A little something to "stir the pot"
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 24, 2006 6:47 AM PDT
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PrintSo, I'm sitting here on my computer, waiting for a potential employer to call me and give me details on when and where to interview, and I'm noticing that there's not a whole lot of new diaries popping up. Which means I don't have a whole lot to respond to get the antagonist in me flowing. Certainly there's not as many diaries popping up as they seem to do when things are going badly for our Green & Gold. Wait, is that really a truthful statement or am I guilty of following my own gut feelings on the matter?
So, to stir the pot some and also to be an attention whore, I submit to you some past diary links to explain this community's behavior as I see it. Flame war, anyone? Intentinal CGV seeking? Not really, just a means to provoke discussion on why we write the things that we do and why we feel the way that we do during different conditions.
In late July -- just one short month ago, mind you -- louismg wrote, IM not so HO, an excellent diary titled "Negativity Flowing from the Need to be First". Good stuff there and well worth the read if you haven't visited it. Of course louismg's diary was probably in response to a diary entry earlier that morning by Grover, titled "I'm sorry AN". In that diary Grover explains his position on why he does not believe in this year's Athletics team any longer. I wonder if Grover would write the same thing just one day shy of a full month later. One thing about Grover: he does seem to be even keeled when things are going good [notice I wrote "to be" rather than "remain"). But are the rest of us even keeled when things are going good or bad? Actually, I'm kind of glad that most of us are not; that would be rather boring...and it wouldn't allow me the opportunity to say things like, "I told you so", for I really am a type two and a type three rolled into one. And you know what, Cutthemullet, I suppose you were correct after all.
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I'm trying really, really hard...
Someone else needs to start the dump pretty soon.
Sal.
You're not going to.
Better yet
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 24, 2006 8:04 AM PDT up reply actions
DLD 8/24: Tequila and Ferraris--the New Black!
Where is grover?
He and oaktoon were the same person.
Where is lou?
Everybody can be a fan in their own way but man, some I just don't understand.
by Athletics fan and runner on Aug 24, 2006 8:12 AM PDT up reply actions
where is lou?
Some people just gotta vent...
But I totally get those who only post when they (and our A's) are down. Dealing with winning and positive feelings is easy. Dealing with a beloved team losing is tough. We fans are essentially helpless. We're relying on this group of people over whom we have no control (is Macha fired yet?), and they're just not doing what we want them to do. Posting to AN is something to do in a situation in which there's very little to do.
by GreenNGoldSooner on Aug 24, 2006 8:21 AM PDT up reply actions
Some People Just Gotta
by SportySpice @ Athletics Nation on Aug 24, 2006 8:57 AM PDT up reply actions
I Disagree
All of which reminds me of a conversation I had this past weekend with a lifelong, native-born Red Sox fan, who sheepishly admitted to me that the he's simply more comfortable with the Red Sox being pounded by the Yankees than he was with the 2004 World Series victory. He said that he felt as if order had returned to the universe. Now that's sick!
by GreenNGoldSooner on Aug 24, 2006 11:00 AM PDT up reply actions
That'd be like saying I'm more comfortable with
no, not you
I did get him talking once and he mentioned that he had seen the A's play in philly. He mentioned seeing bobby shantz pitch. The next time that I see him post I am going to ask him about Ferris Fain.
by Athletics fan and runner on Aug 24, 2006 7:58 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh, good.
:P
'Tis me busy time.
Oh, great.
Strange
Only two appearances since August 5th; the last one being one week ago today.
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 24, 2006 8:15 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't think it's strange.
grover
busy trying to get beane fired?
Might be working out some new extrospections
Hope is a powerful thing. It can produce miracles and I have been spectacularly wrong in the past.
Or would that be introspections. Damn! I'm not sure which word is the most accurate fit. I HOPE somebody would help me out with this one.
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 24, 2006 8:27 AM PDT up reply actions
3 days off all August
When did Crosby start pitching?
We have all been very lucky as fans...
IF only Mitlon Bradley could come back healthy, AND Eric Chavez can regain his old form this offense will be OK.
IF Esteban Loaiza could start pitching like the guy we hoped that we got when he signed.
IF Jason Kendall didn't suck AND actually starting playing well.
Well those have all come to fruition, and it has paid off for all of the optimists out there - which is rather fortunate, because of the current standings. Those who called for the blowup of this team are looking quite foolish at the moment, for as hard as it is to believe, the A's for like the 329th consecutive season has gone on a second half run - BUT now they have to close it out... WHICH leads to more IF/AND statements.
They will be able to make some noise in October IF Rich Harden can come back effective AND Huston Street's groin doesn't drag out.
IF Bobby Crosby is dead, will Scutaro AND Ellis be enough up the middle to win a post-season series?
Here's to hoping that the second set of IF/AND statements will also come to fruition for all of the A's fans out there - because every team has the IF's and AND's attatched to them and their potential success, only the A's of late have been turning the questions into answers... which of course I have to ask the ultimate pregunta - World Series 2006?
There are some constants
You don't know anything.
We'll see...
Sorry, didn't mean to rip you.
I just HATE knowing how the season will end
btw, I see Kendall's AVG is up to .291
In the past day we have gained a full game
WOW - I love knowing how the season will play out...
Cherries are delicious
Since the ASB (or approximately the last six weeks), the Angels have lost three games in the standings. At that rate, the Angels will be seven games out at the time of the season-ending series (also known as "AN Dance on Halo Field Day"), and eight games out at the end of the year.
How's this for big sample size...
The Numbers Clearly Say that the ANGELS SUCK - and when they don't, that is the anomaly.
Based on the past 4 hours,
Gotta be even keeled or you will go crazy with...
Everyone has their optimistic and pessimistic moments...especially with the A's. I openly admit that my mood swings too much depending on how the A's are playing. But you have to realize that it is just a moment in time. If things are going good, I tend to think of the negative. When things are not going so well, I do the opposite. While I do not post a ton, I think that is a common theme to my posts - defense of Kendall, Crosby, and hell, even Loaiza.
I am not so narrow minded and do not let my mood consume me so much that I do not jump on AN and post positivity or negativity every time the A's go on a winning or losing streak.
That is just me. I try to not judge people based on their opinions or whether they doomsayers or blind optimists.
The things that does get to me, however, is when people ignore history and facts and believe they are always right. The A's always start slow. They always warms up. This team is better and deeper than the past two seasons. You don't blow up the team because of poor performance early (again) with the injuries and multiple players playing below their averages. The team has some weaknesses and is still contending with injuries. This is baseball. The best team does not always win. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing for our team as it relates to getting to the playoffs and how we do if we make it.
Where's Hollywood Oz?
Oz was in the last GOG
by peanut gallery on Aug 24, 2006 3:02 PM PDT up reply actions
He was indeed traveling.
In Grover's "Sorry AN" diary,
(after making 5 points about why the A's would improve)
"So there it is, grover and others. I realize that this team is flawed. I realize that the arguments above aren't irrefutable. But they're certainly plausible. I think a big part of the problem this season is that this team, for so many reasons, has a really bad vibe; it's very tough to feel good or hopeful about this squad for the reasons we all know: Harden, Chavez, Crosby, Loaiza, injuries in general.
"I get that.
"But despite the uneasy feelings, despite the regular doses of bad news, despite even possibly falling out of first tonight, if you step back and look at what remains of the season, there doesn't seem to me a reason to dismantle the team. The A's have a legitimate shot to do something this season.
"That's not based on blind hope. That's based on an objective look at the team, even during this particularly down time."
I wrote this after talking in detail about specifically why I thought the A's would improve. I don't think what's happened in the last month was expected, but I'm not at all surprised that they got much better.
And the truth is that those who kept saying, "But hey, we're in first place," were kind of right. It was a good place to start from considering what lay ahead.
Essentially, the A's have
First off... lower case "g"
Sorry to be away (although it's kinda cool that folks noticed my absence) but I've logged over a hundred hours of overtime in the last three weeks and have only had 3 days off all month. I'm currently on a fire assignment, luckily I get to spend the night at a Internet equipped hotel tonight.
LCJoe asks a fair question, would I post the same diary a month later? Probably not, and let me tell you why.
First and foremost, back in July I did not believe that Bill Stoneman would be stupid enough to stand pat. I said it then and I still believe it now, the single greatest influence on the A's playoff chances resided in Anaheim and Stoneman couldn't pull the trigger.
But the A's got an extra bit of luck when Baltimore's Peter Angelos showed once more that he has no clue when it comes to running a baseball franchise. He turned down a series of deals that would have brought him 5 quality players in exchange for Miguel Tejada. This stupidity prevented Roy Oswalt from becoming a Texas Ranger, an addition that I believe would have shifted the balance of power away from California and towards the Lone Star state.
Yes, the A's have played well so far in August. But we cannot overlook the impact these two non-moves had on Oakland's playoff outlook.
As for the A's themselves, they got an addition by subtraction when Crosby hurt himself and Scutaro got into the line-up. The scrub has outhit the future MVP all year and if the A's are lucky Bobby will not make it back onto the field before 2007.
Bradley and Thomas have stayed healthy and continue to hit. I never doubted the hitting part, it was the staying healthy part that worried me back in July. It still does, but we've only got one more month to go and I like the odds of Bradley staying healthy for one month better than the chances of him making it through two.
Blanton's been lucky (2.88 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, .337 BAA in August... his best and worst marks for the season) and Loaiza's turn around has been spectacular. I hoped for a bounce back, but I figured it wouldn't happen until he an offseason to rest and train. Kendall has had an outstanding month.
So it's looking like my prediction could be wrong. (I told you that my misses are spectacular!) But before anyone starts to let loose with the "I told you so" comments I'd like to point out one undeniable fact.
Billy Beane deserves ZERO credit for this turn around. He stood pat and got lucky.
I hope that luck holds a little while longer.
you make some good points grover
And Beane could have done something and maybe given you a different view of things but he did not and things are indeed going well, despite...........But I believe he does deserve some credit because he is the one that put this team together in the first place, right? Again, I know I have had my doubts as well thruout the season but I also never gave up hope that this team could get it done. So, with that said I will bid all a good nite and take care of yerself up there grover. Stay loose bro-mrod
Sure Crosby's better on defense
Wow.
Why aren't you king of the world by now, smart guy?
I can't stand know-it-alls like you and oaktoon. Usually I just laugh at your pomposity, but some days, like today, it bugs me. You don't know Crosby wouldn't have outperformed Scutaro. He's definitely capable of it. So maybe it's not luck. I could go over your "excuse/explanation" point by point, but why waste my time?
But, whatever, that's just me reacting at the moment. Please don't let me stop your pontificating, I'm sure I couldn't anyway.
There's a big difference
Given the team's lack of full health before the ASB, and better health after, given career norms of Kendall, Kotsay, Loaiza, etc. measured against "performance so far," Beane wasn't lucky to predict the team would do well to stand pat. He was smart. And many on AN assessed the team the same way--it was perfectly forseeable as a solid possibility. The fact that grover didn't forsee it doesn't make Beane "lucky". And it doesn't make grover "dumb," but it does make him wrong.
Really?
So it is your belief that Beane predicted Kendall's August performance? And the sudden return of Loaiza's mid-90's fastball? That it's somehow wrong to say that the A's have been lucky that Bradley has stayed healthy since returning from the DL?
I'm sorry, but not even the Great Wizard of Oz could have predicted these pivotal performances. The A's got an offensive boost when Crosby went down and Scutaro had to fill in. There weren't many people (aside from oaktoon) calling for that switch. A lot of folks around AN (and I'm willing to bet Beane was thinking along these same lines) that Chavez and Swisher would come around, and they have if you consider Chavvy's 731 OPS and Swisher's 768 OPS key to the A's recent surge.
So what do you call it when recent success can be traced to unexpected, unpredictable performances? I call it Luck, but maybe you prefer a different term. Hell, I'm flexible, we can use your term and avoid any discourse. Just as long as you're not calling it genius on the part of Billy Beane, because that term just doesn't work in this case.
King of the world
But anyways.... Comparing me to oaktoon is just plain stupid. I'd say we were night and day, but oaktoon can pretty much cover that astrological spectrum on his own so I don't know where that would leave me in the equation.
I wish you had taken the time to go point for point because I would love to hear were my analysis was wrong. Are you saying that the A's haven't benefitted from the foolish acts of Stoneman and Angelos, or is it your belief that Beane somehow deserves credit for setting up those failures? Otherwise you're saying I'm right, which may make me pompous but more importantly IT MAKES ME RIGHT.
Back in July I said it was crucial for the A's to get better offensive production from the middle infield positions. I thought Ellis had a better chance than Crosby to provide that offensive boost, but to expect to improve was asking too much. I suggested outside help, never considering Scutaro up to the challenge. Ellis hasn't done much, but you cannot argue that the A's haven't been better off offensively in August with Scutaro at SS instead of Bobby Crosby. I predicted that Crosby would not be able to provide the A's with the offensive help they so desperately needed and I was (once again) RIGHT!
Why have the A's been better offensively in August? Bradley has stayed healthy (which I wasn't going to trust to happen) Thomas is healthy and Kendall is hitting like he's a Pittsburgh Pirate again. Now, I was wrong on Bradley. He has stayed healthy and he has been productive but given his injury track record I don't think it's extreme to say that the A's have been on the lucky side to have him in the line-up day after day. But I didn't hear one voice predicting that Kendall would hit like he has in August and there is no way you can convince me that Beane was expecting this kind of production from his starting catcher after 10 months in Green and Gold.
So please, quit your laughing and back up your attempts to scorn me. Otherwise you can keep your mockery to yourself, because I've got no more time to waste on such weak attempts to put me in my place.
The turn around; no!
But the credit for the success of this organization during his tenure; hell yes he deserves credit for what it has done for what little resources it has.
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 25, 2006 11:39 AM PDT up reply actions
Different topic, but I agree
damn
Ha!
As to the Civil War reference -- or, as they euphemistically call it here, "the War Between the States" -- now that the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments have been added to the Bill of Rights, States' Rights (aka modern federalism) suddenly doesn't sound like an such an ugly proposition to me. Besides, have you taken a look at how much of the population is moving to the south? She is rising again!
<sips the indoctrination flavored Kool-aide and pops in some Skinard to 8-track player thats sitting on my spool-turned-coffee table>
oh yeah...
by Cutthemullet on Aug 25, 2006 4:54 AM PDT up reply actions
The Rust Belt's pi?ata
by LowcountryJoe on Aug 25, 2006 5:47 AM PDT up reply actions
pinata's becoming en vogue around here
by Cutthemullet on Aug 25, 2006 6:47 AM PDT up reply actions
although...
by Cutthemullet on Aug 25, 2006 4:59 AM PDT up reply actions
As a former Southern habitue
There is a brilliant song by a band called the Drive By Truckers about the South of Skynyrd, Bear Bryant, and George Wallace which is mandatory for understanding, as singer/writer Patterson Hood puts it, "the duality of the Southern thing."
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Aug 25, 2006 9:56 AM PDT up reply actions
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