Happy Opening Night!
by JohnBowen
Tonight, the Astros play their first game as an American League team against their new rivals, the cross-state Texas Rangers.
As of this writing, the game is tied 0-0, which means the Astros haven’t quite been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention!
Tomorrow, baseball returns. Your opening match-ups, along with a common player from each:
Rangers @ Astros (Nolan Ryan)
Red Sox @ Yankees (Wade Boggs)
Marlins @ Nationals (Livan Hernandez)
Marlins @ Mets (Mike Cameron)
Cubs @ Pirates (Kiki Cuyler)
Rockies @ Brewers (Dante Bichette)
Angels @ Reds (Alex Ochoa)
Tigers @ Twins (Delmon Young)
Royals @ White Sox (Chris Getz)
Giants @ Dodgers (Darryl Strawberry)
Phillies @ Braves (Dale Murphy)
Mariners @ Athletics (Rickey Henderson)
Cardinals @ Diamondbacks (Reggie Sanders)
April 8th, at 9:24 am
Can’t believe I never saw this.
Marlins/Mets is Mike Cameron? I thought Mike Piazza was the obvious choice.
April 8th, at 9:27 am
I thought Youk was the obvious choice for Red Sox-Yankees.
April 8th, at 9:27 am
Did Piazza actually ever play a game for the Marlins?
April 8th, at 9:51 am
Yes. He had 19 plate appearences for them in 1998.
April 8th, at 11:08 am
Bob’s gotta be thrilled with Middlebrooks.
Your boy went deep 3 times!
When was the last time a Sox player did that?
April 8th, at 12:34 pm
Good questuion. Will research it. Though Jim has to be as thrilled with that display as much as I am.
April 8th, at 12:37 pm
Ted Williams, Pedroia and Bill Mueller all did it.
April 8th, at 12:43 pm
How about that? No Manny and no Papi.
April 8th, at 12:49 pm
A couple of birthdays today:
Yonder Alonso is 26.
Jeremy Hellickson is 26.
Felix Hernandez is 27.
Carlos Santana is 27.
And two late great Hall of Famers were born today: Gary Carter and Catfish Hunter.
April 8th, at 1:18 pm
There may be more. That was very limited research on my part.
April 8th, at 1:24 pm
Manny had two 3-homer games, Bob.
Both with Cleveland.
April 8th, at 1:30 pm
Thanks.
April 8th, at 3:33 pm
Last three homer game for the Sox was Pedroia.
April 8th, at 9:04 pm
Yes, young Mr. Middlebrooks had a nice afternoon on Sunday, but most enjoyable about the RS is the surprisingly good start. And they are doing it mostly with pitching and defense, two subjects not normally associated with the RS.
April 9th, at 9:34 pm
Mercifully, the RS sell out streak fraud, will end tomorrow.
April 9th, at 10:41 pm
fraud?
April 10th, at 1:01 am
@16
It should be noted that sellout streaks — including Boston’s and San Francisco’s — come with asterisks. For instance, The Boston Globe reported last May that the Red Sox had cut off ticket sales in the seventh inning of a Wednesday night game against Oakland with an estimated 300 tickets still unsold. Still, the game was declared a sellout.
The explanation the Red Sox provided was that the hundreds of free tickets they had distributed to charities and others, the standing room tickets that had been sold and the many regular tickets that had been purchased added up to a total that was larger than Fenway’s capacity. Thus, a sellout, which the Red Sox executives defended as a standard definition under Major League Baseball guidelines.
Likewise, The San Francisco Chronicle went to a Giants-Colorado Rockies game at AT&T Park in September and found big patches of empty seats in the upper deck. Nevertheless, the game was declared a sellout under the same guidelines the Red Sox and other teams use. And the Giants’ sellout streak remains intact and seems set to supplant Boston’s as the longest in baseball.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/sports/baseball/end-seems-near-for-sellout-streak-at-fenway-park.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
April 10th, at 8:55 am
Interesting.
And I thought the Cleveland Indians had the longest sellout streak. I think when Jacobs Field opened in the mid-90s, you couldn’t get a ticket for years.
April 10th, at 9:21 am
Happy 63rd birthday, Ken Griffey Sr! For the first 14 years of his 19 year career, Griffey Sr posted slash stats of .300/.361/.435 with an adjusted OPS of 120. Not bad for the father of probably the greatest player of the last 20 years. Word is he currently serves as the manager for the Cincinnati Reds’ Class A affiliate, the Bakersfield Blaze.
Happy 67th birthday, Bob Watson! Watson made his name with Houston in the 1970s and put together quite a career. Nineteen years, .295/.364/.447, and is credited with scoring the 1 millionth run in MLB history on May 4th, 1975. He is also the 1st player to hit for the cycle in both the American and National League. And he is the 1st African American General Manager to win a World Series (1996 New York Yankees).
Happy 31st birthday, Andre Ethier! Ethier has shown flashes of being a superstar player in Los Angeles but never has quite taken that next step. Still, a career .290/.362/.477 hitter is really darn good. The Dodgers signed him for 6 years/95.95 million. And for LA, that might be a fine deal. Personally, I don’t think Ethier is a 100 million dollar player but perhaps the 100 million dollar barrier has lost its lustre with the recent contracts given out to Jayson Werth, Elvis Andrus, etc…
April 10th, at 1:46 pm
Jose Iglesias sent down to Pawtucket to make room for Stephen Drew.
April 10th, at 1:54 pm
Are they crazy?!
Iglesias is hitting .450!!
…over 21 plate appearances
Seriously though, Drew better pick it up. I mean, he’s hitting in Boston. That’s gotta be a boost to anyone’s offensive numbers. If he’s gonna put up those crap seasons he had in Oakland and Arizona the last few years, then the Sox really are better off with Iglesias.
April 10th, at 2:07 pm
Q. “Are they crazy.”
A. Yes
April 10th, at 2:09 pm
The Jays claimed Casper Wells.
April 10th, at 2:21 pm
They should have claimed Kip Wells instead.
Or Bob Wells.
April 10th, at 2:40 pm
Or Casper The Friendly Ghost.
April 10th, at 2:47 pm
All I know is RA Dickey better get on track, soon.
April 10th, at 5:01 pm
Are we surprised Dickey’s off to a “slow” start?
The guy has a career year at 38, and his team isn’t interested in bringing him back for pocket change.
That should tell you something right there.
Then he takes his knuckleball to a freakin’ DOME!!
Brilliant.
April 10th, at 10:12 pm
Phil Niekro, Joe Niekro, and Tim Wakefield all have better numbers in domes than outdoors – although, in Joe’s case, that was because his dome where he pitched over 200 games was among the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the game’s history.
April 11th, at 12:39 am
It’s still early, but the Royals are leading the AL Central. Partly on pitching. It’s not great, but it’s good enough. An ERA of 4 will be the exception instead of the rule this year. With our offense, that’s a good combo.
April 11th, at 11:03 am
Happy 25th birthday, Pete Kozma! Kerry’s boy is currently the starting SS of the St. Louis Cardinals and is off to a solid start. There isn’t much of a track record with the young shortstop, but at least he isn’t bad.
Happy 29th birthday, Alejandro De Aza! De Aza is finally getting a chance to play every day after toiling around as a part-time player for the Marlins and White Sox. After an impressive stretch of 54 games in 2011 when he hit .329/.400/.520, De Aza came down a bit in 2012 going .281/.349/.410. Still, he’s a valuable player considering the boys playing beside him should be putting up the bulk of the offensive numbers (Dunn & Rios). That said, he does need to improve on his defense. He is, after all, playing next to Adam Dunn.
Happy 33rd birthday, Mark Teixeira! Tex is out on the DL, which isn’t much of a loss right now considering he’s your typical Punch & Judy hitter until June anyway. Much is made about Teixeira’s defense. Frankly, I think he’s a good glove but overrated a bit. More concerning to me is the fact that his OPS has declined for 4 straight years — from .962 in 2008 to .807 in 2012. This guy is worth 180 million?
Happy 39th birthday, Trot Nixon! Trot was one of those guys who came up with the Red Sox just as they started getting good in the late 90s and early 2000s. Nixon had a solid career that ended a bit early. Kudos if you knew that as a Senior in High School, Nixon was North Carolina’s Player of the Year in football AND baseball. Nixon was drafted 7th overall in 1993…behind 1. Alex Rodriguez, 2. Darren Dreifort, 3. Brian Anderson, 4. Wayne Gomes, 5. Jeff Granger and 6. Steve Soderstrom.
Happy 41st birthday, Jason Varitek! Varitek is a dick. He caught 4 No-Hitters. He put his glove in A-Rod’s face without taking his mask off like some 3rd rate hockey goalie pansy. Whatever.
Happy 49th birthday, Bret Saberhagen! Saberhagen is proof there’s no God. I mean, come on! This guy should have had a Hall of Fame career. Talk about getting screwed over by injuries. 1989. 23-6. 262.1 innings. 2.16 ERA. And for those of you who cream themselves over BB/SO ratios (Curt Schilling)…in 1994 Saberhagen walked 13 in 177 innings. Thirteen, bro…as in uno and tres.
Speaking of Schilling, do you know what his Twitter handle is? It’s @Gehrig38.
Lou Gehrig. One of…probably THE most respected baseball player in the history of the game…has his name attached to the Twitter account of possibly the greatest douchebag in all of sports. This is like if Hitler had a Gandhi tattoo.
April 11th, at 3:28 pm
Stephen Drew promptly goes 0-4 in his first game as a member of the Boston Red Sox. I’m sure he figured, “Why not give them a taste of what is to come all season long?”
April 11th, at 4:02 pm
Schilling’s first born son is named Gehrig.
April 11th, at 4:05 pm
In addition to automatically deleting all Twitter followers who tweet or re-tweet a Bleacher Report article, I will now also be doing the same thing to anyone who handjobs Bryce Harper.
“Harper fourth player age 20 or younger to have 4 homers in his first ten games of the season”.
Who gives a fack. Buh-bye.
April 11th, at 4:31 pm
Harper is off to a nice start. And he could become a great player, Chuck.
I think you give him little credit considering his age. He’s done very well so far.
But I do agree that arbitrary things like “youngest to homer twice on opening day” are stupid comments.
April 11th, at 5:27 pm
The Mariners acquired Aaron Harang for Steven Hensleya minor league reliever. Score this one for the Mariners.
April 11th, at 6:19 pm
“And he could become a great player, Chuck”
He’s not even as good as Mike Trout.
Do you remember what ARod did when he was 20?
April 11th, at 6:23 pm
There’s nothing rational about Chuck’s hatred for Bryce Harper.
April 11th, at 6:44 pm
Media hype backlash.
April 11th, at 6:51 pm
“Do you remember what ARod did when he was 20?”
Let’s count all the reasons why this is ridiculous.
1) ARod is one of the best players ever.
2) Last year (age 19) was Bryce Harper’s first experience in the big leagues.
ARod, age 19: 149 PA, .232/.264/.408, 72 OPS+, -0.4 WAR
Harper, age 19: 533 PA, .270/.340/.477, 119 OPS+, 5.2 WAR
Do you know how many teenagers in history have even had a 4-WAR season? One. Bryce Harper.
3) Alex Rodriguez was phenomenal in 1996, and would obviously go on to have an all-time great career, no matter how much Yankee fans try to insist otherwise. But he also got to, as a 20 year old, hit in front of Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Jay Buhner.
It’s not really fair to say that Harper isn’t doing great things because his 19-year-old season didn’t measure up to the 20-year-old season of one of the top 10-15 ballplayers EVER, in which said ballplayer got to hit in front of the 8th, 3rd, and 19th best raw hitters in the league for that season.
In fact, it might be the most exceedingly non-sensical vitrol for a player ever, except Chuck also hates Justin Upton, who carried the Dbacks to their lone playoff appearance of the past 5 seasons and who is currently slugging a cool .971 for the 8-1 Braves.
April 11th, at 10:54 pm
“Do you know how many teenagers in history have even had a 4-WAR season? One. Bryce Harper.”
Which, considering how stupid WAR is, might be the most exceedingly nonsensical vitrol for a player ever.
Two way street, homie.
April 11th, at 11:32 pm
I think the question is…
Exactly what does Harper have to do to get some credit?
His season last year was really damn good. So he didn’t put up a Mike Trout season. Okay. But is that really the standard to compare him to? Trout nearly won the MVP.
If you hate the media hype around him from guys like Jon Heyman, that’s fair.
But I can’t hold that against Harper professionally. He’s done well so far.
April 12th, at 9:56 am
“Exactly what does Harper have to do to get some credit?”
The problem is he gets too much.
And, yes, the comparison to Trout is MORE than appropriate..because it’s the media who keeps throwing “best 19 year old, best 20 year old” whatever comps at him, when in fact Trout is a better all round player and posted, across the board, better numbers.
Trout’s one of the best players in baseball, Harper’s not even the best player on his own team.
Perspective, my friend.
April 12th, at 9:58 am
Well, woke up this morning to the Greinke/Quentin story.
2-1 game, bottom of the sixth, 3-2 count, Quentin takes it upon himself to charge the mound after being hit, Greinke ends up with a broken left collarbone.
Carlos Quentin is a tool.
April 12th, at 10:02 am
WOW.
I haven’t had a chance to check the stories today. That’ crazy.
April 12th, at 10:13 am
That is not cool, man.
I don’t know what else to say. Quentin should be suspended for a long time.
April 12th, at 10:26 am
Chuck,
Mike Morse is going to be out for a week or two with a broken finger.
That sucks.
April 12th, at 12:11 pm
If Quentin could hit a ball like he hits a pitcher, he’d actually be worth his contract.
April 12th, at 12:24 pm
Matt Kemp went after Quentin in the tunnel after the game and had to be restrained.
Peter King said this morning he thinks Quentin’s suspension should be for as long as Greinke is out.
April 12th, at 12:38 pm
Maybe Quentin should be out that long.
It won’t happen though.
It would send a hell of a message, though.
It becomes murky though when you get to pitchers injuring batters. Suppose Josh Johnson hits Evan Longoria on purpose and breaks his hand. Longoria is out for 3 months. You’re gonna suspend Johnson for 3 months? I mean, you’d have one hell of a job trying to prove he hit Longo on purpose.
That’s just a HYPOTHETICAL question.
Then again, you could just limit those kinds of suspensions to charging the mound.
My buddy didn’t blame the Dodgers, but he said your corner infielders and catcher need to step in on those situations to protect their pitchers.
I mean, that….or Nolan Ryan is gonna have to start giving uppercut seminars in the offseason.
April 12th, at 1:14 pm
I have no problem with getting hit on purpose..it’s part of the game..if you’re dumb enough to charge the mound or stand there then whatever.
Greinke’s out for two months because Quentin doesn’t know how to play baseball. It’s the same thing if he went into second base without sliding and hurt the shortstop.
There’s no excuse, and that’s the issue here.
April 12th, at 1:38 pm
Chuck,
Any prospects you think may get called up before mid-season?
April 12th, at 1:43 pm
Actually, Manny Machado has done exactly what Alex Rodriguez had done at age 20. Harper’s potential is off the charts. Whether he reaches it or not is purely up to him.
April 12th, at 2:27 pm
It’s weird though.
I think Machado is the least-developed of the three (Trout, Harper, Machado).
Harper isn’t going to grow much more than he already has. Trout gained like 20 pounds over the winter. But Machado still looks like a child.
Well, I mean he is 20. But he looks like he’s 16.
April 12th, at 3:34 pm
“Any prospects you think may get called up before mid-season?”
Zunino, Myers, maybe Gerrit Cole, Bauer’s already up I think, Profar, Wheeler, Arenado
April 12th, at 3:49 pm
I could see Wheeler coming up. It’s not like the Mets have much after Harvey and Niese.
I think you could be right about Zunino. Montero is off to a terrible start offensively and Shoppach would be the veteran catcher who’d mentor Zunino, so he isn’t going anywhere. And it’s not like Montero is gonna take Morales’ spot as the DH.
Arenado has to be a lock to be up before Memorial Day. He’s got 2 homers and 4 doubles in 6 minor league games already. Speaking of the Rockies, kinda sucks for Reid Brignac to be on the bench — he should be starting somewhere. Then again, he hasn’t hit enough.
I’m gonna say it right now: Jurickson Profar is overrated.
April 12th, at 4:54 pm
Well is that fair? The # 1 prospect can either stay where he is at or go downhill. That being said, I am tempted to agree with you, and I think Bundy is the best prospect in the game.
April 12th, at 4:59 pm
Today’s question on ESPN. Do you believe Grienke hit Quentin on purpose.
April 12th, at 5:30 pm
Jonathan Winters R.I.P.
April 12th, at 6:00 pm
“Today’s question on ESPN. Do you believe Grienke hit Quentin on purpose”
Idiots
April 13th, at 9:39 am
Jose Reyes will be out for AT LEAST a month
April 14th, at 9:12 pm
In this morning’s NY Times, Tyler Knepper had an article opining that the AL East will likely be won by a team winning 90 games. Fair enough, but how can you write about the East and only mention the Yanks (a given), Toronto and Baltimore? Granted one may be correct in writing off and not mentioning the RS, but the Rays??
April 15th, at 9:25 am
The Sox are off to a good start.
Lester was great the other day vs Price and Buchholz has been solid too.
Boston could be better than I thought.
I’m definitely leaning towards giving the AL East to Tampa, though. Especially once Wil Myers comes up.
April 15th, at 9:37 am
The Rays are 4-7 and have been outscored by 18 runs.
Their right fielders, Matt Joyce and Sam Fuld are a combined 6-for-52.
The Wil Myers era can’t start soon enough.
April 15th, at 12:12 pm
So with the 42 movie about Jackie Robinson, the internet is buzzing with debate as to whom actually was the 1st black player in the Major Leagues.
Some say it’s Moses Fleetwood Walker.
Others say it’s William Edward White.
It’s not really to take away from what Jackie Robinson went through, or how he performed, but people do like for things to be historically accurate.
April 15th, at 5:04 pm
Jackie was the first that had impact though. Credit where it’s due.
April 15th, at 5:06 pm
I will not watch “42″.
It’s just another cheesy remake of something that’s been done before, and considering all of the primary characters in the story are dead, it’s basically a work of fiction anyway.
April 15th, at 9:36 pm
Watching the Rays-RS this weekend really has me wondering where the Rays offense is going to come from. They had a weeks worth of strikeouts this weekend.
April 15th, at 11:22 pm
In the 2nd half of last season, Pedro Alvarez had a respectable line of .256/.328/.456 with 14 homers.
Through 13 games Alvarez is 3-for-41 (.073) with no extra base hits and 16 strikeouts.
At 26 years old, he is testing the Pirates’ patience.
April 15th, at 11:27 pm
The Atlanta Braves are 11-1.
It’s a great start to the season. It should be noted, however, that they played the Phillies, Cubs, Marlins and Nationals. And only 1 of those teams is good. Credit to the Braves to sweeping the Nats though.
Things figure to get a little tougher as they face the Royals, Pirates, Rockies, Tigers, Nationals, Mets, Reds and Giants over the next 3 weeks.
April 16th, at 1:34 am
“Things figure to get a little tougher as they face the Royals”
…PFFFTTT!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mhm… Actually, we’re looking… Better? Ish? Too early to tell for sure, ut the new pitching feels miles better than last year.
April 16th, at 8:55 am
Some teams are better than others, but it’s a solid stretch for the Braves.
April 16th, at 9:56 am
Happy 53rd birthday, Curt Young! There’s nothing really spectacular about Young’s career. He was a mediocre pitcher for the Athletics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But what is interesting to me is that he was the 15th pick of the 4th round in the 1981 MLB Draft. One pick later, the Reds took Paul O’Neill.
Happy 75th birthday, Rich Rollins! Another guy you probably never heard of. Rollins played from 1961 to 1970 for the Twins, mostly. Still, you have to appreciate a guy who could hang in the Majors for 10 years. As a rookie in 1962, Rollins hit .298/.374/.428 with 5 triples and 16 homers. Darn good numbers for a 3B in Minnesota. He would finish 8th in the AL MVP voting ahead of (perhaps unfairly) of Brooks Robinson. Oddly enough, Rollins placed higher than Tom Tresh in the MVP voting, but lost to Tresh in the ROY voting.
Happy 71st birthday, Jim Lonborg! Your 1967 AL Cy Young winner went 22-9 with 15 complete games and allowing 228 hits in 273 innings. It was a fantastic season for Lonborn even though today, you might give the award to the White Sox’s Joe Horlen. Lonborg was never that good again. After retiring, he became a dentist, if you can believe that.
Happy 58th birthday, Bruce Bochy! Bochy broke in with the Astros in 1978 and had an unremarkable 9-year career. I guess those who can’t, teach. And Bochy has had a much more meaningful tenure as a manager — winning two World Series titles with the San Francisco Giants.
Happy 44th birthday, Fernando Vina! Vina is probably the poster boy for why people hate steroids in baseball. Vina managed a 12-year career because of the juice, and he was a marginal player even then. Hitting .282/.348/.379 (Adjusted OPS 89), Vina made 27 million dollars and probably qualifies for a pension. It’s disgusting, really.
Happy 41st birthday, Antonio Alfonseca! Nicknamed The Octopus, Alfonseca has extra fingers on his hands. The mere thought of it creeps me out. I guess I could sort of look at this as a disability, and maybe could credit him for overcoming it to be a professional Major Leaguer. I dunno. Good for him, though.
You know, I’ll say this regarding relievers and closers now that I bring up Alfonseca… As much as Chuck and others hate the idea of Mariano Rivera as a Hall of Famer, you have to give Rivera credit. That guy has been on point like clockwork for 18 years. Every single year. When you consider how many different relievers have come up, done well, and flamed out…only to see Rivera still standing really says something about him and his performance.
April 16th, at 1:08 pm
Do you honestly believe Rivera would have been “on-point for 18 years” pitching for someone other than the Yankees?
April 16th, at 1:15 pm
What difference would that make?
Are the mounds a different height in Cleveland? Is the plate 80 feet away in Kansas City?
Rivera has been dominating consistently for 18 years. Every single year.
Nobody would say it’s the same thing as going 8 innings every 5 days. And I’m not even talking about the saves record. Just the fact that he puts up the same numbers every year. It’s impressive.
And it’s not like just anyone can do it, because no one else has.
April 16th, at 1:17 pm
Even Smoltz didn’t match Rivera.
And Rivera has 1 pitch. One, dude.
April 16th, at 3:14 pm
The change of scenery has recharged Vernon Wells, for a while anyway. He’s hitting .324/.405/.649 in the early going.
Alex Gordon is hitting .373/.396/.686…as possibly the best leadoff hitter in the game.
Amazingly, Austin Jackson only has 5 strikeouts so far. Usually he’d have 20 by now.
And fat boy Prince Fielder is the hottest hitter in baseball.
The top 3 pitchers in strikeouts: 1. Yu Darvish, 2. AJ Burnett, 3. Jeff Samardzija.
24 year old Matt Harvey has allowed 6 hits in 22 innings so far.
Paul Maholm, Barry Zito and Jake Westbrook are the only remaining starting pitchers with a 0.00 ERA.
Westbrook goes against Jonathan Sanchez and the Pirates tonight. Zito faces Wily Peralta and the Brewers.
April 16th, at 3:32 pm
Rivera wouldn’t have the same opportunities in Cleveland or Kansas City.
Almost a third of Gossage’s career saves were of three outs or more.
Rivera, Hoffman and Eckersley combined for 17…TOTAL, and nine of those were by Eck.
Please lets not pretend we’re talking about the same thing.
Rivera’s record is based on one thing and one thing only..that for the better part of his entire career he played on the best fucking team in baseball.
The Yankees made him great, not the other way around.
April 16th, at 4:29 pm
Right, but since we all agree that Saves are stupid, you would have still had Rivera with 18 years and a 2.22 ERA with…I dunno…520 saves instead of 610.
Rivera isn’t great because of the saves. He’s great because for almost 20 years he comes into the game with 1 pitch that everyone knows is coming and still gets them out.
I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t have been able to do the exact same thing in any other city.
I mean, look…the game changes. It’s true about the Gossage thing. Gossage came in the game to pitch 2-3 innings. It’s not Rivera’s fault he isn’t used the same way. NOBODY is used that way anymore. So in the context of his era, who was more effective than Mo? Nobody. And not just nobody. No one else is even close.
That’s impressive no matter how you cut it.
I agree that your best pitcher should be used in the Gossage manner. But that’s a separate issue here.
And one last thing, although I won’t get into it too much…
There’s no real way of saying Rivera COULDN’T have been as effective or more effective than Gossage had he been used at a 2-3 inning clip. We just don’t know. It would be like saying Juan Pierre can’t steal 100 bases like Vince Coleman. Well, Pierre never did steal 100, but it’s a different game now than it was in the 1980s.
So we have to judge things as they are. And like it or not, Rivera stands alone in his category in his era. Unless we’re gonna start comparing Old Hoss Radbourn with Greg Maddux…
April 16th, at 6:40 pm
The Yankees have played in more blowouts than any team in the past 18 years.
Many of their wins haven’t been close at all, so Rivera hasn’t had that many extra opportunities.
Not that it matters. Saves are stupid.
And Rivera has been dominant.
April 17th, at 8:49 am
Well, after starting yesterday with a Mr. Blutarsky-like ERA of 0.00(Animal House), Barry Zito allowed 9 runs to the Brewers, and saw his ERA shoot up to 4.86.
Brewers SS Jean Segura continues his hot hitting — .415/.455/.585. He’s listed at 5′10 and 201 pounds. Seems a bit hefty for a shortstop. How is this kid’s defense?
David Wright went deep twice but it wasn’t enough to beat the Rockies who took the win 8-4 behind Carlos Gonzalez and Eric Young Jr in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Game 2 wasn’t much better for the Amazins as Aaron Laffey lasted just 4 innings and the Rockies tacked it on late to win 9-8 in the 10th.
The Rays dropped to 4-9 with their loss to the Orioles. Joe Maddon is a great guy, but I doubt even he will tolerate James Loney for much longer. Yunel Escobar is 4-for-45 (.089). Think these guys miss Reid Brignac?
The Royals wasted a great start from Jeremy Guthrie who gave them 7 innings of 2 run baseball. Kelvin Herrera gave up 4 runs in 0.2 innings, Justin Upton homered again and the Braves remain hot at 12-1.
The Nationals decided to rest Bryce Harper against the lowly Marlins and it may have been a bad idea. The Washington managed just 2 runs off the young Alex Sanabia. On the other hand, Dan Haren gave up 7 runs in 4.1 innings and few teams can overcome that kind of hole. Nats drop to 8-6, Marlins up to 3-11.
Out in Wrigley, Derek Holland gave the Rangers 7 innings of 2-hit baseball as they took down the Cubs 4-2.
Call it luck, easy scheduling or whatever you want. The Oakland Athletics are 11-4 after last night’s 4-3 win over the Astros. Second baseman Eric Sogard chipped in with 3 hits and Josh Donaldson tripled home Josh Reddick in the bottom of the 8th for what proved to be the game-winner.
In the Bronx, the Yankees rode a 3-run homer from Robinson Cano to beat the Diamondbacks 4-2. The bigger story appears to have been the Yankees’ decision to play Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” (a Fenway Park tradition) during the 3rd inning. Ivan Nova, who seems to think pitching 5 innings is a good start, went 5 innings again last night. Diamondbacks starter Brandon McCarthy allowed 9 hits in 4 innings and there are rumors that he and Miguel Montero are not seeing eye-to-eye on pitch selection.
Detroit took down the Mariners with Miguel Cabrera being…well…Miguel Cabrera. Three hits and four RBI from your reigning Triple Crown winner propelled the Tigers past the newly-acquired Aaron Harang. We were told that Dustin Ackley was on a short leash this season and he isn’t helping his case, hitting .114 so far. Out in AAA, Nick Franklin has 7 hits in 8 games and might be up before the break.
And finally, the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 7-2 with many feeling the weight of the recent tragedy at the Boston Marathon. Mike Napoli went 2-5 with 2 doubles, driving in 3. Regarding Cleveland, Ubaldo Jimenez continues to prove that his success in Colorado was a bit of luck. In fairness to Cleveland, it’s not like Drew Pomeranz has shown to be a stud pitcher, either.
April 17th, at 9:43 am
Chris Getz had his first homer as a member of the Royals.
April 17th, at 9:50 am
It’s Getz’s 3rd home run of his Major League career.
At AAA with the Charlotte Knights in 2008 (White Sox affiliate), Getz hit 11 homers.
April 17th, at 2:45 pm
Wade Davis and the Royals take down Mike Minor and the Braves as they hold on for a 1-0 lead.
The lone run came off a Jeff Francoeur single in the 4th.
April 17th, at 5:18 pm
RIP Pat Summerall.
I did not know he played minor league baseball for two years before going to the NFL.
April 18th, at 9:55 am
The Sox had two prospects get suspended for 50 games.
1. Mickey pena for a drug of abuse.
2. Gerson Batista for the steroid Stanozolol
3. Pena is the higer prospect.
April 18th, at 11:04 am
If you’re purposely taking stanozolol, you’re uneducated about steroids.
It’s probably the easiest to detect.
It’s the equivalent of cheating on your English exam by stretching your neck to see the test paper of the student in the next row.
You really think you’re being slick, don’t you?
April 18th, at 1:06 pm
There were 41 strikeouts combined in the Mariners game yesterday…second time in ML history both teams struck out more than 18 times each.
Some stathead will look at the 2-1 final in 14 innings and say, “Wow, pitching duel, good game”.
And they would be, as usual, wrong.
April 18th, at 1:17 pm
There are no 12-10 pitching duels.
I know that much.
April 18th, at 3:45 pm
@85 Higher in more ways than one.
April 18th, at 3:49 pm
Speaking about last night’s game, I remember why I love Jim Leyland.
“I’m not much for those kind of records. I don’t care,” manager Jim Leyland said. “All I know is we’re 2-0 the last two nights, and that’s all that matters. That’s a nice conversation piece for everybody else, but we got two wins.”
No bullshit, all ball.
April 18th, at 5:15 pm
Boxscore of the year.
So far
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2013_04_18_bufaaa_syraaa_1&t=g_box&sid=milb
April 18th, at 5:32 pm
Now there’s your long sought-after pitching duel!!!
April 18th, at 7:07 pm
“Some stathead will look at the 2-1 final in 14 innings and say, “Wow, pitching duel, good game”.”
Seriously? You’re trying to argue that a game in which two starting pitchers both go 8, giving up a combined total of 1 earned run and striking out 24 while walking 1 is something other than a pitchers duel? Seriously?
April 19th, at 7:25 am
@91 – Syracuse simply could not execute in the red zone.
April 19th, at 10:55 am
So you’re just going to troll the site until you depart John?
April 19th, at 10:59 am
He’s basically right though, Chuck.
How can you not credit the pitchers during that game?
Unless you’re going to say the batters were just terrible. In which case, shouldn’t good pitchers do exactly what they did?
April 19th, at 11:09 am
The second place!! KC Royals start a 3 game series (maybe) tonight against the first place, who’d of thunk it, Boston Red Sox. Shields v. Buchholz at 7:10 PM pending the killing/capture of the bomber.’
And Big Papi is back and the Bradley Jr. era goes back on hold.
April 19th, at 1:02 pm
“How can you not credit the pitchers during that game?
Unless you’re going to say the batters were just terrible”
Right.
April 19th, at 1:04 pm
I think the ghost of Boss George must have pissed off God…ARod..Granderson..Teixeira…now Jeter again.
April 19th, at 1:16 pm
80-something million dollars on the disabled list.
I wonder what this Yankees team looks like in 3 years.
April 19th, at 1:38 pm
In 3 years?
1. No Jeter
2. No Mo
3. No Granderson
4. Still have Cano,Tex and ARod.
5. I paint a pretty picture, don’t I?
April 19th, at 2:17 pm
You sure do, Bob. I mean, if Rembrandt painted a sinking ship, technically it’d still be pretty.
April 19th, at 3:24 pm
The Sox and Bruins post poneponed their games.
April 19th, at 3:39 pm
Meant to say postponed.
April 19th, at 3:48 pm
The Cubs claimed Julio Borbon.
April 19th, at 4:04 pm
Dynamite pick up for Theo Epstein.
It’s those kinds of moves that will take the Cubs straight to the top.
April 19th, at 4:07 pm
LOL
April 19th, at 5:23 pm
Theo probably thinks he claimed Pedro.
April 19th, at 5:33 pm
“Unless you’re going to say the batters were just terrible”
Yes. Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter. Basically the ‘62 Mets.
April 19th, at 9:50 pm
Fielder 0-5 with 5 K’s.
Sigh.
April 19th, at 9:56 pm
Yes. Which shows how awesome Felix is/was.
Fielder has been DOMINANT this season. And he was the lone .300/.400/.500 in the AL last season.
April 20th, at 12:20 pm
OK, what’s the best bet here….
Justin Upton’s career high in homers is 31, he currently has nine.
a) He doesn’t beat 31 or lead the league.
b) He beats 31 and leads the league
c) He beats 31 and doesn’t lead the league.
I’m going with “a”
April 20th, at 2:47 pm
I’ll go with: he has a great year, the Braves make the playoffs, the dbacks don’t.
But the dbacks will win those 77 games in the GRITTIEST way possible.
April 20th, at 6:30 pm
I’d go with C. He’s putting it together I think. Though gut feeling is someone else gets more.
April 20th, at 7:32 pm
The Braves aren’t making the playoffs..
The Dbacks wouldn’t make the playoffs WITH Upton, so not sure why you’d think their chances are any better/worse without him.
“C” was my first thought, but having seen Upton up close and almost personal for the past five years, it’s a guarantee he goes a month without hitting one.
Which balances off this month.
He had 17 last year..in a better hitting environment than Atlanta.
Being “hot” and being “good” aren’t the same thing.
April 20th, at 8:34 pm
I think Atlanta will make the playoffs. They have too much hitting not to. However, that rotation isn’t as good as it used to be and the defense is shaky. Best case scenario is last year’s Tigers losing the WS. Likely is an NLCS loss.
April 20th, at 9:04 pm
The Braves rotation isn’t what it used to be?
Three of the their five starters have an ERA of 1.42 or less and Hudson was at 2.50 before his start last night. The only turd has been Teheran.
They have the best ERA and WHIP in the NL.
In terms of hitting, it’s live and die based in the home run. While they are 1st in home runs, they’re in the toilet with singles and doubles and they’re the only team without a triple.
Their success is 100% based on their pitching and it’s the key to how they win with such a one dimensional offense. If that falls apart, so do they.
April 20th, at 9:13 pm
It’s still early, and they just don’t inspire much confidence. Is Paul Maholm gonna stay this hot forever? Hell no. Tim Hudson’s ancient, Mike Minor got figured out three years ago, and Kris Medlen is… Kris Medlen. When they come back to earth, it won’t be pretty.
April 20th, at 9:20 pm
On a sidebar the Braves are NOT making the playoffs.
For how good their pitching is, the offense is what is going to let them down and tonight’s game against the Pirates is the perfect example.
So far through seven they’ve K’d 10 times while being kept in the yard by the stud combo of James McDonald/Tony Watson and when that happens they have no ability to do anything else.
Uggla, Heyward and Simmons aren’t hitting their weights, Chris Johnson is a scrub who’s early season production is not sustainable and what it boils down to is that if the Upton’s don’t make it happen the rest of the team pretty much sucks while they stand around with their thumbs up their ass.
April 22nd, at 9:36 am
The Royals are in 1st place in the AL Central.
But it won’t last with Hosmer and Moustakas stinking up the joint.
Atlanta lost 3 in a row. They’re now 12-5, 3 games ahead of the Nationals.
In case you missed it, Matt Harvey out-pitched Stephen Strasburg to start the season 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA.
The Blue Jays have allowed 100 runs on the season — 2nd most in the Majors behind Houston.
Milwaukee is the hottest team in baseball — having won 7 games in a row. They sit in 4th place in the tight NL Central, one game behind Cincinnati.
Chad Billingsley is on the DL with elbow pain and may require Tommy John surgery. While Billingsley isn’t a front-of-the-rotation pitcher, it would sting for the Dodgers to lose him after Greinke went down last week.
April 22nd, at 11:58 am
Happy 57th birthday, Moose Haas! Haas set the Brewers single-game strikeout record in 1978 with 14. It stood for 26 years until Ben Sheets struck out 18 against the Braves in 2004.
Happy 54th birthday, Terry Francona! Francona had a modest 9 year career as a player but achieved greater success as a manager, leading the Red Sox to 2 World Series championships and ending the curse of the Bambino. Oddly enough, as respected as Francona is, he never placed higher than 4th in Manager of the Year voting.
Happy 52nd birthday, Jimmy Key! Fifteen years, 186-117, 3.51 ERA and a terrific 1987, Key might not have been “elite” but certainly has a lot to be proud of in a solid career.
April 22nd, at 2:48 pm
Never getting my ass out of bed at four AM to do shit ever again… That said, enjoy.
http://www.wkbn.com/2013/04/22/washington-house/
April 22nd, at 7:53 pm
Right on, Cam…kick some ass.
April 22nd, at 7:53 pm
And FWIW..I get up at 3:30am four days a week.
April 22nd, at 8:17 pm
BTW, I’m not THAT big. I just sat at an angle that caught the camera flat-on and wore a shirt two sizes too big.
April 23rd, at 6:59 am
@124 – Old men getting up at 3:30 to go to the bathroom isn’t the same thing.
April 23rd, at 8:56 am
Chuck isn’t OLD old.
He’s “Cialis commercial” old.
April 23rd, at 10:06 am
Happy 36th birthday, Andruw Jones! Jones is currently playing out the final days of his career in Japan but there was a time when Jones was a great defensive player. I’ll personally never forget his 1st World Series game in 1996 when he hit 2 home runs. And everyone was like “Who is THIS guy?” In 2005, Jones would finish 2nd in the NL MVP voting after hitting 51 home runs. Unfortunately, he would be effectively finished as a regular player just two years later at the age of 30 — his final season with the Atlanta Braves.
Born today:
Warren Spahn. One of the greatest pitchers of the last century, Spahn didn’t really start his career until 1946 at the age of 26 following his service in the war — for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. From 1956 to 1961, Spahn reeled off 6 straight years of 20-win seasons. And led the league in Complete Games from ‘57-’63. His 363 wins ranks 6th all-time. Spahn is credited with what is probably the truest quote of the game: “Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.”
Dolph Camilli. Your 1941 NL MVP spent 12 years in the majors posting a very respectable .277/.388/.492 line, an adjusted OPS of 135 and 235 homers — quite good for a 1st baseman in those days. Camilli didn’t make his ML debut until he was 26 — having spent 8 years in the minors. I can’t understand why he languished down there for so long. A look at his minor league stats seems to show he was a solid player. While Camilli certainly wasn’t Lou Gehrig, you have to wonder if those wasted years down there cost him a shot at the HOF. He’d likely have been a fringe player as it is, but certainly would have made a stronger case.
April 23rd, at 10:47 am
Roger Clemens is scouting potential 1st round picks for the Astos. The Astos have narrowed it down to 4 guys, which should become 2 in the next 5 weeks.
1. Mark Appel
2. Jonathon Gray
3. Sean Manaea
4. kris Bryant
5. It will most likely be Appel or Gray.
6. Cameron, good job.
April 23rd, at 12:06 pm
They’re gonna take Appel, but frankly I don’t like either one of them all that much — certainly not at the dollars they are going to command.
Appel turned down the Pirates’ offer of 3.8 million last year and made up some garbage about wanting to return to Stanford to win the College World Series and finish his senior year. Yeah, right.
Appel has this weird arm slot that looks like it’s way out to the side, to the point where a lot of his pitches fly up-and-in to right-handed batters. This guy is destined for shoulder surgery. No doubt about it. It doesn’t even look natural, like Randy Johnson’s side arm delivery. That said, Appel is further ahead than Gray.
Gray is a flame thrower who is built like a refrigerator. He’s got the tools, but I don’t think he actually knows how to “pitch”. I’m no scout, but I look at this guy and see Joba Chamberlain. I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong, though.
April 23rd, at 12:20 pm
Felix Hernandez won his 100th career game last night in his 3rd attempt at it.
For those wondering if Felix will ever reach 300, it’s highly unlikely.
Maybe if he played for a team like the Yankees — hell, if he’d been on the Yankees all along he might have 120 wins by now. But the Mariners offer Felix notoriously-low run support and Felix would have to average something like 18 wins for the next dozen years to reach 300.
Not that 300 is necessary to validate a great career, which Felix seems destined for.
April 23rd, at 7:37 pm
300 isn’t necessary. Though 100 when you think about it is an accomplishment on its own when you consider how many pitchers MLB has had over the years who just wash right out. You stick around for 100, you may not be great, but you’re at least good enough to be an MLB pitcher, a rare feat.
April 23rd, at 10:38 pm
I don’t know how many pitchers there have been in ML history, but about 587 have reached 100 wins.
Jake Westbrook, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Ervin Santana and Bret Myers will all get there this year as well.
April 24th, at 10:29 am
Dylan Bundy will se Dr. James Andrews. Not good.
April 24th, at 10:31 am
Happy 46th birthday, Omar Vizquel! Vizquel is 12th all-time in Games Played. Not a hall of famer, but a very solid player for many years. Dependable glove man.
Happy 36th birthday, Carlos Beltran! This guy is going to be one interesting HOF case: .282/.360/.496, 306 stolen bases, good defender, 338 homers… I mean he is just good all around and with players like that, it’s hard to see the value because he isn’t exceptional in 1 thing. Fans and voters tend to notice the big stats. Beltran might best be described as a poor man’s Eddie Murray. Consistently good for many years, never a real candidate as the best player in the game, though.
Happy 41st birthday, Chipper Jones. Jones is a douche. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. Yippee.
April 24th, at 11:31 am
Also,
Mike Blowers is 48 years old today. I only remember Mike Blowers for being on the 1995 Seattle Mariners. And that made me look up that terrible ALDS Series.
To recap, the Yankees hadn’t been in the postseason in 14 years. They took a 2-0 lead in the 5-game series on their way to Seattle.
Seattle takes Game 3 with Randy Johnson going 7 innings, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 10. The Big Unit was dominating.
Yankees lead the series 2-1.
Game 4.
It was basically a sh*t show. The Mariners’ Chris Bosio lasts just 2 innings, allowing 5 runs to score. But the Yankees weren’t much better. Scott Kamieniecki 5 of his own runs in 5 innings.
So it’s a battle of the bullpens. Jeff Nelson steps in with 4 innings of shutout baseball for Seattle while Sterling Hitchcock and Bob Wickman each go 1 inning — Hitchcock giving up a solo shot to Griffey in the bottom of the 6th. That gave the Mariners a 6-5 lead.
Top of the 8th.
Tim Belcher pitching. Tony Fernandez grounds out to Short. Randy Velarde works a full count and gets walked. Seattle calls in Norm Charlton. Wade Boggs smacks a grounder up the middle for a single. 1st and 2nd, 1 out. Mariners lead 6-5. Bernie Williams hits a flyball to deep center. It’s caught, but Randy Velarde advances to 3rd. 1st and 3rd, two outs. Charlton then throws a wild pitch with Paul O’Neill at the plate. Velarde scores. Boggs to 2nd.
Game tied at 6.
O’Neill ends up walking but Charlton gets Ruben Sierra to strike out on a full count.
Bottom of the 8th.
Buck Showalter brings in his closer, John Wetteland to start the inning with the game tied — which is absolutely the right move to make. Unfortunately, it backfires. Wetteland walks the first hitter, Vince Coleman on 5 pitches. Coleman is 34 and I have to think Piniella wasn’t going to risk him getting thrown out so he has Joey Cora bunt. The bunt is successful AND Cora is on 1st. Griffey is up. I need to see how this went down, because we all know Griffey is left-handed and Wetteland is right-handed. Griffey being the power hitter that he was, he should have seen nothing but fastballs away. Somehow, Wetteland hits him.
Bases loaded.
Showalter decides to bring in Steve Howe. Now looking at it, this is where I disagree with Showalter’s decision. Wetteland is your closer. You gotta put your faith in him to step up. Tino Martinez is up for the Mariners and Howe is a lefty. I get it. But Howe was a shitty pitcher all season long, was 37 years old. Hadn’t pitched in the 3 games before this. He just isn’t the guy I would want in such a big situation.
Howe gets Tino to line out to left field. Then promptly gives up a grand slam to Jay Buhner. You can still hear Frank Costanza screaming about it today.
10-6. Game over.
Everyone remembers Game 5.
April 24th, at 12:51 pm
587 out of how many? Game’s been around since the 1870s.
April 24th, at 1:15 pm
I don’t know.
April 25th, at 8:43 am
Alfredo Aceves finally wore out his welcome in Boston.
April 25th, at 9:52 am
Boston has put up with quite a few d-bags over the years. But even I’m surprised Aceves lasted as long as he did. The arrogance that guy had, when he isn’t even that good…it’s incredible.
April 25th, at 12:49 pm
Born Today…
Happy 101st birthday, Connie Marrero! That’s not a misprint. He’s 101 years old. Marrero was a Cuban pitcher who made his MLB debut in 1950 at the age of 39. The following year he was an All-Star, and the year after that he finished his age-41 season with 184 innings, 175 hits allowed and a 2.88 ERA for the Senators.
Happy 69th birthday Lew Krausse Jr! Junior had about as non-descript a career as you could have for a guy who lasted 12 years. 68-91 with a 4.00 ERA, he was apparently a heck of a talent, signing for a $125,000 bonus with the Athletics as an amateur. Then again, Krausse Jr was signed by Lew Krausse Senior — his father — who himself played in the Majors in 1931 and 1932. Is it cronyism when you’re family?
Happy 54th birthday, Tony Phillips! Phillips might be a sabermatrician’s wet dream. If you aren’t going to hit much (he managed .266 for his career) you should get on base. And Phillips did that well for a man with little power at the plate, having posted a career on-base percentage of .374. Eighteen years and a World Series Championship with the Athletics, he had a great career. The 10th pick of the 1978 draft (which was headed by Joe Isaacs, Ronald Pisel and Eddie Rodriguez), Phillips was the only guy who amounted to anything, really. He also became the 1st Athletics player to hit for the cycle in 1986. In 1997 he was arrested for crack-cocaine possession. I wonder what happened to him after baseball.
Happy 29th birthday, Robert Andino! In November you were traded for Trayvon Robinson. The Mariners then cut you and signed you a day later. So far in 2013, you’re hitting .176 off the bench. Meanwhile, Robinson is languishing on the farm in his ninth (9TH!!!) minor league season. Speaking of Baltimore, do you know who their two catchers are this year? Matt Wieters and Taylor Teagarden. I bet those two catchers can out-slug any other two catchers in a Home Run contest.
Happy 26th birthday, Danny Espinosa! Here’s the good news: you only have 10 strikeouts on the season thusfar. Here’s the bad news: you only have 9 hits on the season thusfar. I wonder how long this Espinosa thing is gonna last with Rendon and Lombardozzi on the roster now.
April 25th, at 3:36 pm
“Is it cronyism when you’re family?”
No, it’s nepotism.
April 25th, at 8:25 pm
Having some computer issues of late, can’t post, have three or four showing needing moderation with no links or anything.
April 26th, at 1:51 am
“In 1997 he was arrested for crack-cocaine possession. I wonder what happened to him after baseball.”
After baseball?
Shit, he never left.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/03/28/53-year-old-tony-phillips-to-try-out-for-independent-baseball-team/
April 26th, at 8:14 am
The Yanks have decided to jump off the wagon and not attempt to get under the luxury tax threshold. Its a hard to save money when you’ve committed millions to a bunch of aging, injured and declining players.
April 26th, at 9:34 am
At least one position is deep… http://www.theonion.com/articles/yankees-disabled-list-absolutely-stacked,32100/
April 26th, at 9:42 am
Well who are they acquiring that makes everyone think they won’t go under the threshold?
April 26th, at 10:44 am
Uh… Who’s the biggest FA this year? It’ll be that guy.
April 26th, at 10:47 am
Just checked the list, 2014’s big FA is Cano, so… Josh Johnson?
April 26th, at 11:09 am
The Yankees aren’t going after Josh Johnson.
Johnson isn’t 97-99 anymore.
He’s getting rocked in the early going this year (28 hits in 19.2 innings) and he will be 30 years old in January. Unless he signs for 3/44, forget it.
As for Cano…I really hope the Yankees don’t bring him back. It’s not a personal thing against Cano. He’s great. But he’s already peaked. Take a look around the league. How do you think those Pujols and Hamilton contracts are gonna look in 3 years?
And there’s this beauty from The Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/yankees-disabled-list-absolutely-stacked,32100/
April 26th, at 11:41 am
@148- I think it’s a matter of simple math when you figure what they owe CC, Tex, A-Rod, Ichiro plus a few million to Jeter whether he picks up his option or not, the assumed Brinks trucks to Cano along with arbitration to Robertson and Gardner and that puts them around around 130 for 1/3 of a team.
Add in medical and support costs and their tax cap figure is about 140 for ‘14 as of now.
I can’t see them staying under next year with their shit farm system, a mountain of roster holes and less than 50 million to spend for 2/3 of a roster unless they want to tank the team and kill the image of their brand.
April 26th, at 12:01 pm
At least with the Jeter injury, I can finally stop reading silly posts about Jeter having a shot at breaking Pete Rose’s hits record.
April 26th, at 3:13 pm
No. But you can read silly posts where Jeter thinks he will be worth his salary next year and compells the Yanks to pay him.
April 26th, at 3:25 pm
Jeter doesn’t have to compel anyone to do anything because he alone controls the option for next year. If he plays he gets eight and if he walks he gets three.
April 26th, at 3:34 pm
Touche
April 26th, at 4:05 pm
He should walk.
His range was already limited and it’s going to get worse coming back from an ankle injury at 40 years old or whatever he is.
He won’t though. He’ll come back and announce it’s his final year next Spring or something so he can get that farewell tour everywhere he plays. Quiet as he is, Jeter is as vain as they come.
April 26th, at 4:20 pm
In other words, Carly Simon was singing about him!!!
April 26th, at 4:47 pm
How old is Carly Simon?
Jeter’s always had a thing about dating young women…
April 26th, at 4:48 pm
Not that it’s a bad thing.
It’s better than dating Madonna 20 years after her prime.
Or Cameron Diaz 10 years after hers.
A-Rod is a sap.
April 26th, at 5:05 pm
I’ve always thought Jeter was a paradox. On one hand, he’s a very nice guy and is active in the community and charity work. …On the other hand, he knows who he is and realizes he can get away with being a smug jagoff and no one will care because “Hey, he’s Derek Jeter. He’s so nice.”
He also has the league’s most punchable face with that little smug smirk of his…
April 26th, at 8:19 pm
“The Yanks have decided to jump off the wagon and not attempt to get under the luxury tax threshold.”
They need to cut about $40 million to get under the cap. If ARod can’t come back, or if they make him a Godfather offer, that’s about $18 million right there.
Either Granderson or Cano is gone after this year, so there’s another $15-18.
Most of their payroll is tied up by a half dozen guys, if three of them leave…problem solved.
April 26th, at 8:22 pm
“Or Cameron Diaz 10 years after hers.”
Cameron Diaz never had a prime.
Plus she’s ugly.
I wouldn’t fuck her with Felber’s dick.
April 26th, at 8:48 pm
Wait, he has that? (Love ya Mike.
)
April 26th, at 11:01 pm
I can’t even begin to tell you how good Didi Gregorius is defensively, and he can (or will) hit.
The Dbacks gave up on a kid with a bad attitude for a Gold Glove shortstop who, you know, plays more than 30 games a season.
Was the trade even a question?
The correct answer is no.
April 27th, at 12:52 am
@161- If Jeter plays next year and they resign Cano for around $20 per, fair assumptions, they’re at 150 to nine guys. I can’t imagine a way to fill out 16 roster spots for less than $40 million dollars when they’ll be starting next season without a closer and without 3/5 of a rotation.
I know Cashman likes to work the fringes but seriously, good luck with that.
April 27th, at 2:25 pm
” I can’t imagine a way to fill out 16 roster spots for less than $40 million dollars”
Miami and Houston…..
April 27th, at 3:43 pm
The difference is that Miami and Houston are currently tanking their franchises on purpose and obviously do not have the brand status that the Yankees have.
There’s no way Hank and Hal are going down the same road.
April 28th, at 12:18 pm
As it is now the Yanks have most of their payroll tied up in a half dozen or so guys..they could easily hack $40 million off with the same breakdown.
And I don’t see them adding any payroll either, so if Boras/Cano think they’re getting $100 million, they can forget it.
April 28th, at 1:09 pm
You mean Jay-Z /Cano.
April 28th, at 5:50 pm
Actually Jay-Z is just a public figure for CSA. They still have actual agents.
April 28th, at 7:17 pm
“As it is now the Yanks have most of their payroll tied up in a half dozen or so guys..they could easily hack $40 million off with the same breakdown.”
It’s not a matter Chuck of hacking off $40 million.
After they overpay Cano they’re committed to $150 million for nine guys of which three are going to be irrelevant deadweight. (A-Rod, Jeter, Ichiro)
How are they realisitically going to spend less than $40 million to stay under 189 when they’ll have 16 roster spaces open with dick in the farm system, no closer and 3/5 of their rotation being a question mark.
You’re right that they COULD do it, but in doing so they’ll draw like the Rays while playing like the Jays.
Jeff Passan wrote an awesome article a few days ago explaining the Yankees financial motivations in regards to luxury tax rebates that could have netted them $45+ million from ‘14-’16 and why those rebates will not be anywhere near what they initially thought.
Hank and Hal are not tanking a multi-Billion dollar brand over a few million.
Not happening.
April 28th, at 9:25 pm
Quarter of a season down, still in first place. Go KC.
April 28th, at 9:25 pm
In an extended spring training game, John Lackey completed 6 innings giving up 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1. Lackey gave up one ER. His outing against the quad A Houston Astros raises hopes that he can contribute as a back of the rotation starter.
April 28th, at 9:37 pm
@172, unless this season is 100 games long, we’re not at the 1/4 point yet.
April 28th, at 10:07 pm
Wait… *facepalm* Brain’s been fried. Long weekend.
April 29th, at 10:07 am
John Lackey.
How come nobody talks about what a horrendous contract that was?
83 million. 27-24 with a 5.19 ERA, 1.497 WHIP and he missed all of 2012.
This is about as horrible a deal as there has been in the last 20 years.
April 29th, at 10:16 am
Because he owes them a 6th year at the league minimum. It was a provision the Sox put in in case he missed a year due to injury.
April 29th, at 8:57 pm
Ken Harrelson embarrassing Brian Kenny on MLBNetwork
Watch Kenny towards the end, how he stamps his feet and shakes his arms like a little kid…
http://chicagoist.com/2013/04/26/hawk_harrelson_brian_kenny_debate_s.php
April 30th, at 6:49 am
So, uh… It’s all over the sports news, regardless of sport. So, I gotta ask…
Jason Collins. Thoughts?
April 30th, at 9:07 am
Good for Jason Collins.
Living in fear must be very difficult. That he no longer needs to hide that part of his life has to be a tremendous relief.
April 30th, at 10:30 am
Ditto 180. Also, who gives a shit who we want to have sex with? Longing for the day when this is no longer newsworthy.
April 30th, at 10:59 am
Bryce Harper has started the 2013 season with a bang: .356/.437/.744 with 9 homers. He had 22 all of last season.
Has Chris Davis finally put it all together? The Orioles’ 1st baseman is hitting .352/.444/.750 while leading the league in homers and rbi.
The Mets traded RA Dickey to Toronto and in the trade received John Buck. Buck is leading the National League in RBI. Dickey is 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA. To be fair to Dickey, he has been better over his last few starts.
Who is the hottest pitcher in baseball right now? Clay Buchholz? Matt Moore? Matt Harvey? Jake Westbrook?
Look out in Cleveland. Before a devastating season-ending injury in his rookie year, Carlos Santana was a hitting machine. This year he’s caught fire, going .386/.456/.686 in April.
It’s a long season, but I think Artie Moreno may wonder about his decision to sign Josh Hamilton instead of Torii Hunter. Let’s hope Hamilton can get going and put up the MVP-type numbers everyone knows he is capable of.
April 30th, at 11:12 am
Inauspicious start for the Royals’ Bubba Starling. In A-ball, he’s hitting .195/.263/.379 with 4 homers, but 32 strikeouts in 24 games.
April 30th, at 11:16 am
Before yesterday, I never heard of Jason Collins.
If Kevin Durant comes out today, then it’s a story.
April 30th, at 11:20 am
I remember Collins from his time with the New Jersey Nets.
April 30th, at 12:47 pm
While society in general is probably a little more understanding in this area, the social media reaction would make coming out intolerable, IMO.
I’d bet most of Collins’ teammates knew, or at least suspected, locker rooms are sanctuaries and secretive and being there was probably a safe-haven for him.
Twitter and Facebook and stuff like that are breeding grounds for assholes, and the ignorance and arrogance would never end.
We never see Jeter on the front page of the Post coming out of a club at 3 am with some skank because he doesn’t want us to.
Like Bob said, it shouldn’t matter any more who Collins brings home than Jeter.
But, that’s life.
April 30th, at 12:56 pm
Josh Hamilton’s first 25 games with Angels: .202/.246/.298
Albert Pujols’ first 25 games with Angels: .208/.252/.287
April 30th, at 1:07 pm
Great comparison, Chuck.
I hadn’t thought about it. Hopefully Hamilton can get hot the way Pujols did last May.
April 30th, at 1:10 pm
Side bar…
It didn’t occur to me until now that Jeff and Beau Bridges are the sons of the late actor Lloyd Bridges.
The Big Lebowski and Airplane! are two of my favorite comedies.
April 30th, at 3:15 pm
Lloyd Bridges starred in a show called “Sea Hunt” when I was a kid…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPKoWNNDskE&playnext=1&list=PL973421E0CA1B4A93&feature=results_main
April 30th, at 6:04 pm
Stanton is on the DL. Will the Marlins draw 100 fans? And if so, how stupid are they?
April 30th, at 6:15 pm
re: Jason Collins
It’s amazing how tough it is to be gay in sports such that (I believe) zero active athletes in the four major sports have ever come out while playing.
A couple years ago, with the debate over the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the military, a lot of people (yes, Raul, Republicans) were thinking that it would cause this major morale problem that we would, like, refuse to fight alongside gays.
Turns out we couldn’t give less of a shit if the person we’re fighting alongside likes dudes or chicks. That’s the prevailing opinion, as far as I’ve seen. Can’t just casually call people “fag” as much but that seems like a small price to pay for folks to live their lives openly.
In sports, though, it’s this major taboo, even as society has evolved on the matter. Presumably, there’s about 1-2 players (on average) on every team who is gay. I certainly hope that, in the future, comments like those made by Torii Hunter this winter become extinct.
April 30th, at 6:19 pm
John, are you in New York state now?
April 30th, at 6:22 pm
I am indeed, for 5 months then out to the boat. Up in Saratoga Springs
April 30th, at 6:26 pm
Okay. May 18th, rain or shine I will come to NY and have a drink with you and Raul,(and Mike if he so desires.) I will take the train to Penn Station and we should let Raul pick the spot as he knows NYC better than I/we do. Sound cool?
April 30th, at 6:32 pm
I’ll be working that day, unfortunately. I’ll let you know when I do make my way to the city.
April 30th, at 6:44 pm
Just not Memorial Day weekend and June 8th and 9th. Prior commitments.
April 30th, at 7:00 pm
I don’t know the city THAT well but I can meet just about anywhere, depending on the time.
May 1st, at 8:53 am
Roy Halladay drops to 2-3 with a 6.75 ERA after allowing 8 earned runs in 3.2 innings yesterday. Cleveland homered 7 times in the game to win 14-2.
Tim Hudson got career victory #200 against the Nationals. Suspected PED user Gio Gonzalez closes out the month of April with a 5.34 ERA.
Yankee pinstripes seem to have reinvigorated Travis Hafner. Three more RBI last night as the Yankees win 7-4 over the Astros. Hafner is batting .318/.438/.667. For the Astros, Jose Altuve continues to hit, adding 2 more for an average of .330 on the season.
Grade A Jerk Carlos Quentin led the Padres to a 13-7 victory over the Cubs. Edwin Jackson allowed 8 runs in 4.2 innings. How long until the Cubs are a good baseball team??
Rickie Weeks homers the Brewers by the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen gets 4 hits break out of his early season slump. Pedro Alvarez is hitting .180. Ryan Braun is quietly putting up the same numbers he always has. I wonder how long this Jean Segura monster start is going to last??
James Shields gives the Rays a little taste of what they are missing, going 7 innings, striking out 7 enroute to a Royals 8-2 victory. Hosmer and Moose still have to do better. With Tampa, it’s just a matter of time before Wil Myers shows up. James Loney (of all people!) has been hot lately. It might be time to pull the leash on Yunel Escobar.
Chuck says Sandoval needs Tommy John surgery. Well, Kung Fu Panda homered last night to give the Giants a 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks. It as a good pitching duel between Madison Bumgarner and Trevor Cahill.
The Orioles beat the Mariners behind the hot-hitting Nate McLouth who homered and is up to .346 on the season. Jason Hammel is 4-1.
May 1st, at 7:58 pm
“Chuck says Sandoval needs Tommy John surgery”
By the looks of him, Sandoval ate Tommy John.
May 2nd, at 4:19 pm
The Padres are going to make an offer to Chase Headley.
May 2nd, at 4:43 pm
Chase Headley
2010 (age 26): .264/.327/.375, OPS .702
2011 (age 27): .289/.374/.399, OPS .773
2012 (age 28): .286/.376/.498, OPS .875
2013 (age 29): .280/.373/.540, OPS .913
It seems like he turned a corner in 2010 in terms of making contact. Over the last few years, he’s showing improved power.
Absolutely the Padres should try to keep Headley. Question is, how much do you want to invest in a 30 year old player?
I think they should go right around 5 years.
Money? Well, it is the Padres. At around 17 million per season, that pays him 8 million more than anyone else on the team. 17 times 5 = 85 million.
That’s what I’m going with. 5/85M.
May 2nd, at 5:28 pm
I’ll go with 5/60 to open, and that still feels rich. I say real worth is 5/50. He’s good, but not star value.
May 2nd, at 5:38 pm
Gut just told me 5/40. Head says he’s a poor man’s Scott Rolen.
May 2nd, at 6:11 pm
No way will 5/40 occur. 6/110
May 2nd, at 8:29 pm
Shaun Payne blocked me on Twitter…no shit.
Apparently, when you follow someone, and they decide to get a divorce, their account no longer shows under your “follows”, so I went to his profile and clicked on his user name, “Your account has been blocked from following this user at their request”.
In case you didn’t know, Keith Law stole Shaun’s idea of having your best hitter hit second from that he stole from someone else, and I was going to actually “defend” him.
What a sad human being, 37 years old and he’s worried about his Twitter account.
That was good.
May 2nd, at 8:36 pm
If the archives were still around, you could go back and check and see who it was that said Headley would be a star.
That said, the Padres are cheap, and won’t go more than four years tops, I say 4/55 or so.
Personally, I hope Don Corleone Cashman makes them an offer they can’t refuse, which shouldn’t be too difficult considering the Padres’ GM is Josh Byrnes.
May 2nd, at 8:52 pm
Wow, my salary negotiations are lower than Chuck’s. Fuck me.
May 3rd, at 7:55 am
Is that supposed to be a compliment, Cam?
May 3rd, at 10:20 am
Shaun Payne is 37 years old?
I’m…actually shocked. Because his behavior had me thinking he was a lot younger. Like 23.
May 3rd, at 10:22 am
It’s actually kind of impressive @ 208 & 209…
Chuck is from the Northeast. Cam is from the Midwest. And the wrong guy jewed down the wrong guy.
I mean, 5/40 million, Cam? Headley’s already making 8 million a year.
May 3rd, at 10:37 am
The Rockies signed Oswalt to a minor-league deal.
May 3rd, at 10:40 am
Jack Morris said Buchholz threw spitters 2 nights ago against the Jays.
May 3rd, at 10:55 am
Dennis Eckersley told Morris to “Zip it”. Ah, baseball is back .
May 3rd, at 11:13 am
Oh really Raul? That I did not know.
May 3rd, at 11:18 am
“I’m…actually shocked. Because his behavior had me thinking he was a lot younger. Like 23.”
Typo. 13
May 3rd, at 12:03 pm
Guy accuses someone of cheating. The player denies it.
Really, what’s the story here? It’s standard operating procedure.
May 3rd, at 4:00 pm
So there was this Twitter prank that the Dolphins signed Tim Tebow. That freaked some Dolphin fans.
May 3rd, at 4:16 pm
Glad they didn’t sign Tebow. He’s a bad quarterback and a huge distraction.
What the Dolphins need to do is strengthen their defense and get some better WR/QB production.
Tannehill finished 12th out of 17 qualifiers in the AFC in passer rating, just in line with Andrew Luck. But Luck threw for 1,000 more yards and doubled Tannehill’s TD output.
Miami will never compete if they can’t throw the football down the field. The NFL has been a QB-driven league for decades now but with the rule changes in the last few years favoring QBs and offenses, it’s open season on defenses. Air it out all day.
I just hope the Dolphins abandon those silly wildcat and trick play packages that Sparano put in during his reign.
May 3rd, at 4:18 pm
And the early reports on Geno Smith are all bad.
This guy is a prima donna who doesn’t study hard, doesn’t work hard, doesn’t command the respect of his teammates and apparently was checking his twitter account during pre-draft interviews.
Jets better start scouting quarterbacks for 2014.
May 3rd, at 4:43 pm
Here you go, Raul..something for you to read while your sitting around polishing up your Bruno’s..
May 3rd, at 5:54 pm
Darowski needs to get a life.
Re: Morris – Buchholz. Jay’s suck hired ex-ballplayer, flunky is sent out to cause a diversion.
Unless my eyes deceived me, a graphic that I saw during last nights game, had the Jays with a line up in which no hitter was over .250. They are an all or nothing line up, hit a home run or make an out. Plus they may be the worst defensive team in baseball.
May 3rd, at 6:21 pm
I saw the pictures of Buchholz on TV..didn’t look like anything to me other than sweat..pitchers sometimes use baby oil but that’s borderline so if they do have it somewhere it won’t be where 55,000 people can see it.
Water + powder = paste.
Rosin is a powder.
Do the math.
May 3rd, at 7:30 pm
I read the headline and I’m fucking angry. So I’m not going to read that shit right now.
Maybe at 2am when I’ve got nothing to do.
Holy fucking shit though. Sabermetrics of Little League. I should punch his fucking mouth loose.
May 4th, at 12:58 pm
The life story of Doc Gooden’s cat.
http://imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/coke_cat_freak.jpg
May 4th, at 4:11 pm
Went to the ASU/Stanford game last night to see Mark Appel.
He’s good, but he’s no Strasburg or Bauer or Bundy.
Second tier guy, maybe a ML number three, two depending on where he goes.
Jed Hoyer was there with an entourage of Cubs’ scouts, leading to believe they’ll draft him and turn him into the next Mark Prior.
May 4th, at 4:22 pm
A reach pick, hurt, and out of the league in a few years?
May 5th, at 11:27 am
May 5th, at 1:03 pm
So that means Houston drafts Gray, or someone else?
May 6th, at 8:01 am
Never thought Houston would take Appel anyway…I’m going with Kris Bryant.
May 6th, at 8:27 am
If they didn’t take him last year, why take him this year?
May 6th, at 9:38 am
Because this year he’s going to sign.
Last year everyone knew there was a good chance he’d return to college.
May 6th, at 3:18 pm
You never know, could be Matt Harrington part two.
May 6th, at 3:28 pm
No way will Appel end up at Best Buy with Stanford behind him.
May 6th, at 3:44 pm
Appel’s father is a millionaire who owns a few successful companies..he insisted Appel get his degree in order to at some point take over the family business interests.
That’s why he went back to Stanford..it had nothing to do with Houston or Pittsburgh or anything else.
He wanted to try again for a college WS and to get his degree.
No problem with that.
May 6th, at 3:53 pm
Frankly, I’m not sure I’d want a player on my team who has got one foot in the MLB door, and the other in his family’s businesses.
Baseball is hard enough without splitting your focus on external issues.
BTW, I always confuse Matt Harrington with Bryan Bullington.
May 6th, at 4:27 pm
Roy Halladay is on the 15-day Dl.
May 6th, at 4:37 pm
So much for those Roy Halladay HOF discussions.
This guy could be finished.
May 6th, at 5:09 pm
@234
Worse, he works at Costco.
May 6th, at 10:19 pm
Conor Glassey said this way better than I did.
Suppose I just should have waited three weeks and copied his.
May 6th, at 10:38 pm
Wow.
Chuck probably said “Amen” a thousand fucking times while reading that Glassey article.
May 7th, at 7:11 am
To take Conor one step further, most of these bloggers and wannabe scouts are also faux journalists. They’re simply the guy who you regret sitting next to when you wander into an unfamiliar bar.
May 7th, at 9:36 am
I agree, Jim.
LOL. I had one of those irritating Yankees fans drone on to me about MLB trivia when I walked into an Applebees towards the end of last season. But I guess that’s what I deserve for walking into an Applebees. I mean you could tell this guy has Mike Francesa on speed dial. I had to listen about how Ivan Nova is gonna be great in 2013 because he just needs “more seasoning”.
As if Ivan Nova was a chicken thigh.
May 7th, at 9:43 am
“But I guess that’s what I deserve for walking into an Applebees.” LOL
May 7th, at 10:48 am
The draft is a month away.
May 7th, at 11:21 am
I haven’t heard much outside of the top 2 slots.
Is this going to be a strong draft? The lack of chatter makes me think this is going to be one of those drafts where we find the true talent comes in those 4th and 5th rounders.
May 7th, at 12:52 pm
The top 10 is decent. After that it is about normal from what I have read. Alot depends on someone like Austin Wilson
May 7th, at 1:16 pm
This year’s draft reminds me of 2008..minus the over-achieving Buster Posey.
A lot of corner infield/outfield types, strong HS catching, no pitching at all, especially college pitching.
I have Wilson going to the Mets at #11, although he could go higher.
May 7th, at 1:32 pm
I had Wilson to the Tigers at one time.
May 8th, at 9:16 am
Thoughts and prayers to J.A. Happ. He is in stable condition.
May 8th, at 9:31 am
Scary stuff for sure, Bob.
I often wonder how hard it is on the hitters, as well.
It’s tough to see a pitcher go down like that.
May 8th, at 9:43 am
Jennings was shaking up.
May 8th, at 12:51 pm
Shin-Soo Choo and Devin Mesoraco both homered in the bottom of the 9th inning last night off Craig Kimbrel to give the Reds a 5-4 victory over the Braves. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but think of Rocky 4, when Rocky cuts Ivan Drago and his trainer is screaming at him “You see?! You see?! He’s NOT A MACHINE! He’s a man!” Hahaha.
The loss drops the Braves to 19-13, still good enough to remain 2 games ahead of the Nationals in the NL East, but a little less impressive considering their 12-1 start.
Probably the most surprising team thus far has to be the Toronto Blue Jays, who sit in last place in the AL East after trading for almost every Miami Marlin.
Even more disgusting, the LA Dodgers sit in last place in the NL West…looking up at the San Diego Padres. The Padres’ Carlos Quentin took out the Dodgers’ major offseason acquisition, Zack Greinke, in a brawl on April 11th. Manager Don Mattingly reported that Greinke is progressing quickly, throwing 60 pitches yesterday and touching 90 mph.
May 8th, at 1:47 pm
I say the most surprising team so far is the 17-12 (and atm, wildcard) KC Royals. The fuck is going on?
May 8th, at 2:50 pm
The Royals should be better than their record shows, but then again, maybe not. They’re a difficult team to explain.
The offense is being carried by Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Lorenzo Cain. You can expect Cain to get worse. But Moustakas has been terrible and should perform better as the season goes on. And while Hosmer hasn’t suffered the same poor start he did last season, he has yet to show power. So there is some potentially good news there.
Jeff Francoeur, while a fan favorite, isn’t giving the Royals any reason to be happy that they traded Wil Myers away. Frenchy is hitting .234/.274/.336 and needs to show something soon or his days as a Major Leaguer are numbered.
On the other hand, Big Game James Shields HAS given the Royals what they expected: 2-2, 2.52 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 50 innings.
Shields has a solid track record and his early success could last throughout the season.
What won’t last is Ervin Santana with a 2.36 ERA.
It’s hard to pay too much attention to a 5th starter, especially in Kansas City, but it might be long before the Royals look for Luis Mendoza’s replacement. Mendoza has been outright horrendous. You wonder if Chris Dwyer out in AAA ever gets a look. It might be too early for Yordano Ventura out in AA, though Ventura is sizzling: 3-0, 1.84 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 29 innings. Baseball America had the kid #85 in their prospect rankings for the season.
May 8th, at 2:56 pm
*might not be long, regarding Mendoza.
May 9th, at 8:57 pm
I picked the Royals to finish second.
I don’t know if that’s me being smarter than the average bear, or too much trust in the consulting services of Don Q, but whatever.
May 10th, at 9:37 am
LOL
I had some Don Q a few times. It’s good. Some of my coworkers have brought me back bottles during business trips to PR.
May 10th, at 11:30 am
Well obviously you can’t bring back something DURING a trip. I meant to say after trips to PR.
I guess that’s like being a self-regulating grammar nazi.
May 11th, at 3:08 am
Hi guys! I have been MIA due to working most of the time on my 5th annual free HK: ArtiST Festival for Hell’s Kitchen. Thanks for the invite, but 5/18 is right in the middle of my free weekend!
But please feel free to join us! Noon-6Pm there are ~ 150 venues on a map you get at Artists in the Kitchen dot org. Meet them in home, studios, largely works I match to businesses, street theater: all during the 2 daaaze of the 40th annual 9th Avenue International Food Festival, several 100,000 & they shut down 15 blocks.
Want to met for a drink Saturday 5/18? The 2nd of 3 6 PM-4 AM parties is at The Playwright Tavern, the one at 732 8th Avenue (45-46th Street), next to where I met Cornell West before last year’s party there. Now they have 4 floors built out + a thatched Irish Cottage designed open air area on the roof. Like the other parties, I schedule constant performances.
Nice video Cam! Recall I invited folks around NYC to my Magazine launch party 3-1. We are shortly to be on 100’s of newsstands & bookstores. Well see our new Promo Video for the ‘13 festival, & much footage is FROM that Empire State Building Bar event! I am briefly seen in a couple of shots & do late video short voice overs. I micro-managed what I could, text, script, choice of Delta blues song w/matching Kitchen theme…
Put together when I had all Empire Room footage shipped to a guy in Missouri!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI45CbvIjUM
May 11th, at 6:52 pm
You can buy Don Q in the states now..
May 13th, at 10:05 am
The Cubs extended Anthony Rizzo through 2019. Good deal for the Cubs.
May 13th, at 1:07 pm
Barry Zito is 35 today, and in the final year of his contract with San Francisco.
With a career record of 163-133 and an ERA of 3.91, there isn’t anything super about him.
However Zito does boast a respectable K/9 rate of 6.6 and has allowed 2,235 hits over 2,475 innings. So he wasn’t getting crushed over the course of his career.
Unfortunately, he walks about 86 batters a season — a very high number.
Zito was known for his curveball and I wonder if some of his struggles are with pitch selection. A guy with that many walks almost certainly has to be missing the zone often with breaking pitches.
I don’t know if any database exists that shows what pitchers throw and what percentage of the time they throw them. I’m sure Elias has it, but I haven’t seen anything that is public.
Also, do catchers matter?
Ramon Hernandez has caught Zito the most…93 games. And Zito has a 2.94 ERA with Hernandez behind the plate.
Next is Bengie Molina with 84 games. Zito has a 4.54 ERA with him.
Then Jason Kendall with 64 games. Zito has a 3.92 ERA with him.
May 13th, at 1:49 pm
Ex Detroit Lion wide receiver Titus Young has been arrested 3 times in one week. Though his future is still better than the city of Detroit!!!
May 13th, at 2:19 pm
LOL @ Bob
Detroit is a dump. I used to ask how they even fielded successful teams over the last decade like the Red Wings and lately, the Tigers. But people tell me that most of their fans drive in from nicer towns outside Detroit.
May 13th, at 2:31 pm
Detroit is now a bankrupt town. Illitch, however is fantastic
May 13th, at 6:27 pm
1. The Mets signed Rick Ankiel.
2. Go Bruins.
May 13th, at 6:50 pm
Interesting note in the RS press this AM. Jacoby Elsbury has gone 139 AB w/o a HR and has one for the season to go along with 0.636 OPS and for you stat heads an OPS+ of 81. This in his walk year.
During his nice run in 2011, I wondered if PED had something to do with it, likely HGH. This season he looks like the player of 2009 w/improved defense.
May 14th, at 11:49 am
Say anything you want about Bud Selig, but there were two NHL playoff Game 7’s last night and neither were nationally televised, not even on their own channel. Bettman’s a douche.
Rangers haven’t played the Bruins in the playoffs since 1973, Rangers won 4-1 in the first round.
May 14th, at 11:52 am
If you look up “career year” in the dictionary, you’ll see Ellsbury’s picture.
He sucks.
Worst player ever with a 30 HR season.
May 14th, at 12:54 pm
Bettman is a douche. That said I have 2 6-pack bets on this upcoming series.
May 14th, at 1:05 pm
That Rangers game was a joy. Mostly because they piled it on and were all over the Capitals.
The Bruins game was one of those “it aint over til it’s over” games.
May 14th, at 2:37 pm
I live in Arizona, it’s easier to find someone to bet on the weather than on hockey.
Phoenix Coyotes?
I saw a couple at the golf course on Saturday.
May 14th, at 3:03 pm
I didn’t know the hockey games weren’t televised nationally.
That’s a disgrace.
May 14th, at 3:20 pm
The first round was not. From here it will be, I believe.
May 14th, at 3:26 pm
Chuck Muncie passed away at age 60. R.I.P.
May 14th, at 3:40 pm
I don’t have a problem with local broadcasts from the perspective that I like some of the local broadcasters in certain cities.
A Knicks game isn’t a Knicks game for me without Walt Clyde Frazier and his vocabulary.
I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way in Los Angeles when the Dodgers are televised nationally and have to endure Joe Buck rather than have Vin Scully.
But you could still do nationally televised games with the local broadcasters.
The idea that most of the country wasn’t able to see that amazing Bruins comeback last night and were watching some crappy sitcom on CBS instead is pathetic.
May 14th, at 3:43 pm
Sucks about Muncie.
I heard the name but I don’t know much about him.
Only 60 years old.
May 14th, at 5:57 pm
@275- What’s so disgraceful about it?
Hockey overall is unwatchable on TV and the ratings, or lack of, have more then spoken over the last twenty years as to the lack of interest in the sport as a televised product.
Hockey as a whole compared to what it was in the ’70’s and ’80s is irrelevant (like tennis) as a national sport. Too many playoff teams/too many rounds of playoffs to be matter. That’s why nothing before the conference semi-finals is on a network that you can find in under 30 minutes.
May 14th, at 5:59 pm
Raul called it a disgrace, not me. And I know the ratings for hocley suck in this country. I just prefer the sport to basketball, which outside of March I avoid.
May 14th, at 6:28 pm
I’m not sure if Lefty is right or wrong here.
On the one hand, I could ask what he knows about hockey being watchable. He’s a Phillies fan. He’s been watching terrible sports for years.
On the other hand, he’s a Phillies fan. He’s been watching terrible sports for years. Maybe he knows shit when he sees it.
May 14th, at 6:35 pm
The point being that Game 7’s are called the most exciting words in playoffs, and people were relegated to bullshit sitcomes instead of these contests. For hockey to gain an audience bigger than it has, they need to air these games on network tv.
Last night, they did not. Hence the thought that Bettman is a douche.
May 14th, at 7:51 pm
Wow, Chuck Muncie..RIP..
“A Knicks game isn’t a Knicks game for me without Walt Clyde Frazier and his vocabulary.”
A Knicks game isn’t a Knicks game for me without Walt Clyde Frazier playing.
Five years ago, the NHL had a national TV deal with ESPN. They then thought it was a good idea to cancel a season, then found themselves on Versus, an irrelevant channel known for picking up shows no one else wanted.
For the next four seasons, they managed to re-build their brand almost to the point where they were relevant again..nationally televised games on weekends, the Winter Classic, etc.
Then, they again decided cancelling part of a season was a good thing. Cooler heads prevailed and they salvaged half the year and played a schedule with rivalries and conference play intact.
Then, instead of giving free rights to CNBC or Fox for the playoffs, they play hardball and can’t bet on any network, not even their own because the major channels invoked black-out rules.
No excuse.
May 15th, at 12:03 am
“The point being that Game 7’s are called the most exciting words in playoffs, and people were relegated to bullshit sitcomes instead of these contests. For hockey to gain an audience bigger than it has, they need to air these games on network tv.”
Part of why that didn’t happen is because Bettman is a douche and part of it is because networks want to make money when they broadcast things and it’s hard to sell ad time to a sport that no one is watching.
The other thing is simply that it’s game 7 in the first round with like 28 more rounds to go with 90% of the league still “in the hunt”. Who cares? Like I said earlier, too many teams with too many rounds of playoffs.
May 15th, at 12:09 am
“On the one hand, I could ask what he knows about hockey being watchable.”
I only know what I see in terms of ratings and TV contract dollars and both scream irrelevant and unwatchable. Personally I think hockey is a silly and stupid sport and I have not watched a game on TV or in person in fifteen years so I’m not qualified to comment about it in anything other than the most broad sense.
May 15th, at 1:29 am
“On the other hand, he’s a Phillies fan. He’s been watching terrible sports for years. Maybe he knows shit when he sees it.”
Ahem… He at least remembers what a winning season looks like. Royals fan here. That said about hockey… Been meaning to get into it, but it’s hard without a home team. I’m a few hours away from Columbus, but the Blue Jackets suck.
May 15th, at 11:00 am
I was just breaking Lefty’s balls a little bit.
It’s true, the numbers don’t lie. Hockey isn’t as popular as it used to be. The NHL is largely responsible for that. Still, I find playoff hockey exciting.
May 15th, at 11:57 am
The playoffs in most sports are exciting. NBA’s playoffs are going on right now and there’s stories to be told. The Grizzlies are up 3-1 on the Thunder. You know why? because you can say the Thunder are as flashy with their scoring as they can be, but the Grizzlies are winning with gritty, ugly, defensive/rebounding ball, running a 3-man defense on Kevin Durant every game and shutting his percentage down (he’s still scoring about 35 PPG, but on Kobe-level possession rates). It’s awesome to watch old school all whoop the ass of the new school.
May 15th, at 12:35 pm
When Westbrook went down, it exposed the lack of depth of Oklahoma City. Still, the games have been competitive.
Could you imagine a Pacers/Grizzlies NBA Finals?
May 15th, at 1:04 pm
I think the James Harden trade screws them more than Westbrook being hurt right now. At this point, seeing James as a Rocket, I’m thinking they should traded Russ.
Also, the Warriors are only down 3-2. They’re a big man away from being a real terror I think. An athletic board crasher/post threat kinda big man. Lucky for them, there’s good C depth at their draft spot this year.
May 15th, at 1:09 pm
Also for Memphis, I thought they were stupid to trade away Rudy Gay and let OJ Mayo walk. Turns out, great a player as they are, Tayshaun Prince is great for them at the three since it allows them to run the whole offense through Z-Bo and Marc and Tony Allen’s played some nasty lockdown D at the perimeter. Addition by subtraction I guess. Defense wins championships.
May 15th, at 1:32 pm
“An athletic board crasher/post threat kinda big man.”
This is what the Knicks have been lacking for 15 years since Charles Oakley left.
As good as the Knicks have been this year (and the series isn’t over), it has been disappointing to watch them play this way. They’re a jump shooting team.
That might work well in other towns, but the Knicks, historically, have always been a defensive team when they were good. That 3-point/jump shot fancy stuff may work great in LA, but that’s not really the NY identity.
Fans here expect gritty play. Rebounds. Blocks. We don’t need, nor really care for the Carmelo-style of play…great as he is. Unfortunately, the roster is dictating that NY plays that perimeter game.
The funny thing is that Miami actually ranked last in rebounds per game this season, a few spots better than the Knicks. But they can get away with it when they have the best player in the world.
May 15th, at 1:33 pm
*a few spots worse than the Knicks (in rebounding)
May 15th, at 2:32 pm
And a game where rebounding doesn’t really matter as much. Miami has a very unique offense. Big perimeter game, backdoor cuts, and long possessions. Wear them out, force mistakes, capitalize when their defenders are too tired or confused to keep up. Plus playing Bosh at center is actually a mismatch in their favor more often than not. Bosh is an outside threat and a lot of centers these days suck at perimeter D.
As for New York, Chandler’s alright for the game, but he’s not a floor-spacer, and that’s what you need in a perimeter game. If anything, Stoudemire’s worse since he’s a pick and roll drive to the basket forward. You need a faceup four like Ryan Anderson to make a jump game like that work.
May 15th, at 3:17 pm
It takes a special team to win with an offense that relies on 12-foot jumpers and three pointers.
Once you get to the playoffs and face tough defensive teams, you aren’t going to get easy points in the paint. So if your shooting hits a cold streak (which almost always happens) you’re up that creek without a paddle.
The Knicks can win games with Carmelo and Felton and Chandler.
But Kidd and Prigioni are essentially useless on the court. And while JR Smith improved a lot this season, he’s showing exactly why he’s a 6th man at best.
What they need is…Kenneth Faried, more or less.
May 15th, at 3:24 pm
JR’s also a UFA, so he’s out for his payday come the offseason. Iman’s good though. I love Fareid, he’s one of the funnest players to watch these days. Denver will be a legit threat very soon. Manimal’s a key reason. Him and Ty.
May 16th, at 9:03 am
Questions are arising as to whether Daniel Bard should remain at Portland in his quest to recover the command and velocity. The velocity has returned but command continues to elude him. Since being sent back to Portland after a couple of games in Boston, his strike percentage is only 34%. In his appearance Wednesday he walked 5 over fewer than two innings.
While the popular blame for Bard’s problems was trying to convert him to a starter, his command issues actually began during the RS September 2011 collapse. Bard was a highly rated prospect out of college and the expectation was that he would someday be a near, top of the rotation starter. It didn’t work out that way as Bard struggled with control in A ball and only began to make progress when he was switched to a relief role.
Bard is taking up a slot on the RS 40 man roster and is a prospect for assignment. Though it is doubtful that he could ever clear waivers. If a team could fix him, they’d have a quality bullpen arm.
May 16th, at 9:39 am
Bard is about to be 28 years old.
Sure, another team would take a shot on him. St. Louis seems to make sense, only because St. Louis has managed to rescue the careers of just about everyone over the last decade.
May 16th, at 11:28 am
The Yankees would take a shot I am sure. Heck, they took a flier when the Sox released Jason Place 3 years ago. Not sure he reaches the Yanks if he is designated, but they would put in a claim for him. And with Mo gone after this year, and Joba doing everything he can do to get out of the Bronx, Bard makes a degree of sense.
May 16th, at 11:46 am
David Price has strained his left triceps and will likely miss his next start.
May 16th, at 1:06 pm
A 28 year old reliever with control issues currently in AA has no chance of replacing Mariano Rivera. That said, if he gets his stuff together, Bard could become a valuable 7th inning guy.
Joba Chamberlain should be gone before the end of the month. He’s from Nebraska. How about the Yankees send him to Kansas City (close enough) and in return, the Royals cater the post-game spread during their next trip to the Bronx in July with Arthur Bryant’s BBQ.
Frankly, that’s a solid deal.
May 16th, at 1:13 pm
Someone care to explain to me what happened to James Loney?
A few weeks ago I think I wrote something about how he was stinking up the joint…hitting like .150.
Now he’s up to .379 and leading the American League!
April 16th he was hitting .167/.265/.233.
Since then, he’s .453/.495/.674
Yeah, sample size might not mean much, even when I was bashing him, but he isn’t THIS good, either.
That said, Loney was a well-regarded prospect and maybe something clicked for him with Joe Maddon down there. I dunno.
May 16th, at 2:59 pm
He realized he left Boston for Tampa and is thrilled.
May 16th, at 3:09 pm
Maybe it takes a long time for big players to find their stroke?
Not sure.
But after a while, we’ve seen some pretty good hitting from guys like Carlos Gomez, Tony Clark, Alex Rios, and now (for the moment) James Loney.
Then again, maybe THAT’S a small sample size, too.
May 16th, at 7:57 pm
“The Knicks can win games with Carmelo and Felton and Chandler”
Aren’t they down 1-3?
Carmelo will never win a title..there’s a reason why he’s been out of the first round once in nine years.
Carmelo is like the Carlos Pena of basketball..who cares if you hit 35 homers every year when you hit a buck ninety and have an OBP less than three?
I really wish Amare’ was healthy..he’ll take ten shots a game away from Melo by picking and rolling inside with Felton or JR..touches Melo won’t get. A dunk or finger roll is a much higher percentage shot than an off-balance in traffic 18 footer.
Daniel Bard sucks..always projected as a reliever. Doesn’t have the stuff or command.
“oba Chamberlain should be gone before the end of the month. He’s from Nebraska. How about the Yankees send him to Kansas City (close enough) and in return, the Royals cater the post-game spread during their next trip to the Bronx in July with Arthur Bryant’s BBQ.”
Holy shit funny…good line Raul.
James Loney is like a poor man’s version of Sean Casey…or at least he should be. If all he can do is 15 homers that’s fine, Longoria’s good for 30 so it evens off.
If the guy is around .300, with 40 doubles and 80 ribbies and is a gold glover..what else do you want?
The Rays went to the WS once and ALCS twice with Pena…who other than the homers isn’t much better than Loney.
Did I mention Daniel Bard sucks?
May 16th, at 10:25 pm
It sucks being a journeyman and having a career year so far in AAA at age 29, but can you tell me this guy isn’t better than Cervelli/Romine?
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=425784
May 17th, at 9:21 am
Chuck,
Totally agree about James Loney. He’s a big guy and you would imagine he could hit 30 bombs. But if he can get his doubles in the high 30s to low 40s, he’d be incredibly valuable. Sometimes we have to accept that not every 1B is going to be capable of 30 homers.
Far as I can tell Rene Rivera never got a shot to play at the ML level. 159 plate appearances over 3 years from ages 20-22, and then a few at bats with the Twins in 2011. My guess is he’s just not that good enough a hitter to warrant a full-time job…and he doesn’t have enough power or defensive prowess that you’d use him as your Sunday catcher.
To be fair, you did compare them to Cervelli and Romine.
May 17th, at 9:52 am
Manny Machado: .343/.379/.541
Bryce Harper: .298/.393/.629
Mike Trout: .287/.361/.539
May 17th, at 10:00 am
And I have all 3 rookie cards.
May 17th, at 11:02 am
I haven’t collected cards in years.
Maybe they aren’t worth what they used to be, but that’s still cool, Bob.
You never know what their value could be some day.
Shocker: Phil Jackson says MJ was better than Kobe.
May 17th, at 11:16 am
A couple years ago, I read an article ( I forget where) that said basball cards led by Trout and Harper could make a comeback in the post-steroid era. I stick to rookies. And if I sniff a bargain, i load up. For instance, I brougth 16 Chris Sale cards 14 months ago at .30 a pop.
May 17th, at 12:29 pm
Checking in on the 1st round hitters of the 2011 MLB Draft…
#5. Bubba Starling – KC Royals – OF: .213/.286/.354 in A-ball. Has 41 strikeouts in 35 games.
#6. Anthony Rendon – Washington Nationals – 3B: Brief 8 games with Washington this year. Has a .348/.483/.620 line at AA Harrisburg.
#8. Francisco Lindor – Cleveland Indians – SS: Hitting .340/.408/.480 at High A-ball Carolina. Nine stolen bases in 39 games.
#9. Javier Baez – Chicago Cubs – SS: Hitting .238/.271/.462 at High A-ball Daytona. Has 45 strikeouts in 35 games. Started the season ranked 16th on Baseball America’s Top Prospect List. Not a great start to warrant the faith of that ranking — even considering how little stats mean at such a low minor league level.
#10. Cory Spangenberg – San Diego Padres – 2B: Hitting .298/.357/.489 with 13 steals (1 CS) at High A-ball Lake Elsinore.
#11. George Springer – Houston Astros – OF: Crushing it at AA Corpus Christi going .302/.394/.655 with 11 homers. Considering the situation in Houston, this kid can’t get to the Majors soon enough.
#13. Brandon Nimmo – New York Mets – OF: Hitting a respectable .322/.421/.433 and showing good patience. Mets hoping more power will come. Nimmo is just 20 years old playing at A-ball Savannah.
#17. CJ Cron – Los Angeles Angels – 1B: Posting a solid .315/.364/.469 with 3 HR an 11 doubles at AA Arkansas. Cron is showing decent improvement defensively, it seems. After posting 19 errors last season (AS A 1B !!!) he’s allowed 2 so far in 37 games. But let’s face it, this kid is trade bait.
#22. Kolten Wong – St. Louis Cardinals – 2B: .314/.343/.455 at AAA Memphis. The Cardinals appear to have this kid on the fast track to St. Louis — or at least it would seem that way until Matt Carpenter stops hitting.
#26. Blake Swihart – Boston Red Sox – C: .272/.345/.408 at High A-ball Salem. At just 21 years old, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be in Fenway any time soon.
May 17th, at 2:02 pm
God… Damn… It… START HITTING BUBBA! Before you turn into the next Brandon Weeden!
May 17th, at 2:07 pm
Shelby Miller’s doing great so far. Glad to see he is. The stuff I’ve seen of him reminds me a lot of Doc Halladay. Also, my biggest baseball man-crush (Clayton Kershaw) is back to Cy Young form.
May 17th, at 2:26 pm
Matt Harvey needs to grow a Keith Fernandez moustache.
That is all.
May 18th, at 12:48 am
Sorry, Raul, but it’s Friday night and I’ve had a couple..
who the fuck is Keith Fernandez?
May 18th, at 12:49 am
Bubba Starling is going in for Lasik surgery..failed an eye test.
I remember another Royals player who hit a buck fifty two in A ball who did pretty well afterwards.
Eric Hosmer.
May 18th, at 9:12 am
Q. “Who the fuck is Keith Hernandez?”
A. The guy who starred in Seinfeld!
May 18th, at 9:50 am
Oh shit. I thought this was a Mattingly vs. Hernandez issue. Now I see the spelling error. My bad
May 18th, at 11:37 am
Reid Brognac was acquired by the Yankees. Has yet to be mentioned what the Yanks parted with
May 18th, at 12:48 pm
I knew it..as soon as I saw Brignac had been DFA’d, I immediately thought of the Yankees as a fit.
Good move.
May 20th, at 9:22 am
I apologize. I meant to write Keith Hernandez.
Miguel Cabrera hit 3 homers yesterday in a loss to Texas. He’s good.
Adam Dunn is hitting .169 with 54 strikeouts — 4th most in the Majors. Dude. It’s May 20th. 54 strikeouts. No matter, Chris Carter of the Astros leads everyone with 64.
Not to get Chuck too emotional, but Happy Birthday to the late great Bobby Murcer! Murcer passed away in 2008. He was, possibly, the most beloved member of the Yankees over the last 50 years.
May 20th, at 11:06 am
The most beloved member of the Yanks may end up being Mo.
May 20th, at 11:12 am
Perhaps in time.
Just like it was Gehrig before DiMaggio. DiMaggio before Mantle. Mantle before Scooter and Murcer.
Ultimately Jeter will be more beloved than Rivera because of his exposure.
May 20th, at 8:07 pm
Fun fact, Bernie Williams has not officially retired yet.
May 20th, at 8:21 pm
#323…No way. He’ll be forgotten two years after he retires just like Posada.
#325…Rickey Henderson officially retired a week before his first HOF ballot came out.
May 20th, at 8:22 pm
Ian Desmond on Twitter today…
“Brian Kenny makes me want to take a Chapman heater to the eye socket”
I’ll re-tweet it if I can find it
May 20th, at 9:43 pm
Another piece of classic sportswriting by our friends over at HHS
http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/05/statistics-of-abortion/
May 20th, at 10:02 pm
Sorry I’ve been MIA all season. Last night I watched 5 innings of the Tigers-Rangers and that was about the most baseball I’d gotten to see all year.
In order for me and Raul to have mildly civilized conversations about baseball, political issues should be avoided as much as possible. Lol
May 21st, at 1:25 am
RIP Ray Manzarek
May 21st, at 11:56 am
LOL @ John.
Political differences aside, there are no hard feelings with any of you guys. But Chuck has made it clear to me that I should tone that stuff down. Time and place, ya know?
Miguel Cabrera is a monster baseball player. Who knows how long he can keep it up? He’s actually been fantastic for several years, but it’s only now becoming clear to the mainstream now that there is a certain decline in the production of Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.
May 21st, at 12:26 pm
Time and place? Hopefully at a bar in NYC before the 4th of July???
May 21st, at 12:30 pm
Politics and alcohol is a bad mix, Bob.
Dear lord, I’m about THIS close to losing my interest in baseball if this stupid pitch count crap is going to come up every 3 months. Now it’s Yu Darvish.
May 21st, at 12:38 pm
Well, the Diamondbacks basically have the same record as the Atlanta Braves.
That’s awkward.
May 21st, at 12:40 pm
Not only is Patrick Corbin 7-0.
The Diamondbacks have won every single one of his starts (9-0).
May 21st, at 12:43 pm
And Corbin is averaging 96.6 pitches per start, and about 6 and 2/3 innings each start.
Talk about one hell of a start to your career.
May 21st, at 12:48 pm
Crap, I realize I brought up Corbin’s pitch count after nearly blowing a fuse about such things in an earlier post.
but what I meant to say is…Yu Darvish is fine. His pitch count…he can handle it. He’s a big boy and he’s in his prime and he’s used to throwing a lot.
When I referenced it regarding Corbin…it’s just to illustrate that he’s getting it done without being wasteful. A lot of young guys will burn through 90 pitches in 4.2 innings. So clearly Corbin goes up there with a plan.
May 21st, at 1:38 pm
Alcohol and anything is a great mix!
May 21st, at 1:43 pm
” But Chuck has made it clear to me that I should tone that stuff down. Time and place, ya know?”
I’m not the DC mafia..sometimes conversations get out of hand and need to be reigned in.
We always discuss off topic stuff here and political campaigns/elections are on the list..but they’re over now and no longer relevant, so why?
Although at this point, talking about politics is better than nothing, so, why not?
May 21st, at 2:31 pm
Current players who have been with 1 team for at least 10 years:
Derek Jeter – 18 years
Mariano Rivera – 18 years
Todd Helton – 16 years
Jimmy Rollins – 13 years
Brian Roberts – 12 years
Chase Utley – 10 years
Justin Morneau – 10 years
Kudos if you would have guessed them all. I wouldn’t have.
Alex Rios has 3 HR this season on an 0-2 count. That’s impressive.
The Indians lead the Majors in Team HR with 60.
Kyle Seager holds the AL’s longest hitting streak at 16 games.
Marco Scutaro holds the NL’s longest hitting streak at 18 games.
Chuck’s boy, Didi Gregorius (who is Dutch, by the way…and whose nickname should totally be Dutch) is hitting .369/.424/.595 on the season.
May 21st, at 3:02 pm
Mariekson Julius Gregorius
May 21st, at 3:24 pm
Well, I thought the Diamondbacks should have taken Francisco Lindor in that 2011 Draft.
They took Bauer and Bradley, then shipped Bauer for Gregorius.
Bradley may end up being better than Bauer. And Gregorius is already showing people what he is capable of — and I mean that with no disrespect as to how good Lindor could be some day.
But for the moment, things are working out well for Arizona.
May 21st, at 3:29 pm
In the early going, Gerardo Parra ranks 1st among position players in the Majors in WAR at 3.0.
Parra’s line so far:
.316/.381/.492
4 HR
12 RBI
4 SB, 6 CS
18 Walks
30 Strikeouts
6 Assists, 1 Error
May 21st, at 3:30 pm
Oh, yeah, I remember throwing shit at the TV when they took Bradley.
Maybe they knew Bauer would turn into a whack-job and taking Bradley was insurance?
May 21st, at 3:35 pm
I will say this: Jean Segura and Norichika Aoki of the Brewers probably form the best middle infield in the Majors right now. And with Carlos Gomez manning Center field…that’s one hell of a group up the middle.
Unfortunately, the Brewers are in last place in the NL Central…due to poor pitching.
Blah, for some reason I thought Aoki played 2nd base…forgot about Weeks. So not that great up the middle, but a great offense nonetheless.
May 21st, at 4:13 pm
The Royals are under .500 again. Back to the familiar embrace of mediocrity…
May 21st, at 4:42 pm
In the month of May:
1 – Mike Moustakas: .155/.219/.328
2 – Jeff Francoeur: .156/.208/.200
3 – Alcides Escobar: .200/.200/.213
4 – Eric Hosmer: .284/.342/.388
5 – Billy Butler: .279/.338/.456
6 – Lorenzo Cain: .263/.354/.368
7 – Elliot Johnson: .303/.324/.424 (I think Chris Getz was injured).
8 – Salvador Perez: .368/.390/.474
9 – Alex Gordon: .380/.408/.577
It’s not hard to see why they are slipping in the standings this month. What stinks is that by the time these guys start heating up, the pitching will probably take 2 steps backwards.
May 21st, at 4:45 pm
Still wonder what Getz is doing in KC with Giavotella in Omaha…
May 21st, at 4:52 pm
Chuck was a fan of Clint Robinson. The amazing thing that strikes me about him is that the Royals gave him 4 at-bats at the Major League level.
Four. Despite 6 Minor League years and almost 700 games. That’s the shot he gets to prove himself? Four measly at-bats?
I understand that Billy Butler had the DH spot to himself. And Hosmer is viewed as the future, but there had to be more than 4 ABs for this kid.
Instead, he’s riding the bus in the Blue Jays’ farm system. Twenty-eight year old guy with a .300 average who gets on base. Clint is in Baseball Purgatory.
May 21st, at 5:43 pm
When I saw the Yankees signed Travis Hafner, Robinson was the first guy I thought of.
I mean, why not?
June 12th, at 5:13 pm
I am recruiting a Hell’s Kitchen ex=patriot who has done much writing to contribute to my magazine. Y’all may enjoy this video she was involved in, set at a very local park on my festival maps.. Paul Simon, & cameos by 2 sports legends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6VrKro8djw&feature=player_embedded
June 12th, at 5:24 pm
Correction I did not see the 3rd sorts “giant” in this video. Can you ID him?
July 12th, at 1:09 am
Herman Hess classic, a great choice. I can recommend some spiritually & philosophically themed books if you like Raul.
My magazine was accepte din many B & Ns around the country & some in Canadian bookstores & newsstands. Up to approaching 300 places. Though if anyone wants to see the ‘13 Collector’s Editio before it is sold via online apps, just scroll down a bit on ArtistsintheKitchen.org. Completely free now, & if the coverlines/art & some spreads seem overloaded, blame my micro-managing!
July 12th, at 11:14 am
Spiritually, not really.
Philosophically, sure. I’ll take a look.
July 13th, at 4:32 am
There is tremendous overlap Raul. Spiritual may not be religious or new agey. I am an atheist (though some religious writing is stunningly evolved & wise, mystical writings in all major traditions, Sufi, Christian, some Orthodox Jews before they became fundamentalist).
Not sure what to recommend. Rumi for poetry-Philosophy. “The Mystery f Love” for Buddhist & mainly Kabbalistic writings, but not the superstitious nonsense. Psychology & Buddhism, intersection of, Mark Epstein. Going to Pieces without Falling Apart”, “Thoughts Without a Thinker”, & “Open to Desire”. The Zen Commandments, Amazon.com by Dean Sluyter, out of print. Had him spak to troubled HS kids in an NYC school…