BASEBALL 2019---LET'S DO IT!

[EasyAce]

That's why I"m saying that it was great to see him work with a FIFTEEN run lead with 3 outs to go.

His pitches were much sharper to left-handed batters.  Took him about 2 dozen pitches on that mound to find himself.

Like I said. One more chance....with a 10 run lead.

Then five . . . then . . . baby steps back. 

[NavyCanDo]

As an Astros fan, I can honestly tell you these guys will be lucky to be above .500 come season's end.  They just aren't that good.

Baseball is a long season, and the momentum they have now may not last,  but tonight with 6 runs they have passed the 1932 Yankees record of 12 games with 6 or more runs in the first 14 games, and have a tie for the most home runs in 14 games at 34 HR.

[GrouchoTex]

As an Astros fan, I can honestly tell you these guys will be lucky to be above .500 come season's end.  They just aren't that good.

The Astros have just swept the A's and the Yankees.
Jose Altuve had 4 home runs, two last night.
Off to Seattle for the weekend.

[Jazzhead]

@Jazzhead

My NATS spanked them in Philly tonight!  15-1  And take the series.


Even Rosenthal got much needed work.   

@DCPatriot, I turned the game off after the fourth,  went to the liquor store and bought a bottle of Wild Turkey.    That game is known in the trade as a good old-fashioned country butt-whipping.   

[DCPatriot]

@DCPatriot, I turned the game off after the fourth,  went to the liquor store and bought a bottle of Wild Turkey.    That game is known in the trade as a good old-fashioned country butt-whipping.

@Jazzhead

And I'm not about to get cocky here...cause we both know it could have been 15-1, Philly.   

[Jazzhead]

@Jazzhead

And I'm not about to get cocky here...cause we both know it could have been 15-1, Philly.   

That's the reality of baseball -  the best teams that ever were still lost a third of the time.   And the worst teams still win about a third.   

Pivetta could easily have had a different fate.    He was getting ahead of hitters in the first,  but couldn't put 'em away.   And the Nats' initial hits were squibbers.    Get him out of the first  with no runs and 15-20 pitches thrown,  and who knows how the game would have ended up. 

[DCPatriot]

That's the reality of baseball -  the best teams that ever were still lost a third of the time.   And the worst teams still win about a third.   

Pivetta could easily have had a different fate.    He was getting ahead of hitters in the first,  but couldn't put 'em away.   And the Nats' initial hits were squibbers.    Get him out of the first  with no runs and 15-20 pitches thrown,  and who knows how the game would have ended up.

I'm of the mindset that the first couple weeks of the season are mentally brutal for ballplayers...especially the 'stars' that start of with a week of O-fers.

Pitchers seem to be affected throughout the leagues...most bullpens are shit.

It's easy to press and 'get lost'.   

[EasyAce]

@DCPatriot
@Jazzhead
Always remember Andujar's Law (as in, the late Joaquin Andujar, pitcher/human time bomb): In baseball, there's just one word: You never know.

Marry that to Berra's Law (It ain't over until it's over), and in two sentences you will have baseball wisdom.

[Jazzhead]

@DCPatriot
@Jazzhead
Always remember Andujar's Law (as in, the late Joaquin Andujar, pitcher/human time bomb): In baseball, there's just one word: You never know.

Marry that to Berra's Law (It ain't over until it's over), and in two sentences you will have baseball wisdom.

And of course (from Bull Durham):  "Sometimes you win,  sometimes you lose and, sometimes, it rains." 

[Polly Ticks]

And of course (from Bull Durham):  "Sometimes you win,  sometimes you lose and, sometimes, it rains."

And sometimes there's a blizzard. 
I'm guessing Colorado is happy to be heading to San Francisco today.

[jmyrlefuller]

MLB’s home run nightmare worsens with no end in sight

Through the first 180 games this season, there have been 467 home runs. That projects to 6,318 for the season. The record is 6,105, set in 2017. In 2018 those four types of plays represented a record 34.8 percent of plate appearances. It was 37 percent in 2019 through Wednesday. The sport is on a per-game record pace for homers, strikeouts and hit by pitch, and walks are at a two-decade high.

What has been lost? Essentially action plays that involve multiple players coordinating and base-to-base action. In the history of the modern game (since 1900), 2019 is on pace for the lowest per-game rate ever for triples, sacrifice bunts, and double plays, and the lowest for steals since 1958.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/11/mlbs-home-run-nightmare-worsens-with-no-end-in-sight/

[GrouchoTex]

Baseball is a long season, and the momentum they have now may not last,  but tonight with 6 runs they have passed the 1932 Yankees record of 12 games with 6 or more runs in the first 14 games, and have a tie for the most home runs in 14 games at 34 HR.

@NavyCanDo
The Mariners did score 6 again last night, but the Astros scored 10.
Grand Slams by Gurriel and Altuve, and a Springer Dinger.
It was a 9:00pm start for us at home in Texas.
I managed to stay awake, but it wasn't easy.
I started to nod off around the 8th.

[DCPatriot]

@EasyAce

Hey there!  Would like your take on this topic:

This afternoon, White Sox' Anderson worked the count full to Royals' pitcher Keller.

The next pitch, what seemed like a 98mph fastball, left the bat squarely at 130mph.  (I may be exaggerating) 

Anyway, Anderson stood still...admired..carried the bat too far..and threw it toward his dugout like a javelin, barking MF-YEAH!  (I may be exaggerating)

The next time up, as the sun rises in the East, Keller plunked Anderson squarely on his ass.

It gets more interesting because the Royals' catcher seems to have Anderson patting him gently on his chest protector as if to say, "It's cool, I understand".

But before he reached 1st base, someone said something that Anderson didn't like...Anderson gets tossed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ME?  Yeah, he may have admired his work a bit too long.  But, in his mind he was in a battle of his life and he GOT IT ALL!!  I get as excited making called 3 and 4-rail shots with $$$ on the line.   

Yet, having had time to dwell on it while he's waiting for his next AB, he knew GD well he was going to take one for the team.

...and then there's that gaudy silver chain nonsense.   

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce

Hey there!  Would like your take on this topic:

This afternoon, White Sox' Anderson worked the count full to Royals' pitcher Keller.

The next pitch, what seemed like a 98mph fastball, left the bat squarely at 130mph.  (I may be exaggerating) 

Anyway, Anderson stood still...admired..carried the bat too far..and threw it toward his dugout like a javelin, barking MF-YEAH!  (I may be exaggerating)

The next time up, as the sun rises in the East, Keller plunked Anderson squarely on his ass.

It gets more interesting because the Royals' catcher seems to have Anderson patting him gently on his chest protector as if to say, "It's cool, I understand".

But before he reached 1st base, someone said something that Anderson didn't like...Anderson gets tossed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ME?  Yeah, he may have admired his work a bit too long.  But, in his mind he was in a battle of his life and he GOT IT ALL!!  I get as excited making called 3 and 4-rail shots with $$$ on the line.   

Yet, having had time to dwell on it while he's waiting for his next AB, he knew GD well he was going to take one for the team.

...and then there's that gaudy silver chain nonsense.   

@DCPatriot
Funny you should ask. I've written four times recently about bat flips and the like (not to mention pitchers fanning their hands like pistols after recording strikeouts, in one of them):

Let the kids play---unless they hit you into the river
The night of the living T-R-A-T-I-O-R
If you can't beat the Phun Phillies, drill them
Take this, Fun Police: A Nats reliever wants bat flips, even at his own expense

[EasyAce]

@DCPatriot
p.s. Joe West is still a horse's ass. 

[EasyAce]

OK, gang, try this one on for size:

Joey Votto popped out to first base in the top of the eighth today.

What's the big deal, you ask?

Easy---it's the first time in his entire major league career that Votto popped out to first.

It only took him 6,828 major league plate appearances to do that.

Andjuar's Law, baby. (In baseball, there's just one word---you never know.)

[EasyAce]

From Hall of Fame baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby: 1960s-1970s Tigers slugger Willie Horton named his three sons the same, with the numerals I, II, and III, because he liked the name he gave them.

Soooooooo, any one of those sons can introduce the trio as, "I'm Darryl, and this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl" . . .

[EasyAce]

Sunday afternoon in Oakland . . . the double play of the season, so far. And maybe the century, so far.

Top of the second, Justin Smoak on first for the Jays. Teoscar Hernandez looks like he's hit one over the center field fence. Except that A's center fielder Ramon Laureano runs it to the track, takes a flying leap, and pulls it back over the fence for the out.

Laureano overthrows his cutoff man first baseman Kendrys Morales but A's catcher Nick Hundley on the run backs Morales and grabs the ball as Smoak tags for second. Then he fires to second. Second baseman Jurickson Profar is right at the pad to take the throw. Smoak is one dead mallard.

Area code 8-2-4.

I know I've never seen a double play like that at all, never mind one starting when the center fielder pulls back a sure home run.

[GrouchoTex]

The Astros won 10 in a row, but have turned around and lost 3 in a row.
Still, 11-4 record last 15 games.
I'll take it.

[DCPatriot]

If I were a Major League Baseball owner, I would call for radical changes/amendments added to these multi-million $$$ annual contracts.

When you sign up for the U.S. Military, that branch owns your ass, 24/7.   You kiss your family goodbye and you don't see them for months on end.

When you are finished with your 'work day', you report to your 'barracks', whether they be hotel floors on road games or literal barracks in your city's suburbs.

In baseball, Spring Training should be Boot Camp.  it should be Gunny Sgt Hartman/Private Pyle.

If I'm paying your ass millions of $$$ per year, I own your ass too!   You will eat, sleep, dream, and consistently work on your craft.

What kind of idiot lets himself get hit on the fingers trying to bunt?   TWICE??   Super hot shortstop Trey Turner, that's who?

And eff you, Ryan Zimmerman...and your little Plantar Fasciitis too!!   TWICE??

It's my contention that these guys are sitting around playing video games and playing on their phones too many hours of the day.

They are NOT in prime physical condition.

They are NOT providing 'me' as on owner, the product, as advertised.

Starting pitchers should be going at least seven innings or 120 pitches, if the game allows it. 

Defenses that continuously take innings away from their starters with their shitty fielding and throwing.   In MAY??   I'd have them riding a GD bus in Fresno.

Same with relievers.

You've got ONE JOB!   Attack the strike zone and force weak contact.   GEEZUS...can anybody throw strikes around here??   

[EasyAce]

I've heard of winter ball but this is ridiculous . . . 

[GrouchoTex]

Stros still doing well.
Springer and Diaz both injured, but not serious, day-to-day.
Altuve probably going for a stint in the minors these week, for a tune up, then back.

[EdJames]

I've heard of winter ball but this is ridiculous . . . 

 

[DCPatriot]

Stros still doing well.
Springer and Diaz both injured, but not serious, day-to-day.
Altuve probably going for a stint in the minors these week, for a tune up, then back.

...while my NATS are sucking Fat Lady's A**.

2-14 in Series Openers

10 games under .500

A bullpen that's essentially Doolittle and then pray for rain.

And now they've lost the chance of signing Rendon...per Scott Boras.   

[EdJames]

...while my NATS are sucking Fat Lady's A**.

2-14 in Series Openers

10 games under .500

A bullpen that's essentially Doolittle and then pray for rain.

And now they've lost the chance of signing Rendon...per Scott Boras.   

You could always focus on the Orioles!!