April 2015 Game Thread

MakMan44

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flymrfreakjar said:
 
TB offense?
I guess, but the Rays have a better record than the Yankees. I haven't been following them at all, I think Tanaka was just good tonight. Wierd. 
 

grimshaw

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Middlebrooks a two run bomb off Lester.  Hard to believe Will's .280 obp is probably better than Lester's season so far.
 

soxhop411

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Grow the fuck up royals. They threw at Lawrie again. And pitcher was ejected
 

soxhop411

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@JeffPassan: Brett Lawrie just got thrown at again by Kelvin Herrera, who was ejected -- as he should've been. Enough of this crap. Grow the hell up.
 

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Royals win.
 
Royals batters have been hit by 14 pitches already this season, which is on their nerves.
 
When Cain was hit in the first inning by Kazmir, KC wanted an ejection -- as Ventura had been ejected for hitting Lawrie the night before.
 
When it didn't happen, and the umps warned both teams (blocking KC was a chance to "get back" at Oakland for hitting Cain) you knew they'd go after Lawrie again.
 
The Royals apparently feel Lawrie intentionally attempted to injure Escobar with the high-spike slide.
 

soxhop411

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@JaneMLB: Lawrie is absolutely livid. Herrera gestured at his head toward Lawrie, signaling that's where he would hit him next time.
 

Cellar-Door

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Poorly handled all around. Kazmir certainly looked like he hit Cain intentionally, either toss him then or let KC hit someone before you give warnings.
Also it would be helped if MLB suspended players for dirty slides. Lawrie's slide on Escobar was terrible, and served no purpose other than to try and injure him.
If I were the Royals I'd be pissed too, Lawrie injures my player, then my pitcher gets tossed the next game for hitting someone. Then when my guy is intentionally drilled the next game their pitcher isn't tossed, but we get warnings.
 

Average Reds

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Cellar-Door said:
Poorly handled all around. Kazmir certainly looked like he hit Cain intentionally, either toss him then or let KC hit someone before you give warnings.
Also it would be helped if MLB suspended players for dirty slides. Lawrie's slide on Escobar was terrible, and served no purpose other than to try and injure him.
If I were the Royals I'd be pissed too, Lawrie injures my player, then my pitcher gets tossed the next game for hitting someone. Then when my guy is intentionally drilled the next game their pitcher isn't tossed, but we get warnings.
 
Yeah, this is about right.
 
After looking at the replay, I thought the umps handled Saturday well.  But they handled Sunday poorly and invited the needless retaliation.
 
I will admit that I have no sympathy for Lawrie, who just oozes assholishness from every pore.
 

dynomite

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Only 4 AL teams have winning records.  I believe this is the lowest number of AL teams with a winning record on April 20th since 1972?  I found a few years with 5 (including 2012 and 2011), but none with 4 or fewer since 1972.
 
Edit: I'll add that this is hardly to suggest any meaningful conclusions.  
 

HriniakPosterChild

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dynomite said:
Only 4 AL teams have winning records.  I believe this is the lowest number of AL teams with a winning record on April 20th since 1972?  I found a few years with 5 (including 2012 and 2011), but none with 4 or fewer since 1972.
 
Edit: I'll add that this is hardly to suggest any meaningful conclusions.  
Interleague play sucks. (Meaningful enough?)
 

rotundlio

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Attendance continues to rise: the first two weekends have drawn three million fans, which breaks a ten-year-old record by a good margin.
 

 
Sadly, offense is still headed the other way. That is precipitous. At what point will we finally repair the damn strike zone?
 
Statcast makes its TV debut tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. on MLB Network. The Cards play the Nats, so with any luck we'll get to examine a Bryce Harper moonshot in some proper, loving detail. (How disconcerting is it to see Will Middlebrooks on that list? What happens when that guy develops his eyesight tool?) I am pretty adamantly of the opinion that Harper ought to catch, but that's another matter. What really concerns me is Fenway's lack of FIELDf/x cameras. It's apparent to anybody watching that this is the way of the future. How much hand wringing has there been over Pablo's defense? Here we could know for certain.
 
Good news for Travis d'Arnaud, who is a lot closer to being one of the ten best players in baseball than you probably think: three weeks in a splint, maybe rub some dirt on it. Hand injuries, whatever Pedroia's travails, hardly impact OPS. Godspeed, TDA, you Crosscutters alum you.
 
A Rule 5 reliever for the Braves got popped for 80 games. Lots of guys probably sweating it out by now. I don't know what to make of this, but it reminds me of Avon Barksdale's hot shots.
 
And don't look now, but Arquímedes Caminero is doing a frighteningly good Aroldis Chapman impersonation. He's huge and imposing; he looks mean. He's inducing 18% swinging strikes and pounding the crap out of the strike zone. The balls he does throw are being chased 40% of the time. It's extremely early yet, but his numbers in these respects would've ranked third, first, and sixth among relievers last season. He's inducing 57% groundballs.
 
The Marlins actually waived this guy when he still had options remaining. (So good to know there are still woefully incompetent organizations around.) Pitch whisperer Ray Searage (another Crosscutters alum! McCutchen and Joey Bats then as well) supposedly fixed his mechanics—now he's sitting 100 and blowing everybody the hell away. Mark Melancon's velocity is extraordinarily down, and he's yet to fool a batter all season. Caminero's not just the closer-to-be. There's a chance he's the best pitcher in the world.
 
 
Edit:  Holy shit. Starlin Castro fouled a ball straight back and some poor woman standing too near the screen took it square off the back of her head. Apparently she was down and unmoving for fifteen minutes before they eventually carted her out, unconscious, on a stretcher.
 
That is horrific. I surely hope she's okay. Here is the grisly evidence if you really have to see it.
 
Edit edit:  The Pirates announced she was "conscious and alert" as EMS removed her. Supposedly she gave PNC the thumbs up. That's really good to hear; I was sort of disturbed.
 
In related news, Caminero was touched up for three runs on this play and took the loss. He induced one swinging strike. ...That Dodgers bullpen looks formidable
 

jimc

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Top notch double play turned by the Giants against the Dodgers. Dive going up the middle by Crawford, flawless shovel from his stomach to Panik, strong turn to Posey. One of the plays of the year so far.
 

SumnerH

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rotundlio said:
Attendance continues to rise: the first two weekends have drawn three million fans, which breaks a ten-year-old record by a good margin.
 

 
Sadly, offense is still headed the other way. That is precipitous. At what point will we finally repair the damn strike zone?
 
In theory I'm in favor of enforcing the proper strike zone. But on the bigger picture, the main argument for more offense has been to draw in more casual viewers who don't appreciate pitching duels and love dingers. If viewers are coming around and watching more while offense is down, that's awesome and means there's not a major impetus to artificially inflate scoring. That's an overall win for the game, IMO.
 

BestGameEvah

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Chris Archer should just zip it.  If he's really over the Ortiz thing....why still talk about it? (much less jump around about it?)
 
What does Jim Palmer have to say about Bryan Price?
 
Wally Backman?  Surely, there is another deserving bench coach/3rd base coach who has paid his dues, is ready to manage and hasn't lied about his past (DUI, arrest etc).
 
Bautista's comment about the Orioles via TheStar: It’s premeditated, and the (Orioles) hide behind their manager (Buck Showalter) and the way he acts and conducts himself, and they will until (the league) does something.”
 
Adam Jones retort via Baltimore Sun:  “That was just uncalled for,” Jones said after the game. “I don’t want to cuss, but it was just uncalled for. I’m not going to let nobody show up my teammates in a situation like that when a guy is definitely not trying to hurt somebody. … You’ve got to look at the situation. You’ve got a 22-year-old guy, a Rule 5, he was [riding] on buses last year. He’s more nervous facing him than the other way around. The last thing he wants to do is hurt somebody, especially hit somebody shoulders or higher. Come on. The last thing you want to do is that.”

 
 

Average Reds

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Bautista did precisely what the "hard-nosed, have respect for the game and pay attention to the unwritten rules" crowd says you should do when a pitcher throws at you.  Get your revenge in the batters box.
 
Of course, his revenge didn't sit well with the "hard-nosed, have respect for the game and pay attention to the unwritten rules" crowd, because they didn't actually expect Bautista to get his revenge in the same at bat.
 
As always, the moral is that teams managed by Buck Showalter are populated by morons and cowards.
 

SLC Sox

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Hitting a HR right after getting thrown at has to be about the most satisfying feeling in the world, I imagine.
 

HriniakPosterChild

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jschip1 said:
Hitting a HR right after getting thrown at has to be about the most satisfying feeling in the world, I imagine.
Hitting one in the next AB after Roger Clemens has hit your teammate in the head has to be a close second. (2003 in YS, by Trot Nixon, with Millar on 1st. Hitler woulda done the same thing, I think.)
 

Yelling At Clouds

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BestGameEvah said:
 
Wally Backman?  Surely, there is another deserving bench coach/3rd base coach who has paid his dues, is ready to manage and hasn't lied about his past (DUI, arrest etc).
 
Probably, but does that ever really happen? A team hiring a coach from a different team to manage them in the middle of a season? Usually teams who make midseason firings either promote from within or find someone who's sitting on the couch somewhere.
 

DJnVa

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Not really in-game stuff but I read today that the Mets are paying Harvey and deGrom less money this season than they have to pay to Bobby Bonilla.
 

dynomite

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Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Melancon has reverted to pre-All Star status thus far
 

glennhoffmania

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Gdiguy

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glennhoffmania said:
 
The article explains why, but I never understood why people keep mocking this arrangement.  Yes, they're still paying him.  Are there that many people who don't understand deferrals and the time value of money?
 
Well, the Bonilla deal was a good idea when they were getting Madoff's 15% interest per year... in the real world, it wasn't as bad, but was still dumb
 
 
 
Only years later would it become clear why Wilpon went for the deferral: The $5.9 million went into a Madoff account, which was theoretically supposed to collect a double-digit interest rate over the life of the agreement. Only about an 8 percent return would have been needed to pay Bonilla his $1.2 million a year from 2011 to 2035. The Mets did the math and figured they'd be able to turn a $60-70 million profit on the arrangement.
 
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7879021/mlb-new-york-mets-pay-bobby-bonilla-millions-years-come-espn-magazine
 

Cellar-Door

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glennhoffmania said:
 
The article explains why, but I never understood why people keep mocking this arrangement.  Yes, they're still paying him.  Are there that many people who don't understand deferrals and the time value of money?
That article is incredibly dumb. Who the hell can get 8% compounding return every single year? (also he'd have had to pay taxes on it, so he's investing 3 or so not 6).
 
Most people don't understand deferrals so that is probably the fascination, but also the Mets made the deal assuming Madoff was going to get them big returns.
 
 

Cellar-Door

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Al Zarilla said:
Some players wearing ski masks at the Indians - White Sox game in Chicago. It's almost May, FFS.
It's also 40 degrees with a 20 MPH wind in Chicago right now.
 

glennhoffmania

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Cellar-Door said:
That article is incredibly dumb. Who the hell can get 8% compounding return every single year? (also he'd have had to pay taxes on it, so he's investing 3 or so not 6).
 
Most people don't understand deferrals so that is probably the fascination, but also the Mets made the deal assuming Madoff was going to get them big returns.
 
 
Sure, the 8% is stupid.  But the general idea that the Mets tried wasn't so stupid.  Yet every time I hear someone talk about it all they say is, can you believer they're still paying him and he hasn't played in 15 years?  The discussion never comes close to approaching the pros and cons of the economics of each option.  If someone said, the Mets fucked up when they came up with the discount rate on Bonilla's deferral, then at least we're having a reasonable discussion.
 

grimshaw

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David Price threw 51 pitches in the first inning.  I wonder what the most by a single pitcher to complete a full inning is.
 

Darnell's Son

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grimshaw said:
David Price threw 51 pitches in the first inning.  I wonder what the most by a single pitcher to complete a full inning is.
Google tells me 61 by Steve Trachsel in 1997 for the Cubs.
 

dynomite

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cwright said:
Bumgarner/Kershaw matchup in San Francisco tonight.  Right now the Bumgarners are leading 2-0.
 
Fun game.  
 
Bottom of the 6th, 0 out, Kershaw just had Aoki caught in no man's land off 1B with a throw over, but for some reason Turner (the Dodgers 1B) ran at the runner to get the tag, Aoki sidesteps him and dives back into the bag.  A few pitches later Kershaw gets a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.
 
And now Alex Guerrero (PH for Kershaw) hits a 2-run HR to tie the game in the top of the 7th!
 
Edit: Guerrero is really forcing the Dodgers hand here.  This kid is absolutely crushing the ball in his limited opportunities (3 HR and 7 hits in 17 PA) and cannot be sent to the minors due to a clause in his contract, while Juan Uribe is hitting .235 and looking, well, like a 36-year-old.  Sort of a Youkilis/Middlebrooks situation. 
 

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foulkehampshire said:
When is Guerrero gonna get an everyday job? All he's done is knock the stuffing out the baseball since he came to the US/
 
isn't his defense in question?
 

dynomite

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Yes, his defense is the question, which is why the Dodgers are keeping Uribe at 3B for now, but if Guerrero keeps hitting like this I have to imagine he'll be a starter one way or another.
 
Edit: For more context, in his abbreviated first exposure to American baseball last season (77 MiLB games, 65 in AAA) he slashed .333/.373/.621 with 17 HR before getting a cup of coffee.  One way (benching Uribe) or another (that Ethier contract is a disaster) the Dodgers have to get him more ABs.
 

Al Zarilla

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The Dodgers have so many good hitters it's ridiculous. They gave Joc Pederson, who is off to a great start, and Adrian Gonzalez the night off because of Bumgarner starting.