Giants turn to Barry Zito to Save Season

Down two games to one in the NLDS against the Reds, the Giants are turning to their most trusted pitcher, Barry Zito? OK, so maybe not their most trusted pitcher, but when you are 11-0 in any pitchers last 11 starts, superstition tends to get the best of you. What is surprising is that the Giants are leaving their formerly Ace baker, I mean pitcher, Tim Lincecum in the bullpen. Not that Timmy has been any good this year. Or has he?

Bryce Harper Loves the Media

Here's a phrase that I'll bet you never thought you'd read: "If Bryce Harper makes it to the big leagues this year, he is going to fly under the radar." OK, maybe not completely under the radar, but with Mike Trout doing things that rookies were not allowed to do before this season, young Harper simply disappeared from the headlines for a few months. Now that the postseason is here, and the Nationals have defied conventional thinking by steamrolling there way in, Bryce is back to being the media darling he was expected to be.

After the Nationals got slammed last night by the Cardinals, the media caught up with Artist Formerly Known as the Chose One to ask him about the game and remaining three to be played at Nationals Park. Take it away young man.




First off, nice outfit. Digging the bow tie. And it was very modest of you to ask the reporters if you looked good before the round of questioning began. The basic questions are there and Bryce responds with Crash Davis like efficiency, but then, a curveball. To Bryce's credit, he knocked it out of the park with his "Maybe you should be the hitting coach line." It's hard to blame the reporter for asking the question. How do you not ask a 19 year old if he is over anxious when he is playing on the biggest stage during his rookie year? It has to be asked.

Of course, Harper has a history with clown questions, and although this one was not as memorable as the "Do you have a favorite beer even though you're not of legal drinking age" question, it does rank up there, if only for the response.

Bryce Harper - 2
Media - 0

By the way, sweet Faux Hawk dude.

Al Alburquerque Loves the Baseball

There are quite a few ways to show up the opposing team. You can hot dog down the first base line after hitting wall scraping home run. You can do the Jose Valverde dance. Brandon Phillips is possibly the best defensive shower upper (pretty sure that's not a term) with his inability to make a routine play, well, routine.

Last night during game 2 of the ALDS against the Oakland A's (Who seem to have remembered that they are, in fact, the Oakland A's), fans were witness to a little bit of showing up done by one Al Alburquerque.

At Least Tigers Fans Are Faithful

If there is one thing that you can't say about Tigers fans, it's that they support their players. Even when details like defensive ability and baserunning are presented in front of them.

It's rather endearing that they show up to the game with crowns on carrying banners with sayings on them like the one in the picture above. It's also, well, slightly annoying to be honest. And that's even if I leave WAR out of the equation.

Outfield Fly Rule

Welcome to the new playoffs. Unfortunately they came equipped with the same umpires as the old ones. We could go on and on about Robots and expanded replay and so on, but really, all you need to do is watch this video.

I'll wait.

Wow, just wow.

Off Base Percentage Postseason Picks

The postseason. It's the magical time of the year following a grueling 162 game marathon. The playoffs have everything needed for a baseball fairy tale. The unlikely underdogs, the evil Yankees, no hitters, little flags made out of gold and an elf won the 2006 World Series MVP. Also, the Pirates don't believe the postseason is real.

I'm sure you you've been waiting with bated breath for my predictions. You're in luck. Not only do you get my picks, made with an intricate scientific method involving the aerial rotation of coins, but you get the predictions from some other people with spare time on their hands.

MTD

Reason for being here: Founder and Editor of Off Base Percentage, Nonsense Czar

AL Wild Card
Texas over Baltimore in one game

ALDS
New York over Texas in five games
Oakland over Detroit in four games

ALCS
Oakland over New York in six games
MVP-Yoenis Cespedes
Cespedes is presented with a golden raft by the A's due an incentive clause

NL Wild Card
Atlanta over St. Louis in one game

NLDS
Atlanta over Washington in five games
San Francisco over Cincinnati in four games

NLCS
San Francisco over Atlanta in six games
MVP-Hunter Pence
Popular question during series is "When did Hunter Pence become a Giant or relevant?"

World Series
San Francisco over Oakland in six games
MVP-
Dave Stewart Madison Bumgarner
Giants exact their revenge on the A's. Tony LaRussa gets the shakes but it has nothing to do with an earthquake.

Derwood Morris

Reason for being here: Co-founder of Off Base, asylum couldn't put the pieces back together again

AL

Baltimore over Texas in wild card game
New York over Baltimore
Oakland over Detroit
LCS - New York over Oakland, MVP Rafael Soriano

NL

Atlanta over St. Louis in wild card game
Washington over Atlanta
Cincinnati over San Francisco
LCS - Cincinnati over Washington, MVP Joey Votto

WS - Yankees over Reds, MVP - Robinson Cano


Couple other things:

1. During game one of the Yankees Division Series, the amount of time it takes someone to say either of the following:

"They play for world championships in New York, not division titles"

OR

"They don't hang division title banners here."

11 seconds.

2. If the Reds and Athletics play each other in the World Series, I will refer to it as the Todd Benzinger Series.

Clint Evans

Reason for being here: Editor of Diamond Hoggers, fellow host of The Baseball Show podcast, resident Reds fan

Braves over Cardinals
Orioles over Rangers

Tigers over A's in 4
Yankees over Orioles in 5
Braves over Nationals in 4
Giants over Reds in 5

Tigers over Yankees in 6 MVP: Prince Fielder
Giants over Braves in 7 MVP: Madison Bumgarner

Tigers over Giants in 5
MVP: Austin Jackson

Mandy

Reason for being here: My girlfriend, could not identify chloroform as the smell on that rag

AL Wild Card
Baltimore over Texas

ALDS
New York over Baltimore
Detroit over Oakland

ALCS
Detroit over New York
MVP-Miguel Cabrera

NL Wild Card
Atlanta over St. Louis

NLDS
Washington over Atlanta
Cincinnati over San Francisco

NLCS
Cincinnati over Washington
MVP-Aroldis Chapman

World Series
Detroit over Cincinnati
MVP-Justin Verlander

Career Options For Bobby Valentine

After a season that made Red Sox fans miss 2011's epic collapse and chicken and beer fiasco, Boston unshockingly fired manager Bobby Valentine. While the 69-93 record was bad enough, Valentine didn't exactly ingratiate himself with the franchise. A few of his lowlights included ripping Kevin Youkilis for a lack of enthusiasm, alienating himself from players like Dustin Pedroia, calling the September roster the worst in the history of baseball and falling off his bike while reading a text message. That last one might go in the pro list actually.

What's next for Bobby Valentine? Hard to say. Crazy people are unpredictable but I have a few suggestions.

1. Return to Managing
Well, it is what he's good at done most recently. After an impressive season of getting Red Sox players, front office and fans to dislike him, a return to MLB might be a long shot. Sure, there's always Japan but I have a better idea. Jose Canseco will be playing baseball for some kind of Independent League or Mexican Death Match League or bloated old man softball travel league. If Valentine were to manage, that would free up some time for Canseco to sell more hypobaric chambers.

2. Return to ESPN
This is the boring option as ESPN currently runs a tighter ship than the Red Sox. As soon as Valentine says Chris Berman is a lazy asshole resting on his laurels with an earnumbing shtick, Valentine is going to be back in the unemployment line. But I would totally watch Baseball Tonight for that.

3. Star in the Hollywood reboot of Duck Soup

Because it is Hollywood, the new Duck Soup movie will have less to do with the Marx Brothers' classic and more about ruining the kids' game duck-duck-goose by adding aliens and explosions. Directed by Michael Bay, due out July 2014.

4. Host of Japanese Game Show
Valentine was quite popular with the fans when he managed the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. The fans will love him in the new trivia game show 私の睾丸の多くの痛み. The show, roughly translated to "much pain in my testicles," will feature Valentine asking trivia questions similar to Jeopardy. If a contestant gets a question wrong, they are shot in the crotch by the tennis ball cannon from American Gladiators. The winner fights an octopus in giant tank for a custom built sex robot.

5. Washed Up Former MLBer Turned Bartender
Valentine already owns a sports bar in Stamford, Connecticut so he's two-thirds there. He's even opening franchises in other towns that make you want to drink according to my sources. Imagine Bobby regaling you with classic stories like that time he put on a disguise to sneak back into the dugout after being ejected or the time he crashed his bike reading a text message from Dustin Pedroia. For the 43rd time. It's cool though because making your way in the world today takes everything you've got, taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. I'd rename Bobby Valentine's Sports Gallery Cafe to Jeers but that's just me.

Buck Showalter Almost Burned Down Orioles Plane

The Orioles clinched a playoff birth on Sunday. The Orioles. Not only did they clinch a playoff birth, the Orioles are tied for first with the Yankees in the AL East. The Orioles. The team that finished last in the East just a year ago by losing 93 games. The Orioles. A team with a rotation built around Joe Saunders, bandaids, Wei-Yin Chen, a catapult made from Legos and praying for rain. The Orioles. The team that employs and starts two players with career strikeout rates over 30% (Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds).

Davis is having his best season and his second with a positive Wins Above Replacement. He's been crushing it in September hitting .337/.419/.652 with eight home runs including five in his last four games. But it wasn't Davis' smoking hot streak that caused the fire on the Orioles charter plane forcing an emergency landing.

In what I assume was a team-building exercise, manager extraordinaire Buck Showalter was responsible for the kitchen fire and the unscheduled trip to the Jacksonville airport en route to St. Petersburg. I hope they got to use the inflatable slide. Maybe it wasn't technically Showalter's fault but he is taking the blame...

“I didn’t get my coffee so I am a little ornery," he said. "You all know how I am when I don’t get a cup of coffee. They were getting ready to heat up coffee, that’s what happened. So it’s my fault.”

To recap, the Orioles are somehow in the playoffs and do not heat up a tin foil bowl of coffee in the plane's microwave.