Frayed Knot

While watching Kershaw the other night it looked like he was delivering every pitch with 6-10 seconds still remaining on the clock. And, funny, it didn't seem to throw him off his game.

Edgy MD wrote: Well, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the Dodgers don't seem to be the same team these days. They certainly don't, although we did miss Will Smith plus 2/3 of Mookie Betts in this series. Also, the Gavin Lux injury (damn WBC!!) trashed their preseason blueprint and they've yet to figure Plan B.

Still 1-0 Padres, 2 out, top 9, runner on 1st, Albies vs Hader, 2-2 count ... and he pops out to end the Braves' 8-game winning streak.

Only three innings from Scherezer plus a run each allowed by Robertson and Ottavino = W That's not a combo likely to be duplicated too often this year.

Not a great gamble with one out and your #3 batter up.

Braves getting shut out thru 7 in SD (I've gotten so used to them leading 2-0 in the 1st that I didn't think it was possible). But the Pads have just a slim 1-0 lead after losing the first two by a combined 12-1

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I missed it why did Marte depart? Hasn't been explained.

Strike three and you're out, man!

The Mets haven't had a ton of scoring opportunities over the last two games ... but they sure have made the least of them.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Roberts for removing a very effective starter for this guy. Now they just need one more hit to cash in on the gift.

Tough to remember Nimmo's last poor AB He's been all over everything every game.

1st inning: 28 pitches 2nd & 3rd: 18 combined

Marte is halfway towards tying a Joe Torre record ... and that's not a good thing.

Good news: scoreless 1st for Max Bad news: 1 hit, 2 BB, and 28 pitches to do it

Let the record show that this game was inserted into a book at 1:01 AM Tuesday morning.

George Clooney doesn't have enough money so he wants you to buy his vanity Tequila brand.

Didn't think I'd make it to the 5th ... but here I am.

I was just about to say that we need multiple runs here. Bags loaded, heart of the order, etc oe: well there's the first

Among all the other issues, those patches look like they'd be uncomfortable to wear by making the sleeve stiff.

Two two-out two-RBI hits are ruining Peterson's night.

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=122713 time=1681787510 user_id=119] May[CROSSOUT]'s delivery[/crossout] is goofy looking.

Doesn't help that Stanton can pull a hammy playing chess.

Not up for a full KTE, but the Dodgers have a bunch of new, and mostly unknown, faces replacing some departed and more famous ones. Gone are Justin Turner, Trea Turner (don't think Nat, Ike, or Tina are on the present roster either), Kike Hernandez and Clay Bellinger C - Will Smith but he was just put on the concussion IL so won't appear 1B - FFF 2B & SS feature a couple of Miguels, Vargas & Rojas, neither one of whom is hitting 3B - Max Muncy is hitting, at least for power. 6 of his 11 hits (.204 BA) are HRs OF - David Peralta, James Outman, Mookie Betts DH - JD Martinez Team is just 8-8 despite a favorable RS/RA ratio and is coming off losing two of three at home vs Cubs where they scored 2, 2, and 2 runs, winning only the final game on a walk-off on a 2-out/bottom 9 David Peralta single Their RS/G is 6th best in MLB to date despite some feeble BAs in the lineup Their RA/G sits 9th best which is a little more expected

5-3 Angels is your (finally) final so LAA avoids the sweep by taking the final game of the four game series. Other series starting tonight: - Braves are in SD so their game times will roughly correspond to ours both the next two nights and with day games on Wednesday. The 8-6 Padres are owners of three of Atlanta's four losses this year after sweeping the Braves in their home opening series. - Philly visits the south side of Chicago and the 6-10 ChiSox - Marlins host the Giants so we'll likely get to SF for that series before the home team does - and the Nats are ... don't know, don't care - Yanx await the Angels starting tomorrow where they'll miss the pitching half of Ohtani

I've probably said this before on this topic, but what I think baseball needed more than anything was an attitude adjustment as over the last (three? four? five?) decades the sport has slowly morphed from a game where the ball was considered 'live' unless otherwise stated to one where things are treated as if it's the other way around. Pitchers and hitters both decided that the game wasn't going to resume until they were good and ready and sometimes had a kind of test of wills as to who would win in a battle to out-wait the other. Think back also to Muffy's 'steal' of 3rd base on a BB in the playoff game vs the Dodgers. He was able to pull that off because LAD 3B Justin Turner, playing in short RF due to a shift, simply put his head down and plodded slowly back towards his usual position as if nothing would happen until the first pitch to the new batter because the game was in 'hold' mode so nothing could happen. That same week in the AL playoffs Rangers 2B Rougned Odor scampered home from 3rd when Blue Jay catcher Russel Martin's throw back to his pitcher clanked off Shin Soo Choo's bat. In that case it was the umps who immediately waived the play dead (they later convened and overturned their initial call) as if now even the time between pitches was considered stopped time. So, if nothing else, I think the new clock rules will at least have the effect of re-establishing the idea that the ball is live unless and until time is called and that players on both sides of the field no longer have unlimited opportunities to simply declare that they're not currently ready to continue.