To my fellow BayArea-ites (-ans doesn't work, for obvious reasons),

It appears a clinch at Al Davis's Toilet Bowl is looming.  There are now only a couple of things left to be decided:

1) On which day will they reach a MN of zero?  Looking more and more likely that it will be later in the series.

2) And in which section will LSB West be antlering and clawing en masse after the clincher?

We can't control the first, but let's see what we can do about that second one.

(aside: Why is it that when I google for a seat map of the Oakland Coliseum, the 2nd result is a link to a Dodgers domain-hosted url of the map?  Do McCourt's parking lot talents extend to the interwebs?  Strange...or just some bad SEO/SEM algorithm at MLB Advanced Media HQ)

Anyway, here's the map: http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/oak/ballpark/seating_chart_printable.jsp

I'm proposing Section 113, so we're right behind the Rangers' dugout.  This will maximize the chance that the TV crew gets a shot of us going apeshit crazy.  And the ushers will have left by the 8th inning, so it should be no problem for everyone to congregate and claw/antler each other until they kick us out of the stadium.

Who all will be there?  I'm in (should be fairly easy to recognize me from my profile photo on here), and I believe that GoET fellow is trekking to the stadium as well.  NorCalRangersFan, Baseball North.  Who else?  Let's get some callouts for other LSBers who will be in attendance.

Can't wait to experience this thing!  (Hold the Mantis, please)

Apologies if this has already been posted.  Or if this is better suited as a fanshot.  But holy hell, this is hilarious.  This is on opening day, after he coughed up (sharted out?) the win.  I wonder who's laughing next to his locker?  Is it a fellow Yankee or a journalist?  Check out Mo's reaction in the background too--it's almost like he can't believe that Chan Ho is telling the reporters this.  Friggin' priceless.

I've heard from a few people that Athletics Nation is getting their site redesign/upgrade tomorrow (Tuesday, 2/12).

Woohoo!  I'm sick of this 2003 design...

LSB can't be that far behind. But, of course, at the pace they've been on for the past couple of months since the redesign was promised, one would think that Ben was doing the coding. I kid, I kid...sort of.

ab03's GreaseMonkey troll script probably won't work after the redesign is rolled out.  But at least he wasn't ready for that Constitutional Law exam he should have been studying for...heh

Update [2008-2-11 15:16:41 by RangerMoto]: Apparently, the A's Nation new site rollout is happening TODAY (2/11)

Update [2008-2-11 16:26:58 by RangerMoto]: A's Nation is currently down: http://www.athleticsnation.com

Update [2008-2-11 22:23:43 by RangerMoto]: As some of you have noted, A's Nation is back up. Everyone should go over there now to claim your new global SBNation ID and bind it to your current LoneStarBall accounts. It looks like they're restricting you from setting up a current username if it already exists on any of the SBNation blogs. That was smart of them.

Ooooh, and they have Open ID support!

Update [2008-2-11 22:38:48 by RangerMoto]: The site is back offline for maintenance. Wow, they need to get their shit together. I can understand a 5 hour downtime to roll out new changes (database scripts need to be run, files pushed out, everything verified, etc.). But then you take the site down again?

My initial reaction to the new site? "Jesus, this thing loads slow" Sure enough, YSlow reported that it took 8.4 seconds. Not cool. Seems pretty feature-rich though, which can be a great or a terrible thing.

Update [2008-2-11 22:48:7 by RangerMoto]: And back online. That's the last update I'll do. Looks like we'll be getting recommended diaries & comments. Woohoo!

Athletics Nation's interesting approach to censorship:

http://athleticsnation.com/storyonly/2008/2/8/111355/8376

Maybe ab03 should just introduce them to GreaseMonkey...
                        

Apparently someone posted a video on YouTube earlier today, which depicted Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez cockfighting each other.  Well, to be exact, it was their roosters doing the fighting...to the death.

Obviously, YT (instructed by their corporate overlords--Google) yanked the video soon after it went up, but a few people got screenshots beforehand: http://homerderby.com/archives/1828

I don't see this as being nearly as bad as dogfighting, but I'm not sure why I think that way. Maybe because a rooster will never fetch me a beer from the fridge?

Via MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071214&content_id=2326595&vkey=hotstove2007&fe xt=.jsp

A's get 6 prospects from Arizona for Haren + 1 (Cust?) *Update [2007-12-14 18:40:36 by RangerMoto]: The 'plus one' is Connor Robertson*.

Also, the Diamondbacks get underperformers Qualls and Burke *Update [2007-12-14 18:40:36 by RangerMoto]: also Juan Gutierrez* from Houston in exchange for closer Valverde.      
     
     
     
     
     

This would appear to be the official aggregated list:

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/mitchells-list/

A TON of ex-Giants & A's, which would be expected.  The names that jump out at me and made me point and laugh: Kevin Brown, Dykstra, Gagne, Ankiel, FP Santangelo, Stanton.

I was sort of hoping for a really big sleeper name like Ripken or Gwynn or Jeter or Sandberg.  But obviously exclusion from this list doesn't indicate innocence.

Chad Allen
Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
Mike Bell
David Bell
Gary Bennett Jr.
Marvin Bernard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Giambi
Jeremi Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
David Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Randy Velarde
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Todd Williams
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

Time to reunite him with his old project, Kevin Millwood!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3060643

Thoughts? I know, I know. Not diary-worthy, but if Adam were to just enable Recommended Diaries, you could easily just not recommend it and the other great diaries would remain at the top. Just saying.       
        
        
       

Now that the playoffs are over for the Yank-shes and A-Rod didn't carry the team (a mere 4-15) like all the NY fans expected his salary to, where will he end up next year?

No, it's not official.  And I know there have been plenty of diaries on this very topic this season, but somebody had to start the offseason speculation and I sure as hell wasn't going to let that somebody be the Snarky 3000.

Poll on the right.

Poll

Where will ARod play in 2008?

23%

Chicago (NL) - A chance to be THE hero for the lovables

31 votes

25%

Los Angeles (AL) - Moreno is ready to moneywhip

33 votes

10%

Texas - Sharky, this one's for you

14 votes

3%

Los Angeles (NL) - They'd do it just to spite the Angles

4 votes

14%

San Francisco - The Magowans have $$ to burn & seats to fill

19 votes

10%

Detroit - AJM's bizarre fantasy world destination

13 votes

0%

Other - Where? Tampa Bay? Kansas City?

1 votes

11%

New York (AL) - He's opting out, don't vote for NY

15 votes

130 votes | Poll has closed

I've seen this linked around the intertubes and was wondering if anyone has a subscription so we could have some insight into how accurately PECOTA predicted the 2007 standings.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6035

Just a simple "yes, it predicted really freaking well" or "nah, they were about 50/50" would be fine.

Grant over at McCovey Chronicles has a fairly imaginative take on the whole Rick Ankiel "comeback" fiasco.

Ok, the format might be a tad hackish, but it kept me entertained for a few minutes.  Of course, the same can occasionally be said of a yarn strand...
        
        
    

Ok, I have all the evidence I need.

Sharky = Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney would be quaint if he weren't such a bigot

My favorite Sharky-esque quote:

My disinterest in baseball as a kid has lasted all my life. I'm still not interested in the game. I don't watch it on television or follow it in the newspaper. I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today's baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me. They're apparently very good but they haven't caught my interest. I also think baseball needs some rules changes, too. For example, the player who starts the game as pitcher should have to play all nine innings without a substitution. A pitcher hardly ever plays more than a few innings and then the manager replaces him with someone who isn't as good. I think baseball managers dominate the games more than the players do and more than coaches do in other sports.

That quote was from Andy Rooney, not Sharky.  I had to reread the byline just to make sure.  The only thing missing was an incoherent rant about liberals and jail-bait.

The guy just rambles on and on and newspapers publish this drivel???  No wonder traditional media has an entire leg in the grave.

Update [2007-8-23 11:24:28 by RangerMoto]: Forgot to mention that I found this on FJM

Fire Joe Morgan fillets another idiot baseball "writer".

My favorite exchange:

[Magglio] hits singles and doubles that contribute to winning ball games.

Dammit. I had no idea. ARod only hits the kind of singles that earn him, personally, money, which he uses to invest in blood diamond mines in Africa. And ARod's doubles -- besides taking runs off the board from his team -- are converted into energy that powers a rec center for Aryan nation youth gangs.

If you need a break from the draft today...or a break from reading Adam's ever-so-exhaustive list of the top 50 Rangers (ahem), this is hilarious.

Bad Kermit, at Hire Jim Essian, is chronicling the 126 worst Cubs of his lifetime.  It's pretty priceless, and impressive as hell that they've done 126.  This is the latest one.  #3: Alex Gonzalez

Gonzalez came to the Cubs from Toronto on December 10, 2001, as one of those alleged "great glove, power-hitting shortstops." Unfortunately for the Cubs, when you convert Canadian "great glove, power-hitting shortstops" into U.S. currency, they end up being "21-error, mediocre-power turds." Thanks a f@#$ing lot, Canada. And, by the way, what the f@#$ am I supposed to do with this penny? Get your wanna-be U.S. coins out of our circulation! Your money is about as good here as Gonzalez’s plate discipline. #s 2 & 1 will be released tomorrow.

Anybody have any idea what this translates as or who the characters are?  I'm guessing the lower right cel is Ron Washington, but other than him, I'm stumped. It's big for a jpeg, so you might have to exercise some patience as it downloads.

I came across it as I was checking out reaction to the Benitez trade over at McCovey Chronicles.

Or, for those of you image-blocking: http://imgnews.naver.com/image/223/2007/05/23/1179873449.jpg

Update [2007-6-1 2:56:29 by RangerMoto]: And here's the original link: http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=mlb&ctg=cartoon&mod=read&seq=334&office_id=223&article_id=0000000170

Yet Another Alex Rodriguez Contract Opt-Out Diary

I know this has been discussed at length, but Stark gives this possibility a (sort of) new twist.

From Jayson Stark's Latest Rumblings & Grumblings:

* Here's a fascinating Alex Rodriguez question we're now hearing baseball people kick around: If Scott Boras announces that his favorite opter-outer intends to exercise his bail-out clause, and the Yankees then re-sign him, would Texas still be on the hook for the $7 million a year it owes A-Rod in 2008, '09 and '10? The Yankees would no doubt argue that they're merely extending the old contract, so the Rangers' I.O.Him part of the deal would still stand. Texas obviously would have a slightly different view. And somebody at MLB would sure have a fun time officiating that debate.

I was going to call this diary "I Heart Adam thread", but some might take that the wrong way.

Dispute Snarky to your heart's content without feeding his ego by posting to his diary.           
                                                                          

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/03/baseball_long_a_political_past.html

So all but two MLB teams' stadia are located in Democratic congressional districts (Cincy & our Rangers are the exceptions).  Schmidt should go down in 08, leaving only Arlington red.

Discuss.

<insert requisite red vs. blue uniform color argument>                                

So I thought I'd throw this out there, unsolicited from AJM: what would you like to see done differently from/better than/in addition to what is already posted on this site?  

Hey, it worked for blockquotes, right?  Maybe we'll post some things that will pique Adam's or zywica's interest and they'll do a poll or something.
       

Universal Medical Systems (UMS) is claiming that baseballs  were juiced in 1998.

"Examining the CT images of Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball one can clearly see the synthetic ring around the core -- or 'pill' -- of the baseball," UMS president David Zavagno said. "While Mark McGwire may or may not have used illegal steroids, the evidence shows his ball -- under the governing body of the league -- was juiced."

...

UMS specifically examined the ball McGwire hit for No. 70 -- a record surpassed when Barry Bonds hit 73 homers in 2001. Zavagno said the company tested about 35 baseballs in all.

It's difficult to tell from the article if they did a CT scan of all 35 balls, or just the 70th home run ball.  Unless they are suggesting a conspiracy by MLB to get the record for McGwire or Sosa, that's an infinitesimal sample size.  There are more than 35 balls used in a single 9 inning game.  Not to mention the other 2,429 regular season games played.

Does anyone even care about what happened 9 years ago?  History will judge the most recent 20-25 year period as the "Age of PEDs" regardless, no?

Oh, and OT: Congratulations, Madame Speaker!  (I had to give props to my congresswoman)  Time to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its actions and inactions.

The Reds finally filed a grievance.  I'm sure the Cincinnati fans would like to file a grievance of their own, charging Krivsky with effing their team over for the next 5 years with all of his boneheaded trades and signings.
                                           

No slight against Adam (I think he runs an excellent blog), but I have some suggestions.

1. In stories and comments, could everyone start using the blockquote tags when quoting from other sources, in addition to including the URL to the source?  Simply using italics doesn't differentiate enough between your comments and the source's quotes.
2. Also, with the increase in diary frequency, can we have the ability to recommend diaries?  Like on A's Nation & Daily Kos?  I know I asked for this before and was shot down, but considering how many good diaries get posted and then are lost within a day, this could help keep the good ones around for the amount of time they deserve.

Anybody else have suggestions?  Add them below...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2589303
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Adam, have you considered adding 'Recommended Diary' capabilities to LSB?  I've seen it over at DailyKos & other Scoop sites.  Would love to see it over here...if for no other reason than to keep good discussions going (a la Ed Coffin's "Rangers' Core") and push worthless OT world cup diaries further down.

(apologies for needless editorializing RE: soccer)  ;-)                                                                                                          

Ok, time to spark this team with a good, old-fashioned managerial canning.

Get Rusty Greer, Cito Gaston, Eric Karros, Harold Reynolds, and John Wetteland on the phone.  Somebody, ANYBODY to run the clubhouse who can relate to these guys.  A simple "hey bud, we know you're a better player than you've been.  While you're working out the kinks, we're gonna have you rest some against lefties" can go a long way.  And it's clear that kind of heads-up isn't coming from Buck "The Stoic One" Showalter.

And if I owned it, this domain would be running on all cylinders....

Update [2006-8-1 10:9:7 by RangerMoto]: I also meant to include the obligatory vote of no-confidence in Buck's ridiculous 'face' and 'trust factor' personnel justifications...

FIRE BUCK!

...radio guys saying Eaton is missing his start because of food poisoning.  The Kronkster taking his spot.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

To keep us occupied during the ASB, it's time to post your favorite Sharky quote.  It can be a malaprop or just his basic run-of-the-mill pedophile reference.  Include a link for context if you feel so inclined.  This is just for fun, so no name calling!

I think we already know DJCahill's entry.

First place feels pretty nice...despite Buck's best efforts to tank the team.