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Awesome game in Oakland. Made a bit better by the fact that I have a bit of a rooting interest in it.
A close game through the first 5 innings, then the Giants blew it open with a 4 run 6th. The ninth inning has seen the A's score 4 times and they have the bases loaded with 2 outs. Jemile Weeks will decide the outcome.
The game ends with a Jemile Weeks pop up to Ryan Theriot.
Jim Thome with a "walk off HR" for the Phillies today. It was the 13th of his career, and the most for any player in the entire history of major league baseball.
Not bad for a 13th round draft pick (and Brian Giles was the Tribe's 17th round pick that year).
In the Giants - A's game today, starting at first for SF was Brandon Belt and at shortstop, Brandon Crawford. Starting at third for the A's was Brandon Inge, at short was Brandon Hicks, and manning firstbase was Brandon Moss.
Four of the five Brandons were born between 1983 and 1988, so that five year period must have been the golden age of Brandon naming.
Collectively the Brandons were 6 for 21, most of that damage being done by Brandon Belt who was 2 for 3 with a homerun, 3 RBI and two walks, and Brandon Inge who was 3 for 4 with a walk.
The Giants took a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but then the A's staged a huge rally, sending 10 batters to the plate, scoring 4 run and loading the bases before making the final out. All three Brandons on the A's reached safely during the rally, the first and the last outs of the inning were made by A's secondbaseman Jemile Weeks, the only Oakland infielder not named Brandon.
I wonder how the A's Kangaroo Court will handle Weeks. It is a ML tradition that making two outs in an inning is an offense calling for a fine imposed by the team's mock court, something which is typically done in an atmosphere of high humor. Weeks however managed to make his two outs in an inning where his eight teammates in the lineup made a collective one out and scored four runs, falling short of a tying the game by one run, and of course Weeks made the final out of what had been a monster comeback in the ninth. It may be hard to find the humor in that.
Punky Brewster was a TV series from 1984 to '88. One of the show's stars was a golden retriever named Brandon the Wonder Dog.
On May 12, 2000, Brandon Kolb was the first Brandon to ever play MLB, coming in in relief for the Padres and touched for a single by Travis Lee. 11 Days later, Brandon Villafuerte made his MLB debut. Brandon Inge played his first game in 2001. There have now been 32 or them, and 17 have appeared on 2012 rosters. Brandon Kolb was named in November 1975.
There was a Brandy Davis who played for the Pirates in the 50s, but his middle name was Brandon.
Brandon Plainte was a 1980 Red Sox farmhand, at Elimra in the NY-Penn League.
Brandon Hyde preceded Kolb in birth, but played only in the minors. His only major league experience was one day as interim manager for the Florida Marlins in 2011. So he would have the honor of being the first-born Brandon who would ever wear a MLB uniform in a regular season game, losing 2-1 at Tampa. So he is also the only NL manager who never put a pitcher in his batting order.
Last edited by CowanStern; 06-24-2012 at 12:05 PM..
There have now been 32 or them, and 17 have appeared on 2012 rosters. .
That means that while the A's and Giants represent 6 % of all the teams, they have 30 % of all the Brandons. The A's represent 3 % of all the teams and have 18 % of the Brandons.
This is obviously an unbalanced situation and I think that Selig will have to act to see that there is a better distribution of Brandons, perhaps a rule limiting clubs to a single Brandon each, or maybe some sort of name sharing system where if you have two Brandons on your team, you must forfeit a Carlos or a Justin from your roster.
That means that while the A's and Giants represent 6 % of all the teams, they have 30 % of all the Brandons. The A's represent 3 % of all the teams and have 18 % of the Brandons.
This is obviously an unbalanced situation and I think that Selig will have to act to see that there is a better distribution of Brandons, perhaps a rule limiting clubs to a single Brandon each, or maybe some sort of name sharing system where if you have two Brandons on your team, you must forfeit a Carlos or a Justin from your roster.
It's moneyball. Brandons are obviously a market inefficiency.
Jim Thome with a "walk off HR" for the Phillies today. It was the 13th of his career, and the most for any player in the entire history of major league baseball.
Not bad for a 13th round draft pick (and Brian Giles was the Tribe's 17th round pick that year).
It's moneyball. Brandons are obviously a market inefficiency.
The A's will enjoy a brief advantage in Brandonization, exploiting their early recognition of Brandon dynamics, but it won't be long before the rest of the clubs catch on and act to close the Brandon gap.
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A Surfeit of Brandons
