June MLB Game Thread

donutogre

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Tony La Russa just intentionally walked Trea Turner...with a 1-2 count. If you could believe it, Muncy followed with a three-run homer to break the game open. He'll never be fired, but how can this go on?
Was hoping someone had posted that. Pretty bonkers decision making right there.
 

Rudy's Curve

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It's even more insane than it seems because Muncy has actually been better vs. LHP in his career. He wasn't exactly walking Turner to face Trot Nixon.
 

jon abbey

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Keep in mind that Muncy hits lefties better than righties.
 

mauidano

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Speaking of stupid. Gio Urshela of the Twins just had one of the most stupid double plays ever. One out and he's on second. He takes off on a fly ball to center. Rounds third and realizes that he is now gonna be in trouble; heads back to second without touching third and is out at second. Double play and the Twins are out of a big inning against the Ynakees.

He then has to stand there while the play is reviewed and is just confused.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Oakland can't do anything right... even counting to two. Mark Kotsay made a mound visit just to talk strategy with reliever Lou Trivino during a long rally. The problem was, they already made a mound visit earlier in the inning. After Kotsay went back to the dugout, DeMarlo Hale (filling in for the ejected Tito) realized it and had to point it out to the umpiring crew. Unfortunately, it backfired for Cleveland, because Oakland was forced to remove Trivino and put in Austin Pruitt, who finally got the A's out of Trivino's mess.
 

Pitt the Elder

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My god. I don't know that there are many single decisions that should get a manager fired immediately, but this is probably one of them. It's a really good example where the intuitive, real-time judgment by fans and casual baseball people is 100% backed up by the numbers. If you gave the average fan the scenario with the option to pitch to Turner or intentionally walk him, how often does someone say walk him? 1 in 10, 100, 1000??
 

Sad Sam Jones

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In the last 65 years, two hitters have finished a season with more home runs (min. 20) than strikeouts: Barry Bonds in 2004 and George Brett in 1980. Jose Ramirez currently has 16 of each.
 

jon abbey

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I posted this on June 2, look how much the division W/L records have shifted in just 9 days:

June 2:

AL East: +28
AL Central: -24
AL West: -5

NL East: -16
NL Central: -8
NL West: +25

Now:

AL East: +39
AL Central: -20
AL West: -21

NL East: +3
NL Central: -24
NL West: +23
 

jon abbey

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White Sox lose again, a stunningly dumb play to end it.

8-6 TEX, Luis Robert on 2nd, one out, bottom 11. Burger hits a long fly ball to the wall but the wind keeps it in the park, easy catch, second out. Inexplicably Robert tags to go to third even though his run is meaningless, he beats the throw but comes off the bag, ballgame.
 

Jason Bae

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White Sox lose again, a stunningly dumb play to end it.

8-6 TEX, Luis Robert on 2nd, one out, bottom 11. Burger hits a long fly ball to the wall but the wind keeps it in the park, easy catch, second out. Inexplicably Robert tags to go to third even though his run is meaningless, he beats the throw but comes off the bag, ballgame.
I wish Hawk was still in the both, just for the meltdown.

Amazing to think this team was 93-69 and had a pythag close to 100 wins just a year ago.
 

jon abbey

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Oof, I was just coming here to post about the charging Braves, but did not know that.

That puts a dent in this, but ATL has now won 12 in a row, 5 behind the Mets currently. They still play each other 15 more times, including 12 after mid-August, so that should be fun.
 

axx

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Koby Clemens finally got a couple hits. Was kind of wondering if he was going to end up an 0fer before being sent back down.
 

DJnVa

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So, the idea is to get the run by running through the bag and not slowing down to slide? It seems like he might have been close enough to beat the throw on a slide anyway. Whatever. But it seems like you might also give up an out now and then too because you may have beaten the throw anyway--I could see that perhaps late in the game, but in the 4th inning? Meh.
 

Catcher Block

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So, the idea is to get the run by running through the bag and not slowing down to slide? It seems like he might have been close enough to beat the throw on a slide anyway. Whatever. But it seems like you might also give up an out now and then too because you may have beaten the throw anyway--I could see that perhaps late in the game, but in the 4th inning? Meh.
I agree that if he tries to slide into the bag (or stop on it standing up), he might not beat the throw. If he runs hard through the bag, yeah, he's essentially giving himself up, but it guarantees the run from 3rd scores before he can be forced. There also the chance that the Pirates (4 errors in the game) are out of position defensively and leave a base uncovered during the ensuing rundown.

It's an incredibly specific set of circumstances to matter, but I looked at it as the baseball version of taking the points instead of being greedy. (Especially up 2-0 at that point.)
 

jon abbey

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Anthony Rizzo does this kind of thing sometimes too, probably too often, for instance making himself an intentional target by overrunning 2B for the cutoff guy to throw out in order to make sure a runner ahead of him scores. Analytics would probably say it is the wrong move most of the time but I get the impetus.
 

LogansDad

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From the Mariners broadcast: Byron Buxton has 45 home runs since the last time he grounded into a double play. It's the longest streak since DPs have been tracked (I think they said 1940).
 

Yelling At Clouds

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I guess I’m a little surprised by how unsurprising the NL has been to this point - NY, ATL, STL, LA, SD, and SF in playoff position with the Brewers not too far off the pace and PHI a little further back but plausibly still in it is probably what I would have predicted in April. Some of those teams took the scenic route a little bit, but the current order is not unexpected.
 
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