disarcina

if CJ wins today -- that's number 18 on the season for him, right? so, if he gets 18 do you try to juggle the rotation next week so he can get two more starts to perhaps get to 20? YES, NO, NOT WORTH IT?

Hey, CJ wins today -- what's that no. 18......... do you try to get him two more starts next week to get to 20?

Anyone think the Bees were planted in the outfield ivy by downtown LA interests...........? or perhaps by Arte himself........'Hey City of Anaheim, we need a new deal here and more maintenance" COA response: 'well we can release the rats from under the stands to eat them, perhaps"

Archer is in the hunt but again, perception Is reality........Archer had a tremendous July -- part of it might have been the 'first time through the league' thing -- but his win total (4 or 5) and ERA (1.93 or something) for his starts in July were very impressive.........about the first week of August he tailed off (which is to expected) from those figures to where he is now -- which is still quite good. but the perception is that he's fallen off a bit.......part of that is due to the attention Archer got for the July starts......... meanwhile no fuss, no muss, Straihly has quietly put together a nice second half and has been steady down the stretch when the A's, again, somewhat quietly, pulled out into a 6 game lead over Texas.......... doesn't matter, though, Myers wins ROY.

If Halos jumbotron guy had any sense of humor -- he'd play that 'NOT THE BEEs" clip between innings........

Fumingator guy out there now -- think it is just a fire extinguisher with cold jet stream of icy water..........

"Not the BEES" -- LOL! Perfect post............LOL!!!

guy in Stanford golf cap with no beekeeper type garb and net out there putting Bees in a cardboard box that looks like it was just picked up from the clubhouse or something........ wow.

Halos should come on to the field next inning with SLC Bees caps on.

well, there's a lot of September call ups from Salt Lake City, apparently.........

ROY is as much about the buzz as it is about performance........ Myers got the buzz and his performance hasn't detracted from his lead coming in. He wins. And he probably deserves to. Archer was impressive early on but fell off as the year wore on. Straihly (spelling?) from the A's would be my choice (or Myers) because I think Straihly has very quietly (part of that is the West Coast and small Oakland crowds) been a major reason why the A's may be popping champagne today..........oh yes, that and the Rangers' annual collapse.

In my book, we were eliminated when we got swept in that four game homestand by HOUSTON. that's the day we were eliminated as a serious contender for the division title/ wild card spot. next year the Halos MUST be in a position by May 15th to be a contender. the past several seasons have been horrible in that respect. we can't play .425 baseball in April and into May and expect to be there come stretch time. this recent surge getting the Halos within two games of .500 is nice -- but then we've been playing the equivalent of Spring Training games since about August 15th if not before that.

well, whatever on all this -- IMO Mariano Rivera is having one of the classiest finale's ever and his 'goodbye' tour has been impressive. Read this week's SI cover story EXIT THE SANDMAN for further confirmation of this. Today is Mariano Rivera Day at Yankee Stadium. Rivera is a class act. I also happen to like the way Jeter has always played the game. These guys are throw-backs who brought the grit from days gone by to today's game. When they're gone, who's going to fill their shoes in this regard........not too many of today's players who GET IT, quite frankly. May not like the Yankees, but have to respect Jeetz and Rivera as classy good ballplayers who play the game right.

Best Candidate for player we would like to Forget this season : close race between Blanton and Hamilton. Blanton wins it.......not exactly a foot race.

Madsen hands down. Yeah, Mark Lowe makes the list if anyone can remember he was actually with the team. the other pitcher we got in some deal, Burnett -- can hardly remember the guy's name -- about the only mention of this guy and Madsen this year was the off-season press conference announcing they'd been signed...........not seen much since.

ok -- looked at his career stats -- yeah. we got him in that minor league deal with the Mets this year. I like Cowgill......good OF/ bench depth guy.

didn't realize that about Cowgill -- have liked what I've seen including that shot just now off Saunders almost dead center field........ oh well. This must be Cowgill's third year of September call up time, then.......that's why I may not remember much about him.........not much there to watch in September for the Halos the past couple of seasons.

I have to check the standings more often -- didn't realize that as of right now, O's have fallen to 3.5 games off the wild card pace. So the O's and the Rangers (again) are tanking down the stretch here. Looks like Cleveland might sneak into the one game playoff round -- hope the Indians get there. So, Cabrera perhaps your winner again this year. I do think a player with a good season for a winning (Division title/ playoff team) trumps a player who has an excellent season for an also -ran team. Last year, Trout had , arguably, the BEST rookie reason in MLB baseball stat-wise.........and he finished second in the MVP race. Had Trout stolen that base that last game of the season last year (he got tossed out) he would have had 50 SBs to go along with his other record breaking stats........MVP plateau for sure...........he finished second. He will finish third this year. Davis and his 50 plus HRs and non-playoff team O's will finish second.

Davis, Cabrera, Trout and I don't think it will be that close........Trout will be a distant third. Davis/ Cabrera will be closer if O's actually make playoffs........down to the last week here.

Twins were pretty good up to a few years ago -- geez, have they tanked.......... of course, the Twins fans are looking at the Halos team / organization of the past three years and saying the same thing. I hear we are installing a pond in the rocks next week so the A's can celebrate the division title clincher by jumping into the pond.......oh, and that's not the Honda Center, BTW.

Will Myers will likely win it. the A's starter Straily is probably second. He's had a pretty good second half to lead the A's to the Division title. Calhoun gets nixed at a real chance at a ROY award because he came up so late and then platooned. If Calhoun doesn't get called up this year, he'd be an almost Trout like candidate for ROY next year -- he now he's played more games and has more ABs so his ROY qualifying year is this year. Meanwhile he has some competition from a fellow teammate (Aw Shucks) which usually dooms any legitimate chance when two player from the same team split votes. Here, it doesn't matter, because Myers is pretty much going to run away with it and any votes he doesn't get (or if East Coast voters on this have even paid attention to Straily's late run here, a big IF), he will get whatever votes Myers doesn't get which won't be many. How about Cowgill for next year?

If you don't want the opposition team to celebrate winning a division title by jumping into the pool located inside your ballyard -- well, don't have a pool in your ballpark........ I guess McCain doesn't have much else to do but play on-line video poker on his cell phone and rant about a MLB team's celebration. Oh by the way, a number of those 'spoiled brat, over-paid' players McCain refers to apparently have nice large homes in Scottsdale, AZ and are Arizona taxpayers and voters........ Now, do I think the Dodgers should have gone diving into the D-Backs pool as part of the celebration? Probably not. Is it the biggest celebration faux paus ever? NO. Is it really that big of a deal? NO. Does it provide some national attention and highlights the D-Backs ballpark? YES. And the question of the day........what reason(s) would a team have to construct a swimming pool (for use by the fans) at their ballpark? Apparently, whatever product the team is placing on the field isn't enough to keep the fans' attention for nine innings. Come to think of it -- they should install a similarly located pool at Chavez Ravine complete with a cocktail bar -- might see a lot of fans out there first through the third innings and then starting about the sixth inning.........might be one way to keep Dodger fans from arriving late and leaving early. OK -- It's tough to diss the Dogs and their fans right now.......they're celebrating a Division title while we are hoping for a much more low key celebration of finishing at .500.

Raul Mondesi -- played about 10 games with us - two weeks - did throw a guy out at the plate in one game but otherwise hit something like .149 before he claimed he was hurt and then was released. Some in MLB (like Pittsburgh) thought Mondesi was a malingerer playing the system. Another 'worst' or 'almost' Halo was Jose Canseco who played less than a week with the Halos as a ST invitee........he mis-played a ball in the OF in one game, struck out twice and then told Scioscia he was hurt and couldn't play -- asked to be left out of line up because he was hurt or not feeling well -- after successive days of this combined with Canseco's all around poor play (bad field, no hit), Scioscia got tired of it and the Angels 'released' Canseco.........for years afterward Canseco bad mouthed Scioscia and the Halos organization for 'ruining / ending' his career by telling other MLB teams that he was hurt.............OK. Canseco begs out of the line up because he claims he's injured and then blames the Halos because other teams think he's not healthy.........yeah. So Mondesi and Canseco. My all time least liked Halo is Mo Vaughn followed by Scott Schoenweis.

Angels won't exercise option on Hansen......... for next year -- Weaver, Wilson, Richards and then two more..........do we sign Vargas? I'd like to sign him to a rehab year type contract (Vargas needs to show he can stay healthy a full season before he can command big dollar contract -- although someone may over-pay for him based on his first half performance this year)............ then one more -- Tanaka???

I think we will be doing well to finish at .500. that'll take some dong but very possible. need to go 8-4 (including tonight) the rest of the way to get to .500 -- that's doable.