BASEBALL 2017---Bring it On!!!

[EasyAce]

Yeah! No doubt about it! But I also saw him try to climb the fence behind home plate to get at a fan that was giving him the business.  Scary!

If I remember the incident right, Piersall got in the guy's face, after the guy called him "screwball,"
and replied, "Bet you wish you were making the money this screwball's making!"

The electroshock treatments he underwent wiped out his memory of the previous year (sportswriter
Al Hershberg had to help him re-piece it to write Fear Strikes Out), but during that year
his funniest bit was a dead-on impression of Satchel Paige's pitching motions, which he'd do when
he reached base against Paige. Even Paige had to crack up.

He also goaded Billy Martin into a fight during that year. Believe it or not, that was the only
fight Martin ever admitted he regretted, saying, "If I'd known how sick he was, I wouldn't have
fought him."

[Bigun]

If I remember the incident right, Piersall got in the guy's face, after the guy called him "screwball,"
and replied, "Bet you wish you were making the money this screwball's making!"

The electroshock treatments he underwent wiped out his memory of the previous year (sportswriter
Al Hershberg had to help him re-piece it to write Fear Strikes Out), but during that year
his funniest bit was a dead-on impression of Satchel Paige's pitching motions, which he'd do when
he reached base against Paige. Even Paige had to crack up.

He also goaded Billy Martin into a fight during that year. Believe it or not, that was the only
fight Martin ever admitted he regretted, saying, "If I'd known how sick he was, I wouldn't have
fought him."

 

[Cripplecreek]

Holy crap.

José Iglesias just roundhouse kicked the up in the face at second base and took him down and still got the out.

 

[Cripplecreek]

J Up for a 3 run walk of homer for a sweep of the White Sox.

Crazy day, Verlander only went 2 innings with Warwick Saupold taking over and looking like an ace.

Kung Fu baseball.  http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v1463700383/cwsdet-iglesias-hangs-on-after-collision-with-ump

[al_c]

I wouldn't count on it. This edition of the Texas Rangers is one of the worst teams I've seen in terms of fundamentals, and their bullpen is horrid. Their pitchers walk too many, the batters strike out too often, they have too many lapses on the base paths, and did I say the bullpen is horrid?

For a team payroll of nearly $180 million, Jon Daniels should be on the hot seat, he constructed this mess.

I couldn’t agree more. We have a few hot bats, and some good infield players, but the bullpen is pathetic at best … and overall defense just sucks. Houston embarrassed them over the weekend.

[al_c]

Astros win! Astros win! Astros win again!  9 in a row on the road!  40/16 overall!

DAMN these guys are fun to watch!

Most days, I’d agree. But not at the expense of my Rangers. That was hard to watch.

[catfish1957]

Astros win! Astros win! Astros win again!  9 in a row on the road!  40/16 overall!

DAMN these guys are fun to watch!

Another W tonight.

Our Astros are now 42-16 , 11 in a row.   

14 ahead in division
8   ahead of closest AL competitor
5   ahead of the next best record in MLB.  (Wash) 


Just Dayum!!!!!!

[Bigun]

Another W tonight.

Our Astros are now 42-16 , 11 in a row.   

14 ahead in division
8   ahead of closest AL competitor
5   ahead of the next best record in MLB.  (Wash) 


Just Dayum!!!!!!

    

If they just play .500 ball from here on out they finish 94/68!

[Cripplecreek]

Surprised there's nothing posted about Scooter Gennett's 4 HR game.

A solo home run, 2 runs scored HR, 3 runs scored HR and a grand slam all from a utility player not known for being a power hitter.

[Machiavelli]

MLB: The 6 Greatest Catchers to Ever Play the Game

@EasyAce

[Cripplecreek]

MLB: The 6 Greatest Catchers to Ever Play the Game

@EasyAce

Pudge was a sniper.

[DCPatriot]

GEEZ.....

My Orioles looked like Division 2 college players against these freaking Yank-Me's!   Drop to 6.5 back

My NATS get swept by the Texas Rangers.  At home.

The good news is the rest of the NL EAST has played .500 ball too, the last 10 played...still leading the pack by 9.5

[Bigun]

MLB: The 6 Greatest Catchers to Ever Play the Game

@EasyAce

In no particular order:

Roy Campenella
Yogi Beria
Johnny Bench
Gary Carter

[DCPatriot]

In no particular order:

Roy Campenella
Yogi Beria
Johnny Bench
Gary Carter

Can argue with those selections.

 

[Bigun]

Can argue with those selections.

 

Need two more.  They will come to me.

[Bigun]

No sooner than I hit the post key Carlton Risk came to mind.

Tim Macarver probably needs to be there as well.

[EasyAce]

MLB: The 6 Greatest Catchers to Ever Play the Game

@EasyAce

@Machiavelli
I'd have put Yogi Berra slightly ahead of Johnny Bench for these reasons:

* With Yogi Berra as the Yankees’ regular catcher, Yankee pitchers not named Whitey Ford did better on the mound
when throwing to him than they did with anyone else behind the plate, Yankee or otherwise; and, they did better as
Yankees with Berra behind the plate than they ever did with any other team for whom they pitched. That group
included the one Yankee pitcher not named Ford who was thought to be a Hall of Famer in the making but fell short
enough: Allie Reynolds.

(Bench wasn't as good as Yogi at doing that with his pitching staffs, but in all fairness Bench also ran into a syndrome
that afflicted Reds pitching staffs both before and after his career: whenever they came up with good young pitchers
who might become aces, nearly every last one of them developed arm and shoulder trouble and ended up with
careers shortened too early, comparatively speaking. Jim Maloney, Sammy Ellis, Gary Nolan, Don Gullett, and Tom
Browning were only the most classic examples.)

* Only two men in major league history have hit 350+ lifetime home runs while striking out less than 500 times: Berra,
and Joe DiMaggio. (In case you were wondering, Berra never struck out 40 times or more in any season and, in five of his
seasons, his home runs out-numbered his strikeouts. For any hitter that would be an impressive achievement. For a classic
bad-ball hitter who’d swing at anything that was anywhere within Yankee Stadium’s ZIP code—oops, Berra played before
the ZIP code—that’s an unbelievable achievement.)

* Between Berra’s rookie season (1947) and the first season of expansion (1961, when the American League introduced
the Angels and the second Washington Senators), only one man in baseball drove in more runs than Berra: Stan Musial.
(Classic Berra: Before one All-Star game, Berra happened upon a meeting of American League pitchers when the subject
was pitching to Musial. “Forget it,” Berra cracked. “You guys are trying to figure out in fifteen minutes what nobody’s figured
out in fifteen years.”)

* Berra is compared most often to Bench, but those who argue for Bench’s superiority must confront the fact that Yogi

a) led his league in putouts eight times, assists five, defensive double plays six, and fielding percentage twice, to Bench
leading his in putouts twice, assists once, defensive double plays once, and fielding percentage once.

b) needed 38 fewer total games to drive in 54 more runs, score 83 more, strike out 864 fewer times, ground into 55 fewer
double plays, and hit for a higher lifetime slash line.

[Bigun]

Yogi get's my vote as the best who ever played the game and by a WIDE margin!

[catfish1957]

Yogi get's my vote as the best who ever played the game and by a WIDE margin!

Bench or Yogi....  Greats


Here is the wisest of them all. :dx1:

[EasyAce]

Yogi get's my vote as the best who ever played the game and by a WIDE margin!

@Bigun

In Yogi Berra's first season in the minors, at Norwalk, Virginia, he played a doubleheader
and drove in 23 runs. His late wife, Carmen, often deadpanned about that: "When I heard
about the 23-RBI day, I figured he probably had a future."

In later years, she liked to tease him whenever reporters visited them by urging him to
tell them about "the anniversary card." Apparently, on one wedding anniversary (they were
married 65 years when Carmen died in 2014), he gave her a card signed "Love, Yogi
Berra." Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, visiting the Berras for his chapter
on Yogi in Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee, was aghast.
He asked Yogi why he did that.

"I dunno," Berra replied. "I guess out of habit."

"I was actually kind of glad he thought to sign his last name," Carmen cracked. "I wouldn't
have wanted to confuse him with all the other Yogis I know."

Carmen Berra was a looker to the tenth power when the Berras married, and it inspired no
few wisecracks from those in baseball who made a sideline of wisecracking about Yogi's
not-so-handsome looks. The smartest crack may have come from Tiger pitcher Dizzy Trout:
Hey, Yogi, I hear ya got married. How does your wife like living in a tree?

Mrs. Berra kept her looks for a very, very long time. In 1964, when Yogi first got to
manage the Yankees, he was invited to be the mystery guest on the CBS panel quiz
What's My Line? The panel figured him out in about three seconds, so host John
Daly decided to help fill in the time by bringing Carmen Berra out and introducing her
as "Yogi's lovely bride." The CBS switchboards went nuclear with outraged callers demanding
to know just when Yogi threw his wife and three kids over for this little homewrecker!

The Berras did rather splendidly for a couple who first met when she worked as a waitress
in the St. Louis steakhouse into which Stan Musial eventually bought, helping make him
a junior-grade millionaire. But Carmen Berra was no pushover: when George Steinbrenner
moved to heal the rift between Yogi and the Yankees that happened when Steinbrenner
fired him as manager in 1982, after The Boss promised Yogi a full season but dumped
him after sixteen games (saying infamously, "I didn't fire Yogi, the players did"), Mrs.
Berra insisted it wouldn't happen unless she was present. And Steinbrenner relented. Why
was she so adamant? She wouldn't forget that when Steinbrenner canned her husband,
he sent Clyde King to deliver the execution papers.

[Bigun]

@Bigun

In Yogi Berra's first season in the minors, at Norwalk, Virginia, he played a doubleheader
and drove in 23 runs. His late wife, Carmen, often deadpanned about that: "When I heard
about the 23-RBI day, I figured he probably had a future."

In later years, she liked to tease him whenever reporters visited them by urging him to
tell them about "the anniversary card." Apparently, on one wedding anniversary (they were
married 65 years when Carmen died in 2014), he gave her a card signed "Love, Yogi
Berra." Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, visiting the Berras for his chapter
on Yogi in Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee, was aghast.
He asked Yogi why he did that.

"I dunno," Berra replied. "I guess out of habit."

"I was actually kind of glad he thought to sign his last name," Carmen cracked. "I wouldn't
have wanted to confuse him with all the other Yogis I know."

Carmen Berra was a looker to the tenth power when the Berras married, and it inspired no
few wisecracks from those in baseball who made a sideline of wisecracking about Yogi's
not-so-handsome looks. The smartest crack may have come from Tiger pitcher Dizzy Trout:
Hey, Yogi, I hear ya got married. How does your wife like living in a tree?

Mrs. Berra kept her looks for a very, very long time. In 1964, when Yogi first got to
manage the Yankees, he was invited to be the mystery guest on the CBS panel quiz
What's My Line? The panel figured him out in about three seconds, so host John
Daly decided to help fill in the time by bringing Carmen Berra out and introducing her
as "Yogi's lovely bride." The CBS switchboards went nuclear with outraged callers demanding
to know just when Yogi threw his wife and three kids over for this little homewrecker!

The Berras did rather splendidly for a couple who first met when she worked as a waitress
in the St. Louis steakhouse into which Stan Musial eventually bought, helping make him
a junior-grade millionaire. But Carmen Berra was no pushover: when George Steinbrenner
moved to heal the rift between Yogi and the Yankees that happened when Steinbrenner
fired him as manager in 1982, after The Boss promised Yogi a full season but dumped
him after sixteen games (saying infamously, "I didn't fire Yogi, the players did"), Mrs.
Berra insisted it wouldn't happen unless she was present. And Steinbrenner relented. Why
was she so adamant? She wouldn't forget that when Steinbrenner canned her husband,
he sent Clyde King to deliver the execution papers.

Thanks for the inside dope! I grew up watching the Yog, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, and all of the other Yankee greats play but Yogi was always my favorite. Don't know how anyone could not like him!

[EasyAce]

Thanks for the inside dope! I grew up watching the Yog, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, and all of the other Yankee greats play but Yogi was always my favorite. Don't know how anyone could not like him!

@Bigun
It was impossible to dislike him.

But once during his playing days Yogi had a strange habit---he loved to mooch personal products whenever
he ran out. At the same time, Whitey Ford used a special kind of stickum that he kept in a roll-on deodorant
bottle, using the stuff for a better grip on his curve ball. Knowing Berra's quirk, Mickey Mantle moved
the label-less bottle to a spot on Ford's locker shelf where Berra was sure to see it. Sure enough, Yogi took
the bait. Two minutes later he went screaming into the trainer's room---he had to have his arms shaved
loose from his sides.

Yogi otherwise was thought to be so much the type to whom good things happened almost preternaturally
that Casey Stengel once wisecracked, "Mr. Berra could fall into a sewer and come up with a gold watch."

It don't matter if you're ugly in this racket. All you have to do is hit the ball. And I never saw anyone
hit one with his face.---Yogi Berra, on the cracks about his looks.

Whitey Ford was pretty witty himself. When he learned Sandy Koufax went to New York to accept a
Corvette as the 1963 World Series MVP, and that Koufax went down to the car after the luncheon to
see it parked on the sidewalk with a $15 ticket attached to the windshield, Ford cracked, "Sandy has
only two flaws. He can't hit, and he can't park."

[Machiavelli]

Who is Aaron Judge?

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The other side of Aaron Judge’s legend: The pitches he spits on

Where the Hell Did Aaron Judge Come From?

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If Aaron Judge can chase Roger Maris’ 61 home runs, it could bring feel-good vibe to baseball

Wikipedia article

Career stats

@EasyAce

[EasyAce]

Bench or Yogi....  Greats


Here is the wisest of them all. :dx1:

Ah, but he never said ninety percent of the game was mental and the other half was physical. ;)

[DCPatriot]

Inside the Nationals' endgame identity crisis


Blake Treinen and the rest of the Washington Nationals bullpen are the weak link in the District -- and their problems are starting to become the clubhouse's problems

Eddie Matz

The Washington Nationals' bullpen spent the first couple months of the season coughing up leads in games. Recently, they've graduated to coughing up the division lead.

In the space of one week (June 6–12), the first-place Nats lost four games off their division lead, going from a season-high 12.5 games ahead in the National League East to just 8.5 games up. Granted, there are 28 other teams in the league that would kill to have "just" an 8.5-game lead (the Astros are all set, thanks). Still, when you lose a third of your cushion in the blink of an eye, it’s concerning. It’s especially alarming when you consider that Washington’s bullpen, which has been a sore spot from Day 1, has played a key role.

rest at:

http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-nationals/post/_/id/2660/inside-the-nationals-endgame-identity-crisis