SB Nation User Blog: Phildopip

One of my favorite all-time commercials.

Phildopip — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:31:48 -0000

One of my favorite all-time commercials.

Ah, summer...

Phildopip — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:23:14 -0000

Finally, FINALLY, summer arrives this weekend. Temperatures down here in Portland are going to be pushing 100 degrees, and it looks like all you Seattleites will be enjoying near-90 degree temperatures. So, in celebration of summer, I'll crack open a beer.

Great Divide Samurai Ale isn't very well loved on beeradvocate.com, but I don't care. It's refreshing, it's tasty, and I enjoy it, goddammit.

via www.ratebeer.com

Poll

Summer and beer go together like:

I didn't even know this was possible...

Phildopip — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:51:55 -0000

Bronson Arroyo had a negative gamescore (Bill James' gamescore) for his pitching performance yesterday. I honestly thought that was impossible. His line:

IP: 1

H: 11

R: 10

ER: 10

BB: 1

K: 1

HR: 3

Gamescore: -9

To put this into perspective Jeff Weaver's 2007 April 28th start (0.1 IP, 6 ER) had a gamescore of 12. That's probably the worst performance from a starting pitcher that I can think of. What about you guys? What's the worst start you can think of?

Matt Ryan stands to become the richest athlete EVER.

Phildopip — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:13:42 -0000

Just check out ESPN.com's feed to my Google page from today:

via i72.photobucket.com

Random 75 word fact o' the day:

Math rock is a rhythmically complex, guitar-based style of experimental rock music. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic dissonant that emerged in the late structures (including irregular stopping and starting), angular melodies, and chords.

A closely-related genre is post-rock, into which some of the same bands are classified; post-rock, however, tends to feature a "jazzier" drumming style. In many cases, post-rock is less technical, though this is not necessarily the case. As well, the dissonance common to many math rock bands is not as common in the post-rock genre (though it is still very present in some of the music).

The greatest day in the history of the world

Phildopip — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:42:07 -0000

Grand Theft Auto IV is released today. I put down my preorder on this puppy a couple of months ago, and if I could've skipped work today to play it, I would have. Unfortunately I had too much going on.

So, does anybody have it yet? Has anybody played it? Both Xbox Magazine and IGN have given it 10/10. IGN hasn't given any game a 10/10 since Soul Calibur in 1999.

Also, if anybody's down for some multiplayer on Xbox 360, my gamertag is Phildopip.

Poll

What are you looking to the most?

Early Season Stats: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Small Sample Sizes

Phildopip — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:45:53 -0000

Since the 2008 season is almost a month old now, I thought I'd take a stroll through Baseball Reference's 2008 leader boards to see if I could find some interesting things.

1. Albert Pujols has 27 walks (7 IBB) to only 7 strikeouts this year. He's putting up a Bonds-like .376/.535/.635 line right now.

2. Nate McLouth? Really? .333/.414/.627?

3. Kevin Kouzmanoff sure isn't making use of his majors-leading 113 at bats. .257/.286/.327.

4. How the frick does Paul Bako already have 2 triples? Hell, he's having a great year so far hitting .328/.411/.547. At the start of the 2007 season he was the worst offensive player in Yahoo Fantasy Baseball's estimation. You've come a long way, baby.

5. Manny Ramirez looks to be back in a big way. Last year he hit a disappointing .296/.388/.493. That was the first year his slugging had been below .550 since 1997. This year he's hitting .347/.413/.643. Though his BB/K ratio is looking pretty bad (10 walks to 26 strikeouts).

6. Emil Brown has 22 RBI already? WTF?

7. Ryan Howard is on pace for 237 strikeouts this year. Ruh rohs.

8. Michael Bourn's last 32 stolen base attempts: 31 steals, 1 time caught.

9. Jacoby Ellsbury career: 17 steals, 0 times caught.

10. Jose Lopez is tied for the lead in sacrifice hits with 4. The other players at the top of the list? Ryan Dempster, Braden Looper, Jeff Suppan, and David Eckstein. Uhh...

11. Kouzmanoff is having a bad year, but Tulowitzki is off to a worse start. He has made 93 outs in 112 plate appearances.

12. Cliff Lee. Huh? 31.2 innings, 11 hits surrendered, 2 RA, 1 ER, 2 BB, 29 K, 0.28 ERA, 1527 ERA+.

13. Tim Lincecum is good.

14. So is Ben Sheets.

15. John Smoltz, age 41, is striking out 12 batters per 9 innings. Too bad his shoulder is sore and he's going to see Dr. James Andrews.

16. Frankie Rodriguez is leading the league in saves. #2? Mr. George Sherrill.

17. Felix is leading the majors in strikeouts. Cool.

18. Roy Halladay already has 3 complete games. Is this guy's arm ever going to explode?

19. What happened to Fausto Carmona's control? Last year he walked 61 guys in 215 innings. This year he has walked 22 in 28 innings. However, his ERA is 17 points lower than last year.

20. Similarly, Tom Gorzelanny's control has disappeared. 68 walks in 207 innings last year. 22 walks in 22 innings this year. However, his era is 458 points higher than last year.

21. Barry Zito is not good.

22. Even though this is Felix's 4th year in the majors, he's still the 4th youngest player currently playing.

This guy is my new hero.

Phildopip — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:01:40 -0000

This guy is my new hero.

Whither groundballs, Felix?

Phildopip — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:14:29 -0000

The 2008 season is still new, but taking a peek at Felix’s statistics over at FanGraphs you can see that his groundball rate is down a good bit so far this year, as his his strikeout rate. Conversely, his walk rate is up. Is this small sample size noise, or is this something to keep an eye on?

GB% by year:
2005 (84.1 innings) – 67.1
2006 (191 innings) – 57.7
2007 (190.1 innings) – 60.8
2008 (37.2 innings) – 49.1

K/9 by year:
2005 – 8.22
2006 – 8.29
2007 – 7.80
2008 – 7.41

BB/9 by year:
2005 – 2.45
2006 – 2.83
2007 – 2.51
2008 – 2.87

Normally, I wouldn’t be so concerned about the strikeout rate as long as the groundball rate was increasing, but it’s taken a pretty significant hit so far this year. Couple that with the fact that the walks are on the rise as well, and I’m starting to get a little bit concerned. Also, glancing at his pitch velocity, you can see that they’re down pretty much across the board except for this changeup. Now, the weather is still cold so I’m less concerned about this, but I would think that with decreased velocity comes improved control. The rise in walk rate seems to discount this.

I’m probably overreacting to all of this…I just get concerned when the King is involved.

Poll

We should be

Rocky Bernard, I can quit you.

Phildopip — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:57:14 -0000

According to the Seattle Times, Rocky Bernard has been arrested for domestic violence.

I sure hope that this turns out to not be the case because, well, I love Rocky and I love the Shakedown. However, if it is true that Rocky is guilty of this then, well, fuck off Rocky. I can put up with a lot of stuff from professional athletes (I still have an irrational love for Barry Bonds, even though he's a dick and most likely a cheater), but abuse is one thing I can't put up with.

Portland Beavers opening day

Phildopip — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:56:30 -0000

A few friends and I are planning on heading out for the Portland Beavers opening night game. Are any Portland-area LL'ers interested in going? The game is at PGE Park on April 3rd. Game time is 7:05 PM.

We usually sit in the general admission area (pdb, I think you've said before that you have season tickets in the reserved seating section, right?) so if anybody is up for an evening of slumming in the cheap seats and heckling minor league players incessantly, we'll be there.

Poll

SB Nation User Blog: Phildopip

One of my favorite all-time commercials.

Ah, summer...

Summer and beer go together like:

I didn't even know this was possible...

Matt Ryan stands to become the richest athlete EVER.

The greatest day in the history of the world

What are you looking to the most?

Early Season Stats: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Small Sample Sizes

This guy is my new hero.

Whither groundballs, Felix?

We should be

Rocky Bernard, I can quit you.

Portland Beavers opening day

Felix and Bedard are: