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I hate baseball now. I used to love it but the analytics and the shifts, and the OBPS and Win above replacement, all that garbage advanced stat **** takes away from the game. Give me a game managed between weaver and Martin or Lasorta. Give me Pete Rose or Lou Brock always trying to get that extra base. Pitch counts and 5 inning starters and closers that can't go more than an inning. A 9 inning games sees 8 pitchers between the two teams. Baseball is the one sport that has gone backwards. football has evolved, the NBA has evolved to become a quicker sport with more ways to score. Even hockey has found a way not to bore fans. Baseball stinks..
jfinnegan said:
I like seeing the Reds do well, eventhough their owners and announcers are idiots.
Yeah, I’ve got nothing against the Reds, and their fans are due for some success. De La Cruz looks like the real deal.
A Willie Mays head shot is in the offing! Baseball-Reference has bought the Immaculate Grid. (NYT gift link.)
DaveSchmidt said:
A Willie Mays head shot is in the offing! Baseball-Reference has bought the Immaculate Grid. (NYT gift link.)
I was thinking I might be able to have it put together with Wordle and Spelling Bee.
Am I the only that has lost interest in the HR Derby and the All Star Game? I made it through one round of the HR Derby and didn't watch the All Star Game. From what i saw of the HR Derby whoever had the best pitcher had the best shot at winning. Some of the pitchers were bouncing balls and painting the corners.
No interest in watching the derby, though I usually check in on a recap to see fun highlights like Rutschman switching sides.
I’d watch the ASG every year if I didn’t work nights. The spirit of the game still moves me, just enough more than the on-field interviews annoy me.
DaveSchmidt said:
No interest in watching the derby, though I usually check in on a recap to see fun highlights like Rutschman switching sides.
I’d watch the ASG every year if I didn’t work nights. The spirit of the game still moves me, just enough more than the on-field interviews annoy me.
I figure the on-field interviews will stop when a guy misjudges a ball because he was too busy answering a question. I think they get paid $10k for those interviews. Easy money.
I liked seeing Rutschman's Dad pitching to him.
Before we get too excited about Shohei and the Terrific, Gigantic, No Sweat, Very Good Day yesterday, let’s pause to remember Rick Wise.
https://www.mlb.com/news/rick-wise-s-no-hitter-and-two-homers
DaveSchmidt said:
Before we get too excited about Shohei and the Terrific, Gigantic, No Sweat, Very Good Day yesterday, let’s pause to remember Rick Wise.
https://www.mlb.com/news/rick-wise-s-no-hitter-and-two-homers
and then the greatest thing he ever did for the Phils was the following winter, being traded for Carlton 
I was a big baseball fan as a young kid growing up in Washington DC in the 1950s. Because my father was a Brooklyn transplant I was a Dodgers fan more than a Senators fan and got to hear all the Dodger games on the radio by Nat Allbright. I didn't know at the time that they were recreated:
My Brooklyn-born dad, who is 86, grew up in Phillies territory, where he remains. I knew he’d like this recent NYT article on Carl Erskine and its sidebar of Erskine’s observations, which I enjoyed just as much. (Gift links.)
At the 2021 trade deadline, the Braves were 51-54. They went on to win the Series.
Last season, the Phillies squeaked into the playoffs as the third wild card and won the pennant.
With the trade deadine close at hand, 22 teams are within seven games of a wild card spot. If you’ve got Ohtani or Bellinger (or the Mets’ overall talent), why not give it a shot? Those prospects you sell for won’t guarantee you anything the next time you qualify for what’s become the postseason MLB tournament anyway.
Here's a random question. You're starting a franchise and money is no object, who's the first player you go for? Other than Ohtani. I think Acuna would be my choice. Mookie Betts is up there also, but I'm not sure how many years he has left.
jfinnegan said:
Here's a random question. You're starting a franchise and money is no object, who's the first player you go for? Other than Ohtani.
“Other than Ohtani.” You should trademark that.
A team with a leadership-quality catcher who’s excellent behind the plate and adds punch to your lineup has a big advantage at a key position. The other eight can be filled with players who are very close to whomever anyone else picks.
Longevity is a downside, but free agency removes all guarantees anyway. I think I’ll take the prime of 25-year-old Adley Rutschman.
I like Rutschman as well. That Orioles team is fun to watch. Almost makes it worthwhile to tank for a few seasons. Gunnar Henderson could be an option as well.
Big news for the Nationals: They got no-hit for the first time.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story
Oh, almost forgot. A Phillie did it.
The Braves are the first team since 1944 to have 4 players play in every game through this many games. There are only 11 players throughout the league that have played every game. I was surprised it hasn't happened since 1944. It seemed to me that most position players would play every game except for the platoon players.
jfinnegan said:
The Braves are the first team since 1944 to have 4 players play in every game through this many games. There are only 11 players throughout the league that have played every game. I was surprised it hasn't happened since 1944. It seemed to me that most position players would play every game except for the platoon players.
Let them be tired, because a certain relief pitcher was able to beat them today with 4 scoreless innings out of the pen. 
Go figure. Even Barry Bonds can’t ruin this serendipity.*
* A once pristine trivia question about back-to-back MVPs, until he came along.
A Dodgers fan who is a friend of my son’s gives this heads-up: With his 44th double on Wednesday, Freddie Freeman is within range of finishing the season with 60 or more. (His current pace would get him to 59.)
No one has hit 60 or more doubles in an MLB season since 1936.
Pete Alonso throws a ball into the stands.
Baseball Heaven (TM) and X (“he’s either a dumb*** or a ****head”) erupt because it was Masyn Winn’s first career hit.
Sigh. Give a guy a break for tossing the fans of St. Louis a souvenir (which took some cajoling to separate from its possessive seraph) and not keeping up with every opponent’s milestones.
Ohtani has a tear in his UCL. What a drag for him, and for baseball. Watching his free agency was going to be a popcorn munching event all by itself.
DanDietrich said:
Ohtani has a tear in his UCL. What a drag for him, and for baseball. Watching his free agency was going to be a popcorn munching event all by itself.
Yes, that’s a shame. So far, it sounds like the injury that allowed Bryce Harper to keep hitting last year but that eventually required Tommy John surgery. There’s a chance that a UCL tear heals on its own — which is the first option, and which the Phillies’ top pitching prospect tried with rest early this spring before succumbing to the knife — so here’s hoping Ohtani is, as he is in other ways, the exception.
we're going to the Mets-Angels game tomorrow and were very excited to see Ohtani hit, which is not likely to happen now. This is terrible for baseball, that he can't pitch now (at least). I hope it's not the same thing, but last year deGrom was dealing with a tear in his UCL, and then this season...
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I like seeing the Reds do well, eventhough their owners and announcers are idiots.