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Long FISV 29.71 ... daytrade ... JTE
Well, you can try to catch a bottom here on AET for a trade ....
JTE
Long AET 23.40 daytrade ... JTE
Guess what? Thanks to the World Baseball thing next year, the World Series will be a week to 10 days later than this year.
Yep, MLB really cares about the fans!
JTE
I don't believe anyone suggested that the game should have been called an official game.
Nobody wants to lose OR win that way; the issues people have with Bud the Buffoon have nothing to do with that rule change.
He's the one who subjected players to playing in obviously dangerous conditions.
It shouldn't have been played but making that mistake, it should have been "suspended" much earlier than it was.
JTE
No scanner? What's a girl to do?
JTE
Don't paint Selig as some hero ... he's the buffoon who made them play!
He should be tarred and feathered; if Longoria had taken a Hamels fastball in the head because of the conditions, what would Bud the Moron be saying today?
JTE
FOX wins now because if Tampa wins Wednesday, they're going to insert a travel day on Thursday.
That conveniently would give FOX games on Friday and Saturday instead of Wednesday and Thursday.
How convenient .... JTE
Tonight's been canceled; stay tuned!
JTE
There will be a press release around 2 pm that they won't be playing tonight.
JTE
It's still a monsoon in Philly; the snow is about 40 miles north of the stadium.
The wind chill tonight will be in the 20s; even if the rain stops now, I can't see a playable field tonight.
Not unless Selig lies again and subjects players to dangerous conditions tonight!
JTE
Nobody in Philly or in the Phils locker room wanted to win the WS by a game being called.
The point is though, if it was so dangerous when it was called; wasn't it just as dangerous an inning earlier? Two innings earlier?
Why was Tampa given an extra at bat in the muck and mire and now they'll get to pitch off a new mound. At a minimum, they should have finished the inning since they'd already made a shambles of the game.
Baseball is a wonderful sport; it's a shame it has the burden of Selig around its' neck!
JTE
The angriest place on earth
October 28, 2008 • 12:22 am
By Michael RadanoPHILADELPHIA - Proof that major league baseball is run by a bunch of buffoons came at midnight when the suspended game notes were handed out.
At the bottom of the sheet, the powers that be maybe thought it was cute or even pithy to include Koppett’s Law.
“Whatever creates the greatest inconvenience for the largest number of people is guaranteed to happen.”
Yeah, that’s what the suspension of Game 5 was, inconvenient.
Inconvenience was why the Phillies clubhouse all but boiled over after the game. Inconvenience was why what began as a day not of hope, but of destiny quickly dissipated into disgust and bursts of anger directed at the television where Commissioner Bud Selig held a press conference on why Game 5, tied at 2-2, was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning.
“That (expletive deleted) guy,” one pitcher said as he saw commissioner Bud Selig before walking out the back door of the clubhouse. “I wouldn’t let him supervise one of my (bowel movements). He has no clue. Not one (expletive deleted) clue.”
“(Expletive deleted),” one position player said in the direction of one television pausing only for a moment before leaving. “He’s a moron. How stupid can one person be?”
Well, pretty stupid if this night was any indication.
Compounding matters, several national media members couldn’t figure out why the players were so upset? The game was still tied and really how could it continued to be played.
Well:
1. Hamels is now done. He won’t be available to finish this game despite a low pitch count. It’s a stretch to believe that he will be ready for Game 7 even if this game resumes on Wednesday. That means three days of rest and we know the history on that one.
2. The Phillies held a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth as the rain continued to fall and rivers formed throughout the infield. The grounds crew - already working beyond the call of duty - did their best but as the inning wore on the field worsened. B.J. Upton hit an infield single that Jimmy Rollins had in the tip of his glove. Normal conditions, inning over. In these, Upton reached base, stole second and then scored on a flare into left field.
3. Tampa can start David Price tomorrow or whenever this game resumes. The Phillies have already indicated they will begin with their bullpen. that favors the Rays as Price can go multiple innings.
4. The emotions of the crowd will be diminished and it will be interesting to see how many fans can and will show up.
5. If this series goes back to Tampa, James Shields and Matt Garza will get the starts and they have been very good at home this year.
“I feel really bad for Cole,” catcher Carlos Ruiz said. “He was pitching well even though the ball was tough to grip. I don;t know why we started that inning. I don’t understand this at all.”
He’s far from alone.
http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/phillies/
Rain now the story of this World Series
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies came to the ballpark Monday thinking they were about to hand the World Series over to Mr. October, Cole Hamels.
Little did they know they were about to hand it over to Bud Selig's favorite Doppler 10,000.
Whatever happens now, this World Series is never going to be the same. You understand that, right?
It's no longer going to be known for Carlos Ruiz's 2 a.m. walk-off squibber, or Joe Blanton's Babe Ruth impression, or Cliff Floyd's mad dash home on the most improbable squeeze bunt of modern times.
Nope.
This one is now going down in a whole different chapter of World Series lore.
Weather lore.
We can figure out exactly where it fits into the grand history of baseball meteorology after it's all over. But in the meantime, all we know is this:
One of these days, one of these weeks, one of these months, whenever the commissioner decides to lift the first suspended game in the history of postseason baseball, the Phillies, the Rays and the rest of humanity are going to find Game 5 of this World Series, in theory, exactly where they left it.
Halfway through the sixth. Tie game, 2-2. The Phillies still lead the Series 3-1. So they remain, again in theory, precisely where they were Sunday night -- one win away from the second World Series championship in franchise history.
Yeah, it's all exactly the same, all right. Except nothing is the same.
A mere one day ago, the Phillies had this Series set up with their ultimate dream scenario -- one win away, their most dominating starter lined up to pitch it.
Now, one soggy, half-baked, suspended-animation debacle later, they've essentially wasted a Cole Hamels start.
And they're almost certainly looking at having to deal with the terrifying prospect of facing David Price when play resumes.
So you know what every Phillies fan in America is thinking now:
Uh-oh.
That would be the polite terminology for it, anyway.
In Philadelphia, nothing is ever easy. Nothing. So this mess just fits right in.
"Of course. We've gotta make the World Series memorable," Hamels laughed after what was supposed to be the greatest night of his life had turned into Bud Selig's remake of "Singin' in the Rain." "And this definitely will do so."
Hey, ya think?
Hamels tried his best to put a happy face on this insanity. But all you need to know about how his teammates felt about it was the sound of deafening silence all around him.
The manager, Charlie Manuel, wouldn't talk to the media afterward. And neither would many of the most prominent members of his team -- Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth, just to name a few.
You can draw your own conclusions as to why that was. But here are the conclusions we would draw if we were you:
• They were furious that this game wasn't stopped until Hamels had surrendered the tying run in the top of the sixth, even though the field had begun looking like a veritable Sea World attraction at least a half-hour earlier.
• They weren't happy that it was started in the first place, since glop had already begun falling out of the sky during batting practice and the worsening weather forecast was the No. 1 topic of pregame conversation -- just ahead of how many layers of clothing they were all going to have to wear to avoid frostbite.
• And, most of all, they were incensed by the whole situation -- having their best-laid World Series plans steamrolled by the needless rush to play a game in conditions more suitable for the Iditarod than the most important game of their careers.
[+] EnlargeRich Kane/US Presswire
The stage was set up perfectly for the Phillies, with Cole Hamels on the mound for a potential clincher -- until the rains came.
"Hey, it sucks. Let's be honest," said closer Brad Lidge, one of the few Phillies who did address the media afterward. "But what choice do you have? We just have to come back here tomorrow and try to finish the job."
So how WERE these decisions made? Why did they start? Why did they keep on playing? Why did they stop play when they did?
Selig brought two umpires, Rays president Matt Silverman and Phillies GM Pat Gillick to the post-suspension news conference afterward to try to explain it all -- not to mention to try to make it as clear as possible that you couldn't hang this whole nightmare on him.
He talked about all the upbeat weather forecasts he'd been handed as late as 45 minutes before game time. He talked about the pregame meeting he'd convened with the umpires, the grounds crew, the managers, the GMs -- in short, everybody but Al Roker -- in which they all decided, "Let's play."
And it was only in the fourth inning, Selig said, that he found himself "getting very nervous." Which caused him to make two different visits to see the groundskeeper, in the fourth and fifth innings, to inquire about the state of the field.
Selig claimed he was told that it wasn't until the sixth inning that the field turned into a total river delta. And that's why the game was halted when it was.
But when players started describing the conditions afterward, suffice it to say they weren't quite as, uh, sunny about those elements as the commish.
Asked when HE would have stopped this game, Rays reliever Trever Miller replied: "I would have said no later than the fourth inning. As soon as Jimmy Rollins had trouble with that fly ball [Rocco Baldelli's uncaught popup leading off the top of the fifth], right then and there that would have told everyone that conditions were not conducive to playing good baseball.
"That's what you want in the World Series," Miller said. "You want good baseball being played by the best players of the season. When Mother Nature is robbing you of that, it's time to put the tarp on and come back another day."
"Let me tell you," said his teammate, Carlos Pena. "That was bad. That was probably the worst conditions I've ever played under in my life. It was really, really cold. Windy. And it was raining nonstop. I mean, when do you ever see a puddle at home plate?"
Hamels said it was so hard to grip the ball that he never tried to throw a single curveball. And he could never get the right grip on his best pitch, his David Copperfield disappearing changeup.
So he pumped about twice as many fastballs as he would on any other night. And this, remember, was supposed to be the most important night he'd ever spent on a pitcher's mound.
And then, when the fateful top of the sixth inning rolled around, the rain could well have changed the way the most pivotal inning of this game unfolded.
With two outs, nobody on and an ocean pouring out of the heavens, B.J. Upton thunked a ground ball up the middle. It looked like a hit off the bat. But Rollins got there, got a glove on it and then watched it wiggle out of his hands like a fish that had just slipped off his hook.
Within moments, Upton had stolen second -- sliding right through a puddle the size of Delaware -- and scored on Pena's two-out, two-strike single to left. And we had ourselves a tie game.
[+] EnlargeDoug Pensinger/Getty Images
Eventually, with the field looking more like a Sea World attraction than a baseball diamond, the umpires sent everyone home.
Before we get to the ramifications of that tie, though, let's go back to that fateful rally. Asked if he thought Rollins would have thrown Upton out at first base had this been regular old weather -- as opposed to monsoon season -- Hamels had no doubt.
"On a normal day? Oh yeah," he said. "Definitely. I think he might have caught Longoria's ball, too [i.e., the ground-ball single that drove in the Rays' first run, in the fourth]. But you know, that's the way luck [works] in baseball."
Yeah, and that luck worked for the commissioner, too. Because this game was now tied, he was able to walk into that news conference with his handy-dandy rule book and read off Rule 4.12.6 -- which allows for tie games that were already official to be suspended.
"I'll tell you what," the Phillies' Matt Stairs said. "To have a tie game, sixth inning, that makes Bud Selig and the boys pretty happy, because they didn't have to make a big decision, to let that game go through a 10-, 12-, 13-hour delay. … So the big man's happy. He didn't have to make that decision."
Ah, but what Matt Stairs didn't know -- what, apparently, none of these players on either team knew -- was that Selig had already made his big decision.
If the rules weren't going to permit him to suspend this game, he was going to have to go to Plan B. He was just going to have to impose martial law -- or at least Selig's Law -- and, essentially, suspend it anyway. By simply declaring the world's longest rain delay. Whether that took 24 hours, 48 hours or all the way to Thanksgiving.
Selig vowed these teams were not going to finish this game "until we have decent weather conditions."
Gee, it's a shame he didn't have that same feeling before he allowed this game to start in the first place. But whatever -- on this point, he made the right call. Players on both teams made it clear they would have been embarrassed to decide the World Series on a game that got rained out in the sixth inning.
"I truly think that would have been the worst World Series win in the face of baseball," Hamels said. "And I would not pride myself on being a world champion on a called game."
"The clinching game," said Miller, "should always be decided by nine innings and down to the last out. Not by Mother Nature or whatever else could be thrown at us. That's what the fans pay to see and that's what we've worked our entire season to get to.
"For us not to get that hit right there … that would be awful. That would be the most miserable offseason I would have ever had, trying to swallow that one down. That stuff doesn't digest. Hopefully, they recognize this, and in the winter meetings they establish some sort of protocol and this doesn't happen again."
Hey, good plan. Nothing like a little protocol, so that both teams at least would have gone into this situation knowing the rules they were playing under.
But now here's a better idea, an even better rule of thumb:
We're pretty sure this won't be the last attack Mother Nature springs on a postseason baseball game. In fact, with the World Series scheduled to stretch into November next year, the chances of a meteorological disaster way worse than this are almost a lock.
So how about if baseball makes a pact -- right here, right now. The heck with the Fox prime-time schedule. The heck with the old both-sides-have-to-play-in-it mindset. How about this mindset:
If the weather forecast is scary enough before ANY postseason game to give the commissioner, in his own words, "significant trepidation" about playing, let's not start it. OK?
It's that simple. What happened to the Phillies on Monday should never happen to any team in this situation. And Bud Selig knows it.
And here's what he also knows: The Phillies had better go on to win this World Series. Because if they don't, the always-magnanimous residents of Philadelphia aren't going to blame Charlie Manuel, the next three losing pitchers or good old Mother Nature.
They're going to blame him, Bud Selig.
So if the commish has always wanted to, say, tour Independence Hall, there may be no better time than the last Tuesday in October.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3668201
Agree with your bullpen assessment but they still have no heart, no backbone.
Two years running, they laid down like the dogs they are. They've shown who and what they are.
Give them a bullpen, they'll still find a way to quit when it gets tough.
JTE
That wasn't Seligs' only lie ... he stated that it didn't rain until the 4th inning.
I'm in Philly, it was raining at 4pm and the forecast by 5 pm was for ongoing rain throughout the night.
The man is a disgrace to baseball; he simply cannot make a good decision because the NEVER puts the interest of players and fans FIRST. His head is so far up Fox's a**, it's not funny.
Saturday night when the game started an hour and a half late, MLB told the Phils groundskeeper that there "would not be a rain delay for any reason whatsoever"! How freakin idiotic is that command!
Selig better hope the Phils don't win this in Philly; if they do, he better let Tim McCarver present the trophy. It will literally be dangerous for him to be in public.
The man should step down; pure and simple. Over the years, he has proven that he is the epitomy of ineptitude. Last night, he literally risked the careers and possibly lives of those players. A 94 mile fastball in the temple due to being a slick ball or a pitcher losing footing is a deadly weapon.
He subjected players and fans to unsafe conditions and has no credibility with either group. Well, he never really did anyway.
The most idiotic thing is that the infield fly rule can be abandoned if the umps deem it a "difficult" play. So, their excuse for eliminating the infield fly rule last night was that it was impossible to field a popup. Duh? Ok, so it's impossible to field a popup because you force players to play in a monsoon and then you punish them for it in eliminating the infield fly rule. These people are idiotic at a minimum and dangerous at the maximum. They make it up as they go along.
Lastly, Selig ought to present a better public image; he's the CEO of a multi billion organization and dresses like a ragpicker. He's a disgrace in every way!
JTE
The Mets lack one thing .... well, two .... heart and backbone!
JTE
I'm a Phils fan and don't give a damn about Tampa to be honest but why detract from what Tampa accomplished? I don't get that ....
If they beat all your teams with 100 runs scored guys they obviously deserve to be where they are. What they do next year or 10 years from now has no bearing on the present.
All that counts in the end are wins and losses; the rest is just people blabbering about stats.
Tampa won on the field THIS year; they deserve to be where they are THIS year.
Obviously, they were terribly overrated by all the media clowns and many people bought into the hype. They were still the AL champs and that says alot.
JTE
Well, this thread cinches it for me ... everyone trashing Philly means a sure win!
Phils in 7.
JTE
Well the Rays beat your beloved Sox so the Rays must walk on water, right?
Let's see how it all plays out.
Phils in 7.
JTE
Kudos to Jayson; real baseball fans should really enjoy this series.
All the old tired cliches can't be used; the announcers will actually have to work. Of course, we'll hear about "worst to first" and I'm sure the lazy network announcers will trot out their "they threw snowballs at Santa" crap.
Actually, with the sound off, this could be quite an entertaining series!
Phils in 7.
JTE
You're right; anything can happen!
JTE
That's why it's called history; it's in the past!
It's the Rays and Phils .... hopefully, a good world series!
JTE
QLD, just doubled down long at 33.91.
JTE
Phils will have their work cut out for them against the Rays; Rays look like a very, very good young team!
JTE
Daytrade, long QLD 34.93.
JTE
Long TASR here @ 6.36 ... JTE
Long AET here @ 40.90 ... JTE
Long FISV here @ 50.03 ... looking for market to be up the remainder of this week. We'll see ... JTE
TASR poppin today (6.49); gaps to fill .... could be good for a decent scalp long here.
JTE
TASR popping today; still a few gaps to fill on the upside.
JTE
Oh where oh where has laurap gone?
JTE
BOLT, must be filing ch.11 from the looks of things ... JTE
Back in BOLT@18.99; manipulation has to stop soon ... JTE
BOLT ... thankful for stops .... JTE
Long BOLT here @ 20; tight stop ... JTE
Let Tyson Foods know your opinion of what they think of AMERICAN labor; AMERICAN labor of all religions I may add.
Tyson Drops Labor Day for Muslim Holiday
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new 5-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant.
Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays — the same number as the old contract.
Eid al-Fitr — which falls on Oct. 1 this year — marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Union leaders say implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people.
TASR made folks some money during its' day; much like RMBS had its' day.
They all come, they all go ... JTE
Long FISV here at 47.30 .... JTE
Just curious as to the hammering today; one I watch and has no news yet it's down 10% ....
JTE