Yeah, my comment about teams being unlikely to have saves from six different guys was about other teams in this ~1/3 of a season. The Yanx come to mind because of Robertson being hurt for a time but even they've had just four, and not nearly as democratically distributed -- Robertson - 11; Shawn Kelley - 4; and Warren & Phelps 1 each. I suspect most other teams top out at two or three this early in the season, especially since I can't think of too many closer injuries so far.
The race as of (almost) the end of May Jennry Mejia = 4 Kyle Farnsworth = 3 Jose Valverde = 2 Carlos Torres = 1 Daisuke Matsuzaka = 1 Jeurys Familia = 1 I suspect that no other team has had six different pitchers record a save in not quite the first 1/3 of the season.
NYM pitchers forced to get 30 outs today - and most of those extra outs are on Doo-doo even tough I don't think he's been charged with an actual error.
Terry had himself an interesting choice there and wound up opting for Familia vs Ike as opposed to Edgin vs Gaby Sanchez (who almost certainly would have PH'd for Ike) I liked the choice ahead of time and REALLY liked it afterward.
Benjamin Grimm wrote: Outs on the basepaths provide players with a much-needed chance to catch their breath before they take the field again in the next half inning. Plus there's all that energy you save by running only to 3rd instead of all the way home. Not sure why they didn't think of this earlier.
My only suggestion--and it's been the same one for years--is that they start the balloting so early in the year that you virtually encourage fans to vote for names rather than whoever is having the best year. If you make the voting period run from the first of June to the first of July (or thereabouts) you'd get better ballots (can leave off Prince Fielder this year, for instance and add say Houston's George Springer) plus make the votes and the voting period itself more meaningful. But, like the multiple ballot strategy itself, delaying things even a day would probably be seen as crime against multiple website traffic clicks so my suggestion stands less and less chance of being implemented each year. That said, I view the AS balloting and results as the most minor of problems. I preferred it when things had at least the whiff of integrity (i.e., when all 30 teams were NOT openly encouraging you to vote only for in-house faves) but this is not something I get all bent out of shape about.
Wright's HR makes Laggy's ill-advised steal attempt of 3rd for the 3rd out the previous inning even more inexcusable. And, yeah, the pre-determined outcome fallacy and all that, but it was still dumb and, with at least four of those pre-pitch steal attempts gone wrong this year, it's time to abandon this strategy.
Unless the size difference is huge, there's also the psychological satisfaction of one complete unit ... unless the size difference is substantial. Are we still discussing hotdogs here?
Pedro Feliciano signs with StL -- but it's a minor league deal so he still hasn't broken his 'Mets and only Mets' ML stretch despite being property, at one time or another, of the Dodgers, Reds, Yanx, Tigers, and now Cardinals.
MFS62 wrote: And how often does a pitcher (or any player for that matter) get to be the final AB in one game and then throw the first pitch of the next? Interesting. There have been some good hitting pitchers over the years, so it may not be that rare. Something for the guys at Elias to check out. Sure, but the odds are further limited by the fact that it would have to be the next day's pitcher as the PH and have him be successful in a game-ending situation at home where the following game is home too. So, yeah, last night probably wasn't the very first time, but it's got to be like an undercooked steak: pretty darn rare.
So the O's and Brewers are tied up in the 10th last night (after the Brews had scored w/2 outs in the 9th to tie it). Brewers batting in the bottom half, 2-out/none on, and Three-True-Outcomes fave Mark Reynolds coming to the plate. The kicker here is that the pitchers spot is due up next and the Crew are out of bench players. So Buck elects to walk Reynolds intentionally (none-on/two-out remember) to get to the pitcher. Milwaukee mgr Ron Roenicke counters with today's starting pitcher Yovanni Gallardo to PH for scheduled hitter Frankie Rodriguez -- and Gallardo promptly smacks a game-winning double. A defensible strategy for sure, but you wonder how much Buck considered Gallardo's track record with the bat [.204/.232/.353 w/12 HRs & 42 RBIs in less than 400 career ABs] when making the move. And how often does a pitcher (or any player for that matter) get to be the final AB in one game and then throw the first pitch of the next?
LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Defensive plays, two-out scoring, funky bullpen usage... is it me, or has this game had the ring of "anything you can do" all night? All that and it may even get done in under four hours!! (unless it winds up re-tied)
Black the Quick goes to some breaking stuff to get himself out of a jam. I think all three strikes in that AB by Sanchez were off-speed and were all looking.