SBNation.com User Blog: Loon from Left

It's time we addressed the REAL stadium issue

Loon from Left — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:39:44 -0000

Wolff's talk about a new Fenway or Wrigley leads me to wonder: What does he plan to do with the left field fence? Will powerful electromagnetic fields attempt to duplicate Chicago's ground-rule ivy or the line-drive-killing, fly-ball-glorifying effects of the green monster? Will the wall around the stadium be a gigantic mobius strip, with the half-twist out in left, ensuring that any ball hit out there will fall into an interdimensional vortex and never return? Or does Wolff just mean that once he's built this place, he doesn't want to spring for a new one for at least 90 years?
All this is just distracting us from the real issue: by building in Fremont, Wolff is giving up on the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to go with the one stadium plan that everyone can agree on. Monkeyball's proposed floating stadium would not only be the greatest ballpark in baseball history; when sailing in international waters, it could be a country unto itself! To this end, and to supplement the great Monkey's versification, I have composed an unofficial national anthem for this new Athletics-Nation-state-to-be:

When A's, at Monkeyball's command,
Played ball upon the azure main,
From all the corners of Oak-land,
Athletics Nation sang this strain:

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Huston never, never, never shall blow saves!

Sports nations not so blest as we,
Must all to losing seasons fall,
While thou shall flourish on the sea,
The green-clad envy of them all.

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Win divisions just as oft as Glavine's Braves!

Still more Milt and Swish shall thou dance,
More joyous with each home-run stroke.
Your mighty blasts that tear the skies,
Above the bay and Land of Oak.

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Smite the baseball with thy mighty wooden staves!

Thee basement tyrants e'er shall claim,
And their attempts to bend thee down,
Will but arouse thy generous flame.
And yield great pics for thy renown.

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Wear the old-school high-socks every woman craves!

To thee belongs the whole East Bay,
Thy city shall be Oakland still,
Yet you may sail to San Jose;
From every shore, thy bleachers fill!

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Not named for a parking lot that Wolff's cash paves!

The muses still, in A-N found,
Shall to thy game-day threads repair,
Thy runs with new-thread mojo crowned,
N-Rafs cheering from everywhere!

Go Athletics!
Athletics rule the waves!
Win the World Series while Joe Morgan raves!

Poll

Can it be done?

Yes, yes, yes! Sail out of California waters, and hellllllo bleachers beer hawkers!

2 votes

No question! Revenues would skyrocket, and the cost of building a gigantic ship is nothing to the price of bay area real estate!

1 votes

Certainly! Just call up Wolff and threaten to write more of these if he won't agree!

1 votes

For sure! And once the A's have their own country, Haren can carry medicinal herbs in his diplomatic pouch!

3 votes

You bet! Technical difficulties are easy to surmount once you have an unofficial anthem!

1 votes

Yeah! Bring on the concession stands with $30 seasickness pills!

1 votes

Sure thing! I have no idea what you're talking about, but sign me up for the bandwagon!

3 votes

Of course it can! But leave the rhyming to the monkey, you freakish, bear-child-loving lake bird!

0 votes

No. I am totally lame, and suck at life, and am therefore too stupid to recognize Monkeyball's floating stadium idea for the pure, untarnished genius that it is.

7 votes

Absolutely! Buy a couple decomissionsed aircraft carriers, and slap the stadium on top of 'em like a catameran!

11 votes

30 votes | Poll has closed

One lunatic's "Keys To The [rest of the] ALCS!"

Loon from Left — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:03:03 -0000

I originally posted this diary over at Bleed Cubbie Blue, but since interest in the Sox/Angels series is just as strong over here, I figured I'd cross-post it (with a few slight changes)....

I worked this out coming home from work last night, turned on the game (on the radio -- despite Joe Morgan's color "analysis," I'll take Jon Miller's descriptions over a FOX TV broadcast any day of the week) and almost immediately heard Pods getting caught stealing. So now that it's too late for me to look like a game 1 prophet, probably the rest of the series will go exactly against my expectations. Even so....

I originally posted this diary over at Bleed Cubbie Blue, but since interest in the Sox/Angels series is just as strong over here, I figured I'd cross-post it (with a few slight changes)....

1. For the White Sox to win, Pods must stay out of outs (this also applies to the other "basestealers" on the team, to say nothing of Pierzynsky, but first batters first). This isn't the same as the common wisdom that he must get on base (to disrupt the opponent and/or advance around the basepaths with his Mad Basestealing Skillz) -- yes, he needs to get on base, but it's much more important for him to stay on base (until he scores or someone else ends the inning) than for him to steal bases, "make things happen," or otherwise play "smart ball." Pods has stolen about a million bases this year, but he's also been thrown out about half a million times, and the White Sox can't afford for their leadoff hitter to turn into an out any more often than he already does at the plate. Pods can be a legitimate threat on the basepaths when Jason Kendall is trying to throw him out, but when Bengie Molina's the backstop, Pods and his teammates need to be content with the bases they have. There may be times in the series when a steal would be very valuable and Pods can get a great jump; I'm not saying that the steal should be completely removed from the White Sox's game ... but it's not the real reason they won so many games this season, and they need to realize that actually good opportunities to steal a base will be rare.
2. The 'pens: Anaheim's bullpen is far more vulnerable than it looks, especially after the grind of the Yankees series. If the Sox can be patient enough at the plate against starters and bullpen alike, they'll have a much better chance of winning the series. It's possible the same can be said of the White Sox 'pen -- I suspect its overall numbers are strongly improved by the starters' excellent work, which allowed the relievers to a) stay rested, and b) chalk up a bullpen ERA consisting primarily of work by their best relievers (you don't use a long man when your starter goes 7 strong). The Chicago starters are still excellent though, and the Angels are not a terribly patient team, so this shouldn't work against the White Sox in this series. On the other hand, if the Sox aren't patient themselves (or if they save the Angels a bunch of pitches by making "smartball" outs on the basepaths) Anaheim's vaunted bullpen really will give them fits.
3. Game 2: The White Sox should win tonight, and I'm going to go ahead and predict they will. If they can also force Scioscia to over-extend his bullpen, they'll have a very good chance of taking the series in the end. If they get the win but Washburn(?) throws a complete game loss or the Sox take a big early lead but don't manage to chase Gregg and Yan before the 8th, the Angels will be in pretty good shape going into Anaheim. On the other side, if the White Sox manage to lose game 2, I'm going to go ahead and declare their season over.
4. Game 5: I'd say "if necessary," but I'm predicting the Sox take at least game 2, and I think there's a good chance they'll be 2-2 after four. Regardless of where the series stands at that point, the White Sox need to win Game 5, if only because it should be their best single-game matchup after tonight. The Angels will start either Byrd again -- in which case the Sox had better solve him, since he's the worst starter on the Anaheim staff -- or tonight's starter on short rest; if he goes long tonight, he shouldn't be able to on Sunday, and if he's pulled early tonight and the Sox have done what they need to do in games 3&4, the Angels' bullpen will be running on fumes.

Poll

What's the /real/ key to the ALCS?

Smart Ball(TM)

0 votes

Fans remembering to use their lucky pencils

1 votes

Pods and company (not) running into outs

5 votes

Playoff Experience(TM) and Veteran Savvy(TM)

0 votes

Angels' starters (not) going long enough to save/restore their bullpen

1 votes

Drawing walks and hitting home runs

2 votes

Sox (not) taking advantage of Angels' tired players and depleted (i.e. no Colon) pitching staff

1 votes

Keeping Pods or Figgins off the bases

0 votes

Who cares?! It's not the A's!!!

4 votes

Wearing high socks

5 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

One lunatic's "Keys To The [rest of the] ALCS!"

Loon from Left — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:24:46 -0000

1. For the White Sox to win, Pods must stay out of outs (this also applies to the other "basestealers" on the team, to say nothing of Pierzinsky, but first batters first). This isn't the same as the common wisdom that he must get on base (to disrupt the opponent and/or advance around the basepaths with his Mad Basestealing Skillz) -- yes, he needs to get on base, but it's much more important for him to stay on base (until he scores or someone else ends the inning) than for him to steal bases, "make things happen," or otherwise play "smart ball." Pods has stolen about a million bases this year, but he's also been thrown out about half a million times, and the White Sox can't afford for their leadoff hitter to turn into an out any more often than he already does at the plate. Pods can be a legitimate threat on the basepaths when Michael Barrett is trying to throw him out, but when Bengie Molina's the backstop, Pods and his teammates need to be content with the bases they have. There may be times in the series when a steal would be very valuable and Pods can get a great jump; I'm not saying that the steal should be completely removed from the White Sox's game ... but it's not the real reason they won so many games this season, and they need to realize that actually good opportunities to steal a base will be rare.
2. The 'pens: Anaheim's bullpen is far more vulnerable than it looks, especially after the grind of the Yankees series. If the Sox can be patient enough at the plate against starters and bullpen alike, they'll have a much better chance of winning the series. It's possible the same can be said of the White Sox 'pen -- I suspect its overall numbers are strongly improved by the starters' excellent work, which allowed the relievers to a) stay rested, and b) chalk up a bullpen ERA consisting primarily of work by their best relievers (you don't use a long man when your starter goes 7 strong). The Chicago starters are still excellent though, and the Angels are not a terribly patient team, so this shouldn't work against the White Sox in this series. On the other hand, if the Sox aren't patient themselves (or if they save the Angels a bunch of pitches by making "smartball" outs on the basepaths) Anaheim's vaunted bullpen really will give them fits.
3. Game 2: The White Sox should win tonight, and I'm going to go ahead and predict they will. If they can also force Scioscia to over-extend his bullpen, they'll have a very good chance of taking the series in the end. If they get the win but Washburn(?) throws a complete game loss or the Sox take a big early lead but don't manage to chase Gregg and Yan before the 8th, the Angels will be in pretty good shape going into Anaheim. On the other side, if the White Sox manage to lose game 2, I'm going to go ahead and declare their season over.
4. Game 5: I'd say "if necessary," but I'm predicting the Sox take at least game 2, and I think there's a good chance they'll be 2-2 after four. Regardless of where the series stands at that point, the White Sox need to win Game 5, if only because it should be their best single-game matchup after tonight. The Angels will start either Byrd again -- in which case the Sox had better solve him, since he's the worst starter on the Anaheim staff -- or tonight's starter on short rest; if he goes long tonight, he shouldn't be able to on Sunday, and if he's pulled early tonight and the Sox have done what they need to do in games 3&4, the Angels' bullpen will be running on fumes.
So what do you think? What have I missed? Do you even care? Is it apparent that I'm a Chicago fan in this series even though the team is not the Cubs? Should I therefore be forbidden to post a diary ever again?

Poll

What's the /real/ key to the ALCS?

Sox (not) taking advantage of Angels' tired players and depleted (i.e. no Colon) pitching staff

0 votes

Who cares?! It's not the Cubs!!!

3 votes

Smart Ball(TM)

0 votes

Playoff Experience(TM) and Veteran Savvy(TM)

0 votes

Drawing walks and hitting homeruns

0 votes

Keeping Pods or Figgins off the bases

0 votes

High socks or low socks

0 votes

Which team's fans remember to use their lucky pencils

6 votes

Pods and company (not) running into outs

2 votes

Angels' starters (not) going long enough to restore their bullpen

1 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed