SB Nation User Blog: notah8er

christ you know it ain't easy

notah8er — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:35:36 -0000

being a prophet is never easy

Ah, the slings and arrows wielded by inferior minds, living blissfully free of the burden of basic faculties such as sight, hearing, taste...

Do I envy these souls, or consider them lesser beings? No, neither is the case. For I know that it is in the nature of we hairless monkeys to seek solace in some fetish, some basalt deity which serves as an anchor on the tempest-tossed seas that constitute this mortal coil.

I know, I know, we all wanted to believe that the excessive hair product perched atop BB's dome housed something special, something remarkable which represented something higher in ourselves - an ability to make lemonade out of lemons, victory out of meager resources. When we saw him selling used cars on the tube, we didn't want to believe that this was a glimpse into his true nature, much as we didn't want to believe that our beloved team was merely the flashy wristwatch gracing the limbs of a real estate cardshark - and probably not a real rolex at that.

Now, as Warren Buffett has said, we see who has been swimming naked now that the tide has gone out. Who is left with a string of broken promises and compromised assets now that the real estate bubble has popped and only the truly oxygen-deprived would consider paying 500K for a condo in the traffic-choked salt swamps of Alviso East... Who is left with nothing but memories and a Bobby Kielty bobblehead...

Poll

probable 2008 A's finish

worst in the MLB

4 votes

Oakland still has a baseball team?

17 votes

worst in the AL west

75 votes

worst in the AL

8 votes

104 votes | Poll has closed

nook and jack = shockers

notah8er — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:33:11 -0000

sorry, but that's a real heartbreaker and shocker in both cases.

Nook and Jack were two of the more interesting stories of the baseball year, and I'm personally saddened to hear the news in both cases. While I never got on the Jack train (and still think the a's are consciously self-destructing out of spite), Nook was/is an exciting young player who really helped make the Nationals a pleasure to watch (and a holy terror for Mets fans).

The really sad thing is that one wonders about just a few months ago - did Cust have chemical help in his super slugger summer? Was Nook incredibly fast on the bases for more than one reason?

The older guys don't bother me at all for some reason, but seeing the minor league cinderella and the fastest young guy in the NL get named is a bummer.

Poll

Nook Logan future HOFer?

Pete should however not be in the HOF

2 votes

Pete has nothing to do with Nook or Jack give me my 5 minutes back

22 votes

Yes

5 votes

No

12 votes

Pete Rose is an american hero who never roided

15 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

sluggers for sale

notah8er — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:55:35 -0000

imagine, if the CA condo market was still soaring instead of going belly-up, we might be splurging on one of these guys - anywho...

so barroid, a-rod and dunn are all theoretically on the auction block unless I'm mistaken.. who will buy? who would like to sample their supply? who's prepared to pay the price for a trip to... ahem...

here's a better question - who in their right mind would want ANY of them? one is almost certainly totally washed up, the next is perhaps the worst postseason batter of all times, and the third is enough of a fan dancer to make barroid sr seem patient (God rest his soul) at the plate.

is there any chance we could see a combo of two of these guys in a lineup?

or imagine this as next year's yankees:

4 - a. rodriguez
5 - a. dunn
6 - b. bonds

is it possible to have four strike-outs in an inning? (why yes, of course, just ask joba..)

Poll

best deal of the 3 fanners, uh tenors, uh...

a-dunn @ 15 million / year

41 votes

barroid @ 10 million / year

60 votes

a-rod @ 30 million / year

39 votes

140 votes | Poll has closed

the al west needs 5 teams

notah8er — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:44:38 -0000

time to face facts, kids, the out-of-whack league setup isn't working. it exacerbates the quirkiness that comes with the crosstown interleague 6 games, which seriously warped the schedule already.

the experiment known as 5-6-5-5-5-4 has come to a logical end.

this wasn't a serious problem for the division until the a's began this new era of suckage - but now, we have 3 mediocre-to-bad teams and one team with a few good starters and vlad guerrero (which, of course, is enough to roll the division rivals 2/3 times for the next few years).

basically, only the angels are spending big money, and only the angels have a good position in a big tv market.

we need some new blood. the AL in general is boooo-ring.

the only question is who do we poach from the nl?

and/or who do we move out of the nlc into the nlw (or e) in making such a move?

could we even (gasp) do a triple move, from nlc to nlw plus nlw to alc than alc to alw?

or is this an opportunity for a new western franchise, and should the nlc not be messed with?

Poll

who would make the best addition to the AL west?

a new reno team

0 votes

cinci reds

1 votes

a new vegas team

16 votes

rockies

17 votes

a new portland team

19 votes

dbacks

18 votes

this is a horrible idea, leave it alone

23 votes

a new vancouver BC team (my personal fave)

4 votes

a new sacto team

4 votes

kc royals

14 votes

116 votes | Poll has closed

let us now praise phamous men

notah8er — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:51:16 -0000

if tonight's ESPN highlights of 90% phillies make you wretch, you may not want to watch the postseaston

so the clear winners for 'best august' goes to the phillies, whose offense has been consistently amazing for the past month against some extremely tough (pre-AS #s, at least) pitching. the funny thing is that they also seeded a nice run by the padres in a couple of their few losses in the past few weeks - giving us a preview of the paper-rock-scissors which always seems to happen in playoff matchups.

otherwise, nothing has happened of note in the pennant race lately - central suckage in both leagues was painfully obvious a month ago.

who will be the team of september? i know who WON'T be that team - the new york yankees - but that's about it for my strong convictions - I could see every single race resolving almost exactly where it is now quite easily.

Poll

can philly make it all the way to the big dance?

who cares about NL garbage

17 votes

yes, but pete rose is a b-grade ty cobb

2 votes

philly has a baseball team?

3 votes

no, they'll get the flag but lose to boston

1 votes

yes, and pete rose is the greatest player in history

3 votes

of course not, they'll be lucky to get a card

4 votes

nlcs heartbreaker due to miss the pennant

5 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

the struggle with .500 NEXT year

notah8er — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:01:02 -0000

this year is already into week 3 of glorified pre-spring training for the green and gold. I wish I could say that next year looked better.

But it really doesn't. There isn't a single team in the AL that the A's can be expected to beat at this point, with the possible exception of the Rangers. Cust's tag-out at the plate said everything about the tampa series (though I think it was in the context of a win)...

Is this really what we've become? is it really a discount Adam Dunn who was in triple AAA for years as our offensive centerpiece? has haren already peaked?

In any case, the truly wretched giants are the only "gimmes" in the oakland schedule. let's just hope next year's interleague include some bad teams like the nats. even KC consistently beats us, while the M's could easily be sporting a gleaming new pennant next spring. yikes.

oh well, bobby kielty, eric byrnes, jason kendall, milton bradley and possibly even hatteberg and ethier are going to the playofs... they'll always be A's to me...

Poll

next year's A's finish

div winners

45 votes

second to the halo's

17 votes

second to the pilots

6 votes

turd place yet again

23 votes

the dank, deep cellar

8 votes

99 votes | Poll has closed

final 13 established

notah8er — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:25:12 -0000

barring a miracle, we have our 13 potential playoff teams. every single division in baseball has solidified into a 2-team race, with no one in either league pulling away from the pack enough to guarantee a wildcard WITHOUT a divisional win.

in the al, the race between the m's and yanks is the only story with any suspense or mystery to it. the angels and bosox are obviously wining their divsions, and there's no way an al central team grabs the wildcard.

in both leagues, the central is a steaming, funky garbage dump, with the worst teams playing the best baseball.

the nl race is a bit more interesting, with the nl west number 2 team fighting for space with 3 excellent nl east teams.

perhaps the most consistent theme is the excellence of offenses in the east in both leagues.

ichiro, eric byrnes, the yankees, a crumbling gagne - there could be worse entertainment for a west coast baseball fan.

Poll

next team to drop out of the playoff picture

philling up the ER

14 votes

pods

2 votes

ichironoes

2 votes

lou piniella's pinheads

10 votes

cleveland steamer

5 votes

bru cru

5 votes

kenny rogers roasted

18 votes

hotlanta

1 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

byrnes, wash, kendall, thomas, bradley, hatteberg, zito, bradley, dye, payton, miggy...

notah8er — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:08:11 -0000

if only we could afford the lineup of recently FORMER A's

what a bummer - my team plays for 8 different teams now. where did they go? sure, the a's look like geniuses in terms of the starters they have dealt - or do they? i know blanton and danny h are quality, but that's about it for game-winners, with the possible exception of swish once in a while. put recently-former a's against current-a's and my money would be on the formers - sure, it's a fantasy, byrnes never came close to being on the same team as big frank, so it isn't like the team in my mind ever really existed...

Poll

sappy theme for a's decline

"those were the days"

28 votes

"the way we were"

4 votes

"don't fall in love with a dreamer"

10 votes

"that's life"

22 votes

"the best of times"

2 votes

"dust in the wind"

15 votes

81 votes | Poll has closed

truly historic milestones

notah8er — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:07:13 -0000

some find fascination in home runs and stolen bases

but tonight, in only an hour something far more awesome than any '40-40' club or 500 home run crew comes a little closer to happening - no, not a Bonds wrip in wrigley...

but the Wood!

woody williams is approaching his 1000th ER as a big-league pitcher as well as 300 HRs a truly special club.

as a's fans, we need to celebrate mediocrity in its purest form.

Poll

most exciting stat battle

adam dunn strikeout king

4 votes

jason kendall vs .200

10 votes

frank thomas inside-the-park HR quest

8 votes

the quest for 15 loss pitching at St. Louis

1 votes

23 votes | Poll has closed

the official bosox/halladay diary

notah8er — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:26:31 -0000

if the jays lose this, they are done for the season

but between the indians, m's, and darkhorse twinkies, yanks and a's, there's no one else to take it.

as a's fans, this game is also meaningful - the jays are one of 4 teams that could still make it interesting in the race for the card. it's also just an interesting game for fans of baseball, in that it possesses a touch of potentially career-altering performances. are boston the obvious champs this year, and is halladay's climbing ERA (4.44) a bad sign, especially when combined with a recent trip to the DL?

or is that ERA going to climb back under 4 as big frank helps them swipe that card from cleveland?

Poll

most likely non-CA team to win the al card

cle

27 votes

nyy

5 votes

sea

3 votes

tor

0 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed