tid bits.....

See you in hell, Frank Thomas. One can only assume the OPS Express is
pulling into town about now. The timing of all this is a little strange,
as he went from benched to unemployed in less than 24 hours. Sense of
urgency indeed. JP is into full blown insufferable prick mode already.

AJ Burnett goes today against the right hand happy Tigers. Hopefully he
can handcuff them much like McGowan did yesterday. Dustin McGowan was
out to prove that he is indeed a better pitcher than Jesse Litsch. I'll
say he succeeded. BJ Ryan came in for a top step save, striking out two
but giving up two base hits. But who cares? It was BJ Ryan in a save
situation.

As the weather gets warmer, I won't want to be anywhere NEAR this Tigers
team. I doubt Miguel Cabrera has ever in his life been as cold as he was
that first week in Detroit. Now he's showing that backing a Brinks truck
up to his house wasn't a bad idea at all, hitting safely in 7 straight
games and eating two complete cheesecakes during the 7th inning stretch.
Brandon Inge shouldn't worry, Miggy will be first base-sized in about 3
months.

The wife and I took in Friday's Walk of Ages baseball event. Purcey's
curveball looked good, Gary Sheffield should be inquiring about package
tours with the Thomas family to Branson, Magglio Ordonez's hair kept the
entire stadium and both dugouts entertained prior to the first pitch.

<bushdoctor48@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:9501-480BA9B0-585@storefull-3117.bay.webtv.net...
>
> See you in hell, Frank Thomas. One can only assume the OPS Express is
> pulling into town about now. The timing of all this is a little strange,
> as he went from benched to unemployed in less than 24 hours. Sense of
> urgency indeed. JP is into full blown insufferable prick mode already.
>
> AJ Burnett goes today against the right hand happy Tigers. Hopefully he
> can handcuff them much like McGowan did yesterday. Dustin McGowan was
> out to prove that he is indeed a better pitcher than Jesse Litsch. I'll
> say he succeeded. BJ Ryan came in for a top step save, striking out two
> but giving up two base hits. But who cares? It was BJ Ryan in a save
> situation.
>
> As the weather gets warmer, I won't want to be anywhere NEAR this Tigers
> team. I doubt Miguel Cabrera has ever in his life been as cold as he was
> that first week in Detroit. Now he's showing that backing a Brinks truck
> up to his house wasn't a bad idea at all, hitting safely in 7 straight
> games and eating two complete cheesecakes during the 7th inning stretch.
> Brandon Inge shouldn't worry, Miggy will be first base-sized in about 3
> months.
>
> The wife and I took in Friday's Walk of Ages baseball event. Purcey's
> curveball looked good, Gary Sheffield should be inquiring about package
> tours with the Thomas family to Branson, Magglio Ordonez's hair kept the
> entire stadium and both dugouts entertained prior to the first pitch.
>

I've got a new nickname for Ordonez: Hairdo.

Good game overall today. Anyone think that, despite his issues during the
last series, Accardo has earned the closer job?

HC wrote>
Good game overall today. Anyone think that, despite his issues during
the last series, Accardo has earned the closer job

doc>
Yes I think todays game was one of their
best home games since the early sweep
of the RS to start the season.In past years
the team always seemed to play well at
home,not so far this year though.

As for JA I have not seen him pitch much due to my crinkly dink cable
supplier.@#$%

But I still get all the games on my good ol
xm,and for me over the years JH and TC
imho where dead on in their take on players.

JH mentioned in todays game JA has
a blistering fast ball,but it has very little
movement,and he needs to use his slider
and change more often,to be an effective,
closer.

I personally think he is your billy koch
type of pitcher,who soon found out that
no matter how hard you throw it,big leag.
hitters will zone in sooner than later.

He did get 30 saves for the team last
year after the jays dealt him for another
shall we say shady deal to dump SH.

And he came from the NL where pitching
is a different bag of snakes than in the AL
imho.

It is very evident that the 2nd time around in the al for him has
been no
bed of roses,so far.

And it's plain to see BJ is not quite up
to snuff yet,his usual nasty heaters have
not broken the 90 mph zone yet.

JA was a highly touted starter when
he was signed by the giants,and had a
fair to midland era of .394 in 262 inn.
pitched for the giants.

But I think the team should hang onto
JA despite his poor start this spring,imho
AJ is the biggest Achilles heal on the staff
again this year and when BJ is back up
to par and I hope to hell they don't push
the panic button and further injure BJ.

They may want to consider giving JA
a shot in the rotation,AJ has never lived
up to his billing in the bigs,he is a hot head and gets frustrated far
to easily.
His ego is much bigger than his stuff and
it shows .

Side Note:
On todays broadcast of the jays game,JH was about to give his opinion
on the Thomas affair,and all of a sudden,
I was listening to a tigs broadcast of the
game.At first I thought it was a clinch in
the system.But happened 3 more times
during the game.Every time JH mentioned
FT it was switched to a tigs broadcast.
MMMMMM...does jp have that hooked
nose of his in the press boxes now.

It would not surprise me to see FT
leaving TO in a tigs uni on monday.
They could use some more pop,shef
has pretty much sucked so far this
season as their dh,and 18 mil is
a penance compared to what the tigs
shelled out for rent a wrecks in the
off season.

Wish I had 18 mil to toss away;>)
like chump change.

My hunch about SR soon joining the
team seems to be valid with the departure
of FT.

EEEEEgad am I starting to think like
jp...god forbid:>) but I guess you don't
need a crystal ball to read da baston
beak.

Imagine jp as a book store manager,
a blind guy comes in with his seeing
eye dog.Picks the dog up and starts
swinging it around madly by the tail.
Jp asks the guy what the hell is he
doing and the blind guy says just
browsing;>)

<bushdoctor48@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:14330-480BCA50-572@storefull-3115.bay.webtv.net...
> HC wrote>
> Good game overall today. Anyone think that, despite his issues during
> the last series, Accardo has earned the closer job
>
> doc>
> Yes I think todays game was one of their
> best home games since the early sweep
> of the RS to start the season.In past years
> the team always seemed to play well at
> home,not so far this year though.
>
> As for JA I have not seen him pitch much due to my crinkly dink cable
> supplier.@#$%
>
> But I still get all the games on my good ol
> xm,and for me over the years JH and TC
> imho where dead on in their take on players.
>
> JH mentioned in todays game JA has
> a blistering fast ball,but it has very little
> movement,and he needs to use his slider
> and change more often,to be an effective,
> closer.
>
> I personally think he is your billy koch
> type of pitcher,who soon found out that
> no matter how hard you throw it,big leag.
> hitters will zone in sooner than later.
>
> He did get 30 saves for the team last
> year after the jays dealt him for another
> shall we say shady deal to dump SH.
>
> And he came from the NL where pitching
> is a different bag of snakes than in the AL
> imho.
>
> It is very evident that the 2nd time around in the al for him has
> been no
> bed of roses,so far.
>
> And it's plain to see BJ is not quite up
> to snuff yet,his usual nasty heaters have
> not broken the 90 mph zone yet.
>
> JA was a highly touted starter when
> he was signed by the giants,and had a
> fair to midland era of .394 in 262 inn.
> pitched for the giants.
>
> But I think the team should hang onto
> JA despite his poor start this spring,imho
> AJ is the biggest Achilles heal on the staff
> again this year and when BJ is back up
> to par and I hope to hell they don't push
> the panic button and further injure BJ.
>
> They may want to consider giving JA
> a shot in the rotation,AJ has never lived
> up to his billing in the bigs,he is a hot head and gets frustrated far
> to easily.
> His ego is much bigger than his stuff and
> it shows .
>
> Side Note:
> On todays broadcast of the jays game,JH was about to give his opinion
> on the Thomas affair,and all of a sudden,
> I was listening to a tigs broadcast of the
> game.At first I thought it was a clinch in
> the system.But happened 3 more times
> during the game.Every time JH mentioned
> FT it was switched to a tigs broadcast.
> MMMMMM...does jp have that hooked
> nose of his in the press boxes now.
>
> It would not surprise me to see FT
> leaving TO in a tigs uni on monday.
> They could use some more pop,shef
> has pretty much sucked so far this
> season as their dh,and 18 mil is
> a penance compared to what the tigs
> shelled out for rent a wrecks in the
> off season.
>
> Wish I had 18 mil to toss away;>)
> like chump change.
>
> My hunch about SR soon joining the
> team seems to be valid with the departure
> of FT.
>
> EEEEEgad am I starting to think like
> jp...god forbid:>) but I guess you don't
> need a crystal ball to read da baston
> beak.
>
> Imagine jp as a book store manager,
> a blind guy comes in with his seeing
> eye dog.Picks the dog up and starts
> swinging it around madly by the tail.
> Jp asks the guy what the hell is he
> doing and the blind guy says just
> browsing;>)

That post is so wide-ranging that I get out of breath thinking about how to
reply to it, and because I don't think in terms of people's initials I often
have to struggle to figure out whom you're talking about, but let me try.

There was a closer in Arizona they called Papa Grande. I think his name was
Villaverde. He had only one pitch, a four-seam fastball, and relied purely
on location to be effective. He got something like 25 straight saves in his
first season before becoming ineffective and getting sent to the minors.
Later he came back to the bigs with three pitches but the glow of magic was
off him. Your comments on Accardo made me think of that.

I was busy with other things while today's game was on and didn't really
listen to the commentary. To me the commentary is often overloaded with
chatter anyway and there are times when I turn the volume down completely
and just watch the action in silence. So I missed the comments on Thomas
being censored. But I do wonder, since they released him, are they no longer
responsible for paying him, or did they have to eat his contract? They
should have known full well what they were getting when they signed an aging
slugger. Thomas was close to the team lead in homers and RBIs, so I don't
think he was ripping them off even this season. (I couldn't figure out who
you think will replace him on the Jays' roster because, as I said, I don't
think in terms of people's initials.)

Burnett pitches young--not to a guy named Young but as if he's still in his
teens and trying to figure out how his body works. IMO he should be playing
basketball.

HC wrote>

But I do wonder, since they released him, are they no longer responsible
for paying him, or did they have to eat his contract? They should have
known full well what they were getting when they signed an aging
slugger. Thomas was close to the team lead in homers and RBIs, so I
don't think he was ripping them off even this season. (I couldn't figure
out who you think will replace him on the Jays' roster because, as I
said, I don't think in terms of people's initials.)

doc>
Sorry about that I tend to get long winded.I
read responses others make and try and answer or comment on their
posts.In one
long winded statement .

I do a lot of writing and if I don't write it down
well it's fresh in my head,I tend to forget it ,I
even keep a small tape deck by my bed and
wake up with a revelation 0:>) ala shades
of edgar allen,still trying to wonder if thats
good or bad...yikes

And the old memory cells ain't what they used
to be,so I try and add things that spring to mind
as they come and I have been told before my
posts tend to ramble.

Must be all that screech etc I inhaled down east as a much younger
but not so bright
man back then.

To answer your ? about frank is yes the
jays are the hook for almost 18 mil over 2
years and i not sure if that is voided if he
signs with another team....but frank has
been around mlb long enough to know
he is not going to loose what may be his
last biggest contract in the majors....

side note>

The ws may be interested in him they
currently kicking ass in the alcentral...
Who wouldn't relish having jimmy thome
and frank thomas as tandem dh's or
pinch hitter ....in a tight one at home...

SEE there I go again>;(

Who will dh is somebodies guess,it has been
dickardis way of doing things since day one.
He keeps tinkering till he thinks it's right,but
not in the of season,he waits till the season is
well under way.......uh duhhhhhh jp your
supposed to have all those kinks worked out
before april fools day...

And it did not surprise to see jp send scott roland as close to the show
as it gets....
before frank had his bags packed...
Jp spent a lot of teddies money on guys
like aj and bj and roland,and i am sure
stock holders are looking up his address
and phone #

18 mil to tedder is just .001 of cent raise in that
cable bill you get each month on the other hand
100's of million dollars is not chump change to
ted...far from it......teddyturnerwanabe.

hope no further confusion

if so say so very sleepy ....gota be on the raod early game
monday...and its a 6 hour return drive for me...if the traffic is
moving;>)

regards
doc

Still, scouts were saying much the same thing about Thomas, who turns 40
on May 27, in the early parts of each of the past two seasons. One GM
says he finds it difficult to believe that Thomas no longer could
contribute coming off a 26-homer, 95-RBI season.

The Blue Jays owe Thomas $6.7 million after releasing him, but that's
$11.3 million less than he would have been due if he had remained with
the club and his option had vested for next season. The Jays only can
blame themselves for awarding Thomas the vesting option, which created
the wedge that led to his release.

Thomas' deal is not the only Jays' contract with a dubious structure.
Right-hander A.J. Burnett can opt out at the end of this season — or
collect $24 million over the next two years from the Jays if he gets
hurt or pitches badly. Center fielder Vernon Wells can opt out after the
fourth year of his seven-year deal, again capping the Jays' upside