The Official 2013 MLB Thread

[BishopMVP]

Some classic 2004-esque Red Sox/Yankees slugfests here... 9-8 Thursday, 12-8 last night, 12-9 here in the 8th. Plus, Xander hit the longest HR in Yankee Stadium this year. First of many.

[JPhillips]

God I hope Billy Hamilton can hit one day. He's amazing on the basepaths.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

God I hope Billy Hamilton can hit one day. He's amazing on the basepaths.

I think as long as he could keep his average above .150 or so Dusty would have him hitting leadoff.

[cougarfreak]

Reds are starting to play well against good teams at the right point in the season. But the Cards schedule REALLY favors them vs. the Reds/Pirates down the stretch. I think those last six games Reds/Pirates games are going to be for home field advantage in the one game playoff.

[MizzouRah]

Waino back to himself.. what a game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

OK, so I know it may not actually happen, but the Royals started selling post-season ticket packages to season ticket holders today. That hasn't happened in over 25 years. Crazy.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

OK, so I know it may not actually happen, but the Royals started selling post-season ticket packages to season ticket holders today. That hasn't happened in over 25 years. Crazy.

Follow the Brewers 2008 model..... fire Ned Yost.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by lungs

Follow the Brewers 2008 model..... fire Ned Yost.

After the loss on Monday night where he made several brutal late-game moves, they were talking about that exact topic all day on the local sports radio today.

Right now, we're 3 games out of the playoffs with 16 games left. We'll enjoy the ride while it lasts and worry about Ned after that.

[molson]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Uehara's statline on the year

3-0, 1.17 ERA, 61.1 IP, 29 HA, 9 BB, 83 K.

Simply amazing.

The superlative accomplishments he's quietly racking up are amazing.

I'm relying on SOSH for the stats here, but apparently his current streak of 10 1/3 perfect innings is the 2nd longest such streak all time by relievers, and #1 all time for any Red Sox pitcher. He's apparently working on one of the top 20 or so relief seasons of all time.

And Boston has still been pretty slow to embrace this Red Sox team, maybe because they're just so burnt out from the failures of recent seasons, or they're just waiting for another collapse, but here they are on 9/11 with the best record in the AL by a large margin. And Buchholz came back tonight and was effective. It could all burn out quickly in the post-season, but not many expected this.

[Suicane75]

Pretty cool moment late in the Giants name last night when someone ripped a foul ball down the left field line towards what looked like a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter sitting side by side. The ball is coming right towards the daughter and the grandmother sticks out her glove hand and nabs it. She seemed to be in her 70's and the crowd gave her a nice round of applause.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

After the loss on Monday night where he made several brutal late-game moves, they were talking about that exact topic all day on the local sports radio today.

Right now, we're 3 games out of the playoffs with 16 games left. We'll enjoy the ride while it lasts and worry about Ned after that.

You really think Ned is the problem? He's a perfectly average manager. He has a bunt fetish, leaves his SPs in a batter or two too long, and makes sometimes baffling lineups but also handles the bullpen well and those baffling lineups are frequently to get guys days off so they're well rested. In short, he has a lot of strengths and weaknesses of a "meh" manager. He's not good but he's not really bad either.

SI

[Butter]

Fucking Reds. Let's beat the Cards and Dodgers, and then drop 2 straight to the Cubs. Nice job, douches.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

You really think Ned is the problem? He's a perfectly average manager. He has a bunt fetish, leaves his SPs in a batter or two too long, and makes sometimes baffling lineups but also handles the bullpen well and those baffling lineups are frequently to get guys days off so they're well rested. In short, he has a lot of strengths and weaknesses of a "meh" manager. He's not good but he's not really bad either.

SI

I don't think he's the problem. I'm just not sure that he's the answer either. I'd say that means your comments are spot-on.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

You really think Ned is the problem? He's a perfectly average manager. He has a bunt fetish, leaves his SPs in a batter or two too long, and makes sometimes baffling lineups but also handles the bullpen well and those baffling lineups are frequently to get guys days off so they're well rested. In short, he has a lot of strengths and weaknesses of a "meh" manager. He's not good but he's not really bad either.

SI

I believe that's called Dusty Baker syndrome.

There is no cure.

[cartman]

The Rangers have been bi-polar the past couple of months. They go from losing 12 of 15 to winning 19 of 23 now to losing 8 of their past 11. I don't think I've ever seen it where the entire team gets hot or cold at the same time like that.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

God I hope Billy Hamilton can hit one day. He's amazing on the basepaths.

The guy is like a real life Willie Mays Hays.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

After the loss on Monday night where he made several brutal late-game moves, they were talking about that exact topic all day on the local sports radio today.

Right now, we're 3 games out of the playoffs with 16 games left. We'll enjoy the ride while it lasts and worry about Ned after that.

I remember what got Ned fired back in '08.... Brian Shouse, a LOOGY that threw 83-84 MPH and got hammered by right-handed hitters, was brought in to face Chase Utley at Ryan Howard. Utley sacrifice bunted, leaving a base open at first base. So Ned decided to walk Ryan Howard because of the open base and have Shouse face Pat Burrell who was a bonafide lefty masher. The results were predictable.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Pretty cool moment late in the Giants name last night when someone ripped a foul ball down the left field line towards what looked like a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter sitting side by side. The ball is coming right towards the daughter and the grandmother sticks out her glove hand and nabs it. She seemed to be in her 70's and the crowd gave her a nice round of applause.

GIF: Your undisputed 'fan catch' of the year - CBSSports.com

[sterlingice]

Holy crap. Talk about the baseball equivalent of "dark thirty" for a start time: 12:05 ET, aka before noon for the rest of us.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Royals are going to skip Danny Duffy's next start since they have an off-day on Thursday. Little surprised they're doing that given what he's done against Detroit this year.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by molson

The superlative accomplishments he's quietly racking up are amazing.

I'm relying on SOSH for the stats here, but apparently his current streak of 10 1/3 perfect innings is the 2nd longest such streak all time by relievers, and #1 all time for any Red Sox pitcher. He's apparently working on one of the top 20 or so relief seasons of all time.

And Boston has still been pretty slow to embrace this Red Sox team, maybe because they're just so burnt out from the failures of recent seasons, or they're just waiting for another collapse, but here they are on 9/11 with the best record in the AL by a large margin. And Buchholz came back tonight and was effective. It could all burn out quickly in the post-season, but not many expected this.

Lowest WHIP ever for a pitcher with at least 50 IP in a season. Last 124 pitches for Uehara: 104 strikes, 32 swings & missed, 16 balls put into play, 0 hits. 31 straight batters retired since a Lyle Overbay double 8/17. He had 1 game vs. the Yankees where he got to 3 balls against 2 hitters, other than that I don't know if anyone's gotten more than 1 against him. Just mowing guys down with a high-80's fastball, a low-80's sinker and pinpoint control of both. I also never realized just how good he was in Japan because he was considered old and broken down when he came over here, but he won 2 Sawamura awards (the Japanese Cy Young) as a starter there over a decade ago.

There's a lot of things I could say about Red Sox "fans" (seems like the Bruins became the cool team for the pink hats and fairweather fans to "live and die" by), and the Boston media, but I'm actually enjoying a good, quiet baseball team go about its business and win games, so it's better off without them. Although it wouldn't kill John Farrell to bench Stephen Drew vs. lefties (.189/.247/.348 this year, .234/.292/.393 career), and play Xander 2-3x a week to see if he should be our backup IF and a potential PH for the postseason

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Royals win again. Big Game pitches well when we need it. Keep it going, boys!

[spleen1015]

My hatred for the New York Yankees is getting to an unhealthy point, I think.

[Logan]

Boo hoo...a pitcher took his time admiring a home run. How dare he.

This is why baseball players are sad people.

Jose Fernandez Hits Home Run, Styles And Profiles, Benches Clear

[ISiddiqui]

The Braves also are the team that decided they were going to continually plunk Bryce Harper earlier in the year - so lets not base the entire baseball community on them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

The Braves also are the team that decided they were going to continually plunk Bryce Harper earlier in the year

Except when they strike him out to end a game

Harper is no dummy, his walk-it-out HR routine bought him his ticket to that party. And he knows that.

As for Fernandez, he's said the right things -- and more than I would have expected from most players tbh -- in the wake of today's incident, we'll see if he backs them up next year.

[BishopMVP]

The Rays starter went 5 2/3, and they just brought in their 7th relief pitcher to start the 10th inning, 3 of whom pitched 6 pitches or less... I feel like I say this every year, but I don't understand why the (theoretically) most important month of baseball is played with fundamentally different rules than the other 5. (That also extends to guys like Billy Hamilton or Quentin Berry who are on the roster solely to be used as pinch runners.)

[Jas_lov]

I didn't understand why Maddon brought in Roberto Hernandez in that spot. Everybody knows he's awful. They don't have a better option? On the other side, Farrell brings in Uehara in a tie game on the road to give the top of his lineup a chance to win it in the next inning, great move. AL WC is getting very tight with the free falls of Texas and Tampa.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Harper is no dummy, his walk-it-out HR routine bought him his ticket to that party. And he knows that.

Oh please. You plunk the guy once if he admires a HR - doing it continually is just petty BS.

At least during the Cox years the Braves had some class.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Oh please. You plunk the guy once if he admires a HR - doing it continually is just petty BS.

Petty ... describes whining over anybody hitting that little bitch afaic.

I'd have preferred they put one in his ear hole frankly.

[ISiddiqui]

And you just demonstrate the lack of fanbase class the Braves are cursed with . Like fanbase, like team?

[spleen1015]

If you don't want a guy admiring the HR he hit off of you, then don't let him hit it.

[larrymcg421]

This is so hilarious.

Let's make the Braves look as bad as possible by ignoring the facts of what happened earlier in the game when Johnson hit a HR, plus the spitting incident rounding third that led the incident at home when Brian McCann stood up for his teammate.

Then let's pretend that the Braves under Bobby Cox (who was the #1 defender of his players and instilled that attitude down the line) wouldn't have done the exact same thing so we can whine about them not being as classy as they used to be.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

If you don't want a guy admiring the HR he hit off of you, then don't let him hit it.

Which can be applied to the Marlins as well, who were unhappy with Evan Gattis earlier HR. That was conveniently left out of the earlier whining.

[spleen1015]

Didn't the Marlins pitcher spit in front of the 3B because the 3B was talking shit after he hit a flyball out to LF?

It is all just baseball and its silly unwritten rules.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

And you just demonstrate the lack of fanbase class the Braves are cursed with . Like fanbase, like team?

I'm not even particularly all that much a Braves fan, nothing more than casual at most.

To avoid a needless dola, on the whole "don't let 'em hit homers", that's worked out pretty good for the Braves against BH. He's hit two this year, but is hitting just .195 against them for the season.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Didn't the Marlins pitcher spit in front of the 3B because the 3B was talking shit after he hit a flyball out to LF?

It is all just baseball and its silly unwritten rules.

I agree. I'm just pointing out there was an earlier incident that led to this one and pretending that the Braves are taking these actions in isolation of everything else is silly.

[larrymcg421]

And of course the Marlins were the only team that didn't honor Bobby Cox during his farewell season, so they have no business talking about class.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

And of course the Marlins were the only team that didn't honor Bobby Cox during his farewell season, so they have no business talking about class.

Maybe they were afraid nobody would show up & it would just be further embarrassment.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

the spitting incident rounding third that led the incident at home

LOL!!! The guy spits in the general vicinity of Johnson and he acts like its some sort of federal case. Atlanta's Channel 11 News didn't even show the "spitting incident" on their 10 PM News - just the watching the pitch and McCann's jawing. McCann even said after the game it was about Fernandez watching the HR. Johnson doesn't mention the spit in after game interviews either (at least all the ones I've read).

Interesting numbers on Harper and HBP: The Braves plunked him 3 times in 2 games; Harper has been plunked 5 times years - so 2 other times by other teams. And only 2 times last season (one being the infamous Hamels "welcome to the majors"). So it isn't like he is in the habit of getting in trouble with MLB teams due to attitude or whatever.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Which can be applied to the Marlins as well, who were unhappy with Evan Gattis earlier HR. That was conveniently left out of the earlier whining.

Benches cleared after the Gattis HR? Fernandez walked up to Gattis's face and told him off? I missed that one .

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

LOL!!! The guy spits in the general vicinity of Johnson and he acts like its some sort of federal case. Atlanta's Channel 11 News didn't even show the "spitting incident" on their 10 PM News - just the watching the pitch and McCann's jawing. McCann even said after the game it was about Fernandez watching the HR. Johnson doesn't mention the spit in after game interviews either (at least all the ones I've read).

Interesting numbers on Harper and HBP: The Braves plunked him 3 times in 2 games; Harper has been plunked 5 times years - so 2 other times by other teams. And only 2 times last season (one being the infamous Hamels "welcome to the majors"). So it isn't like he is in the habit of getting in trouble with MLB teams due to attitude or whatever.

Even if it was just about the trot, you said yourself that's acceptable if you do it once, so why you're trying to combine it with the Harper incident to make it about some overall lack of class by the Braves is beyond me. And if you don't think Bobby Cox teams did the same thing, it proves you know very little about Cox or the teams that he managed.

[ISiddiqui]

Cox's teams may have "enforced the rules", but they didn't act petty. The Harper incident just shows the lack of character in that whole lets just plunk this guy 3 times in 2 games for nothing more than because we don't like him.

Besides, you don't deal with a trot by getting in the face of the player and starting a bench clearing (what do you think is going to happen in that case)? You make a comment and, according to baseball rules, you hit another Marlins' guy.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

For those that may have missed it, fantastic play by Big Game on a come-backer.

[molson]

I wonder if MLB has a contingency plan for a 6-way AL Wild Card tie. That would rule.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by molson

I wonder if MLB has a contingency plan for a 6-way AL Wild Card tie. That would rule.

That would be nifty.

[sterlingice]

Round robin tournament with winner take all! Sorry, Red Sox, Tigers, and whoever wins the West- you're eliminated

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Florida Marlins want rookie pitcher Jose Fernandez to tone down behavior - ESPN

Mike Redmond, to his credit, made it pretty clear how he felt about the whole thing.

And beyond the Braves aspect of it, I believe he sent a pretty strong message about the situation with this quote

In the aftermath of the episode, Redmond drew from criticism from some baseball pundits for not supporting his player.

"If you're only watching two clips of that game, I could see how they could say whatever," Redmond said. "But if you're around here and in this clubhouse every day ...

[Shkspr]

The Marlins also want him to tone down his performance. If he keeps his play up, someday they may have to pay him almost a million dollars a year.

[rowech]

Am I the only one noticing how hot Washington has been? Reds better wakeup or it's likely to be down to 4.5 wildcard lead at the end of the night.