Moneyball Page #9

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at Boston and at New York.

Remember when they traded

Jeremy Giambi in June

and everyone thought

they'd just given up?

Actually, not so much.

[CHATTERING]

BILLY:

Suzanne, get Shapiro on the phone.

You thinking Rincon?

His season's done. He's lost faith.

I think he's gonna dump him.

Hard-core.

SUZANNE:

Shapiro on 2.

Mark, Billy. Let's be honest.

A premier setup man

isn't gonna get you closer

to the play-offs.

MARK [OVER SPEAKER]:

Are you referring to Rincon?

He's a luxury

you can't afford, man.

And you can?

There's half a million

on his contract.

And we've got

at least one other suitor.

By "at least one," you mean one.

Who is it?

I'd rather not say.

San Francisco.

San Francisco.

I'll call you back.

What do you think

we can get for Magnante?

Nothing.

What's left on Venafro's contract?

Two seventy-five.

Suzanne,

get me Sabean on the line.

Get the Giants interested

in Venafro, Mark's only got

one buyer for Rincon.

Us.

SUZANNE:
On 3.

Saby-Sabster, it's Billy.

What do you think of Venafro?

I can let you have him

for almost nothing.

SABEAN:
Why would you do that?

Because I'm amazing.

I want a couple bucks

and a sweetener.

Throw in, say...

Anderson.

Anderson.

I like Anderson.

No, you don't. Nobody likes him.

I don't know why I'm doing this.

But let's do it.

Venafro for Michaelson. Anderson.

I don't know his name.

I'll think about it.

Think about it and call me back.

Get Shapiro on.

SUZANNE:

Shapiro's on 2.

Mark.

You can't afford him, Billy.

You sure about that?

I get the impression

the market for Rincon is softening.

Huh?

I could be wrong,

but I'd call whoever's

interested

and see if they're still interested.

Call me back.

What about the Mets for Venafro?

You offered him to the Giants.

Suzanne, Steve Phillips.

Between Bonds, Kent, Nen, Snow,

San Francisco's never gonna do it.

Totally agree.

We just need them to cool on Rincon.

SUZANNE:
Phillips on 2.

Steve-o, it's Billy.

I hear you're looking for a reliever.

I can give you Venafro.

I can make it quick and easy.

PHILLIPS:
What's the angle?

No angle.

Who am I getting fleeced for?

Hang on a sec.

Uh, Bennett, maybe?

How old?

Twenty-six.

Twenty-six, Double-A? Forget it.

Duncan, no.

No. Furbush, no.

Eckerton? Eckerton? Eckerton.

Eckerton.

I like Eckerton.

You don't even know who Eckerton is.

[PHONE RINGS]

Is Venafro hurt?

No, he's fine, he's fine.

It's just an issue for us.

Last couple times, he got hammered.

Not his fault.

That was us. We misused him.

It's Steve.

[WHISPERING] I'm almost done.

Steve Schott.

[IN NORMAL VOICE]

Look, Steve-o,

let me be straight with you.

Here's the deal.

I'm getting Rincon.

It's a done deal.

I heard the Giants--

Giants want Venafro for Michaelson.

Anderson.

I'd rather deal with you.

You can give me Eckerton

and $225,000 in cash,

and the Giants can't.

I'll think about it.

Think about it.

But whoever calls me back first

gets Venafro.

Schott hung up.

Oh, I want this one.

Why isn't anybody calling?

SUZANNE:

Shapiro's on 2.

Yeah?

Okay, let me talk to my owner.

I'll call you back.

Get Steve on the phone.

Schott or Phillips?

Why would we call Phillips?

Phillips has gotta call us.

[MUTTERING]

Tell him I'm on the other line.

Hi, Mr. Schott, it's Peter Brand.

I apologize for putting you on hold.

Billy asked me to call you back.

Tell him we want 225,000 for Rincon.

Billy says he needs $225,000

for Ricardo Rincon.

Please.

Yes, I added the "please"

at the end.

Okay. Let me--

Hold on one second, please.

[WHISPERING]

Tell him I'll pay for him.

But when I sell him back for

twice the amount next year,

I keep the money.

Okay, so Billy says

he'll pay for Rincon himself.

But when he sells him

for more money next year,

he's keeping the profit.

Thank you very much.

We'll call you back. Thank you.

Come on. Come on.

[BANGING]

[IN NORMAL VOICE]

Suzanne, call Shapiro ba--

Never mind, I got him right here.

Mark. Yeah.

Listen, I don't want Rincon

pitching against me tonight.

Tell him to change clothes

and send him over.

I got you the money.

Yup.

Great.

I don't wanna dampen

the mood at all, but since

we picked up Rincon...

We gotta send someone down.

Mags.

Hey, Billy.

I know I've been struggling lately.

But second half of the season,

definitely turn it around. Ricky and I--

Mike, I need you

to stop getting dressed.

Traded?

[SIGHS]

I'm sorry for the crap news.

I know it hurts.

Mike, I can't have 26 guys

in the clubhouse.

I get it. I get it.

Okay. Thanks.

Hey, Ricardo.

[BOTH SPEAK IN SPANISH]

This must be a bit

of a shock, I guess.

ANNOUNCER 1:
Mabry hits one

deep to right-center field.

Racing back, Fick can't get it.

It bounces to the wall.

One run is in. Two runs are in.

Mabry, on one pitch,

has shot the A's in front.

Strike three called.

Twelve straight wins

for the Athletics.

Man alive, was it hairy.

ANNOUNCER 2:

Something strange is now

happening in Oakland.

You cannot argue that point.

ANNOUNCER 1:
Twelve straight.

ANNOUNCER 3:

They're making a joke

out of the American League.

They were in Detroit today--

ANNOUNCER 1:
He throws to first.

And that's the sound

of 14 straight victories.

Fourteen, the longest run

this year.

It has slingshot the A's into first

in the AL West. A nice streak.

ANNOUNCER 4:

This team was written off.

How do you explain, otherwise,

the victories they've come up with?

ANNOUNCER 5:

The Oakland A's are gonna win

This is the longest win streak

in baseball, folks, in 25 years.

The A's have won 16 in a row.

CALLER 1:

We're going to 20!

We're going to 20!

ANNOUNCER 6:

To have a winning streak of

this duration, you have to be good,

but there's an element

of randomness to it.

The 1927 Yankees, Ruth, Gehrig,

Murderers' Row, some people

still say the best team ever.

Longest winning streak

for them that year? Nine.

CALLER 2:

You guys try to analyze it

from a numbers standpoint.

I'm telling you, there is

no explanation for what's

occurring right now.

INTERVIEWER:

Do you have superstitions going on?

Do you do things

so you keep the streak alive?

ANNOUNCER 7:

The all-time record of 20

does not seem impossible anymore.

ANNOUNCER 8:

The A's were on page one

ofthe New York Times.

They are the story in sports

in this entire country.

ANNOUNCER 9:

Two-two pitch, here it is.

Swing and a miss! Struck him out!

Number 17!

It's taken 71 years.

The Oakland A's

have tied the Philadelphia A's.

The all-time franchise record

and baseball's longest

winning streak since 1953.

ANNOUNCER 10:

The A's are two wins away from

tying the American League record.

ANNOUNCER 5:

It's gone! It's gone! Tejada wins it!

Do you believe it?

Eighteen wins in a row!

ANNOUNCER 6:

You could replay these 18 games

a hundred times over.

And nobody wins

It defies everything we know

about baseball.

ANNOUNCER 10:

The most amazing thing

you could imagine

happened over the last four days

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