BASEBALL 2017---Bring it On!!!

[skeeter]

Luckily, the helmet slipped and went into the grass on the 2nd base side of the mound.

Getting a 5 game (one start) suspension for waiting THREE F**KING YEARS to get back at one of the best players in the GAME with a lethal weapon 98 mph fastball is insane and criminal.

He should get a minimum of a 30 game suspension.   

GD Giants are a dozen games under .500 and about to have a fire sale.

Buster Posey knows that Scherzer is going to nail him tonight....or Strasburg tomorrow.

Talk about Posey.......the "Posey Rule" and the "Chase Utley Rule" immediately came about with SAFETY of the player (asset) in mind.

We need a "Harper Rule" now.

Harper gets 5 games.   Strickland gets 30 games.

And Harper presses formal charges for assault with a deadly weapon.   

Stricklan hits Harper in the butt with a pitch, Harper tries to brain Stricklan with a batting helmut from fifteen feet. And Harper presses charges?

Hilarious.

Luckily Panic fielded the helmut and threw Harper out at first.

The officials will issue a warning today. So if Posey gets beaned there'll be hell to pay.

[Idiot]

The pitcher who can live on fastballs in the big leagues hasn't come along yet. The closest we ever came was J.R. Richard (no not Nolan Ryan who lived on intimidating hitters) and even he couldn't do it.  If you are going to make it in the bigs you are going to have to have two are three pitches that you can throw for strikes every time you go out there! That and a catcher that knows YOU and calls the game accordingly goes a long way these days.

Here is the complete opposite of someone living on fastballs.

Charlie Hough  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hough
Our Co. had season tickets to the Rangers.  I'd try to time it so I'd get to see Nolan Ryan pitch, then something would throw off the rotation and my luck would have it....I'd get stuck watching Charlie Hough.  If his knuckleball was on, it was a great night.  If it was off...it would be homer after homer and it would be an early trip to the car for the trip back home.

[GrouchoTex]

Yep.....now I can agree they're for real.

...while my Orioles have fallen like a rock.

The Yankees are due for a slump.     I'm waiting........     

Sat at the local icehouse watching the Astros game yesterday.
I thought I was going to run out of beer money, and I didn't get there until the 3rd inning!

[EasyAce]

Here is the complete opposite of someone living on fastballs.

Charlie Hough  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hough
Our Co. had season tickets to the Rangers.  I'd try to time it so I'd get to see Nolan Ryan pitch, then something would throw off the rotation and my luck would have it....I'd get stuck watching Charlie Hough.  If his knuckleball was on, it was a great night.  If it was off...it would be homer after homer and it would be an early trip to the car for the trip back home.

The fans enjoy home runs, and we have assembled a pitching staff that is sure to please them.---Clark Griffith, Washington Senators
owner, speaking a little jocularly in the 1940s. (From when the watchword was, Washington---first in war, first in peace, and last in the
American League.)

[EasyAce]

Stricklan hits Harper in the butt with a pitch, Harper tries to brain Stricklan with a batting helmut from fifteen feet. And Harper presses charges?

Show me anyone who can throw a batting helmet anywhere near the velocity of a 90mph+ fastball. Superman doesn't count.

[skeeter]

Show me anyone who can throw a batting helmet anywhere near the velocity of a 90mph+ fastball. Superman doesn't count.

IMO it'd be pretty easy to injure someone by spiking a batting helmut at him from point blank range. But lets see what the league has to say.

BTW Stricklan can take a hike. The Giants have always played clean and we don't need a reliever with a 98mph fastball and nothing else but an ego.

[EasyAce]

IMO it'd be pretty easy to injure someone by spiking a batting helmut at him from point blank range. But lets see what the league has to say.

I was hoping the Giants themselves would say something first.

As the Orioles did, once upon a time, when Armando Benitez drilled Tino Martinez right after Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam and
triggered a bench-clearing brawl: they sent Benitez to the minors for three weeks.

As the Blue Jays did earlier this month, when Kevin Pillar responded to a quick-pitch strikeout by calling Jason Motte a nasty
euphemism for gay: the Jays suspended Pillar themselves, compelling Pillar to hold himself accountable publicly.

BTW Strickland can take a hike. The Giants have always played clean and we don't need a reliever with a 98mph fastball and nothing else but an ego.

I wrote about the Strickland-Harper scrum here.

[skeeter]

I was hoping the Giants themselves would say something first.

As the Orioles did, once upon a time, when Armando Benitez drilled Tino Martinez right after Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam and
triggered a bench-clearing brawl: they sent Benitez to the minors for three weeks.

As the Blue Jays did earlier this month, when Kevin Pillar responded to a quick-pitch strikeout by calling Jason Motte a nasty
euphemism for gay: the Jays suspended Pillar themselves, compelling Pillar to hold himself accountable publicly.
I wrote about the Strickland-Harper scrum here.

Maybe they aren't 100% certain the pitch was intentional. After all, the last encounter between the two was three years ago.

[Bigun]

I was hoping the Giants themselves would say something first.

As the Orioles did, once upon a time, when Armando Benitez drilled Tino Martinez right after Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam and
triggered a bench-clearing brawl: they sent Benitez to the minors for three weeks.

As the Blue Jays did earlier this month, when Kevin Pillar responded to a quick-pitch strikeout by calling Jason Motte a nasty
euphemism for gay: the Jays suspended Pillar themselves, compelling Pillar to hold himself accountable publicly.
I wrote about the Strickland-Harper scrum here.

Whew!  Tell us what you think next time!   

[EasyAce]

Maybe they aren't 100% certain the pitch was intentional.

Two out, nobody on, the Giants down 2-0, the first pitch to Harper going right at his body.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure it wasn't intentional.

[DCPatriot]

IMO it'd be pretty easy to injure someone by spiking a batting helmut at him from point blank range. But lets see what the league has to say.

BTW Stricklan can take a hike. The Giants have always played clean and we don't need a reliever with a 98mph fastball and nothing else but an ego.

He should have split his nose with the beak of the helmet.     Luckily, he'll probably only sit a week.

But Strickland....who LITERALLY had to carried off the field in a breakdown rage...should miss 30 days MINIMUM. 

[skeeter]

Two out, nobody on, the Giants down 2-0, the first pitch to Harper going right at his body.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure it wasn't intentional.

Harper obviously has Strickland's number. Strickland's first pitch attempts to back him off the plate but is poorly thrown.

The simple truth is neither you nor I know for sure.

[EasyAce]

Harper obviously has Strickland's number. Strickland's first pitch attempts to back him off the plate but is poorly thrown.

The simple truth is neither you nor I know for sure.

Horsesh@t. Strickland aimed it right at Harper. Or didn't anyone else notice Posey put a sign for a curve ball
down and Strickland threw a fastball anyway, never mind that he aimed right at Harper.

[EasyAce]

Just now breaking---Harper gets a four game suspension, Strickland a six. Someone's brains
in baseball government must have gone to bed. Or was it presumptuous of me to assume
they have brains?

[skeeter]

Horsesh@t. Strickland aimed it right at Harper. Or didn't anyone else notice Posey put a sign for a curve ball
down and Strickland threw a fastball anyway, never mind that he aimed right at Harper.

Posey said the pitch, assuming he means the one he called for, was fastball in.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/29/all-out-brawl-nationals-bryce-harper-giants-hunter-strickland-land-punches/

[EasyAce]

Posey said the call was fastball in.

And Momma said the neighbour's china closet Junior just put his foot through shouldn't have been there in the first
place.

[skeeter]

And Momma said the neighbour's china closet Junior just put his foot through shouldn't have been there in the first
place.

Whatever dude.

[DCPatriot]

Bryce Harper Should Have ‘Brought the Bat’ to the Mound, the Junkies say
By Chris Lingebach

WASHINGTON — Monday was the first time Bryce Harper had faced Hunter Strickland since they met in the 2014 NLDS, during which Harper took Strickland deep twice — in Games 1 and 4 — in two plate appearances.

Their latest encounter came with the Nationals leading the Giants 2-0 in the eighth inning, and there would be only one pitch thrown — a 98-MPH fastball Strickland flung directly into the batter’s box, striking Harper square in the hip.

Harper squared up to shout at Strickland, then launched his helmet as he charged the mound seeking a fistful of revenge

“So Bryce Harper did charge the mound yesterday,” John-Paul Flaim of The Sports Junkies said Tuesday morning. “I just think baseball brawls, and the old baseball rules, are just stupid. I mean this guy, Hunter Strickland, is holding a grudge for three years!”

“I mean, let’s be honest. Yes, there have been brawls forever and they’re never gonna stop,” Jason Bishop said. “But when it’s a guy who is pissed off about a couple of bombs from three years ago? He’s got some issues. …It’s a bigger story when it’s a star in the game, and Bryce obviously is a star.”

“But it’s more than the bombs,” Erick Bickel said. “It was just that Bryce got a little overexcited for his liking, right? I mean, it’s not just the bombs.”

“But that’s what I think is stupid,” Flaim said. “Shouldn’t you be excited when you hit a home run in the playoffs? In the playoffs!”

“I agree. But I’m just saying, if you were to be technical about it, I don’t think he was necessarily upset that he hit two bombs off him,” Bickel said. “I think he was upset about just how excited he got.”

“Well the first one that he hit in Game 1, I didn’t think there was a problem with it at all,” Bishop recalled. “He hit the ball — he crushed it — he ran around the bases and ran to the dugout. Now, maybe the second one in Game 4…”

“A lot of hooting and hollering in there,” Bickel said.

“Yeah, but remember: after the first one, Strickland was staring at Bryce,” Bishop said. “That was all on Strickland.”

“Why you staring? Why you being a jerk? You gave up a big meatball down the middle,” John Auville said. “It’s not Bryce’s fault he hit it 500 feet!”

more at:  http://washington.cbslocal.com/2017/05/30/bryce-harper-should-have-brought-the-bat-to-the-mound-the-junkies-say/

[catfish1957]

Bryce Harper Should Have ‘Brought the Bat’ to the Mound, the Junkies say
By Chris Lingebach

Not going to take a position either way, but Harper might wish he had these four games played come MVP voting time.

[DCPatriot]

Not going to take a position either way, but Harper might wish he had these four games played come MVP voting time.

Nope....and Harper is NOT the team MVP.  That would be Ryan Zimmerman, if voting were today.

Luckily the rest of the NL East are under .500.

[catfish1957]

Nope....and Harper is NOT the team MVP.  That would be Ryan Zimmerman, if voting were today.

Luckily the rest of the NL East are under .500.

You know the team better than I do.  Still, though I don't care for the guy, he's maybe the best raw hitting talent behind Trout, and maybe Goldschmidt.

Still ..........2/3 of the season left?   I wouldn't write off his season yet.

[EasyAce]

This just in: Bryce Harper's suspension was cut to three games. No word yet on whether Hunter Strickland got
his suspension reduced on appeal.

Ponder this: Assuming Strickland's original suspension term holds up, it means Harper suspended for a minimum
of 27 innings and Strickland, being a relief pitcher, suspended for . . . six innings, perhaps seven. When
Strickland instigated things by exercising a grudge almost three years old.

You see why some people are sour on baseball government? Every time you hope for Solomon, you wind up getting
Maxine Waters.

[al_c]

I know how you feel.
We went through that with the Astros last year.
If they had held on to 1/2 of their late inning leads, they'd won the division outright, instead of missing the wildcard like they did.

Last year’s Astros switched places with my Rangers this season. I was quite surprised at their comeback last night … thanks to Elvis!

[GrouchoTex]

Last year’s Astros switched places with my Rangers this season. I was quite surprised at their comeback last night … thanks to Elvis!

That Astros Memorial day game was nuts.

Down 8-2 going into the 8th, at Minnesota.

Score 11 in the eighth and 3 in the ninth to win 16-8.
 

[Cyber Liberty]

D'backs in the process of blowing a late close game, too.  Bottom of the 9th, and the go-ahead just walked on.