Friday, May 14, 2010

Five Things That Tick Off SoSG Readers

1. East Coast Media Bias. Yes, it exists. And it's why so many national baseball reporters are digging in their media guides to find out who this Andre Ethier fella is. And it will always be a sore spot for any fan whose team starts most of its games at 10p ET. Finally, something everyone in the NL West can agree on!

2. Preferential treatment for underachieving veterans. Exhibit A: Garret Anderson (.137/.167/.216, and recipient of lots of rope from Ned Colletti and Joe Torre). In baseball, the only guarantee of present performance should be...present performance. But sometimes a history of steady productivity will help you get cut some slack. We should all be so lucky to have that happen near the ends of our careers.

3.Pulling the starting pitcher too soon. An especially risky move with an unreliable bullpen. Let's face it: A manager is going to be second-guessed on any pitching move that doesn't work out perfectly, i.e., a good many of them. Joe Torre pulled Chad Billingsley after only 5 1/3 innings on Monday. The Dodgers won, but most of us at least raised our eyebrows at his itchy trigger finger. Too soon, too late — but rarely just right.

4. Tickets for the Yankees playing at Dodger Stadium are not available for individual purchase. A hot topic, judging by many of the emails flying into the SoSG mailbox. Will the extra revenue generated by the mandated mini-plan or season-ticket package sales outweigh the negative publicity generated by this policy? Probably not, especially once fans realize that StubHub, eBay and Craigslist are their friends.

5. Frank McCourt. Ned Colletti. Really, has a single positive thing about these men been written in the Dodgerblogosphere? "McCourt" is synonymous with "eyeroll" in the circles we run in, and contract-wise, Colletti has more albatrosses than a fishing fleet working overtime. But here we are, in the playoffs four of the past six years, and with a core of players most teams can only dream about. Yet the feeling is that all this happened despite McCourt and Colletti. With blame comes credit, and credit blame. There's plenty of both to spread around.

18 comments:

Bob Timmermann said...

People didn't like Mark Sweeney, so they got Mark Loretta, and they hated him (except for Game 2 of the NLDS), and now people hate Garret Anderson. And the person who replaces Garret Anderson, they'll hate him too.

The end of the bench on an NL team is almost always a mediocre veteran on his last legs. If the veteran were still pretty good, he'd be an AL DH.

Everybody wants that guy to be another Manny Mota. Historically, baseball has had very few Manny Mota types.

Fred's Brim said...

I think a lot of people think recently of Matt Stairs, even though he couldn't hit half his weight his last two years.
"Why can't we get a guy like that?"
"Actually you can..."

And it obviously doesn't work in the NL. Those Yankees teams of the 90s with Straw and Fielder and Canseco(!) coming off the bench could never happen in the NL

Jason said...

Normally, I'd add anything baseball related that Bill Plaschke writes to this list, but, to his credit, he did have a pretty good column today.

Nostradamus said...

I hate half-assed half-researched half-thought-through coverage from local media outlets that ought to know better.

Wait, that's three halves.

MR.F said...

I hate ticks.

Brandon said...

I hate that someone waving a flag tells me where I have to park, even if my seats are on the other side of the stadium.

Josh S. said...

I hate this hat.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

@Bob:

That generally plays into the Jon Weisman theory of bench players. Why can't the end of the bench be a young player who is on the cusp but not necessarily a raw prospect. XP comes to mind.

Would I rather have XP or a younger player be the fifth outfielder/pinch hitter? Probably

Neeebs (The Original) said...

And, BTW, I hate traffic.

Steve Sax said...

As a wise man's avatar once said, "Haters gonna hate.".

I'm going to appreciate the four game win streak, despite the bench barnacle bums, and hope we pull off a solid series against the San Diego Chickens.

Steve Sax said...

Sorry for all those periods in my first sentence there.

Kyle Baker said...

I hate Zach Greinke's tiny head.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Five Things that Tick MLASF Off:

1. Cody Ross
2. Chris Andersen
3. Kelly Johnson
4. The Collective Phillies roster
5. Cody Ross

Paul said...

Can I design hats for the MLB already. Jeez they are all gangstered our or look like something that should be worn on Zoolander.

I leave you guys alone for a day and no one mentions that the biggest hate of all???

The Jints!!!! That and Episode II.

Paul said...

Out nor Our but I do have my gangster oar with me whatever that is.

rbnlaw said...

I hate running out of beer on Saturday.
I hate the fucking Giants.
I hate the Pod Rays in first place.
I hate smug-ass Angel fans (how you like me now).
I hate the fact my employer blocks comments on Blogger.
I hate not having a dependable bat off the bench.
I did not hate Jim Thome; although I was disappointed.

Take that.

Oh, and I hate Shaq's tats.

Nostradamus said...

@rbnlaw

I'm singing your litany of hates to the Discovery channel "boom de yadda" song.

rbnlaw said...

That is what makes you genius, Mr. C.
Boom de yadda, boom de yadda
Boom de yadda, boom de yadda.