southgadawg

u must be around the same age as my oldest son...his results were: 2.5 percent of NFL players 9.8 percent of NBA players 15.1 percent of NHL players 1.6 percent of MLB players

As I said before the year started I thought they'd regress some at least but tbh I never thought they'd get off to this slow a start. I mentioned a couple weeks ago about the need to bring Polanco up.....if the Pirate want to have a chance at the playoffs this year then they will forget about the super 2 and bring Polanco on up to the majors. Their right fielders have underperformed.

HUGE difference in the ballgame last night was Justin Upton's inability to make a great sliding catch in a crucial situation compared to Christian Yelich's ability to come up with a diving play in a likewise crucial situation where the Braves had runners on base. Little plays make a big difference in baseball games. Dan Uggla needs to go. Replace him in the meanwhile with Tyler Pastornicky then if he doesn't work out you can always call up Tommy LaStella. (although I am pretty sure Pastornicky will give ya decent D at 2nd, good speed and quality at-bats each time).

You are older than: 100 percent of NFL players 100 percent of NBA players 100 percent of NHL players 100 percent of MLB players LOL I knew the answer before I even asked it. My oldest son is older than several players too. Dude one of my college buddies is a major league pitching coach so I KNOW I am past my prime.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27247428 Looks like the Ukraine has resorted to conscription to bolster it's ranks for now.

As well as having all sorts of workers who are unemployed or underemployed compared to what they could/should had been. Having the ability to buy cheap products doesn't mean that all the benefits outweigh the costs of such an arrangement. Like I alluded to earlier I am remembering a different time than most all of you experienced and without any doubt in my mind I wish we could go back to the way it was (concerning employment, wages compared to cost of living, average family wage compared to poverty line, average family savings/debt, national debt, and a ton of other factors).

Well we knew the Braves pitching staff couldn't maintain the pace it was keeping for long. They have seriously been bombed the last two games by the Marlins. Still all in all a very nice first month of the season.

Off topic (but in response to the US buying russian made rockets): I know I am probably in the minority by a long shot but I really wish this country did more of it's own manufacturing inside the country. I remember growing up in the 70's (I don't remember much about the 60's) and there were SEVERAL manufacturing plants around here making all sorts of stuff. Things that were foreign made were thought (and were at the time) to be vastly inferior to what was American made. We (as a country) were not dependent on other countries as we are today. I seriously see no way in the world that our situation today as a country is any where near as good as it was back then. Globalization has helped lead to the downfall of this country in so many ways.

Most of the articles I have seen are claiming that if the Falcons want to trade up to #1 it will take a swap of this years number 1's, this year's second rounder and next year's first rounder. Too much in my book. I may be wrong (lol wouldn't be the first time) but I do NOT think Clowney will be the gem 5 years down the road in this draft. I don't even think that he will be the best player this season from this draft either. The Falcons have too many other priorities than to waste trading picks on Clowney. The Falcons are known to be secretive at times though...it is entirely possible that all the fixation on Clowney is a smoke screen to drive the price of the pick up which would in someway benefit them (how?).

Don't feel too bad. The Diamondback pitching staff has totally imploded on them already and their front office's refusal to bring up Bradley doesn't make too much sense except from a super 2 standpoint. I had thought the d-backs would make some noise but so far all their key people are either struggling or injured (with the exception of Goldschmidt). I did think that Granderson would have a return to form but he hasn't did anything at all so far but I doubt seriously he has a chance to lead the NL in homers. The rest of my predictions although some are very questionable might still have some remote chances of happening.

Last year the Pirates won a ton of close ball games and had a lot of things gel for them. Their pitching last year was fantastic. Not easy to do those things two seasons in a row. I do think they will have a very competitive season but for some reason I don't see them in the playoffs this year although it is VERY early still. Planco tearing up the minors. When do they repleace Tabata with him? If they wait until mid to late June it might be too late.

Neat map.

The Braves will not skip the 5th starter even though they have 2 different off days coming up soon (one on thursday). That will mean Woods will start on 6 days rest next Tuesday I believe against Jose Fernandez again. Surely round II can't be as good as the first game was for the two young pitchers.

Not sure who noticed it because Albert Pujols caught most of the news space after hitting his 499th and 500th homers (deservedly so) but the game between the Marlins and the Braves was truly a great game. It was one for the record books because it is the first time EVER in the modern baseball era (strange term since that includes over 100 years of baseball) that two teams combined for at least 28 strikeouts and NO walks. Fernandez was just a bit better than Alex Wood on this day but both starter pitchers did incredible. http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/88265/fernandez-brings-his-best-to-the-table I know it is still very early in the season and things have a way of working themselves out over the long season but I have several questions about Alex Wood. His talent level was always suspected to be high but the only reason he fell to the Braves was because they were basically the only team who would risk him with his unorthodox type deliver...everyone else wanted to change him (from my understanding) and have him pitch with a more easily repetitive normal delivery. Clearly the braves want to limit the innings on his young arm. The original plan was for him to start the season working some out of the bullpen but the injuries to Beachy, Medlen and Minor messed that up. Will the Braves shut him down like the Nationals did with Strasburg a couple years ago just point blank late in the year? Will they start not letting him work so deep into ball games? Will they move him into the bullpen even with a sub 2 era (which I don't expect to stay there...how could it?). Will the Braves make his skip starts (which could throw him off his rythym?) LOL with as few runs as the Braves are scoring can they even afford to miss out on his pitching? or will the Braves just let him throw innings after innings as long as he appears unhurt? I am anxious to see how it all play out. For now I am just enjoying the ride of this hot young pitcher who so far has bad luck.

El Oso Blanco did it again. Expecting big things out of him this year and so far he isn't disappointing.

I must have jinxed Simmons. Not only did he strike out but the Braves lost 1-0 (although Wood pitched a great ball game).

ESPN really touted the Darvish v Hernandez game as the premier pitching game of the day....they clearly missed the boat as the gamescores (for pitchers) clearly indicated that the Teheran v Lee game was the much better pitched game. Gattis has been on fire too. Luckily the wind didn't totally kill his dinger although it barely made it over the left field fence. Through 14 games now Andrelton Simmons has yet to strikeout OR make an error. The dude is unreal.

No offense bware but could had been a few more options on the choices (not sure how many you are limited to). But tbh it is VERY difficult to put a specific dollar amount on this because as was mentioned earlier it is very dependent on what area of the country you live in. Even within the state of Georgia the cost of living is vastly different here in rural South Georgia than it would be around metro Atlanta or even other parts of North Georgia. I will be probably the only one who selected $10 an hour because tbh around here you can get by on that fairly easily. In fact the cost of living index here is 81.1 (100 is US average). The MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD income here is only $30,629 here while in all of Georgia it is $47,589...(all 2009 figures on income). I wouldn't mind seeing cost of living index and median household income for the counties and states of each of the posters to get a better ideal of their point of view (if that makes sense). Those numbers are easy to get from http://www.city-data.com/ I think most people have forgotten how to live frugally and also that the common person is far more materialistic than they were 35 years ago (i chose that number because at that point I was 13 years old and working odd jobs to make money----paid CASH for my first car at 15). Not exactly what you are asking but for the record I am terribly against raising minimum wage. Every time in my memory when it went up the basic items (not luxury ones) seemed to go up almost immediately afterwards. I have no hard data to back that up..although i probably could search for it (just going by my memory). When I first entered the NORMAL work force minimum wage was only $3.35 an hour I think or somewhere there about (1982). Basic necessities are terribly more expensive than they were then. I seriously remember buying a bottle soda for .10, bread 3 loaves for $1, gas as cheap as .74 cent a gallon and a bubble gum/caramels 3 pieces for a nickel. Don't get me wrong I think the pay scale in most companies is way too top heavy but I don't think raising minimum wage is the answer. I think it is counterproductive.

TBH isn't anyway we can complain much about the Braves season so far. Despite all the major injuries to the pitching staff AND many sub.200 averages on the team the Braves have played very well this young season. I just can't understand how do you dominate the Nationals and the Brewers but struggle against the mets of all teams lol. Got to love baseball.

Unions have played a VERY important role in this country's work environment bringing about many positive changes through the years. I will say at one time they were definitely needed and may still have some uses in some circumstance that are not the 'normal' work environments of today. However in MOST current areas I'd think they serve little real function besides to keep the union BUSINESS fat and healthy---and unions are more or less a business on their own in many ways. Unions often keep their industry's wages artificially high while at the same time lowering productivity of the average worker. This situation frequently causes the host business/industry to struggle with it's own competitive advantage...meaning they sometimes have to lose workers or even relocate or close their unit. When I was healthy enough to work in my own personal experience I witnessed first hand where unions had workers that were highly unmotivated (wanting only to do enough to keep their jobs) and they had little to no desire to succeed (because promotions weren't based on ability but on seniority). I personally had even received threats from union workers because I 'worked too fast and made the others look bad'. I was told 'you need to do what everyone else does and no more'. At one time while I was in college I was working a weekend shift in shipping and receiving at a highly unionized manufacturing job (mainly driving a forklift). At that job out of a 10 hour shift I might only have somedays 3 actual hours of work the rest of the time I had nothing to do and could not help anyone else no matter how behind they were. Getting paid for doing nothing may seem like a great gig but it still felt ethically wrong to me. That particular business changed hands several times in a 10 year period before simply fading away because none of it's owners could make a profit there even with the fact that many of it's workers were highly skilled at their specialized job.

Speed kills. Jordan Schafer scores from first base on a bloop single by Justin Upton to give the Braves the win in the 10th. No substitute for a great set of wheels.

Anyone see Simmons play from shortstop while sitting on his rump? Dude has one awesome arm. http://m.mlb.com/video/v31953995/must-c-cannon-simmons-makes-great-play-despite-slip/?c_id=atl

Most larger companies have digital time clocks with cameras focused on them so research can be done to determine who actually keyed in an employee's badge number or swiped their card. I have little doubt that it is likely BEFORE the decision was ever made to terminate him that there was an investigation done and all the ducks were in a row. Most large companies are so afraid of lawsuits they don't dismiss hourly associates without some sort of documentation. As far as the other workers being terminated it seems that they agreed the union should speak for them, then they went out of the parameters of what the union could do based on their labor agreement. It is sad that a large number of them took that risk but sounds like those involved didn't make an informed decision.

If the Falcons were to trade up to take Clowney I would be horribly disappointed. Who knows it might work out in the long run, but initially my reaction would be of shock and disappointment.

I don't know if it would really be considered a 'bust' but if Clowney is selected #1 overall I don't think he will live up to that selection spot. I feel he will be an above average player on the field but certainly not close to the best overall player in this year's draft. Gut feeling nothing more. I think Manziel has a chance to be a distraction to a team, but I think also his on the field play will be above average. So not sure how the balance will shift on that one. Overall admittedly I am not overly familiar with more than a dozen names or so in this draft. Not enough to make too much speculation beyond those two I named.