They’re not booing, they’re saying boo-eane! boo-eane! … DLD 6-29 ← FREE KRAUT!

They’re not booing, they’re saying boo-eane! boo-eane! … DLD 6-29 50

29 Jun 2009  |  mjdittmer  |The Grill

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I haven’t looked at box scores all weekend so I don’t even know who the A’s have been playing, but I have read a little about their own beloved radio announcer turning on them.  So the question is–will Korach be called into the boss’ office for a little chat after his recent outburst, which I read about first on Ratto’s blog … and then I searched around and found that iglew noticed it first.

While Korach applauds Coliseum fans for boo-ing, Plaschke rakes Dodgers fans over the coals for cheering.

Let’s see, what else.  Posnanski and Jenkins cheer Ron Gardenhire for not walking somebody.  Poor Poz, being lumped together in a sentence with Jenkins, who’s at his worst today:

Yo, all you geeks who never played the game: They pitch to Pujols (watch Tim Lincecum tonight) because athletes compete.

Hitfix has its review of Bruno up. Sounds good.

Goddamn East Coast bias.

Good night, Canada.

50 thoughts on “They’re not booing, they’re saying boo-eane! boo-eane! … DLD 6-29”

  1. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:05 pm

    Bullshit. I am calling 100% total bullshit on Ratto:

    when he offered this little beauty through my car radio — “this has been a terrible performance” rang out fairly clearly, even though I didn’t have the time or the confidence in my driving on the San Rafael Bridge in the dark to write it down

    He read it on iglew’s post.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • Leopold Bloom Jun 29,2009 4:32 pm || Up

        {sniff} You know, I made it my sigline right away…maybe Ratto stole it from me…{sniff}

    • mk Jun 30,2009 6:27 am || Up

      “heading boldly and stridently toward unwatchable”

      “overwhelming listlessness that radiates from the dugout”

      “deep and abiding respect”

      Wow. I thought I overwrote. He takes it to an entirely new level.

      The question now is, are they listening?

      What does that even mean? Who is supposed to be listening? Billy Beane? Jack Cust? Is Cust trying less hard this year? Does Ray mean to say that if only all the shitty, old, broken players we have would give 110% as opposed to not caring, everything would magically improve, defense would be crisp, baserunning would pop and crackle, fundamentals would be executed, wins would pile up, or short of that, at least moral victories would pile up, and We The Fan would be over fucking joyed by it all? Right. Absolutely. If only they’d listen. That’s the question, the deep, abiding, cue the ominous music question … are they listening?

      What happened to all that team meeting courage and boldness and leadership everyone was waxing ecstatic about a few weeks ago? I mean, they really were trying extra hard for awhile there! Gosh, it’s all so confusing! Have those same bold, courageous, bull by the horns-taking players decided it really wasn’t worth it after all, and turned “listless”? What happens if they win five in a row and someone makes a diving catch and stretches a single into a double? Will they have “re-discovered their energy”?

      Honestly. All this beat around the bush talk about listlessness or lack of passion or whatever is evasive bullshit. If you think players are not trying hard, say so. Be explicit. Write “Matt Holliday is not trying as hard as he did last year.” Don’t write “Matt Holliday wears the dour mask of the bored stoic as he swings resignedly through what Crash Davis might term “meat”, the sort of pitch we were promised he consumed with the fearsome appetite of Zeus after a four days of fasting. Perhaps New York is already sparkling like in his mind’s eye, enough to tip the delicate scales of athletic superstardom toward a year hence, leaving the locals grasping yet again at the caprice of player rental roulette, like sand through the fingers of an East Bay-born toddler on an empty beach in the South Pacific.”

      • monkeyball Jun 30,2009 6:44 am || Up

        in addition to Byg Twyt, we need a false-Ratto Twitter

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
        • mk Jun 30,2009 9:01 am || Up

          On a related note, Jenkins is also a moron.

          And don’t listen to the idiots who, if they had their way, would see not a single strike thrown to Pujols all year

          Which “geeks” are saying that? Maybe Bruce ought to provide a link to substantiate this claim. That is, if Bruce knows how to do the linky thing.

          It’s just that big-league baseball isn’t about quitting, wimping out, taking the easy route. Runners at second and third, one out? Of course you walk Pujols, or Bonds, or Willie McCovey.

          I’m confused. It’s only “quitting, wimping out” in certain situations? Why isn’t it wimping out when there are runners on second and third? Wouldn’t that be precisely the sort of situation in which the pitcher would most want to prove his manhood?

          So within a particular subset of game circumstances, you’re supposed to do the smart thing, whereas in a different subset, the central consideration is whether or not you’re acting like a knee-quavering coward. Put another way: If it’s smart to do it, do it. If it’s dumb to do it, don’t do it. But don’t not do it because it’s dumb, but because it’s wimpy.

          • monkeyball Jun 30,2009 9:23 am || Up

            You’ve obviously never strapped on a jock full of icy-hot, you fucking pussy.

            In the situation posited, you walk Pujols/Bonds/McCovey not because of some pointy-headed stats, but because they’re RBI guys who know how to get the job done. (Jenkins’ inclusion of McCovey is the signal detail there.) To walk them in that situation, and that situation only, is a sign of respect–whereas to walk them in any other situation (where they presumably don’t know how to get the job done) is to malign not their but your own manhood.

            you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
            • mk Jun 30,2009 9:53 am || Up

              That is a perfect distillation of Jenkinsesque old-timey logic. And as a bonus, it is cracking me up.

  2. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:08 pm

    mikeA’s new favorite MSM/ITB journo:

    Dana Milbank, a dreadful clown

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • Leopold Bloom Jun 29,2009 4:31 pm || Up

      Yeah, Monkey, he does strike me as an asshat.

  3. nevermoor Jun 29,2009 12:09 pm
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:16 pm || Up

      aside from easterbrook’s weird hobbyhorse tangents (SPACE!), yeah, that actually seems fairly spot-on

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  4. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:17 pm

    If andeux can link to the Post, I can link to the Daily News. Heck, this is even tangentially baseball-related:

    Elizabeth also suspects Young stole the baseball card collection of her late son

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  5. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:19 pm

    Yeah, I’m pretty sure Beane will be signing Beltre on a cheap, short-term make-good contract in the offseason.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  6. batgirl Jun 29,2009 12:24 pm

    I’m usually a pollyanna, but this team has really lost me this season. Why on earth is management so content to let the rookie pitchers take their lumps and learn on the job, while they have seemingly no interest in letting the young hitters do the same? Call up Buck, dammit. Call up Barton and actually play him. I know I’m saying nothing that hasn’t been said before, but this is really just sad.

    • whiteshoes40 Jun 29,2009 4:31 pm || Up

      Yes. More Buck and Barton, please. (–> less Giambi and Nomar, also)

  7. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:31 pm

    Yup:

    In hindsight, everyone — including [the GM], I’d add — was counting too much on too many guys with horrible injury histories. If everything had broken just right, this team could have won 90+ games. But how often does everything break just right for anyone?

    My new theory: every single GM in the game underestimates injury risk, and every single training staff is not really any good.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:35 pm || Up

      Political Editorial tangent from that same interview (and I’m studiously disregarding the sentence that precedes this excerpt … xbx, wherever he is, can talk about that):

      Mostly I’m just happy that we seem to have an adult in the White House for the first time in, oh, 17 years, as opposed to self-absorbed or self-righteous culture-war-crazed Baby Boomer nutcases.

      Now, is that one “self-absorbed Baby Boomer nutcase” + one “self-righteous culture-war-crazed Baby Boomer nutcase,” or one “self-absorbed culture-war-crazed Baby Boomer nutcase” + one “self-righteous culture-war-crazed Baby Boomer nutcase”? Because those are two very different statements (and note how the former seems unlikelier because of the “nutcases” epithet).

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:41 pm || Up

        And to prove I still love CC regardless:

        The only non-natural substances in Ponson’s pee-pee are Yoo-Hoo and failure.

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • mikeA Jun 29,2009 2:04 pm || Up

      That’s a really stupid response (not stupid, actually, but he’s just bullshiting.) For one thing, what does it mean for the GM to “be counting too much” on injured guys? If you have guys with bad injury histories, well that sucks, but what are you supposed to do? How does he know he know what Shapiro was “counting on” anyway? Maybe he thought they had an ok-but-not-great shot to win the division. And he didn’t even do anything to mortage the future for this year, so what is the complaint? It would make no sense for someone to criticize Dayton Moore for “relying on a bunch of shitty players.” It is what it is. If Shapiro had traded the CC loot for Matt Holliday and the team still sucked (and it was reasonable to expect suckiness or mediocrity) then it would make sense to complain.

      I have the same problem with criticisms of this offseason. Giambi is old and a health and collapse risk. Fine. Barton or whoever was a suck risk. Giambi, risks and all, was an upgrade. Cabrera was a suck risk. Ok, so was Crosby or Pennington or other-sucky-FA.

      He also said:

      As for all of the pre-season optimism (which I shared), I think the experts all fell victim to the same thing which trips up so many fantasy players: paying too much attention to second half results from the prior year.

      A lot of experts liked Cleveland due to low-to-mid 80s projections and a bad division. I think that was a bigger factor than paying too much attention to the second half of last year.

      • nevermoor Jun 29,2009 3:12 pm || Up

        Giambi, risks and all, was an upgrade.

        I respectfully disagree.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
        • mk Jun 30,2009 4:33 am || Up

          I think you are (greatly) underestimating how terrible Barton has been, and (slightly) underestimating the possibility that Giambi will not suck this much all year.

          Regarding Giambi:

          1. He had a good year last year.

          2. All the projection systems had him maintaining a decent level of production in 2009.

          3. All significant dips in his past performance (2004, 2007) were injury-related, and it was not crazy to expect that given reasonable health, he’d be pretty good. Not great, because he is old and 2008 did represent a modest decline, but pretty good. Better than he’s been, to be sure.

          4. And in any event, so what? What exactly was the risk in signing him to a small, short term contract? It hasn’t worked out, granted. I still don’t see the downside. (Please don’t say “he’s blocking Barton.” My head will explode.)

          You were right about this (so far), and I bow to your powers of prognostication, but it is wrong to suggest that it was an open and shut, roll-your-eyes-obvious situation.

          Postscript: The Outman thing has rendered me depressed, irritated, and prone to blog discourse hostility. As such, I can’t be held responsible for my tone in this or any subsequent Free Kraut debate. So if you respond to the above comment in the spirit of amiable debate, and I respond to your response by calling you a c***s***** or something, don’t take it personally.

          • nevermoor Jun 30,2009 9:30 am || Up

            That’s fine, but you’re being a tad dishonest in your argument, which looks like:

            1. Barton has played poorly
            2. It was reasonable to assume Giambi would play better

            My response is that it was reasonable to assume that Barton’s hitting would be a lot better than it has been (esp. since people who follow AAA say he was “sulking” for awhile). It was reasonable to assume in the offseason that Barton’s total value would be approximately the same as Giambi’s (since the defensive profiles are so different).

            Furthermore, I think Giambi’s continued decline should have been obvious. I’m not entirely sure why projection systems were so kind to him.

            On your last point:

            "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
            • mk Jun 30,2009 9:44 am || Up

              Fair enough, c***s*****.

              But:

              Furthermore, I think Giambi’s continued decline should have been obvious

              Just to be clear, when you say “continued decline”, do you mean to the level he’s performed at so far this year? Because (most of) the projection systems (as well as common sense) did predict a decline, just not one this steep. Which is basically my point: that it was logical to expect Giambi to be somewhat worse than last year, but not a complete washout. If you thought he’d suck this badly … why did you think that?

              • nevermoor Jun 30,2009 10:26 am || Up

                Because:

                A: He’s really old and his value as a player is almost entirely SLG related
                B: His OPS+ has fallen off a cliff since his early 30s. The slowly accelerating decline (even ignoring the injury seasons) makes him losing another 20+ points of OPS seem reasonable to me. Factor in the move to Oakland, and I had him pegged as a 100 OPS+ guy.

                93 is a touch worse than I would have predicted, but I saw a 38 year old league-average hitter with bad defense vs. a promising young player with one bad offensive season and great defense (plus another hitter with “DH” stamped on his forehead). Even before you consider you have to pay Giambi, the move didn’t make sense.

                "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
            • Leopold Bloom Jun 30,2009 3:22 pm || Up

              {gasp!}

              Nevermoor, you just made my list of favoritist peoples ever! I love Al.

              • nevermoor Jun 30,2009 3:50 pm || Up

                I thought the whole designing non-kludgy FK did that already. Or was that just the “favoriter” list?

                "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • Leopold Bloom Jun 29,2009 4:34 pm || Up

        I think we need to seriously consider that injury-prone players are the new undervalued commodity to BB.

        • nevermoor Jun 29,2009 5:10 pm || Up

          Except, of course, that they aren’t actually undervalued. They just suck.

          "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  8. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 12:56 pm

    It took Radosh taking a day couple weeks off, but I finally won one!

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Jun 29,2009 1:14 pm || Up

      Your entry this week:

      I think the guy with the snorkel farted.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  9. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 2:07 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 2:30 pm || Up
      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • Leopold Bloom Jun 29,2009 4:38 pm || Up

      Most F. Scott fans are too blase about everything ot really care about anything.

      “Robots? Sure. Whatever. …where’s the gin?”

  10. mikeA Jun 29,2009 2:09 pm

    Re the Korach thing:
    Getting all self-righteous about “fundamentals” and the like is really tiresome. Everyone needs to give it a rest.

  11. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 2:16 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  12. mikeA Jun 29,2009 2:52 pm

    Rumoured steroid list from 2003 testing. Whoever drew up this list is a hero for starting with Sox.

    • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 3:10 pm || Up

      #35

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • Leopold Bloom Jun 29,2009 4:41 pm || Up

        Thus, proving every monkey-theory from the past ten years.

        Damn it. Then we didn’t really land on the moon.

    • whiteshoes40 Jun 29,2009 4:33 pm || Up

      Ricardo Rincon? Really?

    • dmoas Jun 29,2009 8:32 pm || Up

      Less that 14%.

  13. monkeyball Jun 29,2009 5:02 pm

    Hunh.

    Outman to have super-sekrit surgery tomorrow, Cust batting … 7th, Cabrera 2nd, Powell DH’ing (yes, w/Giambi at 1B). Looks like Geren is frantically twisting every knob on the ol’ managerial Etch-a-Sketch.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Jun 29,2009 5:13 pm || Up

      The only thing that surprises me is that it took 2 comments on the story to get to a stupid one.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  14. whiteshoes40 Jun 29,2009 5:13 pm

    Just saw on Rotoworld that the A’s will reportedly recall Travis Buck and send down Jack Hannahan. (Why do I feel like that leaves us with not enough infielders?) Hooray, Travis!

    • monkeyball Jun 29,2009 5:17 pm || Up

      Well, w/o Buck, we don’t have enough OFs.

      The problem is demoting H2N3 while not DL/DFAing Nomore. Or Crosby.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor Jun 29,2009 5:24 pm || Up

        We’re fine.

        Barton / Corpse of Giambi / Crosby / Powell / Eveland
        Ellis / Kennedy
        Cabrera / Crosby
        Kennedy / Crosby

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  15. mjdittmer Jun 30,2009 9:34 am

    Tim Goodman is back from vacation.

    likable lost souls who make up much of the world but haven’t left their mark

    • monkeyball Jun 30,2009 10:03 am || Up

      Ugh. Alex Payne. Well, he’s born to be a tv director, so …

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come

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