Baseball Links

Benny and I have two baseball drafts today, one AL Only and one NL Only. They are both live online auction drafts which will probably end up taking in excess of 6 hours to complete. On a related note, I have been awake since 5am, worked out, had coffee, showered and taken my dog for a walk… all before 9am. I’m a bundle of nervous energy. On a completely unrelated note, it’s supposed to be sunny and in the low 60’s today in Charlottesville. Who knows, I might even step outside between drafts and enjoy it for a few minutes. But in the end, I think we all know the only sunburn I’m going to get today is from my computer screen and I’m OK with that.

We are on the doorstep of my favorite season. I acknowledge the NFL as a close second, but for my money nothing will ever equal an afternoon at the ballpark. There’s something so distinctly American about a hot dog and a cold beer and some sunflower seeds. I can’t get over the fact that my mind aches for baseball as early as January and doesn’t dissipate until the final out has been tallied. Waking up this week and watching a couple of meaningful innings between the Red Sox and Athletics has been good for my soul and now, with the REAL Opening Day just hours away, I’m obliged to share some links while I kneed the same sweaty glove in anticipation for the glorious centennial of my beloved Cubbies.


- I’ve been reading the Roto Arcade pieces on Yahoo Sports lately by Andy Behrens and found them to be interesting if not downright enjoyable. The one that had Benny chirping recently that his drafting strategies of the past were “ahead of their time” was an article entitled: Head-to-Head Strategy: the Distler School of Management. The basic premise was that this kid would draft all pitchers in the first 12 rounds of head2head leagues and then round out his position players with stolen base aficionados in order to win every week 6-4. It’s an interesting strategy, but the razor thin margin for error makes this endeavor seem fruitless. Also, there’s really no fun in this practice unless your only goal is making money… which leads me to the next link…

- I rather liked Cracked.com's Who’s in your fantasy league? This is personally rewarding because my boy Benny C falls into many of these categories simultaneously: The Stat Pro, The Dark Horse Guy, The You Stole My Pick Guy and The Awful Pick Guy. He’s also the guy who said (and I quote), “Chipper Jones falling to me with the 12th overall pick is like Peyton Manning falling to me with the 10th overall pick the year he threw for 47 touchdowns.” I’m not sure what his BAC level was when he typed these words, but really, there is no feasible reality where this makes any sense.

- This is less of a link and more of a straight forward endorsement. These guys are pound for pound some of the funniest writers on the internet with respect to any genre, plus they dress down all the idiotic baseball writers that plague this fine country. If you have any love for baseball and its minutia and you enjoy laughing, there’s no reason why you don’t check this site at least once a week.

- I find Jay Mariotti’s brand of over the top bravado to be sad and pathetic. The fact that he is gainfully employed as an opinion maker in print, radio AND television in my hometown is a sad fact that I carry around like a great boulder of shame. It’s basically what’s wrong with sports coverage today. For every Peter Gammons and Tony Kornheiser, there are 10 Mariotti’s. Jay the Joke's take on the Brian Roberts no deal was predictable, obnoxious and poorly written. However, The Heckler took a different approach to the whole saga did considerably better. Either way, I feel like B Rob, steroids baggage and all would have been a huge boost. It really makes me hope this Gallagher kid pans out THIS YEAR, otherwise I’ll be a little cheesed.

- UmpBump’s milestones to watch for outline quite a year ahead of us. I'm not sure how much the homerun statistic means anymore, but I love when careers are put in perspective and big round numbers flash on the Jumbotron while they round the bases.

Some YouTube Classics:

George Carlin's Baseball vs. Football
Probably one of Carlin's best bits ever.

Baseball Great moments
Not gunna lie, I got some goosebumps watching this.

Lee Elia Tirade
I have no idea why this Cubs manager got fired the day after this innocent enough soundbite.

Quick Hits

- I attended the Cubs/Brewers game last night much thanks to Brandon and his blue wristband baller tickets that he got in the drawing in March. We sat in the Upper Deck directly to the left of the Press Box which was a new perspective for me. I've probably watched 15 games from the Wrigley 500 Level in my life, but always flared out along the sidelines toward the foul poles. I enjoyed this new vantage, mainly because no seat at the Friendly Confines provides the same experience as another. Every chair in that building has it's own tread in your mind, every section has it's own personality. That being said, the surroundings of "Section 517, Row 7, Seat 4" were...... rowdy.

- This statistic is courtesy of Bleed Cubbie Blue: "Over at Baseball Prospectus on Monday evening, Nate Silver, perhaps presciently, noted that Milwaukee had, through Sunday, blown 13 leads of three runs or more (and nine of those from July 28 through August 26)."

- My favorite thing about keeping score during a game is what you ultimately do with the scorecard. I've only kept 2 scorecards in my life: The first Interleague game played at Wrigley against the Brewers and Carlos Zambrano's complete game, five hit, ten strikeout effort against the Astros on 8/17/03. The rest of them I usually just leave it there, finished or otherwise. I sometimes stop after the 7th or 8th inning and redirect my attention towards cheering, usually by then we're into the bullpen and you run out of space after four pitchers. Though sometimes, after a deluge of runs by the other team in the 5th or 6th inning causing us to fall woefully behind, I'll dramatically tear up my scorecard and throw up my hands in utter futility. You never know.

-USA Basketball is extremely entertaining right now. I highly recommend it.

- I've heard Yi Jianlian's name mangled numerous times by three different Chicago sportstalk radio personalities this morning after news of him signing with the Bucks hit the wire. This was usually followed by laughter and a snarky "whatever". Seriously, it takes 30 seconds to look up the pronunciation on this guy (EE jee-AHN-lee-AHN). If you're not going to do that, don't basically mock him for having a name that is difficult for you to verbalize. And for the record, it's pronounced Don-ah-FEE you lace-curtained half-an-Englishman.

- Lance Briggs, don’t sweat it. I careen my $350,000 cars off the side of the Edens at 3:15am and leave the scene of the crash all the time. The good news is, we can rebuild KITT. The bad news is, you are not Pauly Shore and this isn’t a Ja Rule video. You cannot do “whatever you want”.

MLB and NFL collide

My favorite part about mid-August is the striking dissemblance between pennant race baseball and preseason football. I've spent the last 4 ½ months completely absorbed in the MLB landscape (with minor hiccups being the Bulls playoff run, Shark Week and the twelve hours I boycotted the Cubs after they fell to 22-31 on June 2nd) to the point where I'm lost without at least 10 minutes of boxscore perusal a day. My brain is all queued up with baseball knowledge just waiting for the appropriate conversation "in" so I can release my thoughts on topics such as why Sweet Lou left Clifford Floyd in to bat with RISP during the late innings of a recent game against a lefty pitcher with nobody warming up in the pen, then subbed Matt Murton in defensively for Floyd the very next inning anyway. Cliff has an .285 OBP against lefties over the last 3 years compared to Matty’s robust .404 OBP (not to mention a .916 OPS) against southpaws. I usually bring these thoughts up in front of attractive women who I've just met, so as to remove even the infinitesimal chance of me seeing them naked.

At this point, the crack of the bat is therapeutic with every shot in the gap representing a step closer (possibly) to playoff greatness. The psychology of an early advantage is now recognized and acknowledged with the proper perspective, aided by a vast catalogue of data on how each team augments, keeps or (in the Brewers case) painfully forfeits a lead. For every fan who still has a team in the ring with a punchers chance, September baseball looms large...

...But wait. Madden 08 is hitting stores tomorrow... and... brace yourself... they've tweaked it slightly and made some minor changes... which appear to... IMPROVE ON LAST YEAR'S VERSION!?!?! Wait a second, is that... is that John Facenda I hear in the distance? Holy crap, the NFL preseason is here! Please excuse my sloppy laughter, I'm eternally giddy right now at the possibilities. This is all too much for me right now... Is it O.K. if I break down in tears when those NFC Champion Bears take the field? Now you're telling me there's more? Fantasy football drafts for the next three weekends? Fine, I'm doing a manual shutdown of my brain. I can't juggle my love for NL Central drama with the NFC Norris reset to all square. It's like simultaneously starting your favorite book while watching the final thirty minutes of your favorite movie (only for some reason you have selective amnesia and you aren’t aware of the greatness of either yet).

On second thought, what the hell:

The Cubbies bats have recently become ice cold (with the exceptions of Jacque Jones, Jason Kendall, Matt Murton and Mark DeRosa) and key injuries (Soriano and Ramirez) are slowing the offensive surge that was the cornerstone of the successful two previous months. Our starters have a combined 5.86 ERA for the month of August and our "closer" has given up 5 ER in his last 6 IP. All this being said, I'm not worried. We're only a 1 ½ behind the first place Brewers despite playing hapless baseball the last 10 days. Baseball is cyclical, after all, and for that reason I see both teams (the Brewers and Cubs) priming themselves for a furious finish. Shitty baseball happens. The character of a strong team endures.

The Bears look (on paper) like a much improved offensive team. Greg Olson will be a top flight tight end for the next ten years. Benson is a strong, tough-nosed runner with depth behind him (Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe, trust me on this one) and a chip on his shoulder. Muhsin Mohammed, Bernard Berrian, Mark Bradley and Rasheed Davis make up a receiving crops that had the lowest percentage of dropped passes in the entire NFL last year. An experienced O-line that has played together for a few seasons, anchored by 5-time Pro Bowl Center Olin Kreutz. For good measure, we'll have Devin Hester running around causing havoc... and we have a quarterback as well... a couple of them, I think. Mix that in with another stingy defense and even with a tough schedule I could see another January game in Soldier Field this year.

At this point, I’m exceedingly optimistic. I'm just waiting for Ben to rain on my parade with his "Prince Fielder/Brett Favre underdogs of greatness" rant in which he bashes Chicago sports fans for being self-important on a level that rivals Bostonians in their obnoxiousness. But because I shudder at the thought of Chris Farley being compared to Jimmy Fallon on any level, I'm going to move on. It only seems logical that with the sports world at the apex of events right now that I'm venturing east this Friday for a long weekend in Hoboken with my esteemed colleague, Benny C. The roughly 57 hours I'll be there will be spent having multiple sessions of Madden 2008, EPL games with Irish breakfasts, Father/Son-like Folgers moments "having a catch", a fantasy football draft and, of course, NHL 94 on Genesis. If Ben still has a girlfriend after she witnesses this condensed version of "UVA Ben and AK" replete with malt liquor and bum wine, then she gets my complete and encompassing respect and blessing.

92 hours and counting...