A month ago or so, I posted something about my baseball stat, which I like to call OAR (or Offensive Ability Rating). I developed a formula that has a few different components to it, primarily one that measures how many bases a player generates as well as how many bases they steal (and the success rate they steal them at). So one component measures power, speed, and how successful they are (batting average is also included). The next nearly equal part of the component, which I call ELF (or Eye Luck Factor) measures how often a batter gets on base after hitting the ball into play (BABIP), how often a player walks or gets on base without getting a hit, while also counting against the hitter with how many times they strike out or ground into a double play. Another small component to the formula is pitches per plate appearance, but this is just added in as a tie-breaker more than anything else (also measures how "Gritty" a player is... could wear the starting pitcher down).
This is the third version of my stat, so it has become a bit refined over the past few months of working on the formula, and then tweaking it to get it as correct as possible, since we're rating a player's overall offensive value and want to be as accurate as possible. So, here's a top 50 hitters list (from 2008, I think I'm going to use this as a guide for my fantasy draft, heh):
- Albert Pujols 130.68
- Adam Dunn 127.59
- Chipper Jones 123.27
- Milton Bradley 121.98
- Lance Berkman 118.33
- Manny Ramirez 118.31
- J.D. Drew 116.84
- Alex Rodriguez 115.74
- Chris Ianetta 114.34
- Hanley Ramirez 113.76
- Mark Texeira 113.27
- Jason Giambi 113.11
- Carlos Pena 112.26
- Matt Holliday 112.12
- Shin-soo Choo 110.3
- Jack Cust 110.27
- Carlos Quentin 110.02
- Grady Sizemore 109.77
- Ryan Ludwick 109.13
- David Wright 108.95
- Kevin Youkilis 108.82
- Chase Utley 108.63
- Pat Burrell 108.46
- Jason Werth 107.99
- Jason Bay 107.76
- Carlos Beltran 105.71
- Nick Markakis 105.56
- Prince Fielder 105.12
- Brad Hawpe 104.81
- Aramis Ramirez 104.7
- Jim Thome 104.25
- David Ortiz 104.2
- Mark Derosa 103.71
- Dan Uggla 103.4
- Elijah Dukes 103.35
- Andre Ethier 102.57
- Josh Hamilton 102.44
- Nate McLouth 102.38
- Evan Longoria 101.77
- Ryan Howard 101.73
- Brian Roberts 101.39
- Troy Glaus 100.88
- Curtis Granderson 100.7
- Kelly Shoppach 100.55
- Aubrey Huff 99.84
- Carlos Lee 99.8
- Geovany Soto 99.4
- Ian Kinsler 99.17
- Jim Edmonds 99
- Carlos Delgado 98.76
For a fantasy baseball tip, it's not a bad idea to choose your hitters from the NL, since the NL has weaker pitching overall. Also, don't forget that a player shouldn't just be evaluated using solely offensive statistics... other factors are important too such as how healthy the player is, and if they are a defensive liability (Adam Dunn may be one of the best hitters in the game, but he is one of the worst at defense as well), and finally remember that there are not as many good hitters at positions like middle infield or catcher as there are in the outfield, etc.
Well, to be honest, I haven't been going to as many concerts these days. It's been like that for the last few years, bad economy and being really picky about what I see live. Most of the time I go to see friend's bands, or the occasional summer fest or new band playing at a smaller venue. I guess I'm just a little burnt out on going to see concerts... I've seen probably approaching 1000 different bands since 1992 or so. Whew! Luckily my ears are still pretty dang limber.
So on the last Friday the 13th, which also saw the debut of a remake of the original Friday the 13th movie, I saw one of the greatest bands in the history of Chicago, Cheer Accident, live at The Hideout. The show was sold out and quite crowded, the venue not being that large. The band featured a huge variety of instrumentation and singers. The main songwriter/ringleader Thymme Jones, the only original member of the band, alternated between playing drums and keys/vocals. He even played trumpet during a weird improvised dance number. Guitarist Jeff Libersher has been in the band almost as long as Jones, who also alternated instruments, standing near a keyboard that he played pretty often in between guitar parts. The rest of the band was rounded out by an electric bass player, a trombonist that doubled as a sound effects guy, and two females vocalists, one of which also played brass. To complete the band, a second guitarist played through a laptop and computer effects while standing near a table. The ease with which the band alternated instruments, segued between songs, and seamlessly enthralled me for over 2 hours was nothing less than astonishing.
I've been known lately to sometimes get bored at a concert, depending on the band and what was happening at the show of course. But I have to say that I never lost interest in this concert, despite the fact when the show was over, over half the crowd had left. I guess the average concertgoer is not ready for over 2 hours straight of math rock, prog, improvisation, ambient passages, weird electronic beat oriented experiments, odd noises and dissonant arrangements. I enjoyed it immensely. To add to that, there was a few weird vaudevillian passages breaking up the musical set. The band not only drew upon most of the albums during its 27+ year long career... it actually played more than a few new tunes, as far as I could tell. I haven't heard every one of their albums, but the music seemed to be similar to the band's newest release, 'Fear Draws Misfortune', on Cuneiform Records. Cheer Accident quite simply are one of the best live bands I have ever seen, both musically and entertainment-wise. The lineups I've experienced have been slightly different each time over the last few years, which goes right in line with the amorphous career of the band. Of the 3 times I've watched them live, this last one was the best. They seem to just keep getting better each time.
Which brings me to the headliner of the night, P.O.S. I just heard of this guy a week before the show, I think I read about him on metafilter.com or somewhere on the internet. Anyway, I liked what he was doing by taking distorted punk guitars and DIY aesthetic into the hiphop realm, click here to listen. Just recently I started to write for a yet to be released zine and website, and I saw that this show was on the list of upcoming shows and got on the guest list at the last second. I brought a friend with who enjoyed one of the many memorable quotes over the night, "No one's feeling vibed like they don't belong, right. No one's cooler than anybody else. Period". P.O.S. stands for Product of Society, among other abbreviations. The set began with some electric guitar, and he was the only guy of the 3 that didn't have Laserbeak onstage. Instead, P.O.S. contributed to some of the turntable action with triggered samples and other elements, and interacted with the DJ of the night, who possessed some very competent skills spinning and scratching. The most enjoyable moments of the night arrived with the last half of the headlining set, when all three rappers were onstage and doing a variety of music from the Doomtree archives. They even started rapping and dancing on the floor with the audience, and got the crowd really into the experience.
The venue at Reggies Rock Club was very impressive, the PA system loud and clear, the size of the room not too large/not too small, the balcony had a small seating area, and there was plenty of available beer... which made it pretty top notch for a venue. The only annoying things were the security guard roaming through the audience with a flashlight, and the large bright light from the stage that shined in on the audience towards the end of the show. Heck, I think you could even order food at this place during the concert. Cool stuff. The concert was a great time, and I feel like I have discovered a new favorite hiphop label in Doomtree. Things can change fast.
What makes the lager subtle and unique are the mixture of spices, such as ginger, coriander and citrus. The spices hit the overall flavor just after the 5 different types of malts attack your taste buds, in a good way. Mellow yet widely varied in taste.
The texts on the bottle advertise Albino Python as a white lager, also printed are logos such as ALIVE in all caps as you can see in the red and white circle towards the lower left of the label. There are plenty more expository adjectives listed on the bottle, most of which are pretty accurate or appropriate (indulge your inner beer freak, provocative hops and spices, etc). $6 is a very reasonable price for a great tasting and smooth beer that is an interesting alternative to the traditional lager formula, pouring out like a weiss beer.
Oh yeah, there are also 3 different kinds of hops... ABV 6%, smooth taste with a slight bite due to a variety of spices... I highly recommend it! I say A-, review at epinions is 4 out of 5 stars, and beer babe gave it a very favorable review.
