Out of left field:

For those of you who are new to the blog, “Out of left field” is an occasional post for when there are subjects that don’t require 1,000 words of analysis and opinion, but I want to throw my two cents out there anyway.  As usual, in no particular order:

Watch out for the A’s…again.

On May 14^th, Oakland had a record of 19 wins and 25 losses and trailed Houston, who most people felt was the best team in baseball (and still may be), by 9.5 games.  Since then Oakland has gone 36-16 and is now 4.5 games behind Houston and would be one of the American League wild cards if the season ended today.

And again, they’re doing it with a payroll that’s less than half the one Brian Cashman gets (you really think Billy Beane didn’t know LeMahieu was good?) and less than 13 teams who have inferior records to the A’s.

Of course, this means that they’ll finish the season as one of the best teams in baseball over a marathon of a season, lose what is essentially a coin flip to a powerhouse American League team, and all the grunting cretins will climb out of the woodwork and proclaim “I told you Moneyball doesn’t work!!!”

Put a pin in that, I’ll come back to it…

Someone check Cashman’s wallet

One of the reasons the A’s quite often dominate in the second half of the season is Beane’s propensity for fleecing other GMs.  Since one of those people is Brian Cashman, can we have someone in the Yankees’ office to say Brian is unavailable if and when Billy calls?  Thanks.

Speaking of cretins yelling at me…

There are certain aspects of social media that are cesspools, but one of the best things are the “memories”.  Very recently, I was reminded of memories from right around this time last season, when I was told (by multiple people – not just a lone crazy person), that…

• Didi was the best shortstop in baseball.
• Romine should play more than Sanchez.
• Torreyes was a good major league player.

I Don’t remember if I logged off and laughed or laughed and logged off.

NL “race”:

There are 11 teams within 7 games of each other in the loss column in the National League.  I’m thinking Bud Selig may have been right – MLB needs a salary cap to create more parity.  (Rubs temples…)

Did I miss something?  Let me know.