There is no base in LF (hardy har har).

Miami/Minnesota game is postponed due to "Fear of Weather". That's a new one.

My assumption is there is supposed to be snow/ ice and they dont want a bunch of people to get caught at the park, the few that come out.

Good lord. 6-10" of snow. Has someone told Jack Frost that it's almost May?

SI

We're supposed to have 1-2 inches here in KC. It's a bit nutty. Shout out to global warming.

Reds win in the bottom of the 13th for the second time in 3 nights. Boy, is this team fun to watch.

The Cubs are terrible

6 comeback victories already for the Giants after tonight.

It would be nice if they'd score some more runs in regulation, though.

The graphic they had last night was telling. They have scored 10+ runs 5 times already. But they also have scored 1 run or less 6 times. In 20 games.

Reds have also played 4 extra inning games, three of which have been 1-1 or 2-2 going into extras. Spread those runs around, get some consistency.

It was an entertaining, back and forth game in Anaheim last night between the Rangers and Angels. The Angels broke it open with 3 in the 6th, the Rangers tied it with 3 of their own in the 7th, Pierzynski homered off of Frieri in the 9th. Nathan let the leadoff batter, Bourjous, get on base, but then retired Trout, Pujols and Trumbo in order to get the save.

If they don't have a 6+ run lead going into the 8th inning, forget it.

Bullpen is absolutely atrocious.

That's a game the Angels absolutely need to win.

I guarantee if this team doesn't hit its preseason targets, it will be because of the unbelievably awful and stupid decision making with respect to the pitching staff. Blanton is target one in that. So many at least decent options and they throw $15 M at Joe Blanton? He shouldn't even be in baseball. He's that bad. Hanson was a worthy risk because he only cost Walden. Vargas, though, at the cost of Kendrys? He's not in Safeco anymore. Richard is now in the rotation to hold down Weaver's spot, and he's already better than two of those guys and maybe as good as the third. He shouldn't have had to wait for an injury to take a spot.

I understand not throwing the crazy money at Greinke to keep him. That's ludicrous cash. But if you make the decision to fill out your rotation after Weaver and Wilson with "keep your team in the game" guys, you have to be able to do better than Hanson (as a third spot guy, he's fine as a 4th-5th), Blanton and Vargas.

BJ and Justin just hit back to back HR's.

Is this required?



SI

Manny Parra is a shitty pitcher

Indeed he is.

Yes! How could I forget?

Chad Billingsly is out for 12 months with Tommy John surgery. I get the feeling he wanted to do Shaq's "I'll heal on company time"

Ok, here's a trivia question:

Before the Upton back to back homers today, who were the last combination of family members to hit back to back homers in a major league baseball game?

Probably Tony and Chris Gwynn...?

Nope that isn't it. I know the answer, but I will let someone else guess now.

Off hand, the Griffeys?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Griffeys did it.

My guess as well.

I specifically remember being a kid watching a tape of a bunch of random trivia questions, and that was one of them, and it was the Griffeys. Along with like Derrick Thomas holding the sack record. Weird memory that just triggered.

UNLESS THE LaROCHES DID IT!!!!!...

yup. Now the harder question.

Which was the last BROTHER combo to hit back to back homers?

Hint 1:


Hint 2:


Answer:

If anyone wants a laugh, check out Tim Flannery (third base coach) waving Pablo Sandoval in to the plate while he's halfway to third...but Cody Ross has already fielded the ball in shallow right field. The catcher caught the ball before Pablo was halfway home.

The thing is he always has been. He's never shown any flash of being good. Hopefully, they release him and move Leake to the pen when Cueto is ready.

Another great game between the Rangers and Angels last night. After being down 3 and coming back the night before, the Rangers came back from 4 down last night to tie the game. Had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 9th, but Trout straight up robbed Beltre of an extra base bit. In the bottom of the 10th, the Rangers got out of a bases-loaded one out jam by getting Pujols and Hamilton out, but Kendrick got a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 11th.

Yes, that was a terrific game, and really a very necessary win for the Angels. The catch by Trout was amazing.

It seems abundantly clear right now that Pujols can get no lift with his foot hurt. I wonder how much longer they'll let him play this out? The Angels really needed his bat in that 10th inning.

I don't give us much hope tonight. Darvish kills us, even in Anaheim. And we're starting a guy I have never heard of. Seriously, that I have never heard of. That's saying something.

This isn't true. Back in '08, he was one of those guys that would have turned into a very solid starting pitcher with some better command and control. That never happened. He was a good prospect in the minors, albeit unhealthy. He also performed quite well in his initial move to the bullpen but that obviously didn't carry over to '12.

We expected Shin-soo Choo to be an upgrade, but no one expected this much. Going into today (he's 2-4 today), he enters the game 2nd in the NL at .387, leads MLB in OBP at .537 (Votto is 2nd ;)),, leads the NL in hits, runs scored, offensive WAR...

Obviously he can't keep that pace up but, I read somewhere if he were to go 0-for his next 96 PAs, he'd match the OBP of the Reds' leadoff hitters from last season- this early in the season, that number is crazy.

Votto's 26 BB are 10 better than anyone in baseball, too. Fun season.

They gave Dusty a guy with on base skills that he has to hit leadoff now they need to find him a number two hitter so he'll stop hitting Cozart and his career .283 OBP there.

That's not management's style. You know Leake will just be flat sent down. I'm just hoping when Marshall comes back we release Parra and keep Ondrusek up.

Can always bat Phillips second and put Frazier at cleanup.

I'm excited to "work" while listening to Shields-Verlander this afternoon. Early start at 12 CT, tho.

SI

Frazier doesn't have enough veteran savvy to bat 4th.

No need for a comeback for the Rangers last night, as Yu Darvish was nearly unhittable, striking out 11 over 6 innings and the offense getting a 9 run inning in the 4th to coast to an 11-3 win over the Angels.

John Hirschbeck suffered an umpire's worst nightmare in the game last night. (Spoilered due to size)

Didnt he have testicular cancer too? Poor guy gets it in the nuts a little too often

Someone made an awesome GIF on an at-bat last night between Darvish and Pujols. Shows the amount of movement Darvish gets on his pitches.



edit: here's a better one labeling the pitches

That's a great gif. It was just posted in the RR thread, too- people are marveling at the arm slot for all 5 being so similar

SI

The strikeout he had in the 6th against Trout was a thing of beauty. He just froze Trout with a 60mph curve. Trout had this look on his face like 'WTF did I just see? That ain't right'.

That's just filthy. He's gonna get that no-hitter before he hangs up his cleats.

That reminds me of some of the Greinke slow curves he would throw, especially in 2009

SI

That gif with all five pitches is awesome. I can't believe he has a 33 MPH difference between his 4-seamer and his curve.

That's a slow curve, tho, not a traditional curve. For instance, Greinke throws a curve in the mid 80s and used to throw a slow curve in the mid 60s but they were 2 very distinct pitches. I don't think he throws the slow curve much any more because it's a bit of a gimmick pitch

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Former Braves pitcher Rick Camp dead at age 60 | www.ajc.com

MLB.com and their stupid broken embedding. Here's the link to Camp's most memorable moment

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | NYM@ATL: 4 a.m. fireworks follow marathon Mets win - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

That's what I figured Dusty would say.

Well, that was fun. And a 4-3 road trip against Atlanta, Boston, and Detroit.

SI

One more "holy balls" for that GIF - saw it at Fangraphs. As someone put it, Yu Darvish looks like he allows baserunners just so he doesn't get bored. Also, the CY Young predictions for him are looking good now.