Posts I'll Never Get To Finish - The Year 2011 In Baseball, As I See It.

So, back in 2011, I had my heart set on being more involved in writing. About baseball in particular. These were my thoughts before I lost internet and forgot about this for more than a year. 

P.S. I was so off. The Yankees won their division yet Granderson was only 4th place. Never thought we'd see another pitcher dominate AND win MVP again. Verlander was (and still is) a beast!  In retrospect, I didn't account for the top two Yankees and Red Sox players stealing votes from each other, so the final vote ended up looking like this.

I've had a few things on my mind for weeks it seems now. Baseball is in full swing with the All-Star game gone by. So instead of just boobs, metal riffs and well shot corridors floating around in my head, it seems to have been infiltrated by numbers. All over the place too. It's like hanging sixes and nines on hard nipples and door handles. Guitar tabs are running into each other with periods appearing in front of three digit combos. I am a amateur student of money ball and sabermetrics.

With that beautiful analogy out of the way, I wanna talk about predictions. And not just award predictions, but predictions about players and teams from the end of this year to next year.

But first, I'll break down how MVP predictions are kinda, well, predictable (shocker, right?) In the A.L., your top three players break down into these categories.

1. League Leaders - Players who lead the league in BA (batting average) and RBI (runs batted in) are usually high, if not locks to win. Leading the league in HR (home runs) and SB (stolen bases) helps; but you have to have one of the previous two to back it up. Leading the league in BA usually means you're top 5 in OBP (on base percentage) and leading in HRs means you usually finish in the top 5 in SLG (slugging) so leading in those two are secondary pluses at best. Additions to the secondary tree of MVP caliber numbers are SB (stolen bases) and R (runs scored). If you get plenty of SBs and HRs with a top 5 BA, you're a sure bet for a top three finish in the vote, if not already holding the damn trophy. [Last bit: If you lead the league in HRs and BA, then you're OBS (on base percentage + slugging) is going to be high anyways, so it barely factors in in the long run; all it is is just impressive at best, stacking the odds.]

2. Best Yankee: If you are statistically the best Yankee on a pennant chasing team, you WILL be a top three candidate for the MVP. Period. Look at the past eight years of votes. Here are the top Yankees in each vote (taken from this blog's favorite baseball statistic website, baseball-reference.com):

2003: 3. Jorge Posada
2004: 2. Gary Sheffield
2005: 1. Alex Rodriguez
2006: 2. Derek Jeter
2007: 1. Alex Rodriguez
2008: 8. Alex Rodriguez (Yankees finished 3rd in the AL East)
2009: 2. Mark Teixeira (Jeter finished 3rd in vote)
2010: 3. Robinson Cano

You could argue that this goes hand in hand with leading the league in certain statistics, but look at the list of teams with top 3 MVP candidates in that time frame:

New York Yankees: 8 (two in 2009, as previously mentioned)
Boston Red Sox: 5
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 3
Minnesota Twins: 2 (Both wins, btw)
Detroit Tigers: 2
Texas Rangers: 2 (Also both wins)
Toronto Blue Jays: 1

Other than Boston, who could almost be interchangeable with the Yankees but just aren't as consistent, there's a big gap between other teams and New York. It helps that two of the teams had players that it was "just their year." Minnesota, in particular, had a winning candidate that goes along nicely with my next type of MVP candidate.

3. The Dark Horse: These are the players that are either having a season beyond their capability, are having an injury shortened season with superhuman-like production at the plate, or the best player on a team that is the Cinderella story of the year. Within the last decade, the only player to reach this status would be Joe Mauer. In 2009, not only did he miss more games (24) than any other player in the top five of the MVP vote, he did it with career bests in Hs (hits), HRs, RBIs, BA, OBP, SLG, OBS and OBS+ (On base + slugging adjusted to home ball park). One of the best catchers in the league got his due in a season he'll probably never duplicate playing catcher.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, with the stereotypes out of the way, here's my top three picks for AL MVP

1: Adrian Gonzalez (BOS, meets criteria 1): Leads league in Hits, RBI, and BA. If he leads the league in hits all season hitting in the middle of order while getting his

I was planning on putting Gonzalez 1, Granderson 2, and Zoberist (and maybe Bautista, but I thought he'd slow down by the time the playoff hunt kicked Toronto off their game) 3, the way my list above stated. But my problem was 1) Not accounting for Verlander to give the GREATEST PITCHING PERFORMANCE SINCE PEDRO MARTINEZ CIRCA '99!!!, 2) as stated above, not thinking Cano and Elsbury stealing votes from their teammates (so much so Elsbury took over and jumped Gonzalez in the end). Even more so, Pedroia broke into the top ten (damn, they were good that year. What the hell happened to the Red Sox...) and 3) Sabremetrics couldn't save Zobrist's chances that year. Only batting .269 isn't going to endear you to voters then or now (but that excuses Longoria's .244 how?). I don't even remember what my predictions for Cy Young would be but I can bet it would have been Verlander and some sort of mixed up argument that a Rays pitcher (probably Shields from the looks of it). Don't remember if I was going to talk about the NL at this point. Would have had the Rays making some sort of comeback to win the AL East and the World Series too, but it just wasn't in the cards that year. Better luck this year. XD

I should try to stop trying to work on posts as long as Bill Simmons and his merry band of bloggers on Grantland. I just can't hold myself to multi-page posts. Start small and work your way up. I'll try better this year, I swear.

Long Time, No Post...

I got ALOT of ground to cover, so forgive me if I seem to be meandering. I'll try to make this as quick as possible.


MOVIES- During my unintentional hiatus from the internet I've been excited, seen, been impressed by and been disappointed in a bunch of movies. Let's see if I can remember all of them. Let's begin with:  

The Dark Knight Rises:

Totally loved it. Visually impressive, almost on the same scale on Inception. Tom Hardy might be my new man-crush. (I can't believe I just said that. WAIT, YES I CAN. TOM HARDY IS FUCKING BADASS!!!) Twist ending ties the series together in a nice, neat bow. Don't care about all the hate on the twist; to me, it makes sense. And yes, it fits within Nolan's biggest pitfall of a plot device. But when you watch all three movies in a row, it all works out. Like it. Alot.  

DC Animated Universe direct-to-DVD films:

Consistently good, to say the least. Even with characters I'm not that accustomed to like Captain Marvel (of the series Shazam!) and Green Lantern. Can't wait to get home (more on that later) to see The Dark Knight Returns Part II.  

Silver Linings Playbook:

Best movie I've seen all year. Semi-random date movie that impressed both the wife and I. Touching without being corny. David O. Russel has been upping his game the last few years. Hope to see more great movies outta him.  

The Perks of Being A Wallflower:

 It was waaaaaay better than I expected. B to A grade acting jobs across the board for the high school portion of the cast. Felt like a mix between The Breakfast Club and Dazed and Confused (75% BC/25% DC). Best coming of age comedy I've seen since Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Wait... You don't know what film I'm talking about? GO FIND IT. FIND IT AND WATCH IT. NOW!  

Rushmore:

Yeah, yeah; I know. Haven't seen it before, what's wrong with me? All that jazz. WELL, I have now. And I gotta say... it's aged well. I can see where a bunch of comedies have gotten inspiration from. Judd Apatow owes Wes Anderson a great deal seeing as how Apatow has seemingly adapted Anderson's themes and made them relatable; Judd rakes in the cash and Anderson continues to make transcendent, awkward, almost artsy comedies. Rushmore stands the test of time because it was original, like if David Lynch made a comedy. Schwartzman's coming out party and Murray's career-renaissance combined makes the picture perfect team. Wish I had seen it sooner in life.

(P.S. That's not a dig on Apatow, his movies aren't rips, their like the accessible version of Anderson's films. Anderson is for on-set-hipsters and Apatow is for frat boys trying to grow up.)


ANIME- Been trying to find the perfect anime to meld into again like I first did with Neon Genesis Evangellion. Haven't found one since The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Let's recap what I've been watching.  

Bubblegum Crisis and it's subsequent spin-offs:

Wow. This was a groundbreaking anime in its time but it hasn't aged well. Kinda like watching DBZ now and them watching the streamlined Dragon Ball Z Kai. Bubblegum Crisis has, at times, a "crisis" of identities. (See what I did there? Keyuck!) Most of the time it's a well put together anime homage to Blade Runner, other times it wants you to buy its voice actress' J-pop single filled OST. This is the 80's at its worst/best. Seriously, the first fucking episode starts out with a terrible 80's grrl band mashed together mock-up of "Rock You Like A Hurricane" and "Big City Nights," but sounds NOTHING LIKE EITHER. The animation is above average for the time period. It's definitely episodic in nature because you feel like the characters are getting close to discovering something yet you never truly feel they even know what they're looking for. After the series abruptly ends (Its like watching Firefly all over again, except 60% less awesome), there's a prequel and sequel that come years after the original's parent company goes under (I think, I could be wrong. It's a bit muddy from my perspective). The prequel is about the AD Police for whom the Knight Sabers (the girl group heroes of the original) are always doing their job for them in BGC. The A.D. Police are about as effective at fighting off the Boomers (human-like androids who go berserk /Without Fail/ every episode) as the LAPD were at calming down the L.A. Riots. The sequel is what would have been the final episodes of BGC. Although more polished art-wise, the three episodes on this OVA feel rushed to an extent (hate to use this reference twice to describe this series, but its not unlike watching Serenity right after a Firefly marathon). Better quality, just wish there was more of it. Plus, no more shoehorned J-pop! YAY!

(Reason I even thought to watch this? The city that the series takes part in is the namesake of one of my favorite web-comics of all time. That's right, MegaTokyo!)  

Green Green:

Oh, my god. You have to see it to believe it. This series is, as I once described to my brother, "The Room of anime." So bad it's hilarious. Imagine, if you will, a world where a boys school is hidden up in the mountains. A girls school visits for a month-long trial period to determine if the student bodies could handle co-existing. (I just read that line, laughed, and realized what kind of review I've gotten myself into.) So, as you can imagine, teenage boys whom have been kept away from contact with females are now having a co-ed existence thrust upon them (What is wrong with me today? XD). Can you believe this series wasn't a hentai? If it was, I wouldn't have blinked. Alas, this is as far as anime goes towards being porn without actually BEING porn. And its oh-so-bad. A group of male characters *from now on shall be referred to as the Three Perverts or TP (I think I might accidentally kill myself writing this review)* decide that NOW is the only time in their LIVES that they can lose their virginities and thus must make every attempt to win over and woo the hearts of their dream girls. Only problem? These guys think being vulgar, perverted and down right creepy is actually going to work in their favor in getting laid. For instance, TP1 (the sad attempt at being charming one) decides to dress snazzy for his chance encounter with a girl whom he could fuck. Problem is, he looks silly as hell. Overgrown necklace and fake lapel rose? Dude thinks the Flavor Flav approach to dating actually works! TP2 (the one with a "little sister" complex/the possible pedophile) bathes in nothing but cologne the night before and then ties open bottles of even more fragrances to his outfit, thus negating all the good those scents do to become pure foulness till he has people wincing on the floor in disgust. The worst part? TP3 (the over confidant fat one who wishes to obtain his own harem) shows up in the cafeteria in nothing but a banana loin cloth. No, no. You read that right. A BANANA LOIN CLOTH. He then begins to loudly introduce himself to and greet the entirety of the female student body whilst REMOVING BANANAS FROM THE BATCH COVERING HIS CROTCH AND PLACING THEM ON EACH GIRLS HEAD. I shit you not, that's within your first hour of a 13 episode series. Welcome to dating hell on earth. The TPs are an atrocious attempt at comedy, so much so that you begin to laugh at the series' attempt at comedy more so than its comedic face value. The main plot would be heartwarming if it wasn't swimming in so much feces to get its point across. You forget that this series is essentially a love anime because its so fucking stupid. Yet, I loved (almost) every minute. When I can say a bear raping a teenage boy (watch the series to see which TP it was. XDDD) and a group of monkeys (who all looked like the de-evolved versions of the TP, no less) molesting a teenage girl was amusing in the fact that they kinda deserved it, then you know this series is just plain weird.

(Three possible turn-a-phrase's that could be misconstrued as being sleazy. I love me some me right now)

More of this including TV SHOWS, WRESTLING, and SPORTS coming in the next post.