2019 Rolling "Hey Chatter Chatter" chatterthread

Happy Opening Day!

Anyone else gonna be watching?

god, i wish. i watched a ton of baseball the last 2 years, "working" from home. now, as a working 9-5 stiff, i am pissed that opening day is entirely made up of afternoon games on a thursday

Oh shoot, I meant season opener. This season is scheduled to begin on the EXOTIC island nation of Japon in a mere 3 hours. ESPN/MLB.TV will be airing it live.

oh dang, i forgot about that!

i will be missing it, unless this night goes even more toward the gutter than it already has

but i hope ichiro does well.

and also...that reminds me - is he going to retire after this opening series?

i haven't heard that from anywhere, but it just kind of makes sense

I would imagine so. He only played a handful of games last season.

next time let me know when the season starts

Welp doc, it's definitely not a pitcher's duel lol.

ESPN crew pronouncing Haniger's name incorrectly.

There were crazy amount of homers in this game.

Tokyo Dome has very similar dimensions to Tropicana Field that has normalized air pressure system making it a slight hitter's park with a tendency to produce more homers than the average NPB stadium.

I just lurk here but I'm really happy baseball's back.

Have we talked about the Wander Franco brothers yet? Three brothers who share the same name, all currently playing in the minors:

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=677551#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=645566#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=622568#/career/R/hitting/2019/ALL

the one with the rays did some very impressive things in the appy league last year

Ryne Harper turns 30 on Wednesday. This was the first big-league camp of his career. He made it to the big leagues with Seattle for 3 days in 2017 but never played. Was up in Boston and Denver. Rocco Baldelli was very happy to inform him about 40 minutes ago.

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) March 25, 2019

Teams that enter the 2019 season with faith and hope: Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Indians, Twins, Astros, Athletics, Angels, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Braves, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres, Diamondbacks

Teams that enter 2019 without faith and hope: Blue Jays, Orioles, White Sox, Tigers, Royals, Rangers, Mariners, Marlins, Giants

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/mlb-faith-and-hope-report-2019.html

seems over-positive

i can see why the reds and padres are optimistic, but i don't think they're really going to contend. nor do i have much faith/hope in the angels/pirates/diamondbacks

I can confirm that, at the team level, we have little faith and less hope.

i think the padres have a chance of contending if all of their young hotshot players are good sooner than expected. the reds should be feeling better about the direction they're moving in but it doesn't seem likely that they're going to be the team to win the NL central. i agree about the angels, pirates, and diamondbacks.

Source: Fernando Tatis Jr. will be on the Padres’ Opening Day roster. If any GM was going to do something like this, A.J. Preller seemed like the one.

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) March 27, 2019

padres are gonna be v. interesting! i am excited to see chris paddack, who has a) *very* little experience b) absolutely *insane* numbers

in 177.2 minor league innings he's had 230 K, 20 BB, .805 WHIP; this spring training it was 20 K and 2 BB in 12.2 IP

The White Sox confirmed Tuesday what a $43 million contract seemed to signal: Eloy Jimenez will begin the season in the major leagues.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-spt-white-sox-eloy-jimenez-opening-day-roster-20190326-story.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUeIQ92Azn4

angels' opening day left fielder is apparently . . . peter bourjos. he is .229/.284/.372 over the last four seasons

padres made a waiver claim on (former d-backs) outfielder socrates brito; they don't actually need another outfielder and it is being surmised that they claimed him just to fuck over the d-backs' depth after souza's injury

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2wzdKHX0AAVGfs.jpg:small

i enjoyed these, especially the jim thome one

http://youtu.be/MEjD17Q7stA

6 HRs in Brewers/Cards so far, including one by Jhoulys Chacin (lmao)

who needs a DH?

you could make a solid rotation out of all the Milwaukee SPs who have hurt themselves running the bases over the last five years

lorenzo cain did the torii

that was a pretty nice opening day game

The Rangers TV crew has zero personality.

dodgers hit 8 homers on opening day. if this is van scoyoc's doing, i'm all in.

no personality would be an improvement on the pirates tv crew

Briefly had the urge to get MLB The Show 19 until I looked up what a PS4 Pro costs.

I’m really liking it. But I’ve only played about 6 hours of it.

same

did i already complain about opening day taking place during the afternoon of a weekday? sure was fun to read the boxscore of my favorite team's game after it was over

It's just hard to drop $400 + the game when I already have an XBox and only play one or two games a year.

if the Indians score more than zero runs per game this year I will be surprised

the day after opening day is always such a buzzkill

was hoping royals/white sox would get rained out yesterday so we'd have a day game today

https://www.sbnation.com/2019/3/26/18272826/indie-rock-fantasy-baseball-league-stephen-malkmus-ira-kaplan-rem

That’s really cool.

There’s a great track on The Show 19 by High Tatras. They’ve only released one EP and info on them on the internet is very scarce. I assume the band either know someone at SDS or someone there is a fan of super unknown indie music. Anyway, I can’t find the track from The Show 19 anywhere.

Seems weird to play on Thursday and then not play on a Friday night.

interesting name, interesting pitching profile

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/3/29/18286586/nick-margevicius-san-diego-padres-starter-velocity-fastball-curveball

3 HRs for goldschmidt, and hopefully a chance for 4 in the 9th. the lone out he made tonight was a screaming line drive to deep center at 108 mph EV

that's like as many HRs as he hit in the first 2 months last season.

spurred by st louis-style bagels

bagel bites?

I didn't believe it at first, but when the Padres won on opening day, it was the first time they were over .500 since June 8, 2015.

https://i.imgur.com/HtRv2rw.png?1

trevor rosenthal's return: four batters, three hits, one walk, four runs and the dreaded INF ERA

Was literally just coming here to post that. Love an ERA of infinity.

At tonight's Dodgers game, Kenta Maeda's pre-at-bat music is "Slow Down" by Lights Follow, the international theme to Terrace House.

Arizona took a beating!

lol maeda, that's awesome

This Cubs-Rangers game is wild, 10-10 in the 8th.

Ended...wildly.

E. Inciarte homered (413 ft.) to deep right. on M. Zagunis's fielding error

okay: dropped foul ball, next pitch goes over the fence. lead off HR (unearned)

Cubs w/5 errors through 4.1 innings, dang.

Chris Sale looks like he's trying to pitch through an injury...

Fastball speed is down almost 10mph

Mondesi's inside the park HR pic.twitter.com/KoLwNZ5vAn

— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) April 3, 2019

Both Bumgarner & Greinke just homered within minutes of each other.

#fucktheDH

as a Brewer fan who's watched 4 different starters lose an entire season because they got hurt running the bases, I'm gonna have to disagree

they need to learn how to hit the long ball.

clearly they need more calcium!

trevor rosenthal: not just INF but 7 x INF

3 G, 0 IP, 7 BF, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 R

even worse if you consider last year

Trevor Rosenthal has made 4 consecutive appearances in which he did not get an out and allowed at least 1 run (active streak extended today).

That's the longest streak of outings allowing at least a run without recording an out since at least 1908.

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 3, 2019

I don’t mind Braden’s commenting for the A’s but they don’t need to cut to a closeup of his face every other out.

wtf was up with this umpire...

https://streamable.com/9pylv

https://streamable.com/0zzf4

that is wild!

chris davis is 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts

...is that better than last year?

he does have four walks, so . . . maybe

since the O's have no win goals this year, do they let him duplicate 2018?

will the O's play above replacement level this year?

Davis vs. Rosenthal would be a battle for the ages

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/trevor-rosenthal-reaches-for-infinity

Ned on the fateful seventh inning: and his frustrations with the bullpen: "In a tie ballgame, you really try to refrain from walking the first four guys."

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) April 4, 2019

hahaha

Carl Edwards Jr. was told recently by the league office that his new hesitation delivery was an illegal move and he won't utilize it moving forward, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

...and he gets absolutely rocked.

Is that similar to the pause thing Stroman has been doing randomly?

tim beckham: three errors in the first inning; still nobody out

tommy pham's 40-game on-base streak is a rays franchise record

I enjoyed my first live baseball game today. It makes a fella proud to be an Astro.

wow, congrats mostly

any observations that you didn't expect beforehand?

If I am going to pay $11 a beer, there are worse ones than Hopadill. The food options are also hella better than UK stadia.

I enjoyed the national anthem more than I thought I would - a bit magical even (the first time at least) - along with the seventh inning singalongs.

I enjoyed the nervous anticipation in a bases loaded situation for the home team and the anxiety in the reverse situation more than watching on TV. Makes you realise how important some pitches are with say a 3-2 count.

I thought I would struggle to make out whether the pitch was a strike or a ball in the flesh but I generally seemed to agree with the umpire (and when I didn’t everyone else was aggrieved likewise). On that point it’s a lot more family friendly than football in Edinburgh in that I didn’t hear any swearing towards the umpire (though I did half expect that).

How many games a season would your average baseball fan go to?

Hopadillo*

Oh and thank you for whoever recommended Ball Four and I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally ( I’m on mobile and can’t easily check). Made studying the relief pitchers and guys in the bullpen a lot more interesting.

Stassi and Marisnick were dull as dishwater in the street party Q&A though and just pandered to the crowd (probably to be expected but I don’t think I learned a single thing of interest in fifteen minutes).

How many games a season would your average baseball fan go to?

This is totally anecdotal but I would guess "fewer and fewer." The increased cost of games, even bleacher seats, prevents me from going to nearly as many as I'd like—and in this regard the game is decidedly *not* family friendly.

Like I can't take my two kids to the ballpark—assuming food and drink—more than twice a year. Which blows.

Anyway I'm curious what your experience of pace-of-play was like, whether you felt the live experience felt like a slog compared to watching on tv?

depending on the year's income and the kindness of friends, i'd say I go to 7-12 MLB games a year (I have no spouse or kids)

One of the great things about ILX is something like fionnland's sharing their cross-Atlantic observations on what is normally such a radically insular board... Cheers!

Once upon a time I shared season tickets with a group of 10 friends. So 162 games in a season, half of those at home = 81 games / 10 = 8 games (2 seats). This was many moons ago when I was single and free time in abundance. Compared to last season we went to 2 games as a family (wife is a fan of the game, too soon to tell with the sprouts).

The paced, drawn-out in-game drama is indeed one of the subtle magical things about baseball that doesn't occur in other major American sport.

The last 30+ years of American foreign policy have cast the national anthem & God Bless America into some shitty greeting card pro-religious/pro-military dreck (sometimes coordinated with a military jet flyover as a reminder to our impotent baby boomers of this country's former military prowess) that I can honestly do without. Probably says more about me than anything haha.

Ball Four is an absolute classic, especially on this board (Bouton has his own thread, as does Bill Lee iirc).

ha... "Dull as dishwater" is how players are coached by their agents/PR teams to be. There's a classic film set in the baseball world currently on American Netflix named Bull Durham that in one scene addresses how being unique and individual in the game is discouraged and the ability to spout out 30 seconds of cliches strung together is the epiphany of the modern game player.

The Houston Astros are an interesting study... a team that had a recent renaissance after years of toiling in the basement of the National League's arguably weakest division, they switched to the American League and built a soon-to-be dynasty through analytics and cutting-edge information feeding their drafting/development.

Yeah, the whole national anthem thing is fucking weird, the God Bless America thing is really fucking weird, and the whole alliance with the Pentagon thing is really really fucking weird. Take me out to the ballgame is good

I think banning god bless america would be my first act as commissioner

The pace of the game - the time just flew by! I was absolutely soaking it in though and was trying not to miss a pitch in between dashes for hotdogs and beer. I like to dig in a little before holidays, so I’d watched the whole 2017 World Series before coming over and it seemed to go a lot faster than those did (not that I was expecting a Game 5 marathon). I guess I have little experience of watching regular season games to compare it to (though that will change!).

Also, if I’m suffering watching a bases loaded count with the home pitcher behind, I can only imagine how excruciating it must be for a real fan to watch some situations when the game really matters in the big games and your club hasn’t won the pennant in, well, forever.

Re: God Bless America and the military shout outs, yes they’re verging on jingoistic, but the scary thing is I could feel that there was real power there for people around me.

What I was wondering is that how much do individuals get behind the AA and AAA teams? Like do any of them consider them “their team” or is that reserved for MLB (or possibly college/ high school teams)? As magic as the Minute Maid ballpark was, I can’t help think that on a smaller scale without the advertising, the sound system, and inflated prices the live game would still be as enjoyable and perhaps more so? Much in the same way that I enjoy spending £10 a game on going to see a semi professional football team in the UK, win or lose, rather than going to see Manchester United week in week out and really wondering what I’m getting for my £70+.

I would guess maybe 10% of mlb fans know their AAA affiliate team, and maybe 2% can name a player on the AAA team

Minor league baseball, despite that, is a lot of fun!

Plenty of non-casual fans know their team's top prospects, and will often check up on those players rather than their affiliate teams.

College baseball has some following in certain areas of the country (the south). A few of those clubs fill up pretty good sized stadiums, similar size to minor leagues.

Minor league baseball does have some amenities that are long gone from the majors. Many stadiums have areas where you can picnic and bring in your own food.

Both are still fairly affordable for families I would say, but as soon as someone thinks there is a buck to make that will change.

minor league baseball teams have to sell the ~experience~ because the roster makeup is out of their control and actually winning the games is secondary to player development. (this is unusual, but for instance every once in a while a pitcher will be told 'you can only use your fastball and changeup; no other breaking balls')

that said, round rock (the astros' triple-a club) currently features starter forrest whitley and outfielder kyle tucker, both of whom are like top-10 prospects, so it's a particularly good time to visit them

Minor league teams often play in secondary markets which can still be very large American cities (Portland OR, Las Vegas, San Jose CA, Charlotte NC to name a few) so the draw can rival or even surpass the low-drawing MLB clubs.

One of the most exciting prospects on ILBaseball is Vladimir Guerrero Jr and he plays for a single-A team in Florida when he is not on the Injured Reserve list, though some around here thinks his developmental stall is part of a larger conspiracy *wiggles fingers in front of face*

But you can catch some legit proven superstars making their way off the IR list via minor league stints before going back up to the big leagues... Clayton Kershaw pitching in Oklahoma City this week is an instance of that.

I don’t know if I would call Epicenter/LoanMart Field affordable for “all” families.

Though the Quakes can draw in a big crowd. And it’s located in a small town about 50 miles east of downtown LA. California is kind of different and weird that way, I guess.

It’s hard to gauge how common it is for middle class families to attend minor league games, but my family frequently attends games at the minor and major levels. Season passes, friends play in the minor league, and of course parents are always busy with little league.

Chris Davis is that much closer to history. Fly out in the fifth makes him 0-for-his-last-42. The Orioles still don't have a hit this afternoon.

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) April 7, 2019

Counsell putting in his closer in the 7th, I like it

good lord rosenthal

HBP, two wild pitches, four-pitch walk, done. still hasn't gotten anyone out, though at least neither of these guys scored

he needs to face Davis

Benches clear in today’s Reds-Pirates game. Nothing like a little Sunday afternoon brawl. 🥊 pic.twitter.com/2Nc5Dr9iOW

— Around Da Diamond (@AroundDaDiamond) April 7, 2019

p boring until Votto let go of Puig

tbf dietrich really did watch his homer for quite a while

tb even more f, hard to blame him because it was a fucking bomb

Apparently Puig grabbed Prince in a headlock. But it’s either hard to see in that video clip or it’s not in the video?

If that’s true...man, Puig is out of control.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3mXhaLWsAIcEKK.jpg:large

My goodness.

really wacky bottom of the 2nd in pirates-cubs

kevin newman charged with 3 errors on two plays, jameson taillon takes a rizzo shot off the top of his head, jon lester hits an rbi double, javier baez gets a single by throwing the bat at the ball

(taillon seemed to be ok or i wouldn't call it wacky)

and lester may have hurt himself hitting/running/sliding?

"left hamstring tightness"

javier baez gets a single by throwing the bat at the ball

haha, really? was it a hit and run pitch that he was desperate to hit or something?

https://www.mlb.com/video/baez-s-unique-rbi-single?t=most-popular

i think it was just javy being javy

Haha. Baez's reaction is hilarious. Gotta get them where they can, I guess. Cubbies are doing so bad.

It’s really just been their pitching failing so far, right?

Which admittedly is an important part of the game of baseball

yeah the offense has been great so far, just lots of shitty pitching, both from the starters and the bullpen

Congrats Chris Davis

Karl/na, yeah, definitely agree with that

I would just like to say that Dansby Swanson has been OTM in this season.

Davis 0-5 tonight as the O's score 12

they are sending his existential torpor to Cooperstown

deGrom has the opposite of an infinite ERA--he's got a negative FIP of -0.24. Which means...he not only hasn't given up any runs, he stole back part of a run from the opposition.

pirates and cubs have an off day today between game 1 and game 2 of their series. today it's sunny and 60 degrees, tomorrow will be rainy and in the high 30s. i don't get why they have these off days built into the early spring schedule if mlb doesn't provide the flexibility to move games around based on weather forecasts.

Agreed, but the club's #1 objective is still to sell stadium seats and 40,000 people can't reschedule their social & professional lives based on the whimsy of a forecast.

(my solution: pad the off-days toward the end of the series?)

Shorten the season by 10 games, schedule a couple doubleheaders and start the season next week.

people like being at 'opening day', so pretty much every non-dome/california home opener has an an off day behind it. if the first attempt is rained out, they will honor those tickets on the next day

it does lead to weird things like a lot of teams being idle these last two fridays, which should be good attendance nights

tomorrow's game will be rained out so people will have to reschedule their lives anyways

archer: five-game suspension
puig: two-game suspension

(david bell: one game)

alex cora and charlie montoyo: first time puerto rican-born managers have faced each other

nationals are addressing their bullpen woes by signing . . . bud norris

-1.4 bWAR over the last four seasons

Hamilton scores from 2nd on a sac fly:

Developing story: Billy Hamilton is fast.#AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/ChezuiAvOB

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 10, 2019

The Athletics are reportedly close to signing Edwin Jackson to a minor league deal.

Has he been on the A’s before? Because if so, that’s not allowed for Edwin Jackson

started 17 games for them last year, and was effective!

That’s great but he should really find a new team

ozzie albies extended, for what seems like not very much (7 years, $35m, two option years)

and the two option years are only at $7m each

fire your agent, ozhaino

seriously, wtf

@jjcoop36
I can also no longer rationalize a world where Randall Grichuk's contract extension is for less years and more money than Ozzie Albies.

It's typical that agents criticize competitors' deals. But I've now heard from executives, players, analytics people, development side and scouts who are saying the same thing: The Ozzie Albies extension might be the worst contract ever for a player. And this is not hyperbole.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 11, 2019

I went to Cot's Baseball Contracts and Ozzie doesn't have an agent listed, so I don't know who to be mad at.

wouldn't he have made more money through the arbitration process, even? holy shit that's bad

saw someone saying that if you're an agent and your client (or his family) insists on signing a deal like this, the only honorable thing to do is resign

also that, as we know from things like david wright's contract, the teams hedge on deals by taking out insurance -- and maybe that's something the union should do for its young members, on the other side, as they await arbitration and free agency

if the going rate is still ~9M/WAR, then he will "earn" the entire $35 million with one year similar to his 2018.

Jose Ramirez is this year's Paul Goldschmidt.

Khris Davis: has anyone ever had 9 HR by April 11?

can't find that: April record is 14

the wind is blowing out at wrigley

i was at the game today and the two contreras HRs out of the park and the rizzo HR to the top of the bleachers were all pretty impressive

10th for Davis, April 12th. Some comparisons:

Bonds, 2001 - 2
McGwire, 1998 - 4 (hit three the next day)
Sosa, 1998 - 2

Maris and Ruth started their seasons much later--they had 1 between them.

Khris Davis isn't good enough for me to want to root for him to break a major record. (Excuse tortured syntax.) And probably not good enough to sustain this anyway, I don't think. If he challenges .247 again, that I'd get caught up in.

otm. also he probably doesn't have many games left against the orioles

yeah Davis is an edge case, he opened the season a week before the rest of league for what should have been exhibition games in Tokyo.

the other Chris Davis pinch-hit in the 9th tonight and lined out to end it.

Rox at Giants is going to the 14th, and I swear a shot of the scoreboard just now included its message "GAYLORD PERRY IS LEAVING AT 11:30"

16th, and we have Weird Baseball (midnight local time)

Morning update: giants win, 3-2 in 18 innings

cue Ernie Banks saying “let’s play two!”

It was a fireworks night as well, much to the surprise of folks in the neighborhood around 2am.

real pitchers duel in the bronx today between . . . cc and ivan nova

Mets-Braves is about 1:10 in and it's the bottom of the 2nd.

Mets' RS/RA (88/83) is nearly identical to the notorious Cubs (86/83) despite the disparity in W-L.

the rockies are batting .203/.263/.313 as a team and have hit the same number of homers as cody bellinger

That long-fabled Corey Kluber collapse may be upon us...then again he does usually struggle in April

daniel palka is hot on chris davis’ heels: 0-for-28 with 13 K

ouch ouch ouch

Yu Darvish throws the most devastating fastball of his career. pic.twitter.com/sicvVLhnUL

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 16, 2019

That was definitely faster than the ball that hit Bellinger. But Bellinger’s hit still felt nastier.

Did Bellinger's also ricochet off the catcher and the ump, leaving a trail of buckled-over wincing men?

It’s scarier, for sure. The actual impact to
Brinson doesn’t look as painful, though.

Cody Bellinger gets drilled in the knee. That didn't look too good #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/65ehdDXzWn

— Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken) April 16, 2019

KM: What's "whoosh" in ILX-speak?

xxp is notable as Albert says for taking out 3 (!) ppl!

I was reacting to the “ouch.” Definitely notable for other reasons that I didn’t touch on, though.

i kind of forgot that keuchel and kimbrel are both still free agents

it's shameful, tbh

tim anderson is in trouble for calling the (white) pitcher who plunked him a ‘weak-ass fucking n_____’

i’m sure this will go well

Bat flip of the year goes to #WhiteSox Tim Anderson . pic.twitter.com/VLgWx2R3IG

— Sports Freakshow ⚽🏈🏉🏀⚾🏏 (@aussiebeastmode) April 18, 2019

he flipped his bat, too. unwritten rules aside, it was dumb for keller to throw a pitch at him

everyone got what they deserved i think:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/white-sox-tim-anderson-renteria-suspended-one-game-royals-p-keller-gets-5/

i have to say baseball has some questionable unwritten rules in general, though

Look up Bour double-play in angels-mariners 8th inning. Sheer wtf, better to watch than me try and describe

I'm in favor of bat flipping AND beaning

justin bour is having a tough week (see the second video clip from an earlier game with the cubs, as well):

https://deadspin.com/angels-justin-bour-gave-up-an-embarrassing-double-play-1834187688

through 20 games, tatis jr is batting .296/.370/.606, 154 wRC+

he's going to be amazing... reminds me of manny machado or younger hanley ramirez just physically

that bour clip is brutal

😬 pic.twitter.com/SzaTYe8mqB

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 20, 2019

dee actually orchestrated all of that, which is pretty cool

Why didn't they call infield fly? I'm confused

infield fly is only with first-and-second or bases loaded

no respect for ausmus not immediately benching bour

otoh he already had bourjos (.086/.108/.114) and cozart (.096/.143/.115) in the starting lineup so i guess there weren't too many options

I also thought the infield fly rule only had to do with first base being occupied.

right, makes sense, because if the player runs as they are supposed to, you still only get one out

yelich nearly hit the perfect homer today

it went 421 feet off a 69 mph pitch

Fernando Rodney tied Cy Young's games total tonight--I know; that's like saying Ed Sheeran matched Chuck Berry's bowling score--prompting me to look at his career box for maybe the first time ever. He's really had some high-save/mediocre-or-worse-everything-else years, hasn't he? He might be the only 300-save guy with a true outlier season on his resume (2012, half his career WAR).

I enjoy watching Yelich at bat, don't get me wrong, but Belli is on a whole other level

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/4/22/18510708/cody-bellinger-christian-yelich-los-angeles-dodgers-milwaukee-brewers-mvp

Folks, allow me to free your minds. Yelich, while exceptional, is NOT the best player this season. That honor belongs to Cody Bellinger. Here are some of his otherworldly numbers in bullet-point format, just as Provenzano dubiously presented those of Yelich:

• .424 batting average
• .500 on-base percentage
• .882 slugging percentage
• .552 wOBA
• 255 wRC+
• 2.3 fWAR

All of these stats are not only better than Yelich’s, they’re better than everyone else’s in the National League. While the disgraced Provenzano wasn’t wrong when he described Yelich’s 222 wRC+ as Ruthian, Bellinger’s 255 wRC+ goes far beyond The Babe. The single season record for wRC+ is 244 set by Barry Bonds in 2002. This makes Bellinger’s start to the season, uh, super-Ruthian? Mega-Bondsish? Trout-in-rookie-ball-like? Whatever, it’s crazy good.

Bellinger's 2.7 bWAR in 23 games projects to 19 over 162

i might want to take a mulligan on the Judge vs Bellinger debate from a couple years ago.

I've been waiting for the right moment to revisit the raised eyebrows I got when I suggested Bellinger was clearly the better bet. (In other words, I'm skeptical the leap he's taken is for real. The weird thing is, I said all that before I'd actually seen him play; I don't think I would have after watching him the last couple of World Series. In the abstract, though, the idea that a 21-year-old has significantly more growth potential than a 25-year-old is an absolutely fundamental tenet of the early Abstracts.)

"I'm skeptical the leap he's taken is for real"--just to clarify, that doesn't mean I'm skeptical that he'll hit .400 with 75 HR. I mean I'm skeptical that, by the end of the season, he's one of the, I don't know, five or six best hitters in the game? He just looked so unimpressive to me those two WS...I don't even mean his batting line, which was abysmal, but his swing and everything else.

i think going forward Bellinger is probably now the better bet. Judge's injuries are a little concerning for the long term and his stats the past couple of years are really outstanding but not McGwirean like his rookie year was. They were more....pre-MVP Stantonian.

Wouldn't be remotely shocked if his 2017 bests any season Bellinger has in the future, though this year could make me look foolish.

Bellinger is completely overperforming his projections (STEAMR/ZIPS/PECOTA/etc.) so I can imagine he is due for a hard regression at some point. It is nice to ride his hot bat in one of my fantasy leagues though... speaking of, most drafts he went middle of the 5th Round or around 60th overall. Will most definitely trade him at some point, will look for the beginnings of a slump, then dump.

Coming into yesterday's game, Braves pitchers were
- 1st in BB/9 by 0.54 (similar distance as 2nd to 11th)
- 29th in K/BB
- 1st in BB% by 1.3% (same distance as 2nd to 14th)
- 27th in K-BB%
And then they walked 9 more last night.

pretty impressive pitch framing here

This is so so so good. Francisco Cervelli frames a pitch that he doesn't catch, gets the strike call as the ball rolls to the backstop, and immediately asks the ump for a new one. pic.twitter.com/iZ3Z3CWEkK

— Ben Porter (@Ben13Porter) April 18, 2019

ha the ad on the backstop is perfect

lol, that's fantastic all around (including the ad)

gio back to the brewers

wait, he was unsigned

he had a minor league deal with the yanks, made a couple triple-a starts, and opted out a couple days ago when they would not add him to the 25-man

chris paddack for RoY

a bit irritated that ESPN went with the "Gio signs with pitching-thin Brewers". We are not low on pitchers, they just are all bad

Cory Kluber walking in a run with bases loaded:
2010-2018: 0 times
1st month of 2019: 4 times

Bellinger has a decent shot to reach 100 TB by the end of the month (12 more in 4 games).

check out these stats

.343/.378/.686
wRC+ of 180

pretty good, right?

guess what

that's Chris Davis since 4/13

damn

yeah, i'm already regretting making him my reverse fantasy 1B pick

but almost everyone else did too

I don’t see it lasting.

so happy for CC.

lol watching him have to hug every one of these dozen teammates he's spent all of three weeks playing with

CC Sabathia career strikeouts

#1 Mike Kinkade
#1,000 Ichiro Suzuki
#2,000 Torii Hunter
#3,000 John Ryan Murphy

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) May 1, 2019

Bellinger's April:

Most home runs ever (tied): 14
Most RBI: 37
Most hits: 44
Most TB: 96

Cody Bellinger is batting .434 with 14 HRs and 37 RBIs over 30 games this year. No other @MLB player ever reached all three of those triple-crown levels through his first 30 games of a season.

— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) April 30, 2019

Headed for a major slump, I'm sure, but he's probably done enough already to ensure a big season.

I know that it's a Wednesday afternoon during the school year in a city that doesn't draw well against a team that doesn't attract a road crowd. But I've never seen so few people at a major league game as the one just starting now between Kansas City and Tampa Bay. pic.twitter.com/z3QUdfdWiT

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 1, 2019

https://expo.masslive.com/sports/g66l-2019/01/49a5d04a748757/boston-red-sox-white-house-trip-which-red-sox-will-attend-visit-with-president-donald-trump.html

spoiler alert, every white player is going and every black or hispanic player is not going or is undecided, with the exception of jd martinez

xp jumbotron still gonna say the attendance was 20,000 or some shit

re: that Passan twit's tweet, it was a makeup game that got moved an hour earlier with <24 hours notice.

that's a heckler's dream right there

Stephen Strasburg just struck out the 1,500th batter of his career. He is the fastest pitcher in MLB history to do so by innings (1,272 1/3).

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) May 2, 2019

Chris Sale, LHP
WILL ATTEND
"Yes. I would be there. I think it would be cool going to the White House. Most popular house in the country." (Jan. 19)

After the latest UZR update, Cody Bellinger's March/April WAR is, for now, the highest on record in a calendar "month" at FanGraphs, back to 2002:

Bellinger, Apr '19: 3.24
Berkman, May '08: 3.12
Winn, Sept '05: 3.02
Bonds, Aug '02: 3.00
Bonds, Apr '04: 2.83
Trout, July '12: 2.83

— Ben Lindbergh (@BenLindbergh) May 2, 2019

Hell of a cherry pick, kudos:

Dodgers March/April 2019 # of games: 32
Astros May 2008 # of games: 28
Giants August 2002 # of games: 26
Giants April 2004 # of games: 24
Giants September/October* 2005 # of games: 30
Angels July 2012 # of games: 26

*2 games in Oct: wow cool, another arbitrary "month" not disclosed in cherry-picked stat category

Doing some maths 4U:

WAR/# available games to play per "month"

Bellinger '19: 3.24/32 = .10125
Berkman '08: 3.12/28 = .11143
Winn '05: 3.02/30 = .10067
Bonds '02: 3.00/26 = .11538
Bonds '04: 2.83/24 = .11792
Trout '12: 2.83/26 = .10885

Bellinger probably falls out of the top 10/20?

prob taking that tweet a leetle too seriously

....randy winn?

yes, for the Giants

I'm old enough to remember when you would roll your eyes at arbitrary time-bucketed stats! (and not including ones that were padded/fluffed up!)

it's called a Fun Fact

we hate fun

well, in my case only if they're no-hitters or cycles

Gausman tossed in the 2nd for throwing behind Urias (opp. SP for FLA), despite Urias' pleas to the ump to leave him in.

whoops Ureña

rip matt kemp

dang, is he still making $20 million this year?

Brewers hits last night:

Cain 1
Moustakas 1
Gamel 1
Arcia 1
Perez 1
Braun 6

bregman enjoying mexico

Michael Pineda got faaaaaaaaat

first time watching this dude, chris paddack is impressive

Curious about his innings limit, feel like he's a dark horse Cy Young candidate.

missed 2017 after TJ surgery, only threw 90 innings (a career high) in 2018

Chris Paddack, Pace of Play Enforcer. ⌛️🤠 pic.twitter.com/sll2pUuws7

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2019

this is hypnotic. when he starts moving finally there's something robotic about his motion.

missed 2017 after TJ surgery, only threw 90 innings (a career high) in 2018

― mookieproof, Tuesday, May 7, 2019 7:42 AM (thirty-nine minutes ago)

He's repped by Boras and has a stretch goal of 130-150 IP.

Just had my semi-periodic realization that Kimbrel and Keuchel are still free agents.

tommy la stella is tied for the angels team lead with eight home runs in 32 games

he came into the season having hit 10 in 396 career games

yu darvish is so frustrating

lastella was a (very good) pinch-hitting specialist in the past, maybe something about being in that role made it harder to hit home runs?

Enjoy this slo-mo video of Nolan Arenado’s snow homer. pic.twitter.com/JcirAsgyhS

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 9, 2019

la stella's launch angle is up a bit, but the biggest difference (apart from the homers) is that his strikeout rate is way down -- only 6 K in 101 PA coming into today. kinda weird. so yeah, maybe just getting regular playing time has set him free

edwin encarnacion is playing second base in a one run game right now.

can't be ideal.

How on earth?!

The Phils' TV color guy said that the Royals are "pretty aggressive on the pillows," which happens to be my personal style as well.

the merry-go-round will be in motion

morbs lol

edwin jackson headed to his 14th team!

fuck yeah

Amazingly, he's still only 34--he started at 19, so that's like moving every year.

I thought you had to be left-handed to be mediocre and last forever.

<3 throwback devil rays unis

http://binaryapi.ap.org/cdb552a1d6044873ae9f12af8d19fdb2/preview/AP19132012822938.jpg?wm=api&ver=0

vaporays

Hyun-Jun Ryu has allowed 3 bases-on-balls this year while at the plate has earned 2 bases-on-balls.

Hyun-Jin*

how is he so good right now? going into last season i thought he was supposed to be middle of the rotation arm, but over his last 23 starts he's looked more like Greg Maddux.

Report: Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías arrested on domestic violence charge

Wow, Sale struck out 17 in 7 innings tonight!

Kendry Morales to NYY

HR: La Stella (11)

yesssss

https://www.mlb.com/news/chris-davis-has-a-path-to-the-all-star-game

plz my HACKING MASS team is doomed as is

68 runs from 5 teams tonight.

On Baseball Reference, Bellinger's WAR (4.4) has surpassed his first two years (4.2 each season) in 43 games.

The MVP this year will be Yellinger.

rare lefty knuckler sighting today

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/05/blue-jays-expect-to-select-contract-of-ryan-feierabend.html

Can he hit?

fun fact: his name in German means "quitting time"!

My favourite neo-grunge song.

6th inning. Twins have scored 17 runs.

fifth 5-HR game of their year

If the Barves' bullpen can get their shit right, I see them winning the East again. Big if though.

Is this the fourth week in a row the Cubs have been on the Sunday night game or am i misremembering?

(good canadian kid) mike soroka for RoY

this is an interesting development

RHP Carter Stewart, who attended Eastern Florida State College after failing to sign with the #Braves as the No. 8 overall pick in last year’s draft, is in agreement on a contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League, sources tell The Athletic.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 21, 2019

Todd Frazier is still upset with Adam Eaton about the Adam LaRoche('s son in the 2016 White Sox clubhouse) thing?!

Christ, who knows and who cares

need to get brett lawrie's take on this

Look. Let's be clear. At the end of the day, it is what it is.

O's have allowed 100 HR in 48 games

afaict the MLB record for a full season is 258 by the 2016 Reds, so they’re on pace to just ever so slightly beat that

They can do it, piece o' cake. I'm rooting for them.

nationals bullpen now has a 6.56 ERA

that nationals pen looked like a garbage fire the other night against the cubs.

fun with stats

OK! Here's a new thing at Baseball Savant.

We get lots of ? about pitch movement, so now there are leaderboards. Here, for example, are 4-seams, most rise added: https://t.co/4hrqH28sym

Pitch movement #s have been around forever at BB/FG/etc. What make these different are.. pic.twitter.com/Jf7K6Fj5RN

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 21, 2019

Rich Hill is not a fan of the shift. pic.twitter.com/0SKcXdMkTX

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 23, 2019

so good

honestly I think I enjoy shift-beating bunts more than anything in the game right now

dan straily: 34.2 IP, 18 K, 17 BB, 14 HR

i mean what do you even say to the guy except 'we're the orioles, so we're gonna run you out there again in five days'

honestly I think I enjoy shift-beating bunts more than anything in the game right now

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, May 22, 2019 9:23 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. home runs are over, shift-beating bunts are where it's at.

dan straily: 34.2 IP, 18 K, 17 BB, 14 HR

i mean what do you even say to the guy except 'we're the orioles, so we're gonna run you out there again in five days'

― mookieproof, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 10:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark

it's crazy how both this and the cobb signing were deeply shitty in the exact same way.... minus the giant contract in straily's case

tbf alex cobb was pretty good before the TJ surgery. dan straily . . . had a nice season in the minors in 2012

if you can bunt for a single AND cause the opposing pitcher to stroke out then yeah, its almost better than a home run

"Polanco with a big lead at 3rd"

File this under ‘things you can only see in baseball in 2019.' pic.twitter.com/1BDHk81yyw

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 22, 2019

Nats should experiment with 0-man bullpen

Matt Harvey is having a pretty bad day.

Worse now.

yay, one of my 2 HACKING MASS pitchers

i hope bad enough to stay high on the board when they cut him

feel like there's a chance that was his last major league start ever

If my math is right, the Twins have hit 98 HR in 49 games.

WHATEVER IT TAKES 😱 pic.twitter.com/mlKxPwqfQM

— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 23, 2019

ouch

seems like they kind of panicked there, just a bit

lefty knuckleballer dfa'd ;_;

xp: that 1B with the sliding throw was totally unnecessary, dude had already scored.

Subjective observation that may or may not be true: I don't ever remember so many teams, day in and day out, scoring 10+ runs a game. It feels like three or four teams do it every day. Are runs historically high this year, or am I just fixating on a few games?

Up a fifth of a run from last year, identical to 2017, half a run lower than PED peak. So no. Maybe it's a distribution thing.

i am willing to believe that because, especially in the AL, we have some really good teams and some disastrously awful ones, that there are more blowouts than usual. but i have no data for it

Here are run totals of 10+ the last couple of weeks, both leagues:

May 11: 13, 11, 12, 17
May 12: 11, 15, 10, 10
May 13: none
May 14: 11, 14, 11
May 15: 11
May 16: 11, 17, 16, 14, 10, 11
May 17: 14, 12, 10
May 18: 18
May 19: 13, 10
May 20: 12, 10, 10
May 21: 11, 10
May 22: 11, 10 (and four teams score 9)
May 23: 14, 16
May 24: 12, 10, 10, 11, 18
May 25: 19 (so far--thanks, Jays)

That can't possibly be normal.

there probably aren't that many pitchers who have given up a grand slam in their first big league inning, so congrats to mitch keller for joining an elite group

remarkable throw by bellinger

mallex smith walks, proceeds to steal second, third, and home

Khris Davis is hitting .248 going into today.

I love this headline:

https://www.mlb.com/news/dallas-keuchel-rumors-c297610496

Kevin, the Bizarro-World Jerry on Seinfeld, was like that. "Yeah...you know, maybe I do want a one-year contract after all."

http://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/seinfeld/images/a/ab/Kevin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120907023820

Khris Davis is hitting .248 going into today.

― timellison, Tuesday, May 28, 2019 7:09 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the regression monster is coming for the .01 point

HOT TAKE: Bellinger isn't even the best player in the NL with a last name starting with those 4 letters.

bell is a great hitter this year, but he gives away half of his value in the field and he can't run

Ah yes, Christian Bellich

Bellinger has a bWAR of 5.3 which is insane

it's remarkable how he's cut his strikeout rate, especially with that big looping swing

look upon your team and despair

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/pre-draft-farm-system-rankings/

try to hit the corner low and away. good luck

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/finding-cody-bellingers-weakness

after putting up 8.4 bWAR and finishing fourth in the NL cy race last year, kyle freeland has been optioned

curse of the rockies

Josh Bell: most TB in the month of May since Willie Mays in 1958.

https://www.mlb.com/news/josh-bell-finishes-record-breaking-may

If the Barves' bullpen can get their shit right, I see them winning the East again. Big if though.

― WmC, Sunday, May 19, 2019 10:27 AM (one week ago)

pssssshht

.@La_Mole_13 has the pop and the pipes! @Padres | #FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/YUH5CzhfPs

— FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) June 1, 2019

Neat picture with where 'the catch' was made at the Polo Grounds now.

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/61438892_10161990837575717_6900159110449201152_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_oc=AQngRI3oiPPl9Tx1FAqvs9Wb1TIY7O1r47aUDuqI9n4mejlgHRc85YLpAyczoKcFtLnwO8VVMO6X6Y0jcTMNGgGW&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=1a96db3183bdcbaf9d528958275ef11a&oe=5D99B168

lmao watch the video

https://deadspin.com/brewers-utility-man-hernan-perez-pitches-delightful-yo-1835258850

Haaaa

On Tuesday, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand that the Yankees and Braves had emerged as frontrunners for Keuchel, with offers in the same ballpark. Soon after, however, a second source told Feinsand that the Yankees appear to be the true favorites, with Atlanta part of a second tier of suitors, including the Twins and possibly the Cardinals.

https://www.mlb.com/news/dallas-keuchel-rumors-c297610496

Jay Bruce is pretty locked in I think

icymi Yaz's grandson is starting in the SF outfield

The graphic showing the defensive alignment — from the Giants broadcast — left the z out of his name, fucking shameful.

Sales' Game Score was 93 last night (CG shutout, 3 H, 12 K, 0 BB, immaculate 8th).

Only his 2nd win of the season if you can believe that.

max kepler > trevor bauer

Keuchel to Barves

Sources: #Mariners calling up RHP Tayler Scott, who will become first South African native to pitch in majors (Gift Ngoepe became first position player in 2017). Since 5/1, Scott has 1.83 in 19 2/3 relief innings at AAA. Parents on plane from South Africa to see him in Anaheim.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 7, 2019

Jose Ramirez has a .200/.297/.300 line going right now, which is even more alarming when you consider he completely fell off a cliff to finish up 2018 after arguably being the front runner for MVP for the portion of the season leading up to that precipice.

Lucas Gioloto for AL CY.

Giolito*

Odd to hear broadcasters say "Yastrzemski" in reference to an active player.

I feel like I'm in an adulterous relationship with basketball right now.

Going by the blue jays’ social media profiles - it’s a three way. Even the guy who literally just signed (Manoah) is all aboard the bandwagon.

White Sox seem to be doing a bit better than expected. While there is obviously room for collapse, most people had them picked for 100 losses and right now they are pretty middling at 30-33.

I guess someone has to pickup wins from all those clubs in the AL that seem to be tanking on purpose.

looool madbum

That was like the most innocent pimp job too. Barely took one step to admire it. Madbum just gotta keep his nickname relevant and the Dodgers rivalry alive.

Go Get It Out Of The Ocean #LABleedsBlue⁠

🔥👕 available only at:https://t.co/pAgcUGOUs7 pic.twitter.com/fAuMxkd091

— RotoWear (@RotoWear) June 9, 2019

This is close to making sense. But...if he doesn't want him to watch the ball...how will getting it out of the ocean...stop him from watching it?

is that an MB quote from today?

Muncy to MadBum on HR: 'Get it out of the ocean'

https://www.mlb.com/news/walker-buehler-gets-win-over-madison-bumgarner

oh, it makes no sense at all. still good tho

big papi shot

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26937958/david-ortiz-shot-wounded-dr-father-says

Holy shit. Through the stomach and back.

Madbum <3

MadBum reflects on his back-and-forth with Muncy pic.twitter.com/xt5YjzEQGm

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 10, 2019

According to Leo López, who works as David Ortiz’s assistant and press representative, his last surgery ended at 3:30am and he’ll remain in intensive care for the next 24 hours. López said doctors had to remove Ortiz’s gallbladder and control bleeding from his liver and bowel.

— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) June 10, 2019

that looked like a hit. vid of the shooting is out there – as are many vids of the shooter getting the shit kicked out of him. this is crazy.

it's pretty insane, i'm glad he's gonna be okay. the suspect was allegedly involved in the drug business, which makes me wonder if Papi's been outspoken against the drug trade down there in a way that would make him a target. or if this was a case of really unfortunate mistaken identity, which seems very unlikely.

my guess was that someone decided to shake the guy down at some point and Ortiz wouldn't pay. (total stab in the dark)

the video of the shooting is very odd. i can't imagine that it was contractual/professional bcuz papi quite easily could've been killed by a better or... more motivated shooter? the guy could've just walked up and shot him in the head or shot him more than once in the torso etc... i find the whole thing pretty puzzling. you guys are better ppl than me too bcuz my first thought is that he's secretly got his hands in drugs or w/e... my mind went to that recent hanley ramirez scandal

secretly got his hands in drugs

secret until that 2003 test

J0rdan otm id think if you wanted to kill a dude with one shot you’d definitely not aim for the lower back.

Joe Musgrove and Josh Donaldson compare Travis Bickle impersonations, benches empty but it's just shoving, both players get tossed, Clint Hurdle rightfully loses his mind.

god bless clint hurdle for still caring

hahahaha

It's kinda like Bjorn Borg as Rambo.

https://images.thestar.com/N378CO_xMdoU0f6-fbco7746WQI=/1200x856/smart/filters:cb(1550666780362)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/baseball/2019/02/19/donaldson-at-home-in-atlanta-back-with-purpose/donaldson_bat.jpg

how about those . . . rangers

I can no longer tell which teams are good. In the AL there are a handful of super teams dominating a bunch of teams that are tanking. In the NL, only the dodgers have a winning % above .567, but I think that’s because the overall quality of competition is higher.

HOU/MIN/NYY/TB appear to be locks in the AL, leaving BOS/CLE to fight for the second wild card. fangraphs, at least, gives no one else over 8% to make it despite BOS/CLE's underwhelming performances so far

so yeah, only four good teams, and just as many putrid ones

so is Texas any good, or are they just one of the few truly mediocre teams in the middle, benefiting from some extremely weak competition? i'm assuming mostly the latter

Houston & Yanks both scare me because they will be at full strength in the 2nd half and they've done way above expectations fielding lineups that are blowing away expectations.

also, they can afford to add elite players during the trade deadline

Indians have lost four starters in their pitching rotation and their bats have been missed in this lineup.

i don't know what the astros need. yordan alvarez isn't even their top outfield prospect

(i guess everyone needs more relievers for the playoffs, but they already have a good pen, as do the yankees of course)

whole lotta intentional HBP nonsense in this cubs-rockies series

Early ROY hopeful Chris Paddack sent to local-A affiliate after getting roughed up in 4 out of last 5 starts.

Alonso ftw

i like the paddack move, he's been flailing and this lets them deal with some of the innings restrictions in the middle of the season instead of at the end

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26958816/cops-suspect-ortiz-shooting-was-offered-78k

Six suspects, including the alleged gunman, have been detained in the shooting of former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz, the Dominican Republic's chief prosecutor said Wednesday.

Other suspects also were being pursued in the shooting, which witnesses said was carried out by two men on a motorcycle and two other groups of people in cars.

"At this moment, they are being interrogated, and we will continue deepening the investigation to get to the truth about what happened," chief prosecutor Jean Alain Rodriguez said.

"Nobody involved in this lamentable episode will remain in impunity, not even the material or intellectual author" of the crime, he said.

Authorities have declined to give a motive for the shooting at a popular Santo Domingo bar Sunday night.

Among the suspects in custody is the alleged shooter, identified by authorities as Rolfy Ferreyra, aka Sandy.

Police Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte said the alleged coordinator of the attack was offered 400,000 Dominican pesos, or about $7,800, to carry out the shooting. He said the alleged coordinator also is in custody.

Among the other suspects still at large were Luis Alfredo Rivas Clase, aka The Surgeon, as well as a woman known as The Venezuelan, or Red, and two other men, prosecutors said in a statement.

this is an extremely weird story that will maybe get weirder and it's still nowhere near the weirdest case of gun crime involving a Boston superstar athlete in recent years.

Latest bids for .400 since TW--which, except for Brett in 1980, weren't all that late.

https://www.mlb.com/news/latest-player-has-hit-400-by-season

Pete O’Brien, CLE (.260)

Yikes, talk about ice-cold:

Apr: .400/.462/.575
May: .219/.317/.400
Jun: .258/.396/.404
Jul: .277/.392/.327
Aug: .205/.255/.250
Sep: .220/.311/.297
Oct: .000/.000/.000

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — One of the suspects being sought in the shooting of former Red Sox superstar David Ortiz is believed to be the same man who's wanted by Pennsylvania authorities on a charge of attempted homicide.

Luis Rivas-Clase, 31, is charged in an April 2018 shooting in Reading. The victim, who was shot in the lower back, told authorities that Rivas-Clase threatened to have him killed a few days before the shooting, according to the Berks County sheriff's office.

this is a really inefficient m.o. imo

Dang, John Olerud through August 2nd!

2xp

If he played today, i’m positive he’d be in the hall of fame.

he was a hell of a ballplayer but it’s tough to make the hall as a 1B

xp why do you think he’d be a hall of famer if he played today? More appreciation for his skill set?

FWIW, Pujols, Cabrera, Palmeiro, Helton, Votto, McGwire, and Keith Hernandez have higher JAWS than Olerud among 1B. He's ranked higher than Giambi, Will Clark, David Ortiz, and McGriff. Pretty heavy position but he's a worthy player.

If you are not winning as much, you got to get exotic on the bobblehead promos.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5VQhWPXkAEDZXR.jpg

xp I think you guys are maybe confusing him with another guy who was also a Met, also wore a helmet in the field?

There’s a Joe Shmoe bobblehead that didn’t materialize

It probably didn’t have enough of that, EarlNash

My God, Michael Milken is still making his annual prostate-cancer tour of broadcast booths, no one pointing out he's a fucking crook.

Edwin to the damn Yanks.

The Boss would have approved.

21 hits, 17 runs and they're in the top of the third in colorado

blackmon has a chance to be the first player with 4 hits in 4 straight games since 1925. he already as 2 hits, through 3 innings

White Sox broadcast team punched in actual rim-shot fx today, like a good morning radio crew

("You never want to go to a restaurant and find out they're Ottavino")

this Rockies and Padres series has been nuts

xp I think I maybe prefer this to a pitch clock or whatever else...a little sad trombone for the booted ball, whistling wind on a swinging K

blackmon got stuck on three hits, but the 91 runs the padres + rockies scored was the most in a four-game series since 1900

wait, make that 92 i guess

Charlie Blackmon's home-road split going into today:

Home: .450/.504/.982
Away: .233/.272/.357

I don't think even Vinny Castilla and Dante Bichette were ever that extreme.

For his career he’s

home: .350/.409./591
away: .260/.313/.425

Basically rookie year Albert Pujols vs 2019 Albert Pujols.

Or to put it another away, looking at this season:

The gap between the single-season unadjusted OPS record (Bonds, 1.427) and Mario Mendoza's worst season of the four where he played semi-regularly (0.466) is 0.961.

The gap between Blackmon at home this year (1.486) and Blackmon on the road (o.629) is about 100 points less (0.857).

Charlie Blackmon this year is more or less PED-Superman Barry Bonds at home and Mario Mendoza at his worst on the road.

Justin Upton activated for the first time this season (turf toe) and is slotted at clean-up behind Trout & Otani...

forgot he was with LAA tbqh

It took Justin Upton one pitch to hit a #dinger this season. pic.twitter.com/JNvgHaqLEt

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 17, 2019

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/06/18/white-sox-to-extend-protective-netting-to-the-foul-poles/

white sox are extending the netting to the foul poles, first MLB team (but probably not the last) to do so

Am I a bad person for thinking fans should accept the risk or stay home? I like lots of souvenirs flying into the stands.

you accept the risk of foul popups dropping on your head, not screaming line drives or bats flying at u face

yeah, dead grandmas is kind of a high price

At 110 miles per hour, a spectator seated sixty feet from home plate would have just four-tenths of a second to react to a foul ball, giving even those fans paying extremely close attention to the action on the field virtually no chance of avoiding injury. Indeed, at four-tenths of a second the hypothetical fan described above would actually have less time to react than MLB batters have to avoid being hit by a 95 mile-per-hour fastball. If elite professional athletes of this caliber are often unable to get out of the way of such a fast-moving projectile, it should come as no surprise that fan injuries from foul balls have become even more common occurrences than batters being hit by a pitch in recent years.

quoted in https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-ballpark-netting-debate-is-back/

otoh, people who can afford to sit in those seats at (non-florida) major league games might well deserve a line drive in the face

some kid way down the left field line got hit in last night's cards/marlins game

Exit Velo starring Steven Seagal as a season-ticket holder

albert almora jr. hit a little girl with a foul ball during a game last month and, in addition to the obvious about it terrible for the kid, it looked like it also fucked him up pretty bad emotionally. i wandered by a tv after it happened and thought he had gotten hurt because teammates were supporting him.

I'm for netting a section or two past the end of the dugouts, but not all the way to the foul poles.

a long time ago i was nearly decapitated by a kevin mitchell line drive during batting practice at the big o -- and i was sitting well beyond third base

i mean i could have tried catching it but it was far more prudent to just get out of the way

Am I a bad person for thinking fans should accept the risk or stay home? I like lots of souvenirs flying into the stands.

― I am curious (george) (slight return) (WmC), Tuesday, June 18, 2019 4:21 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If you are I am too. It's a good thing I can't afford field level seats in those rows because I would never want to sit behind that netting.

Max Scherzer’s nose is feared to be broken, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. Scherzer, who was hit in the face with a ball while bunting during BP, is getting further tests now to see if that will be confirmed.

— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) June 18, 2019

wait did he bunt a ball into his face or did it come from elsewhere

just watched this...not sure how it's possible but he squares around like he'd never bunted before

#Disappointed #LeadByExample #NotAppreciated #Violence #TemperTantrum #Inaction #NotTolerated #MakeanExampleof #OneGameSuspension #RepeatOffender #Nonsense #MLBUA @MLB @Padres @Buster_ESPN pic.twitter.com/pkcW5O1SnB

— Major League Baseball Umpires Association (@MLBUA) June 18, 2019

not appreciated lol

*its*

c'mon blue

#onegamesuspension

seriously though what's up with this scherzer bunt attempt

yeah I mean hate to say it but...he kinda had it coming?

Nationals expect Max Scherzer to pitch tonight. He told Dave Martinez last night that he was good to go and he is expected to go through his usual routine later today when he arrives at Nats Park

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) June 19, 2019

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27011227/ortiz-shooting-case-mistaken-identity

wow everyone involved in this will be dead

wut

BREAKING: The Tampa Bay Rays have received MLB's permission to explore becoming two-city team: the Tampa Bay area and Montreal, sources tell ESPN. The plan: Play early-season home games in the Tampa Bay area and finish the season in Montreal. News at ESPN: https://t.co/X6uSt4KLfC

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 20, 2019

what the hell

just move em, dummies.

Change the name to the Snowbirds.

the Rois

What a dumb idea

i don't think it will ever happen, but if it did, the players association would be rightfully pissed off

Splitting time between the 2 cities would be an absolute nightmare as a player… Potentially moving your family/pets back-and-forth, finding pediatricians, doctors, vets, paying rent on multiple houses, even when you’re not there. No thanks.

https://t.co/pmfX5Mxuw0

— Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) June 20, 2019

yeah good luck signing free agents with that setup

The Rays, struggling to find fans even as they challenge for the division lead with an exciting young team, will motivate their fanbase by playing games in a different country during the part of the season leading up to the playoffs

as someone who very much would love to see baseball back in Montreal – i'm pretty excited for this news. not as good as a team moving there full time, but I will take it.

There are so many things wrong with that.

wanting baseball back in Montreal?

J3ff Pa55an's tweet

Great move by mlb to pressure Tampa into making a new ballpark and have another bargaining chip with the mlbpa. None of it seems to be about Montreal.

If they win the World Series do they have to play themselves in a 7-game series?

seems a stupid half-measure

Manfred is a disgrace. He's the opposite of Selig, who loves baseball so much he acted like an ass. Manfred doesn't seem to like it at all.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) June 20, 2019

so many people treating the tampa bay/montreal story as something that could feasibly happen instead of a blatant negotiating tactic for a new stadium in tampa

yea that is just never ever ever going to be a thing

they should go big and go for a different city to host them for each month of the season

or maybe even the ultimate act of boldness - the permanent Away Schedule

Can it even work from a legal point of view? All this staff + the players have contracts that implicitly exclude this kind of stuff I suppose.

there were Negro League teams of no fixed abode... the Homestead Grays, for awhile

Not exactly the kind of comparison mlb will want to invite I’m certain.

the tampa bay barnstormers

They could be a big draw as an all-road team in a sort of Washington Generals role...they could have a whole roster at league minimum and split the gate with the home teams who get to hot-dog/humiliate them

Would O's fans turn out for a *guaranteed* win?

the tampa bay goof troop, 2020: the team that attempts the hidden ball trick every single game!!

exactly yes

tonight's starting pitcher the goof: Eddieeeeeeeee Eeeeeeeephus!

*slide whistle noise*

keuchel to start for the barves tonight

What happened after pic.twitter.com/0QGiGqT4ZO

— Gordo💫 (@MyATLiens) June 21, 2019

excellent video of jack flaherty after getting picked off at 2nd to end the game last night

a lonely guy just thinking baout things

albert pujols' return to STL tonight will be pretty special, i think

but by the time that the sunday evening game is on, all the standing ovations are going to be pretty cringey. the david freese ovation situation has gotten out of control over the years

it's cool -- some fanbases would still be booing him for leaving (maybe not with all the charity work he still does there tho)

STL fans should give a 10 minute ovation to the Cards management for letting him go.

(Pujols)

I just learned last night that the pujols/angels contract includes stuff that basically binds him to the angels for another decade after he retires - PR appearances, licensing stuff, etc. it’s a bummer because I’m sure St. Louis would love him to have him back as a de facto cardinal after his career is over

going to release some Angels imprinted toys for kids, like the remote control plane named after his Angels career OPS - The Pujols 767...er, 747....wait, 727....

Every team except SF and Miami are within 3.5 of second NL wild card.

god there are so many bad teams

the Pujols-as-Angels-ambassador is gonna be weird...like Paul McCartney getting inducted into the R&R HOF for his work with Wings

i mean i *knew* he had a ton of HRs but it's still a little jarring to look up his BR page and see that Edwin Encarnacion has hit 404 during his career.

maniel dengden

he's got a handlebar for days

if he were good i feel like he’d be a phenomenon

was rollie fingers ever a phenomenon? obviously very good and obviously a handlebar for days, but seems like that might have been less notable then

he was certainly celebrated and got a lotta magazine covers

but mostly after the World Series heroics w/ Oakland

https://deadspin.com/what-a-foul-ball-can-do-1835706809

Stanton's out through July, sheesh

it's kind of amazing that he already has 39 fWAR despite being 29 years old and only playing 125+ games in 4 seasons so far

looks like they don't need him!

pretty wild braves/cubs game going on right now

though not necessarily surprising given the starting pitchers

suddenly the rangers are only 4 1/2 back of the astros

We ‘re in the bottom of the 18th in Minnesota

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27070541/all-star-starters-revealed-astros-lead-three

not much to complain about tbh

The London games will feature a mascot race among Freddie Mercury, Churchill, Henry VIII and the Loch Ness Monster.

Beatles and Shakespeare lost out in the voting.

I think I read they're also bringing The Freeze over from ATL for other between-inning silliness.

lol Daniel Murphy still sucks at throwing!

Could not find the old baseball writing thread, but this is a good read.

https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/1977-phillies-world-series-team-larry-bowa-tug-mcgraw-steve-carlton-tim-mccarver-20190628.html?fbclid=IwAR0mqA__BbZG7zoPLxcMuGIG_wv2aR1_1B0mrPAw8JzLmgRZ6T5alTYd4-8

The collapse video is good to watch, it almost looks like a different game. Gene Garber in his third inning of relief rolls through the entire collapse. There would have been like 7 pitching changes now.

the ‘games at london stadium’ split on rick porcello’s b-ref page is gonna be grebt

lolcello

over/under, 5 hr game?

what the hell is this

this game may last longer than a cricket match

cashman and dombrowski frantically trying to get pitchers from scranton/pawtucket on transatlantic flights

This is a bit much.

They wanted MLB but with NFL scores.

sacrificial shawarma

three hours in and we’re in the top of the 5th

I was going to do the shopping after the game but hell.

4.5 innings

27 hits

23 runs

wait they left out the first part of Take Me Out To The Ballgame... doesn't it begin God Bless America something something?

What is the elevation of London?!

seriously...this is just bizarre

my day is fucked, I also had a to-do list

Sorry. The answer is: "The exhilarating tension between being and becoming." Being and becoming.

An ode to baseball: "One can throw a baseball just about anywhere, and all you need is another willing participant. Few accessories are required—no yoga pants, no air conditioning, no mat. Just a ball, two gloves, and God’s earth." https://t.co/t049C3L9uw

— The American Conservative (@amconmag) June 29, 2019

There are not enough outdoor naked yoga pictures is the responses to that tweet.

Joe West, Eephus & Messing with Timing (w/ Tail). 😂 pic.twitter.com/u9VEhuzNso

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 30, 2019

the yankees are good :)

DJ LeMahieu is 8-10, 18 RBI with bases loaded this season.

— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) June 30, 2019

plunk him

he’s having one of the best RISP seasons in recent history

Tyler Skaggs RIP. Second tragic Angels pitcher death in some time. Rough.

wtf. link? details?

Angels confirmed it, not much details out there

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27099081/angels-pitcher-tyler-skaggs-27-dies-texas

Woah

Josh Bell has as many HRs in the last 24 hours than the top 4 in WAR (Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Jose Polanco & Cody Bellinger) have combined to hit over the last EIGHT days.

tigers hitters have combined for -0.9 fWAR

Austin Riley seems very Trout-y to me.

trout had been in the league and won an MVP at riley’s age, do not take the goat’s name in vain

it would be nice for austin riley if he ended up being as good as like... troy glaus

lol, ok. Very faintly trouty?

he has a thick neck; i'll give you that

I was at the game last night. Arietta is a pig.

Ryan and Gibson didn't talk this way. They didn't have to. https://t.co/aH7zgS4GnG

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) July 7, 2019

Ventura would disagree, somehow.

did Ryan SAY anything in that incident? not that I recall/

BOOM

The Royals have selected the contract of Bubba Starling. He’ll be here tomorrow.

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) July 11, 2019

two-game suspension + undisclosed fine for marisnick

If LAD get reliever Will Smith from the Giants, they will have two fresh princes on the squad.

jon lester is hitting .227/.346/.273

.346!

make that .250/.357/.417 after hitting his third career homer

maybe he should spend some time in the cage with almora

Dude is an on base machine

In a truly unexpected development, the Orioles, having had to use expected spot starter Gabriel Ynoa in a 16-4 loss last night, go with a committee of recent callups and crappy long-relief scrubs and get a... 3-hitter which they win 2-1? And John Means, the one good pitcher on the team, in to pitch the rubber game tonight.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27184110/hofer-bob-gibson-says-pancreatic-cancer

1st game of the doubleheader at Coors: 19-2 in 3h15m.

Rockies broadcast has had enough. pic.twitter.com/5c0C8rUESA

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 15, 2019

TRAVIS d'ARNAUD

future All-Star no doubt

all nine runs in that yankees-rays game were driven in by former blue jays

hmm... D'Arnaud, Edwin, Urshela... ah, I'm assuming Tulo is injured... anyone else?

you got it

edwin jackson has been dfa'd. can we make it 15 teams? (considering how he pitched in toronto, i don't think we can)

Chris Paddack's 2018 minor-league season: 90 IP, 2.10 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, .204 AVG, .237 OBP, .303 SLG

Paddack in 2019: 90 IP, 2.70 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, .183 AVG, .236 OBP, .337 SLG

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) July 18, 2019

otm

These are not accidents. This is two dirty plays by the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/EPM56hin9E

— 𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐞 (@RochesRWinners) July 18, 2019

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/sportswriter-jonah-keri-granted-bail-following-assault-charges-1.4515192

Our statement regarding Jonah Keri. pic.twitter.com/7JXDnbwefX

— The Athletic HQ (@TheAthletic) July 19, 2019

whoa

Court documents state the alleged attacks against Keri's wife took place in July 2018, May 2019, and July 2019.

fuck you jonah

yikes

tough year for the angels front office

#Angels DFA Matt Harvey.

Their three big winter FA pitcher signings; Harvey ($11 million) DFA, Cody Allen ($8.5 million) DFA, Trevor Cahill ($9 million) moved to bullpen. That's $28.5 million for basically no return.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) July 19, 2019

Tough last 10 years for the angels front office

Pujols *might* have a positive WAR for the first time in 3 seasons...?

and for $500k less than those three guys. that's a win

you know, i bet if MLB scheduled another series against the cardinals in STL, he'd retire before it happened. because that would be super awkward to do again so soon

it's a wild one in cincinnati tonight

7-0
T. Mahle Pitching:
H. Bader: singled to center
T. Edman: Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Edman singled to right, Bader to second
J. Martinez: Strike looking, Strike looking, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Martinez reached on an infield single to second, Bader to third, Edman to second
P. Goldschmidt: Strike swinging, Strike swinging, Goldschmidt hit sacrifice fly to left, Bader scored, Edman to third
7-1
T. O'Neill: Foul, Strike swinging, Ball, Ball, Ball, O'Neill singled to left, Edman scored, Martinez to second
7-2
Matt Bowman relieved Tyler Mahle
Yairo Munoz hit for Michael Wacha
Y. Munoz: reached on an infield single to shortstop, Martinez to third, O'Neill to second
K. Wong: Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Foul, Wong hit sacrifice fly to right, Martinez scored, O'Neill to third, Munoz to second
7-3
P. DeJong: doubled to deep left, O'Neill and Munoz scored
7-5
Jared Hughes relieved Matt Bowman
A. Knizner: Strike looking, Knizner doubled to deep right center, DeJong scored
7-6
H. Bader: Ball, Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Ball, Bader walked
T. Edman: Ball, Ball, Edman safe at first on 1st baseman Votto fielding error, Knizner scored, Bader to third
7-7
J. Martinez: Pickoff attempt to first, Ball, Ball, Edman to second, Edman stole second, Strike swinging, Ball, Strike looking, Martinez homered to left center, Bader and Edman scored
10-7
P. Goldschmidt: Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Strike swinging, Goldschmidt struck out swinging
Middle of the 6th (10 Runs, 8 Hits, 1 Error)

er, i meant 7-10 for that last one. 10 runs in one inning.

*checks the history books*
yes, that is the most runs ever scored in an inning, as it turns out

By the Cardinals you mean? Many teams have scored 11+.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_runs2.shtml

Oh, I was joking. My jokes are not even jokes these days, it’s awful. Gotta shake up my style!

Reds ended up almost winning with 2 outs in the 9th, runners on, down 12-11, and Joey Votto batting against Carlos Martinez. Quite a game!

In his five week career as a starting pitcher for the Florida Marlins, Jordan Yamamoto is facing his first loss against the Dodgers. Quite a run!

Barring any late inning heroics from the fish, he should be 4-1 with ~2.00 ERA/1.00 WHIP + 9K/9.

I had to get an order with one of my distributors over a minimum to make free shipping so I got myself a box of "Topps Archives Buyback Signature" - which turns out to be one signed card from past years, slabbed. Not even some packs of regular to open with it.

My card was a 2015 Ian Kinsler. For $30 wholesale.

How big was the box?

Could've gotten a blaster of Allen and Ginter!

(For ten bucks less...)

Wastefully large, 9x6ish and a couple of inches tall.

Tyler Saladino, who was hitting .100 on the season, has now hit grand slams in 2 straight games

That’s a computer generated name if I’ve ever seen one.

Here's a thing: Through 64 games at age 20, Fernando Tatis Jr. has already accrued more fWAR than all Padres shortstops in the last 12 years combined.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) July 23, 2019

Miami is the only NL team with a winning pct under .460.

Atlanta and the Dodgers are the only two over .535.

Have the giants won enough that we will see Be Ok posting here again?

They’re certainly in an interesting situation regarding bumgarner and the fresh prince, trade-wise

tampa is doing the old put-the-reliever-in-the-field-for-one-batter-then-bring-him-back thing

and now boston has lodged a protest, saying that the replacements were not properly placed in the lineup when tampa lost the DH

i must admit i don't really understand the rules of what happens when you lose the DH

i think that only happens when the DH comes in to play the field. like if your usual catcher is DH'ing and the backup guy catching that day gets injured – your DH can come in to catch, but then the pitcher has to hit for himself (or use a pinch hitter). moving a P to 1B, then back should affect the Dh unless there are more rules I'm unaware of.

Have the giants won enough that we will see Be Ok posting here again?

lol

i still want them to sell as they are not that good and this can't last. this streak has been fun however.

i figured ILB was pretty sick of me so i stop posting here this year...

You do your thing, Bee! I miss seeing the giants bumped regularly

you and i will forever be linked because of The B-52's. you did such a good job.

i will probably come back full time when Zaidi gets this thing turned around. i probably won't be able to help myself when the Giants are good again.

That's how I understand the rule, Thermo. I think Boston is claiming that the Rays never properly declared who the pitcher was replacing (and where he'd be in the batting order), therefore they assume he subbed for the DH. Since the DH can't play the field, then they lost the DH. I find it hard to believe that Rays management doesn't know the rule here. I guess that Boston was caught by surprise and decided they had to complain.

I just saw the news about Jonah Keri becoming a psycho -- wtf?

yesterday Counsell put Hader (by far his best reliever) in for the 7th, up 5-4, to face the meat of the Reds' batting order. I've also seen him bring him in with narrow leads w/ men on a few times. is this a common thing now? you had to figure managers would eventually start using their closers in smarter ways but I don't know if this is a league-wide trend.

definitely becoming more common. baseball is changing, to the chagrin of dozens of really out of touch, cranky broadcasters who are unsure of which side to choose in the "analytics" "debate"

back in the old days, when the manager was expected to keep in the obviously out of gas SP for another 3 outs so that he could secure the opportunity to obtain another pitcher Win, things were better