Welcome to the year end Razzball awards. I’m your host, Grey Albright and I’m joined by Random Italicized Voice, Hey. Also, on the red carpet for everyone’s arrival we have, MR. AL CAPS, “HOW ARE YOU?” And up in the balcony critiquing everyone’s outfits we have Clunky Segue, “As you were…” Before the show even begins, we have a very special musical guest, The Spin Doctors! Live from opening for Phish! Not playing on stage with them, but literally opening doors for them. Anyway, here’s the 2012 Razzball Year End Awards:
Fantasy AL Most Valuable Player – The easy choice here would be Mike Trout, and I’m not one for making things hard. Mike Trout, do you accept this award in honor of all the men and women who have serviced themselves thinking of you? Great!
Fantasy NL Most Valuable Player - Ryan Braun. We here at Razzball will be mailing Ryan Braun his award via FedEx. Here’s hoping he gets it!
Fantasy AL Cy Young - This was a tough call for the Razzball panel that votes. See, cause the panel is made of a hundred monkeys wearing organ grinder outfits and when I showed them a picture of David Price, they scratched their ass. Wait, that is the BBWAA. I’m picking these awards on my own. Yeah, Price wins.
Fantasy NL Cy Young - This is a toss up between R.A. Dickey and Gio Gonzalez. As I have all year, I’m gonna pass over Dickey and toss Gio’s salad. Table side. A Casear salad. What? Why’s everyone moving towards their mouse to scroll down? I thought we were cool.
Fantasy AL Least Valuable Player - As much as I’d like to give Hosmer this award, I’m going to give it to my preseason MVP choice, Evan Longoria, because he hurt me soul with his injuries and didn’t set the world afire even when taking the field, except for the last game of the season. We all know from everyone that missed out on Ellsbury’s 2011 that we’re gonna miss Longoria’s spectacular 2013, then draft him in 2014 and get screwed again. Yay. Either way, Longoria was a top 12 draft pick and was around 450th overall on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. Not cool, Longo, not cool at all.
Fantasy NL Least Valuable Player - The NL Razz Razzballie goes to a three-way tie with Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Upton and Tim Lincecum. I’LL VOTE. Go ahead, Al Caps. I HOPE LINCECUM GETS HIT BY A TRUCK. That’s pretty harsh, Al. IT SOUNDS HARSHER BECAUSE IT’S IN CAPS. There you have it, Lincecum wins the NL LV Award. Now a few hours after I eat a bowl of corn, I’ll mail him the award.
Fantasy POS – Here’s a new award for the guy who gave me the absolute worst ulcer and… It’s a two-way tie! Ryan Zimmerman and Mat Latos. I’m gonna go ahead and let both of them share this award. If you don’t want to win the award for the biggest POS in the future, don’t suck for three months and then suddenly turn it on. Just flat-out suck, or show signs in the first three months.
Fantasy Hitter You Most Likely Dropped and Picked Up A Dozen Times - Oh my God, Tyler Colvin is hitting! Hmm… Now I don’t think he is. Wait! He is! Well, maybe he isn’t. No, he definitely is! Yes! No! He’s in Coors this week and not hitting! He’s on the road this week and hitting! Let me ask Grey!
Player You Had Forever and Most Wanted to Drop - You, “I don’t care if Wilin Rosario gets 28 homers, I just want to drop him.” Me, “Just hold him.” You, “Okay… Well, what if Lucroy is available?”
Player On The Top Of Your Waivers That You Just Couldn’t Bring Yourself to Pick Up - “Really, Norichika Aoki? That’s who I’m supposed to pick up? Hmm… What about Wilin Rosario? I just dropped him.”
Pitcher You Streamed So Much You Ended Up Owning Him - The entire A’s staff minus Blackley. ”The Stream-o-Nator says I should grab Milone, but I have Parker, Griffin, Straily and Anderson on my DL. Hmm… Am I secretly an A’s fan? I do like green and gold and have been known to Bernie Lean after a few drinks…”
Player You Were Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop From, But Thankfully It Never Did - Edwin Encarnacion. By mid-May, everything Edwin gave you was icing and now you’re diabetic from Edwin’s season.
Player You Were Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop From and It Ended Up Kicking You in the Groin - Lance Lynn. ”I have a 2-something ERA from Lance Lynn and Grey’s telling me to drop him? Yeah, we’ll see how well that works out for others– Gah! That’s a swift kick in my man jewels!”
Player You Were Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop From and When It Did You Were Okay With It - Mark Trumbo. Sure, his last stretch was far from pleasant, but when a guy gives you 30 homers in four and a half months, you’ll take a Septumbler. Jason Kipnis was the runner-up for this award due to a 9.3 from the Russian judge.
Player You Traded Away That You Most Regretted - “It’s June 1st and someone just offered me Huston Street and Chris Carpenter, who’s due back in a few weeks, for Ryan Zimmerman… I have to take this, right?”
Player You Traded For That You Most Regretted - “I understand he’s playing slightly over his head in April, but I have no first baseman and someone just offered me Bryan LaHair for EverCab, Mat Latos and Alex Rios. I’m flying into LaHair!”
Top SAGNOF - Everth Cabrera/Fernando Rodney (tie) Remember, the essence of SAGNOF is cheap saves and steals. There were no cheaper guys for those two stats that gave that much value.
Player Who Pulled A Kotchman - Brett Gardner. ”He’s only going to be out for a weekend series…Make that a 15-day DL stint…Well, he had a setback but he’s due back in June…Okay, he might be ready for the playoffs. The Yankee playoffs, not your H2H playoffs.”
Biggest Waste Of A Razzball Glossary Term – Krispie Young – Last year, Jobacum received this award, so there’s hope for a bounce back and there’s also hope Krispie just bounces on a trampoline wrong and we don’t even have to think about him next year.
Slam & Legs Award - Let’s just say, the award should be called the Mike Trout Award.
Remember That Feeling You Had When You Walked In On Your Parents Having Sex, This Pitcher Gave You That Feeling Every Fifth Day - Tim Lincecum. Even High Times doesn’t want to be associated with him and withdrew their invite for him to judge the Cannabis Cup for fear that it could send the marijuana movement back to the 80′s when Nancy Reagan and her astrologer ruled and phrases like “gateway drug” and “this is your brain on drugs” were popular. Don’t worry, my generation made drugs acceptable in the 90′s and now kids are eating bath salts.
Grey,
It’s been a grey’t year. Thanks for all the advice and laughs.
Now, go learn something about football!!
@ferris, No problem, glad to provide them… Until football properly labels itself foothandball, I’m out…
@Grey, Thankyou! As an English ‘soccer’ fan it’s good to see an American who realises that ‘football’ is our sport as it actually uses your feet, all the time…
Ha, no problem… I just want things properly labeled…
Fantasy POS 3rd Runner Up: Homer Bailey
OK, I admit that Bailey showed signs here and there during the season, but then in September he’s suddenly channelling Mario Soto. At least Ubaldo Jimenez had the good graces to stink through out the season.
@Racehorse, Yeah, he’s a total POS. A true fantasy POS is when your fantasy baseball includes you running into the player in an alley.
Longoria showed up when I needed him most…. those are the memories that I’ll keep in my heart when he is gone. Take care of that hamstring and rest up, big guy! Where does he fall in next year’s draft?
@Pops, Probably late 2nd round, early 3rd… Around David Wright territory from this year…
@Grey, Don’t really think Longoria was the AL LVP. Ellsbury and Haren jump to my mind. Longira played 74 games – 50% of the 150 he was projected to play. He hit .289/17/55 in those 74 games – which would have put him at .289/34/110 over the 150 games. I guess you can say 3 of the HR were “meaningless” but for a lot of people those 3 HR is the final game could have won them a league or moved them up a few slots. I’m not a big fan of carving up stats (XYZ only plays well in the first half, ABC is streaky, etc.).
I never understood why Longoria is always ranked so high. A .276 career hitter without much speed who is injury prone is not a R2 player – even with 32-90-100. He “fell” to me in my draft this year – late R2 – so I took him, but never again (until next year, LOL).
I’d say Ellsbury was just as bad as Longo this year, also as bad as Bautista, also as bad as Carl Crawford… The list goes on… In the beginning of the year we said to avoid Haren, so I won’t go along with that one… In the end, I gave it to Longo because he was ranked in the top 12 and ended up in the 400+ on the Player Rater…
Absolutley well done… i was affected by 90% of this list although it’s a 2 catcher leauge so i was excited when rosario got offered to me for another annoyance early on, Kendrys Morales. I jumped and dropped AJ ellis…turned out great.
@Dan, Yeah, 2 catcher would change the Wilin thingie, but glad you liked…
*****Here is my woulda-should-coulda team for 2012 – 26 rounds of what could have been close to perfection (Pick 10/12 – actual round in parenthesis)
1-Fielder/1b (rnd 2)
2-McCutchen/of (rnd 2)
3-Hamilton/of (rnd 3)
4-Kimbrell/rp1(rnd 5)
5-Posey/c1 (rnd 6)
6-Jones/of (rnd 8)
7-Rollins/ss (rnd 7)
8-Butler/u (rnd 10)
9-Gio/sp1 (rnd 11)
10-Beltran/b (rnd 11)
11-Molina/c2 (rnd 12)
12-Rios/of (rnd 14)
13-Encarnacion/ci (rnd 15)
14-Cueto/sp2 (rnd 17)
15-Hill/2b (rnd 16)
16-Kuroda/sp3 (rnd 17)
17-Desmond/ss (rnd 18)
18-Sale/sp4 (rnd 19)
19-Craig/b (rnd 20)
20-Trout/of (rnd 21)
21-Headley/3b (rnd 23)
22-Dickey/sp5 (undrafted)
23-Rodney/rp2 (undrafted)
24-Lohse/sp6 (undfrated)
25-Chapman/rp3 (undrafted)
26-Medlen/sp7 (undrafted)
@Dan, Nice… I like how you reached for Trout in the 20th round in a hypothetical draft where you could’ve took him last…
Razzball – can you start a 2013 Slow Mock Draft? I did one for Fantasygameday.net & my main league this year was the 2012 RotoAuthority league where i came in 6/12 (after being dead last for the first few months). I am already having withdrawal.
In a slow MD, each team has 48 hours to make a pick using the same email thread. I am trying to start an early one. If you would like to start this, and post on your site throughout, please let me know. I can be responsible for all the logistics.
Thanks,
Dano
@Dan, You just have to get some guys together from the comments and you have a mock draft…
@Grey, A crowdsourced (ugh) mock draft of Razzball commenters would be interesting too. We’d use some sort of online poll tool, and we’d vote for the next pick each day. It would be interesting to compare the result to your rankings and MDC’s.
@DrEasy, I’m getting some guys together from public leagues (FGD, rotoauthority, etc. – I’ll keep you updated. Otherwise, please keep me updated if you do decide to have one. I’d love to be involved. When’s the next Mock Draft PODCAST?
Thanks,
Dan
Yeah, that’s not a bad idea at all…
My personal LVP: (tie) Tulo or Hosmer
MVP: (tie) Posey or Cano
Guy I’m sure glad I stuck with: Zimmerman
Best guy I traded for: Desmond (gave up Cahill)
Guy I most wish I hadn’t dropped: Scherzer (just dumb)
Best pickup: Medlen
Guy I kept picking up and dropping: Chris Davis
Best pitcher: Bumgarner all season, Medlen 2nd half
Least valuable pitcher: Lester
Most meh all year: Lawrie
Guy I’m most excited to see in 2013: Stanton
@Jon, Yeah, Tulo really deserved something turdly… Nice trade for Desmond… Yeah, could see Chris Davis there… Stanton, rawr…
Grey, thanks for all your help this year. And the laughs!
I can keep two for up to 2 years… FA pickups will be slotted in rd 2- and then rd 10. Whatcha think?*
Aramis Ramirez (rd 6)
Adam Laroche (FA)
Norichika Aoki (FA)
Todd Frazier (FA)
Aroldis Chapman (rd 15)
Yovani Gallardo (rd 7)
*See, I can be funny, too! :-S
@shibboleth, I don’t think any of those FA are worth a 2nd rd slot.
Chapman, Gallardo, A-Ram
@Eric, Whoops! that was supposed to read round 20!
Spilled to many drinks on my work laptop
@shibboleth, derp – rather, looks like i fat-fingered the 0 and – keys
@shibboleth, Ha…Chapman, LaRoche…
Can we add Dayton Moore somewhere on the Fantasy POS-ometer?
I stashed Wil Myers in July and all I got out of it was the ability to say “I stashed Wil Myers.”
@Eric, Ha… You got out of the ability to say “I stashed Wil Myers in July.” Don’t forget the “in July” part, it’s the best part…
HAHAHA, one last Lance Lynn rip. Hey Lance, next time do better than 180K in 176 innings with a 3.76 ERA and 18 wins for less than 1$ if you want some praise on this site! 5 Wins and 34Ks in September? Nice try loser!
@Nelson Santovenia, Hehe… He also had a 4.50+ ERA for two months and was in the bullpen… Can’t tell me you held him through that…
Aww, Krispie Young. He was so close to having a good season until he asploded his shoulder.
@junker23, After he ran into that wall, he looked like a fly playing baseball after running into a windshield…
@Grey A PHiSH reference on a fantasy baseball blog? My nerd-o-meter just exploded.
Anyway, I realize nobody probably wants to think about the 2013 season now, but if any of the 2012 RCL league winners are interested in playing in a 2013 RCL Champions League, I will be commishing one next year. Shoot me an email (takecareofyourshoes@gmail.com) telling me you are interested as well as which league you played in this year, and you will go on a list and I will contact the first 11 people who email me next year when RCL signup time arrives. If someone doesn’t reply fairly quickly, I will move on down the list until we have 12 confirmed participants. Should be competitive, and that’s the bottom line for me. So let me know if you are interested.
There are still a few open spots.
Eric
RIV
@RandomItalicizedVoice, Is that the way they spell their name? I’m not Phish-friendly…
Love the post!
I think the player I regret trading the most was Chris Sale in June. The player I regret trading for is Brett Gardner. Gah!
I love Yahoo’s team log this season, so I got to go back and see who were the most valuable streams for me. I have two candidates.
Clayton Richard (4 starts) four wins, 11 Ks, 0.58 ERA, 1.00 WHIP.
Kevin Millwood (5 starts) one win, 19 Ks, 2.59 ERA, 1.34 WHIP
@Eddy, Chris Sale’s a good one… Brett Gardner? Oops! Millwood, I’m guessing May and Richard I’m guessing August…
Grey Dog! I have been a huge Razzball fan for years. I go off of my own thoughts, stats, etc.. except I check you out daily. I play in a 12 team keeper league (3rd year)with close friends. We keep 8 players so its a little different each year on the draft pool. Luckily for me my team stayed healthy this year which is always a must for a Title run. I won’t go into all my prior keepers but here are some of the people I picked up during this year and for the future. Drafted Posey, Gio, and traded midseason for Latos, Mccutchen, and Desmond Jennings. Obviously I gave up some pieces Kinsler, Cespedes, etc.. who cares. Needless to say I also owned Ryan Zimmerman who FINALLY turned it on after 3 years of owning the chump. Mix in Strasburg, Prince, Hanley and you see that I have started a true dynasty. It wouldn’t have been possible without you my friend. It feels great being a champ! Your preseason draft rankings and writings really helped me too. Chris Sale sleeper post anyone?? Gio?? Like always I will keep reading, even in the offseason. You truly are a Legend and I thank you for all the extra effort you put into it.
@D Rich, No problem… Thanks for the kind words!
Best Fantasy Handoff: Grey. “Hey, Rudy, take a look at this streaming stuff.”
Fantasy HERO!: Rudy! Rudy!! Rudy !!! Not only does he have SON dialed in to make streaming the best viable option for drafting and managing a roto team, but he also puts in the daily work to download and process files and programming to keep it effective each day.
Thank you, Rudy. You ARE my Fantasy HERO!!!!!!!!!
@simply fred, Yeah, agreed… The Stream-o-Nator anyone?
For what it’s worth – my POS vote goes to Pooholes.
@Doofus, Do you mean you dropped him when he was underperforming early in the season?
My Fantasy POS turned out to be Ike Davis.
@DrEasy, Another one on Ike here.
@TheNewGuy, I also forgot Mad Max Scherzer. When I look at it in retrospect, I didn’t have a bad draft, it’s just that too many of them were POS and were gone before they started performing.
You can get POS from Pooholes, but for fantasy I don’t see it…
My POS actually won me some money in a side bet. Latos vs. Darvish was much closer than I had envisioned when I made the bet, so the ulcer was definitely present. See, sometimes you can polish a turd.
Oh, I faintly remember that bet you made… Nice ballsy bet, well played…
@Grey, Thanks, Man. I did consult you on it, so you definitely helped. It seemed like a no brainer at the time, but I thought I was toast for the first 3 months of the season.
Yeah, it looked like a fool’s bet until June, shows you how long a baseball season is and how much can change…
Fun awards as always, sad that some of the guys that gave me ulcers and helped me develop a more complex drinking problem didn’t make the list, I did appreciate the Upton mention but Gonzo was the biggest pain in my liver all year. And Howie Kendrick who took an invite to the Playboy Mansion and turned it into a trip to the Omega Moos sorority house.
Hey are we going to do the All-Donkey team. I still feel there are enough Donkeys spread around to have one?
Yeah, there were too many ulcers for so few awards… Yeah, there’s lots of Donkeys, in every sense of the word… Tijuana ain’t got nothing on this here fantasy baseball shizz…
@Grey, if I have to i will do them in the comments section
Dunn, Reynolds, Stewart are the official Donkeys and one was complete garbage and one was only not garbage for 2 weeks of the season…
@Grey, The A’s had a team full of Donkeys, Rosario is the Donkey behind the plate, Ike has Donkey written all over him, so does Pedro from Pittsburgh, Bruce is a Donkey, Salty, Plouffe, Viciedo, and Kubel all have some donkey things going on. Some of these guys bailed themselves out with a few streaks, but they are a missed hitting streak away from Donkeydum. Some are up and coming donkeys, some are burros, but at the end of the day they fit a similar mold. In Oakland its raining Donkeys
Ha…True… Charlie O would be very proud… They should bring back the donkey (or was it a mule?)…
I was fortunate enough to not have any early draft picks go too horribly awry (Pedroia and Panda’s injuries were an inconvenience, but there was enough of the wire to compensate). I did draft Mini Donkey and Luebke in two leagues, which didn’t help. Adam Dunn, on the other hand, provided great value as a 17th rounder, though he basically eliminated any chance that I was going to do anything more than decent in AVG.
In the RCL I took over, Verlander was the only SP that team drafted that was worth anything near his draft position; the remainder of the rotation was Haren, Hellickson, Masterson, Pineda, and Wandy. Without Medlen, I would have never gotten anywhere near first place. So thanks for pushing him!
In the same league, I could not manage to get more than a 5 in SB, even though I inherited Kemp and Jackson, traded for Andrus, picked up Trout, and streamed SAGNOF for a while. Andrus’ 21 SB were a pretty by disappointment; had he recorded close to last year’s total, I would have gained a 5-6 points in SB and ended up with 111-112 points. Hard to call someone with 85 R and .286 AVG a POS, though.
@royce!, *big* disappointment, not by. Der
No problem… It goes to my well-talked about strategy that you really don’t need pitching coming out of the draft and can take later guys… In the RCL, my pitching was pretty insane — I think 57 out of possible 60 points — I didn’t draft pitching high at all… Yup, Andrus’s steals were far from glamourous… I still think he has a 50 steal in him…
As redunkulous as Mike Trout was, what an equally redunkulous year Ryan Braun had. Despite all the POD questioning in the offseason and no Prince, dude UPPED his power to hit over 40 homers for the first time and going 40-30!
No 1 overall for me next year no question, who knows if Trout can reproduce anything like that again. Braun’s Miggy with 30 steal speed… pretty sick when you think of it that way.
Yeah, I totally agree… He does it every year so it gets lost in the excitement for players who haven’t done it before… And even more amazing with the questions he had coming into the year… I’m sure you can find a bunch of comments in March with people saying they didn’t want Braun because of question marks…
@Grey, In my H2H league I chose to draft Tulo ahead of Braun… that one worked out… Must admit I was kinda scared off him at the time. And yet I still won the league, go figure.
Well, I guess as long as you still won, but Tulo over Braun could’ve really hurt…
@Grey, Too right. Regretted it all year, even before Tulo was hurt. Chose him largely because of how shitty SS is in a 16 teamer, but it was still clearly a bad call. Got lucky, or on the other hand I would’ve destroyed the other teams in my league rather than just beating them.
Give me the no1 pick next year and im taking Ryan Braun hands down. Lesson learned.
Yeah, I don’t believe in the whole position scarcity thing… Think about how many SS, 2nd, catchers came out of nowhere…
Bless me Father for I have sinned….it’s been 35 years since my last confession….I picked up Mike Trout off the waiver wire right before his call up and dropped him after he went 2-8 for me with no counting stats…yup
Ouch… You sound pretty healthy considering… Hope you’re not on 24-hour watch or anything…
Gotta give sum love to sal perez.. i got him after i traded mauer and really could care less about mauer after the season! For a catcher to hit like he did, thats pretty nice value from a 1%er.. the “one foot in stardom, one foot in shit” award should go to james mcdonald… If i didnt trade the guy he couldve lost me the league on his own.. trumbo, the guy i wish i traded but didnt… And finally, the “wtf happened to this guys power” award….. Brett lawrie!
I loved the awards tho…. Even tho every award should say “NL blah blah blah- Mike Trout…. AL blah blah blah- Mike Trout..”
Ha! Yeah… Perez over a full season would’ve been a top three catcher if you prorate his stats… That’s awesome on McDonald…Ha!
@Grey, werd, i would draft him next year but i heard hes friends with hosmer… Ehh thats sketchy! Haha i wont be fooled by jmac next year though, thats a promise!!
For the millionth time, thanks grey! Gangnam style!
Anyone who’s a friend with Hosmer ain’t no friend of mine… Gangnam, baby!
I had Miggy, Trout, Bruce, Kinsler, Castro, Altuve for just about the entire year, and (good) Zimmerman, Encarnacion, Gomez for about half. And I still lost.
The ECFBL is a tough place to play!
Ouch… Damn, yeah, that ain’t easy to do…
I luv me some razzballies.
I think I dropped Latos the same day you did, Grey. And got sick watching put up stats for the guy that picked him up as soon as he cleared waivers.
Here’s another for you. I know you get all stiff for K’s, but with Stras, 1st 1/2 Lynn, Anibal, etc., I had established a huge lead in K’s… So, after Scherzer gave up 4 ER/11 baserunners in 5 innings against fruckin Cleveland on August 5, I sent him packing. His line on my team at that point? 10 Wins, ERA 4.89, WHIP 1.40
The rest of the way he gave up 11 ER and 59 baserunners over 60 innings, with 71 Ks. That’s an ERA of 1.65 and 0.98 WHIP. And he notched 6 more wins.
Here’s another doozy.
I’m in a keeper league. I had Mike Trout, but I couldn’t afford to finish with only 1 point in saves. My average was also at or near the bottom of the standings.
So I traded Trout right after the break for David Wright, Starlin Castro, Hanrahan, Jansen and Aceves. Wright and Castro immediately slumped. Over the rest of the season, Trout gave the other guy more HR, RBI, and SB than Wright and Castro gave me combined. And he was just a few runs behind. And of course, Castro and Wright did nothing for my average. The closers took me from 2 points to 6 points, and got me in the money (3rd place), but both Toronto and Pittsburgh died after July. In all, I think I got maybe 9 saves from them after August 1. And Aceves? Where’s my arsenic? I’m not sure I can bear thinking about his epic meltdowns again.
Worst part? Trout is on the other guy’s team at $11 through 2014.
Hot damn with that Scherzer line… Damn-damn! Ugh, the Trout story is even worse… Shouldn’t trade for saves, especially not something like that…
2012 playoffs here we go!
Shame Turner Field still isn’t full though…
@TheNewGuy, That Medlen curveball is sick.
Wow great catch by the J-Hey kid.
Aw, sookie… Just got home, what did I miss?
Looks like Meds isn’t intimidated by this whole playoffs thing…
Just got home, what did I miss?
I traded for R.A Dickey a month ago.
I just realized he can be kept in the 23rd next year.
Today was a good day.
Wow, very nice…
It’d be a shame for Chipper to retire having eliminated his team from the playoffs with a bad throw. Also, I don’t like the Cardinals. So let’s go Braves!
Just got home, what did I miss? Hmm?
@Grey, I did, too. But I heard on the radio on the way home that Medlen had only given up 1 ER, and Chipper had a throwing error…I’m gonna try to find the video. Gotta go to the chiropractor in a minute tho.
Okay, get yourself adjusted all good like… I went yesterday…
@Grey, Ross struck out, but ump called time just before the pitch, hit a HR on the next pitch.
Nice…
@Grey, No, not nice.
Ha… Yeah, see that now…
@Grey, Simmons bunted with runners on first and third, out for running inside the line.
@VinWins, AND, had he not been called out, Ross and Freeman would have scored
@royce!, yeah, but there was no doubt.
Ah… Gotcha…
@Grey, Can’t find video. Found this summary,
In the top of the fourth, Carlos Beltran singled to right field for the Cardinals first hit. Matt Holliday grounded sharply to third, and Jones’ wild throw on the double play attempt sailed into right field. With runners on the corner, Allen Craig doubled to left to cut the lead to 2-1. Yadier Molina grounded out to plate the tying run. David Freese then hit a sac fly to bring home Craig from third, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Damn, that sucks… An the Holliday homer didn’t help just now…
@Grey, Braves were up 2-0 on a 2 run jack by Ross. Heyward went over the fence in the 2nd to save a HR. In the 4th, Chipper threw one over second base on what should have been a DP. Instead it gave the Cards 1-3 with no one out. Ended up getting 3 runs. In the bottom of the 4th, the braves had 1-3 with 1 out and fucking fredi called a bunt. Simmons ran out of the base path and got hit by the ball. Easily one of the dumbest calls ever considering a fly ball ties the game. Plus he had the pitcher up next and freeman running on 3rd so a bunt was the dumbest thing you could possibly call. Braves ended up not getting a run.
@letsgobravos, Nice catch by Heyward, but the one angle looked like it wouldn’t have been a HR.
Crap… Thanks for the update! I’m watching now…
Just the braves luck they put this 2nd WC in when they are they win the WC. Las year the cards run them down at the wire and this year it appears they’ll be the ones in the playoffs despite the fact the braves destroyed them in the regular season. Not a fan of this 1 game and your done BS.
Still got time… Here comes Chipper…
Freeman with a rope!
Damnit…thought dan got that one…fuck.
Yeah, then he decided to air mail it to first…
What’s Uggla think this is, an All Star Game?
Or maybe Knoblauch was a fielding replacement…
Do all Fantasy Baseballers(Grey’s Mom’s term) sit suffering through back pain all summer and hit the chiropractor ASAP after the FBB season is over or what? LOL
Ha… Yup! Can’t leave my chair for 6 months…
@Hondo, Ha! I just returned from the chiropractor, and I told him that I would probably be looser now since the fantasy season has ended.
I’ll tell you what? I feel at least 3 years younger right now…
@Grey, I guess FBB keeps you young!
No way is that an infield fly! Horrible decision.
Next thing there’s gonna be an infield hitting off the wall…
@Grey, Maybe the warning track is considered part of the infield now, since it’s dirt and all.
That would’ve cut Manny’s errors in half!
Goddamit. Now I’m going to miss more of the game because of BS fans. BS call, too.
@royce!, They should be able to go in and review it. Disgraceful call.
What a terrible call… I like how the announcers are saying it’s so bad hat the fans are doing on Chipper’s last day… Like that really matters…
@Grey, Official Chipper Jones Don’t Be An Asshole Day
See I had no idea… I figured since he’s an ahole they were honoring him…
@Grey, Yeah, I always felt that way about him as well, but couldn’t remember if it was just because he looks like one. Maybe they should rename it, Please Chipper Jones, Don’t Be An Asshole Day
HA, yeah, that would cover it… Yeah, I have no exact instances of asshole behavior but he gives off the vibe… Might be the giant gob of chew in his cheek…
@Grey, He seems like the kinda guy who would be fun to drink with, but you’d be in constant fear that he would instigate a fight…Berkman has that vibe as well.
Yeah, and he looks racist…
You see this?
http://razzball.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=30725
What a joke. Is there a MLB ump strike I was unaware of?
Review the play… Homer or infield fly?
When did MLB hire the replacement refs?
Bad call, I admit it
In my day, we had one ump and it was my friends’ mom!
@Grey, Ha, was she a cougar?
They all are!
Pete Kozma owes those umps…maybe buy em a car like pitchers do for amazing defensive plays in no-hitters?
At least a Segway…
@Grey, New glasses? Or a copy of the rule book?
Better! Everyone should throw their glasses on the field…
@Grey, or a huvaround
Drafted a few duds in the RCL – Uggla, Youk, Lind within the first 10 rounds, and of course it was the first time I ever owned Bautista. Wretched to begin with, and just as he was red hot and relentless he got hurt. Ad of course I drafted Rios and dropped him in frustration. On reflection, that’s probably what snuffed out any chance I had of finishing 1st or second in the RCL as my pitching finished up being pretty good.
On the bright side, I had some good times with Moobs, Morrow, Harper (after royce! dropped him), Cespedes (after I traded Heyward to royce! For him and Janssen), EverCab, Mike Saunders, Bum and sundry others.
In H2H, despite drafting Longo, Konerko, Youk and Bruce in the first seven rounds I still made the playoffs, where of course stupid luck takes over… They laughed at me when I drafted Jim Johnson in that league, and I found Cahill to be a pleasant surprise. He could be exasperating and I almost dropped him more than once but if you look at his numbers and where I drafted hi he had a pretty good season. Drafted and dropped (more than once) Rios in that league too…
The RCL looks like a laundry list of down years and bad luck… Rios… Damn…
The bright side looks like a decent batch of guys to keep hope alive though…
@Grey, Eh, no keeper leagues there. Keeper league questions to follow in the ensuing weeks…
Gotcha… The Wilder (?) Card amounted to not much…
@Grey, Yeah, kept half an eye on it online. Like we said yesterday and was mentioned above, seems a pretty crummy way to sort out a wildcard.
Yeah, Braves got the short end of the stick, but the Nats are screwed too cause now they have to play on the road to start a series…
@Grey, What? That’s bullshit. How does a team that wins their division have to start on the road?
All that thinking about my h2h team has made me mad…
Right… I’m not even sure what the rationale could be for a division winner to be on the road…
@Grey, 2 on the road 3 at home? Sure I heard something about them changing the format, Bud seems to want to change everything this year.
Yeah, the division champs technically have home field advantage but I’d wanna be home for the first two…
@Grey, Oh fo sho…why they have changed it is baffling to say the least.
Looks like Andrus is wearing a mouthguard – am I right?
(MLB.tv looks great on the iPad btw)
Yeah, I think he is… Hey, orthodontics ain’t cheap…
@Grey, yeah, tell my parents about it.
Your kids are all good in the teeth department?
@Grey, Dunno, bit soon to tell. Both my wife and I had orthodontics so the omens aren’t good. I’m bracing myself for the worst. Oofa!
Ha… Gotcha… I never had braces, my family knocked off my teeth out and gave me dentures at 12…
What a joke of a call that was against the braves. Then Torre and the ump had the nerve to stand by it and claim it was right all along. The least they could have done was say it was a jugement call and they messed up. Smug fucks trying to act like everyone else is dumb for pointing out it was clearly a terrible call.
I hate umps for that reason… You can count on one finger how many times umps say they’ve got the call wrong and we know what finger we’re counting on…
Sucks for the Rangers if things stay as they are, but no way should they ever have put themselves in this position…
They really should’ve never been in this position at all…
The O’s will fancy their chances against the Yanks too.
Yeah, they got Joe Saunders… Zoinks!
Now watching the end of the game via Apple TV. Considering it’s over the internet, the quality is awesome.
Were they booing Hamilton just then? Sounded like it.
I was watching in a bar, not sure…
@Grey, Yeah, turns out they were.
Joe Saunders. Goodness gracious me.
I know, right? Crazy…
@Grey, Just saw him interviewed. Seems a good guy. I take back all the nasty things I said about him!
According to friend-of-Razzball Jason Collette on Twitter, the Yanks and O’s split the season series 9-9 and the O’s outscored them 92-90. As Jason says, on paper, at least, this thing looks real even.
The series does seem even because I wouldn’t really trust either staff, but I think the Yanks probably have a slight edge with their merry band of 2004 All-Stars…
@Grey, Speaking of 2004 (or thereabouts), I finally got around to watching Moneyball tonight (on top of a fantastic steak frites dinner, I might add).
But, but… they didn’t mention that they had three of the best pitchers in baseball and they made Art Howe look like a clown!
What? Someone said that already?
Seriously, really enjoyed it (and so did my wife). I think they make the distinction about when they turned from crap to being good during *that* season a little too obvious, but I loved the relationship between Beane and his daughter. Rounded the character out nicely.
I’ll try and be more current next time…
Ha…. You should check out Pulp Fiction at some point. It’s a good one! Kidding…. I liked the movie, but I felt like I should’ve loved it. Here’s a book I loved, Pitt, Fat Jonah, Sorkin and it’s about baseball! That should’ve been my favorite movie of the last dozen years and I should have wanted Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe tattooed on my neck, instead I felt it was good but meh at times. I don’t think it was fully because it wasn’t playing fair with facts either. I just don’t think it was that special….
@Grey, Pulp Fiction you say? Hmmmm. Will try and find it on videocassette at the local video store.
I guess expectations were so high, it would have been tough for the film to live up to them.
Yeah, that’s probably true, but the book lived up to expectations for me…
Coco!
Zadow!
So are you able to watch the game live on your iPad?
@Grey, Yeah, MLB.tv had the premium subscription going real cheap a few weeks back. Can watch on phone, iPad and Apple TV.
All that said this game is live on tv here. It’s on ESPN on our pay tv platform, but we’re getting the tbc feed.
Gotcha… Did you just see the Kerry Wood commercial? He looks sickly… I think Dusty’s now his dietician…
@Grey, Nah, we don’t get the network commercials. We break out to our own.
@Grey, actually we get ESPN commercials.
Yeah, that would make sense…
@Grey, Some of the fielding has looked like Moneyball so far…
Chanting “MVP” is silly. Do fans think that if they don’t chant it enough for Cabrera, Mike Trout will win? Why doesn’t anyone every chant “Cy Young”? Or “Rookie of the Year”? “Roberto Clemente Award Nominee”?
HA… Definitely aren’t chanting Golden Glove…
@Grey, Would be funny if they did…after a dribbler got by Jeter.
Pasta Diving? Never!
@Grey, Ha! I had forgotten that gem.
What happens to the balls that get thrown into the dirt? I see they get taken away – do they get cleaned up and put back in play?
@Steve, I can’t confirm the accuracy of this (I always thought they were used in BP), but this guy says they are recorded and auctioned off:
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Do-They-Do-With-Scuffed-Baseballs?&id=6342071
@royce!, Sounds reasonable. Given that MLB are in charge of it, I’d be amazed if that process runs smoothly though.
“The baseballs? Oh yeah, that’s right. I left them on the front seat of my car.”
@Steve, “There’s one missing? Must have been the one my dog ran off with.”
@Steve, Yeah, totally.
I just find it amazing that anyone would pay a premium for a game-used ball. I can understand the excitement of getting a foul ball or something similar, but just buying a scuffed ball that was deemed essentially no longer worthy? Meh.
Might be cool to have a game used World Series ball then get it signed by one of the stars of that game… But agreed just the ball is kinda meh…
@Grey, I can see it for a very significant game, and I suppose they retain them in case the game ends up being significant. Shizz, I just saw that MLB is selling the dirt from the field from the AB that got Miggy the triple crown.
Be cool if there were trace elements of alcohol in the dirt…
@Grey, All of this is coming from someone who owns a foul ball that he got in a Spring Training game between the Padres and Mariners…My wife told me I should give it to the 2 year old girl that was sitting in front of us and I was like, hell no woman!
Ah… Did you catch it?
@Grey, “catch” would be an overstatement. I was walking back from the concession stand with a couple beers and a cigarette and chased the ball into a corner. So more like “trapped.”
The best part was how bummed other dudes in our group were- these guys had brought their gloves, but the ball sailed right over their heads. Brilliant!
Couple beers and a cigarette? You sound like The Babe…
There will be a Hippo and kids sighting at the ballpark tomorrow!
Nice! Kid paying for the seats with his fantasy winnings?
@Grey, Haha, never thought of that, good idea.
I scored em on stub hub for 90 bucks apiece. 3rd base line field box, 25 rows up, couldn’t believe it.
We might make Razzball signs and try to get em on tv
That would be awesome!
Good to see Neshek out there. No idea how he’s doing it though.
Probably helps take his mind off things…
The A’s are just biding their time til they get to Valverde.
Ha… Seriously…
Who else hates Bucks squeaky voice. Shut up Buck!
I hate all these national announcers except Darling…
@Grey, Yeah he’s good, and John Smoltz too. A load of utter crap though the rest of em.
Wonder if they’ll ever allow regional broadcasts for play-off games one day.
Eh, you don’t want to hear most regional ones… Detroit’s announcers are terrible…
@Grey, I love Rod and his Rodisms!
Really? Wow… Didn’t know he had any Rod-isms… Like what does he say?
Thanks for all the tips and laughs, Grey, Rudy and company. I love you guys, No Romo!
HA! No problem…
Bruce. Who else?
You know Bruce is gonna hit five homers this series alone…
@Grey, He feels the weight of fantasy expectation lifted.
Gotta give Latos some props there too. Pretty big effort.
Yeah, and the same with Latos… Thank goodness, I dropped him when I did…
This is terrible. I keep coming to this site as part of my daily routine only to be reminded that baseball is over. Ugggh. I can’t quit you, Grey.
Don’t worry, there will be a new post on the week days to help you stave off vacation, Vacation…
@Grey, Yeah, it’s a stupid commenter name. In my defense, I was drunk when I picked it. That said, I’m sticking with it.
Waiting for you to say at the end, “Then again, I’m still drunk.”
@Grey, My bad. I thought it was assumed.
Ha… Of course…
Oh Coco.
I slept later than I’ve slept since high school today… What happened with Coco?
@Grey, Two run error that gave the Tigers the lead.
I can’t remember the last time I had a decent sleep-in. Kids, eh?
@Steve, Reddick!
Surprised it wasn’t off Valverde…
@Grey, It’s not the fantasy season. Some big plays by Cespedes there too.
Ugh… Kottaras…
@Grey, Neither team can be all that proud about the last inning or so.
Yeah, looks like each team is playing to lose… Gotta think the Tigers will win it since it should come down to home field…
@Grey, Bleurgh. That was pretty untidy – especially from one of their supposed strengths.
They in a big hole now.
Yeah, can’t lose those two games on the road, why it’s not fair a division champ goes on the road…
@Grey, Totally agree. BOGUS rule, totally bogus.
Don’t mind the 2 wildcards as it makes it exciting but what has Bud been drinking to change the home ‘advantage’ ruling…
A’s are meant to have the advantage yet 2 on the road and they are 2 down. Massive pressure at home now, would been far easier for them even if they had won just 1 outta 2 at home.
Gotta be scrapped for next year, can’t see why it won’t.
Yeah, really stupid rule…
@Grey, But the Tigers were division champs too, though, right?
Though the A’s had the better record…
@Steve, Aw geez that means the Yankees have to head to Camden Yard to start the series.
We better not go 2 down…
Yeah, they were… Guess who I just saw… One of the Landers sisters!
@Grey, Rawwrrrr! Bet she doesn’t look so hot now though.
That’s if, indeed, she ever did.
Ha… Yeah, Cougar sleeps in a cave, so dark in there I could sleep until noon and not know the difference…
Gio has walked SEVEN? Yikes.
@Steve, Glad its not affecting my fantasy teams WHIP (emoticon).
Oh my God, both Landers sisters are here!
@Grey, Where are you? The Bunny Ranch?
HA! In the grotto!
@Grey, Don’t put your head under!
I’ll tell ya what.. Her granddaughter is hot…
Hey, what’s going on with the game anyway?
@Grey, Cards leading 2-1 top of the 8th. Boggs pitching, Nats have a man on 1st and none out.
Probably 100% not up to date tho as I’m following online rather than watching. It’s Monday here of course and I’m back at work.
@Grey, 2-out, 2-run single for Tyler Moore. Nats lead 3-2
@Grey, All over. Nats win 3-2. Couple of unearned runs in the 8th the difference.
Wow, very nice… Thanks for the updates! Sorry, was hanging with the Landerses… They were both in sequined dresses…Well, of course they were…
@Grey, You need to explain yourself. I don’t have anything like enough context here.
I was just at lunch and there were the two Landers sisters in sequins dresses… I was gonna take a picture and email it to you, but it would’ve been too obvious and how do I explain taking pictures of them… Was really random… I didn’t recognize them at first but someone I was with made the call…
@Grey, Sounds to me like Steve Magic has gone to a whole new level.
Oh, and their granddaughter (guessing it was her)… Made sense later too because they were at some convention center signing autographs… And we were with the aunt from Sabrina for lunch… Beth Broderick and she was signing autographs too and breaking for lunch…
This thing: http://hollywoodshow.com/
@Grey, Wow. Something (someone?) for everyone there.
Yeah, I shook John Amos’s hand and said I was a big fan of his work and he said you’re not anymore? And I was stumped… Um… What work?
@Grey, Ha! That sounds like something you might have said. He out-Greyed you!
Ha… Yup!
@Grey, Aw he was Gordy the weatherman on Mary Tyler Moore. Man I loved that show. It’s still one of my all-time faves.
And Good Times was a bit of an eye-opener too, for a white kid in New Zealand in the 70s.
He had a giant poster with him of Roots… And I was like, “Hey, they should do a sequel of that.” And he was like, “I get my leg cut off.” And I was like, “Yeah, and then you bought a prosthetic.” He was actually amused… Seemed like a nice guy…
Nats-Yankees in a rain delay until 8:40 EST(or maybe it’s DST,I dunno).
Anyway,it was originally scheduled for 6PM,which would have overlapped the Nats game by 1/2 hour.
WTF,scheduling 2 teams from the same area at the same time in the playoffs?
Is a chimp on charge of MLB?Naw,we can only hope to get such a huge intellectual jump when we get the new commissioner one day.
Yeah, I was thinking that when I woke up at 10 AM and a game was already going on… Granted I’m in PST and I slept in, but you should have the games so everyone can see them… Not to mention they have games starting at 10 PM EST…
Oops- I meant Orioles-Yankees.Maybe I’m an idiot savant (instead of merely the former)and picked the series teams.
Russell Martin does not respect your 50+ Saves.
J. Russell Martin to you…
I have to say that Dickey deserves the fantasy Cy Young in the NL more than Gonzalez, assuming most drafted Dickey way later than Gonzalez.
Hosmer was really useless. First it was “bad luck” and then it was “pressing.”
If the defense is playing a shift and ye keep hitting into that shift, that’s not really luck. It’s the inability to adjust.
homer bailey saved me as I was able to sneek in a second place.
Rafel Betencourt almost tanked the last week.