MVPs of every day from 8-13 to 8-23, 2015

Posted on August 24, 2015 by danglickman

Well, that was awhile. My computer crashed while I was on vacation, leaving me unable to do all of the MVPs of Yesterday from the 13th to the 23rd. Needless to say, to go back day-by-day would be a time-consuming folly, but thankfully, Sully over at MLB reports does something somewhat similar to “MVP of Yesterday”, called “Who Owned Baseball”. He’s given me permission to use his picks* as research to help to me retroactively give MVPs of Yesterday, for which I am very grateful. So, pay him a solid if you are reading this and go check out MLB Reports. They’ve got some good stuff over there.

So, without further adieu, here are the MVPs from when I was gone:

8-13: Mitch Moreland

8-14: Matt Kemp (the first cycle in Padres history)

8-15: Jackie Bradley Jr.

8-16: Madison Bumgarner

8-17: Brian McCann

8-18: Curtis Granderson

8-19: Jesse Chavez

8-20: Chris Archer

8-21: Mike Fiers (No-Hitter… so duh)

8-22: Paul Goldschmidt

8-23: Clayton Kershaw (seriously, what were they thinking pulling him?)

Standings, as always, after the jump, and thanks again to Sully!

*(He picks multiple WOB winners, including half-winners for people who were good in losing efforts, while I just pick one every day and it’s full credit even if they were in a losing effort)

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The Full Scientific Names for Baseball Teams

Posted on August 16, 2015 by danglickman

Your webmaster is on vacation, and as a result some of his posting might be erratic. Thankfully, he has set up some stuff go up in his absence. This is one of them.

Ever wonder what the scientific names for your favorite animal-named baseball teams would be?

No?

Well, too bad, because here we go:

The Toronto Cyanocitta cristata

The Baltimore Icterus galbula

The St. Louis Cardinalis cardinalis

The Tampa Bay Rhinoptera bonasus

The Detroit Panthera tigris

The Miami Makaira nigricans

The Arizona Crotalus atrox

…But, wait, we can go deeper! Let’s go into the Minor Leagues and sample some of the animal teams there!

The Toledo Fulica americana (It turns out a “Mud Hen” is actually a duck-like bird called the American Coot, which is a type of Rail)

The Buffalo Bison bison

The Durham Bos taurus

The Memphis Cardinalis cardinalis (yes, the name Redbird is literally a synonym for Cardinal)

The Fresno Ursus arctos

The El Paso Canis lupus familiaris (a Chihuahua, in the end, is just a dog)

The Salt Lake Apis mellifera

The Richmond Glaucomys volans

The Carolina Ameiurus natalis

The Myrtle Beach Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

The Brevard County Trichechus manatus

The Clearwater Alopias vulpinus

The Charlotte (Florida) Menippe mercenaria

The Jupiter Sphyrna mokarran

The Beloit Chelydra serpentina

The Wisconsin Crotalus horridus

The West Virginia Ursus americanus

The Missoula Pandion haliaetus

The Idaho Falls Alectoris chukar

The Ogden Utahraptor ostrommaysorum (Yeah, they have a dinosaur.)

AND NOW YOU KNOW!

“Fantastic Four” Bizarre Baseball Cultures that are probably way better than the new movie

Posted on August 10, 2015 by danglickman

The new Fantastic Four movie recently came out. It was a total and utter disaster, with a Rotten Tomatoes score that can only be seen with a microscope and a box office performance so pitiful it couldn’t even win it’s week. It’s hardly surprising, really, as A) it was not made by Marvel itself, but rather FOX, which only has the rights to make these movies due to a deal it made way back in the early 1990s when Marvel was in the direst of financial straits, and B) it was trying to turn what is arguably the most optimistic and adventuresome of comic books into a dark and moody techno-thriller. I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?!?

With luck, this failure will lead to the Fantastic Four and their stable of villains (most notably DOCTOR DOOM) back to the Marvel line, so we can see a real and proper movie featuring the FF, with Doctor Doom done right, and maybe with a Hulk-Thing fight thrown in, too, because after how badly this and the previous movies have hurt the reputation of “Marvel’s First Family”, they’re going to have to go all out to win back the crowd.

But, anyway, enough rambling. Here are the Bizarre Baseball Cultures that featured the Fantastic Four. All of them, no doubt, are better than the current film:

2007’s AAA Baseball Heroes

This Marvel/AAA Baseball crossover is great in that it shows off how the Fantastic Four are basically an ordinary family who happen to go exploring alternate dimensions and fight space-gods in their spare time. I mean, look, they all are at a ballgame together!

From what I understand, the latest movie has none of this stuff. And it flopped big time. Coincidence? I think not.

It also has a Hulk-Thing fight and this, the greatest image in the history of art:

2008’s AAA Baseball Heroes

This installment of the Marvel/AAA Baseball didn’t have as much Fantastic Four fun, really only featuring Reed Richards and the Mole-Man (who served as the villain). However, unlike the new movie, it showed the Fantastic Four as part of a large and vibrant universe and as close allies and friends with characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man. Which, if you ask me, instantly makes it better than whatever piece of crap 20th Century Fox just put out.

We also see the Mole Man cry tears of joy, which still makes me laugh for some reason:

Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius Super Summer Spectacular

A good, innocent, all-ages comedy comic about Franklin Richards, the eldest son of Reed and Sue Richards, as he tries to cheat in little league by using a Flubber-like explosive substance on his bat to hit some home runs.

It also has this image:

Ah, such light-hearted whimsy. If only the new Fantastic Four movie had some of that, maybe it wouldn’t have been called something that “not only scrapes the bottom of the barrel; it knocks out the floor and sucks audiences into a black hole of soul-crushing, coma-inducing dullness.”

That’s something that somebody actually wrote. Go look on Rotten Tomatoes.

Cameos

The FF has also made brief appearances in my run-down of Marvel Universe appearances by Yankee Stadium, and in the Bullseye miniseries. I won’t go in depth on those, as we are forgetting about the unofficial fifth member of the Fantastic Four, their arch-nemesis, the greatest villain in Marvel comics….

DOCTOR DOOM….. who once tried to kidnap Jeff Conine

Okay, this is what Doctor Doom apparently looks like in the new movie:

What. The. Hell. That isn’t Doctor Doom. That’s, like, I dunno, what would happen if evil C3PO had a baby with a Gothic Crash-Test Dummy. Jeez, is it THAT EFFING HARD, FOX?!?! THIS IS WHAT DOOM LOOKS LIKE, IN BATTLE WITH TWO OF HIS GREATEST FOES:

BILLY THE MARLIN and SPIDER-MAN!

I mean, jeez, that’s one of the most iconic things in comic books. It was the partial inspiration for Darth freaking Vader. But, NOOOOOOOO, you have to go make Doom like like a human vacuum cleaner that just got put in the oven for too long.

…Seriously, FOX, give back the rights to Marvel. They’re Disney. They have the money. They have the X-Men television rights you want. For the good of all that is holy. PLEASE!

(ahem)

Anyway, Doctor Doom made one of the most notable appearances in Bizarre Baseball Culture when he went and tried to kidnap Jeff Conine to force him to play for the Latverian national baseball team, only to be foiled by Billy the Marlin and Spider-Man. Truly, words cannot describe the greatness of this story. If Marvel ever gets the rights to Doctor Doom back, the very first thing they should do is make a deal with a Marlins and put into production a adaptation of this, albeit with Giancarlo Stanton taking the Jeff Conine spot.

I mean, look at this brilliance:

I mean, behold this:

Seriously, this is probably better than that new movie, and the Fantastic Four aren’t even in it!

…So, anyway, that concludes a look back at Fantastic Four appearances in Bizarre Baseball Culture. Keep an eye open in the next few days for the next installment, featuring Popeye the Sailor Man, a known user of performance-enhancing substances (i.e. spinach).

Over at Hall of Very Good: The Coming Anti-Toronto Conspiracy

Posted on August 10, 2015 by danglickman

Over at Hall of Very Good, the latest Wisdom and Links looks at the upcoming Anti-Toronto Conspiracy. Check it out.

The Rochester Red Wings went all-in on their “Miracle on Ice” theme last night

Posted on August 2, 2015 by danglickman

Themed nights are a mainstay of Minor League Baseball, and at times Major League Baseball. Superhero Night! Throwback Night! (Insert Cultural Group Here) Appreciation Night!

However, a lot of times, these nights are half-hearted. Maybe there will be some music changes, some special guests, or a specially themed firework display. And, yes, there usually will be some sort of special uniform, auctioned off for charity. But few of them are willing to combine every single one of these aspects.

But last night, the Rochester Red Wings went all out for their “Miracle on Ice Night” event, in honor of the 35th anniversary of 1980’s Miracle on Ice. There were….

Special Guests!

Not one, not two, but three members of the Gold-Medal team came: Mike Ramsey, John Harrington, and Ken Morrow. They signed autographs, sure, but they also slap-shotted their first pitches:

And did a post-game interview about the 1980 Olympics and other topics. The biggest difference between Miracle and the real events, by the way, is that the real Herb Brooks wasn’t as nice as Kurt Russell’s version. Ha!

Special Uniforms:

Presumably because the Syracuse management wouldn’t have liked to have their players and managers wearing CCCP jerseys, both teams wore 1980 Team USA jerseys.

The Red Wings wore the white jersey, the Chiefs wore the blue ones… and the umpires wore hockey-style stripes. I have to say, given that these uniforms are based off the uniforms of an entirely different sport, they didn’t look half-bad. And plus it allowed everyone to see the amazing site of Mike Quade in a Team USA argue and be ejected from the game by a umpire dressed like a hockey ref, which isn’t something you see every day:

Surreal.

Food and Little Touches

At the ballpark last night was something called the Hat Trick, which the Wings website described as “Consisting of a 1/2 pound cheeseburger, a 1/4 pound hot dog and a 1/3 pound Italian sausage with peppers and onions on a DiPaolo sub roll”. I didn’t eat it, but I was able to take a picture of it:

In addition, little changes were done throughout the game. Instead of the usual “Mario getting a coin” sound when the Wings scored, the stadium played a hockey arena horn. Instead of having a little league team be introduced before the game, they had a pee-wee hockey team be honored. Highlights of the game were given between innings and a replica of the newspaper from the day after the game in 1980 was given out. Also, to fit with the 1980s theme, all of the walk-up music was replaced with music from the era. Oh, and on the scoreboards they made it so that the players looked like they were in hockey gear:

Note: James Beresford is Australian and it is entirely possible that he has never seen a game of ice hockey in person his entire life.

Fireworks!:

And, finally, the fireworks show consisted entirely of music from 1980. I can’t remember them doing that before. Here’s pictures of fireworks to end this:

All in all, a well put-together night. Well, other than the fact the home team lost 10-4.

Over at @HOVG: Wisdom and Links… and also HOVG inductees!

Posted on July 27, 2015 by danglickman

Two things at the Hall of Very Good: There’s my latest Wisdom and Links, which looks at the most average players in history (Randy Bush! Dave Clark! The immortal Hugh High!).

In addition, the Hall of Very Good itself has added three new members: Jim Kaat, Lee Smith, and fan/celebrity entree Randy “Macho Man” Savage (who had a promising Minor League career that was cut short by injury). In addition, later this week the Glenn Burke Memorial Courage Award will be awarded.

So, make sure you check out Hall of Very Good throughout the week. Shawn and the rest of the gang has some good stuff coming.

“Deep Dream” turns baseball images into nightmares

Posted on July 17, 2015 by danglickman

Hey kids, it’s Hunter Pence!

Good old Hunter Pence, sticking his tongue out and diving for the ball…. now, let’s have Google’s Deep Dream take a look at Hunter Pence! It’s meant to show how a computer looks at things looking for images and such. So, what does it see with Hunter Pence?

AHHHHHHHH!

Oh, Wally. You scared me there. I was worried for a second…

AHHHHHH! PLEASE GOD GET IT AWAY FROM ME, AHHHHH!

Oh. Alex Rodriguez, you don’t look nearly as demonic in person as some people on the internet say…

I TAKE IT ALL BACK, PLEASE DON’T EAT MY SOUL!

Huh, a Dodger Dog and some beer. There are worse things, I suppose…

NOOOO DEAR GOD, IT’S BECOME LIKE A HORSE-FISH-DOG-CTHULHU THING! OH, THE HUMANITY!

Oh no…

Nonononononononononono

Ohgodohgodohgodohgod…

WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

YOU MADE THE HOME RUN SCULPTURE WEIRDER?!?! HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT!?!?!

THAT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A BASEBALL GLOVE NOT A MANY-EYED MONSTER BEYOND MAN’S COMPREHENSION! I’M OUT OF HERE BEFORE I LOSE MY SANITY!

…

Oh, but the Art-Deco functions and stuff are cool:

Come back this weekend for Bizarre Baseball Culture, and until then experiment with the Deep Dream stuff over at Dreamscope.

All-Star Wrap-Up and MVP of Yesterday update

Posted on July 15, 2015 by danglickman

Well, that was fun.

To be sure, there have been many better All-Star Games. But there have also been many worse All-Star Games as well. And, what’s more, the festivities themselves were above average- the Home Run Derby, for example, has been reborn thanks to the brackets and time limits. It certainly isn’t perfect, but for the first time in quite awhile, I felt like I was watching the Home Run Derby beyond the first round because I was enjoying it, not simply because it was on.

And then there is Mike Trout. He batted four times last night, and in some ways the game became his showcase. He homered, he walked, he beat out a throw to first to avoid a double play. He rightfully was named MVP, his second in a row (the first player to do that), and he’s only 24. It is not out of the realm of possibility that, one day, the quote “The All-Star Game was made for Willie Mays” will instead be “The All-Star Game was made for Mike Trout.”

Not surprisingly, Trout is the MVP of Yesterday, just as he was the MVP of the game. Standings, as always, after the jump:

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Early “Viral” Baseball Stories

Posted on July 6, 2015 by danglickman

We know today that sometimes things go “viral” on the internet. Maybe they are funny videos. Maybe it’s a particularly interesting story or a shocking photo. However, memes and “viral” phenomena are not new things. They’ve always happened. And, to prove that, researchers at Northeastern have compiled a database of things that were going viral back in the 19th century, when newspapers and magazines were the main news sources. This nicely lines up with the time where baseball became a national sport, so I decided to take a look. While time and tide (and the fact that there was a whole Civil War and Reconstruction going on) means that it’s likely the database isn’t complete and doesn’t have nearly as much baseball as you might think, I definitely found some fascinating things.

You can see some of what I found below the jump:

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OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 10: Weeks 9, 10 and 11

Posted on June 21, 2015 by danglickman

Throughout the year, I’ll be posting updates of a simulated league from Out Of The Park Baseball 2016 made up of national “dream teams” to determine what the greatest baseball country on Earth is… or something like that. Previous installments can be found here. This is a long post, so there is a JUMP after the first day. A glossary of storyline characters can be looked at here. Also, hit any picture to make it bigger and more readable.

Due to the lateness of this installment and how far behind I am on this, this time it’ll be a bit different: instead of a day-by-day coverage, it’s going week by week, encompassing Week 9 (May 25 to May 31), Week 10 (June 1 to June 7) and Week 11 (June 8 to June 14), with highlights from each.

So, let’s get going:

Week 9 (May 25 to May 31):

Monday was a simple ending of the previous week’s final series. But Tuesday brought whole new series, including prime matchups like Dominican vs. Japan and a Netherlands/Canada match-up that had major implications on the race for the final spots in the playoffs, even this early in the season.

The first game of the Japan/DR series certainly lived up to the hype, with Japan winning 5-3, with Albert Pujols striking out to end the game to end a last-ditch DR rally. The Netherlands-Canada game also was quite evenly matched, with the Canadians winning 2-1 thanks to a 2-run rally in the 8th. That would allow them to tie Mexico for the 8th and final spot. Sure, it was still a long way until the playoffs, but every game counts. Elsewhere, Team USA somehow lost to Team Rest-Of-World 3-2, and Venezuela creamed Italy, 18-4.

The next day- Wednesday the 27th, saw Japan again defeat the Dominican, 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk-off single by Shinnosuke Abe. Meanwhile, the Netherlands evened their series with Canada with a 8-2 win.

To end their series on Thursday, the Dominican salvaged a game with a 8-2 win, while Canada won their series with a 9-2 victory.

The final three days of the week saw a series between Team USA and Team Cuba. Team USA would take the first game in a 15-4 rout. That wasn’t even the biggest rout of the day, though, as Venezuela beat Colombia 15-3 behind a cycle from Miguel Cabrera:

The next day, Team USA would win again, 8-3, and then finished the sweep the next day with a 3-1 win.

And thus ended Week 9… and take a look at South Korea!:

The Power Rankings, which show how much the Korean team is on the rise with their winning streak:

The Player of the Week for Week 9 was Carlos Beltran:

And monthly awards for May were given out to Yasiel Puig and Max Scherzer:

Week 10 (June 1 to June 7):

Bad weather plagued much of the week, washing out three games in the Caribbean and South America on Monday alone, but in Nicaragua the weather was fine as South Korea won their 13th straight game. They’d win the next day two to make it 14, coming back late against Rest-Of-World to win 8-7 and then finishing off the sweep on Wednesday, 9-2, to make it 15 wins in a row.

However, once the Koreans returned to Korea, they ended up finally hitting that bad weather, and at the worst possible moment, as it cut short a game and made them fall to Cuba, 4-1 in 6 innings. The streak was over.

That wasn’t the biggest surprise that day. The biggest surprise that day was this:

Well, I guess it’s true: anything can happen.

The end of the winning streak, the shocking upset of the Dominican, and the rain delays were the main stories of the week- as was a shocking injury that put Nelson Cruz out of commission for the rest of the competition:

So, at the end of Week 10:

Power Rankings:

And MVP of Week 10, Matt Kemp:

Week 11 (June 8 to June 14):

Injuries- both of people leaving the DL and going to the DL- were the story early in the week. Clayton Kershaw returned from the DL for Team USA, but elsewhere Yovani Gallardo was knocked off the Mexican roster for the rest of the season with a torn back muscle, Taiwan lost two players to the DL, Albert Pujols had a quad injury and would be out a few weeks, and the Dutch found out that they’d again be without Andrelton Simmons for about five weeks.

But the games went on, and Kershaw made his presence known late in the week:

So, at the end of Week 11, the standings, where Team USA is rampaging:

The power rankings:

The week’s top player was Kennys Vargas:

And that concludes Part 10 of the International Baseball Competition. But next time: JOSE FERNANDEZ JOINS THE COMPETITION!

The Baseball Continuum

A look at baseball (and other things)

Tag Archives: baseball

MVPs of every day from 8-13 to 8-23, 2015

The Full Scientific Names for Baseball Teams

“Fantastic Four” Bizarre Baseball Cultures that are probably way better than the new movie

Over at Hall of Very Good: The Coming Anti-Toronto Conspiracy

The Rochester Red Wings went all-in on their “Miracle on Ice” theme last night

Over at @HOVG: Wisdom and Links… and also HOVG inductees!

“Deep Dream” turns baseball images into nightmares

All-Star Wrap-Up and MVP of Yesterday update

Early “Viral” Baseball Stories

OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 10: Weeks 9, 10 and 11

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