SB Nation User Blog: Leopold Bloom

camera viridis quod aurum

Leopold Bloom — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 08:38:02 -0000

I should put my sign shop here to use.

I'm thinking someone out there has a really great A's-related logo/slogan/design, either AN-related or not. I'm thinking that we should collectively pick the best and I should make us all stickers--either bumper or no, whatever your preference.

And, if we can keep the size down to envelope size or smaller, I should be able to do it free of charge for all of us. Think of it as a holiday gift from your favorite turn of the century Irish Jew.

On an unrelated note, does anyone have a high resolution, somewhat panoramic photo of a pre-Mount Davis Coliseum they can share? I'm thinking of printing a bigger one up for my brother (not too large--like 12 by 18 or something similar, so it doesn't have to be too high res), matting and framing it. He was a bleacher regular before Al returned.

Thoughts, ideas, random curses directed at me? Feel free.

DLD 8.25.08 Well, we didn't lose the series...

Leopold Bloom — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:26:28 -0000

I've been house/dog sitting for my mother this past week, so I've not been around much. She's a shih tzu, and she's managed to enjoy the Olympics, despite the oppressive Chinese (Shih Tzus are supposedly Tibetan temple doggies, and Tibet, well, they're not going to brunch with the Chinese any time soon). We took a nap on Saturday, so we could stay up to watch the men's basketball finals at 2:30 am, EST. One thing this dog loves is sleeping. She rolls over on her back and snores louder than me. Her name is Sweetie Pie, and if you knew me, you'd understand the high comedy involved in me caring for a dog called Sweetie Pie.

But we've discovered that SP likes to both wrestle and be tossed, and she's completely fearless...and, as Sal will undoubtedly tell you, she can't really help her size, so...she's won me over.

Sweetie Pie sez we need at least one more (preferably three more) for the AN fantasy football league...contact me for more info.

Was this our Jackahan?

Is it me or is that picture of Jerry Rice on the homepage kinda creepy?

For those of you sitting on the edge of your seat, asking, "Did he or didn't he?" Yes, he did. Posnanski went to see Springsteen after arriving home from China.

That's all I got, kids. Feel free to dump away.

DLD 8.13.08 Sweltering.

Leopold Bloom — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:36:11 -0000

You know, the A's won for the third time in the last month. I live literally within 30 minutes of where the team they were playing holds their home games. I paid my cable provider an extra $200 to see the games this year. And I was without television to see Gio Gonzalez win his first game. In a season filled with inequities, frustrations and growing pains, one does not expect both local television and nationwide cable providers to exacerbate the pain one suffers. And yet, there it was.

My options? Strange you should ask.

The theme from MASH provides an alternative. Not one for me, though. This is not the end, my friends, no matter what the talking box with the pictures may show or not show.

Then again, mayhaps the answer lies here. That would provide all kinds of relief. I don't think I would ever have a problem, even if I had to hire a dozen of my own cameramen. But, then again, money's tight here in the glamorous world of sign-production, so maybe I could raise the funds.

Perhaps that's a silly thought. Maybe I just need a hobby. Just as long as I don't go all OCD on you...

Regardless, I think we can all agree, the MLB television rules are just crap. Really, they are. It's completely ridiculous that I could not watch the game yesterday. It goes a long way toward explaining why the Rays fanbase is considered transient. The game was not viewable in the Tampa area. Night. Game. Aargh.

Linkylinks...

SuSlu says:

According to a major-league source, Minnesota claimed left-hander Alan Embree on waivers, but the A's pulled him off the waiver wire.

Allow me to throw out a Nancy Kerrigan, "WHY?!" into the mix.

Susan also says that Swooney's broken. Sorry, girls.

Since I couldn't watch the A's game last night, I was forced to endure this marathon, which, I have to admit, probably provided a bit more offense than the A's game would have.

(oh, and we may have a new third baseman.):

Jack Hannahan's horrid road trip (2-for-36) earned him a seat on the bench and resulted in a promotion for Cliff Pennington, Oakland's first pick in the 2005 draft. Pennington, 24, played in the Futures Game last month and was leading all of the minors with 93 walks. He was 14 for his past 28 at Triple-A Sacramento, where he was batting .297 since being moved up from Double-A Midland on May 30.

"Obviously, I'm really excited," Pennington said. "I've been dreaming about this for a long time."

Pennington isn't usually a third baseman. He'd played just three games there this season, including his last two games at Sacramento.

"I'm pretty comfortable there," he said. "Obviously, the more time I'm there, I'll be better and feel more comfortable. It's a reaction position."

Given his lack of experience at third, of course the first play of the game found Pennington. Iwamura, the Rays' leadoff man, hit a foul ball down the left-field line, not the easiest of plays, and Pennington handled it with ease on the run. He went 0-for-3.

Forty-five games of rebuilding left. Can those impetuous A's make it two in a row tonight? Will Pennington prove to be the answer at third? Can we get more than five hits? Will I be able to see the game? Strap in, load up, hold on. We're in for a bumpy night.

Dump time.

DLD 8.6.08 -- Gimme Something to Believe In.

Leopold Bloom — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:02:51 -0000

Given the stomach punch we've all recently been subjected to, I've been thinking about what could possibly give us hope, here in this seemingly dark pit of despair. I've got something for all of us to believe in: believe in Frank Thomas.

I've done some thinking lately about our venerable DH and his legacy, and I've come to the conclusion that Mr. Thomas has valid reason to be very, very bitter. Thomas has been a vocal advocate for steroids testing for about 13 years. He was the only active player to openly talk to the Mitchell Report. He, if anyone is, is free from the taint of steroids.

I remember, as many of you do, the incredible feat it was to get to 30 home runs in a season, much less 40, 50, 60 or 70. If you couple the way in which home runs were hit prior to the steroids era and the numbers that Big Frank has put up without help, his stats are really impressive.

His awesomeness gets lost in the mix however. Several reasons:

1. Five of the top ten home run hitters of all-time, strangely enough, came to be in the steroids era. We don't have the answers to who and how and how long and all that. But we can, fairly safely I think, assume that not all of those players' numbers are legitimate. If they don't do steroids, Frank stands out more, as he should.

2. He played the majority of his career on the Southside. He was not blessed with a career in a major market, or at least not the top billing in a major market. The White Sox are the Bay Area A's, and the A's are the A's and Toronto is an afterthought in the AL East (I mean, when they're not spanking us). point is, he's never had the full attention of the media in the regular season.

3. He worked the count as well as anyone. Frank, even early in his career, was never opposed to taking a walk. If you didn't give him something to hit, he'd take his base. If you did, or made a mistake, he almost always made you pay for it. But contrary to what we at AN think, walks are not sexy.

4. His playoff experience...well, let's just say he has as much playoff experience in gold and green in one year as he did in 16 with the Sox. We gave him his only postseason winning series. He hasn't really had the media's full attention in the post-season.

5. His home run totals are consistent (thank you, Mr. Morgan) with the home run leaders in the pre-steroids era, also known as "not sexy." Here are his season totals for the last nineteen years: 7, 32, 24, 41, 38, 40, 40, 35, 29, 15, 43, 4, 28, 42, 18, 12, 39, 26, 7. As a point of reference, Reggie led the league in home runs four times. He had 32 in '73, 36 in '75, 41 in '80 and 39 in '82.

Frank Thomas is, essentially, the anti-Bonds. He apparently took the road less traveled. This is not so much an indictment of the steroids era, as much as a call for hailing a contrarian who refused to play along. So, we should, if nothing else, bathe in the splendor and glory that is The Big Hurt for the remainder of the season. He's our guy. And he's gotten the short end of the baseball legacy stick and he's managed to keep a good attitude about it, and let's face it, the guy's just awesome. Huge man-crush. 'Nuff said.

Okay, linky links:

SuSlu's worried about our closer's sleeping.

If Bob Geren says this about you:

"A real base-running mistake," Geren said.

is that the equivalent of a real manager calling you out?

SuSlu also said those bums in the GWN had the audacity to boo Big Frank on Monday. Well, Canada, allow me to say "Boo!" to you:

Frank Thomas, let go by the Blue Jays in April after he complained about diminished playing time, drew scattered boos in his first appearance in Toronto since he was released.

In case you missed it in yesterday's DLD, sslinger brought us emergency sandwich. Apologies for the repeat, but I didn't want anyone to miss it, and I wanted you all to note where the call(s) originated.

JoPo, Live at Budokan, er, China!

Read up on the hero of the day.

Fagitaboutit --this is in my neck of the woods--perhaps I should go up for a couple days and do an AN special report...

Jim Caple at ESPN (I know, I know--I'm sleeping with the enemy) has an interesting debate about closers and their changed role in baseball in the last twenty-five years, including quotes from BB. Billy is asked why the modern ball club will bring in their closer up by three, but not normally in a late-inning situations where the game is clearly on the line:

"I'll tell you why," Oakland general manager Billy Beane says. "It's the same reason more football coaches don't go for it on fourth-and-1. Because when it doesn't work, 30 of you guys come storming in wondering why the manager didn't go to the closer. It's turned into a situation where a lot of emotion is tied to that decision, just as a lot of emotion is tied to the fourth-down decision. Even if you know the odds, it's more comfortable being wrong when you go to the closer or the punter.

"The position has become very media-driven. It became a national story when Boston announced it would go with a bullpen by committee."

It will probably be less of a story in Oakland.

Dump away, peeps, dump away.

DLD 7.29.08 Royally Screwed

Leopold Bloom — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:46:42 -0000

With a name like Greinke, he's got to be good. Welcome to Bizarro A's land.

Posnanski's been hired by the military to discuss Moneyball. Not, as he notes, Michael Lewis or Bill James, but him. While restraining myself from making any sort of political statement here, that seems ill-informed.

Ken Tremendous at FJM had an extended JoeChat the other day, with this little bit in response to the Yankees possibly picking up our favorite lifelike bobblehead:

Joe Morgan: As great a player as he has been, you can't say how well he would do this year because he hasn't had spring training, hasn't had live pitching to hit against, and hasn't played period. [...] I'm not sure why Barry wants to play, since playing less than half a season would make him a hired gun, and his place in the history of the game is better than a hired gun.

This...this is why we do what we do.

Barry Bonds shouldn't come back this year...because it would tarnish his reputation?

Barry Bonds.

Being a "hired gun" would tarnish.

his repu.

tation.

Here are things that could tarnish Barry Bonds's reputation, at this point:

1. Committing double murder of Tom Brokaw and Dame Judi Dench
2. Defecting to Afghanistan, joining Taliban, leading Afghan baseball team to Gold medal over American team in Beijing
3. Running high-end dog fighting ring where the dog fights take place on Princess Diana's grave
4. Inventing time travel but instead of traveling back in time to kill Hitler using it to go back to 1989 in order to start taking steroids earlier than he originally did

Things that will not make a motherfletching dent in Barry Bonds's reputation:

1. Being labeled a "hired gun" by playing for the Yankees

dak at self-same spot sez we're like a walking razor, don't you watch our size, we're dangerous, we're so dangerous. Or we were in 2006. Hmm, never realized how much Peter Tosh looked like Avon Barksdale til right then...

SuSlu sez some old friends may soon drop in...

Someone's going to the courthouse this morning...

And if you missed Blez's link last night, Huddy's future's not too bright right now.

Dump away.

DLD 7.23.08 Do They Have Pizza in What?

Leopold Bloom — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:10:36 -0000

Wakey, wakey--eggs and bac-y. Clearly, Quentin gives all the best lines to Michael Madsen and Sam Jackson. You've got a 9:40am start today. Shoot, by the time you're ready to wake up and listen to some KK call some BB, I'm almost ready for lunch. Work precludes my attendance today, so I thought I'd drone on endlessly in a DLD instead.

My pleas to the Baseball Gods on Monday proved to be both productive and cathartic. It also seemed to touch upon the world of pizza, one of my favoritest things (hey, I love the pie, but I also love the MILFs...). But I want to go deeper.

First we have to ask why talk about pizza? This is, after all, a baseball blog. With the way our boys have played (sans last evening), we need a big slice of comfort. And while this asshat may have felt that April was the cruelest month, I vote that for at least half of the baseball faithful, July proves to be the front-runner of that race. While we writhe in the discomfort of not really running in this race, let us discuss more important matters. Namely, pizza.

(As an aside, in order to be an intellectual snob, it's important to note that T.S. does not stand for Totally Shy or Totally Sexy, and while referring to him as such in the early eighties may have scored you wow points [aka cultural capital] with the intelligencia, today it is a dead giveaway that you read authors who never quite lived up to their potential [in a sad, Dan Johnson kinda way] or you watch way too many old Robin Williams movies. In either case, chances are that they will type out anagrams to one another, making fun of your clothes and your cat's name. They are all laughing at you, secretly, behind your back. There's nowhere to run.)

But...pizza, yes, we were discussing pizza. We need a consensus. I come from the mean streets of South Bend, Indiana originally (part of that article says that South Bend averages 293 days a year of cloudy or partly cloudy skies. They're not lying--it is always OVERCAST there--imagine Seattle, but much more repressed, much less heroin and significantly hotter or colder, as the season dictates), and in South Bend, we were partial to a now-defunct place by the name of Rathskeller, which is a German name, but served Italian food--yes, Indiana was and remains very, very confused. Also, when we'd go see the A's try to beat those damned South Siders, we'd waddle on up to Gino's East, before it whored itself out and became the corporate soulless entity it is today. That was the best pizza I've ever had, Gino's East in the days of the five-story flat on Superior. It is now defunct.

Upon my return to Chicago in 2005, parked on the South Side like i was, I was partial to Medici on 57th (they had the best crusts--best bread--they owned a bakery too, and they let you write on the walls too, just like old Gino's East) and, strangely a thin-crust place by the name of Italian Fiesta Pizzeria. See, I'm partial to Chicago style pizza, and while I will admit that New York style does have its merits, you're not making the poll. So there. Vote early, vote often.

A couple more links:

It could be worse. Posnanski reminds us that at least we don't have Jimmy Gobble.

I'm not sure, but this may be the coolest thing I've ever seen online: in honor of Monkeyball, who may have actually wrote it.

I understand that Fergalicious is about making them boys go loco. But what exactly puts the boys on rock, rock? I mean, I understand it's F to the E and she keeps her body vicious (by apparently spending way too much time in an Olivia Newton-John-themed gym). But what the hell does putting the boys on rock, rock mean? Can someone explain?

What any of this has to do with baseball is beyond me. But it's gotta feel good to win a game now, don't it, AN? Feel free to dump. Let's get those pesky Rays today. Baseball Gods, are you with me?

Poll

What is the bestest pizza pie there is?

Round Table (shameless Coliseum nod)

11 votes

Zachary's in Berkeley

22 votes

Old Chicago in Petaluma

4 votes

My grandmother, Cecilia, made the best pie--now a fangu!

1 votes

Some random joint in NYC

11 votes

Some random joint in Chicago

6 votes

Some random joint in some random town

19 votes

Crusty Louie's in Sarasota

0 votes

Other (please note below)

13 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

Baseball Gods, hear my supplication!

Leopold Bloom — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:57:23 -0000

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not sure that radio and/or television can convey how truly pathetic this team looked tonight. You had to be there in person, suffering the humiliation of wearing your team's colors while the home team stomped them like the cops, en masse, taking down an emaciated, delusional meth-head who thinks the voices he hears have given him magical powers.

Ten K's. I got a free pizza. For watching my team demoralized before another team's crowd. The A's get publicly eviscerated and I get a free pizza.

Allow me to speak directly to the 25 men we brought with us to the greater Tampa/St. Pete region:

"Fellas, I know the Yankees series sucked, I know the way the Angels series ended sucked, but DAMN IT, YOU'RE NOT THE GOD DAMN ROYALS! NOW GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND PLAY WITH A LITTLE BIT OF PRIDE AND REALIZE THERE ARE STILL SOME OF US OUT HERE THAT BLEED GREEN AND GOLD!"

"I have suffered through the eighties and I have suffered through the nineties, but I've never been embarrassed to be an A's fan, until tonight. That was pathetic. I would have preferred that the 25 of you failed to appear at the Trop tonight than to bestow upon us the performance you gave."

(exhales)

Now, that said, I think we can move forward. They will not continue to look as pathetic as they looked tonight. They simply could not. To remain that apathetic to the baseball to be played that lies before them would hurt them on a individual level.

Also to that end, please allow me the following:

Baseball Gods, I humbly and solemnly burn this ticket with the free pizza it holds in the solemn hope that you will hear my pleas and not allow this team to turn in another performance as listless and pathetic as the one I've witnessed this evening. Please hear my most humble supplications to you. These guys are much better ballplayers and, as angry as their non-participation this evening may have made you, please allow them to move forward from it, strike it from their heads and their hearts and remind them why it is they play this game.

Your humble and loyal servant,

Amen.

...now, let us move forward and never speak of this again.

Realistic expectations

Leopold Bloom — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:37:46 -0000

I know how disappointed we've all been by a lot of these players. DB, Crosby, Email, Hannahan, Murphy, T-Buck, and to a lesser extent, Cust come to mind (though with Cust, there is the famous Dennis Green defense). However, in stark contrast to our recent struggles and seeming inability to field anything above a AAAA club, I have to remember there have been some really bright points:

Suzuki is WAY beyond anything any of us would have dared hoped for two years ago.
Swooney's been great, both offensively and especially defensively. He gets big hits as opportune times and has an accurate arm from the outfield. Just ask A-Rod.
CarGo's been really good--he's hitting pretty well, and his fielding is good too. He looks like the real deal.
The pitching's been pretty damn impressive--Greg Smith has some real movement. If and when he learns to go after hitters (something I think he will learn while with the A's), he could be really special.
Gallagher's in the same boat--some of his stuff is very impressive. If he can learn a little more, get a little more experience under his belt, he could really flourish.
Duke's transitioned into the starters role really well. As much as I doubt his durability, he's so far proved me wrong. And he's lights out with no real speed, something that could definitely be passed onto both Smith and Gallagher.
Eveland's a solid number four pitcher. We'd be lucky to have him as our four or five for the next two or three years. If our teams could score runs, his record would be significantly better. He holds the other team down long enough for the A's to win.
Bullpen was incredible the first half. They've come down to earth a little over the last month or so, but they were great. Santiago Casilla was not hittable before he went on the DL, which bodes well for his future, when he's completely healthy.
Blevins looks very capable of regular set-up work. He did awesome yesterday vs. the Yankees. He held them when he had no business holding them. Just a real "ice-water in the veins" performance from a young man.
Ziggy's been our diamond. We knew him before anyone else did. And he's just awesome this year.

Right there, I've listed ten players to be excited about, very excited about. This does not include anything on a couple of guys who we already know well--Ellis and Chavy. Nor does it talk about Street, who has fallen on a rough patch here, but very well could return to old form next season after getting completely healthy (provided we don't trade him between now and the 31st) . Nor does it talk about Bankston or Patterson or Donaldson or Cardenas, or any of the other guys that BB has reloaded our farm system with. We are not in trouble.

These are not gloomy days. Yes, we got swept by the hated Yankees. Yes, it sucks to be kind of out of it in July. And I do understand the difference between potential and outcome, and I understand the deep-seated desire within all of us as A's lovers to WIN NOW! But, damn, y'all, this is going to be a really good team, real soon here. We've stayed competitive with everyone for a half a season now, before the injuries started piling up, in a year that we were told we were folding before the flop.

We are living in interesting times and our baseball team is about to be really, really good in a short amount of time. Anyone who waited through the 90s or the late 70s, early and mid 80s (minus BillyBall) with me for them to get good again knows how much that sucks. Two years to completely turn a team around is nothing compared to a decade and a half. Patience, my patients, I prescribe patience.

DLD 7.17.08

Leopold Bloom — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:48:44 -0000

So here comes the second half of the season! That's kind of a lie, though. We're a good dozen past the halfway point. No A's today as we gather in Gotham, but there's a fun little slate for today. A day without baseball is not a good day. And, as Steve Martin reminds us, a day without sunshine is like...night.

Susan appears to be optimistic toward our second half, err, 13/32ths...give or take. The reason? Pitching pitching pitching!

Joe Posnanski waxes on about old stadiums in a manner most of us will about the Coliseum in a decade or so. I was at the old Comiskey, and he's right--the new one, which was built right next to the old one, seemed exactly the same. The weirdest, now-defunct park I went to was the Rangers old digs in Arlington. My brother and I, on the road ala Jack Kerouac to see Farm Aid 2, stopped by and it was...odd.

Apparently, it was a converted AAA park and it felt like it. And not in that good, cozy Rivercats way. For example, we sat in the outfield, which were metal bleachers (note: not a good idea for Texas in the summertime) and seemed to be only five rows deep, though the link to the pic above would suggest my memory has had a Sebaldian turn in the last twenty years...no matter.

Psychic powers and a chocolate yearning led this French tart to space travel. Those French and their psionics...

Grad school's looking to be like more and more of a mistake...I knew I should've became a drug dealer!