THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #293

July 17, 2005

Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287

Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account or FAX to (401) 277-9904. For Faxing, most of the time you have to call me to tell me it's coming so I can set up the FAX. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, USE my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com!!! Don't complain that my E-Mail keeps bouncing without forwarding the bounced message to that address. Then I can forward it to the ISP help to get it dealt with.

Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

I had a great trip to Barcelona, which is in CATALONIA, not Spain, and now am back. Unfortunately, too much traveling around and I won't make World DipCon in a few weeks. I hope everyone going has a great time. I didn't get the last issue out before I left, but now we should be on track for the rest of the summer. And as soon as this goes in the mail, I'll finish putting Diplomacy World #94 together and get that out. Tim Haffey has had some health problems, but he's doing better now. For those of you who get Diplomacy World postally, there was a miscommunication about mailing out #93, and David Partridge is just getting that out now too.

The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other foreign subbers(or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance.n play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!

Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: /

I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http:/evel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/

and TAP on the web is there at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

where the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.diplomacy.co.uk

Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :

http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.

Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.

The TAP mailing list has moved! It now is even BETTER protected than it was. I even have a bit of trouble posting to it. To post to this list, send your email to: tap of diplom.org. But this is completely moderated, it won't go out to the list unless I approve it. In general, I intend to keep traffic down to just the szine, as we've been doing.

General information about the mailing list is at: /mailman/listinfo/tap

You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you. A big, big thank you for Millis Miller for setting this all up!!

THE SEARCH FOR DEREK NELSON

I'm going to continue putting some Golden Agers in here to hunt for, working up to some REAL, REAL hard people to find culminating in the 300th issue person whom I already have in mind. Derek Nelson is the person who won the first postal game in Graustark. He's been missing for at least 25 years, I know in the records I can find that he attended the 1976 DipCon in Baltimore. I think it will be fun if we can find these Golden Agers. So, let's really find Derek, it's worth fifty bucks!!! You have until issue #295 at the fifty buck price.

Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Sylvain, Steve, Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Sylvain LaRose or John Smythe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.

Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.

This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.

INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS

The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.

E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com

Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.

We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.

We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) or by mail to send checks at: Map Collection, ERC Library, University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA.

WORLDMASTERS02 AND WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION

WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Finals are still ongoing.

See http://www.cat23.com/wm02/ for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in for 04, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again, I guess. See:

http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/

for details on that, the first round games are starting to wind down, I'll update this soon. It is helping now that I've joined the Yahoogroup WM04-Chat where this discussion is happening. You can join too! But most of the talk there has been about Yann Clouet and the French Hobby's new "World Palmares Evaluation" of FTF Diplomacy Play. Of course, Yann Clouet comes out #1, further backing up winning the John Koning award, and I am 1442nd (in a tie with Mark Nelson and Tony Dickinson, among others!). This uses lots of tournament results, more than 750 of them, and really is quite comprehensive. See those rankings at: http://www.18centres.com/SPIP3/article.php3?id_article=199

DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)

Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.

The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.

Stephen Agar has matched the Hasbro rule lists and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:

http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?xcc_gameandtoyinstructions

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy(OlderVers).PDF

Nice of them to make BOTH of these available. And all seven different US rulebooks for Diplomacy can now be found here courtesy of Stephen Agar (relatively new address for this):

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/diplomacy_rules.htm

Check out current and back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org

We are back on solid track, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We always need more articles, Issue #93 is out NOW!!! If you think you should have been on that list and weren't, let me or Dave Partridge know. Help us out, write an article for a future issue!

Upcoming Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:

Deadline Fall 2005, Issue #95: September 1, 2005

Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:

Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Lead-Editor, Demo Game GM, and Publisher

Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor

Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal

Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games

Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal

ATTENTION: There is a new company doing a new PC Diplomacy game:

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news.asp?ArticleID=239&Page=News

They ARE going to make it and release it this fall, but there are a number of concerns and opportunities that this is going to create. If anyone is interested, some of us have been in some informal contact with the game designers, but I really don't have the time to fully engage them. You all should read the interview in the Spring 2005 movement issue of the Diplomatic Pouch (and I mean ALL!!!!!!! of you!!!!!) that I think you can find at: /Zine/S2005M/

MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)

Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! We're beginning to gear up for a "best of 2004" section.

Mark D Lew (Fri, 1 Jul 2005 18:43:57 -0700)

A's are hot again. Who'd have thunk it. At the beginning of the season, several of us said that we'd finish the first half at about .500 and then make our run for the playoffs during the second half - the typical pattern for the A's over the past few years. Now, amazingly, it looks like we actually could finish the first half at .500. Half a season is 81 games. When we lost our 39th on June 17, it seemed impossible, but we've only lost one more since then, so it could still happen. Billy Beane says that the A's will be "both buyers and sellers" for the trade season, and I believe it. The usual dichotomy of contending vs rebuilding doesn't match the A's philosophy. Beane always works to stay competitive year after year, rather than the pattern of occasional years of greatness separated by long periods of hibernation.

I think Kotsay is more likely to go than not. He's a good player and we like him, but he fits the pattern. It's not that he's overvalued per se, it's that he's worth more to other teams than he is to us. If someone offers us something that's worth more to the team than Kotsay is, then we take it. Of all our outfielders, he's the only one who's good at CF (Charles Thomas isn't hitting well, and all the others are weak defensively), but we are a little overpopulated at outfield at the ML level, so it's a relatively easy void to fill. Losing Kotsay will only make us slightly less good right now, so if another trade makes an equal improvement in right-now competitiveness, it works out.

The other place I think we sell is at bullpen. Beane loaded up with bullpen talent during preseason, presumably because he thought bullpen was underpriced. Through our rash of injuries in May, you couldn't see it, but now that they're all coming back we've got more good bullpen arms than we need, so I could see him trading one. I'd guess Rincon as the most likely to go, since he's older and more valued by right-now-minded teams than our younger guys are.

By the way, the conventional wisdom, even nationally, is coming around to the view that the A's won big on the Mulder trade. That's earlier than expected, since it was a trade for the long term. The Hudson one hasn't looked so good so farl, but I think it will ultimately turn out looking like a good move, too.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Pete Gaughan (Sun, 03 Jul 2005 12:39:15 -0700)

I just got through telling Jason B to keep Mulder on his Stratomatic team. For a guy his age making a league change, he actually hasn't struggled as much as I expected; I think by the middle of next season he'll be back to his previous performance high point.

This spring, I correctly predicted every aspect of the NL West, and called the AL West and NL Central pretty well, but I didn't see the others so clearly. I thought the White Sox would be contending for the wild card, not blowing away their division; and I expected the Orioles and Rays to be .400 teams with Toronto being the weakest in the AL East. I though somebody would beat Atlanta this year, but I expected that to be the Mets or Marlins.

- Pete Gaughan, RaptorMage of astound.net

Mark D Lew (Sun, 3 Jul 2005 13:26:25 -0700)

I haven't actually followed Mulder much since he moved away. It seems entirely possible to me that it could have been a good move for both teams. A trade doesn't have to be a zero sum game. Given the A's resources and goals, I think both trades make sense for them even if, eg, Dan Meyer doesn't turn out to be as good as Hudson is.

For A's fans the big question about Mulder is why he had such an enormous slump at the end of last year? Could it be just a fluke? They never really identified a semi-injury or psychological issue that caused it, so you have to wonder: what was it, and is it something that could happen again?

The only division I called was the AL West, and I said the A's would squeak it out with about 85 games in a close race for a weak division. A month ago that looked extremely unlikely. Now it looks like it could happen if: (a) The A's play reasonably well for the rest of the season, (b) the Rangers decline a bit for the rest of the season, and (c) something happens to the Angels, possibly a key injury, that knocks them back in a big way. Right now I'd guess the odds of those at about 80% each for (a) and (b), and maybe about 30% for (c). So that adds up to about a 20% chance that I called it right.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((I still think that there's something about Mulder that we haven't seen yet, I don't follow every start, but it does not look to me like he's one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball any more, which is what he was before last season's season ending slump. Until I see it explained, I'd be a bit wary, though he surely is not anywhere near being a bum. I've been pretty much on track with most teams, except I thought Bonds would come back sooner and that the Giants and Padres would battle there (still could happen!), I missed the White Sox entirely, but in retrospect it is clearly Ozzie. A lot of very respected people thought he would be horrible! The main knock (as I understand it, this is not unique to me but what I was hearing) is that he would be "too aggressive", just as he was a horrid basestealer with terrible judgment when he was a player. BUT, with a filter between him and playing field, i.e. as a manager, he seems near perfect. The White Sox are aggressive in a good way. The good basestealers are brilliant. The fielding and baserunning in general are great. And he's handling the pitchers really well. They and Ozzie are there to stay. I predicted most of the other divisions pretty well, though I also missed the Nationals. Again, a great manager, Frank Robinson, is playing without the constraints previously upon him (the deathtrap that was Montreal). We'll see how things play out. If the Red Sox getting Schilling back rights the whole pitching ship by shifting everyone down a role (Ace on down), then the Red Sox will run away with the second half. If they can stop playing the Blue Jays.... they always have one eastern team that they just can't beat each season.))

Mark D Lew (Sat, 9 Jul 2005 16:49:49 -0700)

Jim-Bob,

Whoops, turns out I was wrong about Kotsay. If I had to call it one way or another, I'd have said he'd be gone. I figured the final straw would be the no-trade clause. Kotsay sounded determined to get one, and until now Billy Beane had never given a no-trade clause to anybody. Having the flexibility to trade is too much part of his business plan, so he doesn't like to give that away. That was the real reason we didn't re-sign Giambi. A few players (including Chavez) had gotten a list of a few specific teams they couldn't be traded to, but never an agreement not to trade him at all.

That's obviously what the negotiations with Kotsay's agent were about, since the money he was asking for wasn't excessive. The compromise they came up with is that Kotsay has a complete no-trade for 2006 (his second child is due in about three weeks) and a limited no-trade for 07 and 08.

I still say we've got to move an outfielder or two. Now I'd guess about 40% that either we don't get Jay Payton after all or we move him again shortly after getting him; about 25% that Byrnes is traded, and about 25% that we trade some other outfielder. The remaining 10% is that we actually hang on to them all, but if so that's probably only if someone gets hurt.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:04:33 -0700)

I'm trying to think of who else would appreciate this. Not sure if either of you will, but I can't think of anyone more likely. Totally cracked me up ((totally cracked me up enough as a Giants fan to print it.... and I presume enough of you saw this that you'll get it)):

Fly Ball to Right....

Starring Jason Ellison as Butthead and Alex Sanchez as Beavis.

Butthead: Uh, the ball is coming over here, or something.

Beavis: Ohhhh yeah. I'll be damned.

Butthead: Why don't you get up and catch it.

Beavis: No way Butthead, you do it.

Butthead: Fine bunghole, I'll do it.

(Butthead gets up to catch the ball. Just as he's about to catch it, Beavis runs into him and knocks him over)

Butthead: Dumbass, I was almost gonna catch it.

Beavis: No way asswipe! It's my ball!

Butthead: Goddammit Beavis, you are one dumb son of a bitch.

From somewhere at http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

P.S. Whoops, there it goes. While I was looking for the link to cite this, I stumbled upon the next trade story - Byrnes and Quintanilla to Colorado for Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick.

So after all the rumors, Byrnes finally moves. That makes room for Payton - sort of. He's still one of four outfielders filling three spots. Actually more like three filling two spots, since Kotsay is going to play almost every day. But I guess it's still better than being behind Manny, Johnny Damon, and Trot Nixon.

Witasick more or less fills the spot vacated by Bradford, so when all is said and done we swap one outfielder for another, one reliever for another, and a maybe infield prospect for a maybe veteran pitcher. For a while, Quintanilla was supposed to be one of our hot prospects, but in the past year or two he's plateaued and it's questionable whether he'll be mediocre or a AAAA type player. Anyway, he plays SS, and we've got Crosby there; then there was talk of moving him to 2B, but now that Ellis has recovered reasonably well and Scutaro continues to do better than he "should", we don't really have room there, so it made sense to move Quintanilla, since now is the right time to put him in the majors.

With Bradford and Byrnes gone, there are now only two current A's who were members of the 01 team: Zito and Chavez.

I expect that reaction from the hard-core fans in Oakland will be fairly supportive of moving Byrnes. Those who dislike him are glad to see him go. Those who do like him don't like the way he's been treated here and think he deserves to play full-time somewhere, which presumably he'll do in Colorado. (And he'll have more opportunities to play the Giants, against whom he has a freakishly successful record. Small sample size, no doubt, but still a fun fact.)

The fans were mostly negative about moving Bradford. He's well-liked, and I don't think many take into account that he might not be the same. If he stinks in Boston, everyone will come around. If he's good again, then they'll all complain.

Moving Quintanilla makes good sense. We don't need yet another guy rotting in AAA when he's ready to play in the bigs. Not sure what we'll do with Kennedy. There's been talk (acquiring Kennedy had been rumored before) that maybe Kennedy goes into the rotation and Saarloos goes to the bullpen. Saarloos has been surprisingly good as a starter - I think he's the best ERA on our staff, after Harden who after his injury doesn't have enough innings to qualify in the rankings - but there are indications that the management views him like they view Duchscherer, another guy they moved from starter to flexible long relief. Saarloos is a sinkerball pitcher who could be particular good at getting double-plays, something the A's used Bradford for (and Tam before that).

Saarloos is like Scutaro in that he's someone who was perceived as only an emergency backup who nevertheless managed to scrap his way into games. Last year he subbed for Hudson during Hudson's injury and did pretty well, but as soon as Hudson returned they sent him back down. This year at spring training, he wasn't expected to even make the team. Then he got the last bullpen spot. Then when Harden went down, he went into the rotation.

I'm babbling now. I know way too much about this team. Now I'm starting to build up some history of it even. I realized that when I mentioned Tam, who hasn't been around since, what, 2000? ((Oh no, I think Jeff Tam was last on the A's in 2002, at least that's what I remember, wasn't he in a relief tandem thing with Jim Mecir that year??))

Mark D Lew (Thu, 14 Jul 2005 21:46:06 -0700)

Awesome performance by Rich Harden in the first A's game of the second half, at home against Texas.

It was a perfect game through 7 1/3 innings. ESPN cut to live coverage of the game for the 8th inning. Blalock was out on one pitch, but then Soriano got a base hit - barely 20 seconds after ESPN cut in. The fans on Athletics Nation blamed ESPN for "jinxing" the perfect game. In the 9th inning he gave up a second hit (Dellucci).

Even without the no-hitter it was still amazing. Complete game two-hitter. Eight strike-outs, no walks. Total of 81 pitches, of which 61 were strikes. Lowest pitch count for a complete game in A's history since they started recording pitch counts (whenever that was...). Hudson and Mulder each had an 86.

And that's against TEXAS. Whatever other problems the Rangers may have, that's a damn good hitting lineup.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((I've always thought Harden can really be a true Ace and he's now starting to show it. I liked him better than the Big Three for some time now, especially with the eye to the long term.))

Pete Gaughan (Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:02:19 -0700)

Yeah, I was toggling between the Dodgers game (vs. Giants) and Harden in the 7th and 8th. His 8th was really amazing: one-pitch groundout to first, then three Texas Leaguers (the one that dropped just beyond the reach of 2B Ellis and two that he caught going out). Then he had a couple of called-third-strike Ks in the 9th where he looked even more unhittable than he had earlier. Sweet stuff even if you don't care either way about either team, which is pretty much where I am with the AL West these days.

Damn Giants are up 4-3 in the top of the 9th in L.A.

- Pete Gaughan, RaptorMage of astound.net

((The damn Giants are still mired in mediocrity, they're even approaching being out of it by my ten game winning streak standard. But I won't give up on them, San Diego is catchable.))

Mark D Lew (Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:07:25 -0700)

Boo, Giants!

The sweetest Harden AB was at the end of the seventh. He had gone 2-0 against Teixeira, which I think was his worst count so far in the game. Then he got called for an "automatic ball" because he touched his fingers to his mouth while he was still on the rubber, which made it 3-0. So then he comes back with a 99 mph fastball that goes right past Teixeira, then a 97 mph fastball that he fouls off, and then gets his to ground-out. It was brutal.

By the way, Harden actually threw only 80 pitches, not 81. The 81 includes the automatic ball, which evidently counts toward his official pitch count, even though he never actually threw it. The pitch count stat began in 1988.

Some really nice defense by Ellis, and Chavez's HR was a straight-arrow that some fans said was the fastest they'd ever seen a ball leave the park.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((Also, just being curious, it looks like a great series of classic small deals by Billy..... is Jay Payton going to be your regular right fielder? What do we need to know/be worried about about Chad Bradford.... ;-) ))
((Just saw the PS on the other message, I've been in Europe for the last week and a half and not reading E-Mail. I returned to watching the Red Sox implode last night against the Yankees. But it was an exciting game....))

Mark D Lew (Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:02:28 -0700)

((On Classic small deals:)) That's my feeling. None of this changes the team a whole lot, but it's marginal tweaking in a positive direction. Payton takes the place of Byrnes, and Witasick takes the place of Bradford. In both cases, there's enough uncertainty that it could be an upgrade or a downgrade, but the net probability is a slight plus. Those are a wash, and the money is roughly a wash, so what's left is we traded Quintanilla for Kennedy. Q is a minor-leaguer who may or may not become a regular major leaguer, but we've got no room for him. Kennedy is a fixer-upper project; the hope is that he could become something good, but if he doesn't, we get a little bit of relief pitching out of him now and then dump him.

((On Jay Payton as starting RF:)) No. Assuming that we don't flip him to another team, he'll be the fourth outfielder here, too. But he'll get a lot more playing time here than he did behind your trifecta. Kotsay will be almost-everyday at CF. Rookie Nick Swisher is the regular RF; Billy likes him to get lots of playing time, but he'll get occasional days off and he also subs at 1B sometimes. Kielty is our regular LF now, but he'll get days off, too. Payton will be the backup for all three spots and get rotated in for starts every now and then. Kielty is a switch-hitter, but he's far better vs LH than vs RH (as was Byrnes), so there'll be a bit of platooning and late-game pinch-hitting there. Also Payton is better defensively that Swisher or Kielty, so he could be a defensive replacement. (Swisher is actually quite good defensively at 1B, but we're overloaded in that position, so Swish is pushed out to RF where his defense is mediocre.)

We've also got flexibility with the DH spot, for as long as Durazo is away. Hatteberg has been DHing a lot now, as the new kid (Dan Johnson) is phased in as regular 1B. But sometimes the DH spot is used to get another outfielder in instead. About a week ago we even played Kendall as DH - first time in his career - in order to get Adam Melhuse a rare start, so that he doesn't forget how to catch. Hatteberg was potentially available as a backup catcher if needed, but it probably wasn't a coincidence that this happened on a day when the starting pitcher was Danny Haren, who is a pretty good hitter. If for some reason Melhuse had to be taken out, they might well have moved Kendall from DH to C and just let the pitcher hit.

((What's up with Bradford?)) The main thing to worry about is that he just came back from major back surgery. Sometimes guys come right back from that; sometimes they're not the same again. We don't really know how it will be with Bradford. That uncertainty was understood by both GMs and was discounted in the trade calculation. Also, although Bradford was still decent in 2004, he wasn't nearly as good as he was in 03 and 02, when he was arguably our best reliever, so it's possible he was already declining before his injury. It also might be that he became less effective as hitters around the league got used to his weird delivery, in which case his lengthy absence could be a plus. When he was at his best, Bradford was nasty against RH hitters, who had trouble seeing his stuff. LH hitters tended to do much better against him. He did, however, have the ability to go a few innings, which we liked to take advantage of, so that prevented him from becoming strictly a RH specialist. His odd delivery has the ball coming up toward the strike zone, almost like an underhand pitch. That means he gets a lot of groundballs. He was particularly good for getting double plays, and he was one of the best in the league at not giving up HRs. He does have a couple of other pitches, but mostly he relies on his fastball and good control to put it on the corners. Because of the angle of delivery, the hitter doesn't see it as quickly, so the fastball seems even faster than it is (especially for RH hitters). But the main thing is how the injury affected him.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:09:34 -0700)

Don't know if anyone cares at this point, but I got an update on Harden:

(The sweetest Harden AB was at the end of the seventh. He had gone 2-0 against Teixeira, which I think was his worst count so far in the game. Then he got called for an "automatic ball" because he touched his fingers to his mouth while he was still on the rubber, which made it 3-0. So then he comes back with a 99 mph fastball that goes right past Teixeira, then a 97 mph fastball that he fouls off, and then gets his to ground-out. It was brutal.)

I got these numbers wrong. The post-automatic ball pitches were 98 mph (strike looking), 99 mph (fouled off), and 90 mph (change-up! ground out). In the post-game interview, Harden mentioned the automatic ball and acknowledged it was a good call. He wasn't trying anything funny - just that he usually steps off the rubber for that but by chance this time he forgot.

He also mentioned the way that Texas deliberately stalled in the 7th inning, dragging out their pitching changes and an injury time out in hopes of messing with Harden. He said it as if he did believe the delaying was intentional, but he accepted it as a legitimate part of the game for which his proper response was simply to stay focused and loose and not let it get to him (which I think is exactly right).

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Fri, 15 Jul 2005 20:42:53 -0700)

Payton: Started today. I got busy and missed half the game. Just checked in now and it's 7-0 in the sixth. I guess we're whupping them again. Cool. Zito for us, Wasdin for them. I think Wasdin sucks, right? Zito is better than his record. He had one horrible game that drove his ERA way up, then a whole lot of no-run-support that drove his W-L down, but actually pitching very well.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((Here is Boston, Wasdin is known semi-affectionately as "Way Back Wasdin" after Sox broadcaster Jerry Trupiano's signature home run call.... "Way back, way back, way back, GONE!" You say "way back" kind of as one word like "weighBACK" and Wasdin gives up LOTS of homers.))

Pete Gaughan (Sat, 16 Jul 2005 08:12:08 -0700)

What the hell happened to the Bay Area teams over the break? Harden, Zito, and Lowry all look like Hall of Famers all of a sudden. Couldn't the Giants at least have waited until after the L.A. series?

- Pete Gaughan, RaptorMage of astound.net

THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION

"So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.

He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,

You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...

You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.

It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,

I'm all alone, I've got no choice."

From "Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.

If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at "burgess of world.std.com". If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.

I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.

Standby lists:

Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.

Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.

GAME OPENING INFORMATION

We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.

We have a new game start below. I am willing to open another new game if there is enough interest!!! Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it. We have Karl Schmit and Sean O'Donnell on the list, let's get seven!! It's FREE!!!

I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly or you can look at them at www.variantbank.org. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. I'll try to remember to punch in the rules in the next issue.

John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?

And since Colonia is over, Harold Reynolds is looking to start something else.

Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and we have an opening here: Bruce Edwards, Mike Barno, and Eoghan Barry are signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON! I'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... I've GOT to do this now, Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....

Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Sean O'Donnell, Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, the other Modern game is now done!

TAKING OVER ISHKIBIBBLE'S REGULAR DIPLOMACY GAMES

I'll be taking over Phil Reynolds' two regular Diplomacy games somewhere in TAP. One or both games might go to Harold Reynolds' subszine, since Colonia is over. I have Phil's last issue, #44, but that was published way back in December of 2003. I'm not sure if people have moved or whatever in that time, so a little help would be appreciated. And I hope everyone comes back, but I might need some standbys. I am STILL not hearing from too many of you!!! I'm going to start nagging so I can get these restarted. Please let me know if you care playing, thanks to Karl Schmit for responding each time that he's in....

Us and Them: Winter 1901 was published and it was early on, but I think I can find all the players. Hank Alme (Austria), Karl Schmit (England), John Power (Germany), Tim Snyder (Italy), and Fred Wiedemeyer (Russia) are all here already and Paul Boymel (Turkey) and Marc Ellinger (France) are locatable. Please let me know if you plan to continue!!!

We are the Champions: This one is even earlier, ONLY Spring 1901 had been published. But again, most of the players are around here, and I've located Paul Boymel (Italy) and Marc Ellinger (Turkey). Dave Partridge (Austria) is here of course, Graham Wilson (England) is just joining us, Fred Wiedemeyer (France) and Kevin Wilson (Germany) are here. Paul Risner probably is not going to be able to continue in the game.

You can find that last issue of Phil's szine at:

/Postal/Zines/ishkibibble/ishkibibble_44.pdf

SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1901 IS AUGUST 6TH, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1902 IS AUGUST 27TH, 2005

Fall 1901

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a SER S RUSSIAN f rum-bul(ec), a tri-BUD, f ALB-gre.

ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): a edi-NWY, f NTH C a edi-nwy, f NWG S a edi-nwy.

FRANCE (Tretick): a gas-SPA, f MID-mid (imp, h), a spa-POR.

GERMANY (Tallman): a kie-HOL, a ruh-BEL, f DEN-swe.

ITALY (Baker): a APU h, a nap-TUN, f ION C a nap-tun.

RUSSIA (Sundstrom): f rum-BUL(EC), a gal-RUM, a stp-FIN, f GOB-swe.

TURKEY (Biehl): a bul-gre (d ann), f con-AEG, a ank-CON.

Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg):

TRI,VIE,BUD,ser

(has 3, bld 1)

ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer):

EDI,LVP,LON,nwy

(has 3, bld 1)

FRANCE (Tretick):

PAR,MAR,BRE,spa,por

(has 3, bld 2)

GERMANY (Tallman):

KIE,BER,MUN,hol,den,bel

(has 3, bld 3)

ITALY (Baker):

ROM,NAP,VEN,tun

(has 3, bld 1)

RUSSIA (Sundstrom):

WAR,STP,SEV,MOS,bul,rum

(has 4, bld 2)

TURKEY (Biehl):

ANK,SMY,CON

(has 2, bld 1)

Neutral:

swe,gre

(Total=34)

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,

(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com

ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,

(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net

FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, , cell (540) 226-5771 (E-Mail)

berniebuddy32 of aol.com

GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)

terryt of whidbey.net

ITALY: Marvin Baker, 822 W. Garner Rd., Garner, NC 27529 (919) 772-7542,

marvinrb1 of bellsouth.net

RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,

(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com

Game Notes:

1) I think I had printed Buddy's phone number incorrectly. The number above is now correct I think, please check and let me know, Buddy.

Press:

(GERMANY to WORLD): I haven't heard from anyone, but I have been fighting a diabetes related infection so not really too spunky. The fact that I have not received my daily marching orders from Uncle Bernie would indicate he has sold my soul to Paul in return for first crack at Turkey.

(JIM-BOB to TERRY): I hope you're feeling better now.

(THE KAISER'S WAFFLE HOUSE): Cryptographic Section-All reports indicate that you have all been very boring which may all be for the very best.

(THE KAISER to THE TAIZAR): Duck.

(THE KAISER to THE DUCK): You out there? Watching?

(THE KAISER to DEBI PETERS): Where are you when I need you?

(BOOB to PETERS FANS): Marc is still kicking around in the Diplomacy World community and seems alive and well.

FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1905 IS AUGUST 6TH, 2005

Winter 1904

AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): rem a gre; has a VEN, a TRI, a BUD, a LVN, a UKR, a SER.

ENGLAND (Schmit): bld a edi, f lon; has a EDI, f LON, f MID, a BEL, f ENG, f SWE,

f NTH, a MOS.

FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): has f SPA(SC), a BRE, f GOL, a MAR, a GAS.

GERMANY (Sundstrom): bld f ber; has f BER, a KIE, a PRU, a MUN, f DEN.

ITALY (Williams): R f gre-ION, f gol-TYH, a mar-PIE; rem f wes;

has f ION, f TYH, a PIE.

RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): has a WAR.

TURKEY (Levinson): bld f smy; has f SMY, a BUL, f AEG, f BLA, a SEV, a RUM.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,

(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net

ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1509 O'Keefe Road, DePere, WI 54115, (920) 338-8402,

diplomacy of new.rr.com ($4)

FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,

(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)

GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org

RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com

TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,

levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)

Game Notes:

1) Note that Karl Schmit has a new phone number and address.

Press:

(SEAN-BOOB): Yes, I got married on May 21st of this year. I am also expecting a son due in August. Sorry been busy needless to say now huh?

(BOOB to SEAN): No kidding, you've been VERY busy.... and you're gonna get even more busy. Congratulations, and good luck, and all that!

(FRANCE to RUSSIA): Russia still sucks!

(SEAN-JEFF): I believe you asked me that already.

(FRANCE to ENGLAND): Moscow supporting Silesia to Warsaw was brilliant!

(FRANCE to AUSTRIA): Attacking the Russians was not!

(SEAN-KARL): Doesn't change the fact it is a fun map.

(FRANCE to ITALY): ((sung to the tune of the War song, not the Smashmouth song, at least I think that is the intent)) Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends??

(SEAN-BOOB): I brought it up due to Jeff's comments in the press. Oh, by the way, I've been eliminated =/

(FRANCE to ENGLAND 2): If I'm such a good player, why is it that I'm surrounded by two English fleets and one army?!?!

(RUSSIA-BOARD): I'm still here. How long is the question.

(BOOB to BOARD): Indeed, that is the question.

(FRANCE to ENGLAND 3): See France to Italy....

(CAPTAIN'S LOG): "I don't have a clue" and neither does anyone else, except the Romulans. First the Romulans, the Tribbles, and the Children of Tomari attack the Breen. Now the Breen failed to retaliate against a vulnerable Romulan Starbase and in their infinite wisdom they attack what's left of the Klingons. The Klingons re-took Kronos ((or Qo'noS in proper Klingon.... I do try to correct your Star Trek spelling wherever I can....)) with the help (of all people) the Romulans. As a result, the Breen have one less Starbase and one more enemy; the Klingons. The Children of Tomari helped the Tribbles take a Breen Starbase then failed to defend it as the Breen averted total disaster by taking it back. The Tribbles attacked us, putting themselves totally out of position to defend themselves against the Breen. As a result, the Breen were able to walk into one of the Tribbles' home worlds. We did retake Deep Space 6 from the Tribbles, but I played it safe by not attacking a Tribble Starbase near the Tribble solar system. They didn't defend it, and they did not attack Deep Space 5 like I thought they would. We could have walked into the Tribbles' undefended Starbase and that would have forced them to sue for peace. I screwed up and we may never recover because I played it safe. The thing is, it's not in my nature to play it safe. To make matters worse, the Romulans have now occupied 2/3 of the Ferengi neutral zone. They are in position to devastate our forces if they choose to. They are claiming that they are coming to our aid agains the Tribbles. We will find out very soon what their intentions are. I'm telling the locals to learn how to speak Romulan.

Conversation between Kirk (K) and Dr. McCoy (M):

(K): Any luck figuring a way to change us back into human form?

(M): Yes and I've made a discovery. Even though we have been changed into Ferengi, we still ahve a human DNA signature.

(K): Really!

(M): It gets better, when we were fighting the perpendicular universe Federation we took some prisoners that needed medical attention before we repatriated them back to the Federation. I still have their medical records. Our presence here didn't just turn us into Ferengi, it turned the perpendicular Ferengi into humans.

(K): They haven't given any indication that they are aware of it..

(M): They may not be. The Genesis device that brought us here had a temporal signature in its Genesis matrix (I have no idea what I'm talking about!!! ...) That signature may have gone back into time and changed their entire history into human, not just the present time.

(K): Can you, Spock, and 7 of 9 recreate that Genesis device to reverse the process?

(M): It's possible?....

I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1910 IS AUGUST 6TH, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1911 IS AUGUST 27TH, 2005

Fall 1910

AUSTRIA (Parker): f alb-ION, a VIE h, a tri-BUD, f ADR S f alb-ion, a PIE S GERMAN a bur-mar,

a BUL s f gre, a TUS S a pie, a ROM S a apu-nap, a SEV-arm, a apu-NAP,

a SER S a bul, a STP h, f GRE S f alb-ion.

ENGLAND (Kinney): a yor-LON, a edi h (uno; d r:cly,yor,otb), f cly-NAO, a lvp-wal (nsu).

FRANCE (Kent): a GAS-par, a wal-LVP, f eng-BRE, f TUN h.

GERMANY (Wilson): f NTH S f nwg-edi, a MUN h, f hol-BEL, a PIC-par,

a swe-NWY, a bur-MAR, f nwg-EDI, a bel-RUH.

ITALY (Barno): a nap-rom (d ann), f ion-gre (d r:eas,tyh,apu,otb).

TURKEY (Miller): f AEG S a con-bul, a ARM h, a CON-bul.

Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Parker):

TRI,BUD,VIE,ser,rum,nap,

(has 13, bld 1)

war,mos,stp,sev,ven,rom,bul,gre

ENGLAND (Kinney):

LON

(has 2 or 3, rem 1(r:otb) or rem 2)

FRANCE (Kent):

PAR,spa,por,BRE,tun,lvp

(has 4, bld 1, PLAYS ONE SHORT)

GERMANY (Wilson):

KIE,BER,hol,den,bel,MUN,swe,

(has 8, bld 2)

nwy,mar,edi

ITALY (Barno):

none

(out)

TURKEY (Miller):

ANK,SMY,CON

(has 3, even)

Neutral:

none

(Total=34)

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139

VernDip of aol.com is preferred

ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222

alberich of iglou.com

FRANCE: Douglas Kent - Unit F, #30694-177, Federal Correctional Institution McKean,

PO Box 8000, Bradford, PA 16701

GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,

ckevinw1 of cox.net

ITALY: Formerly was Heath Gardner, 1510 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27403-1207

metaphorman of gmail.com

ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883

mpbarno of lightlink.com

RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852

(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com

TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,

tim of webjudge.net

GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287

burgess of world.std.com

Game Notes:

1) The GA GA draw is rejected.

2) Thanks to Mike Barno for playing out the standby position!

Press:

(OVERHEARD IN LIVERPOOL): Doh!

SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1919 IS AUGUST 6TH, 2005

Summer 1919

ENGLAND (Brosius): has f LON, a GAS, f NAO, a KIE, f MID, f ENG, f HOL, f POR.

FRANCE (Sasseville): has f MAR, f SPA(SC), a MUN, a BUR.

GERMANY (Barno): has a CON.

RUSSIA (Parker): has a MOS, a LVN, a BER, f BAL, a STP, a PRU.

TURKEY (Linsey): has a ARM, a UKR, a WAR, f WES, a SEV, f GOL,

a SIL, a GAL, f NAF, f AEG, a TYO, f PIE, a BOH.

Addresses of the Participants

ENGLAND: Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492

eric.brosius of comcast.net

FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)

roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030

GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883

mpbarno of lightlink.com

RUSSIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139

VernDip of aol.com is preferred

TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106

GonzoHQ of aol.com

Game Notes:

1) The FREGT draw is rejected and then reproposed. We now require everyone to vote every season, no perpetual draw votes. And failure to vote would be a yes. So actually technically you don't HAVE to vote, since this does NOT mean the game will just be ended by the GM, it just means someone must veto the draw every turn. So it is just draw vetoers who must vote. At least one person continues to veto the proposal.

Press:

FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules

THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 17 IS AUGUST 6TH, 2005

Turn 16

Finished:

Pebble(20), Homer(16)

-F-I-N-A-L- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-

120 (replenish with a 3)

Spades

119 (no replenishment)

Empty

118 (replenish with a 3)

Clay, El Vez

117 (replenish with a 5)

Carl Sagan, James

116 (replenish with a 7)

Sand, Paige

115 (replenish with a 9)

Hearts, Geri Lee Lewis, Johnny Peso

114 (replenish with a 12)

Marge

113 (replenish with a 13)

Franklin

112 (replenish with a 14)

Wade, Diamonds

111 (no replenishment)

Empty

110 (replenish with a 3)

Frederick, Clubs, Edmond

109 (replenish with a 6)

Lisa

108 (no replenishment)

Empty

107 (no replenishment)

Empty

106 (no replenishment)

Empty

105 (no replenishment)

Empty

104 (no replenishment)

Empty

103 (no replenishment)

Empty

102 (no replenishment)

Empty

101 (no replenishment)

Empty

100 (no replenishment)

Empty

99 (no replenishment)

Empty

98 (no replenishment)

Empty

97 (no replenishment)

Empty

96 (no replenishment)

Empty

95 (no replenishment)

Empty

94 (no replenishment)

Empty

93 (no replenishment)

Empty

92 (no replenishment)

Empty

91 (no replenishment)

Empty

90 (no replenishment)

Empty

89 (no replenishment)

Empty

88 (no replenishment)

Empty

87 (no replenishment)

Empty

86 (no replenishment)

Empty

85 (no replenishment)

Empty

84 (no replenishment)

Empty

83 (no replenishment)

Empty

82 (replenish with a 3)

Bart quits and is too sulking to replenish, Zedd

81 (no replenishment)

Empty

-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-

80 (no replenishment)

Empty

79 (replenish with a 3)

Empty

78 (no replenishment)

Empty

77 (replenish with a 3)

Omega

76 (replenish with a 4)

Silt

Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards

TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (55 points)

Team Name: Team Springfield

A: Homer Simpson

Finished

B: Marge Simpson

(3) 3 3 12

C: Bart Simpson

Sulks

D: Lisa Simpson

(4) 3 5 6

Total Replenishments: 22+63+46+13+15+29+21+17+25+17+18+33+32+10+13+18 = 402

TEAM 2 (Bruce Edwards): kactusjak of ntlworld.com (2 points)

Team Name: Last Again

A: Zedd

(3) 3 3 3

B: Omega

(4) 3 3 3

C: Paige

(13) 5 10 7

D: James

(16) 3 6 5

Total Replenishments: 16+37+29+25+12+13+26+24+21+18+16+15+30+23+32+18 = 355

TEAM 3 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (21 points)

Team Name: The Soils; Manager: Boulder

A: Clay

(7) 3 5 3

B: Silt

(4) 4 4 4

C: Sand

(10) 3 3 7

D: Pebble

Finished

Total Replenishments: 17+62+63+25+12+13+12+29+27+21+17+31+15+15+13+14 = 386

TEAM 4 (Dennis Menear): dmenear of wirefire.com (9 points)

Team Name: The Firm

A: Edmond

(5) 3 3 3 3

B: Franklin

(10) 4 4 13

C: Frederick

(4) 4 3 3

D: Wade

(8) 3 3 14

Total Replenishments: 12+28+32+35+38+25+24+17+29+21+15+26+21+35+26+33 = 417

TEAM 5 (David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (24 points)

Team Name: It's In The Cards; Manager: The Joker

A: Spades

(7) 3 3 3 3

B: Hearts

(6) 2 3 9

C: Diamonds

(8) 5 6 14

D: Clubs

(5) 3 3 3

Total Replenishments: 17+55+51+25+30+24+26+20+34+15+15+25+18+20+22+29 = 426

TEAM 6 (Karl Schmit): diplomacy of new.rr.com (3 points)

Team Name: 25 Dollar Quartet

A: Carl Sagan

(15) 3 9 13 5

B: El Vez

(15) 13 10 3

C: Geri Lee Lewis

(13) 9 9 9

D: Johnny Peso

(13) 1 8 9

Total Replenishments: 12+37+22+44+16+27+28+27+32+39+33+20+24+39+49+26 = 475

Game Notes:

1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Press is VERY welcome!!!

2) Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. We can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure (note that Rick still is now well ahead of this pace and is set to win easily). It looks like we end for sure next time, send me orders or comments if you want to.

Press:

(SPRINGFIELD): The guys from Moe's tavern are waiting at the finish line. Barney just belched.

(RICK to JIM-BOB): As for the C's...do you like the draft? This kid Green is apparently a possible phenom. We'll see...I remember Joe Johnson, Chauncey Billups,...wait, they both had great careers after leaving the C's. Maybe Jefferson and Green can do the same while staying in Boston.

(JIM-BOB to RICK): I also like picking up Ryan Gomes with the C's second round pick, he'll make the regular rotation before Green, the first round pick will. Gomes gets LOTS of playing time if they don't sign Antoine, which is assured unless Antoine takes a HUGE paycut.

Personal Note to You:

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.30.
On 22 Jul 2005, 18:12.