AL Round Two

[Frayed Knot]

Nice hustle [CROSSOUT]Michael[/CROSSOUT] Giancarlo.

[Frayed Knot]

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a drink.

[Frayed Knot]

Ji-Man Choi looks like he can be a lot of fun.

[bmfc1]

Tampa saves us from The Cheaters and The MFYs. I'm all-in on Tampa the rest of the way.

[G-Fafif]

Postseason just became delightful.

[stevejrogers]

Frayed Knot wrote: I had forgotten, until they flashed up the graphic earlier and then again just now, that the winner of these dives right back into it on Sunday night. I love this schedule.

Unfortunately the “travel days” are inserted into the WS. But even in a normal year you don't, or very rarely see more than 4 straight days played by a team.



I'm still trying to figure out why in the bubble the NHL

and NBA series, including the finals are staggered out as if they were flying back and forth from the cities!

[Frayed Knot]

The NBA & NHL playoffs are always an every-other-day kind of deal under normal circumstances, so the fact that they were this year as well is OK with me.



I just like it when the post-season mimics the regular season as closely as possible. That they'll (potentially) play seven WS games in nine days isn't a crime in my book.

But the year (2009) when Selig decided to impose an extra day off in both the LCS's and the WS was a disgrace [Game - Game - Off - Game - Game -Off - Game - Off - Game - Game]

That that strategy happened to play right into the hands of the Yanx that year (so they could pitch Pettitte, Sabathia, and Messina over and over again) was an unhappy coincidence,

but that plan would have been a horrible one no matter who was involved since it doesn't even resemble what a regular MLB week is like.

[Centerfield]

Frayed Knot wrote: What a fuckin' AB!!!! And that's even before you mix in the (very recent) history between those two.

What is the history?

[MFS62]

Luke Voit is no Joe Namath.

Guarantee THIS!

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: What a fuckin' AB!!!! And that's even before you mix in the (very recent) history between those two. What is the history?

Earlier this season, Chapman sent a 101 mph inches over Brouseau's coconut touching off a bunch of yapping that continued in the press for several days after.

TBR Mgr Cash said that 'I got a whole stable of guys who throw 98' as a not so subtle threat.



[YOUTUBE]XctGlhYnQb4[/YOUTUBE]









And, BTW, not to get all Armando here, but Chapman, for all his successes, is starting to build up quite the resume of post-season game and even series losing/tying

HRs: Rajai Davis, Altuve, and now an un-drafted part-timer.









* Rajai Davis -- 2016 WS Game 7, Chapman (w/Cubs) comes in 8th inning with a 3-run lead, two outs, and a runner on 1st. Gives up a Double to the first hitter then a 3R Game-tying HR

Jose Altuve -- 2019 ALCS Game 6, Tie game in bottom 9th (after yanx had scored 2 in top 9), gets the first two hitters but then walks Springer and gives up a 2R Game & Series Walk-off to Altuve

Mike Brosseau -- Last night, enters in tie game top 9th, gets the first out but then gives up the eventual game and series losing HR

[Centerfield]

Thanks. Now I understand the revenge-themed tweets I read.

[smg58]

Frayed Knot wrote: I realize that pro athletes aren't like you and I, but these stories of guys 'putting on 15 pounds of muscle' in a short time are total bullseye and/or they need to be investigated. Mostly claims like these are just agent or club hype and those who cover the sport(s) would do themselves a favor by not simply repeating them as if established fact. That said, I had never heard of this Arozarena guy on TB (the latest subject of the above muscle story) prior to the series we played against them a few weeks back and right now he killing it. His latest HR, leading off the 5th, ta-knocked Tanaka out of the game.

Arozarena found his way onto my Ottoneu team the last two seasons. He started killing it in the minors last year before getting called up by St. Louis, whose GM may have to answer for trading him even more than he has to answer for trading Luke Voit. He can play all three outfield positions and his floor was the right half of a platoon. The Rays did their homework on him, but he would have filled a need here too.

[nymr83]

Frayed Knot wrote: I had forgotten, until they flashed up the graphic earlier and then again just now, that the winner of these dives right back into it on Sunday night. I love this schedule. Unfortunately the “travel days” are inserted into the WS. But even in a normal year you don't, or very rarely see more than 4 straight days played by a team. I'm still trying to figure out why in the bubble the NHL and NBA series, including the finals are staggered out as if they were flying back and forth from the cities!

Because we want to see good basketball? I've never played hockey but I can only assume it is just as tiring if not more so. running up and down the court for 40 minutes is going to take more out of you than a month's worth of playing baseball (pitchers excluded) - spacing the games provides a better product.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah that's true, you can usually tell a "fresh" hockey team from 1 that played the night before

[Frayed Knot]

I may not have the count exactly correct, but I believe each pitching has made 14 visits to the mound so far.

And that might have a connection to why it's taken an hour and a half to get to the top of the 4th.



3-1 Astros as I type. Five pitchers have been used so far.

[G-Fafif]

Game Seven on deck. Go figure.

[bmfc1]

Frayed Knot wrote: I may not have the count exactly correct, but I believe each pitching has made 14 visits to the mound so far. And that might have a connection to why it's taken an hour and a half to get to the top of the 4th. 3-1 Astros as I type. Five pitchers have been used so far.

4 hours and one minute (the NL game went 3:45). This is insane. The games might be great and it's not like we're going anywhere these days but The Game has to be fixed. Mound visits, commercials, warmup pitches, stepping in/stepping out, walking off and around the mound--none of those contribute to why we watch and love baseball. (Warmup pitches: it's the same damn mound in the bullpen, just get on the mound throw 3 more, and go. It's not like olden times when the bullpen mound was crap.)

[G-Fafif]

“...and it's only the third inning!” has become a surefire laugh line in the Fafif household.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: I may not have the count exactly correct, but I believe each pitching has made 14 visits to the mound so far. And that might have a connection to why it's taken an hour and a half to get to the top of the 4th. 3-1 Astros as I type. Five pitchers have been used so far. 4 hours and one minute (the NL game went 3:45). This is insane. The games might be great and it's not like we're going anywhere these days but The Game has to be fixed. Mound visits, commercials, warmup pitches, stepping in/stepping out, walking off and around the mound--none of those contribute to why we watch and love baseball. (Warmup pitches: it's the same damn mound in the bullpen, just get on the mound throw 3 more, and go. It's not like olden times when the bullpen mound was crap.)

Sometimes, I think that the main reason for today's length of game is batters and pitchers taking too long in between pitches. Just watch an old game from the 70s if you're able to. The pitcher pitches. The catcher catches the pitch and throws it back to the pitcher. And in about 10 seconds, the next pitch is delivered. I'm sure it's 30 or 40 seconds between pitches today. And that's with nobody on base.

[Frayed Knot]

I honesty thought they had waived the mound visit rule, either for this season or at least for the post-season, based on how many committee meetings I was seeing in the middle of the field. But with so many pitching changes and so many exemptions (pinch-hitters for instance -- Whoa, we knew Lopez was on their roster but we didn't know they were going to USE him) there have been all night parades out to the mound without ever breaching the limits.



And a bunch of these pitching changes have come with two outs (a work-around for the three-bstter rule) followed by a quick third out which of course leads to a new break. So that's a mound meeting/pitching change [2-1/2 - 3 minutes]; then 3 or 4 pitches [1-plus]; then the between inning break [3 plus] ... iow, maybe six to seven minutes of clock time to witness three pitches!!

[Frayed Knot]

I honesty thought they had waived the mound visit rule, either for this season or at least for the post-season, based on how many committee meetings I was seeing in the middle of the field. But with so many pitching changes and so many exemptions (pinch-hitters for instance -- Whoa, we knew Lopez was on their roster but we didn't know they were going to USE him) there have been all night parades out to the mound without ever breaching the limits.



And a bunch of these pitching changes have come with two outs (a work-around for the three-batter rule) followed by a quick third out which of course leads to a new break. So that's a mound meeting/pitching change [2-1/2 - 3 minutes]; then 3 or 4 pitches [1-plus]; then the between inning break [3 plus] ... iow, maybe six to seven minutes of clock time to witness three pitches!!

That's not a sustainable business model.

[Frayed Knot]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=48666 time=1602954073 user_id=68]
Sometimes, I think that the main reason for today's length of game is batters and pitchers taking too long in between pitches. Just watch an old game from the 70s if you're able to. The pitcher pitches. The catcher catches the pitch and throws it back to the pitcher. And in about 10 seconds, the next pitch is delivered. I'm sure it's 30 or 40 seconds between pitches today. And that's with nobody on base.

[MFS62]

My pet peeve is something that has been happening on telecasts for ages.

The batter steps in, takes a pitch.

THEN the director calls for a close-up that also shows the player's name and stats - maybe this series, maybe what he has done in the game, maybe both.

But it seems that lost in all the babble is that many times the announcers forget to tell us the batter's name until that close -up. With the center field camera(and we can't see the batter's name on the back of his uni), we may never know his name if the he hits the first pitch for an out. The announcers will usually just tell us the name of the fielder.

And without a national MLB package, we may never have seen many (if any) games of this team before and would like to know who the f**k these guys are.

Why can't they show us the graphics on the first pitch?

I'll climb down off my soap box now.

Later