Archive for April, 2010

The boss is making me work late.

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I hate when the Pirates announcers make predictions like “All signs point to a W.” Nothing like an announcer to jinx the team he works for. Also what’s with all this stuff with the Pirates playing well the last two games and this one? It does not make sense. I mean, they go back and forth between brilliant and playing like shit. And it seems like the shit last longer than the good times. Oh well.

Also it would appear that the Steinbrenners bitched loud enough to get MLB to make the DH mandatory for every All-Star Game. Can’t let those pitchers go up and hit. I mean, they might hurt themselves on the basepaths. Ya know, unlike the majority of NL pitchers who go up and hit.

I just saw a beer commercial where two girls are playing “Spin the Bottle” with each other. I wanna play it with them. I should work on setting that up. Spin the Bottle should always have two girls and a guy. And that guy should always be me.

I heard today on Free Talk Live podcast from last week that the Judge, Andrew Napolitano is getting his own show on Fox Business Channel. It’s like they’re putting all the smart people on that channel (Napolitano, John Stossel, and Dave Ramsey) and then leaving the crazies on Fox News Channel (O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck). But how to explain why Shepherd Smith is still on Fox News?

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A win at Miller (finally)…

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

The last time I saw the Pirates win at Miller Park: July 31, 2004. 2096 Days (6 losses at Miller).

The last time the Pirates won at Miller Park: May 3, 2007. 1090 Days (22 losses).

The last time the Pirates won: April 18, 2010. 9 Days (7 losses).

No reason to think things would change as I went there last night…

The Awesome last night: Andy LaRoche went 4 for 5. Jeff Clement went 3 for 5 with a HR. Doumit scored two and hit the game winning Grand Slam in the top of the 9th. Karstens went 6.2 innings and gave up two runs while striking out four and throwing 101 pitches. Braun went 1 for 5. Also he threw his bat like a petulant child after being thrown out at first…twice and threw his helmet another time.

The Not so Awesome: Garrett Jones 0 for 4, with a walk. McCutchen went 1 for 5 with two K’s. The Pirates only got two runs off Randy Wolf despite plenty of hits, 9 Pirates left on base.

Overall, the weirdest thing tonight was walking 0 for 4 Jones intentionally. I looked at the scoreboard and it summed up Jones night (Ground Out, Fly Out, Fly Out, Fly Out). Are you kidding, Ken Macha? You got Trevor Hoffman closing for the Brewers. Pitch to the guy who went 0 for 4 tonight. Instead Doumit, who’s been better than Jones last night goes up and hits a grand slam off Hoffman…

Also it was fun seeing everyone clear out after the Doumit HR. Fun times…

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Hitler reacts…

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This article covers the “Hitler reacts” saga. The director and the fans don’t want the YouTube video parodies taken down and the company which owns the copyright and the ADL do want them taken down. It really proves that head of the Anti-Defamation League has no sense of humor:

“We find them offensive,” he said of the parodies. “We feel that they trivialise not only the Holocaust but the second world war. Hitler is not a cartoon character.”

It trivializes him? I thought it insulted him. I mean, what about Hitler reacts to Wolfenstein 3-D? Here the troops he leads are so incompetent that they can’t guard one guy who kills 300 guards and runs off with 3 tons of gold. He then can’t even beat him with his mecha-suit on. In which case, Hitler was a cartoon character in a video game…

Maybe next, the ADL can focus their attention on the horrible website Cats That Look Like Hitler.

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March of the Plainstriders.

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Found this video today about the lives of the Plainstriders in Warcraft.

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Mets already in Mid-Season sucking form?

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Some thoughts from the first week in baseball. Of course it’s early and there’s something about small sample size that can fool you, but I think one week can tell you a lot about the coming season.

1. The Mets suck. Even though they threw money away on Jason Bay, they still suck. Dur.

2. The Astros are the worst team in baseball this year. I think the fight to stay out of last place in the NL Central will be a dog fight and it’ll be one the Pirates win and the Astros lose. The Astros are terrible. They’re without Lance Berkman and their pitching has been terrible. The only guy so far who’s actually carrying his weight with the bat is Michael Bourn (not good). They’ve walked a total of 5 times and have struck out 50 times. They’ve hit a total of 2 home runs (Garrett Jones has more than that). Meanwhile, Roy Oswalt is the only starter who’s performing. Otherwise, they’ve given up 42 runs in 62 innings. The Pirates might be bad, but I think the Astros are worse.

3. The Atlanta Braves are good, but probably not good enough to be a playoff team. Likewise, Jason Heyward is probably gonna live up to the hype.

4. I still think that the Reds are this year’s sleeper team. I think they’re gonna contend to get in to the playoffs if not make it. They’re certainly better than the Cubs.

5. As for the Pirates, they could be a good team if their top 4 starters can get it together and all pitch deep in to games with low pitch counts. I think the hitting is gonna be good enough to be National League average. And while some of the pitching suckiness can be blamed on “The Mustache of Sadness” and not having a true fifth starter since Kevin Hart can barely muster pitching a AAA game at this point, I think the Pirates are going to have a tough season scoring enough to make up for their obvious pitching deficiencies. As much as Smizik and others have focused a lot of time and complaining on hitting, it’s the pitching that’s probably gonna make the 2010 season another long season.

Also, watching the Judge Judy from yesterday made me glad that when I rented a limo for Sean’s wedding that I rented from a real company that had more than 1 limo and the driver wasn’t an old man who didn’t know where the spare tire was and all that. Although, getting the trolly stuck at Eric’s wedding was pretty fun. Although, looking back, I wonder if it was a good idea to pay them all in advance, it doesn’t sound like SOP.

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There’s a difference.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Tonight Keith Olbermann attacked Sarah Palin for giving a speech at a Wine and Spirit Wholesalers convention and possibly giving a speech to a Marijuana Legalization group. The problem with that? Oh, she’s Pentecostal and her church has some sort of anti-drinking/drug rule. Anyways, I just find it odd that people seem to think that you can’t separate your religious beliefs from your political ideas. Can’t she be okay with the alcohol industry and yet be against drinking in her personal life? In the same way that I think using Ecstasy is a bad idea, but it shouldn’t be illegal.

Meanwhile, it would seem that the FBI had an informant go in to the Hutaree group and tried to push them to becoming more violent. So a lot like the so called terrorist busts back in the Bush years, instead of being Muslims, it’s Survivalist White Guys. None of the “terrorist” they busted were really violent until  the government started edging them on to be more violent. Meanwhile, real violence is never prevented by the government, like the lone guy who crash a plane in to an IRS building or 9/11. And usually the government causes all the violence like at Ruby Ridge and Waco. I find the accusations to be somewhat dubious. Yeah, these guys were probably stupid, but I doubt they were really a threat until the FBI informant came in.

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Beer is helpful, beer is there for you.

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

It’s been 17 straight losing seasons for the Pirates. And it seems like on Monday afternoon that we’ll have number 18 underway (unless the rain postpones the game until Tuesday). As much as I wish it was season #1 of 18 of winning seasons, that just doesn’t seem fucking likely.

The Pirates are trying to build a winning team the way the Marlins did in their build up to the 2003 World Series or the Braves did in the years leading up to their 1991 playoff run. Trade veteran for prospects and focus on drafting the players that you can win with (no more Danny Moskoses or Bryan Bullingtons).

So what do I really want? Well, since it was October 14, 1992 when the Braves started it all with them beating the Pirates in game 7 of the NLCS, I want the Braves to get the same thing. I want the Braves to lose the NLCS in game 7 to the Pirates. I want the Braves to walk off the field while the Pirates and PNC Park is going ape shit. I then want them to lose their best players (Jason Heyward and Tommy Hansen?) to free agency and then watch them go down the toilet for 20 years, no winning seasons, no playoffs.

I want them to suck. They fucking deserve it. I want Turner Field to turn in to the ghost town that Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was pre-1991. Meanwhile the Pirates are a great team that wins no matter what. I want revenge. Revenge is the only real justice in this world. Anything less than that is just a bullshit lie. I’m sick of the Braves. I’m sick of Chipper fucking Jones. I’m so glad John Smoltz and Tom Glavine are retired. I’m so glad that Bobby Cox is gone after this year. I want the Braves to implode and die.

I’d like to thank beer for helping me write this.

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2010 Baseball. Jerry’s preview edition.

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

AL:

East:

Yankees: 99-63

Rays: 96-66

Red Sox: 88-74

Orioles: 75-87

Blue Jays: 65-97

Central:

Twins: 90-72

Tigers: 85-77

White Sox: 81-81

Royals: 70-92

Indians: 64-98

West:

Angels: 89-73

Rangers: 85-77

Mariners: 80-82

A’s: 71-91

NL:

East:

Braves: 93-69

Phillies: 92-70

Marlins: 89-73

Mets: 71-91

Nationals: 67-95

Central:

Cardinals: 92-70

Reds: 89-73

Cubs: 82-80

Brewes: 82-80

Astros: 70-92

Pirates: 69-93

West:

Rockies: 95-67

Dodgers: 87-75

Giants: 81-81

Diamondbacks: 76-86

Padres: 65-97

So that’s the regular season.

Playoffs:

ALDS:

Rays 3, Twins 1

Yankees 3, Angels 2

NLDS:

Braves 3, Cardinals 1

Rockies 3, Phillies 2

ALCS:

Rays 4, Yankees 3

NLCS:

Rockies 4, Braves 3

World Series:

Rays 4, Rockies 1.

All-Star Game:

NL 5, AL 4 (13 innings)

Yep, an all expansion team World Series. That should be interesting. I just want the Rockies to lose the World Series so that Jim Tracy will lose it.

As for the Pirates, I had a lot more optimism going in to Spring Training. However, their play in the Grapefruit league has been terrible. It’s a damn shame because I think they’re better than their Spring Training record and everyone knows that Spring Training stats are meaningless. Last year the Pirates had one of the best records in the Grapefruit league and they still lost 99 games, meanwhile the Astros had one of the worst records in all of Spring Training and they went 74-88. But it’s still troublesome to seem the lose so much in Spring Training, it’s not a good sign for the coming season.

However, PECOTA still has the Pirates at 70-92 (which changes daily as teams make changes). CHONE has the Pirates at 74-88. ESPN the Magazine predicted 74-88. At least a few people are picking the Pirates for a 8 to 12 game improvement over last year. It’s just hard to tell what will happen this year, but I think anything more than 76 games is unrealistic. At the same time, anything less than 60 games is also unrealistic as well.

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