The Republic of Sport

pikesteve22

pikesteve22's Comments

Posted Thursday March 26, 2009, About: Pujols declares himself ready

Tenrings has a pretty good summary, but it was mostly because of his elbow that he was moved to first. He injured the ligament in his right elbow in 2003, prompting the move from left field to first base (and he still does have this problem. Should it give out, he'd have to undergo Tommy John surgery). They chronicled it pretty well in "Three Nights in August." Tony La Russa needed his bat in the lineup, but knew if he blew his elbow out making a throw, Tony would be run out of town. So they moved him to first. Albert actually played shortstop in high school and college, one of the toughest fielding positions in the game, so he can certainly field. I think it was in '07 where he was shown to have scooped like twice as many bad throws as the second best defensive first baseman, which was Derrek Lee at the time, I believe.

Posted Tuesday February 03, 2009, About: Sources: Tests link Clemens' DNA to syringes

You obviously don't know anything about baseball or its history. You could find a half dozen, if not more, pitchers who were better than he was.

Posted Friday January 30, 2009, About: Pujols wants Cards to sign Manny

Were the Cardinals to get Manny, it would be flat out the best lineup in the NL, and possibly all of MLB.

Greene, Ankiel, Pujols, Ramirez, Ludwick, Glaus, Molina. Greene can hit 15-20 HR, and Molina has shown he can hit .300. If the Cardinals moved Schumaker to second and put him at leadoff, there's a solid on base guy who can hit .300.

Having said this, and as much as I'd like it to happen, I just can't see it ever happening. The Cardinals don't want to spend the money, and with Rasmus coming up soon, they already have several outfielders who are younger than Manny who are under their control longer. The Cardinals' real weakness is pitching. As it is, their pitcher pitch to contact, so they need a solid defense in the field, which Manny lacks.

Oh, and saying "stuck in St. Louis" is pretty ironic, considering the decent players in Baltimore do their best to get out of that town.

Posted Tuesday January 27, 2009, About: Chargers looking at L.A. market

this.

haha, you said exactly what i came here to say. damn.

Posted Tuesday January 13, 2009, About: Blues' Tkachuk to Bruins?

heh, ya, he's doing pretty well. dunno how he got snubbed for the all-star game but tkachuk made it.

fortunately for you guys tho, the trade was pretty good for the bruins, too. wideman's developing into a great defenseman.

Posted Monday January 12, 2009, About: Blues' Tkachuk to Bruins?

It's funny how many people rag on Tkachuk, saying he's old, bad, etc. Considering the guy has scored 500 goals in his career and, despite his age, he still sccores 60 points a season, I'd start reconsidering your definition of "crappy."

As a Blues fan, I hope this trade doesn't happen. As we're missing two of our top scorers, we need to keep one of our most constant offensive threats, unless we can get another good scoring stud like Boyes from the Bruins. Tkachuk's done a lot of great things in St. Louis and I'd like to see him finish his career here. I know he got traded and still came back, but I just don't think that's a good way of handling veterans loyal to your town.

Posted Thursday January 08, 2009, About: Mizzou's Maclin turning pro?

It's funny that Jayhawk fans rail on Mizzou, because despite beating Mizzou, KU still finished behind Mizzou in the standings and has yet to play for the Big 12 championship. Mizzou had a rough year this year and will be rebuilding next year, but I can see them reloading quicker than KU. How many All-American/award winners did KU have this year?

Posted Thursday January 08, 2009, About: Mizzou's Maclin turning pro?

This from a fan whose team went 2-11? Really? A team that resides in the USC-and-who? conference?

Posted Thursday January 08, 2009, About: Mizzou's Maclin turning pro?

As a big Mizzou fan, I'd love nothing more than to see him stay and see what he can do with Gabbert next year. Realistically, though, it'd be in his best interests to go. He's at the peak right now, and unless he gets 2,000 yards receiving and returns several kicks/punts for TD's, he won't go higher next year than he will this year. Better for him to go now than to risk further injury.

Posted Tuesday December 30, 2008, About: Could Martz return as Rams coach?

And edpjr, I think the Rams' defense has been bad, but not horrible to the point that everyone's saying. The stats are bad, yes, but how many times did the Rams go three and out and force our D to go back out on short rest? How many interceptions and fumbles were lost in the Rams' end of the field? Given the amount of time that the D had to be out there, it's hard to imagine any team's defense not wearing down and giving up a lot of points (see the game against the Bills for a perfect example). They still need to develop some more, because they did give up a lot of big plays, but I think that they managed to keep the team in games a decent amount of time; it's just hard to win any game when the offense averages 14.5 points a game.

Posted Tuesday December 30, 2008, About: Could Martz return as Rams coach?

The problem with Martz is he pretty much wants to pass the ball 70% of the time. Considering our best player is Jackson, he would have a hard time adhering to his philosophy while giving Jackson enough reps to keep him happy.

Having said that, I think Martz could have a field day with our receivers. Avery's got the talent, he just needs to get experience reading defenses and running patterns. Burton could be the same. If we can keep Holt, he'll still be a good possession receiver. Unfortunately, Bulger's like Pennington; good accuracy with short throws, but not really known for being a deep passer. We'd have to draft and develop someone with a cannon arm like Stafford to make Martz happy.

Posted Monday December 15, 2008, About: Maclin won't confirm entering draft

We'll see, Gladiator. Gabbert hasn't had nearly the experience that Daniel had, when they got him into nearly every game in 2006. And Richardson's still a "soft" recruit, which worries me a little bit. Next year's gonna separate the real fans from the bandwagon fans. I think we'll still be competitive, but losing Daniel, Moore, probably Maclin, Wolfert (don't underestimate how important his accuracy's been) and the rest of the seniors is gonna be tough to overcome. We still have some pretty solid recruits, and Washington's a beast. I see them going maybe 7-5 or 8-4 next year.

Posted Monday December 08, 2008, About: Cardinals shift free-agent approach

I wouldn't mind seeing Perez, but he's gonna want a long-term contract, and I don't think the Cardinals want to do that. He's a Jekyll/Hyde pitcher, but his ceiling's high enough that I could put up with a few bad outings, just as long as he doesn't turn into another Kip Wells.

Posted Monday November 10, 2008, About: Cardinals: Holliday deal dead

Holliday's good, but his home-road stats are too significant to ignore. I like Ludwick, and I think he has several decent, if not 2008-esque, years left. We do have a glut in the outfield and need to use some of them to trade, but not for another outfielder. Pitching should be our top priority (perhaps we should have considered trading Ludwick in a package for Peavy?).

Posted Saturday October 11, 2008, About: Huskies eyeing Mizzou's Pinkel?

As a Mizzou fan I'll be the first to admit that we don't have such a storied history as other schools. But to say we've had zero tradition is absurd. Mizzou's had 15 conference championships, including one undefeated season. We've also had several terrific coaches, including Don Faurot, the man who invented the Split T formation, and Dan Devine. Roger Wehrli and Kellen Winslow also played at MU.

Obviously, they've had a lot more success recently, with Daniel and Brad Smith. But don't let the less-than-mediocre 80's and 90's trick you into thinking MU's always been bad.

Posted Friday October 10, 2008, About: Huskies eyeing Mizzou's Pinkel?

Pinkel just got a huge raise and contract extension this past off-season. I can't really see him deciding to go back to a rebuilding program when he's done all this work the last few years here. He's finally getting some top talent, and if he can stay here and prove these last two years aren't just flukes, then someday down the road he might land a huge job elsewhere. But as a Mizzou fan, I want to see him stay.

Posted Friday September 05, 2008, About: Zambrano may miss one start

And now Harden's experiencing some "discomfort." I think there's something in the water at Wrigley.

It'd be interesting to see how old pitchers who played through pain would fare today, when managers and coaches treat them with kid gloves. Most notably, Sandy Koufax. That guy's arm just about fell off his last year, yet he still was completely lights out. Nowadays, if there's a little bit of soreness, they're taken out immediately.

Posted Friday September 05, 2008, About: La Russa expects 'impact' help

TenRings, you have a valid point about some of the guys getting raises. Ludwick's bound to get a big raise, and with Ankiel being represented by Boras, he won't be cheap, either.

I don't really think our offense is the problem. We have four hitters who are all capable of hitting at least 25 HR and driving in 80. And lots of players have trouble hitting lefties; that's why they're generally in much higher demand than righties. If we just stack our lineup with right-handed batters, we'll be in trouble when we face right-handed pitchers, who comprise the vast majority of pitchers.

Every offense sputters from time to time; that can't be avoided. But our biggest problem is the bullpen (see Wednesday) and the back end of our rotation. Right now we have roughly 30 blown saves. If we had won just half of those, we'd be in front by five games and wouldn't even be discussing this. I'm excited to see how Perez does given a full year next year, but we need a dominant set up man, and one or two lefty specialists who can shut people down, like Kline and King did a few years ago. Flores and Villone are the sole reasons my blood pressure's skyrocketed this year.

Posted Friday September 05, 2008, About: La Russa expects 'impact' help

I think this offseason could be pretty interesting for the Cardinals. With Izzy, Encarnacion, and Mulder coming off the books, that's $21.5 million freed up. If they don't re-sign Lohse, it'll be another 4.25 million.

The problem is there aren't too many impact bats available this offseason at shortstop and second, the only two glaring holes in the Cards' lineup. And I think they'll prolly resign Lopez if he keeps up his hitting. The outfield's a bit crowded as it is, and Glaus, Pujols, and Molina aren't going anywhere next year.

That leaves a lot of room to improve the pitching. There's no reason they can't go after a solid #2 for $10-12 million a year and invest heavily in a solid bullpen.

Posted Thursday September 04, 2008, About: What's wrong with Zambrano's arm?

Precisely. I do joke around about injury-prone people going on the DL (I used to joke that Mulder/Prior/any injury-prone player pulled a muscle scratching his name off the DL), but it's just bad to me when I actually hear people cheering someone getting hurt, which has happened more than once. There's a huge difference between satire and malice. It isn't just fans of any team; I've heard Cards fans do it, too, the more ignorant ones.

I do hope Z gets better, but for the Cardinals' sake, not when we face the Cubs.

Then again, given the four home runs we bombed off him last time, maybe so. :D

Posted Thursday September 04, 2008, About: What's wrong with Zambrano's arm?

We may sometimes joke around about wishing injury upon someone, but it's not pretty when it actually does happen. And although some of the Bleacher Bums may take joy in seeing Carpenter go down, I'm not. The poor guy can't catch a break. While I may not be pulling for his team, I still pull for him to get over the hump.

cubs/bears | 09/03/08, 04:55 PM

A Cubs fan with reason/logic...I'm waiting for the plagues to begin.

You couldn't have said it better, though. I'm a Cardinals fan, but I'm a baseball fan in general. And as much as Z's hurt the Cardinals, he's a good pitcher and it's always entertaining to watch him, during and between games.