Frayed Knot

Edgy MD wrote: He's certainly been consistently effective at AA. Hey, one day at a time.

Geez folks, there about 87 different ways to call up a box score on the interwebs, ones that come complete with pictures, descriptions, and accounts of the game.

So after multiple injuries last season (often due to pulled abdominal muscles) the Nats opted to let Denard Span walk and replaced him with Ben Revere. So 2 ABs into the season, Revere ... wait for it ... pulled an oblique muscle and has gone on the DL. So we can expect lots more Michael Taylor in CF and Matt den Dekker has been called up to back up.

Yanx withdraw their protest from Game 1

So who's the top story of the opening week? ... why it's Trevor Story of course: 3 Games, 4 Hits, 4 HRs Story is the rookie SS for the Rockies, their 1st round (45th overall) draft pick in 2011 out of an Irving, Tx HS In doing this he becomes: - the first player in history to HR in each of his first 3 ML games - the first to have each of his first 4 ML hits be HRs The 4 HRs also give him more Colorado HRs as a SS than Jose Reyes did in a half season last year. With no word yet on when Reyes will be ready to play or when the suspension everyone knows is coming will even allow him to play, you wonder what will become of him when he gets back. At $22 mil over each of the next two seasons (although the suspension would relieve them of some of that) plus another $4 mil for the buyout to keep from paying $22 again in 2018, one wouldn't figure that they'd be looking at them releasing him with that price tag but it's not like he'd bring back a lot in a trade either.

The Jays/Rays game Tuesday night [u:ropi4oex]ended on a slide-rule call[/u:ropi4oex], and not just on a slide rule call but on a [u:ropi4oex]replay reversal[/u:ropi4oex] of a slide rule call that essentially reversed the outcome. Jays batting / Down by a run / Bases-loaded / Top 9 / 1 Out --- Bouncer to 3rd gets winged to 2nd for the force but then thrown wildly to 1st (looked like batter/runner would be safe anyway) allowing not just the runner from 3rd to score but the one from 2nd as well. So it's Jays still batting, now [u:ropi4oex]UP[/u:ropi4oex] by a run with a runner at 2nd/2-outs. But a replay review determines that the sliding runner didn't attempt to stay on the base (too busy pawing at the fielder's foot) so the out at 1st was awarded, both runs negated ... Game Over, Rays Win!! The bitter and often macho-leaning Toronto manager John Gibbons, perhaps predictably, took the 'next we'll be wearing dresses out there' route in his post-game comments. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/170622448/new-slide-rule-impacts-blue-jays-rays-ending

Fman99 wrote: The DVR plan mostly worked out -- except that I could only set it for the 3 hour window that SNY had, and so I was not able to get the bottom of the 9th. The last two DVR options I've had automatically give me the option of extending the recording past the allotted window on any program that's marked 'Live' which is a must-use option if you don't think you're going to "catch up" before the ending. And if you don't have that option you simply record whatever program is scheduled for the next window on that channel and maybe even the next after that one. Baseball is too unpredictable in length.

Sure. But is it interference without the ball actually going anywhere near the runner? And whether the runner affected the throw or not all comes down to a judgement call by the umps (they did get together on it) and judgement calls never get flipped.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: MFYs lose 5-3! Yanx protested the game. During that 8th inning rally for the Astros, Carlos Correa (who HR'd earlier - #MVP candidate) dribbled a swinging bunt up the 1st base line. Had the throw from Bettances hit Correa he could/should have been out as he was running well inside the baseline as he went, but the toss was a shot-put lob which sailed several feet over the head of Teixiera and into short RF. Girardi is claiming the position of the batter/runner affected the throw (although Bettances never had a good grip on it) and therefore should have gotten the call. Needless to say, the umps disagreed. I don't know exactly the rule reads but I've never seen it called on a runner for merely being potentially in the way and there should be zero chance that this is going to stand up.

THOUGHTS!!!! - That big Viking is going to be a sum'bitch this year (and quite possibly for a while after that as well) - It's a home-run, Mr. Walker, it's a home-run. - Nice penning from Hendu, Reed, and Familyman. 9-up/9-down

... I'll reserve judgment, though, until I hear her actually call a game, instead of going on and on about whatever the storyline is supposed to be. Ain't gonna happen. Every ESPN Sunday Night game is going to be about their designated story du jour. Just look at their BB2N show leading up to the SN game. That used to be ESPN's best hour of baseball for the week because they had all the just-completed afternoon series-ending games to review before taking a few minutes to set-up their upcoming game. But by the end of last year that show had completely flipped to where it was about 80% set-up/promo and goofy set pieces with the hi-light/review portion relegated to an afterthought and maybe half the games ignored completely. As I've said before: Everything that's on ESPN is about what else is on ESPN.

Ashie62 wrote: Noah disintrgrating. Yeah, a dropped third strike, two potential GiDP balls not turned on weak grounders, a soft single, and a (partial) pitch-around walk followed up by an inning-ending 3-pitch K. Just falling apart out there.

"Hey Royals, do you like apples ?" ...

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: MFYs playing their first game now, leading 2-0 on a 2-run dubble by Starlin Castro in his first MFY AB. Astros threatening now in 4th, 1st & 3rd, 0 out. 3 in the 8th for Houston off Bettances. Astros still batting, up 5-2

The 'Utley Rule' claimed its first victim in yesterday's Nats/Braves game when the Nats were awarded a double play, even though the throw to 1st was clearly late, after Nick Markakis's slide into Daniel Murphy was ruled illegal. The slide was legit in that Markakis started before reaching 2nd (unlike Utley) and was well within reach of the bag, but it looks like they nailed him on the over-slide portion of the rule when he failed to hold onto the base and wound up a couple feet past it.

... and speaking of ESPN, count me as one in the 'Pro' column (or at least not 'Anti') their use of the strike box -- mainly because the particular graphic being used is a whole lot less visually intrusive than the version used by some networks/stations. Do the talking heads run the risk of becoming a slave to it? Sure, but I kind of like that it's there.

Zvon wrote: She had huge tracks of land ... So did Kruk.

Nats score one in the 9th and another in the 10th to win 4-3. Not a lot of good bull penning from either side. HR, 2B, 2 BBs, 2 RBI for Muffy

I don't tend to get too crazy about announcers. There'll always be a handful on either end of the spectrum that I either particularly like or that drive me nuts, but most fall into that middle ground that are more or less white noise to me. I've heard Mendoza a number of times now and she's right in the fat part of the bell curve with most of the rest of them. Did the crew last night talk too much and beat points into the ground? Of course they did; it's network announcing, that's their move. You also have to remember that they're talking to a national audience who aren't Met and/or Royals nerds like the rest of us so they're operating under the assumption that they're speaking to a bunch of novices on topics that we're already sick of. The excess yakking is also a function of three in the booth, something I think is rarely a good idea absent some sort of time-honed chemistry (a la Keith & Ron) which naturally knows how to not step on each other, but we all know that no bad idea in sports broadcasting goes un-copied so three mouths for all BIG! games is here to stay - and BIG! to ESPN means their Sunday Night special which is the only thing about baseball they really care about these days.

FFF (Fucking Freddie Freeman*) goes long in bottom 1 to tie it up - and thus prevents Scherzer from any shot he had at "consecutive" no-hitters. Jeremy Blevins, you're on notice. * copyright ZVon Enterprises Inc.

Ceetar wrote: I don't even think d'Arnaud is that slow. I'm not sure I'd wager he's slower than Campbell. And that's part of it too: if you're going to pr for your above-average hitting catcher in a crucial situation, it would be nice if it were with a demonstrably better runner ... but we don't have one of those.

- The reigning NL MVP HR'd in the top of the 1st in Atlanta Murph, batting 5th following Zimmerman and before Werth, draws a 2-out walk in his first Nats' AB 1-0 Nats. Scherzer vs Teheran - Yanx/Astros rained out in the Bronx Ditto BoSox @ Cleveland (snowed out actually) Delayed: Twins @ Bal'mer - If Cincy is so upset about the disregard of tradition and their loss of the first game of the season status, why do they then delay their game until 4PM?

Edgy MD wrote: As certain as I am that De Aza isn't as fast as he was, I'm equally as certain in the assumption that, as a backup center fielder, he's (almost by definition) faster and nimbler than backup corner infielder Eric Campbell. All of which led Terry to opt for the backup corner IF because, although he's probably not as fast as the once kinda-fast backup OF, he also isn't as good a hitter so he wins the pr assignment by default in a 9th inning/tying run situation. It all just points to a dearth of young/speedy/athlete types on a roster where, aside from the days when Lagares is benching it, even the fastest of the backup middle IFs & OFs are only about average fast and none are particularly adept with the glove either.

Edgy MD wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: - When your first pinch-running option is Eric Campbell it doesn't say much for team speed. Any of our pitchers look like runners? Matz? deGrom is a former shortstop and a good fielder, but he seems too tall and gangly to have that fourth gear. De Aza would have been the best choice for pinch-running, but they wanted to use him for his lefty bat instead. Haven't seen enough of De Aza (I keep wanting to write that with a lower-case d just for continuity sake) yet to judge his running, but the booth last night (yeah, I know) kept talking about how his speed ins't what it was (he twice stole 20+) and I assume that holds true Cabrera also (17 SBs on two occasions) on the days he isn't starting. Larger point being that even if you wanted to argue for that day's non-starters to be available for pr-duty (and I'd be OK with that in most cases) it's hardly an ideal situation that one of them would be your first option because the roster make-up is such that they're better than anyone else on the, up to that point, un-touched bench.

Fman99 wrote: I get out of work at 4, which, theoretically, is good, except that I'll need to get in a workout, and then get Fboy to LL practice from 6-7, and then, somewhere in that time frame, also get some dinner prep and cooking done. This is why God invented TiVo (or other DVR method of your choice).