In the NL West I’m liking the Padres, not just because the MSG is a long-time Padre fan, but since the Cards have put them out in the first round for most of the ’90s and new milennium I’ve seen a lot of them and think they’ve got a great shot. Peavy rocks and hopefully that rotation can take them far. They’ve gotta start platooning at closer though, with Glue Factory Hoffman sharing time with one of their young guns or it will just be another bad year of blown saves.

I like:
Padres
Arizona
LA
Colorado
SF - just plain awful. I like how they’ve basically taken everything out of the park that related to Bonds. Mind you, they were pretty greedy in signing the guy just for the noteriety of having him in a Giant uniform for the ***record***

NL Central
Yes, to be totally biased, I still expect the Cards to make some noise despite the double-digit injury list so far and a starting rotation of cast aways and relievers made starters (see Cardinals 2007 — yes, they didn’t learn their lesson). Not quite good enough despite their 6-2 start. I don’t think these young guns can keep it up all year, and look for a let down once Carpenter and Mulder come back as everyone naturally takes a break to let the new “saviours” take over.

I like:
Cubbies
Cardinals
Milwaukee
Cincy
Houston
Pittsburgh
(Yes, that is correct, how fair is a 6 team division when the AL West is only 4??? — don’t get me started. They might as well have two teams named the Roughriders)

Finally the NL East
I would have thought the Mets in a slaughter, but have been impressed with Atlanta and Philly.

I like:
NY Mets
Atlanta
Philly
Washington
Florida

Enjoy the marathon folks!!!

GO CARDS!!

As for the rest of the MLB - I really don’t give a crap!

and you can take that to the bank.

Here goes:

Montreal in 5. Boston is just too banged up and I don’t think the return of Bergeron (late in 1st round) and Savard will be enough.

Pittsburgh in 6. Ottawa will win a couple of close ones, but look for some sort of goaltending controversy. I see Gerber getting shelled in games 1 and 2 and Ottawa starting Emery in Game 3. Should be fun watching this train wreck in Ottawa. No Alfie and Fisher means the end to Ottawa. I still don’t like the deadline trade to bring in Stillman. They miss Corvo.

Rangers over Devils in 6. I’m actually predicting a Ranger-Shark final. I dunno, something about the Rangers underachieving for most of the year and guys like Drury, Gomez and Jagr getting hot at the right time. Lundqvist has been amazing all year and you just can’t bet against Shanny. Elias and Gionta have been invisible all year and I just don’t see Parise ready this year to carry the load. Brodeur is Brodeur, but since the softies in the Tampa series last year, I’ve noticed more bad angle and soft goals coming this year as he ages.

Washington over Philly in 7. Mostly just to go against Blue and T-Bone, but there is something magical about the Caps this year. What impressed my down the final 4 games is the guys like Bruce Laich putting in some big goals. Washington was scoring 4 goals a night, but only one by Ovechkin. I think his supporting cast might be a bit better than others give credit for and simply shutting Ovey down might not be enough. Look for the meathead Phlyers to rack up the penalty minutes and Green putting in a ton of Power play goals from the point.

Detroit over Nashville in 5. I’ll allow Nashville to pull out an O/T win at home, but basically be outclassed all series. Look for Tootoo to get 2 or 3 dumb penalties a game, followed by Lidstrom to Zetterberg to Datsyuk tic-tac-toe goals.

San Jose over Calgary in 6. I really like Calgary, but Thornton and Nabokov seem like they’re on a mission this year. Cheechoo and Marleau have been terrible all year, but Marleau is very hot of late and San Jose had a string of 21 straight games without a regulation loss despite the aforementioned being so terrible. This should be the best series of the first round, but I just don’t see Tanguay, Langkow, a hurt Conroy and wonkey knee Nolan enough to support Iginla.

Anaheim over Dallas in 6. Yes, I agree with the low scoring snore-fest prediction, but should be some good hitting in this one. Anaheim just too good on the blueline for Dallas. I’ll enjoy seeing Pronger and Getzlaf dole out the punishment to Ribiero.

Finally, Colorado over Minnesota in 6. Minnesota is a good team, but despite a great goalie in Backstrom, I just don’t see the supporting cast behind Gaborik. Bouchard, Demitra, Rolston? I just don’t buy it yet. Sure Colorado is old, but even if the Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk line falters, they can still come back with Stastny, Wolski, Brunette and I also think Smyth is due after being so terrible the past month. Theodore has actually been quite solid this year.

Bank it!!!!

Capper

He’s quickly figured out that the island has power since he can walk again- twice now- he was in a wheelchair when he arrived and was shot and lost the use of his legs until the kid showed up.

- Said is working for Ben - assassinating supposed enemy agents on his behalf.
- Kate’s baby - we might assume - is really Claire’s infant, except several years older. Is he also one of the “flight 815 six”, although that inference was not given. Or is Kate really prego and named thechild after Erin? That might assume that there is a need for both Kate and Sun to get the hell of the island before their respective children are born. We can then assume in that case Sun will also be one of the “survivors”, although we haven’t seen her yet.

The time travel theory leads to another interesting issue. If time on the island occurs at a slower rate, as we have seen from this week and previous episodes, then we have to assume that people age at a slower rate, and could conceivably live for a very long time, in our frame of reference. This is clearly why people are so interested in the place and finding a way to penetrate through this time bubble and get inside. The real discovery, I suppose, is to be able to come and go from the island at particular times and figure out a way to reproduce the effect elsewhere.

So, if the big discovery is this apparent hole in time, then we might assume one of the side effects is a progressive mental breakdown on the part of those who are exposed to it. We’ve seen both Jack and Hurley go mental at some point in the future - and really saw it with Desmond - although his exposure may have been intensified by the blast from when they blew up the underground bunker.

The writers sure burn some midnight oil thinking this stuff up…

I’ve been waiting to get (at least the beginnings of) an explanation on the whole time-travel thing on which everything is based…

And it’s been obvious that Desmond plays an important role in that with
all of his “visions’ up until this point…..

Aaron Wakling

Why is this important? A house is the largest investment you will make and it is important that you protect the QUALITY of said construction. Mattamy sold a house to me without electrical power and the furnace was wired illegally (code) to the house next door. A Town of Oakville inspector passed this arrangement to allow the closure of said house. Not only a totally unsafe practice that put the children at risk in this house but, a non-ethical sale of the house. Having a building inspector might have prevented this from happening. That is why I recommend you hire a building inspector, have the right of access written into the contract and only deal with builders who will honour this arrangement.

Jason Rakowski