NotGraphs posted a seemingly innocuous tongue-in-cheek type article about the Baltimore Orioles yesterday, but don’t tell that to one commenter, who managed to fit a whopping 12 cliches into a single paragraph.

Jjmann says:
September 4, 2012 at 1:06 pm

Im sick of the fantasy baseball pencil neck baseball anylists complaining about a team that steps up to challenges and does what it takes to win. Get out of your computer room and go to a game, orioles or otherwise and realize its played by human beings who can believe in what they can do, and not listen to numbers. This is old school baseball. This is what america fell in love with before steriods and computers and million dollar contracts. They may not be there next year, but they believe this year and thats why they win.

Hall Of Fame material right here.

1) Statistics means fantasy baseball.

2) Pencil-necked nerds.

3) Clutchitude.

4) They do whatever it takes to win.

5) Vague mother’s basement reference.

6) We don’t go to the games.

7) Baseball is played by humans.

8) Old school.

9) We love steroids.

10) Computers are hard.

11) Athletes today are spoiled.

12) Armchair psychologist.

Bonus!

1) “anylists”

2) “steriods”

Amazing.

I like to imagine these people as Kevin Hart in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin“.

“Well, aight, check this out, dawg. First of all, you throwin’ too many big words at me, and because I don’t understand them, I’m gonna take ‘em as disrespect. Watch your mouth and help me with the sale.“

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that Clayton Kershaw will throw a bullpen session on Friday after getting his original bullpen session postponed due a sore back on Wednesday. Additionally, Mike MacDougal postponed a bullpen session due to a back injury.

Ah, Spring Training!

—–

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have claimed Matt Angle off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and moved Rubby De La Rosa to the 60-day disabled list.

My question? Why him?

He’s a 25-year-old outfielder that hit .177/.293/.266/.559 in the majors last year, and only .271/.347/.344/.692 in the minors. Plus, Ned Colletti signed enough outfielders to have five or six of them on the roster, and all the Dodgers have in the minors is potential reserve outfielders.

Confusing.

—–

Don Mattingly thinks Chad Billingsley can do much better, which isn’t surprising given his 2011, but the mechanics part off the story is interesting.

“I think there’s more there,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Honey [pitching coach Rick Honeycutt] thinks there’s more there. I think Chad thinks there’s more there. That’s the thing we want to help him with, just to get a little better.”

According to Honeycutt, scouting director Logan White provided video of Billingsley pitching in high school, when he dominated Ohio preps, leading to his first-round selection by the Dodgers. Back then, he kept his foot under his body as he lifted his lead leg. In recent years, he kicks out the foot before shifting his body weight from right leg to left. He worked during the winter on regaining his high school form.

“I’m trying to keep my foot closer and that allows me to be more consistent in my rhythm and timing,” Billingsley said. “We looked at some video and noticed that it was different from a few years ago. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but a little adjustment can make a difference.

“It’s not really about confidence. My confidence is fine. It’s more like when you’re pitching or hitting and it doesn’t feel effortless. There are times when I feel I have to force my body to get into position and I have to work at it. I fight myself, kind of. We all try to throw the fastball down and away. For me, to do that, I feel like I’m throwing across my body and it leads to cutting the ball.”

Would love to have that video of him in high school so I can compare, but it’s still something worth monitoring.

Enjoyed how he threw in that part about his confidence just so that people can get off that schtick for once.