SB Nation User Blog: ArakSOT

Mazzaro wins MiLBY

ArakSOT — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:56:42 -0000

Mazzaro wins MiLBY

An award I never heard, but still.

Found this on Deadspin: "A Red Sox fan giddily announces that she's going to run onto the field at...

ArakSOT — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:04:43 -0000

Found this on Deadspin:

"A Red Sox fan giddily announces that she's going to run onto the field at Fenway, but she only makes it halfway down the steps before taking a header."

DLD Friday September 12, 2008

ArakSOT — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:26:33 -0000

When I think about the baseball diamond that is the Oakland A's 2008 season to date, I reflect upon many facets. They are not all bright, and they are flawed, but among them some still shine. There is, for example, AN's own Brad Ziegler and his record-making start in the majors, along with the confidence I feel whenever he now takes the mound. There was, once, a three-game sweep of the loathsome Red Sox. On a sultry night in September I listened as the boys scored four runs without ever once putting the ball in play, as if demonstrating there and then, at last, that this was the plan all along. There was Gallagher's bizarre no-hit effort the other night, and even the meaningless fact that we just won a series against a vastly more talented, and vastly more expensive, team. And there was even last night's starting line-up, which not even Nostradamus at his best could have forseen last spring.

This 2008 season has been like every other season, unique, and precious, and I'll miss it sorely when it has gone.

Oh, and fuck the Angels.

Dump away.

DLD 7.24.8 Even Losses Are Better Than Off Days

ArakSOT — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:08:23 -0000

For me, anyway. Maybe for the team a rare day off will be just what the doctor ordered, but for me, it sucks. What am I supposed to do, rent a movie?

Baseball Prospectus is free this week. If you're as cheap as I am, you might want to take advantage. Otherwise, you'd have to pay to read what Christina Kahrl has to say about our latest moppet, Brooks Conrad:

It's hard to say that makes him a backup shortstop, but having just sent down Gregorio Petit and electing to cut Murphy loose for not being the next Mark Ellis-style minor bit of pilferage from the Royals, they're definitely in Weaver territory as far as having their backup shortstop at a Triple-A affiliate TBNL.

Of course, one of my BP favorites, The Week in Quotes, is always free:

With Huston, he's got a lot of major league experience and he's only 24 years old, so a guy like Huston would definitely fit into what we're trying to re-create here down the road."
--A's general manager Billy Beane

At least when baseball returns, Ellie will too.

That's about as much baseball as I can muster links for. Here is a random link about a great ape escape:

In the end Ichiro was tempted down with a banana, and zoo staff were able to tranquilize him safely.

I just know there's a joke there, somewhere.

Off Days are long and slow. Please help by contributing links.

7:2:8 DLD | Honoring the Boycott

ArakSOT — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:26:34 -0000

Gosh darn it to heck, I hate it when this happens. Still, I suppose it could have been worse:

Tuesday, Harden said he had a dead-arm kind of feeling, which he has had in the past and which is normal for pitchers around midseason

So, go Dana! Saunders ain't gonna make it easy for you.

In other news, our lovable moppets were apparently on hand for the inspiration of WALL-E's look:

The idea actually came while the director was at an Oakland A's playoff game, almost five years ago, when the home team was competing against the Boston Red Sox.

(h/t Catfish Stew)

And because the grouch will mention it, but is, I suppose, too humble to link to it, our own salb's piece over at THT: Good team, bad team, glad team, sad team:

That must frustrate Oakland fans looking up at the Halos in the standings. The A's are the inverse of the Angels: a slightly above-average team playing extremely well but with only a slightly above-average number of wins to show for it.

Dump away!

The Congratulations, Jennifer! Party

ArakSOT — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:59:39 -0000

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! HOOOOOO!

As you may or may not already know, recently AN's most beloved member, Jennifer, posted her 20,000 comment. In honor of her monumental achievement, I'd like to share with you a few of my favorite Jennifer things.

[Note by monkeyball, 03/07/08 9:25 AM PST ]
I think we need to move this party onto the front page. Jennifer has been a really important contributor to shaping AN from its inception.
ArakSOT, not so much. But sometimes history touches down at unlikely locations. ;)

[Note by Nico: Who's Jennifer?]

Like this, for example, my favorite Jennifer Diary. I mean FanPost™©®, sorry.

And my favorite Jennifer arts & crafts project.

From my personal vault, my favorite Jennifer Game Day Thread exchange.

I was also going to post some of my favorite Jennifer comments but, alas, they're not as easy to find as they used to be. Perhaps you can help out by sharing some of your favorite Jennifer things.

Hope to see you at the party! It's BYOB.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S, J E N N I F E R !

DLD 1.11.8 Plenty More

ArakSOT — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:01:33 -0000

Plenty More

They may walk hand in hand
Like lovers through the market square
Selecting leather goods,
Pretending that they just don't care
They say all the boys are monsters
All the girls are whores
So when you lose the one you love
There's always plenty more

They may be in a club
All dressed up waiting to meet you
Or in some garret bleak
Despairing over what to do
All the girls are monsters
All the boys are whores
So when you lose the one you love
There's always plenty more

DLD 11/28/07

ArakSOT — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:48:39 -0000

This article by Matthew is interesting. Very sobering. You should read it.

Uh oh: Runaway rats.

"You go to Rat Island and there are hardly any chocolate lilies," said Jeff Williams, another refuge biologist.

As the days shorten, and the weather cools, links become scarce...

In lieu of more links, how about a poll?

Poll

My least favorite thing is:

Fred Thompson

6 votes

The Anaheim Angels

53 votes

Brian Orser

3 votes

"Le Morte d'Arthur"

1 votes

The "Vacation" Series

2 votes

Ketchup

3 votes

weei.com

3 votes

Joan Cusack

5 votes

Trash

1 votes

Roundabouts

4 votes

81 votes | Poll has closed

Quickie DLD 11|9|7

ArakSOT — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:24:50 -0000

I have here in my hand...
It's all over the blogosphere, so you've probably already seen it, but the Mitchell report allegedly contains the names of 11 free agents. Or not.

Warming up the hot stove
John Heyman at SI.com speculates on what the top FAs should expect to command.

There are several ways to assess the lack of depth and talent of the free-agent class, but perhaps Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said it best: "My reaction to the free-agent market is, I'm glad we're not in it.''

Manny selling Manny's Car
On eBay. Got $40,100.00?

The Alou's Aren't
They're really Rojas'. I did not know that. From THT.

It's against conventional wisdom

The women who were most fertile at the time of the experiment walked with fewer hip movements and with their knees closer together.

How come nobody ever asks me to participate in experiments like this?

I can bearly believe it

A brawny thief smashed through a minivan's window yesterday, took the vehicle on a short ride and dumped it on the side of the road before fleeing on foot into the woods, township police said. Police have described the suspect as a black bear.

Feel free to post any links you find below. Unless you're Poppy, who for some reason insists upon posting links in day old DLDs.

DLD 10-31-7 Happy Halloween ...NOT!

ArakSOT — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:08:35 -0000

From Baseball Prospectus

According to Will Carroll, Torre, Mattingly and hitting coach Kevin Long to the Dodgers is a done deal. Oddly, he says this happened Monday, although no one else is reporting it.

Grady Little was fired mostly for not being Joe Torre.

Yeah, but did Grady get more than a three-minute phone call?

Nate Silver checks in with "A-Rod Survivor". Oakland is #26 down the list in the "Gravel/Tancredo Memorial No-Shot-In-Bloody-Hell Division."

I'm sure that Billy Beane has entertained the thought, but Eric Chavez blocks him, ownership won't pay for him, and there's no long-term gameplan associated with him.

From ESPN

Baseball suspends Cameron 25 games for failed test

The test he failed was for a banned stimulant, not steroids. Or, in other words,

Cameron, who plans to file for free agency, said he believes he took a tainted supplement.

If MLB ever decides to ban tainted supplements, a lot of players are in for big trouble.

In better news, Schilling does not list Oakland as one of the teams he'd considered playing for next year. Whew.

From The Hardball Times

Brian Borawskil talks about Lew's comments, but the discussion was much more thorough here on AN, so I'm adding it simply because it's an A's-related link. Also, he thinks Taco Bell cashed in on their free Taco deal:

Estimates put the advertising purchase at $5.6 million, and it's estimated that the cost of the tacos given away will be less than $1 million. So for the cool price of less than $7 million, Taco Bell not only is getting people into their stores, but they also got a ton of face time and exposure for their efforts.

A million dollars worth of Tacos. I'm speechless.

From Elsewhere

Dogs shoot man on hunting trip

Army tests James Bond style tank that is 'invisible'

2 Cows, 2 Goats in Car in South Africa

See if you can't find something more worthwhile.

Poll

Tonight, I'll be

Passing out treats to the kiddies

21 votes

Hiding in the dark from children

23 votes

Partying! Hooooooo!

9 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed