Fat Athletes With Wood - aka The Baseball 2014 Thread

[Guard Dog]

Well, the Rays have finally started playing consistent. Consistently bad. Ugh. Thankfully this road trip is over and they are back home tomorrow.

[Leferd]

We're a little more than a quarter of the way through the season and the Giants and A's lead the Majors in wins.

 

Evidently this is an even numbered year and so Los Gigantes should make the playoffs. Also hoping that the A's don't burn through their run allotment and use up their supply before the start of August. Otherwise I'm hoping Billy Beane did a simple Maths error, because regression towards the mean...

[Keyrock]

Well, the Rays have finally started playing consistent. Consistently bad. Ugh. Thankfully this road trip is over and they are back home tomorrow.

If it makes you feel better, the Sawx got thoroughly humiliated by the Tigers over the weekend.  But, whatever.  It's still very early in the season and nobody is running away with the AL East.

[Keyrock]

Best walkup song ever?

Quite possibly.  It's going to be very tough to top Careless Whisper.  Dat sax. 

Edited May 19, 2014 by Keyrock

[Guard Dog]

In a display of incompetence that is nearly Cub like the Rays pitching staff gave up only one hit against Oakland tonight... and LOST the DAMNED game 3-2. WTF? They had bases loaded with no outs and the middle of the order up in the 8th trailing by one... could not get a single run in. Poor hitting, shoddy defense, grrrr. The ERA of the staff is north of 5.00 and no relief in sight. The Team OBP is barely .300. WTF happened? This was supposed to be the best team they ever fielded. 

[Inyourprime]

 

Ryan Sandberg: "I got food poisoning at Citi Field".

 

Start at 4:14 of the video.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Inyourprime

[Leferd]

Tampa Bay just avoided a sweep by Oakland with two outs in the 13th, but it's about time for the rest of the baseball to realize that the A's are the best team in baseball and have been over the last 3 year span.

[Hurlshort]

The A's rarely get any attention, but at least they've got a great movie about their GM.

[Volourn]

"but it's about time for the rest of the baseball to realize that the A's are the best team in baseball and have been over the last 3 year span."

 

Must explain their 3 world series championships.

[Hurlshort]

"but it's about time for the rest of the baseball to realize that the A's are the best team in baseball and have been over the last 3 year span."

 

Must explain their 3 world series championships.

 

So are the Giants the best?  They have 2 in the last 4 years, and are looking to make it 3 in the last 5.

[Volourn]

they definitely have more of a case than oakland that is for sure

[Leferd]

Well if you want to count World Series trophies, the A's have won 9, third most behind the Yankees and Cardinals.

 

Counting wins over the last thre seasons, no team has won more than the A's. Unfortunately, Billy Beane famously said "My s***t doesn't work in the playoffs."

 

The A's are a small market franchise and are always at or very near the bottom of MLB's payroll list. This year, they are the highest they've ever been since Beane took over as GM, at 4th from the bottom. They can't afford to sign stars in their primes and are essentially a rag-tag team of garbage heap platoon hitters, young starting pitchers, and under valued middle relievers.

 

The A's are built to get into the playoffs, but don't have the top tier talent to carry them over to win the whole thing. Basically due to their payroll limitations, they are forced to roll the dice when they get to the playoffs and hope they get hot/lucky in October.

[Guard Dog]

Huge win in 15 innings over the Sawx last night. That's three in a row. Maybe the worm has turned. I'll be watching today with broom in hand.

[Keyrock]

Huge win in 15 innings over the Sawx last night. That's three in a row. Maybe the worm has turned. I'll be watching today with broom in hand.

I wouldn't call a win over the pathetic Sawx huge.  That's a team that wasn't playing well even when it was fully healthy, and is currently comprised of about 50% minor leaguers because their roster is decimated.  There are probably a good number of college teams that could beat the Sawx right now.

[kgambit]

Well if you want to count World Series trophies, the A's have won 9, third most behind the Yankees and Cardinals.

 

Counting wins over the last thre seasons, no team has won more than the A's. Unfortunately, Billy Beane famously said "My s***t doesn't work in the playoffs."

 

The A's are a small market franchise and are always at or very near the bottom of MLB's payroll list. This year, they are the highest they've ever been since Beane took over as GM, at 4th from the bottom. They can't afford to sign stars in their primes and are essentially a rag-tag team of garbage heap platoon hitters, young starting pitchers, and under valued middle relievers.

 

The A's are built to get into the playoffs, but don't have the top tier talent to carry them over to win the whole thing. Basically due to their payroll limitations, they are forced to roll the dice when they get to the playoffs and hope they get hot/lucky in October.

 

And five of those came when the team was still in Philadelphia. 

 

Judging by results, Beane is right.  The "let's get lucky" approach hasn't worked.  The A's last championship was in 1989 - several (8?) years before Billy Beane took over. 

[Guard Dog]

 

Huge win in 15 innings over the Sawx last night. That's three in a row. Maybe the worm has turned. I'll be watching today with broom in hand.

I wouldn't call a win over the pathetic Sawx huge.  That's a team that wasn't playing well even when it was fully healthy, and is currently comprised of about 50% minor leaguers because their roster is decimated.  There are probably a good number of college teams that could beat the Sawx right now.

 

Oh in itself it wasn't a big deal but the way the Rays have been struggling this three game sweep was just what the doctor ordered.

[ShadySands]

[Keyrock]

My rankings of worst 1st pitches of all time:

 

5) John Wall

4) Baba Booey

3) 50 Cent

2) Mayor Mark Mallory

 

And, STILL, the reigning and defending Heavyweight Worst First Pitch Champion of THE WORLD

 

 

1) Carly Rae Jepsen

Edited May 31, 2014 by Keyrock

[Leferd]

I'm biased but Joe Posnanski ain't. (Probably one of the best baseball and general sports writers in the business.

 

http://www.nbcsports.com/baseball/mlb/oakland-way

 

Excellent piece on Moneyball: The Next Generation.

 

In many ways, I dreaded that something like this would come out. If not for the fact that Farhan Zaidi's name will have increased exposure as a future GM candidate elsewhere (along with David Forst). Billy Beane is the big picture guy; the Steve Jobs, A-type personality who through cult of personality and smarts dictates his will on the organization, but relies on the uber/nerds and baseball guys to crunch all the numbers and execute it on the field.

[Volourn]

Yet, they won't win the championship.

[ManifestedISO]

Padres number one in the league in shutouts! I mean getting shutout! Yeah!

[Leferd]

https://vine.co/v/MjXhOiEgdBa

 

Fact: Yoenis Cespedes has a howitzer for a right arm. He has 8 outfield assists so far, leading the majors.

[Leferd]

Terrible news. RIP Tony Gwynn.

 

Incredible stat:

 

"Padres Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times in his career, more than any other pitcher; Gwynn batted .415, Maddux never struck him out."

[Keyrock]

R.I.P. Mr. Padre. 

[Leferd]

Yeah, this is really sad. He seemed to really have been one of the truly good guys. I especially remember when him and Ted Williams got together and talked shop during an All Star weekend, and after that discussion, Tony started to make a conscious decision to try to hit more home runs.