Hurlshort

The A's are doing great. They are built on good pitching as well.

Buster Posey won the MVP and Sandoval hit 3 home runs in a World Series game. They aren't completely devoid of hitting. I will concede that 2010 was a below average hitting team that got just enough to win tight games, but the 2012 squad was much improved. Heck, the only reason they aren't 15 games behind is because their hitting won a lot of games early on when the pitching was struggling. Aubrey Huff is pretty awesome.

That's way too dismissive of their pitching.

Huh, I just looked it up. Weird, I thought Pujols was their only real power guy. So why didn't they beat the Giants n 2012 again? Bad luck? I guess I'll take luck like the Giants over power.

Neither the Giants nor the Cardinals are power hitting teams, and they've won the last 3 championships. I'm not sure what else you need to see.

Did you watch the 2012 playoffs? I watched every pitch, and there was no staff better than the Giants. They embarrassed the Triple Crown winner at the plate. When it comes to baseball I trust the numbers more than the eyeball test. And yes. I watched. The most important number is 2, the number of championships they've won.

Did you watch the 2012 playoffs? I watched every pitch, and there was no staff better than the Giants. They embarrassed the Triple Crown winner at the plate. I also remember watching the staff pitch 36 straight shutout innings in 2012. I really don't need a stat breakdown to tell me who has the best pitching staff. They win the big games.

We should probably remember that the Giants were leading their division before Buster Posey got injured in 2009, and they started this season out well before they lost Sandoval, Pagan, Vogelsong, and Casilla. You can argue that they aren't a deep team, but saying they got lucky is silly. You don't luck into anything in the long baseball season.

As a die hard Giants fan, I have no idea what you are talking about. They had the best pitching staff in baseball the last few years, and it showed in the postseason. This year has been rough because of injuries. Slugging will get you to the playoffs, but pitching wins championships. edit: They also weren't luckier in 2012. They won the division easily, they had better hitting, and they swept the slugging Tigers. Edit 2: The Giants had plenty of slugging teams that never got a championship.

The Giants try to alternate their seasons to keep things fair, I guess.

Well we could break it down by position, what you can do with 64 million. Goalie : 3-5 million Defense #1 - 5-6 million each Defense #2 - 3-4 million each Defense #3 - 1 million each Forward line #1 - 6-8 million each Forward line #2 - 4-5 million each Forward line #3 - 2-3 million each Forward line #4 - 1 million each If you go with the lowest number for each of those, you end up with $60 million. Now I'm just guessing and playing around with numbers here, there is obviously a lot more complications when it comes to putting together an NHL team (and a few more roster spots for reserves.) But Clowe seems to be getting a second line contract, when he really didn't put up second line numbers last year. It seems risky to me. I'm rooting for him though.

I'd probably have to run a comparison of other wingers that play a similar role to fully explain it, but I'm much too lazy to do that. The salary cap is $64.3 million this year. Clowe is a 2nd line winger at best, 3rd line if he plays like he did last year. With some quick research I noticed that Johan Franzen, a comparable player when they are both healthy, is a million less as a cap hit than Clowe. I'd say Franzen is better too, so that makes it seem to me like they overpaid. I guess it is fine if the Devils don't run into cap trouble, but they don't have that much room and down the road that contract can become a burden.

Volo, your responses to my posts don't seem to have anything to do with what I've written. We have been talking about real situations where people are aggressively resisting arrest, and you are making up scenarios. At this point, I'm going to stop responding to you.

Because there is a salary cap and you can only afford so many players? I mean there are a lot of statistical ways you can break it down, but he did score 3 goals last season, was injured for awhile, sometimes takes bad penalties, and lacks speed. That's a decent percentage of the salary cap to devote to a player coming off those issues. I like the guy and hope he is able to get back to his 20 goal, 50 points average, but I wouldn't be comfortable gambling that much on it.

What in the world are you talking about? Your odds of getting your neck broken are way greater if you are resisting arrest. That seems like common sense. Also how often do people successfully fight off the cops and then prove their innocence? I enjoy the movie The Fugitive, but it's hardly reality. Do you recommend getting into car chases to dispute traffic tickets as well?

A documentary about Sierra On-Line is being made, looks like they've got all the right interviews. I pledged for a DVD, I remember going on a tour of the company on Oakhurst when I was about 12, it was magical. Their goal is a bit high, hopefully they can make it.

Krookie, I hope the Ryan Clowe signing works out for you, but that is too much money for him. He's a gritty guy with good hands, but he's got no speed. $3 million a season should be his ceiling.

Understandably took exception and struggled a bit is the part that gets me, I don't understand that. If the police are coming at me, I'm going to do my best to not escalate the situation. If it is a case of mistaken identity, it can be cleared up much quicker if I am not struggling.

It taught me that I'd die of dysentery or be swept out of my wagon by a swollen river if I ever traveled west of the Mississippi. Those are all very important lessons to learn.

Now that I think about it, every cop I know has a college degree. I think that might actually be really important. I am willing to admit that every police department is different, and there are a lot of flawed departments out there. I guess I am lucky that in the area I live in, the police have a very good reputation, both at the county level and the city. That being said, I still believe that the majority of police officers are out there to serve and protect. If they are not trained properly, if citizen complaints are not being addressed, then that lies on the people running the departments. Getting all indignant towards the guys and gals who are the first people to respond when you call out for help seems wrong.

I also have no interest in the end game.

As a whole? I would need to see more evidence that police officers as a whole are not up to that standard. alanschu already pointed out that the day to day good cop stuff simply doesn't make the news. All the high profile cases we've talked about have resulted in the officers losing their jobs or worse. I know quite a few cops, they all take their jobs seriously and they are the kind of people I would want to show up at my door if I needed help. None of them fit some bully archetype that malcador keeps ranting about. If you have a bad experience with a police officer, you can actually make his/her life miserable. Filing a complaint is just the first step, as nkkk illustrated in that other thread, you can file lawsuits and use the media to put pressure on the department. edit: I tried to look up the detail on the cop who arrested her daughter's boyfriend, it doesn't say what happened after the investigation. He was suspended, and faced either additional training or termination. He also was sued by the parents.

I agree that police officers should be held to a high standard. I also believe the should be given respect until they fail to meet that standard.

I actually really enjoyed our parade today, we got a spot in the shade and the kids had a blast. But fireworks have never sparked my interest.

Donner was targetting the families of police officers, he he hardly seems like a reliable character witness