jpa2825

By Votto standards; by 1B standards; by batting 3rd or 4th on any team standards; by salary standards -- take your pick. I think Votto would admit he was paid at least 2x his performance level last year. I'm a huge fan of Votto, but there is little doubt that he had a "pedestrian" year.

6 HRs per game is a bit of an ask, don't you think?

They have the best recipe I've seen. Mound and home plate are dirt and everything else is turf. I love JPat, but I think the value gained by dirt home plate greatly exceeds the minimal extra upkeep. I've never talked to anyone that likes the turf mounds (like at Florence Freedom), but they minimize upkeep and increase likelihood of playing.

Given the Americans with Disabilities implications, I expect he was paid something extra upon departure and released any claims he may have had.

This. They would have been much better off getting off to a slow start and seeming slightly above average after the UK loss. Instead, they looked VERY competitive / should have won tough games against TN and Marquette and did win games against Michigan St. and Seton Hall. The loss at IU seemed better than it actually ended up being as the season went on. Even the cluster at Pitt was salvaged by a late run to push it into OT and then quickly forgotten because of the blowout at UNC. If you had to pick a high point of the season, and where it started going south afterward, that would be the game - not the Duke game everyone points to. Scare v. BC at home and then a win over NC State (who was ranked at the time and later dropped precipitously). At Va Tech was a tiny blip upward, but not a "great" effort / a good effort followed by inability to sustain the rest of the season after blowing out UNC. Mack is the right guy. Let's see what he does over the next 2-5 yrs. Happy to have uninterrupted focus on the #4 ranked baseball team and Coach McDonnell.

Enoch good but didn't get the ball enough. Nwora hit some tough shots. Defense was not great as MN picked them to death. Expect to see at least a little bit of 1-3-1 in the 2nd half. MN pressed only 1 possession that I recall. Missed opportunity in my book. If MN shoots like they did at the outset (1-7 or 8 from 3), UofL should have a chance. If they shoot like they did from then (5-7 or 8 from 3), it will be an uphill battle. Offense looks lost. Might as well try to run some transition before defense gets established. MN was 2-6 on FT, but UofL failed to rebound 2 of them and MN got another possession and on at least 1 occasion got a 3.

McMahon is in a prolonged slump (or maybe just isn't very good). When you are in a slump, work for better shots. Don't force 3s from even further out or in a worse position. He serves only 1 purpose - spot up 3s. If he can't make those, he's a liability (defensively, offensively away from the ball, offensively driving, offensively assisting, etc.) Hope he gets hot for 6 games.

Definitely will be on the increase. You need the right kind of roster to figure out how to maximize the usage based on how many "true starters" you have. I'm guessing things will get "cheeky" and may force a rules change at some point. Can see some managers putting a guy who pitched 3 innings the prior day as their starting P in order to take away some of the advantage the other manager has in knowing who the starter will be to set his lineup. You know the starter is not likely to actually start, so who do you plan your matchups for? RHP? LHP?

The article I shared above says 2011 UConn was 19 O and 15 D, so Top 20 in both.

This article (What does Kenpom tell us about Past Champions? - VU Hoops) suggests it is Top 20.

Understand the frustration, but that kinda statement is weak sauce.

Same old story. Either magically it all clicks and they make some postseason noise OR they continue to have sparks but not a full 40 minutes and they bow out somewhere. Regardless, things are back on the right track and this team exceeded expectations by A LOT.

Chicken little rises again. John Oliver did a good deep dive on this on SUN and concluded people need to focus on doing "a series of non-routine tasks that require social intelligence, complex critical thinking, and creative problem-solving." It is often pointed out that people analyze how many "current" jobs will be lost to automation. We all know great examples, laborer on a farm before tractors and fertilizer, assembly line e/e at a car plant before robots took those jobs, pay-phone manufacturer / service person, TV repairman, etc. Too often those skeptics don't also count the # of new jobs, related and unrelated that are created constantly. Software developer for apps didn't exist 10 years ago and how many are employed doing that now? Solar panel manufacturer? Wind turbine installer / maintenance / designer / manufacturer, etc. Podcaster. Blogger. Beanie manufacturer. The world evolves. Always has. Always will.

I don't buy that. Prior to the UNC game at home, they had solid efforts in most every game except @ Pitt, late v BC and maybe v UK (and UK's defense had a lot to do with that) Tennessee - in the game and could have won it Marquette - should have won it Sparty - won @ Seton Hall - won (recall they beat UK) @ IU - lost by 1 (IU looked better when that game was played) Lipscomb - beat a sneaky good team @ Pitt - mostly a "no show"; maybe the 1st inkling that this team had a "Mr. Hyde" lurking; however, this was the reverse of the Mr. Hyde that is now firmly in place; team played lousy and then made a furious run to get game into OT @ UNC - the above "inkling" was dismissed with a "high water mark" performance against a team that never "hit back" after UofL punched them in the mouth BC - late collapse but held on; they were solid for most of game NC State - won (see IU above) UNC - 1st complete "no show" @ Va. Tech - solid performance on the road against a team that now looks better than when that game was played @ FSU - collapse late Duke - collapse after great 30 minutes Clemson - collapse but got a win (did not exorcise any demons) @ Syr - putrid effort and performance UVa - fools gold for 20 minutes; real team showed up on both sides after half BC - putrid effort and performance So, through 29 games, you have 2 putrid, 4.5 collapses and 1.8 "no shows." It looks / feels so awful because it has been so concentrated and recent. Competition level definitely stepped up, but we forget Tennessee, Marquette, Michigan State, @ Seton Hall, @ UNC, etc. because they were further in the past. This team CAN be good. Maybe not as good consistently as they played in the 1st half of the season, but certainly better than how they played in FEB.

Not like there are any video cameras in casinos or anything.

I think person with highest # rolled should get a player + Reem. :lol2: (Although I'm not sure I want her ruining team chemistry.)

I rolled a 95

If they want him to play and bat, it shouldn't be as a starter. Bring him in and instead of pulling him for LH hitters OR guys he doesn't match up well against, send him to the OF (corner, preferably - I think CF requires too much defensive responsibility) while you bring in a LHP or someone who matches up better. Bring him back to the mound to face better matchups.

I could see this deal as being reasonable if BOTH had an option to bolt at 5 yrs. Even if there was a $20-$30M buyout to the Padres for exercising that exit clause, I could see it as a reasonable hedge. As is, this seems WAY worse than a straight 10/$300M deal or even Votto's 10/$225M (9/$207M) deal. If Machado is great OR if he's average and salaries spiral upward, he leaves after 5 and you have to replace that spot (either a great player OR an average player with a huge salary) for the next 5 yrs. If he's awful OR if he's average and salaries spiral downward (unlikely), he stays and you have either an awful or way overpriced average player on your roster for the full 10 yrs. It only takes 1 idiot to keep the idiocy carousel running.

Wow! USF taking on the big boys to boost that strength of schedule. Go get 'em.

Big Brother won't let me access either. I'll do it over the weekend and report results. (Alternatively, if Godot wants to roll me a random # and put it in, I am happy with whatever comes up.) NOTE: Reem probably deserved to go - if for no other reason than how she acted at Tribal showed that she was going to be difficult to deal with long term. They didn't show us any of the "guidelines" for Extinction Island. At that point, who other than the lamest contestant wouldn't just get on the boat and see how it worked out to try to get back in the game. At worst, you can always quit whilst on Extinction Island and you're no worse off than you were when you got voted out. I assume as things progress there will be a scroll that says "If you choose to continue, you'll only get 2 grains of rice and 4 drops of water a day. Do you still want to continue?" or something similar to make it a real choice.

They had a plan and worked it early. Decent to good shots were missed. During this period, they were playing aggressive and solid defense as well, so score remained close to the under 12:00. From there, Syracuse defense forced some bad shots (forced errors) AND UofL voluntarily took some poor shots (unforced errors), particularly McMahon and Perry. Naturally, these shots didn't fall. In the interim, UofL defensive pressure waned and Syracuse shooters heated up (both were contributing factors). Syracuse pulled away and weren't really challenged for remainder of game, save 1 little spurt that got lead down to single digits. @Getslow is absolutely right. If you can't pass high / low from the free throw line OR consistently make that jumper they will give you, there is little chance of beating Boeheim's 2-3 zone. I would have expected Sutton and Nwora both to handle that pass and shot well. For cripes sake, Mathiang, Onuaku, Johnson and many others have handled it. They didn't. Sandwich any sort of solid effort @BC and @ND around the 2 losses to UVa (considering not even watching these 2 games to keep my cardiologist happy) and we roll the dice in the ACC Tourney and see what happens. Expect to win or play poorly at either gym, and @UNC will have been the high point of the season and everything else is downhill.

UConn is a solid club but without their ace seemed vulnerable. 33 LOB over 3 games is the most telling stat for the weekend. SO Reid Detmers pitched OK but was not as sharp as you'd hope on FRI night. Cards failed to convert on chances and gave up a big HR late to lose. UofL dominated Game 2 of 3 with a very solid start from JR Nick Bennett (Moeller) and good hitting. SR Bryan Hoeing victimized by a grand slam after starting well. Offensive stars included JR Logan Wyatt (5-9 + 6 BBs w/ a HR and 4 RBI) and SO Lucas Dunn (5-9 + 2BBs). Interesting stat of the weekend: JR Ethan Stringer (Beechwood) was hit 4x but only awarded 1st one time. The other 3x it was ruled that he didn't move / leaned into the pitch. By rule, that is now an automatic strike regardless of where pitch was located. 2 of the 3x it was the 3rd strike with the final time coming with 2 outs, bases loaded and Wyatt on deck in the final game. Not sure it would have changed the outcome, but you'd like to have seen Wyatt up in that situation.

Also - TV Teddy is awful. That is all.

Given the UVa debacle and this "near miss," there is clearly a need to work on late game inbounds fundamentals. In the Clemson situation, the ball cannot be inbounded under your own basket. Too many things can go wrong. If it's me, I set McMahon under the basket and pick the man guarding the inbounder (Nwora) as he is running the baseline. If the defender barrels over McMahon, at least you have your best FT shooter at the line. Malik or Enoch at the jump circle and when ball is given to Nwora, he runs along midcourt toward the way Nwora is running. Nwora passes ball toward Malik or Enoch to be "high pointed." Instead of trying to grab ball with 2 hands, Malik or Enoch tips the ball toward UofL basket toward any other UofL player and away from any Clemson player. Clock starts when Malik or Enoch taps the ball. Worst case, Clemson player runs it down, turns and tries a 3/4 court heave to beat you. More likely, clock runs out before ball can be recovered. By not possessing the ball, you make it less likely that foul will be called against Clemson on Malik or Enoch. It's a loose ball situation and the refs typically let things go until possession is established.