2014 April (and a tiny bit of March) Game Thread

ScubaSteveAvery

Master of the Senate
SoSH Member
Jul 29, 2007
8,329
Everywhere
The Pirates steadfastly refuse to win. Tabata grounds out to short to take us to the 14th.  Back to back innings with the bases loaded and they haven't' scored at all.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,278
ForceAtHome said:
James Paxton's night should be over with 99 pitches through 7 innings pitched. He's allowed just 2 hits, 2 walks, 0 runs, and struck out 9. Again, two of those four base runners allowed were Trout.
I think he will have a good season… He had a knee procedure if I remember correctly and has been a different pitcher since
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
Interesting statement from MLB in response to the Pirates/Cubs review in the 8th "In layman's terms, neighborhood is when the fielder misses the base intentionally to avoid injury on a routine turn. An errant throw would not qualify as the neighborhood play."
 

MakMan44

stole corsi's dream
SoSH Member
Aug 22, 2009
19,363
ScubaSteveAvery said:
The Pirates steadfastly refuse to win. Tabata grounds out to short to take us to the 14th.  Back to back innings with the bases loaded and they haven't' scored at all.
What's their bench situation? I mean, how do you let Clint Barmes bat with the bases loaded?
 

ScubaSteveAvery

Master of the Senate
SoSH Member
Jul 29, 2007
8,329
Everywhere
MakMan44 said:
What's their bench situation? I mean, how do you let Clint Barmes bat with the bases loaded?
 
I think there is only one man left.  They've used Sanchez, Tabata, Harrison and Barmes as pinch hitters.  That leaves Tony Sanchez left?  What is worse is that Barmes is now playing 1st base. 
 
They keep Sanchez on the bench and let Pimentel hit. Watching Stolmy pitch has been fun. He struggled in the Sox system, but he's developed into a decent pitcher.  At least tonight he's flashing solid control with a hard fastball and a nice mix of breaking stuff.  Glad to see him make it. 
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
ScubaSteveAvery said:
 
I think there is only one man left.  They've used Sanchez, Tabata, Harrison and Barmes as pinch hitters.  That leaves Tony Sanchez left?  What is worse is that Barmes is now playing 1st base. 
 
They keep Sanchez on the bench and let Pimentel hit. Watching Stolmy pitch has been fun. He struggled in the Sox system, but he's developed into a decent pitcher.  At least tonight he's flashing solid control with a hard fastball and a nice mix of breaking stuff.  Glad to see him make it. 
 
To add to this, the Cubs only have their backup catcher John Baker left as well. Bullpens are getting really thin too.
 

ScubaSteveAvery

Master of the Senate
SoSH Member
Jul 29, 2007
8,329
Everywhere
ForceAtHome said:
 
To add to this, the Cubs only have their backup catcher John Baker left as well. Bullpens are getting really thin too.
 
I still can't believe the Pirates only have 5 hits.  The Cubs have 14. 
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
Bullpen situations:
 
The Cubs only have Hammel, Samardzija, Villanueva left. Samardzija started Monday, so he's out. Hammel is scheduled to start tomorrow at 12:35pm. That leaves Villanueva as the last man unless they change tomorrow's starter (which they could probably make Wood, who pinch hit already this game).
 
The Pirates have Liriano, Cole, Morris, Rodriguez, and Volquez. Liriano also started Monday, so he's not pitching. Wandy Rodriguez is scheduled for tomorrow at 12:35pm as well. Cole is schedule for Friday and I doubt they want to mess with their young prize this early. That leaves Morris and Volquez as the likely options.
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
The Cubs are pinch hitting their last man position player (C John Baker) for Wesley Wright. That means Villanueva and possibly Hammel are all that are left for them. Samardzija may be their next option to hit off the bench?
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
Smoak couldn't have started better.
 
Game one: 2-4, HR, 3 RBI
Game two: 2-4, 3 RBI
Game three: 2-5, HR, RBI
 
6-13, 2 HR, 7 RBI.
 

ScubaSteveAvery

Master of the Senate
SoSH Member
Jul 29, 2007
8,329
Everywhere
Heads up base running by Tabata going from first to third on a line drive to LF, with the outfield playing back. 
 
Tony Sanchez now pinch hitting, meaning the Pirates are out of bench players. 
 
Sanchez walk off single!
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
Pirates win in the 16th. They only had to play 7 extra innings because of Grilli's blown save. First pitch for the next game is in 11 hours and 30 minutes.
 

derekson

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2010
6,224
nattysez said:
 
He is so bad. Why Beane traded for him I'll never understand.
 
I too was utterly baffled by that trade. Johnson is the exact type of pitcher that Beane usually foists on some other team for a great return: a random reliever who inherited the closer job, racked up some nice save numbers, and is getting overpaid in arbitration. There are a few closers out there who are legitimately worth that kind of money because you know the game is over when you call on them, but that's only guys like Rivera, prime Wagner, prime Papelbon, Kimbrel, etc. Jim Johnson at ~10M for one year is a huge overpay in money alone, and then Beane actually traded a potentially useful infielder for him in Jemile Weeks too. That trade was completely inexplicable.
 

derekson

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2010
6,224
Andrew said:
Papelbon is toast.
 
I was shocked he was relatively successful last year with how much velocity he had lost from his fastball. He was throwing like 90-92 every time I saw him last year with some shitty loopy 80 MPH slider as his main off speed offering. It was just sad to watch. I didn't see him last night, but I'm going to guess his stuff was similar.
 

nattysez

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 30, 2010
8,435
derekson said:
 
I too was utterly baffled by that trade. Johnson is the exact type of pitcher that Beane usually foists on some other team for a great return: a random reliever who inherited the closer job, racked up some nice save numbers, and is getting overpaid in arbitration. There are a few closers out there who are legitimately worth that kind of money because you know the game is over when you call on them, but that's only guys like Rivera, prime Wagner, prime Papelbon, Kimbrel, etc. Jim Johnson at ~10M for one year is a huge overpay in money alone, and then Beane actually traded a potentially useful infielder for him in Jemile Weeks too. That trade was completely inexplicable.
 
I think Beane decided that Weeks was AAAA. so no great loss there.  But that doesn't explain why he was willing to devote $10mm of his payroll to Johnson.  The only theory that makes sense is that he was hoping Johnson would be good in the first half and serve as trade bait, but if that's what he had in mind, it's not going too well thus far.
 

Remagellan

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
I hate the Cubs new CUBS road uniforms.  Road unis should always have the name of the city, and if not, they should feature something more distinctive than the team name in block letters.  They look like Little League uniforms. 
 

canderson

Mr. Brightside
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
39,435
Harrisburg, Pa.
soxhop411 said:
Under 1,000 people here right?
 

 
 
And you can bet ushers were still shooing away anyone that didn't have tickets for a specific section/seat. They were doing it in Baltimore last night - we were four rows behind the Sox pen and by the 7th we had six empty seats around us and the four rows behind were empty. Good ol' usher though kept kicking out dads and little kids who wanted a photo or anything.
 

AbbyNoho

broke her neck in costa rica
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
12,177
Northampton, Massachusetts
Wild game in Chicago. More half innings with runs in them than those with 0s. Lindstrom just blew the 9-8 lead in the 9th, going to the bottom now with Minnesota winning 10-9. 
 

AbbyNoho

broke her neck in costa rica
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
12,177
Northampton, Massachusetts
The bastard from the Reach, Tyler Flowers, is 4-4 on the day but gets pinch-hit for with 2 outs in the 9th and the tying run on third. The reanimated corpse of Paul Konerko ends the game meekly on the first pitch he sees.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,850
Remagellan said:
I hate the Cubs new CUBS road uniforms.  Road unis should always have the name of the city, and if not, they should feature something more distinctive than the team name in block letters.  They look like Little League uniforms. 
 

Cubs OFer Junior Lake agrees:
 


 
Chicago Cubs outfielder Junior Lake wore the wrong road jersey as his team took the field for the first inning of Thursday's 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

The Cubs have two gray road jerseys this year -- one with "Cubs" written across the front, the other with "Chicago" written on it. They wore the "Cubs" jersey during their entire three-game series with the Pirates, but Lake took his place in left field for the final game of the series wearing the jersey that said "Chicago" on it.
 
 

derekson

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2010
6,224
InsideTheParker said:
Ok, now explain why the Twins signed what ought to be a really good long man to starter money.
 
Even if you moved him to the pen he'd be more useful than a long man. He could be a shutdown setup guy or closer like he was in 2009. He has a few good pitches but not a deep enough repertoire, which is why he runs into issues the third time through the order. But he might be alright as a starter for the Twins as long as they can get him plenty of starts at home in Target Field. Starting him against the White Sox in their HR haven of a ballpark was pretty stupid though.
 

ForceAtHome

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 23, 2008
4,011
Maine
Seattle's starters have been downright awesome for them so far. And this is without Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker so far...
 
Hernandez: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, 11 K
Ramirez: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 ER, 6 K
Paxton: 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 9 K
Elias: 5 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 3 K
 
Total: 25 IP, 14 H, 6 BB, 5 ER, 29 K
1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 10.4 K/9
 

mabrowndog

Ask me about total zone...or paint
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 23, 2003
39,676
Falmouth, MA
JimBoSox9 said:
Coco goes bridge in the 11th to send everyone home in Oakland.  UNDER REVIEW
 
edit: it's gone, tho
 
12th. And it counts.
 
First pitch, and he crushed it.
 

mabrowndog

Ask me about total zone...or paint
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 23, 2003
39,676
Falmouth, MA
nattysez said:
I think Beane decided that Weeks was AAAA. so no great loss there.  But that doesn't explain why he was willing to devote $10mm of his payroll to Johnson.  The only theory that makes sense is that he was hoping Johnson would be good in the first half and serve as trade bait, but if that's what he had in mind, it's not going too well thus far.
 
I believe that's exactly what Beane was thinking. And as much of a gas can as Johnson can be, it's way too early to rule it a flawed strategy and call him this year's Joel Hanrahan.