Philadelphia

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Hop Sing Laundromat, Philadelphia, PA

If you’re in the Philadelphia area and looking for someplace quiet, relaxed and classy to sit down and have a drink or two, check out one of the city’s best speakeasy lounges - Hop Sing Laundromat.  Though the name may sound a bit strange, the reality of Hop Sing is that the owners put it together with the intention of crafting the best cocktails that you’ll find anywhere.  And while they may or may not be the absolute best, they are certainly nothing to shake a stick at.  The atmosphere here is amazing, harkening back to older days and you’ll lik

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RIM Café

Located in the heart of Philadelphia, RIM Café is a great spot to check out whether you’re looking for a gift of chocolaty goodness or want to bring your someone special along and taste what this amazing chocolatier has to offer first-hand.  With its humble origins in Italy, the owner of RIM Café since grew to become one of the biggest and the best, eventually expanding his way into Philadelphia.  With many awards to prove just how delicious his creations are, you’d be seriously missing out if y

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Vetri, Philadelphia

Voted in as one of the top restaurants in America and boasting an award-winning chef, Vetri is an amazing Italian place that, if you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, you should swing by and visit at least once.  Sure, you’ll be paying quite a bit more than you will at your typical fancy restaurant, but the proof is in the food and the service.  Part of the charm of Vetri is the constantly evolving menu, so you never know what you’re going to find from one week to the next.  If you need a place

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Raul Ibanez' Age-42 Contract

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I took a walk around the world
To ease my troubled mind
I left my body lying somewhere
In the sands of time
But I watched the world float
To the dark side of the moon

I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah

I watched the world float
To the dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be
Something to do with you
I really don’t mind what happens now and then
As long as you’ll be my friend at the end

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This one is in the free area at Bill James Online, the last 30 days' worth of Hey Bills:

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Supposing Raul Ibanez finished the season, hitting about the way he is now -- .250/.300/.550, or even anywhere in that vicinity. The Red Sox needed an outfielder and asked you for a projection for Raul for 2014. How would you approach such a problem, since there is so little precedent? How do you organize your thinking?
Asked by: jemanji
Answered: 7/13/2013
Aging accelerates as players age, but one assumes the same principles apply.    There is a normal relationship between what a player does ages 33-35 and what he will do at 36.   There is a normal relationship between what a player does at 34-36 and what he does at 37.   Being a year or two older than normal doesn't destroy the normal relationships.  
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Six Historical Prisons of the World

Ever since the dawn of civilization, mankind has used laws to keep order among groups of people.  When the laws were broken, punishments were the result.  While in some time periods and some regions, punishment is just another word for execution, as societies evolved, they conceived of another way of dealing with things - prisons.  The earliest prisoners could be said to have been slaves, without true confinement for the purpose of rehabilitation.  As the notion progressed, buildings dedicated to the purpose of holding criminals were made.  These were very unpleasant places, usually little more than stone rooms where people slowly died.  If you were a political prisoner you might be kept well enough to survive, but even that wasn’t a guarantee that the drafty, damp conditions wouldn’t give you some fatal sickness.  Eventually, the notion of true rehabilitation would emerge and the modern prison would be born.  Some of these older prisons are no longer in use and have since become tourist attractions, telling the story of how things were one or two-hundred years ago.  Here is a list of six famous prisons from various places in the world, each with its own bit of history.

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Fizzlers: MLB(TM) Retreads

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JOE SAUNDERS

In fairness, he'd thrown like 4 good games before getting destroyed by the Pirates on Tuesday.

In added fairness, his K/BB/HR is running at perfect RPM redline:

Season K BB HR
2011 D'Backs 4.58 2.84 1.23
2013 Mariners 4.69 2.87 1.24

The 2011 Joe Saunders wouldn't have gone out and run a K/BB/HR as similar to 2011 as the 2013 Saunders has.  I dunno what I'm sayin'... he was what they thought he was.  He's the same; circumstances are not.

Okay.  Saunders was brought in on a one-year deal.  There were reasons for that.  Those reasons are now well-and-truly extinct.  Seriously.  List the reasons he was brought here, and now ask whether those reasons still exist.  Hint:  they do not.

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KENDRYS MORALES

Hitting .146/.205/.220 the last two weeks, as the Mariners attempt to rise from the ashes and fan the flames of their "attack" on being anywhere near .500.

Dr. D has imperiously ruled his 2009 a career spike, never to return.  That would be rather important as it applies to his bank account.  Two months ago, we were discussing his shot at a career year and a $75M deal; the "qualifying offer" for him, coming in to this year, was what, $13, 14M?  We have presumed that he'd cost way too much to stay in Seattle.  But as you point out, he'd be a cool DH, at the right price.

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BRENDAN RYAN

.118 AVG with a .147 SLG the last two weeks.   For a short time there, it looked like maybe he'd salvage a "nauseating" offensive season.  He has collapsed back in to "gasp-inducing."

'World War Z' movie definitely differs from the book

I hope everyone had a great weekend at the movies. I haven't seen our cineplex that crowded in years. The parking lot was totally full in the middle of a gorgeous, sunny Sunday afternoon. It seems that we weren't alone in skipping outdoor activities in favor of a nice, air conditioned, dark theater. Despite my love of being on the water in the summer, I have accepted that I need my almost weekly movie fix just as much.

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Seven amazing castles in the United States

Normally, when one thinks of great and beautiful castles, one thinks of places well outside the borders of the United States and probably well outside the entirety of both North and South America.  The “New World” isn't exactly an area that had to deal with all of the trials of the medieval world.  Warfare was quite different back in the day and the need for great walls and giant stone structures wasn't necessary among the early populations of our two continents.

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A's 6, M's 2

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=== Bazooka Joe ===

Where were you?, during Blake Griffin's double airball from the foul line.  Whoops!  First one slipped, man.  Watch me, now, I got the laces here.  I'm gonna MAKE this one.  ... WHOOPS!

Saunders needs plus-plus command of his fastball; in this game he didn't even have mediocre command of his fastball.  He'd fall behind 2-0, and he'd bear down to try to hit his spot, and then the ball would sail two feet wide and two feet high.

Since the fatball was useless, it underlined the fact that his curve is a minus pitch and his change is a minus pitch.

If he can pitch worse than that if any major league pitcher over the age of 25 can pitch worse than that, I don't want to know about it.

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After the game, Sgt. Wedge praised Saunders to the skies.  You really saw the bulldog out there tonight, dudes.  Seriously, that's what he was talking.  And so it becomes clear how Saunders got here.

That's okay.  We don't begrudge Sgt. Wedge his homies.  But Dr. D is already counting the days.

Don't get me wrong.  Saunders isn't going to average 1.0 BB per IP very often.  But we'll still be counting the days.  The #4-5 SP situation is .... well, how long is Erasmo out again?

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