2015 regular season chatter

well, someone had to start it.

opening day for 28 teams today!

season preview:

http://i.imgur.com/A7Xm3cDl.jpg

As said in the hot stove thread the espn Sunday night booth of schuelman kruk and schilling is heinous

Also what happened to schillings voice? It's way higher than it used to be. I know he's got health problems but I didn't even recognize him at first

everything down at office, workday over! home to watch for 6-10 hours i guess.

(Citi Field is open to watch Mets game in DC on the board, but of course the 7 train is down too)

damn you morbs. Im potentially stuck here at work until midnight because there is no god.

the first homer of the year belongs to JD martinez!

first parrot sighting of the season

agh, mlb.tv Red Sox stream is torture, hope it's just OPening Day congestion screwing with the bandwidth

Dan Uggla in lineup for favored world champs

Howie Rose on Mets radio really just said he's "a great clubhouse pr***nce"

Rain delay in Miami, caught with their roof open.

so far so good for wil myers in center field jk lol

jroll just bodied one

it was a great at bat

great game between sd and la.. more like this pls

uh did the ESPN cameras just cut to the duck dynasty people in the crowd for this giants-GRITbacks game

Sonny Gray: 6 IP, 0 H vs Rangers

seven

who made that error?

Tuned in just in time to jinx him.

what a jerk

Sorry Sonny!

As always, when I tune in after an ilb post the no hitter is broken.

he could still get a shutout CG, which'd be pretty cool

not worth the extra pitches! do u want him to break?

hasnt been too high leverage, but spring just ended so I dont know if I'd send him back

well, I see that they didn't leave him, which of course ultimately is for the best, and their closer preserved the shutout

uh, the 8pm cubs/cardinals game is already cancelled. the forecast for chicago hovers between 50 - 75% chance of rain for the evening. and i know that it's cold. but it's just kind of weird because they normally don't cancel games so far in advance, so you'd think there'd be a little more certainty in the forecast.

of course the comments sections are lighting up with people claiming it's because the cubs want to keep the clock ticking on Bryant, and/or they haven't made substantial progress in their pissing situation and wanted to avoid the embarrassment

It feels like 32 right now with 14 mph winds and it's not even raining yet, it's going to be pretty gross out there. But yeah I was surprised that the announcement came so early. I would be more inclined to attribute any malfeasance to the Wrigley situation than to the Bryant situation.

yeah, i mean this looks unpleasant but not cancel the game 6 hours ahead of time bad:

http://i.imgur.com/THDvXNt.png

oh well. i'm just whining because the cardinals were off yesterday, tonight is canceled, tomorrow could be canceled, and then they're off again on thursday.

MY WEEK IS RUINED

Yeah this was going to be the first game of the season I could actually watch on TV so I'm disappointed too.

speaking of, why tf isn't opening day (for everyone) a sunday

Latos not very sharp this evening.

94.50

fun stuff
http://www.draysbay.com/2015/4/7/8353281/the-night-is-dark-and-full-of-errors-mlb-teams-as-game-of-thrones?_ga=1.198184687.1320288900.1375202340

haha, i was reading that yesterday. it also does a nice job of jogging my game of thrones memory as the new season is about to start.

One for the statistical anomalies and feats thread, which I could not locate: 10 combined plate appearances, 10 combined times on base for DET's eight and nine hitters today.

i'm not sure we've mentioned that there are metal detectors this year at every park. Truly Amerikka's Game again.

(now J0rdan will never get to his seat til the 4th inning)

jeff franceour, 3-run homer hitter

i read 'francoeur, 3 home run hitter'

that's Adrian Gonzalez

billy hamilton has six stolen bases in 2.5 games

hah jeez anyone actually watching the indians game? im following on the gameday thing, astros have 9k's, 4bb's and nary another thing through 4 innings. MC trevor bauer on the micmound

astros fanned 37 times in their first 24 innings

another walk, 7 for the game

combined no-no thus far

oorrrrrrr not

thank God, combined no-hitters even worse than the other kind

@DCameronFG
Combined no-hitters are so awesome the Indians used their 3rd, 5th, and 6th best relievers to try and get one.

ryan howard has made two consecutive dumbass fielding errors

ryan howard will make 25 million dollars this year

ban ryan howard ban ruben amaro ban the phillies

ZIPS projects him for 0.0 WAR. if my calculations are right, that means that for each 1.0 WAR they're paying him...let's see...25 million divided by 0...carry the ...wait how do i even

*world explodes*

hahaha

http://deadspin.com/jonathan-papelbon-talks-horses-and-dick-sucking-holes-1696727554

"yeah I feel like a horse"

Prince Fielder still hilarious when it comes to base running.

waht website(s) do y'all use to check scores?

the new espn layout sucks

kinda like mlb.com's layout, but fuck 'gameday' when i want a box score, not to mention pop-up live look-in videos

i dont mind the espn redo & thats what i use but id like a better answer to this too

i kinda like tsn's layout, but: no yearly totals for homers, no pitching probables for future games, but the box score page sux and you can't see both teams at the same time

channeling my inner lex complaining about free things changing, but i'm okay with that -- the only times this stuff bothers me is here and with ncaa tourney brackets

raze new yankee stadium, it is a heap of trash

made a visit, did ya? i have avoided it.

i would theoretically love to hear what John Sterling sounds like in the 16th inning these days... but no i can't bear to tune in.

you can't predict baseball, suzyn

esmil rogers left out there about four innings too many.

theScore app is A+ if your checking on your phone

tbf esmil was the last pitcher available

and his counterpart twice blew a lead

adrian gonzalez has 1.2 WAR

(fWAR)

did you guys hear Sterling after DiDi's 2 run homer?

"ohhh bursting from the ENN-WHY-CEE comes the Double D's, and they're looking.. gregarious!"

I'm generally a fan of keeping my stomach contents in my stomach so listening to sterling and suzyn is ill-advised

xp pls let that be real

I was one of the masses at yankee stadium today. Sat up in the grandstand. Windy as fuck.

at least the Yanks learned to lose in half the time

now i'll always be able to say: i was there that one day ubaldo jimenez looked like he'd work out

Yordano Ventura stirring up shit with Trout today..

dan uggla had an rbi double today - stopped clocks, etc.

Hechavarria had 3 hits!

there goes your hacking mass team!

Rickie Weeks one-hopping the cutoff man, 12-hopping the catcher.

OK, he three-hopped the catcher, but still.

Years ago:

"Hey Rickie, wanna long-toss?"

"...You know I play second, fool."

"OK, cool."

there goes your hacking mass team!

not really... obv he wasnt gonna have a .450 OPS all year. They have to get hits sometime.

Robinson Cano loses count of the outs, gets caught off third on the night honoring his namesake. tsk tsk

no "metal detectors" at Citi last night, just a kid with a wand

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCwskKeVIAETQr4.jpg

lol

#loltillman

bartolo colon has more wins than the milwaukee brewers

Francona may have left Allen in too long tonight.

i tend to agree

whoa. bryan price ust have been hangry or something. this is just an excerpt of a post-game interview:

...CTR: I don't think you do and I don't know that that's my job.

Bryan Price: Your job is not to sniff out every f****** thing is about the Reds and f****** put it out there for every other f****** guy to hear. It's not your job. You want me to be candid with you? I've been candid with you. I f****** talk to you guys like men, I tell you what the f***'s going on with the team, I tell you how I'm feeling as candidly as I can and then this s***? You've got to watch this f****** s***? I've got to f****** read that on a f****** Tweet on our own people in here that we don't have a f****** player? How the f*** does that benefit the Reds? It doesn't benefit us one f****** bit. God **** we try to go out there and win f****** games and I got to come in here and then you guys f****** blow it all over the f****** place? Who we can play? Who we can't? I'll tell you what you want to know, I'm not going to f****** lie to you. I didn't tell you f****** s***.

CTR: You did not lie to me and I appreciate it.

BP: Ah, f***. I'm just, I'm f****** p****** up a rope in this f****** business. Because everyone has to know everything all the f****** time. That's not my f****** obligation, it's not their obligation. You know why f****** Billy Hamilton didn't f****** play? The other day? Because his f****** finger's hurt and he couldn't hit right-handed comfortably. Right? So that's something that I need to know and no one else needs to know. No one else needs to f****** know it, and all of a sudden it's out there. His f****** fingers are sore. It doesn't benefit us. It wasn't from you, but it doesn't benefit us one bit to f****** announce to the f****** other teams that we're playing to bring in lefties when they need to f****** get Billy out. There's no benefit. So, I'm f******, to be honest with you, I'm f****** sick of this s***. I'm sick of listening to this f****** s***, I'm sick of f****** the f****** second-guessing b*******, you guys can do whatever the f*** you want, but I'll tell you this — I'm not going to f****** tell you everything about this f****** club, because you f****** guys are going to out there and sniff it out anyway. I don't f****** like it one f****** bit. I bend over backwards to be honest and direct with you f****** guys and you stick it right up my f****** a** — and the f****** team's a**. And I'm sick of it. What do you got? If you don't got anything, get out and I'll do this f****** interview with Marty. You don't have anything? Just get out, please.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25156624/reds-manager-bryan-price-says-f-word-77-times-in-rant-at-media

You know why f****** Billy Hamilton didn't f****** play? The other day? Because his f****** finger's hurt and he couldn't hit right-handed comfortably. Right? So that's something that I need to know and no one else needs to know. No one else needs to f****** know it, and all of a sudden it's out there. His f****** fingers are sore. It doesn't benefit us.

lol

I know the dodgers had a national game last week but seriously how does the first kershaw vs madbum face off not make it onto national tv? lame

#bestfansinbaseball

After one inning of snowy and bone-chilling play in Detroit, the Yankees lead the Tigers 6-4. Pitches thrown: 87.

What?

Beltrán tripled to deep left center, McCann scored.
Headley tripled to deep right center, Beltrán scored.
Petit intentionally walked.

Well, it "worked."

I laughed at the edgiest lines in Chris Rock's baseball rant on HBO's Real Sports (I wonder how much of their audience even knows who Emmett Till was, though). And Bryant Gumbel is still working!

The production values of that kind of ruined it for me. There's an unironic record scratch punctuating a punchline.

statcast.

despite reading a million things about it, i still don't understand whether or not the new stats will be publicly available (or if they're already publicly available, where i can find them) or if they're just going to be displayed during broadcasts.

specifically i want to check out jordan walden's extension, velocity, and perceived velocity stats to see how much his extra skip adds to his game.

unrelated:

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mlb-pitcher-wrc.png?w=694

Guessing Chase Headley now leads the league in balks alerted to sleeping umpires. Good work, Chase.

Jacoby Ellsbury assisted in that balk alerted. Good work, Jacoby.

vin scully storytelling game in exceptional form during this doyers-evenyears mlb tv free game

was just talking about how buster posey would watch tv in a crouched catcher's position, which seems uncomfortable

last night he mentioned that JFK press secretary Pierre Salinger was related to somebody by marriage... "of course, everyone remembers him"

@pedromoura
A's-Angels is the most American matchup possible in MLB. Combined, they had just six non-Americans on their OD rosters. The Rangers had 15.

Royals-ChiSox rhubarb

Hawk saw it comin', folks.

@dschoenfield
The Kansas City Royals, no longer the little small-market team everyone was rooting for last October.

i found em very irritating last October

but now they're soaring toward Cardinals/Phillies/Stanks territory

http://i.imgur.com/s7myEdH.jpg

royals rn like the band with the corp sellout 2nd album overloaded with radio hits that will be reevaluated as a classic in 20 yrs, as opposed to the breakout critic-adored band with rare crossover potential of last year, how the mighty have fallen

*would-be radio hits

I kinda like most aspects of this new look DGAF royals but also don't dig throwing at people

Every baseball team has its own "New Jersey" [Started by slothroprhymes in April 2015] 42 new answers

rude

chris sale will neither confirm nor deny that he tried to get into the royals clubhouse last night

East, Central, West, from left to right. Great job MLB.com!

http://i.imgur.com/z6Zyf6S.png

gotta keep people on their toes

dang these suspensions just fucked the chisox's rotation for 5 days apiece

seven homers at petco tonight

dodgers gonna dodger

PITCHER HITTING IS STUPID
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDiEyWGWoAAlc19.png

(essential for context to the pic above)
Ben Lindbergh ‏@BenLindbergh
Shame that Waino might miss the year, but at least we'll get to see other exciting offensive performances by pitchers

teach yr pitchers to fucking hit imo

why? its not as if the NL teams really try to - how many decent hitting pitchers are there of recent vintage or even the past 20-odd years? like honestly - and the strategy argument is starting to look just as silly.

sam miller made a passable case for it on the EW podcast this morning but seemed mostly to be doing so to serve as a devil's advocate to lindbergh.

feel like there should be a penalty for suspended players' strategic appealing-then-dropping-the-appeal

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo THINKS PITCHERS SHOULD CONTINUE HITTING IN THE NL. BABE RUTH DIDN'T NEED TO DH!

salty dfa'd (with like $14m remaining over this year and next)

he had 33 plate appearances this season

can't the lineup just be 8 people

not that there haven't been hefty changes to things in the past but that would basically render all previous hitter stat records null

why not just... add a DH

the site manager of SB's Halos Heaven wrote something...interesting...on josh hamilton, which has since been deleted. someone took a screenshot:

http://postimg.org/image/teff9wmlt/

WHOA. that's...kind of awful

"kind of" being the understatement of forever

like you expect that from shaughnessy types of a certain age but it's always greeeeaaat to see that those old-man redass perspectives are not limited to older generations, amirite :/

holy fuck

no idea how widespread that is. someone on the cardinals SB blog (viva el birdos) noticed it, and then someone else took a screenshot before ti was deleted.

yea thats why its surprising to me - the SB nation team sites i read regularly like over the monster or check out otherwise rarely have that sort of hot-take approach

if you google the site's name, there are two separate posts that show up calling him "Addict Hamilton" in the headline -- both of which are 404s. some weird shit going on over there.

orange county's a hell of a town

county

deadspin post has (alleged) pictures of this auspicious angels blogger in the comments. i'd just post the pic but the dude is frightening
http://deadspin.com/sociopathic-angels-blogger-posts-now-deleted-rant-about-1700641867

"Sociopath" is probably the best term for the thing that wrote that piece.

"the local tit bar"?

Aside from not being an abhorrent person, you'd think familiarity with the English language would be a necessity for pro blogging.

uh, i guess he's been asked to leave.

http://www.halosheaven.com/2015/4/28/8510197/whoops

So after pushing the limits here at SBN for over ten years, the company and I have agreed to go our separate ways.

...Consider that the company would still let me post to the site after parting ways and imagine the insane shit one could do and you will get the level of professionalism and trust that SBN/Vox carries with it.

It is a much different world since I started in 1988. Today, I'm a fifty-year-old guy with a pacemaker but I still want to rage against any dying of any light. But look around. The world everywhere is a little cleaner around the edges these days. That is by design. In my day job as an art critic I have raged against privileging design over impulse. This was once a commonly held viewpoint. Maybe it is just the purview of my generation now. A national publication calls me a sociopath over something I write - that is a badge of honor. Well, there are other people who do not see it that way and don't see the world as I see it. I've always accepted that and I accept it now. I never manifested the bravery that Charlie Hebdo did but I see a world shunning that bravery... and the rage just comes out of me naturally - and it is really just to rile you, the reader for whom I have had the privilege of hopefully informing, entertaining and inspiring. But I would never force my rage on anyone, especially a company paying me for the privilege of writing about my favorite team.

...And to all those I have riled and upset here since 2005, understand that it was on purpose and I am comforted every day by the words of the Irish bard Brendan Behan "Fuck The Begrudgers" and that your hatred, loathing and disgust were badges of honor I will wear in the Los Angeles Afterlife of Anaheim as I wear them with pride on this mortal coil.

When I went in for heart surgery two years ago I had to sign a form that said I understood I might die. I didn't and am not now dying here but I will say what I said then. As the anesthesiologist was about to put the gas on my face I lifted up my head, looked at the surgeons and nurses, smiled and said:

Go Angels.

cool man

not really a new thing either

http://streamable.com/48df?t=5.8

journalist for 25 years, still can't use a fucking comma

the comments are going to be so much fun!

the "whoops" post appears to be deleted, now. i wish i would have c+p'd the whole thing!

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.halosheaven.com/2015/4/28/8510197/whoops

Last year I got to meet Mike Trout when he was promoting his Nike shoe. I got to do this because I represented SBN and I went to the press event and represented SBN quite professionally and promoted the product and again, I got to meet Mike Frickin' Trout, so what a blast, right? Right. Except, well, I knew. I knew right then... eh... I've just never been interested in "legitimacy" - the people craving it were always caricatures of the worst in humanity, oozing out things to be ridiculed - and on that day, having reached the peak of a mountain I never set out to climb, I just knew that what I aspired to and what SBN aspired to - and had achieved - were two different things.

now i feel bad because he obviously has issues

he climbed to the peak of a mountain he never set out to climb

and at the top, he found himself at a Nike event where he got to creep out Mike Trout in person

and at that moment, at the top of mt. nike, hanging out with Mike Trout, he knew that his goals were different than the goals of SB Nation

Lana Berry ‏@Lana 8s8 seconds ago
the best way to prove you're not a sociopath is to post a long blog post on why you're not a sociopath

a.j. pierzynski: .410/.422/.692

^^^FP this man

sorry to bring this up again, but the angels site has a new interim tough guy, who says

The first time I talked to Rev Halofan about Halos Heaven, he said something that stuck with me for the 8 years I've been a part of this community. We were talking about how he wanted the site to be perceived, and he said, "Let the other blogs be The Beatles, we're going to be the Stones." And with that, the course was set. No "Love Me Do", none of that "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah." Nope, he had us singing "Paint It Black", "Satisfaction", and "Under My Thumb". I feel grateful I got to be the Keith Richards to his Mick Jagger.

Although I disagree with what he wrote, I understand why he wrote it. Rev went punk rocker while the internet went disco, all the while everyone else remained Stones' fans."

that's right, godspeed Rev Halofan, you ol' Thelma and or Louise, you teenage smash idol iconoclast, you ride off into the sunset and don't take no for an answer, we'll hold the fort til you return in the comments section

pierzynski now at .439/.458/.732 btw

4-for-4 with a walk, sac fly and 4 rbi tonight!

gonna be sick thinking about that and I haven't drunk enough yet for that

@AdamSpankyEaton
We are gonna do our best to take the crowd out of it early.. Wish us luck..

The White Sox/Orioles no audience game is also the MLB.TV free game today. I wonder if that was decided on ahead of time.

i'm going to have to watch this.

i'm wondering how many really loud f-bombs will be dropped during the telecast

I'm assuming they are allowing announcers into the game but ... what if they didn't?

obv would be best White Sox telecast in decades

maybe it will be quiet enough that the players can hear the announcers call the game as it happens

i really do think this will be amazing, though. the sound is going to be so crisp!

i s'pose the camden yards park staff will be there to cheer the o's on so it won't be 100 percent dead silent...but then again maybe those tiny cheers will be even weirder than silence

do the o's get the gate & concession $ this weekend in tampa or is it just a windfall for the rays?

i can't stream that game, so i have the Stankee radio team in my ear oldstyle

but what is going to happen to all those foul balls

they can aim em at the press, like Redford did in that desecration of The Natural

also we don't have an astros thread, but anyone believing they can make this happen all season?

dere is astros thread (albeit not specifically for this year) The Houston Astros of the American League West

i think they're due for hard regression, just not quite there yet

.500 looking very plausible tho

positive differential and some bad luck (according to Kerri), i also think regression will happen but i wouldn't be surprised if they can push their way in the WC.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDxsWVkW0AEyBh7.png

Yeah it's blacked out for me too, lame

they are playing the anthem

why is it blocked out in NYC?

i don't think it is?

this is surreal as hell

weird, it's blacked out for me, at least on my work computer (usually they aren't). but it looks like it works on my phone.

lmao https://twitter.com/LukeMaxwell25/status/593169032431443968

So weird... baseball without a crowd sounds like golf

@clintonyates · 2 hours ago
Eddie Murphy's "Party all the time" is currently playing on the PA at Oriole Park

Watching this with mlb.tv's "park audio" option is surreal.

happy pace-of-play punishment day!

Texas should reactivate Mike Hargrove for fun

on may 1 shin-soo choo is hitting .096/.254/.173

also im legit looking fwd to a kc/houston alcs

it's not like i *want* to hate the cardinals

i loved willie and ozzie and whitey. and matt adams of course

plus zs and bnw are okay

but goddamnit

that was a good game regardless, you gotta admit

plus at least mccutchen didn't go down. that was scary for a sec

pirates have left 15 runners on base through nine innings

yikes, 18 now. record's 22?

pirates record, i mean?

http://i.imgur.com/VU6MA4o.jpg

always the walk-off ;_;

it's the cardinals way

Giants win with the runner at first getting hit by a drive for the last out.

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo 18m18 minutes ago
Nelson Cruz's 12 HR this season are the same number that the White Sox have this season

Jesus, Cruz. 13 in his team's first 24 games; Bonds had 11, McGwire 10.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/fastmap.php?pitchSel=all&game=gid_2015_05_02_pitmlb_slnmlb_1/&sp_type=3&s_type=7

mike winters with an enormous strike zone today, most notably in this at bat that made matt holliday understandably sad

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/numlocation_io.php?pitchSel=434538&game=gid_2015_05_02_pitmlb_slnmlb_1/&batterX=50&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=

two games ended with runners hit by batted balls

Giants win with the runner at first getting hit by a drive for the last out.

and Dodgers-Dbags ended the same way! xp

(see you and yr scorebook in 11-1/2 hrs, mook)

15 of todd frazier's 82 career homers have come against the pirates

bartolo colon has now beaten the orioles with seven different teams

8 Prospectus takeaways from April

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=26267

votto should be pissed, that's a bs ejection. also cole is the worst.

#neverforget
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f6owc3O_gY

haha this is terrific

A-Rod just passed Mays, let the drama ensue!!

that video is great

dang pineda got 16 Ks

check his neck

Mets have faced some asshole crybabies recently in HAmels and Lester

no reaction at all to aj burnett -- who voluntarily took a $4m pay cut to get the hell out of philly and go back to pittsburgh -- from phillies fans tonight

maybe they're too numb to care anymore

kluber has 17ks rn (5 more outs to get)

18 thru 8 innings

Damn, of all the games to miss! Game score of 98. But Kluber's record is 1-5, so he sucks.

Huston Street and LAA, two more years and $18 million.

i was just looking at how much they will owe Pujols over the rest of his contract O_O

street doesn't use an agent right?

wow, kluber's game score of 98 is the highest in a 8-inning pitching performance since 1914.

why they didn't let him finish?

feared the wrath of morbz

also, shelby miller pitched a maddux the other day. meant to write it up the other day but i forgot. 99 pitches, 8 K, 1 BB vs the Phillies.

337 games played at petco park between their last rain delay and tonight

crazy (and ugly) game in chicago

387 combined pitches through 8 1/2

and cervelli is taking a beating

i haven't been able to watch, but i've taken a special interest in the condition of his genitalia. is it that kind of beating?

saw several foul balls to the mask and shoulder -- jim deshaies was even like, 'pretty sure chris stewart gets the start tomorrow' -- but cannot speak to his genitalia, sadly

nothing like an epic loss in which you torch your entire (already shitty) bullpen

STOP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pnJnquOoO8

ve taken a special interest in the condition of his genitalia.

you're very naughty

Bruised, battered, ruined genitalia. Seriously, he should sponsor athletic cups after what he went through last week.

with both torii hunter and marlon byrd heating up i feel like the baseball season of 2007 has officially started

pujols still sucks

wgn just did a little highlight clip of all the foul tips that hit cervelli on friday

https://i.imgur.com/9afD8Mp.jpg

seven shutouts today

@TimBritton
Red Sox announce Allen Craig has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Pawtucket. Means he's no longer on the 40-man.

:(

@DPRK_News
Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un pitches perfect game, scores six home runs, in exhibition match against Mongolian national baseball team.

Mat Latos' split-finger Critter

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/mat-latos-throws-a-pitch-that-nobody-else-has-thrown/

madbum homering off kershaw is in at least some way next-level trolling

dodgers are 1-32 with RISP at AT&T park this season.

also scored 2 runs in the last 5 games and have been shut out for 31 innings straight.

#giantspitching

is bumgarner going to hit himself with a pitch next time he's at bat for admiring the shit out of his home run today?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFkngmdUIAAE81X.jpg

@DOBrienAJC
#Brewers lefty reliever Will Smith tossed from game, looks like they found substance of some kind on his right forearm

@mlbbowman
This was not the kind of homecoming Will Smith was anticipating. He went to high school in Newnan.

xp he should, someone should

but the Redass Rules don't apply to their enforcers in their minds

RIP Kipnis

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFs9eeRVIAIPQRe.jpg

Texas - Top of 3rd	SCORE
CC Sabathia pitching for New York	TEX	NYY
Smolinski walked.	0	0
DeShields reached on infield single to shortstop, Smolinski to second.	0	0
Choo singled to center, Smolinski scored, DeShields to second.	1	0
Fielder singled to right, DeShields scored, Choo to second, Choo scored, Fielder to second on error by right fielder Beltrán.	3	0
Beltré singled to right, Fielder to third.	3	0
Moreland fouled out to first.	3	0
Beltré to second on wild pitch by Sabathia.	3	0
Andrus singled to right center, Fielder and Beltré scored.	5	0
Rogers relieved Sabathia.	5	0
Rosales hit by pitch, Andrus to second.	5	0
Corporán hit a ground rule double to left, Andrus scored, Rosales to third.	6	0
Smolinski hit sacrifice fly to center, Rosales scored.	7	0
DeShields walked.	7	0
Choo homered to left, Corporán and DeShields scored.	10	0
Fielder singled to right center.	10	0
Beltré grounded out to third.	10	0
10 Runs, 8 Hits, 1 Errors

@AdamRubinESPN
Most runs surrendered by Matt Harvey since also allowing seven runs on 7/6/11 for Double-A Binghamton vs. Portland

xp almost makes me forget the 9 run massacre the angels wreaked against boston last night

@AdamMcCalvy
Khris Davis missed home plate on the home run, umps rule. He's out.

that is hilarious.

apparently he touched it after all?

is that reviewable?

apparently!

newfangled mlb.tv player! seems to run much better on my laptop that the other POS.

http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Baseball-Batting-Stats2.png

joc pederson just hit a ball 477 feet

in denver, but still

adjusted for denver that's actually an infield pop-up

fwiw joc pederson is among the league leaders in hard hit rate. He was #1 like a week ago.

god damnit, why couldn't guerrero have knocked that grand slam against madpissbum and the giants

still, hey, killing an 8-5 deficit is p cool

Noah Syndergaard followed the Padres' Andrew Cashner with an unusual pitching line on consecutive days. On Tuesday night, Syndergaard became just the second pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 or more batters in a game while allowing 10 or more hits in fewer than five innings, according to statistics provided by the Padres from the Elias Sports Bureau. Syndergaard allowed 10 hits with 10 strikeouts in four innings. Cashner struck out 12 batters while giving up 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings in Monday night's 7-0 loss to the Mets.

http://mlb.com/wine

wtf

need some tommy lasorda approved chianti for the dodgers

i just happened to catch a crazy moment:

the A's RP pat venditte is ambidextrous. he was facing the switch-hitting swihart of the red sox, as a left-handed pitcher. then he stopped, indicated that he would be throwing with the other hand, waited for a right-handed glove, and swihart went to the dugout to switch out his right-handed hitting helmet for a left-handed helmet.

then everyone in the stands switched the beers from one hand to the other, and a vendor shouted "here, beer!"

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--hhHJaNw5--/18s3ljymuoxiejpg.jpg

"Me hate this game!"

unrelated question: does anyone know of a batter that doesn't use hitting gloves and is also a bad hitter?

Brooks Conrad was never really all that. Is the jury in or out on Evan Gattis?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/pat-venditte-and-the-ultimate-baseball-rarity/

then everyone in the stands switched the beers from one hand to the other, and a vendor shouted "here, beer!"
--Karl Malone

lol did this actually happen? I'm guessing not but otoh I've seen equally weird shit at Fenway and I didn't watch the venditte innings last night

no, that part was just a weird dream! venditte's pretty amazing though. he doesn't throw hard at all but has 3 pitches from each side that he can pull off. permanent matchup advantage (except for switch-hitters, as we've seen)

i didn't see this, but it was my understanding that venditte has a special glove he can easily flip from hand to hand? anyway, these were the rules instituted because of him in the minors in 2008 and as far as i know remain the same:

-*The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.

• The pitcher must throw one pitch to the batter before any "switch" by either player is allowed.
• After one pitch is thrown, the pitcher and batter may each change positions one time per at-bat. For example, if the pitcher changes from right-handed to left-handed and the batter then changes batter's boxes, each player must remain that way for the duration of that at-bat (unless the offensive team substitutes a pinch hitter, and then each player may again "switch" one time).
• Any switch (by either the pitcher or the batter) must be clearly indicated to the umpire.
• There will be no warm-up pitches during the change of arms.
• If an injury occurs the pitcher may change arms but not use that arm again during the remainder of the game.

seems a little unfair that the switch-hitting batter would have the advantage for every pitch. should take turns or something!

pirates winning 12 of 14 is pretty cool but it would be helpful if the fucking cardinals ever lost a fucking game

you got your wish mook thanks to the kershawman

@JeffPassan
It is June 7. The Minnesota Twins have the best record in the American League. That is all.

@based_ball
every single player selected so far today is older than Bryce Harper

the NL East is perfectly stacked by run differential

New York -2
Washington -3
Atlanta -12
Miami -26
Philth -88

wow @ Philamity

felix getting smoked

ERA just went from 2.51 to 3.38

jeez, when it was 2015 it was not a very good year for king felix

whole nl east w/ negative run differential rn

that seems familiar

@MLBastian 54m54 minutes ago
Happy Lindor Day, Tribe fans.

@cmccosky 3m3 minutes ago
Lindor not in Cleveland lineup today

i have a new favorite umpire

Minnesota Twins veteran outfielder Torii Hunter had a memorable meltdown on Wednesday night, getting kicked out of the game and removing articles of clothing in the process. The cause was thought to be home plate umpire Mark Ripperger's inconsistent strike zone, but Hunter clarified the true reason behind it on Thursday.

"Ripperger told me that Butthead was Beavis' dad. I couldn't believe it. I just lost it."

Beavis and Butthead, of course, are the popular MTV cartoon dirtbags from the 1990s, Their parents were noticeably absent as they dissected music videos and got into various kinds of mischief. Or at least that's what people thought.

"I looked back at him after that called strike three," said Hunter. "And he just stared right back at me and said, 'You know, Butthead was Beavis' dad. Just think about it for a bit.' I went a little nuts, obviously."

is that real?

http://www.twinkietown.com/2015/6/12/8770295/hunters-tirade-caused-by-beavis-and-butthead-theory

although, upon viewing the video of him getting thrown out, they don't appear to be discussing beavis & butthead

if torii hunter completely made that up, it's almost better

i'd almost have to respect the guy a smidgen. but he did not say that, so i can continue thinking he is an ass.

You goobers, it says SATIRE right at the top. Butthead being Beavis' dad is a weird twitter meme.

dammit, i really am a goober

damn it feels good to be a goober

thank god it's satire, i don't know what i'd do if butthead was beavis's dad

steve souza with 5 walks tonight. record for a 9-inning game is 6 BBs, I believe

his old team = scared

game scores!

J Williams (PHI) 18
A Colome (TB) 17
N Eovaldi (NYY) 2

souza just had a bunt homerun

muting "i named this wine after my dad" every time

watching the Twinks try to hold off the Hackhouse Gang, obv

todd frazier, walk off grand slam in 13th

4 homers last 2 games, now has 22

A-Rod close to 3000. First time i watching Capps, this is weird.

in Cubs booth Len Kasper just handed a SABR convention program to Jim Deshaies (they are both appearing)

Deshaies seemed... ambivalent

it's weird how despite one knowing that even a decent team is gonna lose 45% of its games, so many of those losses seem so unreasonable

i guess tanking became a legitimate strategy?

Cub loss ending on an exciting video review of a total Rizzo bad news bear extrabase move.

former yankees/red sox great alfredo aceves suspended in mexican league for this:

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/3/6/132229736/cuts/ALFREDO_AVECES_Y_DEMIAN_HERNANDEZ_GOLPE._1_fqqa9jpd_swkm2leo.jpg

the aceves, ever an asshole

mlb network shd be showing the scherzer game, like why else have a network

lol I was just trying to get it at the bar I'm at but they only have MLB network not the extra innings package or w/e

I didn't even know the rays had vintage uniforms, they're kind of dope tbh

ah they are "hypothetical throwback unis" apparently...what the heck

better than current uniforms

absolutely

also since there's so little to celebrate rn in redsoxland I must say that the vintage high socks on the (actual) 70s-throwback unis are 💯💯💯

@ESPNStatsInfo: Yovani Gallardo (TEX): has now thrown 23 straight scoreless innings (3-0, 0.69 ERA in last 6 starts)

lol grady sizemore just broke up cody anderson's perfect game (thru 6.1) w a hr

i saw that on a plane

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIx8-JtWsAA8cmP.png

what's going on la? the puig article on yahoo sports and the renewed scioscia/dipoto feud in anaheim....eesh.

something in the water (something in the water)

Greinke, the National League ERA leader and one of the game's best pitchers, was at the center of another memorable Puig moment related in Knight's book. In 2014, during the Dodgers' annual trip to Chicago, the team bus stopped downtown to allow rookies undergoing hazing to walk into a pizza place and emerge with food for the veterans. Some Dodgers players, not wanting to wait, skipped off the bus. When the bus was ready to leave, Puig was outside, looking for his luggage inside of the bay underneath the bus. After Puig ignored multiple requests to close the luggage bay, Greinke hopped off the bus, grabbed the suitcase in front of Puig and chucked it onto Michigan Avenue. Puig stepped toward Greinke and was restrained by reliever J.P. Howell.

dipoto out, apparently

Angels GM Jerry Dipoto resigned.

scioscia's a relic, should've been gone a long time ago

matt moore & jose fernandez both back tomorrow

Hey statnerds: three games in a row Indians starting pitchers have been perfect-through-five. Has that ever happened before?

apparently the last time TWO teammates have been perfectthrough six TWICE in a row was the '69 Mets (Ryan and Jim McAndrew)

to back up some of what VHS posted:

http://nypost.com/2015/07/01/the-stories-behind-dodgers-deep-seated-yasiel-puig-resentment/

http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/report-puig-wearing-out-welcome-dodgers-teammates

@TaterTrotTrkr
Billy Butler hit a triple yesterday.

It took him 14.16 secs to reach third, 0.2 secs slower than it took Dee Gordon to score on his IPHR

xp how impartial of csn bay area to report on dodgers strife lol

(which is not to say puig isn't kind of a pill, but still)

The examples are pretty weak. They have him feuding with Greinke after there have been all these other stories about Greinke being a super-intense sociopath, and the "666" thing is preceded by the guy who did it saying it was "a lark."

isnt Greinke bipolar? that's an illness, right?

Apparently he has social anxiety disorder and has suffered from depression. I didn't know - sorry for calling him a "sociopath."

fuuuuuuuuuuuu jose's not having a good time :/

NEVERMIND

?

gen i root for JF, but that's under suspension due to the sports drink ad.

he homered! he's also allowed 3 runs including a homer but oddly his team is granting him run support

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2015%2F0707%2F660d7ca86ab5901e7b0f6a7067004980.jpg&w=640

mark reynolds strikes out; called a foul tip; homers on the next pitch of course

well done mccutchen

^^^

i can't even watch this

too old for this shit

o ffs

amazing! if the giants are out, pirates are 100% my bandwagon team

grats mook and bucs that was dope

woke me up

cardinals and pirates have played 10 games this year

five extra-inning walk-offs

It has been bonkers

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11053162_861715080550512_7188401732545313111_n.jpg?oh=c0d2f75a60886dc2887f749e1175c933&oe=56503040

did we ever whine about the franchise four selections anywhere? scanning over the list there are crazy things everywhere, no surprise. from a homer perspective i can't believe they selected lou brock over ozzie fucking smith

Even more than that, Pujols over Brock.

I just scanned them and they looked pretty good for the most part. Another one that jumped out for me was Posey on the Giants and no Marichal. Bench seems pretty iffy as one of the four greatest living players, and I didn't quite understand why four guys got relegated to the Pioneers category.

Can't argue with the Jays--Alomar, Delgado, Halladay, Carter--even though McGriff and Stieb and Fernandez and others were much better players than Carter. Fans just aren't going to leave Carter off that, and I understand this.

it was the biggest hit in pirate history and one of the biggest in baseball history, but bill mazeroski is like 17th on the team WAR list. behind, among others, bonds and mccutchen (already). but he's still alive, lives in the area, nice guy, etc.

probably should have been arky vaughan instead -- check out those strikeout numbers

uh, Posey over Christy Mathewson?

stinko-OBP-Lou Brock over Mark McGwire?

Popular baseball elections are just as dumb as the political ones. Anyway...

http://www.royalsreview.com/2015/7/15/8966585/every-teams-real-franchise-four

Even more than that, Pujols over Brock.

for sure. i guess pujols got screwed because he jumped ship. he hasn't spent enough time with the angels to make their list, and there are still a ton of cardinals fans who resent him for leaving (baseball fans being stupid shocker).

Missed that--yeah, Mazeroski's comparable to Carter but even a worse choice (the Pirates have much more history than the Blue Jays, so the importance of one hit recedes).

I singled out Bench but, even though he's a personal favourite, Koufax shouldn't be the greatest living pitcher; probably comes down to Clemens, Maddux, Johnson, Pedro...and Kershaw.

Don't see A-Rod anywhere. Tricky because of the way his career's split, but obviously a better Rangers pick than Michael Young.

The closer I look, the more I'll complain.

probably comes down to Clemens, Maddux, Johnson, Pedro...and Kershaw.

SEAVER

the 4 'losers' on the shortlist of 8 for greatest living players were Seaver, Pedro, Rickey and Bonds. By career WAR:

Hank Aaron: 142.6

Johnny Bench: 75.0

Barry Bonds: 162.4

Rickey Henderson: 110.8

Sandy Koufax: 49.0

Pedro Martinez: 84.0

Willie Mays: 156.2

Tom Seaver: 110.5

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/57312/franchise-four-greatest-living-players

“the greatest living beloved ballplayers that your dad will never shut up about.”

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/mlb-greatest-living-ballplayers-koufax-mays-aaron-bench-bonds

James: "Well, Mays and Aaron are good. I guess I would go with Mays, Aaron, Bonds, Clemens, and hold out for Rickey Henderson as a fifth."

vicente padilla is pitching for nicaragua at the pan am games!

@BenBadler
Vicente Padilla starts off the sixth inning with an eephus pitch.

@BenBadler
Vicente Padilla throws what he thinks is strike three, starts walking off the mound. It's a ball. There's no outs and two runners on base.

vintage-uni bench-clearing night btwn Rangers and Astros

The next Carlos Gomez at-bat could be interesting.

i'm not sure how i feel about that play

Evidently as good a judge of the wall's location as that of 2B.

Brett Anderson is hurt.

https://twitter.com/expg_1001/status/624142290789871616/video/1

he must get drilled a lot.

curtis fucking granderson are you serious

asshole

how in the hell did lucas duda get picked off

Mayberry batted cleanup v Kershaw

Collins has given up

@ESPNStatsInfo
Mets: 2nd team in Live Ball era (since 1920) to have #4 & #5 batter in starting lineup each enter game w/ 100+ AB and BA under .180 (Elias)

Greinke's scoreless streak is over. Not sure why Mattingly calls for IBB's against one of the league's worst offenses when he's got a pitcher with a 1.30 ERA on the mound.

of the 4 games the dodgers lost last week, juan uribe knocked in the winning run in 3 of the 4, with 2 different teams (after being traded from the dodgers in june)

pete rose bobblehead in cincy for 30th anniversary of hit record

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLB_-Z1WoAA1M1k.jpg

Source: Under terms of trade agreement, if completed, Papelbon will close for #Nationals and be signed for 2016.

Drew Storen's sub 2 era just wasn't getting it done i guess

btw, joey votto is quietly having a monster comeback season. his july slash stats: .408/.531/.684

@JohnDreker
Aramis Ramirez is in an 0-for-19 slump with the Pirates, dating back to July 22, 2003. Last hit was off Dave Burba

boom

http://m.bluejays.mlb.com/tor/video/topic/69808956/v309221383/phitor-tulo-belts-tworun-homer-in-blue-jays-debut/?game_pk=415164

And has now just hit his second double of the game!

tulo's homer sounded like it was hit with neither wood nor aluminum but something new and different

grit

it was #thewilltowin

3rd career cycle for adrian beltre

pile em up in the garage

I don't know where to put this. I looked for a "Futile Gestures Lost to History" thread, but nothing close.

Saberhagen was eligible for the 2007 ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He stated if he were voted in, he would not attend the ceremony because he believes Pete Rose should be inducted. Saberhagen finished with 7 votes and was not eligible for next year's ballot.

I don't remember that. Notwithstanding that he should have hung around the ballot much longer, he missed the mark by just a bit there.

there is a squirrel on the field in detroit

i missed this during the week of Mets madness

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/7/26/9041365/raccoon-gets-loose-in-mets-clubhouse

Ben Lindbergh has found the new Face

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-mike-trout-bryce-harper-young-mvps/

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/trout-harper-hybrid-face.png?w=694

troy glaus?

Barves booth were feeling a little gossipy a little while ago because it's less depressing than talking about Shelby Miller's lack of run support (they're being 1-hit by FLA today, with the only hit by, wait for it, Shelby Miller). Anyway they were talking about their luxury ride and how, in August, it still hasn't shown up yet.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-marlins-still-waiting-for-that-luxurious-new-plane-jeffrey-loria-promised-7648215

mccutchen just hit a chin-high fastball out of the park, my god

david buchanan game score: -12

should take up golf

angels get shut out again, continue skidding. trout is probably 1 for his last 15

The home teams won every game last night -- it was the first that time home teams have gone 15-0 in MLB history.

so it wasn't a shame anywhere

if you had asked me cold how many times it has happened in history, i would have probably foolishly guessed something like 20 times

well i'm sure it happened when there were 16 teams.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the previous record for most games on a single day in which every home team won was 12, set on May 23, 1914. There were three major leagues back then, and on that day, home teams won in the National (four games), American (four) and Federal (four) leagues.

STATS said home teams had gone 11-0 on six occasions -- three in the 1800s. The most recent occasion was Sept. 16, 1989.

The last time home clubs went undefeated on a day with more than one game was Aug. 28, 2008, when they posted an 8-0 record. More recently, on April, 2, 2013, road squads went 7-0, according to STATS.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13421684/mlb-home-teams-set-record-going-15-0

j.a. happ had one good year in 2009 and that -- and about $18m -- is all that separates him from aaron laffey

fuckin lefties, man

Happ will probably pitch for another half dozen years in the big leagues being a lefty.

matt kemp has produced the padres' first-ever cycle, just to piss morbs off

lol

whoa we got a cycle?

the Pads still don't have a no-hitter tho *yawn*

Cycles are rarer than no-hitters FWIW.

Boston scored 15 runs vs Seattle yesterday, today they've scored 15 through six innings, with ten of those runs off of Felix in 2.1 innings.

torey lovullo is a genius, obv

Damn, Sucre loses his perfect ERA

Holy shit, Red Sox go 26-46.

jbj is 5-6, 3 2b, 2 hr - 7 rbi

22-7 and the bullpen is trying its damnedest to somehow blow it

you'd think that was impossible, and then you see ryan cook pitch and you're like....shit maybe

22-10!

a week ago, jbj was hitting .121/.254/.172

two days ago he was hitting .174/.289/.319

now he's at .250/.340/.500

Translated to a c. 2000 run scoring environment that's like 31-15.

I would have thought 37 runs in two games would be a record, but the game report on mlb.com doesn't mention anything.

I don't think you can really "translate" single game scores with any kind of reliability, 22-10 is crazy no matter what

btw jbj's was just the eighth five-xbh game in mlb history: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=wvtTY

some interesting names among the first seven!

cespedes made another throw

fangraphs had bradley at 0.5 WAR just for today's game

in other words, jeff francoueur since 2008

I don't think you can really "translate" single game scores with any kind of reliability, 22-10 is crazy no matter what

Yeah I didn't mean that literally ...

I would have thought 37 runs in two games would be a record, but the game report on mlb.com doesn't mention anything.

Remember this game?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL200708221.shtml

They scored nine runs the next night. But I'm not sure if that's the record either.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/brewers-minor-leaguer-makes-baseball-history-by-coming-out-publicly-as-gay-b99557156z1-321977731.html

(xpost) I don't remember that, no--wow. The Red Sox now have the Rangers beat for a three-game run with 45 runs (Rangers had 43).

buster olney reporting on the david denson story on sunday night baseball. schilling and kruk not the most articulate voices on the subject

schilling and kruk not the most articulate voices on the subject

the NL East is now 151-204 (.425) against non-divisional opponents

the NL Central is now 85-48 (.639) against the NL East

Looks like Paulo Orlando forgot who plays center for the Angels.

the historically bad NL East

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/61936/the-nl-east-is-really-really-terrible

nationals have called up 2014 first-rounder trea turner, who would probably look pretty good in the padres' infield right now

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNDkjw5WoAEvz2K.png

luis valbuena flipped his bat after singling

lol @ Girardi telling Carlos Gomez to "play the game the right way" - people actually say that!?

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/d2/cd287e77-e14e-53fa-88d1-f0065728fdc1/4fb3ec5f6e39c.preview-620.jpg

can't believe the yankees show up opposing hitters by playing that p.c. richard whistle after strikeouts

play the game the right way, yankees

I actually thought Girardi seemed like a guy who was above that

but in the modern age it goes back to Showalter yelling at Griffey Jr for wearing his pre-game cap backwards

Gomez is traditionally kind of a douche tho, no?

I dunno, he just gets fired up about the game and doesn't mind showing it, kinda like half the people who play beer league softball. Anyone who constantly breaks the game's "unwritten rules" is alright by me

some guys (ortiz) can get away with 30-second home run trots. some guys (jeter) practically have their fist-pumps trademarked. some guys (pettitte) can juice and still get their numbers retired. carlos gomez can't even pop up the right way

i don't even like gomez, but this last dustup with the yankees is the dumbest shit i've ever heard

i don't really get why the dodgers have the best ws percentage, among other things

http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx

i mean, aside from the recent slump (which theyre already coming out of) they've been pretty goddamn dominant all season, giants are prob too dinged up and frankly not good enough to take the division from them, remaining schedule aside from the giants, cubs and pirates is m/l a cakewalk (that said the giants schedule isn't that tough either)

as ever, bullpen will be the only real danger zone during the 'offs imo

I dunno if it factors this in but with two really really great pitchers you have to figure they're primed better than anyone else

if they throw mat latos in the pen and call mike bolsinger up again the 1-5 starting rotation is two parts stellar and three parts perfectly decent. i really dont think anyone wants mat latos starting a postseason game

i don't really get why the dodgers have the best ws percentage, among other things

the only thing i can think of is that maybe it accounts for smaller playoff rotations? so dodgers would get a boost because they can use kershaw and greinke more frequently than usual?

oops, frogbs already said the same thing

Its also interesting that they're giving them an 88% shot of winning the division even though they're only 2.5 games ahead of the Giants. Cardinals are up 4.5 but are only 77% (which seems about right). Some projection must really like the Dodgers (or dislike the Giants), because it's really odd to me that it's giving LA a 21.2% chance of winning the WS and the Royals only 9.9, even though KC has the division sown up and LA could wind up in the WC game if they hit a slump.

yeah, all season the playoff odds for the dodgers have had a serious bump compared to the rest of the teams. i thought that would dissipate a little bit as we near the end, but apparently not. i can see why the projections love them so much - i have no idea how they're not completely dominating right now, they're so loaded with talent

the regular-season predictions no doubt take into account strength of remaining schedule -- pretty sure the only decent team the nationals have remaining (and vice versa) is the mets, because otherwise it's tough to see them going .600 the rest of the way

yeah frogbs covers my main question dodgers-wise; they don't even seem like a super-lock to make the playoffs, so 20% for the WS seems high

dear baseball gods, let me not have to deal with two consecutive postseasons involving the giants

i thought they made a bargain to take care of this. we get breaks from them, that was the agreement.

BP odds only puts LAD at 15%

Mets at 9%

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/

kick save

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/145823758/carlos-torres-daniel-murphy-make-circus-play

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CM3ScvJUwAAPFc9.png

brewers just did the stupid ice bucket challenge; craig counsell challenged 'former brewer wilmer flores' to go next

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNiQjHFW8AAqiqY.jpg

juan perez approves

http://www.clickhole.com/article/7-baseball-records-will-never-be-broken-2969?utm_campaign=default&utm_medium=ShareTools&utm_source=twitter

lol the ray chapman one :/

Maybe I haven't been watching enough baseball this year, but there have been a few walk-off wins this week, and I only now noticed ... when did the water/Gatorade bath become the standard celebration procedure when the batter gets to home plate?

Love this story about the guys who own Twins.com

http://grantland.com/features/the-website-mlb-couldnt-buy/

so we have 9/10 playoff teams, right?

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/baseball-joe/blog/selling-the-september-drama-090315

These days, Kurtz posts bat flips to his Twitter account when he deems one “bat-flippy enough” — that is, it has the speed, trajectory and accompanying pose to please American tastes — and they are disseminated to the masses from there. He said the number of fans expressing dismay at the bat flips seemed to have decreased since 2013, possibly signifying a relaxing of American baseball mores.

“I used to get a lot more comments like ‘that guy needs a 95-mile-an-hour fastball to the head,’” said Kurtz, who now lives in Seoul, where his wife is a military physician.

“Well, you still have those,” he added, laughing. “They’re called St. Louis Cardinals fans.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/sports/baseball/bat-flipping-draws-shrugs-in-south-korea-but-scorn-in-america.html

somehow, bryce harper went 0 for 0 with four walks, four runs and an RBI - first dude since 1914 to do so? weird shit

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/elvis-andrus-steals-home-padres-souls/

i didn't realize there were two strikes and two outs when this happened!

d-backs rookie pitcher is imploding in chicago ;_;

Chicago teams scored a combined 26 points today.

POINTS?

Think he meant to post that on the quidditch thread.

goddamn, kevin quackenbush really does have a face that lives up to his name

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/148055820

Major League Baseball on Tuesday released its tentative 2016 regular-season schedule, starting with the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game on April 3 with a matchup to be announced, and then featuring 13 games on the first convergence of Opening Day and Square Root Day (stop...): April 4, 2016.

...For math buffs (?), it will be the first meeting of Opening Day and Square Root Day (STOP...), as the 1916 season started on April 12. The last time Square Root Day (seriously? STOP) occurred during a baseball season was on Sept. 9, 1981, when it was first acknowledged and celebrated by a California high school teacher, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series the next month. The Yankees were the last to win a World Series during a year in which there was a Square Root Day (OMFG STOP IT. STOP IT.) (March 3, 2009).

i have an idea to make this article about the 2016 schedule more fun...i'll keep mentioning square root day!!

that guy is a classic -- can always be counted on for annual pieces like 'truck day' and 'spring training is a renewal of the american spirit' and 'the falling leaves, the chill in the air, the world series' etc etc

probably better than 'celebrate the anniversary of mlk's assassination with opening day baseball' tho

tbf i recall being ~pretty excited~ about square root day in 1981

STOP IT!

personally i'm waiting for the square root day on 5/5/25 because it'll be a little closer to my birthday, opening up the possibility of a square root day themed party. THEN i can finally die happy

c'mon, it was the only one between 1964 and 2000!

if yr not turning 49 or 64 i don't want to hear it nerd
xp

@darenw
Average MLB fastball velocity by year
2015: 91.72 MPH
2014: 91.43
2013: 91.35
2012: 91.16
2011: 91.07
2010: 90.83
2009: 90.81
2008: 90.48

"no one has ever said good luck and meant it. ever."

- tim mccarver

he also says he shared this theory with joe maddon earlier today, and maddon agreed.

http://i.imgur.com/jewzbxJ.gif

Percentage of total MLB pitches 95 MPH+ since 2008:

2015 9%
2014 6.9%
2013 6.4%
2012 5.6%
2011 5.2%
2010 5.5%
2009 5.4%
2008 4.8%

ruben amaro finally got the axe.

Brantley! Tribe wins this and they're 4 behind Texas.

this Tiger pitcher Hardy looks like R W Fassbinder.

indians' odds of making the playoffs were better than the nationals' even before tonight's win

this Tiger pitcher Hardy looks like R W Fassbinder.

YES. I have made this comparison in conversation and received blank stares.

the hbo will ferrell thing was p good/funny

strasburg with 1 hit over 8 innings, 14 strikeouts and a walk, game score of 93

thank godz Metsies dont hafta worry bout him I THINK

58 players (24 of them pitchers) used in last night's 16-inning, 5:23 game at dodger stadium

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2015_09_15_colmlb_lanmlb_1&partnerId=LR_box#game=2015_09_15_colmlb_lanmlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup

22 pitching changes. sounds like an exciting game!!!

back to back boners by Arrieta and Marte

some craaazy plays in this Pit-Cubs game

Maddon should really know when Arrieta is gassed

and on it goes... if this was the WC game, it wd be a klassik

Rainer Blaine Werner Hardy Fassbinder

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPEYCQzUYAAItek.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPEYCV3UkAA8Smm.png

@scottwthurston
@keithlaw Here's my argument - once a runner is out, why is he allowed to impact a play at all?

this is a good question

NL Central now has the 3 best records in MLB

chicago is going to have the best record in MLB in 2016

even if they do a Baez-Harvey trade with the Mets?

Ha, is that rumored? I haven't been paying attention. I guess everybody is pretty mad at the Harvster.

(Cubs should jump on that trade if it's real!)

it is my own rumor, but there has been chatter for months that the Mets' 'excess pitching' will ultimately match up with a Cubs deal.

Dirk Hayhurst:

During my playing days, a reporter once gave me this hypothetical choice: Would I rather have a three-year-long career in the big leagues, breaking records and leaving my mark on the game, only for my arm to explode and never play again at the end of it? Or would I take an average career lasting ten healthy but yawningly mediocre years, which would undoubtedly disappear into the annals of history?

I opted for ten mediocre years. To me, it was a no-brainer. The reporter, meanwhile, shook his head in disgust and told me I was playing for the wrong reasons.

To verify I'd not missed some transcendent baseball truth about athletic glory, I put that same question to my teammates: Short and exceptional? Or long, healthy, and utterly forgettable?

They chose healthy and forgettable. Every. Single. Time.

Ten years in the big leagues gets you a full pension and a life-changing contract, maybe two. It puts you on ten teams, with ten chances for post-season bonuses. It's ten years of big league jets rides to five-star hotels in major cities with top-tier groupies. Ten years of living the dream you hatched when you were a kid. Best of all, when you retire—in your thirties—you're set for life and you can still shampoo your head with your throwing arm!

...Regardless of how this plays out, my advice to Harvey is simple: even a long career is a finite experience, so do what's best for you health, and give fuck-all about what it does to your reputation.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/matt-harveys-health-is-more-important-than-the-mets

They talked differently when a World Series bonus was equal to an entire season's salary for a young player.

Gary Cohen in the Mets booth finds the results of the Hayhurst Hypothetical "troubling, as a fan."

peeling back the mystery always upsets fans

Ron Darling of course insists that his entire generation of players would have answered the question differently

it's in #literally no one's interest to explore ballplayers' motivations too closely

i like hayhurst and he's not wrong, but no one wants to hear it. he'd have been better off working from the inside

last week on the BP podcast, Sam Miller casually mentioned player's interest in the team destiny as "4%"

http://i.imgur.com/PSFXqbE.png

ffs

ooooof.

If we make it through September,
Everything's gonna be alright I know

as of right now:

‏@MLB
So … what do we all think of the wave at baseball games?

44%
It's great!
56%
It’s an atrocity.

mat, and presumably cat, latos have been released by the dodgers

@BenLindbergh Sep 24
I was wondering how MLB enforces its ban on Wi-Fi use with the iPads that are newly allowed in the dugout. According to an MLB spokesman.... Wi-Fi-free iPads are "loaded and delivered to the Club before each game by an MLB rep" and are in "an easily identifiable locked case."

hudson v zito 2day

and some games that mean something

Still odd to see single-digit jerseys on pitchers.

zito and hudson both pitched like shit lol

vogelsong was even worse

(not that it matters to SF, they're all getting ready for next year's WS run as per The Agreement)

showed up at SF-exile bar in Brooklyn in home 3rd, both out of the game

worst hype since Geraldo dug up Capone's vault

on jon singleton being wise, matt dominguez and robbie grossman being foolish, and bud norris still being an asshole:

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2015/09/28/contract-works-out-for-jon-singleton-rather-than-astros

if matt williams were managing the cubs, would he start lester over arrieta in the wild card game y/n

at this rate, it is entirely in play - though not necessarily likely - that not one but both of the long-presumed AL wildcard teams (yanks, 'stros) cough up their spots. 'stros technically just did, though that could easily change

tbf yankees would prob have to lose out incl. getting swept in the final series against the orioles for this to happen, but the red sox are beating them like a rented mule, and you'd think the orioles could similarly pour it on with a little luck

speaking of bud norris being an asshole

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQKiKuFUkAAGE22.jpg

Chris Rock's "good ol' white baseballn days" rant to thread

to whom is he referring? puig can't piss off any palefaces from the DL

you know what gets me into a ballpark is watching bud norris dazzle the crowd with a masterful display of respecting baseball

not sure how many more american dollars he's gonna make after the way he's respected the game this season

as many as a 30 year old with an ERA just below 7 and a fucking ERA+ of 58 who was worth -2 wins this season can expect, so, not many

i wonder if Zito will last 2 innings v Angels tonight

hey, the Padres hired Don Orsillo! I like it.

i heard that the padres knew he'd be available before orsillo himself did

today's State of the Race

http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/10/03/team-entropy-update-al-west-al-wild-card-final-weekend

Crazy Angels-Rangers game.

@JATayler
Loss Ohlendorf

The winning pitcher in that crazy 11-10 Rangers-Angels game was Jo-Jo Reyes, who once went three years without winning a game over a record tying 28 consecutive starts.

He threw one pitch in the game. It was the first pitch he'd thrown in MLB since 2011.

Finally learned how to win.

to whom is he referring? puig can't piss off any palefaces from the DL

― slothroprhymes, Wednesday, September 30, 2015 12:55 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

puigs back btw

christian yelich 8/8 so far today. record for most hits in a DH is 9, hasn't happened since lee thomas in 1961. have to go back to 1929 for the last time it's happened in the NL.

alas, he took a walk rather than attempt to tie the record. another day in the life of our humble, selfless hero.

@jazayerli

Games of import tomorrow:

KC @ MIN
TOR @ TB
HOU @ ARI
LAA @ TEX
NYY @ BAL
CHC @ MIL
CIN @ PIT

Gametime: 3 PM EDT for all games.

Not of import (except to Shelby Miller), but rainout forces STL @ ATL doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

Jaffe:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQe3JmkWgAIRRku.png

The Rangers are burying the Angels in the 7th inning of their game, so it looks like Yankees will be on the road for the wild card game ... LOL.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQgOJ7pWEAAamzS.jpg

<3

Phillies vs Marlins ... the garbagiest of garbage game 162's ... and Ichiro came in to pitch just for the hell of it, in what might be the final game of his career.

haha xpost

did better than buehrle

and the Mets got their 90th win! big momentum for Friday

Colorado vs SF ... Bochy is managing like it's the ASG ... trying to get his entire bullpen into the game.

@JATayler
Ichiro's fastball hit 87 mph, which is faster than the average fastball of R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Dan Haren.

The Rangers are burying the Angels in the 7th inning of their game, so it looks like Yankees will be on the road for the wild card game ...

I got confused there, the Astros are also losing, and with the Angels losing, would be the second wild card and finish one game behind the Yankees. Which means the Yankees get to face Keuchel in NY rather than the invincible Keuchel in Houston.

Ya - I would think that would be the case.

Yanks have bases loaded, down 7-3

"These guys battled all year long."

Dan Jennings will not be returning as Marlins manager

is baseball on a particularly good run lately? or is it always this good?

i dunno, it's all anecdotal and my memory is selective, but shit like The Seventh Inning and the royals overcoming 95%-plus loss probability in elimination games twice in two years and bumgarner last year and the last day of the 2011 season and the cards-rangers series that year, trout and harper and all of this year's rookies, etc. etc.

i guess the giants sweeping the tigers wasn't that interesting and the decade of yankees-red sox sure had its moments, but it just seems *crazy* recently

I can't chalk The Seventh Inning up to anything but random chaos. I mean, it was a "classic" only in entertainment and surprise; not for streamlined aesthetic beauty.

the fact that we were one game away from having four teams that had 74 or less wins in 2013 in the CSes is pretty remarkable

and even then, now it just means we have 4 teams that were sub-.500 in 2012

i'd agree that this was a pretty damn good regular season overall and most of them have been exciting this decade, although in some cases second halves have been considerably more interesting than firsts (2014) and vice versa (2011). this season didn't have that many dog days at all, imo

we also had the triple crown vs trout debate and an uncountable amount of no-hitters. seriously, the yankees not being the perrenial dominant team is one of the big reasons I became a baseball fan now and not then.

also bat flips became a thing, no?

i'd kind of wandered away from baseball for awhile in favor of the nfl (as a cubs fan, i think this started with the '03 meltdown and subsequent dusty baking of that team.) but i don't watch the nfl anymore because the culture around it is so gross and i can't look past the CTE stuff anymore, and there are so many great young players (half a dozen on the cubs alone!) that i came back in a big way towards the end of last season.

it's a great time to be a baseball fan, that's for sure.