Moneyball

[Vegas]

I saw "Moneyball" yesterday.

It is a well made entertaining movie and Brad Pitt as Billy Beane and Jonah Hill as a character based on Paul DePodesta (who later became the general manager of the Dodgers and then the Mets) both do a good job.

As a sports fan though, from what I understand the movie deviates somewhat from the book. But I don't now exactly how because although I have a copy of the book "Moneyball" somewhere, I haven't read it yet.

I was also surprised that the movie did not even reference Barry Zito who won the Cy Young for the As that year and barely referenced other top Oakland players such as Miguel Tejada (the AL MVP that season) and Tim Hudson who were on the team that season.

But what Beane and the As accomplished was amazing and definitely movie material.

[havoc]

Sept 25, 2011 13:53:55 GMT -5 Vegas said:

I was also surprised that the movie did not even reference Barry Zito who won the Cy Young for the As that year and barely referenced other top Oakland players such as Miguel Tejada (the AL MVP that season) and Tim Hudson who were on the team

It doesn't mention them because they aren't what Moneyball is about. It's about uber genius Billy Beane finding these great values that cause their success. That unfortunately is a bunch of horse bleep. What caused their success was the top three in their rotation (Zito, Mulder, Hudson) that was the best in baseball.

[Vegas]

Sept 25, 2011 14:18:21 GMT -5 @havoc said:

Sept 25, 2011 13:53:55 GMT -5 Vegas said:

I was also surprised that the movie did not even reference Barry Zito who won the Cy Young for the As that year and barely referenced other top Oakland players such as Miguel Tejada (the AL MVP that season) and Tim Hudson who were on the team

It doesn't mention them because they aren't what Moneyball is about. It's about uber genius Billy Beane finding these great values that cause their success. That unfortunately is a bunch of horse bleep. What caused their success was a starting four man rotation that was likely the best in baseball.

Yeah, that is what I was wondering because it seemed like the movie placed too much credit on guys like Scott Hatteberg and David Justice and not enough credit on their awesome pitching staff with guys like Hudson, Zito, and Mark Mulder.

[Phoenix]

they havn't won too much since 2001-2002. Those sleepers only took them so far. Look at that lineup in 2001. It was filled with home run hitters.

[Knapik]

It's hard to be upset about a movie based on a true story. I don't see any problems with them taking liberties to make a more entertaining film - it's not a documentary.