our opinions on personal like and dislike. The problems are all throughout the organization. It is up to the guys at the top to fix it. If the problem is at the top, we will suck for a while longer.

And if they don't do it right, we don't have to wait?

Hopefully, we never see the Japanese National Treasure ever again.

Just because you can't get rid of him doesn't mean that he isn't the problem. Ask Met fans how they feel about the Wilpons.

I never put those words in your mouth. I would have Morales and Doubs fight it out for the last rotation spot with Lackey. The losers become depth options and long relievers. You think they should both be in the rotation. I disagree. One of them makes it. The other is a depth option. I'm not saying to get rid of either of them, and I am not saying that you think they are aces. I've had enough discussion of these two guys. They are not a big issue either way.

Who is talking about letting him go?