Moneyball Page #6

---

not any individual guy,

just a team.

And I think we got

a hell of a ball club here.

Chad, are you intimidated

at all today?

I wouldn't say I'm intimidated, really.

I'm just really excited, like you said.

REPORTER:

Jeremy, how's the team gonna fare

without your brother, Jason?

Well, you know,

the organization did a great job

of bringing in good young guys

to fill that role.

Let's face it,

they're getting a deal with you.

The Yankees are paying

Jason a lot of money.

You are coming here on a dime.

How does that make you feel?

I feel good. Um...

How are the nerves in your fingers?

You know.

REPORTER:

Gotta start with the age,

How do you think

your body's gonna hold up?

You spend a lot of time

at strip clubs, partying.

Do you resent the attention

you get off the field?

I love it.

You spend a lot of time in Vegas.

I do.

I feel great. I did a lot of work to get--

Excuse me. Get out of my shot.

Sorry, go ahead.

There have been questions

about my age

and my declining skills, some say,

but I'm here to prove that wrong.

I asked if you were

CHAD:
Excuse me, Mr. Beane?

Hey, Chad.

Hey, I'm not disturbing you, am I?

Not at all. What's up?

I wanted to say thank you

for this opportunity.

Well, we enjoy having you.

It's gonna work out well

for all of us.

I appreciate it, sir.

Nobody's ever given me

a chance like this before.

Nobody?

Well, just you, sir.

Well, it's a big day,

one you won't forget.

Appreciate it.

And I wanna let you know

I'm gonna be praying for you

and your family.

No problem.

ANNOUNCER:

Well, here we are just minutes away

from the season opener of 2002

for the Oakland A's.

The first pitch is moments away.

We'll come back

with the national anthem.

Opening day is upon us.

All right, fellas, smile.

Here we go.

[OVER SPEAKERS]

Hey, she give me love

And I feel all right now

I'm going in.

Text me the play-by-play.

What? Why?

I don't watch the games.

MAN:

Detail, halt!

And forward face!

[PLAYING

"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"]

["THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"

CONTINUES PLAYING ON TV]

[TURNS VOLUME DOWN]

[]

[CELL PHONE BEEPING]

[GRUNTING]

ANNOUNCER [ON TV]:

That's the third Ranger batter

to be hit today.

Twice Alex Rodriguez was nicked.

The ninth--

[MUTES TV]

[TYPING ON KEYBOARD]

[CELL PHONE BEEPING]

I should've made you a bigger part

of the conversation from day one.

It'd be clear what

we're trying to do.

That was my mistake, Art.

I take responsibility for that.

What are you trying to say?

Doesn't matter what moves

I make if you don't play the team

the way they're designed to be.

Billy, you're out of your depth.

Why not Hatteberg at first?

Because he can't play first.

How do you know?

Not my first baseball game.

Scott Hatteberg can't hit.

He gets on base.

Still keeps us in the plus column.

We need to be seven over .500.

What?

Anything else?

Yeah. I would've rather seen

Bradford in the end than Magnante.

Bradford's a righty.

I don't care about righty-lefty.

I do.

Could this be about your contract?

No.

This is about you doing your job

and me doing mine.

Mine's me being left alone

to manage this team

you assembled for me.

I didn't assemble them for you, Art.

No sh*t.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

Good meeting.

Every time we talk,

I'm reinvigorated

by my love of the game.

[]

HOST [ON RADIO]:

We got Grady Fuson, former head

of scouting with the Athletics.

And, Grady, can you interpret for us

what's going on?

GRADY:
They call it Moneyball.

HOST:
Moneyball?

GRADY:

Yes, and it was a nice theory,

and now it's just not working out.

COMMENTATOR:

Billy Beane has built this team

on the ideas of a guy, Bill James,

who wrote an interesting book

on baseball statistics.

The problem is that Bill James

never played, never managed.

He was in fact a security guard

at a pork-and-beans company.

HOST:

Do you see this as a decimation

of the organization?

GRADY:

He bought a ticket on the Titanic.

HOST:

Oh, boy.

COMMENTATOR:

He's tried to come up

with a new approach.

My hat's off to him. It won't work.

ANNOUNCER [ON RADIO]:

One-two pitch. Tejada strikes out.

And that is the game.

The Seattle Mariners

win both games on this series, Ray.

They've won 10 in a row.

Seattle is 13 and 3.

I can't watch this sh*t.

Go on the road with the team.

You don't go on the road

with the team.

That's why I want you to do it.

Why don't you?

I can't develop personal

relationships with these guys.

I gotta be able to trade them,

send them down,

sometimes cut them.

Which is something

you should learn to do,

by the way.

I would never have to

cut a player, unless you...

Oh, come on.

"Come on" what?

Let's practice.

No.

Yeah. I'm a player.

You gotta cut me from the roster.

No.

Go.

What do you mean, no?

No.

Do it.

This is stupid.

Part of the job, man.

Fine.

Billy, please have a seat.

I need to talk to you for a minute.

Go on.

You've been a huge part

of this team.

But sometimes you have to

make decisions for the team.

I'm sure you can understand.

You're cutting me?

I'm really sorry.

I just bought a house here.

Well...

In Oakland.

Well, uh... Well...

"Well... Well..."?

That's all you got to say?

My kid just started

a new school.

They made friends.

That's, uh...

You shouldn't pull them out

in the middle of the year.

You should wait.

What the hell are you talking about?

I don't know. I shouldn't have--

I'm not gonna do this.

I think this is stupid.

I'm not gonna fire anybody,

and this is dumb.

They're professional ballplayers.

Just be straight with them.

No fluff, just facts.

Pete, I gotta let you go.

Jack's office will handle the details.

That's it?

Pfft.

Really?

You rather get a bullet

to the head or five to the

chest and bleed to death?

Are those

my only two options?

Go on the road with the team.

Okay.

Say, bro.

Let me ask you a question.

Yeah.

How come your boss

doesn't travel with the team?

He doesn't like to mingle

with the players.

Is that supposed to

make us easier to cut?

I don't know. I don't know.

And how come soda

is a dollar in the clubhouse?

I never seen

nothing like that.

Billy likes to keep

the money on the field.

Soda money?

Really?

Where on the field is the

dollar I'm paying for soda?

It's hard to see exactly,

but it's there, yeah.

Yeah, it is hard to see.

I'm done.

[]

Hey, Dad.

Hi, honey.

How are you?

I'm good.

Was it bumpy?

It was okay.

ANNOUNCER:

So with this loss tonight,

the Oakland Athletics

incredibly, have lost 14

of their last 17 games.

They are 10 games back

in the American League West.

HOST:
Is it fair to say

the experiment has failed?

COMMENTATOR 1:

Well, absolutely. It was predictable.

You don't wish anybody

a lack of success, but the

facts are in front of you.

COMMENTATOR 2:

You can't blame Art Howe.

HOST:

No.

COMMENTATOR 2:
The fact

of the matter is, this is not about

statistics, this is about people.

COMMENTATOR 1:

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes