batmagadanleadoff

We had this thread going last Summer where I doubted the constant repetitive gripes of pitchers that played 30 or 40 years ago about today's "five and six inning starters". I doubted that those old-time pitchers would do any better today innings pitched-wise than today's pitchers. The game has changed so drastically to the point that the brand of game Steve Carlton and Jim Palmer played doesn't exist anymore. Today's players are far superior and the lineups are significantly tougher top to bottom. Apropos, The Athletic polled active baseball players and among other things, asked them what their biggest complaints are about what former players are saying about today's game. 7. What is the most irritating criticism of the current game coming from former players? We let players answer this question however they saw fit, and they gave us a variety of wide-ranging responses. Eight-two responses, in fact. Most touched on one of three topics they were most tired of hearing about from former players. [***] Overlooking the current game's degree of difficulty “You have to understand that players today are so damn good. … The length of the lineups and the length of pitching staffs has changed, even in the last seven, eight years.” “The lack of respect for difference in pitching quality.” “I feel like they're too far removed to understand how hard this game is.” “Just throw strikes — their strike zone was three times the size.” “‘Too many strikeouts' — they had three guys in the league who threw 95, and now the first guy in from the bullpen throws 100.” “That it's the same game. I don't think that's true. I think, unfortunately for us, the talent is just way better across the board. There's not an at-bat you have off or where you're like, ‘Finally, this guy.' It's always a new arm that's just nasty — splitters, sweepers. They're reinventing the wheel. Everyone's throwing 97-plus now. It's the same game but played at a much higher level.” Toughness (or lack thereof) “I think a lot of them say some guys don't run hard. I think guys are a little bit better at managing their bodies (now).” “You hear older players say that the game is a little softer. … I just think the game has changed. … They also say pitchers only care about velocity and stuff, but I don't think that's true. I think pitchers still are pitchers down to their core. The main focus is to get outs. We've just found different ways to go about (it).” “That we complain too much. ‘Back in my day' or ‘If we had all this stuff…'” https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5529966/2024/06/10/mlb-player-poll-overrated-underrated-worst-organization/https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5529966/2024/06/10/mlb-player-poll-overrated-underrated-worst-organization/

According to Jim Bowden writing for The Athletic, the consensus is that the Mets will be sellers at the trade deadline. Bowden lists a few teams that, as of this writing, could go either way - buyers or sellers. The Mets are not one of Bowden's consensus either way teams. The consensus is also that the Mets will be the center of attention at the deadline. Pete Alonso will be the best power hitter available, JD. Martinez, the best DH. And Luis Severino will be one of the best starting pitchers available. Also, Bowden says that the Mets will pursue Alonso in the off-season if he's traded at the deadline because the Mets are still interested in him. Which begs the question: then why trade Alonso in the first place? I'm guessing that a trade and hopeful free agent re-signing is a high stakes gamble to acquire prospects while relinquishing Alonso for half a season that isn't going anywhere?

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Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: You got that font where some letters dip below the line. Very iconic. And then yeah the first two movies give you scenery and extras. Pete Alonso in a wooden cage and a loincloth. Reed Garrett as Dr. Zaius shit writes itself Didn't me and Zvon do this once with Mets and Planet of the Apes? Or maybe it was on the private board? OE - or maybe it was in the Where's Jeff Wilpon thread. That was a cool thread. I think it disappeared. Or a lot of contributors took their work down. I remember Dinosaur Jesus had some very impressive stuff in there that later disappeared. It was all terrific work.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: rock and roll part 3? I think I've used up most of the ideas I'd like to have used in the first two R&R sets. If I did a third set, I'd be down to Bon Jovi and Styx.

Torrens is also Mendoza's guy from their Yankee days, for whatever that's worrh.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Linked in could be funny Give me your Planet of the Apes vision. I'm only familiar with the original run of movies that ended in the mid 70s. And who really cares much about the four post Charlton Heston sequels?

Our "best" reliever in May had a 6.08 ERA. Oh em gee. I can explain.

Heinz would be great I already thought of that one and would have done it years ago I had it all worked out in my head. But the Heinz font is custom and proprietary and there's no reasonable copycat font. Same goes for Schaefer Beer. Still, I'm not sure I would've done Schaefer anyway because I didn't want it to appear that I was moving in on Grimm's turf. But Schaefer would've been nice, too.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: you should be showing us the 2024 Typewriter set already Got any ideas?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/103/103-73Fr.jpg> A much worse name than "Pete LaCock". I've been saving that card in my CPF back pocket for future use.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Did someone say Pete LaCock? Didn't you mean "Pete's LaCock"?

Maybe MLB should add more playoff teams. Then more fans would be interested and attendance would rise and the money would roll in. MLB could maximize this idea by letting every team qualify for the playoffs. Think how much money they'd make then. If that's not enough money, MLB could rename the regular season as the playoffs. Then they'd make so much money that they wouldn't have a place to store it all and so they'd have to give some of the money back to the fans. They could schedule giveaway money days where they shoot hundred dollar bills into the stands from those old t-shirt guns. Fans would pay higher ticket prices to attend those games. But that would mean even more money that MLB would in turn, have to shoot right back at the crazy fans who spent hundreds of dollars for field level seats for those games The league would make so much money in this vicious circle that in the end, MLB would have to reduce the number of playoff teams in order to make a proper amount of money that it could rightly store.

OMG! Now everybody's saying cock.

Edgy MD wrote: Aggressively taking is the skill they have been lacking. They had a guy who threw 99-100 up there with the bases loaded and no out in a tie game. Letting the pressure be on him and forcing him to throw strikes was the way to go. And that's got to be the strategy. Don't swing until you gotta. Especially in the middle of a rally. This "Three and oh may be the only pitch to hit" garbage is killing them. Make the opponent throw strikes. Make the opponent throw every pitch possible. With everybody on a pitch count and teams insanely protective of the amount of usage each of their pitchers sees, every game is a war of attrition. Every inning is a battle in that war. Ever batter is an engagement. I agree with every bit of this. I am watching less Mets baseball than I have in a long time and a big part of it is that I find their continued collective approach at the plate utterly baffling and maddening. If you're griping about a batter's pitch selection or swinging at bad pitches, well that's a gripe that makes a whole lotta sense. But that's not even remotely what the first post is getting at.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Boy, having also been there, I have a pretty different take. This was not for the Brits- there were random locals there but it was almost purely Americans. If MLB is looking to expand their footprint this isn't the place to do it. If they wanted a young diverse European crowd, what they got was a crowd that skewed older, white and American, with some families as well. In other words, very much like a game at Citizens Bank Park. There were people with all sorts of jerseys, but even they were mostly Americans. I see people wearing Marlins jerseys at Mets games against the Pirates, too. This is speaking from left-center field. (Section 239). It was a great experience and the last game was spine-tingling. But it's just a junket for Americans. In places like Mexico, San Juan, the DR or even Japan and Korea, it's a different story because the locals actally care about the sport. Not here. Your kilometers may vary. A friend of mine went to the London games with his wife and kids. His experience resembles very much what you just posted.

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Miami Marlins at NY Mets Game Date - Tuesday, June 11, 2024 Game Time - 7:10PM EDT Addt'l info - It's Steve Cohen's 68th birthday! TV Channel - SNY, I presume. Tylor Megill 1-2, 3.00 ERA, 1.24 WHIP v. Jesus Luzardo 2-5 , 5.30 ERA, 1.25 WHIP Eh, maties. Always watch out for the King stick going north-south while I look for the hull of a duck. And be very Wallace Beery about Patty Hearst bitch fakes*. *"Patty Hearst bitch fakes" has to be the cleverest cockney phrase there is.

cal sharpie wrote: Also, yes, don't swing unless you gotta. This requires a heckuva lot of qualifiying and explaining. But the post right above yours and reproduced below is total batshit crazy straitjacket worthy insanity talk with a dose of electroshock therapy perhaps needed to fix it. Edgy MD wrote: Yesterday, the Mets were rallying for a ninth-inning comeback. One out and the bases were loaded, J.D. Martinez swung, put the ball in play, and the game was quickly over on a ground-ball double-play. Today, the Mets were rallying for a ninth-inning comeback. NONE out and the bases were loaded. There we go again, BUT ... on a 2-2 cutter down by the his shoe tops, Francisco Lindor swung and missed for strike three. At least he had the wisdom or what have you to take strike one, but strike three was a chase, but hey, he had two strikes and presumably did what he could. And he didn't hit into a double-play! But there we were again. One out and the bases were loaded. Pete Alonso was up this time, fortunately with J.D. two batters away. Alonso DID swing at the first strike he saw, foolishly enough, but rather than grounding into an inning-ending double play, he fouled it off. He didn't chase anything out of the strike zone, though, and so was fortunate and skillful enough to STILL BE ALIVE when he got hit by a 2-2 cutter. The Mets scored the go-ahead run, by NOT swinging. Brandon Nimmo kept the damned bat on his shoulder for all three strikes. Useless, huh? NO! IT WASN'T! For you can't hit into a double play if you don't swing, so even though he struck out looking, he was still alive when José Alvarado and J.T. Realmuto conspired to let a pitch get away, allowing another run to score. The Mets went up by two runs — and this second run was the ultimate margin of victory — again by NOT swinging. J.D. Martinez then came up again. The need to stop swinging wasn't as urgent, because first base was open with two outs, so the double-play was totally not in order. So, I'm not going to give J.D. grief for swinging at the first pitch he saw, but he did and he grounded out. But it was not swinging — at least until they had to — that won this game for the Mets. And that's what I'm saying. Aggressively taking is the skill they have been lacking. They had a guy who threw 99-100 up there with the bases loaded and no out in a tie game. Letting the pressure be on him and forcing him to throw strikes was the way to go. And that's got to be the strategy. Don't swing until you gotta. Especially in the middle of a rally. This "Three and oh may be the only pitch to hit" garbage is killing them. Make the opponent throw strikes. Make the opponent throw every pitch possible. With everybody on a pitch count and teams insanely protective of the amount of usage each of their pitchers sees, every game is a war of attrition. Every inning is a battle in that war. Ever batter is an engagement. The takeaway from baseball organizations in Moneyball was to try to be an early adopter with the next revolution. Shifts or launch angles or whatever. What they failed to realize is that they never maximized the advantages of the original Moneyball revolution. Take pitches, avoid outs, get on base, and runs will add up in given time. When facing a monster throwing the ball through walls at 100 mph, but not hitting his targets, it's totally the way to be. Somebody did manage to end the game and ruin his team's comeback by swinging at a pitch outside the strikezone and hitting into a double-play, but fortunately, it was Nick Castellanos, and not anybody on the Mets. So please, Mets, try not to swing until you gotta. It's not swinging that spared you the embarrassment of leaving the E.U. without a win.

Wow. This is new to me. This is a problem I had no idea existed until I read that piece. Not to sound like the "Master of the Obvious", but it's so true that money really is the root of all evil. The most extreme example being these greedy corporate scumbag fatcats who are going to destroy our planet by knowingly undermining the climate change movement because the multi millions of dollars that they already have arn't enough dollars for them. /gets off soapbox

Checking in. 2 is Paul Blair.

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Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Eat a pile of cock, Realmuto You meant knob or willy or meat puppet, eh mate? Still, you said cock even if it wasn't in Cockney. Eat a pile of knob, Realmuto!!!

Lefty Specialist wrote: And if they're selling this as an expansion to English fans, it's not working. The only English accents I heard were the folks behind the concession stand. Everyone else was American. Definitely a Philly crowd. Whatcha eat yesterday?

Rise and shine. This is an earlybird special, Eastern Time. Gametime -- 10AM EDT. TV channel - ESPN Jose Quintana: 1-5, 5.17 ERA, 1.39 WHIP Taijuan Walker: 3-1, 5.73 ERA, 1.59 WHIP Ello. Now go and get some Bo Peep in your Lord Freds for your bottles and glasses and Bristols, my china plates. And don't give me no Eartha Kitt, mates. This one's a Liz Hurley. [FIMG=999]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAv_-qpXYAIwhbE?format=jpg&name=4096x4096[/FIMG] [FIMG=555]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71koulvvViL._SL1425_.jpg[/FIMG] [media=youtube]qFMDmSglfc0[/media]