Somewhat Manly Nerd

So I attended the Phillies-Yankees game last Saturday. It was my first trip to New Yankee Stadium, and it was my first trip to a baseball stadium this year where I had the use of a point-and-shoot camera. I already visited Citi Field two times prior, but alas, no camera. I will be going to another Mets game in a few weeks, so I’ll be taking pictures then. For now, you’ll have to make due with a photo essay of THE NEW HOME OF GREATNESS HOME RUNS. Actually, it’s more like a photo essay of one seat in the stadium, since I arrived just as the game started and didn’t feel like walking around.

So I wanted to originally add some commentary to each picture, but Firefox is acting up when I try to add pictures, so I figured I’d try out this NextGEN Gallery plug-in.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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But really, this entire post is just an excuse to post this video:

It’s only the fourth round! I wasn’t even ready to start watching this damn tournament. Not to mention that I apparently no longer have the Tennis Channel due to switching to Verizon FiOS. And Nadal is out already? The guy who has NEVER LOST at Roland Garros just lost to ROBIN SODERLING — who the fuck is that? I woke up and he was down 2 sets to 1 and then I could barely stand watching the 4th set due to the disgustingly terrible justin.tv stream. ARGH. Nadal got DEMOLISHED in that deciding tiebreak. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?! This has to be one of the greatest upsets of all-time. Across all sports. Holy shit.

So I guess this is Federer’s chance to win, right? I can’t imagine the waterworks if Andy Murray continues his dominance over Fed and beats him in the final. Federer would drown in a pool of his own tears and clay. What would be even more incredible would be if Andy RODDICK beat Federer in the quarterfinals. Hahah, that was a good one. No really, if that happened I’d think a hole had ripped in the space-time continuum.

I still can’t believe that just happened, but it only serves to illuminate the amazingness of Federer the last 5 years. The guy makes the semifinals every. single. time. And usually the finals.

The following is a trailer for Split/Second, a racing game that I hope comes out this year.

Both guys are in the wrong here (6th or 7th best ERA in baseball over the past two years?), but nonetheless, Francesa totally loses his shit, and it is glorious. I’m squarely on the side of the caller (even if I don’t agree with some of his points), but I have the funny feeling that the fat cornhusker will be soon relegated to the bullpen due to Yankee desperation. And I hope Joba continues to be mediocre after that happens, so we can have the people on Francesa’s side argue that putting him in the rotation led to his ruin. It’s funny that Francesa yells at the top of his lungs, “HUGHES IS A STARTING PITCHER! ANDY PETTITTE IS A STARTING PITCHER!” when Joba was also a starting pitcher his entire life. He just happened to throw 24 innings of amazing ball out of the bullpen in 2007. 24 innings. (Let’s not count the playoffs, considering he was attacked by bugs.) And the only reason he was in the bullpen? He had used up most of his innings limit in the minors starting.

I can’t deny that Joba has been less than stellar so far this year, but should we just ignore how great he was during his run in the rotation last year? Thanks to the glory of Baseball-Reference.com, I can look at game logs and even add up a certain run of games. I can utilize my own small sample size to justify keeping Joba in the rotation! Joba was a starter for 12 games, but the bookends of that stint were the only subpar outings. Let’s arbitrarily kick out the first and second games due to him getting accustomed to being back in the rotation, and the last game because he was possibly hurt. The middle 9 games: 3-1, 2.00 ERA, .232/.301/.273 BA/OBP/SLG against, 6 IP/start. The Yankees went 7-2 in those 9 games. Not too shabby. And that’s 54 IP! More than double his folkhero-esque 2007 season!

Maybe what should be looked at is what happened between this season and last, not what happened when he transitioned back to the rotation. His fastball velocity is down a shocking amount (down 3 mph from last year), although it seems like it never quite got back to the same level pre-injury. Maybe 2007 Joba is the best he’ll ever be. And even if he goes back to the bullpen, what guarantee is there that he’ll be the same dominating force? He’s not going to be Mariano Rivera for the next 15 years. I’d argue we won’t see anyone duplicate Rivera’s career in the next few decades. And you know what? He still wasn’t as valuable as a great starting pitcher. I will concede the point, though, that he was definitely perfect for the Yankees, a team with a reserved spot in the playoffs for a dozen years. In October, Rivera was used to his maximum potential and he deserves all the praise he receives for his inhuman performance. Other than 1997, even when he blew saves or lost games, it was always seemingly due to errors or bloop hits. The dude is fucking incredible.

…and I’ve veered completely off-topic due to the awesomeness of Mariano Rivera. Let me just state my one point from the previous paragraph: A STARTING PITCHER IS MORE VALUABLE THAN A RELIEF PITCHER. 200 IP > 70 IP. I could digress once again and whine about how closers should be utilized differently and more frequently, but I’m no Bill James. The bottom line is that Joba Chamberlain needs to be kept in the rotation for the Yankees to extract as much value out of him as possible. Pettitte might not be around next year. A.J. Burnett is liable to get hurt at any moment. There will be starting spots to fill. Do the Yankees want to fuck around with their stud and shuffle him back and forth between roles? Conversely, I know Rivera is also near the end of his rope, and I know people continuously bring up Jonathon Papelbon as the perfect example as to why Joba should be groomed to be the next closer, but simple math is on my side. His performance this season isn’t due to him being in the rotation, it’s due to him just not being 100% for whatever reason. Putting him BACK IN DA PEN isn’t going to magically fix him.

I watched five errors by the Mets, including a throwing error by Jeremy Reed to end the game, which was precipitated by a Carlos Beltran gaffe. I guess that’s what happens when half the team is either playing out of position or is a AAA player. But those five errors don’t mention Ryan Church missing third base on his way to (not) plating the go-ahead run in the 11th inning.

I’m not even sure what to throw up on here — it’s 2 AM and I’m totally exhausted due to both the time and the Mets. I just felt like acknowledging the fact that I stayed up to watch what I hope is the most comically bad Mets game of the season. And David Wright is now the only guy hitting on the team (well, Angel Pagan actually went 4-6), so the Dodgers started walking him halfway through the game and will probably continue to do so for the rest of the series. But he’s not a leader. I quote MLB-GAF:

This proves that David Wright isnt the type of leader needed for the Mets to be a good team.

Kobe would rape Church in the shower for that shit and make Beltran watch.

My blog has come back about three times as offensive, hasn’t it?

So I finally had the exam that made me decide to neglect this blog. Unfortunately, I didn’t really utilize the time I saved by not posting. On the flipside, even my co-worker who went into the exam confident came out totally exasperated, so perhaps I should be glad I didn’t futilely study too hard. Either way, the exam was behind me as of 4:00 PM EDT, so everything this weekend was that much more enjoyable.

And it was a productive weekend, at least in terms of the amount of entertainment digested in various form:

I got in sporting entertainment by hitting golf balls at the driving range. I am so ready to average a double-bogey over a 9-hole course. Fear my iron play.

I took part in alcohol-fueled entertainment while the Mets came back from a 5-1 deficit against the Giants’ crown jewel Tim Lincecum. Probably the high point of my weekend.

I fit in a trip to the movie theater to see Star Trek. It was merely OK and not worthy of the ridiculous praise it’s getting. Galaxy Quest is still the best Star Trek-related movie of the past 10 years.

I laid back and watched the last three episodes of House. I enjoyed the twist well enough, and I definitely like the implications more than the alternative. The show is past its prime, but it’s still too fun to watch House and Wilson.

I also rewatched Series 1 of The Office — the British version — with the intent of continuing with Series 2 and Christmas specials this time. I definitely appreciate it more this time around, compared to when I was a dumb teenager, but damn if it’s not terribly depressing if only due to being so much more truer to life than the American version. That sentence was terribly depressing for English professors.

Speaking of which, I read an entire book over the course of the three days, “Faith and Fear in Flushing” — a book I didn’t even have to pay for! The internet can be a great place. I recommend it for any Mets fan, but I’m not sure if I would recommend actually paying for it. Rediscover your local library.

Meanwhile, I’ll be rediscovering Team Fortress 2 for about the sixth time.

For the next 21 days, you won’t be subjected to my ruminations on the patheticness of the Mets, my thoughts on random movies, my random embedded YouTube vids, or my lazy scattered comments compiled into “real talk.” This is due to an actuarial exam. Google it. I’m not even going to allow myself time to go out and get drunk in the next three weeks, so I’m not going to spend it writing posts for the few people who visit this corner of the internet. I probably should have written something up for my first Citi Field experience last Friday, as I’m sure you’re extremely interested. I apologize profusely. I will be attending one more game between now and May 15th, so I will have TWO games to base my observations on when I come back. Isn’t that exciting? I would also like to see Crank 2 between now and then, but I doubt I will. I don’t think a review is required, anyway. Go see it if you want to see Jason Statham be the centerpiece of amazingly awesome insanity.

Here’s to hoping that the Mets manage to win a game that Johan Santana doesn’t start in the next three weeks. And that I actually study every waking moment I’m not at work in order to pass this god-forsaken exam. I’m not sure which is more likely.

Oh, and I leave you with this:

Thanks to myself, Y2Kev, and Windu over at NeoGAF.

For the uninitiated, PitchFX is the universally accepted tool for tracking pitch statistics. Statistics like location, movement, and release point. It is pretty fucking awesome.

So I’m going to use it to show that Carlos Delgado had no right to be pissed at the umpire when he rung him up to end the Padres-Mets game tonight.

Yeah, I know it's tough to tell the colors apart

Proof that the umpire was far from being erratic in that final at-bat, something I thought myself as I witnessed it. His eyes were actually superhuman. I’m impressed. I wish I could say the same about the Mets.

If you want to check out more pitch data, check out Brooks Baseball.

Citi Field had its inaugural game tonight, and it started with a Padre hitting a home run off of Mike Pelfrey. The next inning Pelfrey fell off the mound like the big goof he is. Then Ryan Church did his best Daniel Murphy impression. Sure, David Wright became the first Met to hit a home run in the new park, revealing the brand new apple, but his dramatic game-tying 3-run bomb turned out to not be enough. Yet it gave Mets something to cheer about, and a memory for everyone who attended that opening game. Even I’ll always remember that, despite watching it from my desk chair. Who else would hit the first home run at a stadium that hopefully brings a new, less pitiful era for Mets baseball? The House of David, indeed. Shit, that’s way too cheesy.

I think tonight definitely helped to illuminate just how much of a pitcher’s park Citi Field is going to be. Both Beltran and Wright crushed balls to center field — Wright’s moreso than Beltran, I think — and neither managed to make it out of the park. Maybe in the summer it’s a different story? Maybe during a less windy night? Nonetheless, I don’t think anyone will disagree that the park is not going to help boost the home run totals of any Mets players. Wright, Delgado and Beltran are going to need to earn it if they want 30 home runs. Or just hit them when they play at Citizens Bank Park.

The other New York team — where else would you see the Yankees referred to as “the other New York team”? — got its ass handed to it 15-5 by the Tampa Bay Rays. The best part was Nick Swisher pitching a scoreless 8th inning, striking out Gabe Kapler in the process. Pretty sure he should just retire now to become a professional steroid abuser. I didn’t see much of the game, but I know Chien-Ming Wang obviously sucked, and the highlight montage at the end of the game seemed to display the Yankees total ineptitude in the field. Before the season started, I told a friend I thought Joe Girardi’s job was safe through this season, but now I’m starting to have my doubts. Yes, I know it’s barely been a week, but Wang having two spectacularly terrible starts has to worry everyone connected to the Yankees. He has already given up more runs than he did in the whole month of April last year. Not that such an occurrance is Girardi’s fault, but the loss last night can certainly be somewhat attributed to his overmanaging tendencies. It’ll be interesting to see how Yankee brass reacts if the team is ever more than 10 games out.

Arcade Fire – (Antichrist Television Blues)

No need to embed a shitty homemade unofficial music video. Now this is a song I actually have posted on here before, but I particularly love it, and I enjoy coming up with unique titles for these posts. You probably didn’t listen to it the first time around anyway.

I feel like I’m in the minority in liking Neon Bible more than Funeral, and I think it’s solely due to Win Butler doing his best to sound like The Boss. Funeral has a few great songs, but I just prefer Neon Bible the entire way through. Perhaps I should expound my position, but I haven’t felt much like posting lately. You might have noticed that. I blame the need to study and also my despondence when it comes to my chances of actually passing the exam I am studying for. I think more about studying than actually doing it, which puts it on a list with approximately two dozen other activities. Examples would include video games and sex, but I’m pretty sure the latter goes for every guy. Unless they’re having sex every six seconds.