Bored

I'm going with the Deadspin.com Barbaro Memorial Bowl.

Not that I care that much but I think finalizing how many keepers there will be is fairly important to decide before the trade deadline.

Damn, I never expected in a million years anyone would take Kendall off the A's hands. It had been assumed that Piazza would be the one that would be dealt which could still happen if the A's waive the white flag come July 31st. Kendall actually has been halfway decent of late but he had almost no where to go but up after hitting like a pitcher for two months. Now I hope his best friend on the A's and fellow washed up veteran Mark Kotsay demands a trade.

And with that we now seven new sign ups which means if all remaining holdovers return we'll end up with the max 40 teams. Any new sign ups after today cannot be reserved a spot. There are currently nine holdovers who haven't signed up yet.

Hey its entry #200! Ya I had nothing special thought out. I've tried putting together a list of the Top 50 Oakland A's of All-Time but am never satisfied with the list when I put it together. I also tried putting together a list of the Top 100 baseball players of my baseball lifetime but that became too difficult and eventually too subjective as I made adjustments to it. So as a total cop out I decided to list the Top 50 most replied to threads in the Sports forum here at TSM which is pretty much the only forum I post in for the most part. I'd pull quotes from these threads but not even I'm not Bored enough to go through threads with thousands of posts to find something remotely funny although feel free to do it for me. 1. One & Only MLB playoff discussion thread 3616 replies Sarted September 27, 2003 by KingPK Most Posts: Choken One - 612 2. English Football 3483 Started June 22, 2003 by welshjerichomark Most Posts: TheFranchise - 893 3. The Official MLB Offseason Topic 2396 Started November 9, 2003 by Bored Most Posts: alkeiper - 448 4. Fantasy NBA League? 2264 Started October 1, 2003 by MarvinisaLunatic Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 415 5. The OAO NBA Playoffs/Finals Thread 2145 Started April 10, 2004 by Dangerous A Most Posts: Choken One - 203 6. And So it Begins 2132 Started October 28, 2004 by Bruiser Chong Most Posts: alkeiper - 238 7. The one and only NHL playoffs thread 1989 Started October 6, 2003 by Urban Warfare Most Posts: ??? 8. The ALCS: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 1902 Started October 9, 2004 by The Dames Most Posts: Anglesault - 246 9. NFL Discussion Forumtable 1870 Started November 14, 2006 by Agent of Oblivion Most Posts: Porter - 144 10. Smartmarks Fake Baseball League 1714 Started October 18, 2003 by Evolution Most Posts: Evolution - 553 11. Another reason why ESPN sucks 1681 Started April 13, 2006 by KingPK Mosts Posts: Leena - 156 12. 2006-7 MLB Offseason Thread 1593 Started October 2, 2006 by Mik Most Posts: cheech13 - 182 13. 2006 NFL Off-Season 1558 Started January 3, 2006 by FFMS Most Posts: Carlito Brigante - 203 14. The OaO 2003-2004 NBA Thread! 1369 Started October 23, 2003 by Just J Most Posts: alfdogg - 167 15. The 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs thread 1317 Started April 4, 2004 by CanadianChris Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 99 16. The Official 2003 NBA Playoffs Thread 1246 Started April 16, 2003 by Crazy Dan Mosts Posts: ??? 17. Official College Football thread 1229 Started September 2, 2003 by Vern Gagne Most Posts: Bored - 216 18. The NFL Offseason/Pre-Draft Thread 1177 Started January 22, 2005 by MrRant Most Posts: Vitamin X - 158 19. TSM Fantasy Baseball 2007 1150 Started January 12, 2007 by MJ Styles Most Posts: MJ Styles - 179 20. TSM 2006 NBA Playoffs thread 1140 Started April 17, 2006 by Dangerous A Most Posts: alfdogg - 105 21. The One & Only 2003 NFL Draft Thread 1126 Started April 25, 2003 by Flyboy Most Posts: ??? 22. The Rose Bowl Thread 1112 Started December 3, 2005 by Bored Most Posts: Damaramu - 236 23. NBA Offseason Thread 1109 Started May 8, 2006 by Kingofthe909 Most Posts: alfdogg - 143 24. NBA Offseason News and Moves 1104 Started June 17, 2004 by NaturalBornThriller4:20 Most Posts: alfdogg - 106 25. 2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 1095 Started December 11, 2006 by alkeiper Most Posts: cheech13 - 154 26. NHL 2006 Playoffs thread... 1087 Started April 17, 2006 by Carlito Brigante Most Posts: CanadianChris - 165 27. NBA Roundtable Discussion 1056 Started December 7, 2006 by alfdogg Most Posts: Ripper - 145 28. Head 2 Head Fantasy Baseball 2005 1026 Started February 21, 2005 by Lightning Flik Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 205 29. NHL 2006 Off-Season... 1012 Started June 19, 2006 by Carlito Brigante Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 134 30. NCAA Basketball Tournament Thread 1006 Started March 17, 2005 by Slayer Mosts Posts: Damaramu - 131 31. The OAO NHL 2003-2004 Season Thread 1003 Started December 2, 2003 by CanadianChris Most Posts: CanadianChris - 118 32. Super Bowl XL 996 Started January 22, 2006 by CanadianChris Most Posts: Hawk 34 - 67 33. NBA Offseason Stuff 953 Started May 31, 2005 by alfdogg Most Posts: alfdogg - 128 34. The One and Only Divisional Playoffs thread 917 Started January 10, 2004 by CanadianChris Most Posts: FrigidSoul - 102 35. College Hoops: NCAA Tournament Rounds 1 and 2 913 Started March 13, 2006 by SilverPhoenix Most Posts: Leena - 100 36. 2005-2006 MLB Offseason thread 891 Started October 19, 2005 by Mik Most Posts: FFMS - 138 37. Fantasy Football 871 Started July 7, 2003 by razazteca Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 162 38. The Official SmartMarks Fantasy Football Thread 869 Started July 28, 2002 by The Man in Blak Most Posts: ??? 39. NBA Playoffs 2006: Conference Semifinals 867 Started May 6, 2006 by alfdogg Most Posts: naiwf - 89 40. TSM Head-to-head FantasyBaseball League~! 841 Started February 18, 2004 by Lightning Flik Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 216 41. TOAO NFL Week 2 Thread 813 Started September 13, 2003 by bps21 Most Post: tpww - 144 42t. Anyone up for Fantasy Football? 808 Started July 3, 2004 by LaParkaMarka Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 151 42t. 2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 808 Started Decmeber 11, 2005 by alkeiper Most Posts: alkeiper - 114 44. OAO 2004 MLB Games Thread 800 Started April 4, 2004 by HarleyQuinn Most Posts: Anglesault - 165 45. Yankees/Twins ALDS Thread 799 Started October 5, 2004 by alkeiper Most Posts: mike546 - 131 46. The ONE and ONLY World Series Thread 795 Started October 16, 2003 by alkeiper Most Posts: Mik - 179 47. The 2006 NFL Draft Thread 766 Started April 28, 2006 by Gert T Most Posts: teke184 - 100 48. World Cup 2006 in Germany 753 Started May 10, 2006 by CurryMan Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 75 49. The 2004 NFL Draft 749 Started April 15, 2004 by JackBauer Most Posts: bps21 - 102 50. NBA Playoffs 722 Started April 17, 2005 by alfdogg Most Posts: The Electrifyer - 59

If anyone feels that the All-Star Game or, God help us, the Homerun Derby deserves their own thread be my guest but otherwise I think the regular weekly thread will work fine. Playoff match-ups at the break: Indians/Red Sox Angels/Tigers Dodgers/Brewers Mets/Padres ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth TUESDAY American League at National League, 8:25/5:25 PM, FOX SATURDAY Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) at Phillies (Kyle Kendrick), 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Astros (Roy Oswalt) at Cubs (Rich HIll), 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Dodgers (Brad Penny) at Giants (Matt Morris), 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Cardinals at Phillies, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN

I just noticed that the ESPN Sucks thread is the most viewed thread in the history of the Sports forum with 43,825 and counting.

And just to add the furthest the A's were out of the playoffs after 92 games in the previous eight seasons was six games in 2001. That team was loaded and won a ridiculous 54 of their last 70 games to win the wild card. A's right now stand 10.5 games out of the playoffs. At this point I just want their string of winning seasons to continue which I'm not giving up hope on but playoffs...PLAYOFFS!? Forget it.

Obviously you underestimate my genius then. But no, really, its over this year.

Can this season end already? Barring a miracle the A's are looking at not playing meaningful games in September for the first time in nine years.

I seriously doubt the players even care. Taking away victories has always been nothing more than a symbolic gesture by the NCAA that no one but themselves really recognizes.

Good to have you back. One problem...we already have a Toilet Bowl. But I suppose we could have two like how the CFL used to have two teams named the Rough Riders. But maybe Urban Warfare will end up changing the name of his Toilet Bowl.

I want to keep you as Kentucky for now simply for scheduling reasons. It may turn out once the sign ups are finalized and I set up the conferences it might be better to have you as WKU but for the time being I'll list as UK. And yes UZI Suicide can be Arizona and yes Harley your in as Boston College.

Unless I say otherwise for new sign ups or holdovers wanting to change schools just assume you can. But yes anyone can put in a claim to another team that's already taken by a holdover but please come up with a second option. I should note that after the 7th new sign up I can't guarentee any other new sign up a spot since if every holdover signs up that would give us 40 teams. But there's always a least a couple of holdovers who don't return.

Hint: Think Pat Riley but not actually good at coaching.

When I was checking the old threads from the end of the year you hadn't submitted picks the last couple of weeks of the season so I figured you lost interest so that's why I left you off but you're in as Boise State.

If it's cool Bored, can I then take Hawai'i? Done and done.

Protecting his investment, plus where would they put him in the game with no other bench players if it goes to extras? Again shows the silliness of trying to get everyone in the game. I want extra innings. I want a tie.

It's the All-Star Break so might as well give out some mideason awards. I honestly haven't paid much attention to the Cy Young or Rookie of the Year races this year and when I did I realized I made a mistake on my last MVP Watch. National League Midseason Awards Starting of course with the MVP, since my last MVP Watch was just 10 days there isn't going to be much change. But there was a major change on the N.L. side as after dropping out of the Top 10 last time in this short span Hanley Ramirez has been on fire and makes a huge jump back into the race which also goes to show you how wide open the N.L. race is. To go along with Miguel Cabrera it is amazing that a team that his five games under .500 has two legit MVP candidates going into the break but neither has prayer for the writer's award if the Marlins don't make a second half run. The other major change was after looking at the Cy Young race I decided I overrated Brad Penny last time around so he's out of the Top 10. Other than that very little change, Chase Utley holds the top spot going into the break, Barry Bonds is slowly moving back up the rankings, and Prince Fielder continues to slowly move down the rankings. I'm going to start losing faith in Win Shares though if it continues to think Eric Byrnes has been the MVP on the N.L. 10. Edgar Renteria, Braves .319/.384/.481, 63 RC, 130 OPS+, .304 EQA, 32.7 VORP, 15.6 Win Shares 9. Albert Pujols, Cardinals .310/.411/.516, 61 RC, 146 OPS+, .319 EQA, 28.6 VORP, 16.3 Win Shares 8. Eric Byrnes, Diamondbacks .306/.363/.496, 60 RC, 119 OPS+, .288 EQA, 25.4 VORP, 17.8 Win Shares 7. Russell Martin, Dodgers .306/.374/.492, 60 RC, 125 OPS+, .300 EQA, 32.1 VORP, 17.0 Win Shares 6. Prince Fielder, Brewers .284/.376/.620, 64 RC, 158 OPS+, .321 EQA, 35.5 VORP, 14.8 Win Shares 5. Jose Reyes, Mets .307/.387/.439, 65 RC, 123 OPS+, .299 EQA, 35.2 VORP, 16.8 Win Shares 4. Barry Bonds, Giants .295/.512/.589, 64 RC, 191 OPS+, .379 EQA, 41.6 VORP, 15.7 Win Shares 3. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins .331/.388/.538, 68 RC, 148 OPS+, .318 EQA, 45.1 VORP, 16.0 Win Shares 2. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins .324/.393/.576, 70 RC, 158 OPS+, .327 EQA, 39.5 VORP, 16.9 Win Shares 1. Chase Utley, Phillies .325/.401/.571, 69 RC, 151 OPS+, .322 EQA, 42.7 VORP, 17.4 Win Shares On to N.L. Cy Young, even though it is a close race it is hard to go against Jake Peavy at the moment. This was a really easy list to come up with as there's big drop off after the Top 3. Note Win Shares listed are pitching only. 3. Chris Young, Padres 202 ERA+, 2.75 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 35.6 VORP, 11.1 Win Shares 2. Brad Penny, Dodgers 183 ERA+, 2.42 K/BB, 1.19 WHIP, 41.7 VORP, 14.2 Win Shares 1. Jake Peavy, Padres 184 ERA+, 3.68 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 42.7 VORP, 12.6 Win Shares N.L. Rookie of the Year is probably the easiest race to pick a winner at the moment as Hunter Pence is dusting the field. The question right now is if Ryan Braun got too late of the start to make a serious run but he takes the #2 spot despite having only 179 plate appearances. I went with Troy Tulowitzki over Josh Hamilton for the last spot simply due to Tulowitzki being really the only every day rookie in the N.L. since Opening Day and playing a pretty good shortstop for the Rockies. 3. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies .286/.358/.432, 40 RC, 103 OPS+, .268 EQA, 14.3 VORP, 10.1 Win Shares 2. Ryan Braun, Brewers .350/.391/.663, 39 RC, 173 OPS+, .341 EQA, 27.2 VORP, 10.4 Win Shares 1. Hunter Pence, Astros .342/.367/.589, 49 RC, 146 OPS+, .313 EQA, 30.7 VORP, 11.7 Win Shares AMERICAN LEAGUE MIDSEASON AWARDS Hardly any change at all from 10 days ago beyond dropping Dan Haren out of the Top 10. It continues to very much be a four player race but I still think there's little chance Magglio Ordonez holds down the top spot at the end of the year but I've yet not have him at #1. 10. Orlando Cabrera, Angels .328/.366/.444, 58 RC, 118 OPS+, .282 EQA, 29.0 VORP, 18.4 Win Shares 9. Derek Jeter, Yankees .336/.408/.463, 71 RC, 136 OPS+, .294 EQA, 33.4 VORP, 15.5 Win Shares 8. Gary Sheffield, Tigers .303/.410/.560, 74 RC, 155 OPS+, .320 EQA, 38.2 VORP, 15.3 Win Shares 7. David Ortiz, Red Sox .314/.434/.556, 65 RC, 159 OPS+, .323 EQA, 38.5 VORP, 13.9 Win Shares 6. Grady Sizemore, Indians .280/.393/.471, 72 RC, 131 OPS+, .301 EQA, 35.8 VORP, 18.6 Win Shares 5. Victor Martinez, Indians .324/.382/.553, 68 RC, 148 OPS+, .309 EQA, 38.7 VORP, 19.9 Win Shares 4. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners .359/.410/.459, 77 RC, 137 OPS+, .311 EQA, 44.0 VORP, 21.1 Win Shares 3. Vladmir Guerrero, Angels .325/.416/.547, 75 RC, 158 OPS+, .321 EQA, 39.6 VORP, 21.6 Win Shares 2. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees .317/.413/.665, 86 RC, 186 OPS+, .341 EQA, 54.5 VORP, 18.8 Win Shares 1. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers .367/.446/.604, 84 RC, 177 OPS+, .346 EQA, 52.6 VORP, 20.0 Win Shares For A.L. Cy Young Dan Haren is the easy choice for now but he's starting to comeback down to earth and in the end it will probably be once again Johan Santana's award to lose. One thing of note for both leagues with the whining by the media last year with their being no 20 game winners the writers will be falling over themselves to give the award to a 20 game winner this time around even if there are clearly better pitchers out there (C.C. Sabathia I'm looking at you). 3. Mark Buehrle, White Sox 149 ERA+, 3.18 K/BB, 1.10 WHIP, 34.7 VORP, 12.6 Win Shares 2. Johan Santana, Twins 161 ERA+, 4.17 K/BB, 1.03 WHIP, 38.0 VORP, 11.8 Win Shares 1. Dan Haren, A's 191 ERA+, 3.16 K/BB, 1.00 WHIP, 43.2 VORP, 14.1 Win Shares Now for some CONTROVERSY~! Well not for the top spot as I think Jeremy Guthrie is clear choice for Rookie of the Year in the A.L. at the moment. But as you'll see there is no Daisuke Matsuzaka or Hideki Okajima on the list. I've said it before and I'll say it again, veteran players from Japan are not true rookies and should not be eligible for the ROY. That's just my opinion and right or wrong it isn't going to change. 3. Reggie Willits, Angels .312/.408/.368, 40 RC, 113 OPS+, .288 EQA, 15.8 VORP, 9.8 Win Shares 2. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox .318/.400/.450, 43 RC, 124 OPS+, .287 EQA, 19.9 VORP, 11.4 Win Shares 1. Jeremy Guthrie, Orioles 159 ERA+, 4.00 K/BB, 0.91 WHIP, 32.5 VORP, 9.8 Win Shares

ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Twins (Boof Bosner) at Yankees (Roger Clemens), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Indians (Jake Westbrook) at Tigers (Kenny Rogers), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Angels at Yankees, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Twins at White Sox, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Braves at Padres, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Braves at Padres, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

Piazza is the most likely player to be dealt. Because of Jack Cust giving them solid production at DH they've forced Piazza into a longer rehab assignment so he'd get some time behind the plate before coming back. If they fall further out of the race in the second half they will definately want to give Kurt Suzuki some more playing time as he'll be the starting catcher next year but they don't have room to carry three catchers. No way in hell anyone would want Jason Kendall and his salary even with him coming off the books after this year. Shannon Stewart is a good bet to be dealt as once Travis Buck comes off the DL there will be roster crunch in the outfield as well or they might just DFA Bobby Kielty. Dan Johnson is another possibility to free up first base for Daric Barton. Really any non-rookie who isn't named Haren, Swisher, Blanton, or Street can probably be had, not to say though that there will be a wholesale house cleaning but they have almost no choice but to trim some of the fat.

And the A's go into the break with a resounding thud. Now back at .500, losing 12 out of 17, nine out of the West, and eight out of the Wild Card. With an overbloated roster with a lot of veteran dead weight a mini-fire sale is very likely.

I changed the channel right before it happened it sounds like as I didn't want to watch the Mariners blow the game open. From what I read there was a play at the plate, the ball hit runner and rolled into foul territory, Blanton went go after the ball and Ichiro was in his way so he pushed him over, then Jason Ellison ran over to push Blanton and then they played the feud. Doesn't sound that exciting.

I attended the Mariners/A's game last night. On paper it seemed like a very favorable match-up with Dan Haren pitching for the A's against Jeff Weaver of the Mariners. Haren didn't have it last night, and he really hasn't had it for the last few weeks, but through six innings he had only given up one run mainly due to the Mariners over agressive hitting. He'd thrown 99 pitches to that point and I thought it'd be a good idea to get the hook instead of pressing their luck especially with scored tied 1-1. But manager Bob Geren did press his luck and got the whammy as Jose Vidro would hit a two run double to give the Mariners a 3-1 lead to finally knock Haren out of the game, the Mariners eventually going on to win 7-1. Now this was not the worst game I've ever been to from the standpoint of a heartbreaking loss (that would be this game) but it was one of the worst games I've ever been to from the quality of play by the A's. The A's committed five errors with Marco Scutaro tying an American League record with four errors in one game by a third baseman. Hey I saw history! So for this brief entry I give a brief list of some of the worst performances by the A's that I've seen live in person. The list is brief is I'm doing this off the top of my head and my memories of individual games as a kid aren't particularly good which I'll chalk up to having a short attention span. June 21, 1987 vs. Texas. Now see talking of not having a good memory, I can't 100% vouch for that I went to this game but it was the second game of a double header and I have an early baseball memory of being at a double header against the Rangers with the A's getting blown out so odds are it was this game. A's lost 13-3 and some guy named Bob Brower for the Rangers hit two homeruns. Ron Cey DH'd for the A's that day. God I feel old. June 30, 1997 vs. San Diego. The A's hit rock bottom as a franchise in 1997 and this game was pretty much how the season went. The Padres scored seven runs in the 2nd inning, featuring two three-run homeruns by Wally Joyner and Tony Gwynn off starter Don Wengert. He was replaced by Dan Johnson who I thought was good at the time because he had a 2.08 ERA. Not really grasping the idea of sample sizes at that point, he'd only pitched 13 innings so far that season, I would be very dissapointed as he would give up six runs of his own including a two run homerun to Greg Vaughn in the 4th. It was 11-3 at the end of the 4th, 15-5 at the end of the 6th, with the Padres clinging to a 15-6 win. October 1, 2004 vs. Anaheim. This was an awful game and it was a heartbreaker. It was the first game of the final series of the year and the A's were one game out of first place behind the Angels. Mark Mulder made the start despite having a horrific last two months of the season and clearly needed to be skipped in the rotation for rookie Joe Blanton. Mulder would get hooked after surrendering four runs in the 2nd. Blanton would shadow him and kept the A's in it until the 6th when the Angels figured him out and Alfredo Amezaga (who hit .161/.212/.247 in 93 at bats that year) hit a grand slam to make it 8-0, eventually skunking the A's 10-0. And it was my birthday. Angels clinched the division the next day.

In fairness the Pirates getting shutdown by a random bad pitcher happens too often to remember the pitcher's name usually.