Interesting ESPN profile and story on Ron's future at the Rangers.  As the writer portrays it, his job is up in the air despite Texas' success.  It seems that Nolan Ryan & Co. are not impressed enough with Wash to offer him an extension right now.  Seems like Wash is getting some tough unlove for his tough-love approach to Rangers ball.  What do you think? Here's the article.  And here are a few extra words to make this meet the 75 minimum; boy, AN has changed since "back in the day."

My namesake may not start the All-Star game. It seems that's more of a bummer to me than Dan Haren.

Continue reading this post »

Heh.

From the article:
"The World Series victory of the 2007 Oakland Athletics in six games over the Atlanta Braves is sure to go down in history as the unlikeliest championship of all time, making last year’s fluke 83-win St. Louis champs look like a sure thing of Calvinistic proportions. It isn’t simply that Beane has assembled a championship team with the lowest payroll of any team playing today; he pulled off the feat with the lowest payroll in recorded history—in the ballpark of negative $7 million—thanks to some creative dealmaking that had several players paying the team out of their own pockets for roster spots."

Quoth Barry, in the rag after another horrible outing against the A's: "Just keep having fun, keep staying loose, keep playing baseball. We can't beat ourselves before we get out there. You can't not go out and have fun playing baseball. That's the key to a good second half, a nice summer."'

Now ain't that an A's 'tude? An East Bay attidue?

But it doesn't work in SanFran, and never will.

Continue reading this post »

I don't really have a clue why I find these things, but Anaheim comes up again.  Or, rather, a chill Northern wind blows up the arse of an Anaheimer.

Money Quote: "Now that we know that Southern California’s offerings in terms of the great outdoors are vastly superior to the paltry oceans, forests, lakes, mountains, ski hills, hiking trails, white water rapids, national parks, waterfalls and wildlife reserves that are within a short distance of Ottawa, we’ve realized the errors of our ways."

Heh.

From MSN City Guides:

"Anaheim: Downtown Anaheim
Just a mile and a half from Disneyland, downtown Anaheim should have thrived these past 50 years just from people getting lost and ending up there on the way to and from the park. If only 3 percent of the park’s estimated 14 million yearly visitors somehow stumbled into the central city, more than a thousand people a day would pass the businesses at Broadway and Harbor. And what are those? Two tall bank towers, the public library and a Carl’s Jr. restaurant that looks like it was built during the Kennedy administration and hasn't been remodeled since. The nearby Center Street Promenade offers a few more options—including a small jewelry store and a couple of cafes—but you couldn't spend an afternoon there."

From tonight...
Rev Halofan is on it again... typical behavior and not the "that was long ago" BS he was spouting here a short time ago.

The fact that that blog is still on SB reflects neither well on SB nor on Blez' anemic defense of free speech.  Both of which combine to reflect badly on the idea of free speech by left-leaning folk.  HH Chavez remains an embarrassment to SB.  I'm sure more will come through the night and through the weekend from that knuckle-dragging, foul-mouthed loser who, somehow, remains a gleam in the eye of Kos and Blez.  Shame on both of you.  One of you should know better.  The other definitely does.

bad math, you're right.
you are also banned for being a complete asshole. goodbye.
by Rev Halofan on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 03:08:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

You do know the A's have scored 10 more
runs then the Angels right?
Might want to think about who has the shitty offense.
by Axl Foley on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 02:58:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It was this post
what got him banned.
by Rev Halofan on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 03:08:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Full story at
http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/30/sports/story03.html

Continue reading this post »

Me, I like satire. So I read a lot of it. "Anonymous Lawyer" is one such site. Found this on the way to reading other things... Here, AL comments on a trip to an Angels game. Humorous. To make 300 words, here's the article. But please link above to give the author some hits. Wednesday, July 19, 2006 I left work early yesterday and took Anonymous Son to the Angels game, way out in Anaheim. I don't know why. I don't know why they call themselves the Los Angeles Angels now. No one in Los Angeles gets on the 5 and drives through that traffic to get out to Anaheim to see the Angels play. They're no more Los Angeles than the valley is. I mentioned to a few associates that I was going to see the game, while I gave them an assignment to keep them in the office all night, and they looked at me like I was crazy. They didn't even know where Anaheim was. Never heard of it. I only knew because I had to do document review out there as an associate once, for some client in the middle of some industrial park out in the sticks. I don't who these people were at the game. They weren't from Los Angeles, and they didn't look like lawyers. Well, some of them were probably from the city. Like Dodgers fans, they left the game in the sixth inning to beat the traffic back, even though there's never any traffic going back, it's just getting out of the city at 5:00. Because Anonymous Son was with me, I didn't even need to use the blow-up doll I have for the passenger seat so I can use the HOV lane and save some time. I love the HOV lanes. Very smart move by the state. The Angels won, although a 9th inning rally from the Indians made it close. Anonymous Son wanted a funnel cake. I didn't let him get one. It's a nice stadium out there. They renovated it a few years ago. Added a waterfall to the outfield, some fireworks when an Angel hits a home run. I think we should have vendors in the office who go around the halls giving away drinks and food. It would be really convenient to not have to get up to get something to eat. I'm going to bring it up at the next partner meeting. Since I got last minute tickets, they were pretty high up, but I gave an usher a $20 to let us sneak into the good seats, so it wasn't like I had to expose Anonymous Son to any poor people. My wife and I are trying to keep him away from those for as long as I can, to keep him unspoiled. Unspoiled may be the wrong word. Untainted. Unspoiled is harder. I sent an e-card to the incoming class of associates, just a week away from the Bar Exam. I hope they appreciated it. You can send one here, from me, to your colleagues taking the bar exam too. I thought it would be a nice service to provide, save you from having to write your own. I'm hoping for some failures this year. Not that it's good for the firm, but it's just so much fun to know. To watch someone wandering the halls, knowing he's thinking about how everyone around him knows he failed the bar. It's one of the highlights of the year.

For no real reason... except that I wrote this last season and forgot about it until I was cleaning out computer files today...

Continue reading this post »

Here's the free agent list out today.

Atlanta Braves
Franco, Julio    1B
Perez, Eduardo R.    C

Arizona Diamondbacks
Clayton, Royce    SS
Estes, Shawn    SP

Baltimore Orioles
Grimsley, Jason    RP
Marrero, Eli    OF

Boston Red Sox
Millar, Kevin    1B
Mueller, Bill    3B

Chicago Cubs
Burnitz, Jeromy #    OF

Cincinnati Reds
Cruz, Jacob    OF

Cleveland Indians
Elarton, Scott    SP
Gonzalez, Juan A.    OF
Howry, Bob    RP
Wickman, Bob    RP

Colorado Rockies
Greene, Todd #    C
Miceli, Dan    RP

Chicago White Sox
Konerko, Paul    1B

Detroit Tigers
Vina, Fernando    2B
White, Rondell    OF

Florida Marlins
Burnett, A.J.    SP
Encarnacion, Juan    OF
Gonzalez, Alex    SS
Harris, Lenny    DH
Moehler, Brian    SP
Quantrill, Paul    RP
Valdez, Ismael    SP

Houston Astros
None   

Kansas City Royals
Anderson, Brian    SP
Hocking, Denny    OF
Lima, Jose    SP

Los Angeles Angels
Byrd, Paul    SP
Molina, Ben    C

Los Angeles Dodgers
Dreifort, Darren    RP
Valentin, Jose    3B

Milwaukee Brewers
Helms, Wes    3B
Minnesota Twins
Mays, Joseph E. #    SP
Mulholland, Terry    RP
New York Mets
Anderson, Marlon    1B
Graves, Danny #    RP

New York Yankees
Flaherty, John    C
Lawton III, Matt    OF
Rodriguez, Felix    RP
Sierra, Ruben    DH

Oakland A's
Rincon, Ricardo    RP

Philadelphia Phillies
Martinez, Ramon E.    SS
Tucker, Michael    OF
Wagner, Billy    RP

Pittsburgh Pirates
Ward, Daryle    1B
San Diego Padres
Giles, Brian    OF
Hammond, Chris    RP
Hernandez, Ramon J.    C
Randa, Joe    3B
Seanez, Rudy    RP

Seattle Mariners
Nelson, Jeff    RP

San Francisco Giants
Winn, Randy #    OF

St. Louis Cardinals
Eldred, Cal    RP
Grudzielanek, Mark    2B
Nunez, Abraham O.    3B

Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Perez, Eduardo A.    1B

Texas Rangers
Wasdin, John    RP

Washington Nationals
Cruz, Deivi    2B
Eischen, Joey    RP
Wilson, Preston    OF
# Player and/or Club option

OK.  We're on life support right now.  Our playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.  

That's OK.  We never expected to be so close anyway.  Life ain't all bad all the time.  It's the expected loss of an unanticipated gain that has us all upset on this Sunday night.

(That and the fact that we failed to gain a game on the Angels, the most plastic, Disney-esque, fake, rubber-turd of a baseball team in the majors.)

I'm hoping for good baseball next week, but also thinking about 2006.  Hope "Springs" eternal in baseball and the G-n-G will always be back, thank goodness.

[And by the way, I was delighted at Kendall's rush to third.  He may have more pure guts than the rest of the <s>team</s> coaching staff combined.]

Taking Blez' and Olijerez77' opinions on what we need, I want to start a thread about changes.  So here goes:

1. Rich Harden healthiness (Blez).  I'd add, that "wellness" (which is in addition to healthiness, is way of life.  The As need to practice it, perhaps taking the lead in how basebal pros are used.
2. Crosby a fan of Happy California Real Cheese Cows (Blez).  He needs to seek medical attention, or better medical attention.  It's his own life and career he's dealing with.  Wellness.  Can't overemphasize it.  Did I mention wellness in Number One?  If the US government can emphasize it for its workforce, why not a company making money?  It just makes sense.
3. Let Hatty go (Olijerez77).  Agreed.  I remember the three 1B rotation and never liked it.  It was clear that the club was struggling to find a guy who could catch throws for outs and hit the ball well, and that should not be hard to find in this day and age.  It's a 1B for chrissakes, not a Vlad.  It's EASY.  After the pitcher and the catcher, the 1B is the most involved person in a game.  Plus, he will largely need to cover only a small area.  That's why POWER is his real bonus.  He doesn't need to be agile, short, fast, etc like a SS.  If a big hitter is needed, let it be the 1B.
4. Big hitter signing (Olijerez77).  Needed.  Small ball amplified by a Teixera (I'm a fan) like threat is badly needed in this club.

5. If Macha goes, give him a pat on the back and a gold watch and wish him the best.  He's good, and I like his style, but I'm not sure he can do more with this crop of players than he has already done.  The club should advertise and pimp Macha to another club  My only fear in this is that some loudmouth jerk (think offspring of Sciosa/Guillen) will turn up and upend what passes for calm harmony in the clubhouse, for 1-2 years.
6. Hire Bonds.  We need a DH who is such a threat that his presence at the plate affects a pitcher, his pitches, his suitability and the game's outcome.  Bonds is the only such person who might be available.  SF Chron is slagging him off.  Maybe he'll get pissed off and go all Jerry Rice on the worst side of the Bay.  We should take him, if given a chance.
7. Keep Kalero, trade Rincon.  Trade Kennedy.  Retire Yabu.
8. Kendall.  Love his hustle and retro style.  He doesn't tape or tar his bat.  He takes risks.  Risks don't work in this clubhouse, but might "Under New Management."  Trade him anyway.  If I recall, the As have a great crop of young catchers stored away.  Bring them up.  Kendall doesn't hit well enough to keep his job and he couldn't throw ME out if I tried to steal second.  There's a place for a Jason Kendall in baseball, but it isn't behind the plate in the Coliseum anymore.
9.  There's no place for Melheuse either.
10. We fixed the bullpen problems but we ignored the hitting problems.  Chavez has problems.  Consider trading him.

Old & Busted:  Moby

New Hotness:  Huston Street

Photo credit to almost reggie.
(I think!!!)

300 characters! >:(  Again!  I think this should be suspended for photo entries.  Not my crap, of course, but the real stuff like original pictures taken at games.  Those are pricess.

I'm working toward 300 charact---- ahhh, got it!

All,
I made some webspace for AN Art and put up some stuff I did before.  Please contribute!  Wallpaper, handbags, parody pics, etc and whaddevah (as they say in Hawaii and New York).  

http://homepage.mac.com/pfaelzer/AN_ARTWORK/PhotoAlbum10.html

I'd only ask that... it's for artwork, not player pics etc.  Let's see some of your creativity.  I know it's out there, I've already seen it!

To get your stuff to the web site, email it to me (full size, not thumbnails) at pfaelzer (at) mac.com.

Full credit to you given.  Tell me that you want your AN screen name or some other name included. Tell me if you want a copyright marker included (it's automatic under US law but you can have it put up by your name WITH NO EXTRA CHARGE).

Or, post it or a link to it (again, full size) in this thread.  So get going!  There's too much creativity around here to not show off!

Hi all,

I copied the two screensaver threads that people put up with their screens and pix to choose from, but they seem to have moved off the AN page, so I'll resurrect the threads here, if there's still interest.

Here's my first stab at a requested size:  1440 x 900.

It's a Zito screen and reflects his play as a Zen thing (koan? windup meditation? Zen and the Art of the Strikeout?).

PREVIEW:

BIG ONE IS HERE (150k).

I'm not too happy with it--if anyone has a clean (white background) autograph of Zito, I'd sure like to get hold of it and try again.

Let me know what you think!  I'm off for a few days and goofing around in PhotoShop, and trying not to paste Ronald McDonald's head on someone.

Tip of the hat to Blez for arranging AN Day 2005.  To say thanks, here's a small ditty you may have heard before.  Enjoy!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a pitching crew
That started out in Moneyball
As a dream that would come true.

Beane was a mighty thinking man
And Macha kept his calm
The Athletics set sail this spring
For a summer baseball tour, a summer baseball tour.

The schedule started getting rough
As injuries built up
If not for the courage of the Fearless Two
The Athletics would be lost, the Athletics would be lost.

The team took ground on the shore of this fantastic chilly bay
With Billy Beane, and Macha too,
The pitching staff, and the pen,
The outfield crew, the infield too
Are here on AN Isle!

And after the game, the closing credits song...

So this is the tale of an Oakland team
They'll stay for a long, long time
They'll need a brand new stadium
That's an uphill climb
Billy and his skipper too
will do their very best
to get us to the season's end
and the ALCS.
No Long, no Rangers, no Encino Man,
Not a single distraction.
Like a taco van and a real fan base,
We're as East Bay as can be.
So join us here each game my friend,
you're sure to get a laugh
From the AN regulars and the rest
Here on AN's site.

Ray Ratto had a column up last evening titled, "Will Beane Give Macha His Props?"  Dateline is Friday; it's not front page in the online edition.  It's propped in the online sports section between Slusser and Shea.

The column contains, so far as I can tell, the first publicly-available gargling from Ray Bay since the "Ratto Threshold" was crossed.  

Ratto spends the column slapping Billy Beane for not giving Ken Macha a contract extension, or else for being willing to let Macha move on.

Ratto observes that words are cheap -- he oughta know.  He points out that Beane can praise Macha all day but that don't mean squat when Macha goes to check his wallet.  

And he slags off GMs in general -- they don't do much when the team is winning four out of five games.

There are tangential references to the Giants' season, of course.  In fact, the entire first paragraph of the column is dedicated to them.  That's OK, I think, since the two clubs are so close in prestige, revenue, talent, management and collections of straphanging regional MSMers that one cannot be mentioned without the other (just like, now, Ratto and the "Ratto Threshold").  

Ratto calls Johnny Fisher "The Rumor" even as he dishes, without dissing, RUMINT on Dusty Baker replacing Macha.

Well.  Rehab always starts with a first step.  Getting Ratto to stop obsessing over the Giants and/or the conduct of Billy Beane, just like getting an alcoholic to stop dreaming of the next sip, is the challenge.  

vertig0 asked on 07/21/2005 what features we'd like to see in a new ballpark.  His poll, taken by 169 viewers, returned the following results:

A street past one of the fences with retail like Eutaw St at Camden Yards --  26 votes - 15 %
Condos or apartments overlooking the outfield -- 16 votes - 9 %
The 4-person minisuite/loge -- 11 votes - 6 %
A bar/pub with views of the field in LF or RF -- 16 votes - 9 %
A kids' play area such as the Coke Bottle at SBC or Fundamentals at Comiskey -- 3 votes - 1 %
Dugout-level seats and suites -- 13 votes - 7 %
Party decks/suites with room for 50 or more (AN Days?) -- 3 votes - 1 %
A grass berm in the outfield -- 9 votes - 5 %
Lots of bleachers like the old Coliseum setup -- 56 votes - 33 %
Techie stuff like WiFi, screens in the backs of seats for replays and ordering -- 16 votes - 9 %

I took the text commentary that followed the poll and came up with the following, to add to the poll.  There were some new, reallly good ideas and I wanted to figure out a way to summarize them in one (more or less) digestable post.  Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for starting this, vertig0.

Continue reading this post »

Check out Mike Sciosia's comments at
http://www.insidebayarea.com/athletics/ci_2869886

Excerpts:
"You look at the arms in the bullpen, the left-right balance, they've established, and their rotation is back where you expected it to be."

"It's a team that's driven by pitching. Now that it's in place, you see they are reaping the benefits."

"They are talented, and they've probably played the best baseball of any team the last month.  You could see the potential. It's happened before. The only thing different is it's not just the Big Three. Now it's a real balanced staff. They are getting contributions from everybody. They are for real.

Whatever.  Try to explain away losing 2 of 3 to this non-contender, all you want Sciosa, but you're still the Chief Rally Monkey of a chimp ball club.

Did I say chimp?  I meant chump.  Stop begging for Macha's job.  You don't fit the mold.  Your attempts to mind-game the A's young guns were exposed for what they are:  pure white-trash cheapness.  I'm surprised you didn't slap one of them with a paternity suit on the mound.  Clown.  

Stick to your Disneyesque fantasy of the Angels being a real ball club.  At the end of the day, the Rally Monkey will be sold to a zoo in Boise and the Angels -- once a real ball club, albeit a poor one -- will be a twisted footnote in some forgotten annex to baseball digest.

Ahem.

Sorry--needed to vent.

Thought I'd collect and post these gems from the <Insert SoCal Locale Here> Angels fans...

I( tried to warn you guys about Oaklands pitching staff but you wouldn't listen tomorrow is Zito and there is a reason that
Beane kept him instead of the other two

Most people here already know that Harden is a great pitcher. And Zito is more of a second half pitcher. I never thought any of these games would be easy.

I totally agree Rich Harden is a great young pitcher. The last five games he has been lights out against some tough competition. He is without a doubt the A's best pitcher and he will get paid when his contract is up.

My biggest question is why Hatcher doesn't seem to have a game plan when we face tough pitching did anyone try and bunt or manufacture any runs last night.

Beane got lucky once again... it's obvious he doesn't know what he's doing.

He's now drafted MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYERS Bonderman and Harden in the last few year and we've drafted some great minor leaguers, who really haven't done much at the major league level.

But Beane is just lucky. And I'm sure the "smarter" of us will once again dismiss Beane as existing only because of the big three and dumb luck. His A's team is now just 7 runs behind us in spite of spending about half the money (I THINK) on offense as we spend.
     Anyone but the close minded Beane haters would have to admit he may have something going on.
     Now some idiot will try to label me as A's Graffiti because I happen to think Beane is smarter than Stoneman. Well excuse me for having an opinion that is supported by lots of data.

And a finishing word about the slumping Vlad:
as long as you guys have vlad take every at bat for your team and promise that he'll swing at every first pitch. man, if that guy had an ounce of patience he could be the best hitter of all time. if you combined scott hatteberg's brain and strike zone judgement with vlad's raw talent, it would mean a player even better than bonds.

Check it out... some munchkins were clearly at work before today's game!

This is also a test of my ability to link to images and get them to show up here...

Ehhh, 300 characters, eh?  OK.

Check out maps.google.com.  They have some good close-in shots of the East Bay now.  What about the Port of Oakland's offer to donate land for a new stadium at the end of Jack London Square?  What about that Coliseum parking lot?  

Personally, I think that the Naval Air Station runway/tarmac would be a GREAT place for a stadium.  But, traffic in and out is a huge hurdle.  There would have to be a BART link out there.  A ferry terminal would help too, even if it just goes to Jack London Square and Bay Farm Island.

Is that 300 words???