Tea Party

[CKFresh]

P.P.S. How about the Reds!?! Looking good, so far! Good chance for a sweep this weekend with the Lastros in town. It'd be nice to put a little more distance between us and the Cards (and bury the rest of the division). Now's the time; the schedule's front-loaded with divisional games. Get while the getting is good and the Reds are hot.

Tough loss yesterday. Bad-Arroyo showed up at a bad time...

Still, I like this team. If they stay healthy, we will have meaningful baseball in the Queen City all summer long!

[501]

Tough loss yesterday. Bad-Arroyo showed up at a bad time...

Still, I like this team. If they stay healthy, we will have meaningful baseball in the Queen City all summer long!

You have some interesting hitters coming in this season. Nix, Stubbs, Diaz and then some...

[got]

Tough loss yesterday. Bad-Arroyo showed up at a bad time...

Still, I like this team. If they stay healthy, we will have meaningful baseball in the Queen City all summer long!

Well he was "Good" Arroyo until the rain delay. He claims it didn't affect him and maybe it didn't, but the before-and-after lines were markedly different. Sunday's loss was even tougher, in my opinion. When you start the bottom of the ninth in a 0-0 game with 2 men on and no outs, you've got to find a way to score, especially against the Astros and with full knowledge the Cards were looking at a probable win.

Oh, well. Time to bounce back tonight. They're still 6 games ahead of the 3rd place team, so I'd be okay with taking one of three from St. Louis (although two of three sounds a lot better). Health is always the key, but they at least have some depth this year. And they have a knack of using both power and small ball to get the job done. So, it should be a good summmer. Need to get own to some games!!

[RIVERS]

[got]

Well he was "Good" Arroyo until the rain delay. He claims it didn't affect him and maybe it didn't, but the before-and-after lines were markedly different. Sunday's loss was even tougher, in my opinion. When you start the bottom of the ninth in a 0-0 game with 2 men on and no outs, you've got to find a way to score, especially against the Astros and with full knowledge the Cards were looking at a probable win.

Oh, well. Time to bounce back tonight. They're still 6 games ahead of the 3rd place team, so I'd be okay with taking one of three from St. Louis (although two of three sounds a lot better). Health is always the key, but they at least have some depth this year. And they have a knack of using both power and small ball to get the job done. So, it should be a good summmer. Need to get own to some games!!

Let's be fair...Jaime Garcia came out from the delay and pitched pretty well.

Red's have a nice team though. (Don't tell 'CK' I wrote this...I wil 'Deny, deny deny')

[RIVERS]

Not likely. A third-party is only going to divide the existing electorate up making it that much more difficult to get a majority of the vote in any given election. This also extends itself to issue of the division of power/control in the House and Senate, which is allotted based on majority status and which affects party chairmanships, control over rulemaking, etc. The Tea Party may be dominated by people who would normally consider themselves (and vote) Republican, but it also draws enough Independents that it would affect the ability of some Democrats in borderline (or not so borderline) districts/states from getting elected; we've already seen a few examples of this. So, if the Tea Party movement became an actual third-party, and they were able to get say 20 or so candidates elected to the House in the fall and the Republicans picked up  25 more seats (neither of which are implausible), you'd end up with *no* party holding a majority of the seats in the House. I think it would be very difficult for any party to claim control of the House with a slim plurality, which the Dems would hold in this scenario. What do you do then? Co-chairs?  Eeney-meeney-miney-moe? Rotating chairmanships?

No...It is not a 'premise' written by me.

There is no 'Tea-Party' movement that is worth a plug Nickle.


Anyone who believes or buys into this 'false sense' of security...may as well believe that Sarah Palin will lead you to the Promised Fucking Land.

This is a joke right?

[CKFresh]

You have some interesting hitters coming in this season. Nix, Stubbs, Diaz and then some...

Nix is crappy. Stubbs might be good, he is the fastest guy in the league, I know that much.

Who is Diaz?

[501]

Nix is crappy. Stubbs might be good, he is the fastest guy in the league, I know that much.

Who is Diaz?

Sorry, bud! I meant Cairo, not Diaz. 

[the]

Nix is crappy. Stubbs might be good, he is the fastest guy in the league, I know that much.

Who is Diaz?

Crappy?!? Nix plays decent defensively and is doing pretty well offensively, especially considering his sporadic playing time. He and Gomes are one of the most (if not the most) productive left field platoon in the majors this year. I wouldn't like him as my everyday left fielder for an entire season, but he's a good substitute for Gomes and a decent pinch hitter.

Stubbs is doing much better since Baker moved him down to the 7 hole. In spite of his speed, he's not a leadoff hitter (at least not yet). Doesn't make enough contact consistently and tends to approach hitting as a power hitter would. He's got pop, but he's been doing better by taking what the pitching gives him and going opposite field rather than trying to go deep.

I like the way the team has been playing the past month-plus, but I'm a little concerned about the back-end of the pen (with the exception of Rhodes, of course); they can't count on winning games twice like they had to do Sunday. Unfortunately, they have no viable options right now, other than to keep running Cordero out there and hope he has a good day (or the defense picks him up). But, right now, I like their chances. The Cards aren't running away with it and the two of them are putting the rest of the division behind them...just the way you want it.

Sorry, bud! I meant Cairo, not Diaz. 

Cairo had a nice little stretch going there when he was playing for Votto. He's a good sub for guys like Votto and Rollen when they need the day off, but Cabrera's been a much bigger part of the Red's success over the past month or so than Cairo. Cabrera's really done well in the leadoff spot -- something with which the Reds have struggled for a long time. Moving him to 1 and Stubbs to 7 has really made a huge difference in the team's productivity.