Simcoe Day Sort Of Aug 3, 2014 Weekend Links

Serenity now.  Serenity now.  Serenity now.  SERenity NOW!  SERENITY FREAKING NOW!!!!!

Onto the links.

JAYS LINKS

Blue Jays current hot streak no fluke - Sportsnet.ca
Monday's 14-1 thrashing of the Red Sox made it eight wins in 11 for the Jays, and while most of those were against unimpressive outfits, they’ve been full value more often than not.

Blue Jays improve playoff chances by doing nothing: Griffin | Toronto Star
Trades sending David Price and Jon Lester out of the AL East only boost Toronto’s chance of winning either the division or the second wild card spot.

The Blue Jay Hunter: 3 Up 3 Down: Melky, the Valencia Trade and Dickey
Reflecting on the Blue Jays 14-1 win over the Red Sox, with thoughts on Melky, the Danny Valencia trade, and R.A. Dickey turning it around.

The Blue Jay Hunter: Flashback Friday: Roy Halladay Almost Traded to the Angels
Looking back at the 2009 trade deadline when Roy Halladay was almost traded to the Los Angeles Angels.

Lester trade improves Blue Jays' chances - Sportsnet.ca
The Toronto Blue Jays can breathe a sigh of relief. Jon Lester is heading to the Oakland Athletics, rather than the Baltimore Orioles. Ben Nicholson-Smith explains why that's good news for Toronto.

ak47_studios on Instagram
R2 J2!

MLB LINKS

The Dark Side Of Booming Local TV Deals | FanGraphs Baseball
But big local TV contracts aren’t all Skittles and puppies. Certainly not for fans who are forced to pay higher and higher cable and satellite TV bills to watch their home team. Nor for cable and satellite TV customers who don’t care about baseball but have to pay the higher prices as part of their bundled programming.

Revisiting the O.P.P. Study – The Hardball Times
When teams need to decide on re-signing a free agent, they have more detailed information about the player than the other teams in the league. This knowledge would especially extend to the player’s medical history.

The Scouting Reports Said Greg Maddux Shouldn't Have Been So Awesome
A scouting report of Greg Maddux from 1985, the year before his first call-up, is making the rounds today. It's funny because the scout declared Maddux was "not strong enough to be a starter," and we all know how that turned out.

The Pirates Couldn't Have Made Two Sadder Outs Than These
How do you turn getting walked to load the bases into getting picked off for a double-play? A good way to start is to be the Pirates.

Lost in the Sun: The Physics of Ballpark Orientation – The Hardball Times
So you decide to visit a new ballpark for a Sunday afternoon game. Where do you sit? For me, it’s pretty simple. I like to be as close to the field as possible. By possible, I mean financially within reach.

Home Run Explodes In Woman's Beer Cup
At least three people tried to catch this home run—although "tried" might be a stretch for the guy in orange—and it eluded all of them. With all the hands in front of her face, this poor woman made no attempt whatsoever to catch the ball, and probably assumed at least one of the dudes around her was going to snag it. And yet, boom!

Obsessing Over Perfection – The Hardball Times
From an early age, we’re taught that people make mistakes. That people are flawed. That they will let you down and come up short. Nobody’s perfect. Few cliches are more enduring than that one and the evidence overwhelmingly supports this notion. Perfection is a goal that we’re never supposed to reach.

Here's What Getting Traded Looks Like
Indians middle infielder Asdrubal Cabrera was traded to the Washington Nationals today.

Jim Bowden Caught Stealing From Fake Twitter Account, Deletes Everything
Jim Bowden, former MLB executive, has fashioned himself a second career as a baseball pundit for ESPN and SiriusXM radio. Today, baseball's biggest day for movement, trade deadline day, Bowden appears to have gotten caught stealing a scoop without attribution. We know because he unwittingly stole it from a fake account.

Jim Bowden Claims He Was Hacked
As funny as Jim Bowden's online meltdown after being caught stealing trade news from a fake Twitter account was—and it was hilarious—attempting to pass off someone else's scoop as your own without attribution is frowned upon in this business. So Bowden's going with old reliable, the hacking defense.  Note:  Sure, it was.

MLB: Twins sign undrafted, ‘out of nowhere’ flamethrower | Toronto Star
Just a few weeks ago, Brandon Poulson was hurling 100 m.ph. fastballs for the Healdsburg Prune Packers; now he’s headed to the pros.

Dave Dombrowski And Billy Beane Have An Entertaining GM Rivalry
There are few occasions when you want to hear from your team's general manager. Usually, he's explaining why something went wrong, talking about how the team's trying not to suck, or saying goodbye as he's fired.

Wednesday’s Athletics-Astros game may have been the least-viewed ever in local markets | Awful Announcing
Something interesting happened on Wednesday in Houston. The Athletics-Astros game drew a 0.0 rating on CSN Houston, the third time this has happened since the network’s launch nearly two years ago. While this in and of itself isn’t strange, the other side of the equation is – the game wasn’t available at all in Oakland on CSN California, meaning that the two local ratings for the game were 0.0 and N/A. This is absurd, considering the size of both markets.

Phil Hughes Spazzes Out, Tries To Catch Invisible Liner
This happened on Wednesday night, but it's worth pointing out today because LOL, Phil Hughes, what are you even doing right now?

Phillies GM Explains Why Terrible Team Didn't Get Better
The trade deadline should have been the Phillies' day. They are bad, foundering, getting worse, weighed down by terrible contracts and not about to be bailed out by talent from a thin minor league system.

Manny Machado Is Just Embarrassing Albert Pujols Now
Can someone please get Albert Pujols a jetpack, or a Rascal or something? Jesus. For the second night in a row Manny Machado showed off his stupid-strong arm and for the second night in a row, poor Albert Pujols was the victim.

TODAY IN LEGEND, IRONIC AND SANDPAPER HISTORY

Baseball History August 3rd - National Pastime - Baseball History
1948 Negro League legend Satchel Paige makes his first major league start, hurling seven innings to lead the Indians over the Senators, 5-3. Prior to today's game, the future Hall of Famer made eight appearances in relief, compiling a 1-1 record for the Tribe.

1967 Manager Alvin Dark is fired and outfielder Ken "HAWK" Harrelson is released by A's owner Charlie Finley due to reports of rowdy behavior on a team flight.

1987 Home plate umpire Tim Tschida throws out Joe Niekro after discovering an emery board in the possession of the Twins' starting pitcher. The 42 year-old knuckleballer will receive an automatic 10-day suspension from the American League for defacing the ball