Cup of jO's: Jonah Hill is no Paul DePodesta

Last night's 8-4 loss to the Washington Nationals was full of interesting outcomes.  First, the Orioles racked up 18 hits while scoring 4 runs.  Typically, you would expect a team to plate about 41% of their players who hit the ball.  The Orioles on the other hand managed to do that 22% of the time.  This included 4 for 5 nights from both Nick Markakis and Adam Jones.  Neither scored once.  I am not sure I have ever seen that.  The worst case scenario is that at least three of the five times through the line up you would have both men on base.  Even if that event happened with two outs every time, the run expectancy value would be 1.41 runs.  Based on the actual scenarios last night, expectancy would have been 3.38 runs.  If the batters behind Markakis and Jones were able to hit last like like average hitters, this would have been a much tighter game.  Unfortunately, Wieters had a severe case of hitting grounders last night.

The second interesting event for me last night was Mark Reynolds' 15th error.  It amazes me how hot and cold he is.  One second he will make a fantastic play and the next he will botch a sure out.  His fielding takes away almost all of his value as a hitter.  That is a rare feat.  I will actually have more on this at a later date with numbers and maybe a graph.  For now, all I have to say is that the Orioles might be best served thinking about Reynolds as a first basemen or a DH next year.  However, there are just no good options out there for third base next year.  There is a splinter of hope that Josh Bell figures things out well enough, but his defense is just as bad and good as Reynolds.  Robert Andino has the glove for third, but not the bat.  The best bats at short who might be able to flip are Jimmy Rollins and perhaps Marco Scutaro.  Neither of their bats look considerably better than what we have so cheaply in Robert Andino.  Maybe the O's are stuck with Reynolds at third.

The third interesting thing was that Jeremy Accardo was designated for assignment.  I imagine he will pass through waivers and have the option of going to Norfolk.  Accardo is another example of a relief pitcher the Orioles signed on in free agency who just did not work out.  Thinking back to the past five or six years, I am hard pressed to think of a single free agent reliever the Orioles managed to sign and it turn out alright.  You could argue Kevin Gregg this year, but his peripherals look like he is in for some adverse regression.  You could also argue the second go around with Koji, which I could only muster that it was a resigning.  Outside of those two instances we have Mike Gonzalez, Mark Hendrickson, Danys Baez, Jaime Walker, Scott Williamson . . . well, Wil Ohman worked out.  Ohman netted us Rick VandenHurk.  You compare that to the Rays and Padres who turn relievers into gold and compensation draft picks.

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A few days ago the Moneyball trailer was released.

What I find amusing is Jonah Hill as the representation of Paul DePodesta.  DePodesta played baseball and , I think, was a wide receiver at Harvard.  Jonah does not exactly strike me as an Ivy League wideout.  Perhaps that is why the character's name has been changed to "Peter Brand" in the movie, which is a change from the initial scripts.  Word was originally that the character was to be played by Demetri Martin.  Martin does not strike me as a wideout either.

Jonah Hill - - Paul DePodesta - - Demetri Martin

 I decided to run Paul DePodesta's image through face recognition software to come up with the top three actors who share the greatest resemblance.

Jason Biggs (33yo)

 Biggs is best known for the American Pie series.  He lately has been in a series of made for TV movies with a few straight to DVD offerings.  It also appears he has done some voiceover work.  Soon he will be back in another American Pie offering.  Jason Biggs is the right age abouts, has the face, and the rest of him is probably close enough, but with the trouble Moneyball had getting made . . . it may have been seen as him not having enough audience pull.  Jonah Hill certainly has his fans.  That might be a deciding factor against Jason Biggs.



Alexis Denisof (45 yo)

Denisof's wife Alyson Hannigan shares a connection with our first option Jason Biggs.  They were both prominent in American Pie series.  Denisof though is best known to followers of Joss Whedon.  He appeared in Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dollhouse.  He has always made a few appearances on How I Met Your Mother.  Mainstream audiences are probably peripherally aware of Denisof, but I would be surprised if many would recognize his name.  There, Biggs has an advantage.  Denisof does the face and body type of Paul DePodesta, but is about ten years too old.  Biggs is probably a better choice. 

James van der Beek (34yo)

There seems to be a theme here with actors who might be a few years out of the lime light.  Jonah Hill might be able to score himself as more relevant.  Like Jason Biggs, van der Beek is also well known for who he used to be . . . who was Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek.  Like Denisof, he too has also appeared on How I Met Your Mother.  In terms of fit, van der Beek is the right age, right face, right body type, and he could pass with a dye job.  He currently is doing some TV work as it comes.  Of these three, I'd say the lowest scoring match would be the best option.  Moneyball could have been to van der Beek as Pulp Fiction was to John Travolta.


Do you have better options?  Perhaps an actor slightly more current in his popularity.