The Closer From Oz

 The list of players from Australia to make the major leagues is small, but not without highlights. Ever since Craig Shipley, you've seen a good number of players, mostly relievers actually, make the jump over the Pacific. You get some highlights in this list, like Dave Nilsson, Graeme Lloyd, Peter Moylan, and then you get cases like Grant Balfour, guys who take a little bit to really make it, spend some time in Tampa, and don't really find themselves til their 30s.

Liam Hendriks is also like that. And like Balfour, he found himself in Oakland, and started pitching his best years as an Athletic. 

The two aren't entirely dissimilar either. Both can do strong relief as well as ninth inning work, both are imposing as hell, both spent time with a few teams before breaking out [Balfour was with Minnesota, Milwaukee and finally Tampa, Hendriks played for Minnesota, Toronto and Kansas City], and both got their starts closing in wild card efforts from Oakland. 

Hendriks right now might have the edge, though. He's leading the league in saves, he's only given up 3 runs on the season, and he's playing for a first place squad that's already clinched playoff berth with a week to go in the season. He's also had his best numbers in Oakland, and is on pace to be even better given a full season next year. Perhaps this is recency bias, and perhaps I am wrong...but Hendriks seems to have things figured out. Which I love.

The A's are also doing great right now, even without Matt Chapman. Jake Lamb of all people has taken over at 3rd and is HITTING FOR AVERAGE? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? HOW WITH JAKE LAMB? WHOA.

But yeah, he's hitting .368 and improving on his slow start in Arizona. Rookies like Vimael Machin and Jonah Heim are also beginning to heat up, Mike Minor has lowered his ERA and is playing really well, Chris Bassitt and Jesus Luzardo are leading this rotation, and Sean Murphy and Robbie Grossman are finally coming to prominence in the Oakland lineup. It's thrilling to see the A's this good, and this much better than the Astros.

In order to really do well this postseason, even with a high seed, they're going to need to keep this momentum going, and that includes getting guys like Matt Olson, Sean Murphy and Khris Davis to strike out a bit less and hit more for contact, and catch up with Laureano and Grossman. This needs to be a well-rounded squad if they wanna get further than one rung into the playoffs, and I hope they can figure it out.

Coming Tonight: After being overshadowed by a fellow ROY, a shortstop reclaims his dominance in LA.

The Stars Are Out 2019: Everything Else

 Yeah, these are....VERY LATE, I know.

Look, let's be very honest, haven't been very good at the blog over the last few months. Or, years maybe. Lots of posts I need to write concerning anxiety and trading, and just my addiction to cards in general, but...I owe y'all some content.

I'll lampshade that I've recently begun collecting images for the 2020 baseball season of customs, right from spring training. Odds are, first custom of 2020 is gonna come very soon.

...which means all this stale 2019 content NEEDS to go. By any means necessary.

So we're knocking out the rest of the Stars Are Out project. These desperately need a redesign, as it's the new decade and I need to stretch some graphic design skills and find something knew for this to be without seeming amateur.

Worst team goes first, so here's HOFer Ed Reed at Camden Yards. Dude's a Ravens legend, a defensive superstar, and a face of a Super Bowl win. Not bad, Ed. Looks good here, too.

 Kal Penn left a job at a high-class FOX procedural in order to work for the Obama administration, and is one of the smartest media personalities out there, but odds are you know him best as Harold's bud Kumar. Kal's a Mets fan, because of course he is, and chucked one out in September.

 Yankee Stadium doesn't get many kitschy first pitches. Lot of BIG STRONG SPORTS STARS. Julius Randle, right after landing in Manhattan, got to throw one out for the Yanks with his kids, and then proceeded to be one of the few bright spots in a predictably dire Knicks lineup.

 Yep. Had to do a Big Papi.
Everything the guy's gone through since retiring, coming back from some violence last year, and he still returns to Fenway deified. Gotta love it. Sad he could throw this out in the playoffs, but the last game of the year had to do.

 Into the playoffs we go. Gotta be odd if you're the Rays, and you make the playoffs, and you wanna call upon the greats to throw out first pitches but you've only been around for 21 years. So you get people like Grant Balfour, who, while a pretty important Rays figure for a previous round of playoff appearances, is still an obscure get compared to some other people in this post. Still, Rays fans love Balfour, and what's not to love- a scrappy reliever from Oz who gets 'em looking. Liam Hendriks wishes.

The Braves were only in the playoffs for a week, but at least they had time to get PHIL NIEKRO to throw one out. Genuine Atlanta legend, and undoubtedly the greatest knuckleball pitcher of all time. Looks happy here, too.

 Cardinals got a few contemporary heroes out, including Jason Isringhausen AND Scott Rolen, who should be getting into Cooperstown one of these years. Seems to fit right in at Busch, like no time has passed.

Yep, a non-cheating Astros sports star. Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon, who relishes the applause at Minute Maid, and is still as freakishly tall as ever. Glad they got him out there, wished it was for a more lawful team.

 We end on a Yankee, because it'd be weird if I didn't with this blog. Pettitte is still a loyal Yankee hero despite the diminishing returns on his Cooperstown ballots. Still did a lot of good stuff for us, deserves respect, of course he got some nice audience response from this first pitch. Wish said playoff series went a little better for us, though.

Tomorrow...the entirety of Anyone Can Pitch from 2019. Yeah.

Custom Card of the Day: Balfour Edition

Phew. If this wasn't a throwback, it would just be the same old shot.

Seriously. The curse of doing this for five years is having all the shots look the same. Like, for every really original shot, there's one that blends in with all the other ones. And that sometimes is pretty pathetic.

For closers, it can be one of two shots. It can be either them pitching, which is usually pretty unoriginal, or it can be them celebrating after getting a save. And I'm sorry, but all of them look the same. Rafael Soriano, Joe Nathan, Craig Kimbrel, Jonathan Papelbon. They all have the same thing. Balfour's is pretty similar too. So really, unless you have a different shot, or unless you have a sweet throwback, like here, you're Schmidt out of luck, which is weird, because Mike Schmidt has generally good luck.

So yeah. Whenever you have a really bad, overused pose...always be thankful for throwbacks.

Coming Tomorrow- A kinda-hyped rookie for Arizona. No, not that one. Or that one. Or even that one, Goldy's a third-year. Yeah, THAT one.