Alright, so I've been really busy w/ shit lately, and I've neglected my 2 readers by not providing them with enough of my drunken rampages. Well, its 11am and I'm not drunk (yet), but I might as well touch on a few things.
First off, USC losing to Oregon State last night----awesome! I watched the game at a bar in Manhattan Beach that was 99% USC fans when I got there. By the 4th quarter, the place had thinned to about 50% capacity. I actually saw a bunch of dudes in SC jerseys leave at halftime, but they probably just got tired of me mocking them for drinking wine and went to another bar.
Secondly (and very late) - how awesome was that ass whipping the Patriots received last weekend? Stick a fork in those bitches. I love how
Simmons still thinks they're in the top half of the league. One positive for the Pats - they won't lose this week--but only because they have a bye. I wish the Raiders D didn't fold last week. I still predict the Raiders will have a better season than NE this year, and they will trample Cassel and the rest of the ladies of NE in Oakland. Be afraid Gaytriot fans. I give them 2 more games before
Randy Moss completely gives up on the season, like he did in 2006 for OAK. And NE fans will turn their back on him just like they did with Manny. I'm actually excited, I can't wait to see this play out. They got 1 great year out of Moss but choked it away when they weren't allowed to cheat in SBs anymore. Aw.
Alright, so is it just me, or is everyone sick of this "Dustin PEDroia for MVP" bullshit? This would be hands down the worst MVP of my lifetime. And I'm 112 years old. This kind of ESPN/Jerry Craznick/random idiot ESPN anchor from Boston hype leads to ridiculousness. For example (
from today):
Birdman (Boston, MA): Morneau has almost exactly the numbers that Raul Ibanez has. Just thought I'd point that out. I'm going Pedroia. Jerry Crasnick: Birdman, I don't think Raul Ibanez will be in the top 10 among MVP candidates, but he'll make up for it this winter on the free agent market. OK Birdman, w/ that handle you clearly know what you're talking about and are not biased. Just for fun, let's look at a few guys, how about - PEDroia, Morneau, Mauer, Sizemore, Ibanez. I'm not including Kevin Douchelis in this, because every time I see that chaps wearer I want to puke. Literally.
Pedroia - .325 / .375 / .493 - 123 OPS+ (17 HRs, 6th in outs with 471, 1BB)
Morneau - .306 / .378 / .510 - 138 OPS+ (23 HRs, 16 IBB T1st)
Mauer - .330 / .415 / .452 - 135 OPS+ (9 HRs, 8 IBB)
Sizemore - .271 / .378 / .510 - 131 OPS+ (33 HRs, 7th in outs, 13 IBB)
Ibanez - .297 / .363 / .487 - 128 OPS+ (23 HRs, 11 IBB)
There are plenty of other players I could have included in this, but I have better things to waste my time with. Ibanez is only in there for Birdman's benefit. OK, to say that Ibanez and Moreneau are a wash is retarded. Morneau is having a great year. Comparing Ibanez to him is stupid. I'm talking to you Birdman. Plus, isn't that an unintended backhanded slap to PEDroia? I mean, technically Ibanez has better #s than PEDroia. And I personally think Sizemore has had the best season (and he's great defensively) but he won't get love since the Indians aren't winning shit.
So why the fuck would PEDroia deserve the award? He's not exactly Mark Ellis in the field or Rickey Henderson on the bases. He's a 5'2" slow white dude who makes the plays he's supposed to, never the tough ones, he just doesn't f up plays that Major Leaguers shouldn't mess up anyway. Big deal. And in case you were wondering, PEDroia is 6th in the AL in OUTs, so he has cracked the top 10 in an offensive category. The only thing is, you're trying to not make outs there buddy.
Some other idiot asked if you would trade PEDroia for Mauer straight up, and said he definitely wouldn't (he was saying PEDroia is way more valuable). I disagree completely with this. It is far easier to find a 2B who can match what PEDroia does than a C who can do what Mauer does. I honestly would take Mauer's offensive production over PEDroia's any day of the week. If PEDroia didn't play for Boston no one would even know who he is. But the difference between Mauer and Roiditek?! HUGE! And don't give me this "But Roiditek is really good w/ the pitchers". Bullshit funboy. If Mauer caught for Boston, I guarantee you the results would be just the same. Moving on....
Brandon, MN: Mauer has better or similar stats than Pedroia in every major category except HR, and he has 130 less AB's. Just wanted to point that out to Birdman. Jerry Crasnick: Brandon, Joe Mauer has been great, and he deserves a lot of credit for nurturing that young staff. But just about everyone I've talked to thinks that Morneau is clearly Minnesota's MVP just because of his power production with so little help in the middle of that order. Thanks Brando! Brando is right, and Crasnick is useless. Everyone knows that Crasnick is a total Red Sox homer, right? He actually doesn't even try to disguise it. But Crasnick is right, Morneau would get Minnesota's MVP (and the fact that Mauer doesn't have much power hurts him). If I ranked the MVP it would probably go something like:
1. Sizemore
2. Morneau
3. A-Rod
4. Carlos Quentin
5. Douchelis
6. Mauer
7. Miguel Cabrera
8. Aubrey Huff
9. Josh Hamilton
10. PEDroia
So yeah, the little guy who stopped growing when he was 11 should get some votes, but around 10th place votes. This is totally off the top of my head, other guys like Brian Roberts, Markakis, Dye and others could be in this top 10 discussion. Basically what I'm trying to say is FUCK PEDroia. And then....
Mike (Mpls): Do the voters take into account he ballpark factor when looking at MVP? Pedrois has a big wall 310 feet away in left field to knock doubles off of but if he played in the metrodome, where left field is 343, his numbers would be much worse as evidenced by the fact he has 33 home doubles and 19 away doubles. Jerry Crasnick: Mike, Dustin Pedroia is hitting .342 with seven homers and 43 RBIs at Fenway, and .309 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs on the road, so I don't buy the premise that he's benefited that greatly from the park in Boston. God bless Jerry Crasnick, the king of the cherry pick. Feel free, loyal 2 readers to look at
PEDroia's true splits here. Apparently AVG, HRs and RBIs are all that matter. Welcome to 1975. PEDroia has 16 2Bs more at home (35 vs 19) and his HOME OPS vs ROAD OPS is .910 vs .827. Sure, OPS+ is supposed to account for where they play, but that's a huge OPS discrepancy. Similarly,
Douchelis' HOME OPS is .122 higher than his ROAD OPS. It took me 20 seconds to get all of that, but Jerry doesn't have that kind of time.
Doug (Santa Barbara, CA): Jerry, playing for HFA isn't meaningful? How can you say that not playing a meaningful game will hurt the Angels, and they say the Cubs will be in the World Series? Didn't the Cubs clinch awhile back, too? If you think the Sox are better, that's fine, but that's pretty weak reasoning.
Jerry Crasnick: Doug, It's different scuffling for a playoff spot and playing for home field advantage when you have a 20 game lead in your division. I'm not ruling out the Angels as a World Series candidate, by any means. But that's something I'm sure Mike Scioscia has to be conscious of -- making sure they don't go stale. Plus, they've played an awful lot of games against Texas, Oakland and Seattle this season. That's not exacly the stiffest competition. Oh Jerry, you sweet ignoramus. Boston was 6-4 against OAK this year (not exactly domination) and they won 3 of those 6 games after OAK gave up on the season. Sure, Seattle sucks, but so does Jerry Crasnick. Except Crasnick actually blows dudes, while Seattle just sucks at the game of baseball---they don't actually give head to guys like Jerry does.
In conclusion, Dustin PEDroia is not as good as people think he is. And I can't believe I'm actually going to be rooting for the Angels in the ALDS. I'm so confused.
Labels: birdman, boston sucks, douchebag, jerry crasnick, pedroia, randy moss