=== Sounders, Timbers, Whitecaps and Bears, Oh My ===

Woke up one day and realized that the Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders were doing battle again.  Anybody know if Alan Hudson is getting any PT?

Dave Clark, who used to mod the Mariners at fanhome, runs the biggest and best (AFAIK) Sounders website.  I understand they've got the ears of the players and brass there.  ;- )

His latest article at SounderAtHeart has a side-by-side video of a superstar, and then a Sounder, executing the same play and getting the opposite treatment from the refs.

The reaction from the Sounder community, in the comments, is very intriguing.

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My best friend is a verrrrrry good soccer player, and a Brit, and a Sounder fanatic.   I asked him -- before the Barcelona match -- which was more unlikely, the U.S. team over Spain or the Sounders over Barcelona.

His reply, he'd bet the Sounders over Barcelona before he'd bet the U.S. over Spain.  Mostly because Barcelona figured to put something less than their World Cup lineup out there.

For those who don't follow soccer, Barcelona is #1 in Europe and crushed the Sounders 4-0.   The Sounders play fine soccer, of course.  My amigo rates their play as middle of first division (not Premier League).

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=== Tui Playing Three True Outcomes on Monday ===

Tui with a BB, with two K's, and an XBH in the Rainiers game tonight.  It was Casey Fossum against Jason Vargas. 

Once Bill James was asked who his Shandler Sleeper was for that season.  His reply, Casey Fossum.  At one time Fossum was a saber-savvy pick to be one of the next stars in the AL, but he lost the bite on his stuff in 08-RRS fashion.

Anyway, you see what we mean about PCL games involving a lot of pitchers who have been in the big leagues.  Fossum vs Vargas could very easily be an AL game on Friday night.

And you see what we mean, about PCL hitters going against some tough opposition.  Casey Fossum has a major leaguer's knowledge of the pitcher-batter war.  Tui hasn't been slugging 3,000 against Cal League twirlers.  :- )

..............

I don't think Tui is especially a TTO hitter, but I do call him a blue-chipper.  To me, Grade A means that a AAA hotshot has about a 1/4 or 1/3 chance of becoming a star.

That's where I'd put Tui also -- a 1/4 or 1/3 chance of becoming Bret Boone at the plate... which wouldn't surprise me.

.................

Tui just passed 2,000 post-HS at-bats.  That compares to, say, Prentice Redman's 4,500 pro AB's.

Some HS grads are ready to dive into the majors after fewer AB's -- Saunders is giving it a go at 1,600 plus international -- but most guys who tackle the majors that soon are the fastest learners.

Most of us have figured that Tui's learning curve would be less steep than pure baseball players' would be.   His age-20 season, the horrific one in AA, was only about 900 AB's ago and indicates that Tui is not going to be the fastest bloomer in the class.  :- )

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My own humble opinion is that, like other "athletes" in the Jeff Conine category, Tui is going to pick it up a little slower than other hotshots, and he's going to be underrated because of over-focus on typical age-arcs.

Cheers,

Dr D