Archive for the ‘why we watch’ Category

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Why We Watch – 2008 Kansas City Royals

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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O-o-h Child, Things Are Gonna Get Easier

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Royals Babies, we make our dreams come true
Royals Babies, we’ll do the same for you

Alex Gordon: When your team looks kinda weird and you wish that you weren’t there
Zack Greinke: Just close your eyes and make believe and you can be anywhere (like the World Series!)

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David DeJesús: I like adventure
Billy Butler: I hit home runs
Tony Peña: I love great jokes
Joey Gathright: Joey Gathright dance!
Rany Jazayerli: I’ve got my computer
Alex Gordon: I swing through the air… hey!
Mike Moustakas: I can play, too!
Zack Greinke: And I might get blue hair
Joakim Soria: Me, I throw things
Jimmy Gobble: Gobble gobb… really? This is my lyric? Call my agent!

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Dayton Moore: Is everything all right in here?
All: Yes, Dayton!

Royals Babies, we make our dreams come true
Royals Babies, we’ll do the same for you

Royals Royals Royals Royals
Babies Babies Babies Babies
Make dreams come true!
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 Colorado Rockies

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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Second Verse, Same as the First?

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Jaws 2. The Matrix Reloaded. The Sting II. Speed 2: Cruise Control. Weekend at Bernie’s II. Blues Brothers 2000. Mannequin 2: On the Move. Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.

The 2008 Colorado Rockies?

Admittedly, it’s hard to follow up their first act: winning 274 of their last 89 games to plow to the World Series, where they succumbed quite meekly to the Boston Juggernaut in straight sets.

Everyone can relate on some level to the dream introduced and then deferred nearly as swiftly. The Rockies weren’t seriously considering the playoffs in August, felt predestined for greatness in September, and were planning their winter home improvement projects by Game 3.

It’s difficult to quantify the effects of this on the newfound fans in Denver. Do they drift back to their ski lifts without a second thought? Will Dan O’Dowd see them back in the stands and in the television ratings in the spring, giving him a little more room to work in July?

For the casual fan flipping through the channels, will the Rockies still resonate? Do we still remember the impressive young Tulo and lovable veteran Todd Helton and Yorvit! the Playoff Hero? (If nothing, we should remember the latter for his short-lived Saturday morning cartoon on CBS this winter.)

It would have been hard to believe at the time, but these Colorado Rockies are actually the most nondescript league champions one could ask for. It’s difficult to imagine connecting with those emotional heights again in April or May. Perhaps the first home game in Denver will change all that.

Still… hell, as long as it’s not baseball’s version of Mac and Me, it’ll still be a treat to watch.
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 San Francisco Giants

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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The Hardest Working Man in the Business We Call Baseball

groeschner_dave_90x135.jpgMeet Dave Groeschner. Having taken the mantle of head trainer from the legendary Stan Conte last season, he now faces a starting lineup that could have seven starters at least 33 years of age and a bullpen more fragile than a sugar egg in a San Francisco drizzle.

Also, Ray Durham travels on road trips snuggled in bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper.

If Groeschner is successful, he’ll keep the old and mediocre talent out on the field. If he can’t keep the elderly mobile, the young unimpressive talent drafted after the first round each year (as GM Brian Sabean dumped first rounder after first rounder in almost every draft) will get a chance to work their way up to mere sufficiency at a much lower cost.

Albert Einstein (the official cheap quote machine of Refrigerator Logic!) once suggested that insanity could be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Hopefully, Groeschner can keep the Veteran Goodness healthy long enough to make them decent trade bait for Sabean to flip for the real future in San Francisco… (more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 Seattle Mariners

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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Crown His Arm

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King Felix demands your fealty

2005: Shoulder bursitis
2006: Weight of expectations disease, shin splints
2007: Strained forearm flexor, repetitive pitch sequence syndrome
2008: Upper back pain from carrying the Seattle Mariners; pulled side muscle from catalog model posing; strained facial muscles from smiling so often after wins; cranial chafing from regal crown
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 New York Mets

Monday, February 18th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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Don’t Be Negative

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
-Albert Einstein

Nate Silver at Baseball Prospectus continues to wrestle with the vaunted player PECOTA cards this winter, trying to get them up in time to keep the nerdy hordes at bay with their ASCII torches on their TI-89 Titaniums. (Full disclosure: it took me forever to get the flicker just right on mine.)

Unfortunately, he’s still working on them. He seems to have run into complications that are keeping him from publishing the cards quite yet. It’s still unknown what might be holding back the statistical goodness.

However, my spies have hacked into Nate Silver’s computing powerhouse and have found the offending PECOTA card preventing Silver from publishing all the cards in good conscience:

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Johan Santana: 225.2 IP, 431 K, 17 BB, -0.74 ERA

That’s right; PECOTA predicts the move to the National League for Johan Santana will yield the first negative ERA in Major League Baseball history. Santana will embarrass the likes of the Washinton Nationals so badly that runs will have to be taken off the scoreboard. The cost to National League ballparks could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

No pressure, big man. No pressure.
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 Toronto Blue Jays

Friday, February 15th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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Best. Anthem. Ever.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MELoVoJiZb0]

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Why We Watch – 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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The Juan Pierre Puzzler

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Though there’s no obvious proof, we’ve always suspected Joe Torre hid a dark secret from the New York press for his entire tenure as Yankees manager. Now that he serves another team in another league in a quiet backwater media market like Los Angeles, he’ll be able to express his love for a Boston institution: Car Talk.

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It’s easy to imagine Joe chuckling to the very self-amused NPR mechanic-philosophers on his drive to Yankee Stadium each Sunday morning. Oh, those wacky fellows really know what it’s like to be a guy, y’know? And they’re brothers that pick on each other but love each other in the end. Joe can relate.

However, as Joe drives into Holman Stadium this spring to manage his new wards, he may notice a new Puzzler that seems awfully familiar.

“Hey, Tommy… do you remember last week’s Puzzler?”
“Of course I do, Ray!”
“What is it?”
“The Puzzler is that I can never remember last week’s Puzzler!”
(45 seconds of chortling)
“Okay, Tommy, here’s last week’s Puzzler: why wouldn’t you want Jeff Kent, Juan Pierre, and Nomar Garciaparra to start 130 games for your baseball team?”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, that’s last week Puzzler. I remembered!”
(30 seconds of guffaws)
“Okay… why wouldn’t I want Jeff Kent, Juan Pierre, and Nomar Garciaparra to start 130 games for my baseball team?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm. Is it because I want them to start 162 games?”
“HA! God no.”
“Huh. Okay. (pause) I have the answer to this week’s Puzzler, Ray!”
“What is it, Tommy?”
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 Tampa Bay Rays

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

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Youth Is on the Menu

On most teams, I’ll be privileged to point out one or maybe two young men that could turn the undeniable sex appeal of potential into a full-on stargasm. On the Rays’ roster and in the minors, I can list eight, which is the best collection of young studs outside of one of Paul Lynde’s famed birthday parties:

  • Scott Kazmir, LHP (the Rays are Fortunato to have him) (sorry, Mets fans; that’s not taking the high road after Victor-y) (sorry again)
  • B.J. Upton, CF (you know, your average run-of-the-mill power-and-average-and-speed center fielder star)
  • Carl Crawford, LF (fantasy steals star; get your Vince Coleman-with-a-batting-eye thrill here) (and how much does a fly ball pitcher want this outfield behind him?)
  • Evan Longoria, 3B (I would tell you more about him, but the tears that form every time I see him hit a home run have caused my eyes to well up again and make it difficult to type)
  • David Price, LHP (a lefty with a 94 mph fastball and an 87 mph slider that’s even better)
  • Wade Davis, RHP (98 mph heat and 1-2 other great pitchers makes the loins quiver)
  • Desmond Jennings, CF (three great center fielders in the same system? why not?)
  • Reid Brignac, SS (and a great hitting shortstop that looks agile enough to hold the position)

Each of these young men would be the crown jewel of most minor league farm systems. Here, they’re just putting an awful lot of pressure on the Red Sox and Yankees to not ignore their own development programs in favor of expensive old men.

Tune in any night to lay claim on having seen them early in their careers.
(more…)

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Why We Watch – 2008 MLB Preview

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

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I signed up for MLB.tv Mosaic again this week so I can devour as much baseball as possible again this season. This may be a surprise to those of you that have been around the Fridge for awhile, but I recovered from my early sociological issues to enjoy everything that baseball in the 21st Century can offer.

Still, there’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool, especially if you tend to stick to your team or only have a passing interest in baseball.

To help you, I have created a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Now I can’t beat the great coverage provided by other outlets, whether it be in scope, depth, or whatever comes to mind. Therefore, I won’t try.

Instead, these lists will contain all the reasons why I want to watch every team play this season. (Yes, every team.) Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

You are encouraged to join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

Check back every weekday until Opening Day for another team to be listed.

3/10 update: Make that every Mon/Wed/Fri until further notice. I didn’t factor a daily blogging gig into the schedule. Mea culpa.

3/12 update: M/W/F starting 3/17. Taking the weekend to back load pieces. Mea culpa… mas. (Master of languages!)

Posted in baseball, mlb, why we watch | 8 Comments »

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