MLB 2012

Off Topic
1101

yep pretty much knew I was going to get that reaction. You bring up race and the whole world starts getting getting passive aggressive. I wanted to see it on display here and it pretty much matched my expectations.

But, DB, I’m impressed about your awareness of one of the major socio-economic issues in NZ. We do have a lot of talented people move oversees for more lucrative jobs or opportunities. The most prominant destination is Australia, which is ironic because we don’t really like Australians (overplayed though, as with any national sports rivalry that begins to approach cultural boundaries). The pay over there is too much of a magnet – same too with the US.

The ‘brain’ or talent drain, whatever you want to call it isn’t actually much of an indictment on NZ. We’re a country of 4 millon people, what do you expect. Instead, look at the fact we’re raising so many talent people per capita. We’re not losing people because of our economic structure (we have a progessive tax system with no capital gains, a strong currency, a world leading dairy export sector that will continue to grow and high interest rates which ensures we have a constant inflow foreign money). People are moving because the competition is better.

1102

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
yep pretty much knew I was going to get that reaction. You bring up race and the whole world starts getting getting passive aggressive. I wanted to see it on display here and it pretty much matched my expectations.[/quote]

Hence the troll tag.

There are plenty of other threads that can/do discuss that, why you would expect traction here is as bewildering as many of your posts in general.

But whatever, free internet and all…

1103

Your last statement is on point. So then, by your own understanding, who are you to judge?

Aren’t you a WhiteFlash homie anyway? Laker fans gotta stick together I guess…

1104

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
Your last statement is on point. So then, by your own understanding, who are you to judge?

Aren’t you a WhiteFlash homie anyway? Laker fans gotta stick together I guess…[/quote]

“free Internet” doesn’t imply “free from criticism when you use your Internet Freedom to make an ass of yourself simply for the reaction”.

If you’re going to troll, do it with panache. If you want to see an exemplary model of highly-sophisticated trolling, I suggest you visit a competing website that rhymes with RoddyRillding.com and search in their “Relationship Advice” forum for an old thread called “MMF?” by a poster there named JJ Angleton.

1105

DBCooper IS JJ Angleton

Or is JJ Angleton, DBCooper?

No need for that link. I remember when you and Nards invaded the Trekkie forum a while back. But if that’s also what you’d describe as trolling with “panache” then I’ll just say I’m fine with my trolling style. I mean, that stuff was you and Nards did was just bland. You have to mix in with the community first and then start trolling. You guys trolled, go singled out, and were banned within like a day or something.

1106

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
DBCooper IS JJ Angleton

Or is JJ Angleton, DBCooper?

No need for that link. I remember when you and Nards invaded the Trekkie forum a while back. But if that’s also what you’d describe as trolling with “panache” then I’ll just say I’m fine with my trolling style. I mean, that stuff was you and Nards did was just bland. You have to mix in with the community first and then start trolling. You guys trolled, go singled out, and were banned within like a day or something.[/quote]

The Trekkie forum trolling was way overboard, I admit. We sent too many agents at once and were rolled up pretty quickly as a result.

But I’m not James Jesus Angleton, father of modern counterintelligence in the Western world and a severely pathological paranoiac. It was HE who penetrated the competing site. You see, Angleton learned from the mistakes he had seen made by the CIA in Albania in 1948 when waves of pro-Zog forces were sent in but the Communists found them because of double agent Kim Philby’s involvement in recruiting the pro-Zog forces. Since too many people knew the CIA and MI6 were sending dissidents to fight the Communists, it was easy for a double agent working for both MI6 and the NKVD to find out who the dissidents were and where they were sneaking across the Albanian border. When they were caught, they weren’t catching one or two agents, they were essentially catching about 1500 of them due to the size of the forces.

So Angleton kept his penetration of the competing site, along with his intention to do so, a complete secret from everyone until after the penetration had been made and the damage done. Angleton knew that involving anyone else in the penetration, aside from maybe one or two very trusted people, would expose himself to too many potential double agents here on this site and if he were caught it would be beyond damaging if 1500 or so were to go down with him instead of just a few agents.

But after the damage was done, by slowly leaking white propaganda to the opposition about what had REALLY happened on their site the psychological damage was overwhelming and it also sent the opposition on wild goose chases for other potential moles that only served to paralyze themselves from the rampant paranoia attached to such an investigation, a VERY valuable lesson Angleton undoubtedly learned after his poor handling of KGB defectors Anatoliy Golitsyn and Yuri Nosenko.

As you can plainly see, I am not JJ Angleton, only a student of his work to the point where I could easily recognize his handiwork on that competing site. In fact, the only reason I was even ON that site to see the effects of his work was because he himself had lured me there with a covert disinformation campaign.

1107

So we were betting each other’s avatar’s, right DB? LOL I guess this is why I’m not a Tiger’s fan. Red Sox 2013 Baby!!!

1108

[quote]johnman18 wrote:
So we were betting each other’s avatar’s, right DB? LOL I guess this is why I’m not a Tiger’s fan. Red Sox 2013 Baby!!![/quote]

Do you think the Sox would trade for Lincecum this offseason if he were available? I ask because I heard a rumor that IF Lincecum were available the Red Sox would be willing to part with Ellsbury for him.

I’d hate to see Lincecum go to the Red Sox, even for Ellsbury, but the reason is a selfish one. I like Lincecum a lot and even though I’m realistic about his future and the shortcomings he has, I always pull hard for him. So if he struggles in Boston he’s going to get fucking murdered by the fans/media, especially if Ellsbury blew up for the Giants. I’d hate to see him go through that and I kinda think that’s what would happen if he went there. I don’t think he’d be a very good pitcher there. I don’t think he’ll be a very good pitcher in SF next year either, but at least here he has a lot of goodwill built up, especially if they win the Series again and he throws well out of the bullpen for the rest of it.

But that would be an intriguing trade. They both represent some obvious risks and some pretty large rewards if they overcome the risks. Ellsbury would be a big fan favorite in SF despite being the guy traded for Lincecum if he plays really well and really hard. The fans really like guys who play hard the whole game, every game, no matter how they produce. They fucking love Pence because he plays all-out and he couldn’t hit shit with a ten-foot tennis racket.

1109

Fuck, the Giants look like a complete fucking team right now. They put 8 on the board and 5 against Verlander and then they come out and manufacture two runs late en route to a 2-0 shutout.

I’m telling you guys, the NL features the superior baseball and the teams that play the game the best way. If you think about it, in the last 15 years or so, the only AL teams that have won it all for the most part are the ones that overcome playing an inferior brand of baseball by simply buying enough top players (Yankees, Red Sox).

Although I will admit that some of those 90’s Yankees teams were also very fundamentally-sound and that’s why they were so dominant compared to their last few teams who have had all the same firepower but don’t play the game as well. But who were they coached by? Joe Torre, who came up through professional baseball mostly in the NL.

If you go back to 1995, there are only two times where an AL team that wasn’t the Yankees or the Red Sox won the Series (Angels in 2002 and White Sox in 2005). There have been 6 different teams that have won it all from the NL, and in several cases the superior team on paper was the AL team even though the NL team won (Ari 2001, Fla 2003, Stl 2006, SF 2010, Stl 2011, SF 2012???). I can’t think of a single time since 1995 where the superior team was from the NL and then they lost EXCEPT for 2002. The Giants were the better team and the favorites, but they lost. BUT they played an AL-style of ball with Bonds and Kent and the Angels played NL-style ball, another testament to the superiority of the style.

Facing it all the time in the NL makes teams that don’t necessarily play the typical NL-style better-prepared for the closer games anyways. It’s just more emphasized in the NL to play for one run and to be able to manufacture runs with fundamental ball and good pitching, whereas the AL just tries to bludgeon teams to death more. The postseason just doesn’t present that many opportunities to score since the pitching is usually really good, so if you aren’t used to playing for one run and all that shit, you can’t expect to turn it on and succeed in a pressure situation against a team that’s been playing that way all year.

1110

You must belueve the red sox are mentally handicapped if you think they’d trade lincecum for ellsbury.

Plus Sabean only trades for middle infielders.

1111

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-diamondbacks-announcer-indicted-dui-221025787--mlb.html

LOL! Mark Fucking Grace, king of the SlumpBuster. Looks like he could use one now…

1112

I love Lincecum, the funny thing is the Giants were my second favorite team for awhile, no I didn’t jump on the bandwagon it was a couple years before they won the series. So in the back of my head I actually wouldn’t mind them winning it other than rocking the Red Sox Avatar you’re gonna make that I’m gonna have to rock til New Year’s lol. But if they traded Ellsbury for him I would be pissed! In my opinion Ellsbury has more upside to him, but they do need A LOT of help in the pitching department. I think San Fran is actually the perfect city for Lincecum with his personality. I like him because he’s a chill, laid back guy that a lot of people underestimated and he made people eat their words. But yeah it would be hard to accept getting rid of Ellsbury for him though.

1113

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[quote]johnman18 wrote:
I love Lincecum, the funny thing is the Giants were my second favorite team for awhile, no I didn’t jump on the bandwagon it was a couple years before they won the series. So in the back of my head I actually wouldn’t mind them winning it other than rocking the Red Sox Avatar you’re gonna make that I’m gonna have to rock til New Year’s lol. But if they traded Ellsbury for him I would be pissed! In my opinion Ellsbury has more upside to him, but they do need A LOT of help in the pitching department. I think San Fran is actually the perfect city for Lincecum with his personality. I like him because he’s a chill, laid back guy that a lot of people underestimated and he made people eat their words. But yeah it would be hard to accept getting rid of Ellsbury for him though.[/quote]

Yeah, I think Ellsbury is the better player when he’s healthy unless Lincecum is lights out. If they both have great seasons I think Lincecum would have more value simply because they need pitching and really good starting pitching is a must-have for any contender.

I don’t want to jinx things, but I can’t resist. Here is what you will have to sport until New Year’s Day if the Giants win.

I’ll tell you what. I’ll offer you a little handicap bet. If the Giants sweep the Series, you have to use this avatar until St. Patrick’s Day. If the Giants don’t sweep, you only have to use it until Christmas Day.

1114

Oh my god! You sick demented bastad!! lol COME ON TIGERS!!! PLEASE!!! I gotta pass on that bet man haha, even though if they don’t sweep that would make Christmas day that much sweeter lol.

1115

A few random thoughts about The Series:

Bumgarner looked as good as he ever has tonight. He has such a long, lazy arm action with 230 lbs behind it that the arm speed doesn’t match the actual speed of the pitch and the ball gets on the hitter quick. Plus, when he’s right, he’s always around the plate and he pounds the inside part of the plate down and in to righties as well as any lefty in the game today.

Prince Fielder scares the shit out of me. He has some history with the Giants from his Milwaukee days. He lit up one of their backup catchers on a play at the plate where the guy didn’t have the ball and wasn’t looking at Fielder. Then the whole homerun celebration/beanball incident from 2009-2010. And he could have gone through Posey like a Pamplonan bull on that play at the plate tonight. Posey handled it much better than last year against Cousins.

Fister showed me something tonight. The bastard took a fucking missile off the back of his head and he stayed in and matched Bumgarner pitch-for-pitch for 6.

That great bunt by Blanco that loaded the bases in the 7th was a big play, but it might have been detrimental for the Giants. It loaded the bases and kept a force in a play, which Crawford then hit into for a doubleplay that scored one run and left a runner at 3rd with 2 outs.

If Blanco simply bunts and advances the runners, it’s runners on second and third with one out and Crawford probably gets walked to load the bases for a potential inning-ending doubleplay. But Theriot would pinch-hit and Leyland would bring in Dotel, who sucks fucking cock and might have given up a hit to a guy like Theriot, who also sucks cock, isn’t going to strike out and isn’t going to swing at bad pitches. A base hit there plates two runners instead of just the one that Crawford knocked in. I suppose in the end I’d still rather have bases loaded with no outs and a worse matchup than bases loaded with one out and a preferential matchup.

If the Giants win this Series and they win another one after that within the next couple years, they’re a legitimate baseball dynasty, the first since the Yankees of the 1990’s. I think they’d probably have to win more than just three, or play in at least two more and win one of them before they’d be considered one of the better dynasties though.

The weather report for this weekend in Detroit is for really cold temperatures. I’m not sure if there’s any possibility of rain, but if there is and a game is rained out, it would allow the Tigers to come back with Verlander as early as Game 3 if there’s more than a day’s postponement. Probably an unlikely scenario, but as it stands now he could start Game 4 at least on regular rest if there DOES happen to be a delay. I liked the Giants’ chances against Verlander in Game 1, but I wouldn’t expect much from them against him in a second start.

Of course, if the Giants win on Saturday behind Vogelsong, the Tigers would HAVE to respond with Verlander on 3 days’ rest against Matt Cain in Game 4 to stave off elimination. I don’t give a fuck what happened in his last start or who the fuck the Tigers have lined up for Game 4 otherwise, if you have a pitcher like Verlander you throw him with your back up against the wall no matter what. That’s what he’s there for if he can’t get you out to an early lead with a dominant start in Game 1. Now his job is to save the Series for the Tigers and the only way he can do it is to start Game 4 if the Giants win Game 3.

The Giants are taking advantage of every single little break or mistake from the Tigers. Sometimes it might seem lucky, but the teams that get lucky are always the teams that take advantage of the breaks and force mistakes by making things happen. They put the ball in play and don’t strike out a lot, which puts pressure on the defense and the pitcher, and when you throw a lot of strikes and the ball is around the plate a lot like the Giants pitchers have done this postseason, good things happen. In other words, luck isn’t really luck, it’s just the result of forcing the issue, and the better team is the one that forces the issue.

1116

[quote]therajraj wrote:
You must belueve the red sox are mentally handicapped if you think they’d trade lincecum for ellsbury.

Plus Sabean only trades for middle infielders.[/quote]

He traded for Pence, Melky and Beltran the last two years. Try again on the Sabean jab.

And why wouldn’t I think the Red Sox are mongoloids? They hired Valentine and signed Daisuke and Carl Crawford to dumb contracts, didn’t they? Do they not look like a team run by a bunch of spazzoids stabbing themselves in the chest with their left arm and trying to bite their right ear off at the same time, just like they have for decades on end outside of 2004-2007?

Don’t quote me on this one, but I think Ellsbury is due more money than Lincecum next year by a few million, which would probably further entice the Red Sox, IF Lincecum is made available. I think what’s more unlikely than that specific trade happening is Lincecum being made available for a trade to begin with.

1117

I know this was a long time ago but I want to apologize to you again Raj for my vile outburst a couple summers ago. I still think about that to this day and I’m ashamed and disgusted at what I said. I still don’t expect you to accept my apology. But sincerely from the bottom of my heart I am sorry.

1118

Dice-k was a bad signing in hindsight. Carl Crawford, while not the best fit for their team, he had a great career in TB.

Ellsbury makes a fraction of what Lincecum makes but their Both soon to be FAs.

The chances Lincecum bounces back is extremely low. Work horse pitchers who lose velocity in their late 20’s do not tend to return to their prior form. For the rest of his career he will likely be what several people projected him as while he was a prospect: a high end elite type reliever.

On the other hand Ellsbury is a few years younger and is a year removed from a MVP season. Yeah he missed most of 2012 but there’s nothing about his injury that you would expect him not to bounce back almost completely.

TL:DR trading an Elite CF for an elite reliever is a move too dumb even for the Red Sox

1119

I know you’re anti-WAR but Timmy’s WAR over his career but it interests me.

Rise, Rise, Peak, fall, fall, plummet.

2007 3.2

2008 7.5

2009 8.0

2010 4.7

2011 4.1

2012 1.5

3 WAR is about the average WAR for a major Leaguer.

1120

I guess that’s fairly typical but it’s about the sharpness those things are happening and in a relatively short period of time.

Sharp increase, ridiculously high peak, sharp decrease, extreme low point.