The last grill dropped off the recent posts lists so I’m rekindling it.
George Harrison Memorial Tree killed by beetles.
Really, I can’t top that. Unless it’s with a Venn Piegram.
That’s all I got. Grill joyously until the next one.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
you don’t want to piss off tree-killing beetles? don’t use papyrus allcaps!! EVER.
it’s really that simple.
Vinyl-lovers bait.
Colin’s Boston area record store roundup:
* Newbury Comics is kind of crappy — essentially no used vinyl and their prices for new vinyl are ridiculous. I used to hit up the Fresh Pond (Cambridge) location for discount cds, but that one closed and the Harvard Square location is pretty much worthless unless you are a 17 year old stoner who wants to buy blacklight posters. Lots of other locations that I haven’t visited.
* Weirdo Records (Central Square Cambridge) is a fantastic shop, deeply focused on experimental music, psych, etc. This place really knows their stuff, which means that you probably won’t find any absurd bargains, but prices are generally good and you will finds things here that you can’t find anywhere else.
* In Your Ear (Harvard Square) can be a fun place to do some digging. But you really have to dig, because they have a whole ton of crap. They have locations in Boston and Providence too, but I haven’t visited those.
* Deep Thoughts (Jamaica Plain) — I just visited once, on Record Store Day this year, but I want to go back. Small, nicely curated shop focused on punk, post-punk, experimental, etc. They also have some solid cheapo LPs and are involved with putting out some local music (possibly just bands affiliated with store owners/employees).
* Mystery Train Records (Gloucester) — Who knew that Gloucester had an astonishingly good record store? This is pretty much my ideal place to shop, all the way down to the stereotypical record store staff arguing about old sci-fi movies up by the register and playing garage rock on the house stereo. Tons of used LPs covering all genres. In my two trips, I’ve found New Order, Suburban Lawns, Slovenly, etc.
Some Harvard Square shops that I haven’t visited: Planet Records (looks uninspiring), Stereo Jack’s (ditto), Armageddon Shop (metal)
There used to be a Mystery Train in Harvard Square as well. Also Second Coming records (had to look this one up to remember the name), which had a huge selection of bootlegs, back when paying good money for some nth generation recording crappily copied to vinyl or cassette was still something that people did.
Harvard Square was the original Mystery Train. At one point they expanded all the way to five stores, but eventually shrunk back down to just the Gloucester location. I think that is one of the reason why they have such good stock.
Englishmajor, I’m sure you had a wonderful trip back to your homeland, but if you’d stayed just a few days longer you could have enjoyed the annual mayfly hatch!
I know! I’m not sure if mayflys in aggregate stink, like box elder bugs do. I bet they do.
Chase Headley -> Yankees
Thanks, and go As.
Every player they take is one fewer that the Angels can have.
Boy did the Padres wait too long to cash in on him.
Yangervis Solarte going to the Padres. Seems like they have picked up a couple of MIs recently. We like to trade with them sometimes too I think.
We couldn’t have traded them something better than Yangervis for Headley? Really?
To play him where?
Thanks, and go As.
2011
I forgot that he wasn’t a second baseman. I thought he was a second baseman for some reason. And you know what, we still should have gotten him and put him at second base I AM SO TIRED OF NICK PUNTO
Punto is just fine playing second base.
Not the position. The base.
Thanks, and go As.
That new stadium the Padres built sure has lead to a lot of success.
Here’s how to end an interview.
Flipped on the ol’ A’s Flagship this morning to find Huffie and Townie recounting hilarious stories about the times when they or their friends (or in Huff’s case him and his friend together!) had sex with fat women and were then ashamed of it. In Huff’s story, the bed broke, and in Townie’s, a sink broke. Huff was disgusted by the whole thing, but it helped him hit he says!
I’m not sure whether I am more offended by the misogyny or the lack of originality in thinking that “slump buster” stories are funny in 2014. All I know is that I can’t leave the radio on the station anymore after listening to a game because I don’t want my kids to accidentally hear this crap when I’m driving them to school. Next time one of you runs into Townie at the Coliseum, tell him he’s an embarrassment.
I had sex with a fat woman once. No furniture, appliances, or plumbing fixtures were broken. We had a good time, got breakfast in the morning, and stayed friends for awhile afterwards until she moved away.
HA! HA!
I’d be more ashamed of having sex with Aubrey Huff.
I know I feel shame about it to this day…Huff is a lousy lay.
At least you felt something. (throws wrench in to nearest closet)
Yeah that inch and half that Huff packs doesn’t tend to make much of an impact. You forget about it pretty quickly much like his playing career.
Personally, I’d feel very confused, since I’m not–so far as I know–sexually attracted to men.
Well, to be honest I’m really only attracted to myself.
Please. Everyone is attracted to the manly specimen that is Aubrey Huff. Just let it happen.
When you see the name Aubrey you think manly specimen.
You misspelled Daniel Craig as “Aubrey Huff.”
CT is in the FB lounge as of yesterday. Some ball-busting may be forth-coming.
no he’s not. he wrote pretending to hang out and disappeared as 74 comments went up. it’s his job. provoke, bail. provoke, bail.
don’t get me wrong. i love sports talk radio. it always reminds me to see what they’re playing on KALX…
I had to unfollow the lounge thing there. Wasn’t my bag.
It suddenly got a ton of new faces I’ve never seen or heard of and that’s gotten a little weird.
Who are you?
This.
What is the FB lounge?
AN lounge expats + a few FK, on hidden FB group.
Hmm…I thought Facebook was solely created to sell Amway products.
FK sports talk radio.
Here’s the thing though, it’s not all like that. You won’t hear that kind of garbage on KNBR.
Well not anymore since Damon Bruce is on 957 now
Thanks, and go As.
That show is consistently idiotic and misogynistic. Given that they canceled a show that was (IMO) actually fun (if not necessarily funny) and at times even thoughtful to put that crap on, it shows what their priorities are. And given that they’re a business, it’s depressing to think about their motivations for making a decision like that, i.e., that most people are hateful, idiotic, bigoted fools who like to have their insecurities validated by someone with a megaphone.
I was a bit disappointed to see that Slusser consents to be a guest on Damon Bruce’s show. I think she should just flat out refuse.
Yeah, doesn’t she know it’s not her sandbox?
I’ve spent more time in sand traps.
I remember listening to Townsend a couple of times when the original lounge started on AN. I thought he was a twit. I’m glad we got the lounge out of it though.
I feel like I remember AN loving him back in the day.
I remember MikeV specifically posting something in all caps about how he would drive his truck to AT&T and tailgate at the statue outside if the A’s made the postseason and the Giants didn’t in 2010, after CT mused aloud about the possibility.
Did I say that?
I mean it sounds like something I would have said.
Thanks, and go As.
I hope people don’t start looking back at things I said in 2010. I’ll just say this upfront I was drunk that entire year.
There were some lovers. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him in my life.
Wait. Last year I was riding in Kyli’s car to a bar to watch the game and I think his show was on. Can’t be 100% though.
He was popular with many but he wasn’t my cup of tea. To be fair I dislike almost all talk radio.
I think people were just so enthused about having a postgame call-in show after the empty post-Buan years that they were willing to overlook the fact that he was terrible. He also talked a good game about building a community of A’s fans, who had been treated badly for too long, etc. A whole bunch of crap that he immediately abandoned once he had gained enough juice to get a gig that didn’t require him to pretend to be interested in the A’s.
he came on strong pushing the grandeur of the A’s flagship on FM radio, and people responded positively to that with as much fervor as they responded negatively with to whoever used to take calls on the air before him. but then the flagship slowly catered more and more to SF listeners, scheduling shift happened, he was left seemingly holding the bag, and that made him look like (or revealed him as) just another mouth on the radio whose job is to say something, anything, to harvest your earstrokes.
I doubt it’s a fun job. Much of sports media know seems to be about being pissed off about something and having to pretend to be pissed off all the time has to get old.
oh, i don’t know… being the troll AND the banhammer sounds kinda fun for a day or two.
By day three however I’d probably be looking for another line of work.
By day four I’d probably be back on the bottle.
By day five I’ll likely be living on the streets.
By day six I’ll be naked and alone sleeping in a cardboard box by a Wendy’s.
By day seven I’ll start to believe I’m Wendy and will start to tell anybody who walks by my cardboard house.
A whole week and you never ended up in a van down by the river? Impressive.
I appreciate your more charitable narrative.
Cooler heads prevail on the A’s lease front.
Yeah, it was always in everyone’s best interests to get this done. Now comes the race to claim credit; cue press statements in 3…2…1…
Heh. Round 2 will be better. So many players, so many games to be played. And no one will know who’s genuinely serious or not. Who will stay, who will go.
So all the idle threats were idle, and all the pointless freaking out was pointless. What a surprise.
Well, to the extent this illustrated the fundamentally flawed structure of the JPA there may be some benefit down the road. And those who found it important to thwart political rivals from claiming immediate victory probably benefitted. But yeah, what you said.
I wouldn’t call it idle or pointless at all. There’s hyperbole in the threats, sure. But that doesn’t mean the threats weren’t real. Just unrealized. And as to the freaking out, not sure I’d agree that it wasn’t warrantless either, at least to an extent. A big part of the issue was a complete and utter lack of communication and that chaotic disorganization involved, hell still involved. And while this may be too small of a case to worry about specifically, it absolutely raises some major concerns that still need to be faced otherwise it’s going to continually repeat itself.
I get called pointless all the time. It’s hard to argue with the assessment.
What’s your sign?
I don’t know…probably a stop sign would be my guess. I was born in October.
I was born in October in a van down by the river. Three wise asses came by and said I was the chosen one and then they said “psych” which was odd because this was the 70’s and that term hadn’t been used yet.
I hadnt read this when I replied above. Interesting.
By day fifteen I’ll likely end up back where I started. Hopefully the van is still there.
Rebecca jumped in between the dots separating 3 and 2.
I’ll believe it when the lease is signed and in full effect.
It’s so hot.
My third nipple is pretty hot…thanks for noticing.
You ever have a friend tell you to watch a show that they love and then you watch it and it’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?
Yep. Most recently Veep, which I’ve already stated somewhere else on FK that I find it completely unfunny, or at least the first episode was. Also, anything Mrs. PDX’s aunt ever watches.
It was Ray Donovan for us. A friend said I had to watch it and my wife and I gave it a try. Some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen several Pauly Shore movies. My wife and I have been cracking each other up for days saying some of the awful dialogue from the show with the same terrible Boston accents that the actors use. At least we’ve gotten some laughs out of it.
Scandal.
OMFG. She’s supposed to be a bad-ass crisis resolver, but everything she touches turns to shit. And the fking cadence everyone uses to deliver lines drives me crazy. And the plots are 24-level stupid/implausible.
That seems to be one of those shows people either love or hate. I haven’t seen it but I think my wife watched a few episodes.
and it gets worse.
the last season i watched basically moved along a 13-year-old’s understanding that if you are fairly sure you are indignantly right about something, you don’t have to talk about it or discuss with anybody to see if there’s another point of view, just bite tongue, clench jaw, and roll eyes about how stupid the other person is, until they don’t get your body language and force you to blow up, which you do by over enunciating through your pout, and stomp out of the room looking indignant right and butthurt.
“And It Gets Worse” is going to be the title of my autobiography.
This pretty much sums up my experiences with Adam Sandler movies.
I’ll always love Happy Gilmore but I haven’t even bothered to watch his last several movies.
punch drunk love was good. not great.
The Wedding Singer is good.
That’s my second favorite Sandler movie although it may have something to do with the fact that I think Drew Barrymore is hot.
It’s by far my least favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie. I think of it as an interesting failure. I give Sandler props for trying it though.
Seems like every TV show that’s ever come highly recommended other than like Arrested Development or The Wire.
I think every pre-season NFL power poll I’ve read has the Raiders at #32. No where to go but I up I guess. While I don’t think they’ll be good I’d be surprised if they were the worst team in the league this year.
They won’t be the worst team in the league, but drawing the NFC West this year is going to absolutely kill their record.
Thanks, and go As.
You just never know with football. Every year a few teams rise up and a few teams fall apart. On paper you’d think the Raiders would go 0-4 or 1-3 against the NFC West but a few injuries or regression by certain players and strange things could happen.
I think 6 wins is the high end for the Raiders. I’m just hoping the games are more fun to watch this year.
Raiders will go 1-15, the win will be 56-3 vs. the 49ers.
If the Raiders go 1-15 I’m going to be tons of fun to be around this winter.
The post until the next post.
Melvin has been kidnapped!!
That wouldn’t have happened if he had a manly name like Aubrey.
Only playing one catcher? What madness is this?
1.5
that’s why I think it isn’t melvin.
Cubs DFA Darwin Barney … can’t be worse than what the A’s are trotting out at 2nd can he?
I don’t think so.
Great defense and can hit lefties decently. Would be a welcome Punto replacement.
He’s been a black hole of suck on offense this year just like the rest of our plethora of 2B.
I’d take him just to not have to see Sogard fail anymore.
Thanks, and go As.
If I read it right I think his OPS is the exact same or almost the exact same as Punto.
Part of me wants him just to be different, but thats what I said about G last year and I regretted that after like 2 games.
He’s got a good name at least
I think the Giants will sign him, if they can get a deal on purple dinosaur heads or stuffed Galapagos finches.
It looks like he’s the player . was supposed to be (bad bat, good glove), as opposed to the player . actually turned out to be (bad bat, mediocre glove). But “. with slightly better defense” is not really the big upgrade we’re all hoping for at 2B.
It would really benefit the A’s to make sure Punto’s 3 million option for next year doesn’t vest. I’ll take anyone who’s even only slightly better than him to make sure that doesn’t happen.
How close is he?
I believe it’s based on time spent on DL and not PAs. I’d rather root for his DFA than an injury.
Platoon him with Callaspo and DFA Sogard and Punto.
Punto is much more irritating to me, because we’ve actually seen him a lot. Sogard has under 200 PAs; and never mind, so does Punto, now that I check. Fuck, man, it just SEEMS like he’s out there every day, you know?
Whoa
See bottom left.
Motherf-
Probably knocked out the coke machine too
No Coke? Good thing the Rangers aren’t in town.
I’m sure this gets spun into the narrative of how terrible the Coliseum is.
Proper wariness of lightening strikes are why they built that impenetrable layer of pompousness into ATandT park in the first place
When do we finally get rid of FSU?
when oblique comes off the dl
This stint is a sham. I’m thinking about filing a grievance.
I’m just wondering when I’m going to get rid of that Aubrey smell. It smells like a combination of Old Spice and failure.
Pftt. Like you’ll ever be rid of me.
Eric? Eric Sogard? Is that really you?
Fuck
offer?
Thanks, and go As.
You?
Sure?
Thanks, and go As.
No.
Fine.
Thanks, and go As.
I’d break you.
nah.
Thanks, and go As.
Did she just mistake you for me?
Naw, you boys are all the same anyway.
Any port in a storm.
Thanks, and go As.
I want to be traded.
I want to be sedated.
Well, my life long dream has finally come true. Hollywood is making a Manimal movie.
Your lifelong dream was to run out onto the field during a baseball game, and you did it last year, remember?
Sadly, no I don’t remember. This life of sex, drugs, and Rock N’ Roll has taken it’s toll on me. Did I at least take my shirt off so my third nipple could get some love?
Would you rather go on a date with Courtney Love or a Mako shark?
what is the very best song… anybody’s ever told you never to play in their presence again?
(i have two.)
I have no answer for this one. Mainly due to the fact that I never listen to what other people are saying. What are your two songs?
oh you don’t have to listen to their misguided request. just be shocked as hell they made it in the first place.
tell it like it is, aaron neville. was trying to cheer up depressed girlfriend who was pissed at me because i had just bought my first computer ever and had neglected to pay attention to her for like 10 minutes in a row, backfired.
loomer, my bloody valentine. different girlfriend, 2am-ish, gets up to go to bathroom, i put on a sweet romantic record, by the time she gets back she’s like, “what IS this shit? turn it off, it’s SOO loud! NEVER play that near me A-GAIN!” a) she was supposed to be somewhat alternative and cool, and that record had been out for 15 years. and b) i was trying to keep it down for the roommates and the volume was below 1.
the second one did surprise me because she wasn’t a close-minded total fucking bitch at all. the first one…
I really can’t think of anyone who hated some music I was playing that much. I’ve dated women who had very different musical tastes than I do but they never gave me too much of a hard time for all the Phil Collins.
Well the “Phil 4 Life” forehead tattoo should be enough to set expectations for what they’re getting into
It also helped that they were all legally deaf.
Yep, it’s the main thing I look for in a woman.
slf doesn’t like Leonard Cohen or any sixties paisley punk. Calls it hippie music
*canadian* hippie music.
What about later-career Leonard Cohen?
She must not like songwriting; Leonard Cohen is inner-circle pantheon, right up with Dylan. Not sure anyone else even enters the conversation.
I would rather not listen to music than listen to Cohen and Dylan “sing”. Yes, I’m awful and I have no taste.
quick survey of the surveys says:
it’s ok to drop cohen down a few spots or even ignore him if you mention lou reed, bruce, or neil young. the de-synergists say john > paul. outsiders talk about townes van zandt and brian wilson. paul simon is the ubiquitous #2 (explaining his location when he wrote his most famous song).
i want to say elvis costello. it’s fun to say.
Lou Reed is the only other one I considered naming as inner circle. Neil Young, Tom Waits and Lennon and/or McCarthy next tier. And I was thinking (though didn’t say) the rock genre, so no Townes or Hank Sr.
i don’t know about this genre distinction. kinda splits dylan into 3 different songwriters, and leaves cohen more pop/folk than rock.
and now i’m thinking about chuck berry’s slowly unfolding storytelling.
Fagen/Becker are up there somewhere (even if some here refuse to acknowledge their genius).
I think you’re confusing FSU’s circles with Dante’s.
Yeah, I went through about five seconds worth of What.The.Fuck.andeux. on that one.
FSU I think we agree on music about as much as we do on the Raiders. I would rather be deaf than listen to a Lou Reed record.
print metal machine music.
It should be noted anytime I talk about music that I love Coldplay.
HA!
I ordered tickets for Phish in Las Vegas over Halloween weekend today, Bed. The last time they played Vegas on Halloween they played “Loaded”. The entire album. You’re welcome to join me.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Phish song. I hope you enjoy the show.
Phish does a thing at their Halloween shows where they do a “costume set,” with the second set a top-to-bottom cover of some other band’s album. I heard a tape of the show which covered the Talking Heads’ Remain In Light album, it was smoking hot.
It’s just one of those bands I never really knew much about. I know their name but that’s about it.
Here you go.
That’s my personal version of Heaven (Is a Place) meets Hell.
That one is great, as is Waiting for Columbus.
My Las Vegas trip for that fell through. I heard something from the Halloween second set yesterday and found a video; looks like a lot of fun.
I’ll accept Waits. Not Lennon, McCartney, or Lennon/McCartney. Again, as with Young and Reed, some very high highs, but a lot of lows, as well. Hank Sr. is important in terms of his influence, but I don’t feel like his lyric writing stacks up in any way to the greats or even the goods of pop music.
Ugh, no way. Reed and Young have some very high highs, but so much of their lyric writing is pretty bad, for very different reasons. Reed was prone to Jim Morrison-style bullshit fake poetry and Young was and remains prone to way-too-on-the-nose political protest music. I mean, “Southern Man” has to be recognized for what it represented at the time, and the rawness of the emotion in the recording is very powerful, but lyrically, it is just not special at all, and a lot of his writing is like that.
Springsteen…Nebraska’s amazing. Other than that, his best work is that album of Seeger covers he did.
Yeah, they’re great poets and great songwriters, but early- and mid-career Dylan is pretty tough on the ol’ ears, vocally. Even though I like some of the music in spite of that, I don’t enjoy his singing until his 1980s work. Cohen, on the other hand, just sounded very thin in his 1960s and early 1970s work. I don’t know if it was the production or just his actual voice, but I don’t dig his vocals in his early period. The earliest Cohen album that I can get super into and enjoy listening to is Death of a Ladies Man, from 1977. And for my money, his three best records are Various Positions, I’m Your Man, and The Future.
Also, John Darnielle absolutely HAS to be in the same conversation as Cohen and Dylan. I might even put him in ahead of Dylan but behind Cohen.
slow stuff makes her blood boil. Except for stuff like the this.
I like to think I put the B-E-D in ignorant.
The main difference between a lounge and a grill seems to be the lack of posts about Ed Asner in grills.
I see Reddick is back…finally, we’ll have a sub .230 hitter back in the lineup.
Let me introduce you to Nick Punto and Eric Sogard.
What the hell…the teams keeps on winning. I’m still not sure how but I’m enjoying it.
***SPONSORED CONTENT***
Hello friend. I’d like to talk to you about your next car purchase. If you want to drive smart, if you want to drive safe, you’ll drive a Datsun.
Hide yo kids, PDX
Pah! (With Spawn1 at Lego camp at Portland Jewish Academy and Spawn2 still in daycare there, we’re probably safe.)
hey, my wife is getting pushed around professionally by lawyers. she needs to fight back in kind. do you guys do bailment law? (and can you be mean?)
or know someone?
I don’t know what that means, but I can put you in touch with someone.
i’m not dead yet but you do estate sales.
oh what a sweet old man. let’s do him a favor and help him for 3 days till he finds the keys to his storage.
take my shit out of here and sell it. where’s my money?
we tried but it didn’t sell, you can take it back.
you stole something out of it.
we’re storing it for free, you mean.
i want an inventory.
we don’t work for you. it’s all there because nobody wants it. get it out of here.
my client wants you to pay for inventory and transpo, and arrange next storage or we’ll sue.
—
touch me with your someone!
So we got screwed in the “competitive balance” lottery again, eh?
asplain?
Thanks, and go As.
We got a pick after the second round, while the famously bereft Cardinals got one after the first round. Those picks can be traded, so a better one might have helped our search for a second basemen.
8th of 15 isn’t really screwed – that belongs to the he Pirates, Rays and Royals who came 13th-15th and didn’t get a pick at all.
Yes, please. And I don’t really care for whom.
right?
Larry Csonka would be fine.
I meant to follow the rules, but…squirrel!
Check out Mets-Mariners game…
Fun!
Let’s go Bartolo!
Gameday is showing CY25 as 0-3 with 5 Ks. I know that’s not possible, and yet…
I’m seeing 5 LOB
When you click on his name it moves the 5 to the K column.
I choose to believe what I believe to be true.
Bobby Abreu is in the major leagues!
The tough inning coming up.
Live streaming on mlb.com
Blacked out here :(
Never mind.
FKing Cano :(
what a jerk.
and a walk. i guess now they’ll never take a little part of king’s corner and name it colon’s appendix.
Now it’s colon’s scattered entrails…
i quit. colon isn’t impacting anything and i don’t give a shit about the teams.
The Mariners’ tv pxp guy is my least favorite by a lot. Completely unlistenable. He sounds like Michael Kay’s 11-year-old nephew.
Is that the excellently named Rick Rizzs?
Yep. As the only time I watch the A’s is when they play the Mariners, I do it with the sound off.
their in-stadium announcer doesn’t sound all that listenable either. though she keeps on talking and talking.
is she selling something between every pitch?
I still have yet to hear anybody more un-listenable than Rennel.
and i’m fairly sure the safeco people went, hey, let’s get someone juuuust like rennel!
Definitive proof that Angels have been assholes since at least 1977.
Well…I kinda miss that aspect of the 70s.
I remember when Fox On The Run was a big hit.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that every pro baseball team ever has had a guy with a scoring rubric like Tanana’s.
On a trip to Oakland earlier this year I spent a night at the Econo Lodge near the airport on Hegenberger. Which is a nondescript dumpy motel now, but in its heyday was the “Edgewater West Adult Motor Inn”, a haven for nudist swingers. You look out at the swimming pool and bar area in the interior courtyard and imagine the scene from the “Swingin’ A’s” era.
That page is chock full of Bed-bait too, what with the Datsun ad and the endlessly fascinating headline: “Tom Watson Has Lot Going”
Bed: He was made for the 70’s.
Some of the people named in that sports section:
Sal Bando
Don Nelson
Eddie Murray
Sparky Lyle
Cecil Cooper
Ray Nietschke
Wes Unseld
Frank Shorter
Tom Grieve
Joe Rudi
Johnny Bench
Mark Johnson (hockey player on the Miracle On Ice team)
Also, check out the ads for the ’77 Fords.
Possibly my favorite thing in the section:
Hmm, this is pretty good too:
Is that the one where Schwarzenegger talked about how lifting weights was like having an orgasm?
Yep.
Thanks, and go As.
Huh, Tanana got married in 1978, and they’re still married to this day. I guess he got it out of his system.
Or he’s very forgiving.
Or maybe she is.
Did Biz get Samardzija to beat box though.
ha! nice number.
Some interesting points here. Steps are occasionally taken to balance things out, as Olbermann notes. I do think there’s something to be said about defensive shifts becoming too much the norm now, but I’m not sure how reasonable it is to say “You can’t move your infielders there!” even though it’s known the hitter hits to that side 80% of the time. What’s wrong with more hitters going the opposite way or bunting to beat the shift? At this point I don’t know what should be done, if anything.
And as I actually watch alllll the way to the end, Olbermann basically says what I did.
Cant watch it here at work, but I know the arguement I hear most often is that the hitters who are shifted on shouldnt be trying to do those things. It is better in the long run for them to not try a bunch of bunt singles because they will still end up with more doubles and HRs. Would you want Moss spending his time bunting to get on, etc.
Now I think what could/would happen is that eventually the increase in shifts causes kids and their coaches to teach to use the whole field more, and that at an undetermined point in the future we see move waves of young players who maybe dont have all the pull power, but aremuch more comfortable hitting to all parts of the field. But for now trying to go and tear apart a person who has spent the last 20 years learning to pull pull pull is more harm than good.
I absolutely want Moss bunting more. 80% chance of a hit vs his typically 35% chance of getting on base. And that’s without the benefit of them having to shift back eventually. I would have Barry Bonds bunt if he could do it consistently.
This. I’m surprised more haven’t responded by doing this. If he can learn to bunt the low and away pitches that seem to be his nemesis, it would definitely improve things.
His odds would presumably be significantly lower than 80% if he’s waiting until post-pitch recognition to try to bunt. I don’t think that’s a feasible solution.
Even if it’s enough to get teams to stop shifting on him all the time, I can see the benefit to it. Then a regular defense will lead to more chances of pulling a base hit through the normal gaps instead of to the 2B playing in shallow RF. He might lose a few doubles and homers over time, but how many bunts should it take to get a defense to play you more straight up again?
This is the point that persuades me.
I would love to see someone actually try to do this consistently enough to force the defense to go back to a normal alignment. I’m not aware of anyone sticking with it beyond the rare bunt, though. There aren’t even many who go to the opposite field, simply because they’re just not that good at it.
Hence, the shift.
Wasn’t Bonds a pretty good bunter back in his leadoff-hitter period?
If it were really 80% I would certainly want him doing it a lot more, but I don’t think it is anything close to that. Even players who practice bunting a lot, like NL pitchers and scrappy middle infielders, don’t get their bunts down where they want them 80% of the times. Some will be popped up, some will go right to the pitcher, and some will be fouled off putting him behind in the count. Also, even with a mostly vacant left side, there is some value in surprising the opponents when you do try to bunt for a hit.
I think it’d be worth it to try twice a week.
Against lefties for sure. Bad fielding righties.
He would realy have to push it up the third base line. Foul is OK, on the grass there is OK. has to be strong having enough energy to get past the mound. and cannot be more than 4 feet from the line.
If it fails everytime (out), stop. If he is successful, try it with one strike every so often.
I had to laugh at the Adrian Gonzalez clip. Bunt foul, then home run on the next pitch.
What Johnny Damon did that one time was genius, too. Just keep going after swiping second because nobody’s anywhere close to third.
I want to see coco or gentry do that
Wow, that Boudreau shift though.
Our long national nightmare is finally over.
It happened.
Who’s the dad?
Mariners get Kendrys. For Pryor.
comment of the day on the hardball talk post about it:
Steve Kettmann and I have been exchanging e-mails leading up to him sharing the Korach videos I took at the get-together we had last month, and he posted one of them on the Holy Toledo Facebook group. For those of you who don’t have Facebook or don’t know of the group, here’s the text:
“Who is Ken’s favorite player ever? Care to guess? Watch this video, courtesy of James Venes (thanks, James) from a recent book party Ken held for “Holy Toledo.” Ken also talks about Ray Fosse and how he’s much more than an ex-player, he’s an ex-player who has become an accomplished broadcaster.”
And, the video. It’s part 4, and I expect the others will be shared sooner rather than later. I’ve kept them unlisted (this one is now public) just out of courtesy to Ken and Steve in case they wanted to make any decisions on the time and place to start sharing them.
Like I wrote in the video summary, my bad on speaking over Ken during the manager question. He said “No comment” amid the laughter.
According to 538, Beane is worth hundreds of millions of dollars
(note: I think the analysis has some fundamental flaws, but is still interesting)
Here’s the money plot:
The obvious flaw in the “hundreds of millions” claim: Beane might be really good at building teams that exceed expectations for low payroll, but can he (or anyone) build a team that exceeds the expectations of a high payroll?
And, of course, how much of that goodness is attributable to (1) successful draft picks he had no role in; (2) other transactions he had no role in? And you have to look at full talent costs (intl/draft/etc).
Well and is the goal of a GM to have a successful winning %. Especially as payroll goes up I would think rings count more wether it is a crap shoot or not.
Maybe the second peak shows the real money is in Farhan Zaidi.
“here’s the money plot”
heh
Shamelessly stolen from the Scout board:
is 14 pro rated?
and lol
Puke alert, as the campaign to make Jeter the first unanimous HOF inductee gets underway.
Hell no. No where near deserving. If Rickey wasn’t Jeter sure as shit isn’t.
While I think that not being unanimous on players that are no doubt hall of famers is the stupids, Jeter is not the poster boy for that.
Maddox? Tom seaver? Steve Carlton?
and of course, Rickey.
Well sure. BUT, if no one has, Jeter is by no means more a no doubt HOFer than many before him who weren’t unanimous. He’s not an exception.
Exactly.
Is he a HOF player? Yes, and he’s gonna be on the first ballot because Yankees.
Is he one of the inner circle greatest players in the history of the game? No.
Thanks, and go As.
I think we are all agreeing with each other.
No we’re not. We’re agreeing with me which just so happens to be with you & him as well.
I can think of a number of players I’d choose over him. Hell, he wouldn’t even crack my top 100.
But he’s a gentleman’s gentleman, dmoas.
not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Fixed.
He is?
He’s not not white.
Yeah – a misleading comment on that kind of proxy language rather than on Jeter specifically (especially since, as you point out, he isn’t).
I don’t know, but he seems to have made it a point not to identify as anything. NOt that he needs to, but, I think most of these writers think of him as white.
never thought of it before. what are his roots?
Father black, mother white. Both saintly avatars of perfection, I would assume.
US military.
I guess if Immaculate Conception were involved, he could be white after all.
(Or if Dave Concepcion were involved, he could be Hispanic.)
Let’s just go ahead and start this Dave Concepcion rumor right now.
huh.
well, they look like nice people in the pics.
He has a human father? It wasnt a virgin birth?? I care to disagree.
It would be interesting to see how his career and media coverage differed in the parallel universe in which he was significantly darker.
The universe where he has the last name Rodriguez (or Jackson) and A-Rod has a more generic last name and is whiter. Then Jeter refusing to move off of SS is seen totally different.
#humanstain
time to strategize. should we include mention in our kickstarter campaign that we’re looking for a writer to sell us his or her vote hoping they volunteer, or do we just gather money until we know whose shoulder we can afford to tap?
This is a FKing weird column anyway.
WTF. He left Rickey off that list. Man this guy is a hack writer.
Awkward story. Damon seems off in his own world.
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/86025432/johnny-damon-baseball-red-sox-yankees-idiot-in-exile#!bluDks
down the googlehole.
Who is this person that spent a lot of time as a player’s girlfriend, hates the Red Sox, and is also WAY into Flash comic books?
so where is it players are going out to? what restaurants and clubs? prolly SF i guess…
We bought a guy named Deck.
McGuire
McGuire
McGuire
McGuire
McGuire
McGuire
McGuire
Perfect.
I really wanted to draft him… I turned out to be rather wrong on that… but I have high hopes of being able to fix him
Any time you can get a first round draft pick for cash considerations, that seems like a win to me.
I guess that’s why we signed Tim Alderson too.
Looks like he can strike guys out decently well. If he can get a handle on those home runs and maybe get the walks down, he could be solid.
Really at this point there is no reason to ever think Billy is picking up a pitcher as “organizational filler”. I assume he could pick up Walter “Boom Boom” Beck today and he could go 7 giving up 2 ER on 6 hits, striking out 3 and walking 2.
Ouch:
What really hurts is that EVERYONE knew this the day the contract was signed.
Everyone but Ruben Amaro and Jon Heyman #shame
a lot of Phan’s on HBT defended Howard for a longer than they should have because RsBI. I don’t know they defended the contract, but they thought he was better than Votto.
About the same as we all knew the Jim Johnson deal was bad when the A’s made it. Fortunately it was just one year.
A much smaller scale version of “I expected bad sure, but not THAT bad” thankfully
I didn’t know. I thought he would be a good, if overpaid, middle reliever/ground ball specialist.
I expected a thoroughly unspectacular but fairly reliable closer who is making far more money than he’s worth. So a bad deal, but still one with some production value
This is where I was. I thought at worst he would be demoted to 8th inning after cook or doolittle became the closer.
I was fine getting him for free. (interesting how Schoop and now paredes are in front of weeks in BAL)
In the best world he would do his smoke and mirror 20 saves by the deadline and get flipped for something better
I thought we were getting a middle reliever for 10 million, not the worst pitcher in baseball.
I’m not sure where I said it by now, but I was pretty much ‘do not want’ over getting Johnson.
nb nm: For his career as a whole, overpaid by “only” about $30-$40 M so far ($130 M for 18-20 WAR), but with $60 M still due could actually be the 9 figures you suggested the other day by the end of his contract.
Particularly if his going-forward WAR is negative.
But I’m shocked it’s that low.
Daric Barton since the Howard extension kicked in: 0.5 bWAR
Ryan Howard since the Howard extension kicked in: -0.8 bWAR
OK, enough already:
How is that supposed to be representing the military? That looks more like it’s dedicated to Venice Beach.
Let’s just say that the graphics aren’t the only things being sublimated.
That’s so stupid.
It’s July 25th, so get your funky fusion Friday freakin’ and you weekend wigglin’ with this 80th birthday commemoration of the man who could bump it in 21/4 better than anyone who ever lived, the legendarily heroic Don Ellis. Who the funk is Don Ellis, I hear you say? If you’ve ever seen either of the classic FRENCH CONNECTION films, you’re closer to the truth than you may know… to go the rest of the distance, blog over and grab the twisted compilation of his craziest & deepest tracks I have just composited for the ongoing astonishment of your pelvis. :P
The Minnesota Vikings are a bunch of callous bird-killing bastards. (You can get a great view of stadium construction from the light rail train that goes to Target Field, BTW.)
Might be a large image, but here’s a quick chart on MLB run differentials this season. Full-size version here.
So +163 plays -112 and we’re down by 2.
funson interview
There’s info on everything these days.
Congratulations to the Mets, Orioles, Royals, Angels, and Blue Jays, for not allowing it.
Might be time to retire the thing.
Not until people regular drop their drawers to lay down an epic kiss.
I cannot believe that thing still exist. especially in sf
Further, the A’s giants game I went to I attended with a woman who is not SLF. what was I supposed to do in that situation?
its so stupid
Stand up, turn around, drop your pants, and pucker up.
Par for the creepy course in that organization.
It really is. Makes you wonder how far apart they looked in age, and why someone apparently assumed it was some older guy with a young trophy wife or something.