MLB 2023: how ya like it now?

[HutchFan]

27 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

I've never heard of this guy but this is really slick.

https://www.mlb.com/news/tyler-rogers-rising-submarine-slider?partnerId=zh-20230714-970645-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230714-970645-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=N3CgIBzQaSS771nFd0yA9kuwWtYzIawGHbe5FVNP4qUC1H9eVuuKj8EXWBw1HBmY&bt_ts=1689344703454

The rising slider.

Very cool article.

A release point about one foot off the ground.  That's crazy.

Did Kent Tekulve or Dan Quisenberry ever get down that low???

 

[Dan Gould]

32 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Very cool article.

A release point about one foot off the ground.  That's crazy.

Did Kent Tekulve or Dan Quisenberry ever get down that low???

 

Probably not, I don't think. I was just blown away by the "rising" part of his slider - and thrown at a speed a lot of position player pitchers exceed, only 73 mph. But deception in the delivery and the "rise" it looks damn near unhittable.

[GA Russell]

2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Very cool article.

A release point about one foot off the ground.  That's crazy.

Did Kent Tekulve or Dan Quisenberry ever get down that low???

 

I think Dick Hyde did, and maybe Ted Abernathy too.

[HutchFan]

7 minutes ago, GA Russell said:

I think Dick Hyde did, and maybe Ted Abernathy too.

I had to look up those two names.  They were before my time.   

 

[JSngry]

Ted Abernathy I remember quite well! At least when he was with the Reds...

But the only Dick Hyde I remeber was a trombonist aka "Slyde" Hyde.

[ghost of miles]

8 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Kent Tekulve

There’s a blast from the past! As a kid I had Strat-o-Mat’s version of the 1977 MLB season, and Tekulve and Goose Gossage were a knockout 1-2 bullpen punch for the Pittsburgh Pirates (as they were in real life, obviously).

 

[HutchFan]

9 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

There’s a blast from the past! As a kid I had Strat-o-Mat’s version of the 1977 MLB season, and Tekulve and Goose Gossage were a knockout 1-2 bullpen punch for the Pittsburgh Pirates (as they were in real life, obviously).

Nice!

I still have vivid memories of the 1979 "We Are Family" Pirates that won the World Series.  Such a great team.  Along with Tekulve, they had Willie "Pops" Stargell, Dave Parker, Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, Phil "Scrap-Iron" Garner, Omar Moreno, John Candelaria, and all the rest. 

I have an old family photo tucked away in a drawer somewhere of me (age 12 or so) and all my cousins wearing Pirates T-shirts. . . .  "We Are Family" indeed.  

 

[GA Russell]

[ghost of miles]

6 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Nice!

I still have vivid memories of the 1979 "We Are Family" Pirates that won the World Series.  Such a great team.  Along with Tekulve, they had Willie "Pops" Stargell, Dave Parker, Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, Phil "Scrap-Iron" Garner, Omar Moreno, John Candelaria, and all the rest. 

I have an old family photo tucked away in a drawer somewhere of me (age 12 or so) and all my cousins wearing Pirates T-shirts. . . .  "We Are Family" indeed.  

 

The “We Are Family” team is legendary! I remember that World Series quite well. Oddly enough, they defeated the Orioles in seven games at the beginning of the decade as well, in 1971. (The year the Orioles had four starting pitchers with 20 wins or more—something that had never occurred before and is highly unlikely to ever occur again.)

[GA Russell]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

The “We Are Family” team is legendary! I remember that World Series quite well. 

I lived in Pittsburgh in 1979.  I have one vivid memory of that World Series.  One night the weather was brutal.  Cold, wet, raining and sleeting!  Many empty seats.

So anybody who wanted to could have driven down to Three Rivers, and for ten dollars attended a World Series game!

By the end of the game, it appeared that many fans had decided to do just that.

[HutchFan]

6 minutes ago, GA Russell said:

I lived in Pittsburgh in 1979.  I have one vivid memory of that World Series.  One night the weather was brutal.  Cold, wet, raining and sleeting!  Many empty seats.

So anybody who wanted to could have driven down to Three Rivers, and for ten dollars attended a World Series game!

By the end of the game, it appeared that many fans had decided to do just that.

I would've if I could've!   

 

 

Fred McGriff, who helped the Atlanta Braves to get "over the hump" & win the World Series in 1995, has been voted into the MLB Hall of Fame.  

 

Scott Rolen has been voted in too.

Congrats to them both.   

 

 

 

[JSngry]

Rangers finally come from behind in the bottom of the eighth and then hold on in the ninth to win.

First time this season with a come-from-behind-after seven win. So...yeah. It's about time. 

Tonight we deviate from standard practice and cheer for the Angels! 

On 7/15/2023 at 2:10 PM, HutchFan said:

Fred McGriff, who helped the Atlanta Braves to get "over the hump" & win the World Series in 1995, has been voted into the MLB Hall of Fame.  

Always liked McGriff and felt that he one of those unflashy guys whose real greatness was only appreciated in retrospect. So, yeah, go CrimeDog!!!! 

[jlhoots]

Brewers sweep Reds.

[JSngry]

Finally, a walkoff! 

[ghost of miles]

Anybody think the Angels will move Ohtani come August 1? I think it’s unlikely, especially now that he has a shot at Judge’s AL HR record. Also hard to imagine the kind of haul the Angels would want, even for a two-month rental. He could become MLB’s first six-hundred-million-dollar man when he hits free agency. I predict he’ll land with either the Dodgers or the Mariners.

[JSngry]

Leave it to Arte Moreno to get nothing for something? 

[JSngry]

The A's might not have a good baseball team this year, but their radio team is very listenable! 

[jlhoots]

Milwaukee 4 - Atlanta 3

Great major league debut for Sal Frelick. Watch the highlights if you can find them.

 

Sal Frelick's superb debut helps Brewers rally to beat Braves

Edited July 23, 2023 by jlhoots

[Dan Gould]

After the start they had, who had Tampa Bay two games out of first with 8 days to go in July, let alone Baltimore displacing them?

And Baltimore's position isn't too fluke-ish considering they are 40-31 against >.500 teams (strangely its the Red Sox at 38-32 which are next best against .500 or better teams).

 

 

[JSngry]

Rethinking baseball math regarding over/under .500...

If a team has a record of 60-40, why are they considered 20 games over .500 when a .500 record after 100 games would be 50-50? Aren't they actually just 10 games "over" a .500 record? 

To be 20 games "over" .500 after 100 games, wouldn't their record have to 20 games over 50-50, i.e. 70-39?

EOY record of 100-62 is not 38 games over .500, because the difference between 81-81 and 100-62 is 19, not 38.

I mean, hell, I've been doing this unquestioning math the old way pretty much my entire life and an not going to stop now, but... for a sport so bound up in micromaths, this logical inconsistency seems glaringly obvious if you stop to think about it, right?

But it is easier! 

 

[Dan Gould]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

Rethinking baseball math regarding over/under .500...

If a team has a record of 60-40, why are they considered 20 games over .500 when a .500 record after 100 games would be 50-50? Aren't they actually just 10 games "over" a .500 record? 

To be 20 games "over" .500 after 100 games, wouldn't their record have to 20 games over 50-50, i.e. 70-39?

EOY record of 100-62 is not 38 games over .500, because the difference between 81-81 and 100-62 is 19, not 38.

I mean, hell, I've been doing this unquestioning math the old way pretty much my entire life and an not going to stop now, but... for a sport so bound up in micromaths, this logical inconsistency seems glaringly obvious if you stop to think about it, right?

But it is easier! 

 

Here's another: Why is it "the all-important loss column"? 

To me the measure of an actually strong team is, given the ups and downs of a season:

A. Getting to ten games over and making sure that's your floor.

B. Building to 20 games over and then making that the new floor.

C. Anything 20-30 games over .500 and  you are pretty much in the October tournament.

The Red Sox haven't even sniffed (I don't think) ten games over .500. I am pretty certain that if they sniff it, it will never be their floor, not this year.

[Dan Gould]

Whatever happens, trade season is a success as far as I am concerned, as the Red Sox have achieved the coveted "addition by subtraction":  Kike Hernandez and his pathetic bat and arm are back in L.A.

 

What an f-ing waste he was. Anything out of the two pitchers received is pure gravy.

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

Whatever happens, trade season is a success as far as I am concerned, as the Red Sox have achieved the coveted "addition by subtraction":  Kike Hernandez and his pathetic bat and arm are back in L.A.

 

What an f-ing waste he was. Anything out of the two pitchers received is pure gravy.

Glad you "liked" him Dan!!😎⚾

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, jlhoots said:

Glad you "liked" him Dan!!😎⚾

I don't know what the Dodgers expect from him, except for the coveted "needs new scenery" bounce-back.  But he was getting far too much game time for a guy who was 37% worse than the average hitter this season, and 31% worse last year. That's bad and getting worse, and he's on the wrong side of 30. And 15 errors trying to play SS or 2B ... aggravating AF.

[Ken Dryden]

Not a great game for the Braves last night, but they did pull off this defensive gem:

https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-turn-first-triple-play-of-2023-season?partnerId=zh-20230726-982728-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230726-982728-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=gVLDSZ%2FRg2OnW9BA10Fn5MfsVqxnFwP85HKEgLoel97qq8A41k0yrSAgF8c6kiRH&bt_ts=1690375484454