Crack of the Bat, Y'all: A Thread for Baseball

[El_Josharino]

I like it when you go off on tangents in this thread. This was an especially fun one. That's all I have to add. Also, I'd never heard of Al Albuquerque, but he reinforces my theory that baseball historically has the best/most amusing player names in American sports.

So true. This is why I've been saying since last year that someone needs to just get started on Buster Posey's Hall of Fame shrine. With a name like that, there's no doubt he'll get there.

[davy]

I still don't think there's much improving on Chipper Jones.

[Thermofusion]

Chipper Jones don't even make the top 100 baseball names, son.

Oil Can Boyd, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Shooty Babbit, Johnny Dickshot, Van Lingle Mungo, Razor Shines, Eye Chart Gwosdz, the legendary Rusty Kuntz and my favorite (and former Pirate), Heinie Manush.

[davy]

Oil Can Boyd, yeah. Dang.

Also: Rollie Fingers.

[hannah]

coco crisp

[El_Josharino]

Rube Waddell, Wee Willie Keeler, Cap Anson, Satchel Paige (one of my personal favorites), Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, Dizzy Dean, Catfish Hunter, Boof Bonser, Tug McGraw, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew...

[El_Josharino]

And although their first names were relatively unremarkable, the great double play combination of Tinker to Evers to Chance has a really great ring to it.

[davy]

Wade Boggs.

[Ignatius]

I like Mackey Sasser because it feels like the vowel's wrong in the first part and the consonants in the second but objectively it's not a real special name. Doc Gooden though... And Daryl fucking Strawberry.

[davy]

Sandy Koufax. Mickey Mantle.

Willie Mays.

[El_Josharino]

Oh man, Mackey Sasser is a great one.
Also: Willie Stargell

[El_Josharino]

Man, coming up with more contemporary players is a little tricky. Nobody names their kids Oil Can anymore. The aforementioned Daryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, and Coco Crisp are solid. I like Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney and Prince Fielder. Kirby Puckett, not too shabby. Kevin Youkilis? Maybe. Felix Pie, perhaps?

[El_Josharino]

I guess we can hope that Lenny Dykstra's son Cutter makes it one day (currently with the Nationals' single-A affiliate), and that high-school sensation Bubba Starling ultimately chooses baseball over football and makes something of himself in the bigs.

[Ignatius]

I think that great sports names fit a certain template within their particular sport, though. As much as baseball is full of great baseball names, hockey, for instance, has its Garys, Bobbys, Gordies and Miro Satans.

[dumbfish]

Mordecai Three Fingers Brown

[El_Josharino]

Just out of curiosity, do any of you dudes play Pick Six on Fangraphs.com?

[FreddyKnuckles]

I think that great sports names fit a certain template within their particular sport, though. As much as baseball is full of great baseball names, hockey, for instance, has its Garys, Bobbys, Gordies and Miro Satans.

There's a current VA lacrosse player named Steele Stanwick. 

[El_Josharino]

Thermo, have you seen Morton's platoon splits? So far dude has not fared well against lefties, but has managed to not face many of them. He'd better figure something out before the Braves throw a lefty-heavy lineup out there tonight, even if it is without Heyward...

[El_Josharino]

On another note, man, this injury bug has killed my fantasy team. Heyward, Victorino, Soto, R. Zimmerman, Ike Davis, Josh Johnson, and now today Matt Garza. Five of my dudes in the last goddamn week have gone down.

[El_Josharino]

Morton held up alright tonight. That was a fine pitcher's duel that went on. On the Braves broadcast they showed Morton's delivery side-by-side with Halladay's and holy crap it's dead-on. Morton doesn't seem to get man strikeouts, but if he can control his numbers against lefty batters, shit could get interesting. He's vastly improved from his stint with Atlanta a few years ago anyway.

[Thermofusion]

I listened to the radio broadcast. Sounded like Morton was throwing a decent game, though for a second game in a row our bats went to sleep and we got shut out behind a good pitching performance. That's a frustrating aspect of this season: as good as our pitching has been, we could be two or three games above .500 right now if our batting was more consistent. Case in point: Paul Maholm, who I'd rank no higher than third in our rotation, is 1-7 with a respectable 3.65 ERA, and three of those losses were shutouts.

Interesting matchup going on right now. Braves pitcher is an injury call-up, and Hurdle has rearranged the Pirates lineup after two consecutive shutouts. Also, sounds like a surprisingly respectable crowd for a Wednesday lunchtime game in Pittsburgh.

[davy]

Braves went and got all fucked up this week. We're fixing to switch places with our damn AAA team.

[Thermofusion]

I was in the process of writing a whiny post about how the Pirates couldn't score more than one run on seven hits against your call-up dude, but then Steve Pearce homers against O'Flaherty. And I guess that's why these games last 9 innings, not 7.

[davy]

Can I just say: I'm losing my fucking patience with Dan Uggla?

And I'm kinda glad Heyward's out of the line-up for a while. I hope he heals up fast and then gets some extra time with a hitting coach to work on his swing.

[Thermofusion]

Shit if we can't score in that scenario, we can't score.