STEVE GARVEY?! Yeah, I don’t know how we scored this one. Actually, I do. Little known fact, I was one of the kids on The Baseball Bunch. Kidding. Though that would be amazing. Maybe we can organize a Baseball Bunch reunion and have them field grounders with the San Diego Chicken running around behind them, assuming none of The Baseball Bunch kids are now incarcerated or meth addicts. When you think of great first basemen not in the Hall of Fame, Steve Garvey comes to mind. (Along with Keith Hernandez, and both men also share some great hair accoutrements. Garvey on the top of his melon, which he recently admitted was a transplant, and Mex on his lip, which he recently shaved. Is nothing sacred anymore?) We hit on some tough questions like, “What were you doing in a Star Trek episode?” and “You were in The Godfather Part 2!?” We also found out Steve Garvey could give Sean Casey a run for his talking money. Must be a 1st baseman thing. On top of The Garv (he likes that; he doesn’t like Garv Albert), we also go over our end of the season awards. Anyway, here’s the Razzball podcast, now with your 1974 NL MVP Steve Garvey:
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Alright Travis Wood, stop shitting the bed and start pitching.
@letsgobravos, not pretty….was at least hoping for some k’s.
@herschel, I’m not all that worried about ERA because I’m already trailing there, but I came into this with a .15 lead on WHIP so he def needs to stop giving up a walk and a hit every inning.
A couple of weeks ago, he pitched like trash early and ended up going 7 innings with 10 ks (or something like that) so hopefully he will settle down.
Damn, stupid Wood…
@Grey, Wood has settled down and now they’ve staked him to a 4-1 lead. A W from Wood here will go a long way towards closing out the championship for me. Opponent has 4 closers so if Wood wins, he will need Ws from both Diamond and Weaver along with at least 1 vulture win to come back and take Ws from me.
Only a few more hours to go.
Yeah, saw that with Wood… Who knew Wood settling down would be such a good thing…
@Grey, Ba da, bing! (drum/symbol noise)
I’m starting so many pitchers in all my leagues today, it’s impossible for something good or bad to happen and it not have the opposite effect somewhere else.
@Steve, It’s Steve’s Third Law of FBB!
@royce!, I must say, I’ve put very little analytical thought into this – I’ve just loaded up on starters everywhere because I can. It probably won’t make a rat’s arse of difference to me in the standings.
Makes the last day more fun, though…
@royce!, Hey buddy, if i remember correctly, you live in San Diego. Gonna be in town this weekend with my gf, staying at the Hard Rock. Any good steakhouses and Italian restaurants you recommend in the Gaslamp Quarter?
@tHe sHiT, Went to Cowboy Star once and it was expensive but awesome. No idea about Italian, though.
@royce!, If I ever come to SD, we are so going there.
@Steve, It’s a date!
@tHe sHiT, Besides attending Padres games, I don’t get downtown that often, but I will also recommend a bar called Neighborhood. They have a speakeasy in the back (called Noble Experiment), but I think you usually have to call in advance and receive a secret password or some shizz…if you’re into “craft cocktails” it’d probably be worth it… The regular bar has a great beer selection and food, if you can’t get into Noble Experiment and/or don’t care about fancy drinks.
@royce!, Thanks for the info, i will look into them…
Ha… Sounds like every day…
Scott Hairston? Come on now.
Hairston? The Mets future of the franchise!
Jeez, Dempster. That went south pretty quick.
@Steve, Fuck you Dempster (you too Holland). That just cost me 2 points in ERA.
Damn…
What a game so far between the As and Rangers!
Shaping up to be a fine division series…
Oh, and whatever you do don’t go to Ruth Chris Steakhouse…
@Grey, Whats wrong with Ruths Chris? I went there in August (the one in Pasadena). We loved it. Oh yeah, im 99% sure i saw Hanley there at the table across from us. He was rolling deep with his entourage. Didnt wanna be a groupie though and talk to him.
Did Hanley have orange hair? Rudy and I went to the Ruths Chris in San Diego and I wasn’t that impressed, and never went back but if you liked it in Pasadena, I’m sure it’s the same… You probably want a good local place though… I like Croce’s, but have only had lunch there…
@Grey, It was kinda dark in there, so his orange hair didnt stand out as much. But yeah he did. All his boys were speaking in Spanish and they ordering up everything on the menu. It was a few days after he got traded to the Dodgers.
You should’ve brought him some mustard and said, “Here, this is for when you’re always hot dogging it.”
@Grey, That wouldve been great.
@Grey, Yeah i want good local places to eat for sure.
Yeah, royce! would know better…
It’s Jim Croce’s wife’s restaurant, fwiw….
@Grey, I bet it serves the baddest steaks in the whole damn town.
HA! It served the baddest eggs benedict in the whole damn town…
@Steve, And there’s always a girl sitting at the end of the bar. She’s called Doris. And she looks nice.
You win, I don’t know Croce that well…
@Grey, That’s OK, Grey. Don’t feel bad – I’m older than you.
By a hair… A gray hair… Oofa!
@Grey, You’re on fire!
Margin might be greater than you think…
You do make some Judy/Audrey Landers references sometimes that throw me… But I do know who they are which someone younger than myself might not even be able to say…
In my H2H 6×6 keeper league (use ops and hlds) we use a 100 point system. I am going to keep Votto (5), Kinsler (10), Bruce (15) and Zimmerman (15). This leaves me with 55 points left to spend.
My options are:
Beltre 20
Pence 10
Sal Perez 5
Dickey 25
Medlen 20
Cliff Lee 10
Peavy 10
Halladay 5
Cobb 5
Bailey 5
Not certain who to keep. Thinking Medlen, Lee, Halladay, Beltre? What do you think?
Thanks!
I like those four, but a bit much for Medlen… Probably would go Beltre, Pence, Lee, Halladay, Cobb, Perez…
Dunn needs 2 k’s today to break Reynolds’ single season record…can he do it??
Oh, heck yeah…
And Reyes gets his steal!
Good thing number of steals can’t go down, or he would have had to have taken himself out of the game.
Ha… Exactly!
Lineup dilemma! Who sits??
Aramis vs. SD (Werner)
Bruce @ StL (Shelby Miller)
AGon vs. SF (Vogelsong)
Goldy vs. Col (Francis)
C Davis @ TB (Hellickson)
Bruce… He’ll probably only see one AB…
@Grey, Thanks! One last pivotal question to end the season…I’m winning ERA 3.56 to 3.72 and he’s got Kuroda vs. horrible Boston and Scherzer vs KC. I have 1 more move available. Should I pick up Morrow vs. Minn? Really nervous Kuroda will go like 7 inn, 1 earned and Max will go like 5 innings, 1 earned and he’ll take over ERA to take home the title…WWGD??
@B.o.B, Scherzer isn’t starting today, if that helps.
@Steve, He is starting…
@B.o.B, Ah yes, so he is. As you were.
@Steve, Haha thanks for the help though! Even if he only goes 2 or 3 innings shutout, that will still hurt me
I don’t think Scherzer’s starting, is he?
Ah… So he is… He’s not going to go more than a few innings… Maybe 3… I’d go with Morrow…
@Grey, No matter the results tonight for me personally, I just want to thank you Grey and Rudy for everything you guys have done for us all season. This is my favorite site for fantasy, visit it numerous times every single day and I refuse to tell anybody else in my league about it to keep it my little secret…even though it’s extremely tough to keep the humor to myself. Thanks again guys!!
Oppa Gangnam style
No problem… Oppa Gangnam Style!
Posted too late on the last thread-
Injuries killed me this year in my 12 team 10×10 H2H.Lost my entire infield and most of my power.At least Matt Garza was my only dead pitcher.
Me-Giancarlo,LaRoche,Keppinger,Ibanez and (name your schmotatos).
Him-Miggy,Trout,Prince,Desmond,Harper,Morse,Prado,Moss,Molina(yeah you read that right)
I was actually ahead for awhile and would have won during a normal week but the house of cards collapsed.I was hoping my pitching would carry me if I won a couple offensive categories but my waiver wire scrubs couldn’t hang with his All Star team.
Thanks for the help this season, daiquiris sent a few weeks ago
No problem… Sucks about the injuries, but can’t help that…
Gotta laugh at the people on my Twitter timeline dissing Josh Hamilton for his (admittedly pretty lame) performance tonight. Without him, they’re probably not in this position.
Yeah… Pretty ridiculous…
The A’s are going to win the division. Remarkable.
And good on them, I say.
Angry guy in my timeline now saying he thought Moneyball was a shitty movie. Heh.
@Steve, Agree. Awesome to see the team with the lowest payroll in baseball winning their division. Incredible story. I’ll be pulling for them in the post season.
Yeah, I agree… Like to see them go to the World Series too… Or the Orioles… Anyone but the Rangers and Yanks…
Grey – which start do you prefer tonight – Scherzer, Tilman or Floyd?
Scherzer’s not starting… Tillman won’t go long… So Floyd…
@Grey, Detroit Free Press reporting that Scherzer will start after all…
Scherzer won’t go more than a few innings… I’d go Floyd…
This is funny:
http://deadspin.com/5916969
That’s awesome…
@Grey, To be fair, Deadspin headlined it in their Twitter feed as “Great Moments in Deadspin History’
Yeah, it’s the beauty of baseball, no one really knows anything… Though Beane seems like he does from time to time…
@Steve, Haha…nice find. Hilarious to look back on that.
Remember at the begining of the year when we were all streaming pitchers against the A’s, M’s and ‘stros? Never thought they had even the slightest chance of taking down the Rangers for the division.
The O.co Coliseum is rocking. I don’t think I ever watched an A’s game 6+ years ago when they were good, so this is pretty bizarre. Place has been pretty empty most of the games I’ve caught this year.
Yeah, seriously… Crazy story for them…
I really thought the A’s had jinxed themselves on Monday night when they won and locked up a playoff spot. With 2 games left and the division title still in play, I thought Melvin should have told them we aren’t celebrating till Wednesday when we win the division. Props to them for not losing focus after the champagne party though. Freaking crazy for a team to win their division when they were never in sole possession of first until the last day of the season.
@letsgobravos, Just the 5th team in history to win a division after being 13 games or more out of first (it says here).
@letsgobravos, …and the 2006 twins are the only other team in MLB history to win their division and never have sole possession of 1st before the final day.
Wow, had no idea of that… That is remarkable…
Assuming it wasn’t just a case of ‘well, let’s just grab this guy and that guy and see what happens’, it would be really interesting to see some analysis figuring out how the A’s exploited any market inefficiencies this year.
Can’t be OBP – they were 23rd this season…
@Steve, That would be interesting. They set an MLB record with 53 wins by rookie pitchers so that’s impressive, but it seems like a ton of luck had to be involved there. What makes their success even more crazy is that they lost Bartolo who had been solid and the guy who got drilled in the head a few weeks ago and fractured his skull. (cant think of is name off the top of my head)
Overall, it seems like they just caught fire in a bottle with guys like Reddick, Moss, Crisp, Gomes and a few others that were either castoffs or not highly valued by other clubs. Donaldson was terrible his first time up with the big club and then he was a completely different player the last month after he was called back up.
@letsgobravos, Yeah – it would be interesting to know what they saw in the guys they acquired (apart from a cheap contract), that made them acquire them.
And remember they traded away a guy who became a 20-game winner too (Gio). Though, Milone was one of the guys they got in return. Norris was another…
@Steve, Well, Grey has pointed out trading one’s closer is always a good idea… It also could be that other teams are now overemphasizing OBP… banned substances for Colon…Luck. Probably more of the latter.
@royce!, 20/20 hindsight of course, but looks like the money they splashed on Cespedes was worth it too.
23/16 hindsight for Cespedes…
@letsgobravos, McCarthy
@Grey, …its crazy they could lose 2 starters that late in the year and still come from so far back in the final couple of weeks of the season. More than anything else, I think credit has to go to Melvin for keeping those guys fired up and competing. Would have been really easy for them to roll over and start going through the motions with all that adversity while going up against a perceived juggernaut like the Rangers.
I think every year a club gets crazy hot and everything just comes together… Orioles are as fortunate too… They’re really not that good… I hate to be the rain on a sunny day or some shizz but the A’s could also get bounced the first round of the playoffs… Member the Mariners when they won like 120 games… They shouldn’t have lost to anyone…. A lot of teams come to mind, too…
@Grey, Oh yeah, I agree with you. If they get the rangers in the first round, they will def be a heavy underdog.
Yeah, but how about those Bravos?
Note to self – plug Dan Johnson into my lineup for the final day of the season.
He’s a former A of course…
Ha…
I just put together what you meant by this… Holy crap, that’s insane…
Wrapping up my first league championship today! Thanks for all the great advice this season Grey. See you next year.
No problem, congrats!
Aahh…after sweating through the last week watching my lead shrink from 25 to 2pts….and the 2nd place dude starting Weaver, Lee, and Papelbon today I thought I was in trouble…..whew!
Grey thanks for all the great help over the season, pretty much all worked out…only blemish might be trading Trout for Kinsler, though it was only 2 weeks after he was called up and hadn’t gone otherworldly yet. Sucks being a keeper, but I won so who cares….Cheers!
Nice, glad it worked out… Congrats!
Another good year in the books…now, get over here you big lug!
Muah!
Hosmer out again, Moobs to reach the magical 20 games mark for 1B eligability next year? Would be awesome dude.
And how bout dem A’s. Here’s to another Moneyball sequel! (if the Yankees can’t win it).
The Yanks did win it in the first Moneyball year, didn’t they?
Holy Longoria.
Interestingly his female namesake has just been in New Zealand…
@Steve, Well, it’s not interesting, but you know what I mean.
Too little, too late…
@Grey, Look at Morrow, teasing us for next year.
But of course…
Holy longoria! And go A’s!!
Vizquel’s final game. Chasing a pop up to left-center, Gose and Davis could have got it, but they let Omar make 1 last back-to-the-plate catch.
Just singled in his (probably) last AB.
I’ll have to look for the video, missed it…
@Grey, Removed him from the game with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. Nice.
That’s cool of them… Luckily, Jose Mesa wasn’t pitching…
@Grey, Ha!
Alright folks. I’ve waited until my opponent was mathematically eliminated. Time to celebrate.
I’ve paid my dues –
Time after time –
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime –
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few
I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my face –
But I’ve come through
We are the champions – my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting – till the end –
We are the champions –
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions – of the world –
—–
Thanks for all the guidance this year grey. Razzball favorites Gio, MadBum, Giancarlo, Beltre, and Mike Minor made up the back bone of my team. No chance I would have won the title this year without grey’s help. I really wish I could do something to help the readership of this blog, but theres no chance I’m giving away my secret weapon to the other members of my leagues. (FWIW though, anytime I talk fantasy baseball with people who aren’t in one of my leagues, I almost always bring up razzball)
Ha! Awesome… Congrats! And thanks for the kind words, glad it all worked out…
Run, EverCab, run! Who cares if you’re 6-1 down?
Um, I’m not going to say anything specific, but Shelby Miller is looking pretty good tonight?
@Steve, Good thing I don’t believe in jinxes.
Wow, you did that fast…
@Grey, Hey! Whatevs, he’s already owned in both my keepers.
Hehe… Jinxer!
@Grey, I was hoping Bailey would be involved in no-hitters 2 games in a row.
In some way, Steve’s involved in every no-hitter…
@Grey, Ha! Don’t think the Cards wanted him to go 9 anyways.
lost the season by .0001 in whip on fernando rodney pitching 1/3 of an inning to finish the tampa game. ouch.
Are you serious? Oh, man… That’s crappy…
@Grey, Yup. 1.1911 to 1.1912…the extra 1/3 inn put him over the edge. Pardon any incoherent statements the rest of the night as I just pulled my college bong out of a box labeled “take to storage”.
Ha… Oh, man, that’s a gut punch…
If Mendoza can somehow get a win here, I might sneak into the money in the Hippo keeper. Gained 7 points today…
Wow… That’s some nice streaming there…
Wow – Grandy finished just 1 HR behind Miggy for the AL lead.
That would be an insane blow if that cost him the Triple Crown…
Hey man,
You and Rudy F@%#ing rock!
Thanks for everything and enjoy a couple of drinks.
Thanks so much!
…and its a wrap folks. All games over. My second season of fantasy baseball has come to an end. Seems like it was just yesterday when I was drafting in March and getting ready for the season.
I’m heading out to celebrate my championship. Definitely going to pour some out for my homie grey. Peace!
Awesome, congrats!
Copales Charros led the ECFBL one day this season–the last! Had a ‘cushion’ of 1 HR, 1 W, 1 SV, and .001 in ERA to win by 2 pts!! Congrats, Chad!
And with the 0.5-game lead I had over the #2 seed, my finals opponent, I take the 5-5 tiebreaker and $180!
What a ride that was.
Grey, Rudy and everyone on the Razzball crew, thanks for the work you guys put in day in and day out. I sincerely could not have gotten here without you guys, and I really think you all should create some sort of fantasy baseball site awards, then give it to yourself for the creation of the SON. That was a life saver at times.
I look forward to the offseason coverage and be sure to enjoy the drinks I’ll send you guys soon!
Congrats! And thanks for the kind words!
@Grey, Just wanted to throw my own shout-out to Chase Headley. Post hype success that no one saw coming. I grabbed Headley when A-Rod hit the DL and August / September Player of the Month honors carried me to the playoffs. PS I thought Aybar was a huge bust. Came off a career season and was positioned to leadoff in front of Pujols and you know the rest.