Tuesday April Baseball
- Royals v. White Sox
- Brewers v. Giants
- Rays v. Red Sox
- Tigers v. Blue Jays
- Mariners v. Twins
almost 3 years ago
NickFantana
423 comments
0 recs |
Comments
Yeah, Chicago broadcast. Sorry. I am way, way ahead of you apparently.
Alex Gordon is going to hit the crap out of a ball.
None. I’m watchin the KC feed and it looks good.
Speaking of which, kudos to mlb.tv letting us have this choice. There’s no way I’m spending an hour or so watching baseball right now if I have to listen to the Hawk Squawk
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah but I’m not sure it did anything. I don’t have a great connection here (I’m in Buenos Aires for a bit) so I’m keeping my expectations low.
Anyone else hear “they aren’t gonna challenge Coco Crisp”?
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Sitting around, watching baseball and just decimating this stack of unread books is making for a good spring break.
Except for the dentist this morning. Gross.
I like going to the dentist
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Which, you’d think, is an important quality for a TV announcer.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Thome has wheels.
Granted, I’m only keeping tack on ESPN Gamecast, but it’s hilarious to see him stop at 3rd on a single, and then fail to score on two flyballs.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
The announcers keep emphasizing it, too. “And Thome, with no speed, will hold”. I think I heard that same sentence now four times.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Ehh. I’m not that impressed.
But Beane’s combining of 5 starters under 25 with a team starting Chavez, Garciaparra, Giambi, and Cabrera was blowing my mind.
Really? Arredondo working the 7th does nothing for you? I think the Tribe is deeper, but it’s close.
I only watched the last inning and I saw Giambi, Holliday and Nomar batting. For some reason, that did strike me as odd. I hadn’t followed the offseason that carefully (like I knew that Holliday went to Oakland but I had forgotten about the other guys) and it was just weird for some reason.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Brick, does anyone actually watch CSN original content? Monsters in the Morning? That guy needs way more make up.
Hawk just called Guillen the most talented hitter on the Royals, easily.
Sigh. Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are both rolling their eyes.
That New York, New York ’shot is putting Ryan Adams in my head, and it took me 5 years to get it out of my head in the first place.
“Found myself a picture that would fit in the folds of my wallet and it stayed pretty good / still amazed I didn’t lose it on the roof of the place when I was drunk and I was thinkin of you”
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 2:57 PM EDT reply actions
I saw him twice with Oasis last winter, mostly by accident. He’s not as much fun to see since he got clean.
Yeah, I did like speedball-RA a lot better than sincere jammy singer-songwriter-RA. I’m glad he’s not going to be dead at 37, but I’m not listening to the music any more.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the last couple of albums have been pretty good-the alt country stuff has always been a strong suit, going back to whiskeytown.
At least he’s not putting out another LLORDNAKCOR or whatever.
If you treat Rock’n’Roll as an EP of 1974, Luminol, So Alive, and Does Anybody Want to Take Me Home, it’s passably rocking.
I guess I just enjoy his schtick more than his artistry.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I really like all those songs. The rest of the album-yeesh.
My friends saw him do a show in Asheville (his hometown) and all he did was talk about Andie MacDowell (from Asheville), recite lines from groundhog day, and cut himself on his guitar, leave stage, and return to do an hour long acoustic set.
I stayed up til 2 a.m. playing the title track on piano one night.
I had been drinking.
But yeah, he’s a much more reliable experience sober, just kind of boring.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Sweet sassy molassy does this site get a lot of comments now. I was in the archives for some reason last week. The original Intentional Over-reactions thread had like 30 comments.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:00 PM EDT reply actions
so am i wrong in thinking dewayne wise is the worst hitter on their team. I really like Gil Meche
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions
I just recently read an article hating on it; I think it was a pro n+1 piece.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, the McS quarterly and the website don’t have a lot in common and I think a lot of the hate is towards the web content. In terms of the content of n+1 the biannual and McSweeney’s quarterly, I have trouble believing that many people could really tell the difference if given samples.
Both are trying to raise a level of discourse but they both take themselves too seriously. McSweeney’s is worth the price of admission just for the way they publish it. I find it more interesting for how it looks than the content.
Getting the new stuff from Joyce Carol Oates, Roddy Doyle, etc isn’t a bad deal either.
In general, I don’t get the Eggers hate. He’s earnest and trying to do something. That’s hard to really hate on.
I mostly agree. I don’t understand why people love tearing things down so much.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions
There seems to be a lot of it in hipster-esque college towns, too.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, a substantial number of 18-25 year olds hate on the things and people that represent what they wish they were doing. So, instead of actually trying to do it, they just claim that everyone doing it is doing it terribly.
I do hate on McSweeney’s when it starts pushing a liberal agenda too hard. They did a publication called “Where will we invade next.” I don’t think a publishing house should really be going there.
I’ll add to that, it’s the Pitchfork effect. The way to get noticed is either to (a) correctly predict that something small will get huge, or (b) rip the establishment to shreds. So what do you do? Promote the hell out of some off-key tinkly acoustic crap with tap-dancers instead of drummers and call Sky Blue Sky “dad-rock.”
Same deal with writing. Worse, actually, because anybody can start a blog and get a hit counter; for bands, you actually have to face an audience of live people eventually.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
It sort of worries me that, with writing, it seems you have to say something really outrageous to get noticed. Like, hey newspaper, here’s a balanced, nuanced editorial, which you won’t print because you want people frothing at the mouth, Crossfire-style.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions
I mean, I really hate the Mike Jacobs signing. Add another OBP guy at first and these guys would really work any pitcher.
The worst part of the signing is that he is barely an upgrade at all from Ka’aihue. The Royals don’t understand how to spend the money they have. I hate them even though I usually like liking bad teams that are in the midwest.
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah I think the Royals had a pretty bad off-season though. I grew up a Cubs fan so I liked Farnsworth after he body slammed Paul Wilson and watched him bleed but he should be relegated to only minor league deals at this point. 2 years at 9 mil made me upset.
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah it’s not a great signing in an analytical sense. That said, Moore has a great, great track record with relievers at this point (HoRam, RaRam, Dotel) and with turning relievers into more assets. So, I just think with a GM who obviously comes from a scouting approach, you’ve got to take a wait and see.
I like that analysis a lot but its just too bad they signed him so early in the offseason because thats a lot of money for the Royals to throw at a reliever who may be effective. They just don’t have enough resources.
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions
No doubt, it wasn’t a great offseason. I’m just a little over the FanGraphs people destroying every signing that doesn’t make money using WARP1 stats. If it was that easy, they’d have GM jobs.
I agree, this has become an annoying trend in the SABR community. It’s as if to them, it’s all figured out now, nothing left to learn
Isn’t a big part of this just that the scouting part requires skills that (for the most part) SABR people don’t have?
That’s fair. But to me, part of what the stats movement has been about is demystifying baseball statistics.
The next thing that needs demystified is the scouting side so someone will need to make that process more available and transparent. That will only happen by through all of the resources you list.
I’m not convinced that the good FOs aren’t still that much further ahead on baseball statistics. Woolner hinted at that in his last chat.
I think that is absolutely true. But you’d agree there’s more work to do in explaining and understanding what scouts look at rather than trying to guess what proprietary metrics FO’s are using, right?
Yeah, probably. I think the real place where we’re totally ignorant is what great FOs do at the intersection of the two-the way DiamondView quantifies scouting data, for instance.
I really see it as an extrapolation problem on all sides. You watch a guy a couple of games, all you really know is what you saw those few games. You look at BIP data on 200 ABs, all you really know is what happened those 200 ABs. Obviously the projection, and making good decisions based on it, is the point, but I think context is really lacking in a lot of these discussions.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, I’m tired of people calling Dayton Moore or others like him “an idiot” or his decisions “idiotic” or whatever. As if Moore isn’t at least employing some people who understand all these stats at least as much as bloggers.
There’s a tendency to assume the other side is willfully ignorant as opposed to acknowledging that we are inherently ignorant. Major League FOs have more data-way more. Just for starters, they have tape of the games. From different angles and stuff!
by afh4 on Apr 7, 2009 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
The irritation culminated for me when we signed Wood, and people were using a FanGraphs article to explain why it was an “idiotic” signing
To be fair, there is a widespread anti-intellectual climate that permeates American society, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least bit if it had entrenched itself in some baseball quarters.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Thats true, sometimes I get into that flow a little too much but at least i understand the flaw in that. I trust fangraphs more than i trust joe morgan though.
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Can we please start calling Denard Span some sort of nickname that has to do with news, or politics, or something? D-SPAN, C-SPAN, etc.
News source?
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions
GFP: Don’t ask. Assert.
Me, for example, I’m going to call him Nards.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
You see what happened here, Andrew? By phrasing it as a question, you’ve gotten him nicknamed Menards. It’s a vicious circle.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m going to call him News Source. I came up with it probably.
by I'd give my legs for Wegz on Apr 7, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I get all my news from the Menards circular, so it’s six to a half-dozen to me.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions
10% off, of course. Man, I am out of practice.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Anyone see the story that Kumar from Harold & Kumar quit acting to work for the Prez in the White House?
Kal Penn? He’s Sulu in Star Trek: The College Years.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I have a friend who took a class of his at UPenn. I don’t remember what he taught but he was some sort of visiting professor.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions
So he just showed pictures of himself, basically?
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Kal Penn was on the Lecture Circuit.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions
I can’t remember who his agent was, though.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions
This thread makes me think we could just do a daily community thread and waste all day talking about ish.
Streak for the cash..you know you guys are as obsessed as I am.
I have decided I want to avoid picking baseball games, so I’m trying to choose between the 3 NBA games on there. Probably go with the Hawks.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I just think any individual baseball game is too much of a crapshoot to pick..maybe I’m nuts.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions
It would have to be a lot of cash. Streaking can get you registered as a sex offender in some states..
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Gotta think that’s a big missed opportunity for the Royals. Keep it close and some old White Sock will hit a home run late.
The floor of your house is just littered with AL relievers.
by NickFantana on Apr 7, 2009 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Sonic is one of those things that I constantly see ads for but have never seen in person. I don’t get it why they’re so prevalent if they’re not everywhere. It’s not like I see Jack-In-The-Box ads or anything.
The difference is that Sonic is national in scope, it’s just not heavily represented within particular markets. Jack-In-The-Box is regional. The latter doesn’t exist here at all; the former exists, it’s just 25 miles away.
I don’t get Sonic. Unless it’s really nice out (absolutely no wind, sunny), you have to eat in your car.
I can’t think of many things less appealing than eating fast food in my car.
Eating cold fast food. In your cold car. With the windows down.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Just like Alltell. Constant ads, not available in Philly. Kind of funny.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 7, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Altell is part of Verizon. Which makes no sense. Why not just make it Verizon then?
'Z' button abuser.
That’s only temporary. Final approval didn’t come until January, and they still have some customers to get rid of first as a merger condition.
But they keep running national Alltel adds, dumping on Verizon?
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 7, 2009 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Proof that I should drink less during fantasy drafts: I have an embarrassingly large number of the players in this game on one team or another.
I’m listening to Simmons’ latest podcast and he’s liking the tribe this year. I’m not sure that’s a good thing or a bad thing..
Maybe at the end of this thing, but during the middle of the podcast, he and Jack-O basically agreed that the Tribe are the third best team in the AL behind Boston and NY.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Yea he picked the Indians. I tend to ignore his prognostications, he only really is good with basketball
Yeah and he more or less admitted as much at the beginning of the podcast. He explained that he judges teams almost completely based on how scared he gets when their guys comes up (or in to the game, for pitchers). If a team doesn’t have lots of guys he’s scared of, they won’t be good.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I only listened to Part I, but they definitely went with Cleveland.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Incredibly off-topic, but I can’t get enough of this today.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:02 PM EDT reply actions
Yeah, I should say, incredibly off-topic and cartoonishly violent.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions
This is actually just a really, really drawn out Onion News Network joke.
Dinorun nearly got me fired last summer, but other than that I’m not a huge gamer. Just get way too addicted. The only winning move is not to play.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Wait til I call Phil “Andrew.” Blow your mind.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Dinorun and me had a brief affair after I saw you mention it.
Closerangegame tried to crash my comp. No thanks.
Yeah i’m waiting til I get home to try it, I just like the video, and the fact that they actually made the game.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I find the story of the invention of the “baby” carrot to be interesting. Basically run carrots through a green bean cutter, reduce waste and get people to spend more money. We eat a lot of them.
Josh Beckett is approaching least-favorite-player status for me.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Ellsbury strikes out. I think that guy’s going to go the Melky Cabrera career route, AKA “we wouldn’t trade this guy for Johan Santana and now he’s on the bench in favor of Brett F’ing Gardner.”
I remember when we first got a tv with PIP. I must’ve been like 11. Salespeople convinced my family (and America) that it was a useful feature.
For the most part, I can’t say it is.
You could also push “Guide” and it was do a scrolling 3 × 3 grid of screen shots of every channel, so you knew what was on. But once in Guide, you had to wait for it to get through all 120 channels or whatever. Took about 3 minutes.
I think it’s really good for sports. I like that on mlb.tv you can have it split the screen, not just have a PIP.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Well…I’ll be at tomorrow’s game, so if he does it again I might just inadvertently spill my beer on the nearest annoying Sox fan while “celebrating”
by APV on Apr 7, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions
I could actually go for a Neidermeyer power surge to start the season. Get the little runt pull happy.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
As a Bills fan, I just don’t believe in the ‘plug and play’ approach to QB. If you have an elite QB, I think that’s more or less priceless.
Isn’t he already a star? I mean, what else does a guy have to do?
In Buffalo, we can’t get a guy who can do any of the following:
A) Throw for 2,800 yards
B) Play in 10 games year to year
C) Inspire any confidence
The problem I have with the Bills and other teams is that they fall in love with these “game manager” types. Like when I hear Trent Edwards is a game manager, I immediately think he sucks and that the entire goal of the offense is for Edwards to hand the ball off to Beast Mode and not throw a pick
Someone ran the numbers and Buffalo through 8 games or something had only thrown like 3 times when they weren’t in shotgun.
So, if they weren’t in shotgun, they were running. Everyone knew it. It was inexcusable.
I LIKE TRENT EDWARDS!
There, I said it.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 7, 2009 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Considering that the Broncos pretty much had to trade him, I think they did quite well for themselves.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Right, of course. The big picture is ugly for Denver. Given what had happened before the trade actually went down, however, I was impressed they got that much for Cutler.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
I think I know next-to-nothing about the NFL.
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think you can answer the question till you see what Denver does with the picks. I’d think that Denver stands a better chance of winning deal, if only because they have a shot at 3 good players instead of 1. NFL injury attrition being what it is, the more talented guys the better – even if you don’t necessarily get the most talented guy.
by APV on Apr 7, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, can’t you answer it by valuing the picks? Isn’t a little hindsighty to wait until they pick a good or bad player?
Because, at that point you’re not faulting the trade, you’re faulting the draft process.
I’m sure they do a valuation of the picks. I just wonder whether that valuation is that meaningful given the huge variance in NFL performance (see Carter, Ki-Jana)
by APV on Apr 7, 2009 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Can’t argue with it..was a good play – caught ’em off guard.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Thank heavens the Tigers flipped Jurrjens. That guy had lifelong Indian killer written all over him.
by fleerdon on Apr 7, 2009 4:27 PM EDT reply actions
that works out well for my fantasy team. Dotel for me vs. Meche for my opponent.
Everything’s coming up Milhouse.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto Fausto
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions
For a while it was as if he was the best new GM in baseball, but yea it seems like people are coming around to realizing how mediocre to bad he is.
He’s not being federally investigated, so he’s at worst the second worst GM.
by afh4 on Apr 7, 2009 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Just think, we could have had Teahen!
No, not you. Your helmet!
by PatBordersHelmet on Apr 7, 2009 4:39 PM EDT reply actions
I’m playing some hoops tonight. Didn’t realize how good of a workout it is until I was a few years removed from college
I wish I could find a consistent good game. Only game I’ve gotten in recently involves a 6’6", 240 guy who in the top 10 in scoring all time at DePaul, so he does that annoying “cruise control, dominate ball, shoot threes until game is close then make 7 layups in a row” thing.
I got signed up for a league. Comp is decent, but I still find myself exhausted by the end of the game. It’s disappointing playing and only being a shell of my college skill level.
OK, I’m using the PIP for MLB.tv and it is definitely cool. Once they get the glitches ironed out, it’s going to be well worth the cash.
Beckett looks like he’s falling apart slightly
by jakesinger777 on Apr 7, 2009 4:47 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
MLB.tv already looks and works better
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 4:53 PM EDT reply actions
I would love to have some understanding of what is happening behind the scenes there. I’m sure its hectic but I think its interesting that every year, Opening Day sucks and then a week in, it’s near perfect.
Gameday tells me that JD Drew got an automatic ball for something. Are they timing Shields pitching a la Betancourt?
Wait, I’m blacked out from Milwaukee but not Minnesota?
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 4:59 PM EDT reply actions
Looks right, wonder why I got to watch Twins-M’s last night
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
And we don’t even have our own pro team; it’s a joke
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Just the two Chicago teams
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 7, 2009 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Baseball just needs to be more detailed about this. If you can get a team’s broadcasts locally, then they should be blacked-out on the package. But no local broadcast, no blackout. These broad territories are a lazy anachronism that pisses off fans and costs the league money. I expect we’ll see an overhaul.
That map wins the 2009 Arbitrary Award!
No, not you. Your helmet!
by PatBordersHelmet on Apr 7, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Do I need to keep hyping up Josh Johnson?
And what’s up with Bonifacio… do they ever make a bad trade?
Travis Hafner is overrated. Clarity is underrated. David Dellucci is David Dellucci.
Okay, everybody got a drink handy?
Do I dump Freddy Sanchez for Bonifacio at MI?
I have a feeling Sanchez is going to have a good year.
'Z' button abuser.
Are you the guy that screwed up taking him in my league—and immediately got a trade offer from me?
Travis Hafner is overrated. Clarity is underrated. David Dellucci is David Dellucci.
No idea what it’s called. It was promoted in a fanpost here and drafted at night on what I think was a Monday. Roto scoring.
Travis Hafner is overrated. Clarity is underrated. David Dellucci is David Dellucci.
Check his results after two games last year.
by JK in CBus on Apr 7, 2009 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
This A’s team is awesome in it’s weirdness. Every player hat appears for them I go “Wait. That guy?”
I’ll admit I’d never heard of 20-60% of their rotation up until this spring.
Travis Hafner is overrated. Clarity is underrated. David Dellucci is David Dellucci.
THAT WAS NOT A STRIKE. GOOD EYE LASTINGS
So 2009.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 8, 2009 2:17 PM EDT reply actions
Do we need a Wednesday afternoon baseball thread? I’m blacked out for the current Inept vs. Cheap matchup, but may try to catch some of the 3-ish starts.
Wednesday afternoon champions league soccer thread would work for me.
by jakesinger777 on Apr 8, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions


















