Somewhat Manly Nerd

I couldn’t pick just one. I go with two Queens of the Stone Age songs because they’re my official summer band. Nothing like rolling down the windows on a beautiful day and blasting QOTSA. If it were the winter, I’d probably post a depressing Radiohead song that makes me want to suffocate myself with my pillow. Thom Yorke has a voice to commit suicide to.

Queens of the Stone Age – You Can’t Quit Me Baby

I mentioned the word depressing, and these lyrics can be described as such, yet the song manages to be so laid back with a line like “slash and I cut/I do it for you.”

Queens of the Stone Age – Another Love Song

This song is just fun as hell. Googling just made me aware than Insane Clown Posse also has a song by the same name, but I’m not curious enough to subject myself to ICP.

I’m going to use this opportunity to mention that there’s no album I’m looking forward to more than the Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones collaboration apparently known as Them Crooked Vultures. The two Muse songs released thus far dropped that album down a notch.

- I write these posts when I’m too lazy to come up with full, well thought-out posts — if you could call my other blog posts well-thought out.

- Anderson Silva has to be the most entertaining fighter in the UFC. Georges St. Pierre might be a perfect machine, but Silva is the MMA equivalent of an Ali and Roy Jones Jr. cocktail. He fights inside the Matrix.

Higher quality GIFs here.

- Never tell yourself you’ll never do a certain something again, because you’ll feel that much worse when you do it and it bites you in the ass.

- This trailer for the upcoming movie Brothers is one of the most hilariously awful things I’ve ever been subjected to. Maybe this is because I find Tobey Maguire impossible to take seriously after Spider-Man 3. Or maybe because the entire movie is shown in the trailer.

- Life is always that much better when you’re in first in both your fantasy baseball leagues.

- I randomly discovered Kayak.com in a NeoGAF thread today — I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a flight. Simpler than any other site I’ve seen. Not that I’ve actually flown anywhere for a vacation this decade. Holy shit, I need to go somewhere.

- Staying on the simple website topic, Mint.com is apparently some website that can keep track of all your finances for you. But they need to know how to access all your online account information. I only allow third-party access to my pathetic life, not my pathetic finances, thank you very much.

- Eggs are required when you’re ordering at a diner after midnight. There are no exceptions to this rule.

- Weird things happen at bars at 3:30 am, like a 20-something girl walking out with a 50-something guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I hope I’m that cool when I grow up.

- Jeff Francoeur continued mediocrity — interpreted as above-average contribution by idiots — is probably the worst-case scenario for next season, since it would convince Minaya that he’s the answer in RF. Amazin’ Avenue covers it here. On a related note, Amazin’ Avenue also covers the stat known as WAR pretty well in the process of ripping another blogger/radio show host.

- As you could have guessed by now, I think a girl talking about baseball stats would probably be the hottest thing ever. Even better than ass-to-ass, Requiem-style.

- Did I never write a post about Five Guys? Best fast-food I’ve ever had. Nothing better than a bag of greasy fries and a fresh double-pattied bacon cheeseburger. If people from the West Coast read this blog, they’d say that In-N-Out is better.

- Why can’t I find a decent Christina Hendricks wallpaper? The internet has failed me.

Standing among a crowd of dirty, drunken Jerseyites in a Hoboken bar — probably being one the most intoxicated there — I didn’t quite believe what I was seeing when A-Rod hit a walkoff homer in the 15th inning of a scoreless Red Sox-Yankees game. With the massive cheers and five-hiving occurring in the bar, I should have been sure, but I still had to ask my friends in the morning if that really happened. The entire night out seemed to have the game in the background, and it never changed. Arrive at the friend’s apartment, the game has started at 0-0; eat dinner and get refreshed at an Irish pub/restaurant, the score remains 0-0, go back to the apartment, still 0-0; stumble into a bar with a dozen TVs and a massive projector, still no score. Only after the night had already turned into a haze where everything started to blend into the background did the stalemate finally break, at which point I allowed my brain to blackout.

The Yankees pitching staff has done well for me in fantasy the past two days, what with a combined 15 and 1/3 scoreless innings from Burnett and Sabathia. Conversely, I’m glad that I don’t have K-Rod on either of my fantasy teams. I’m also glad I haven’t watched the past two Mets games, and Bobby Parnell’s first ML start is the only reason I’m tuning in at the moment.

K-Rod is regressing in a spectacular fashion. The first half of the year was not his true performance level, but even I didn’t expect him to have a stretch like this. Everyone was praising Minaya early this year for getting K-Rod at a “bargain” price, but it’s only going to look worse and worse as the contract runs its course, if this disturbing trend line continues:

Fangraphs

K-Rod’s XFIP by year:

2004: 2.63
2005: 2.97
2006: 3.22
2007: 3.53
2008: 3.71
2009: 4.27

XFIP, according to Hardball Times:

Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. This is an experimental stat that adjusts FIP and “normalizes” the home run component. Research has shown that home runs allowed are pretty much a function of flyballs allowed and home park, so xFIP is based on the average number of home runs allowed per outfield fly. Theoretically, this should be a better predicter of a pitcher’s future ERA.

So yeah, K-Rod is only going to get worse, so his signing can be put in the corner with Oliver Perez’s. Oh, and the Angels’ closer this year is tied for the league lead. Saves and closers as a whole are such a joke (except Mariano Rivera).

There are a bunch of different fielding metrics that are thrown around nowadays — UZR, Plus/Minus, Range Factor — and sometimes they don’t exactly agree, but for the most part they come together to form a credible overall view of how well a player fields his position, especially over the course of a few years. Most of time, I just go straight to Fangraphs (which utilizes UZR), but they don’t have UZR data prior to 2002. Baseball-Reference, on the other hand, has Total Fielding Runs Above Avg going back much further. The only catch is that I don’t quite know their methodology for this stat, and their glossary doesn’t exactly shed any light on it, either. But I’m going to go ahead and mention some of these numbers anyway.

Ok, let’s start with the career Rtot/yr (Total Fielding Runs Above Avg per 1250 innings) numbers for guys that everyone knows was a totally awesome fielder.

Ozzie Smith +13.1

Brooks Robinson +14.0

Willie Mays +9.3

Keith Hernandez +8.3

Roberto Clemente +12.0

Ivan Rodriguez +9.7

Roberto Alomar -1.8

Wait, what? Roberto Alomar was BELOW AVERAGE? But he has ten Gold Gloves! This stat has to be wrong! No, I don’t think so. I think the perception of Alomar is similar to that of Derek Jeter, only Alomar was basically an average fielder, instead of absolutely terrible. So take an average sure-handed fielder who really flares it up as much as Alomar, what with the jumping and diving in the outfield for balls almost behind first base, add it to the fact that he was also a good hitter, and you have yourself a ten Gold Glove winner. Even Jeter has three Gold Gloves, and every fielding metric created puts him below average, with most putting him at the bottom of the heap. By the way, Jeter’s career Rtot/yr is -8.2. Check it out yourself.

I don’t believe the following blew my mind as much as the Alomar revelation, since he has always been known as an incredible center fielder, but I really was not prepared for Andruw Jones’s numbers. I probably should have (or have, and don’t remember) looked at his numbers on Fangraphs before, but holy living fuck. I hate him with a passion, not only because he was a Brave, but because of his fucking smirk — yet I cannot deny that he is, or was, quite possibly the greatest center fielder of all-time. Yes, maybe even better than Willie Mays. The career numbers: +18.4 on BR, +22.4 on Fangraphs. That’s just inhuman. And that number for Fangraphs does not account for his first few years, where he was even younger, faster, and better. Ken Griffey Jr. totally fucking pales in comparison (-0.6 career, hurt by the last decade).

If you want to maybe delve further into fielding stats, I’d recommend checking out The Fielding Bible, which includes some Plus/Minus leaderboards from the past few years, where you can see more evidence of Jeter suckage and Jones domination. I very highly recommend reading the “Jeter vs. Everett” excerpt, which can be summed up in this paragraph:

In one way of looking at it, it makes intuitive sense that Derek Jeter could be the worst defensive shortstop of all time. Unusual weaknesses in sports can only survive in the presence of unusual strengths. I don’t know who was the worst free throw shooter in NBA history—but I’ll guarantee you, whoever he was, he could play. If he couldn’t play, he wouldn’t have been given a chance to miss all those free throws. If a player is simply bad, he is quickly driven out of the game. To be the worst defensive shortstop ever, the player would have to have unusual strengths in other areas, which Jeter certainly has. It would help if he were surrounded by teammates who also have unusual strengths, which Jeter certainly is. The worst defensive shortstop in baseball history would have to be someone like Jeter who is unusually good at other aspects of the game.

Yankee fans — feel free to flame me in the comments.

The guys over at Walkoff Walk have it all covered.

Should I even bother giving my own analysis of the multitude of trades? Nah. Fangraphs can handle that.

I’ll just comment on the fact that the Mets did nothing. I heartily approve of this course of action. Even if they could have gotten Victor Martinez for two out of Jon Niese, Brad Holt, or Jenrry Mejia, I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger. Martinez, like Cliff Lee, has an inexpensive club option for 2010, but that’s it. Ok, MAYBE the Mets have a chance next year, but I’m already looking forward to 2011. That’s the last year on Beltran’s contract. Niese should be cemented in the rotation by then, along with at least either Holt or Mejia. Hopefully Fernando Martinez can get through a full year in 2010 without getting fucking hurt again, so he can be the full-time center fielder, with Beltran moving to a corner outfield spot.

Maybe if Fernando Martinez showed more this season when he came up — or if Pelfrey, Maine or Perez actually had a decent season — I would be more optimistic with regards to next season, but how could I be? Even with Victor Martinez, the Mets would have a lot of trouble keeping up with the Phillies next year. But after the 2010 season, the Phillies have a ton of potential problems to deal with, and they won’t be able to keep everyone. That’s what the Mets need to plan for. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a team with a $140 million payroll.

That’s Seinfeld — which means the show, not the comedian. Otherwise I would’ve had to have seen Bee Movie and subsequently reviewed it on here.

The Star Ledger

The seventh season of David’s improvised HBO comedy, which returns on Sept. 20, will be centered around the TV version of David finally agreeing to do a reunion of the defining ’90s sitcom. All four “Seinfeld” castmembers — Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards — will play themselves in multiple episodes, and the season finale will feature extensive snippets of the show-within-the-show.

Larry David loves this shit. He already had Jerry and George making “a show about nothing” within Seinfeld. I’d say he’s running out of ideas, but all he ever did was take real-life occurrences and possibilities and run with them anyway. This doesn’t really affect my anticipation of the new season of Curb, as I would’ve been all over it even if the overarching plot was Larry David trying to become a porn star. And this post is ruined. I’m sorry.

I’m not a hardcore MMA fan, but I’d like to think I know more than the average American male in his 20s; I know a little bit from watching Spike TV, reading internet threads, and streaming the occasional UFC event. I know Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva are hands-down the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC, and that Brock Lesnar has quickly become the champion heavyweight. What I didn’t realize until very recently was that the king of MMA has been outside of the UFC for the all this time. I had seen the name mentioned numerous times, and figured this guy was pretty awesome, but I was not fully aware until a couple of days ago. That was when I watched the following YouTube video:

Fedor Emelianenko scares me more than Mike Tyson in his prime. The guy is Russian, and he trains like Rocky in Rocky IV. So he’s like Ivan Drago and Rocky combined. Plus grappling and submission skills. The only fight he has “lost” was due to a cut from an illegal elbow, and due to it occurring in a tournament format where blood equals losing, he got fucked. So for all intents and purposes, he has never lost — this in a sport where a lucky punch or stupid maneuver on the ground can cost an entire match. Holy shit.

Keeping this information in mind, anyone can see why when the LA Times reported earlier this week that Fedor and the UFC were close to a deal, the entire MMA community was frothing in anticipation. When news came out about a rumored 6-fight/$30 million deal, fans got even more excited. But it never truly looked like it was going to happen, and by early this morning, the president of the UFC, Dana White, gave the final word. No deal.

I’m not going to analyze why Fedor and his handlers or managers or agent didn’t accept such an insane deal — I just wanted to post that YouTube tribute video because it’s one the most badass things I’ve seen on the internet. What a fucking animal. I wanted to see him destroy Brock Lesnar. Sigh.

*yawns*

New York Times

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year World Series championship drought and capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results.

I was so shocked that it took me a day to post this news. Either that, or I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit. Maybe if I were a Yankee fan who resided right outside Boston from 2004-2008, and was subjected to thousands of Red Sox fan gloating for years, then maybe I would care. As it is now, I don’t want to have these names leak out over the course of five years; I would have to hear and read sportswriters complain, and then have bloggers complain about the sportswriters, and then write about it all myself.

Everyone took steroids. What happens if Griffey is outed? Jeter? The shitstorm would be priceless. Personally, I think the only guy I wouldn’t want to hear about is Mariano Rivera. I don’t even see how he could have taken them, but I just want to keep imagining him as some freak of nature.

Well, what I feared in my last post a couple of hours ago just happened. I want to die.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians agreed to a trade that would bring Cliff Lee to the NL East leaders along with outfielder Ben Francisco for four minor leaguers, according to major league sources.

Triple-A right-hander Carlos Carrasco, Class A righty Jason Knapp, catcher Lou Marson — the likely heir apparent to Victor Martinez — and shortstop Jason Donald will be sent to Cleveland.

The trade is pending physical exams.

The Phillies weren’t required to give up pitcher J.A. Happ or the three prospects they balked at trading for Roy Halladay — outfielders Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor, and pitcher Kyle Drabek.

Fuck you Cleveland. You just got fucking fleeced because you wanted to dump salary. I guess that happens when your economy is based on Lebron James. What the fuck can the Mets even do to counter this going into next season? They’re not going to get Roy Halladay, and the free-agent market this offseason is pathetic. John Lackey as the crown jewel of the 2010 starting pitcher free-agent class? Fuck me.

Time to start looking forward to 2011. Maybe sign Halladay through free-agency. Maybe Fernando Martinez will have played a full season by then. Maybe Brad Holt or Jenrry Mejia will be ready for major league action. Sigh.

Needless to say, I did not see this coming a week or two ago. The Mets have scored 29 runs over their four game winning streak, and the starters not named Johan Santana haven’t been too shabby either. Maybe the team really isn’t as bad as the previous three weeks or so seemed to indicate, but they’re not this good either. Not to mention that the performance Jeff Francoeur has created a massive hemorrhage in my brain.

I never thought I could be so torn — or so prideful — when it comes to wanting to be right. I mercilessly ripped the Jeff Francoeur-Ryan Church trade, but yet Francoeur has been the perfect shot in the arm for a team that desperately needed it. I can’t describe how painful it was to write that sentence. I still believe he won’t keep this RBI per game up, because there’s nothing to suggest he will, but what if he does? I assume at one point I will accept I was wrong, but such a realization is not going to come anytime soon. It’s fucking JEFF FRANCOEUR. He sucks! The elation I should feel when he hits a home run is almost outweighed by the shame I feel due to ripping the trade. I can’t help but ask myself, “Is Omar Minaya actually a better GM than I give him credit for?” And then Monday’s press conference happened.

There’s little point in rehashing the ridiculous story that has already been blown out of proportion by the New York media that no doubt wants to show solidarity with Adam Rubin, but it’s just another example of how this Mets organization can’t do the simplest tasks without falling over itself. While not as embarrassing as the way Willie Randolph was fired, calling out a beat writer while announcing the firing of your VP of Player Development is just…insane? Bizarre? Petty? All three?

But such a fiasco hasn’t seemed to affect the major league team, and why should it? I hate it when the media acts like such a front office issue might actually manifest itself in the play of major leaguers who don’t give a shit about this garbage. The only thing that such a PR disaster reflects is a poorly-run organization, which can negatively affect a major league team, but only in very overarching ways — such as terrible contracts, a subpar farm system, and terrible medical personnel.

All these grips fade away — hopefully — when Johan Santana takes the mound. I want him to have a strong second-half, not for this season, but for my own psyche going into next year. If I can’t believe Johan can dominate, what hope do the Mets have for 2010? Especially if the Phillies trade for Cliff Lee.