MLB Thread

[Frank Drebin]

Cardinals fans still so salty. Cuz Heyward and Lackey owe you...what exactly? Sorry they were more than happy to get out of your dumpy town. At least you got the first pick in the NFL draft....

[Frank Drebin]

First game watched so far this year.

[road doggy dogg]

I'm with Frankie. Fuck the Cards. #NeverForget2006

[Evil Vito]

I'm still salty about 2006 too. Could have been a Mets/Tigers World Series :(

[Evil Vito]

Meanwhile the Cubs aren't fucking around at all with their Superwins, getting their second in less than a week.

OFFICIAL SUPERWIN LIST
4/3: Francisco Liriano
4/6: Kenta Maeda
4/14: Jason Hammel
4/18: John Lackey

[Evil Vito]

Neil Walker > Daniel Murphy

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Yeah I thought I may have said as much when they got him. Thought it was a stellar move.

[Bad News Gertner]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

DROFORD!!!!!!!!!

WHATCHA GONNA DO! WHEN ALL STROMANIA RUNS WILD ON YOU!!!!!!!

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Nice win for the JAYCE tonight. Only caught Osuna pitching because of work, but nice to see another good start from Stroman and another 1 run victory in a lower scoring game for the JAYCE.

[Droford]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

DROFORD!!!!!!!!!

WHATCHA GONNA DO! WHEN ALL STROMANIA RUNS WILD ON YOU!!!!!!!

He gave up 2 hrs first time ever.

[Evil Vito]

It's stupidly early in the season but out of all of my award predictions I think Harper repeating as MVP already seems like the safest bet of the bunch by far. I hate the Nats and would like them to lose as much as possible but Harper is just flat out ridiculous.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Nolan Arenado is getting love on mlb network because ex players don't understand making outs is counter productive.

[Evil Vito]

As good as Arenado is I never even considered him for MVP because I assumed the Rockies would be shit this year. And to win MVP on a shit team you need to put up ungodly numbers with nobody on a playoff team (or near playoff team) even close to being as good.

[ClockShot]

Ugh. C'mon Yankees. It's the Oakland A's.

[road doggy dogg]

lol was watching a big of the LAA/CWS game last night and one of the commentators caught a foul ball. Had At-Bat running on my phone on my bed while playing 3DS and heard them get all excitable, was pretty funny

[Evil Vito]

Hammel with his second Superwin in a week and the Cubs with Superwins on back-to-back days!

OFFICIAL SUPERWIN LIST
4/3: Francisco Liriano
4/6: Kenta Maeda
4/14: Jason Hammel
4/18: John Lackey
4/19: Jason Hammel (2)

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

He gave up 2 hrs first time ever.

...... and?

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Forgive Droford. His blind allegiance to the Orioles hinders him from saying negative things about the club.

[road doggy dogg]

except what he was saying was about an entirely different team's pitcher

what's with your hard-on for Droford, you're annoying as fuck

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I have no issue with him personally. I just respond to things he says same as I'd respond to anyone. Droford just happens to say things more often than most that draws my attention and compels me to respond.

Not sure what "except what he was saying was about an entirely different team's pitcher" is supposed to mean. He's clearly talking about the game his team played and downplaying their loss by trying to shortchange the other team's performance. Hence the blind allegiance and inability to say negative things.

Sorry if you find it annoying.

[Droford]

Os won in the 10th on a 2 out bases loaded passed ball

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Nothing more dramatic.

In obscure baseball news, Athletics starter Kendall Gravemann becomes the first starting pitcher since Babe Ruth to bat cleanup.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

fairness to them they had good at bats and put some pressure on that kid in the 10th

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Can't imagine the feeling as the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. Poor bastard, whoever it was.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Thole (the catcher) derped on it though, wasn't the kid's fault, he actually pitched well in the inning, ran into some hard luck but Baltimore didn't give in.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Maybe Thole is punch drunk on knuckle balls. He's Dickey's caddy, isn't he?

[Evil Vito]

Feel like games like tonight are gonna happen a lot for the Mets. They finally were putting up some offense the last few days but nearly all of it was via the long ball.

Then you get to tonight's game where they struck out 17 times across 11 innings and you've got guys like Cespedes just swinging for the fences in extras instead of trying to drive in the man from 2nd. They need to find other ways to score.

At least they took the series though.

[screech]

Wooooooooooo

[Droford]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joey Rickard has hit safely in 12 of 13 games this year and has reached in all 13 games. He leads all <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLB?src=hash">#MLB</a> rookies with 18 hits. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a></p>&mdash; Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) <a href="https://twitter.com/EddieInTheYard/status/722991748679651328">April 21, 2016</a></blockquote>
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He beat out an infield chopper in the 10th with 2 outs to extend the inning..it was his 11th infield hit<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jays: &quot;How about a tie game?&quot;<br>Joey Rickard: &quot;How about no?&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IBackTheBirds?src=hash">#IBackTheBirds</a> <a href="https://t.co/gN1Crfo1D7">pic.twitter.com/gN1Crfo1D7</a></p>&mdash; Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) <a href="https://twitter.com/masnOrioles/status/722952891602898946">April 21, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Droford]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ee/10/de/ee10deaaba5346134300bfce77883cd5.jpg
Everybody loves Joey Rickard

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Maybe Thole is punch drunk on knuckle balls. He's Dickey's caddy, isn't he?

Yessir. He threw a guy out on a beauty throw too. It was a shame. Another exciting game, as I think will be a theme in the East this year.

[ClockShot]

Yankees lose.

BUT GOOD NEWS! ESPN fires Curt Schilling for getting in trouble in social media............again.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol fuck what did he say now?

[Droford]

lol fuck what did he say now?

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2607470.1461094301!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/curtschillingfbpost.jpg

[Bad News Gertner]

Josh Those. Ugh. So fucking bad.

[Bad News Gertner]

Maybe Thole is punch drunk on knuckle balls. He's Dickey's caddy, isn't he?

I was at the Sox vs Jays two weeks ago and hold fuck Thole was awful.

[Droford]

More like Thole fuck lol

[ClockShot]

Twins the got the night off, but paid tribute to Prince by turning Target Field and their twitter account purple today.


http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/2/8/8/173660288/cuts/Prince_vuppm5m9_35r2hpik.jpg

[Emperor Smeat]

:| Price today for the Red Sox.

Don't think a single Sox game so far has had the starter go 6 or 7 innings.

[Droford]

That's called Orioles starter Syndrome

[Droford]

Gibbons blew his challenge on the 2nd ab of the game for the Os and it wasn't even close

[Evil Vito]

Jake Arrieta pitches his second career no-hitter.

[Droford]

:(

[Droford]

On the bright side the Os are 3 outs from beating the Jays again

[Frank Drebin]

Well, the O's are so good right now, they wouldn't even have room in the rotation for a guy like Arrieta. Probably couldn't handle the AL East.

[DaveWadding]

And Steve Clevenger pounded a homer today. For the Mariners.

[Frank Drebin]

Its a good thing they won a championship with Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger, otherwise that trade would look REALLY bad right now.

[Frank Drebin]

Feldman was like Rick F'n Sutcliff for 'em

[Frank Drebin]

And Steve Clevenger pounded a homer today. For the Mariners.

Lol I didn't even realize he was still on a roster. This is a great cherry on top of droford's shiny head.

[Evil Vito]

If it was a Cubs/Orioles World Series and Arrieta tossed a perfect game in the series-clinching game in Baltimore, would Droford spend the night in the fetal position?

[Frank Drebin]

Nah, getting crack on craigslist

[Frank Drebin]

also lol at the random fan celebrating with the team who got torn away by the cops.

[Frank Drebin]

Maybe that fan was a delusional droford just vicariously living though the Cubs to grab on to Arrieta's success.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Hey, you guys knock that hard on for Droford shit off. It's really fucking annoying.

[Frank Drebin]

Droford can't get hard ons so we have to get them for him.

[Evil Vito]

LOL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">RECAP: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Reds?src=hash">#Reds</a> draw four walks vs. Cubs. <a href="https://t.co/PSY5I3DyBB">pic.twitter.com/PSY5I3DyBB</a></p>&mdash; Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reds/status/723340565807435777">April 22, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Emperor Smeat]

Unhappy over the conditions of the Turner Field infield, Atlanta Braves players are considering contacting the players' union to see if they can pressure their own club to make improvements, a source within the organization told ESPN on Thursday.

The source speculated that with the Braves leaving Turner Field for a new stadium after this season, the playing surface is not being treated with the same meticulous care as in the past and that the problem areas are the uneven grass and the unpredictable area where the turf meets the infield dirt.

Does the union actually have power to force the team to fix the field or would they also need MLB to step in?

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Yes I'd think so because they could probably link it to player health and work environment conditions and who else knows.

[ClockShot]

Yankees get swept by the A's.

*hits panic button*

[Evil Vito]

Chris Colabello slapped with an 80 game suspension.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

You'd think they'd learn by now.

[Droford]

And Steve Clevenger pounded a homer today. For the Mariners.

Trumbo has 5 and was co Plsyer of the week last week so..advantage Orioles.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Gallardo to the dl with shoulder issues.

[Evil Vito]

Superwins are still coming in strong this year with Samardzija driving in 3 last night. Who needs the DH?

OFFICIAL SUPERWIN LIST
4/3: Francisco Liriano
4/6: Kenta Maeda
4/14: Jason Hammel
4/18: John Lackey
4/19: Jason Hammel (2)
4/22: Jeff Samardzija

[Droford]

Os are thumping the Royals pretty good 7-2 in the 4th

[Ruien]

What is a superwin?

[Droford]

Pitcher drives in more runs himself than he allows

[Evil Vito]

I really wish the best player in baseball didn't play on a division rival :(

[Evil Vito]

If Harper spends the rest of his career with the Yankees after he leaves Washington via free agency, he's going to be a lock to break the HR record.

[ClockShot]

I don't want A-Rod 2.0.

Rather have Harper for minimal years and a good chunk of money. Not 20 years and like $500 gajillion dollars.

[Ruien]

Feel like the White Sox are trying to pressure me into thinking they are actually good. Once I believe it though they will lose 9 straight excluding when Sale pitches.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Jays put a relative beating on a minor leaguer today

[Emperor Smeat]

:| Kimbrel blew the save tonight.

[Frank Drebin]

The Braves have hit 3 home runs this year. 45 players have 4 or more.

[Nicky Fives]

Yanks are going to throw the book at Harper....lots of big contracts coming off at the end of the year and they did fuck all this upcoming season....Zero doubt in my mind that Harper will be a Yankee by next season....If the nationals were smart, they'd trade him this season unless they can somehow manage to entice him back for less money....

[ClockShot]

Yanks are going to throw the book at Harper....lots of big contracts coming off at the end of the year and they did fuck all this upcoming season....Zero doubt in my mind that Harper will be a Yankee by next season....If the nationals were smart, they'd trade him this season unless they can somehow manage to entice him back for less money....

I don't want A-Rod 2.0.

Rather have Harper for minimal years and a good chunk of money. Not 20 years and like $500 gajillion dollars.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Arod's contract has been nowhere near the albatross you're implying it to be. He was well worth the money from 2004-2011. Then he got injured and suspended subsequently.

He was pretty damn good last year. The way his contract in paid out yearly is all over the place but from an annual average salary standpoint, Arod's deal has worked out about as well as anyone could hope for.

It's nowhere near the train wreck deals Pujols and Hamilton got. Rodriguez is 5years older with more surgeries on his body was miles better Then Pujols.

Harper is also going to bee ridiculously young when he hits free agency. Barring a disastrous injury there's zero reason to think he's going to be an eye sore of a deal for much if any of it.

[Droford]

Bryce Harper hung out at the Smithsonian in DC today and apparently no one recognized him..not even a kid in a Harper jersey..

[Damian Rey 2.0]

It happens. Roy Halladay we right behind some dude in a Halladay Phillies t and the guy was clueless.

[DaveWadding]

Bryce Harper hung out at the Smithsonian in DC today and apparently no one recognized him..not even a kid in a Harper jersey..

That kid's a clown, bro.

[Evil Vito]

Neil Walker with his 8th home run in April. Daniel Murphy who?

[Evil Vito]

I think I've officially given up on Travis d'Arnaud. Injured yet again. That was always his reputation but it just hasn't gotten better at all since he's come to New York. Can't throw out a runner to save his life, either.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

You guys want Derek Norris?

[Evil Vito]

Nah. We've already got Kevin Plawecki and RENE RIVERA

[ClockShot]

Neil Walker with his 8th home run in April. Daniel Murphy who?

Guarantee you Met fans are gonna eat a nice piece of humble pie at season's end.

Neil Walker is underrated. Got quiet strength and can be sneaky good.

[Evil Vito]

Who would be eating humble pie? Most Met fans were happy to bring Walker aboard. Especially because doing so got rid of Jon Niese.

[Evil Vito]

If Walker keeps up this pace he might net the Mets a draft pick to boot.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

He is more than likely going to net them a draft pick. Next year's free agent market is a dumpster fire. Guys like Walker, who are good but not great will reap some major benefits.

[Emperor Smeat]

:y: Great game by Price tonight.


Any particular reason why the Braves are horrendous this season in regards to hitting HRs? Is the team built more for regular hits, really young overall in terms of MLB talent like Houston was during their rebuilding, or are they really that bad swinging the bat?

Was surprised to hear they've only hit 3 HRs combined as a team so far this season.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

:y: Great game by Price tonight.


Any particular reason why the Braves are horrendous this season in regards to hitting HRs? Is the team built more for regular hits, really young overall in terms of MLB talent like Houston was during their rebuilding, or are they really that bad swinging the bat?

Was surprised to hear they've only hit 3 HRs combined as a team so far this season.

They're built to lose. Atlanta's primary objective this year is to gain the first overall pick.

[Emperor Smeat]

One of the A's minor league pitchers suddenly died recently.

Athletics minor league right-hander Sean Murphy has unexpectedly died, the team announced on Tuesday. He was only 27. No other details were given.

"The A's are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Sean Murphy," said vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

In parts of five minor league seasons, Murphy pitched to a 4.26 ERA in 490 2/3 minor league innings. He was Oakland's 33rd round pick out of Keystone College in the 2010 draft.

Murphy had not actually pitched in a game since 2014 due to Tommy John surgery. He had been at the team's spring training complex in Arizona rehabbing the injury.

[ClockShot]

Yankees gotta sit down with Severino and figure out what the hell is going on.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I had read a number of opinions from ESPN's Keith Law about how both and scouts he had spoken to who've seen extended work from Severino question his ability to start, both from a health standpoint and from the ability to pitch deep enough into games with marginal offerings as a starter. I've read Law opine plenty of times that Severino is probably a reliever.

[Emperor Smeat]

Mariners recently shook up its ownership with Nintendo dropping out as majority owner. Went from around 55% to now around 10% with the other owners to split the 45% gained. Being estimated Nintendo gets over $600 million from the sale.

Also seems like the reason for the change wasn't because of team or money issues but Nintendo feeling they fulfilled their commitment when it came to keeping the team in Seattle during the early 90s.

http://kotaku.com/nintendo-is-offloading-the-seattle-mariners-1773488798
https://twitter.com/DavisHsuSeattle/status/725524997247127553

[ClockShot]

Got a funny feeling Paul Allen is gonna go into Monopoly mode and make a move.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Dee Gordon just got hit with an 80 game suspension for PED use.

[ClockShot]

Dee Gordon just got hit with an 80 game suspension for PED use.


Adjust your fantasy roster(s) accordingly.

Fixed that for ya.

But wow. There's your first shocker of the season in terms of news.

[Evil Vito]

Looks like Barroid gave some of his stash to Gordon.

[Ruien]

It's super fucking early but how amazing woukd a White Sox/Cubs series be? White Sox would go full heel and deny the Cubs their chance at winning the big one.

[ClockShot]

MLB would hate it. Solely the Chicago market just watching.

Need Yanks/Red Sox in the ALCS so I can get free furniture. Pretty sure that ain't happening.

[Droford]

Orioles are 9-1 at home best home record after beating the White Sox again.

Latos and Sale coming Sat/Sun so it will be tough

[ClockShot]

Chatter going around is that the Jose Reyes suspension is gonna be passed down sometime this week over his domestic violence case.

Be prepared to adjust fantasy rosters accordingly.

[Evil Vito]

Anybody who has wasted a roster spot on Jose Reyes at this point deserves to finish in last place.

[Emperor Smeat]

:D Red Sox getting the sweep against the Yankees

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Anyone think Troy Tulowitzki will hit over .240 this year?

[Nicky Fives]

He'll hit over .240, but not by much.....Jays offense is too good to stay down forever... the bullpen on the other hand is a different story.... in retrospect, the Storen for Revere trade might not have been the best option....

[ClockShot]

Yankees.......:nono:

[ClockShot]

Dodgers pitcher Josh Ravin gets an 80-game suspension for PEDs.

[Emperor Smeat]

Pablo Sandoval out for the rest of the season due to surgery needed for his shoulder.

[ClockShot]

You sure it ain't his stomach?

[Nicky Fives]

I guess the sore shoulder wasn't a cover story after all.....

[Droford]

Yankees gotta sit down with Severino and figure out what the hell is going on.

He's not going to win a gold glove any time soon that's for sure.

[Evil Vito]

I think Matt Harvey might be the most overrated "great" pitcher in all of baseball. He throws 92 MPH now, his slider is useless, and he can't go more than 5 innings.

It truly baffles me how often the media prop him up as a top 10 guy in the league yet they never give that recognition to deGrom who has been objectively better to this point in his career.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Harvey was a fucking force before this year and every bit as good as deGrom his first two years. This year's he's struggling and yes the media gravitate to him because of his rep but the gap between the two prior to Harvey's injury is marginal at best. deGrom has more innings through 2 seasons than Harvey, but baseball reference WAR has then within one win of of each other despite a fairly large gap in innings pitched.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Two Trumbombs tonight.

[Droford]

Two Trumbombs tonight.

Trumdingers

Also all is right in the baseball world after 2 days of the Orioles not being in first place.

[ClockShot]

The way the Yankees keep playing/going, I don't think Cashman & Girardi survive the season.

[Nicky Fives]

I think they'll get just enough leeway knowing that Harper & Strasberg are coming in 2017.....

[Evil Vito]

Harvey was a fucking force before this year and every bit as good as deGrom his first two years. This year's he's struggling and yes the media gravitate to him because of his rep but the gap between the two prior to Harvey's injury is marginal at best. deGrom has more innings through 2 seasons than Harvey, but baseball reference WAR has then within one win of of each other despite a fairly large gap in innings pitched.

The media treat him as though the Matt Harvey of 2013 is the Harvey he's always been and that he's a guy like Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Felix Hernandez, etc who have been dominant for YEARS.

Harvey's lone season of dominance was 2013. That's it. He was good as a rookie and last year he was solid but he was still nowhere near the pitcher he was in 2013. But he gets routinely propped up as being way better than the other pitchers in the staff in part because he created this stupid Dark Knight image for himself in the middle of his dominant 2013. He'll probably never be that good again but you wouldn't know it based on the attention he gets.

[Evil Vito]

Just gonna be blunt, I just can't stand Harvey's antics. I can't. The guy is selfish and really only cares about marketing himself and being a celebrity. He doesn't give a shit about the Mets or their fans.

He's battled with the organization from the beginning from things like not doing his rehab in Florida like everyone else does, to insisting on coming back early from surgery and pitching meaningless September games in 2014, to creating innings drama right when the team turned the corner last year after argying all season that he didn't want to skip starts, to not showing up to the postseason workout. And now he's showed up to camp out of shape and sporting a double chin and a beer gut.

And I wouldn't care about any of this if he's pitching well, because that's all that matters. But right now he's not. And moreover he's made excuses for every single one of his starts this year. Every one. He blamed the blood clot for his first start, blamed a long time between starts in his second game, and has claimed to be under the weather/blamed the actual weather two times each. I've not heard any of the other pitchers make excuses when they've had a bad day at the office. But Matt has one every time he goes out.

David Wright had to come back from a debilitating back condition that only a few guys have ever played with. Did we hear a peep from David when he was away from the team? Nope. He quietly rehabbed and busted his ass to get back to the team. Does David make excuses when the fans get on him for every little thing he does? Nope. He just says he needs to play better. And this is a guy who has done far, FAR more for the organization than Matt Harvey.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to ESPN's Outside the Lines, MLB is currently preparing a wave of PED bannings to be done very soon.

Major League Baseball is expected to announce in the next few days that another player has tested positive for the steroid Turinabol, a drug that was commonly used by East German athletes in the 1970s. The positive test is one of a handful being processed, two sources familiar with the cases told Outside the Lines, meaning it's all but certain that more announcements will follow.

Turinabol, whose chemical compound is dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT), is not something that would likely be found in the tool kit of a modern PED guru. But it is showing up widely again: Toronto Blue Jays' Chris Colabello and the Philadelphia Phillies' Daniel Stumpf were suspended after traces of Turinabol were found in their systems. The two, along with the player to be named, tested positive during spring training. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Cody Stanley was suspended in September after he tested positive for the drug.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15458724/more-ped-busts-coming-major-league-baseball-soon

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Things are getting even worse for Raymond now. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs">@MLBGIFs</a>) <a href="https://t.co/nVnew6eZkG">https://t.co/nVnew6eZkG</a> <a href="https://t.co/e5uwUHvCXD">pic.twitter.com/e5uwUHvCXD</a></p>&mdash; SB Nation (@SBNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNation/status/728006314509541377">May 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[ClockShot]

Yankees broke the losing streak.

Still got a long way to go to get out of the cellar.

[Bad News Gertner]

Ok so Encarnacion is heating up lol. Seriously, when he's on one of his ridiculous hot streaks there's not a batter in the league who I'd want to face less.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I'd like to wish Vito luck this weekend as his Mets come to town to beat up on my Padres.

[Evil Vito]

The Padres usually give the Mets a fair about of trouble regardless of how the teams are formed it seems. Not off to a good start tonight. Rea with a no-hitter through 5.

[Evil Vito]

Through 6. With 2 amazing defensive plays to keep the no-no inact. Blah.

Hate west coast games. :( gotta go watch the rest of this in bed.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

If the Padres throw a no no I'll shit a brick. The offense has been wonderful tonight. Gotta soak it in before they're inevitable shut out again.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Well there goes that. The shift saved something like 5 hits tonight and Cespedes hits an 80 hopper thru it. Oh well. Still a great game tonight.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

The Jays starting pitching has been so good this month. Now for it to fall apart and the hitting and bullpen to come together :P

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Here's why I hate "roles" in the pen; heart of the order coming, up 4, and Padres skipper goes with the middle reliever only to give up 2 runs and now he brings in the closer. Why? Just bring in your best guy against their best guys. Why even allow yourself to get into a save situation? So dumb and further deepens my disdain for the save.

[Nicky Fives]

Rockies dummied Giants for 13-runs in an inning....

[Evil Vito]

Gotta tip your cap to Rea. He pitched a hell of a game.

The Mets continue to be entirely reliant on the longball though. There are going to be games when the offense looks like this.

[Evil Vito]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/heres-what-happened-when-we-tried-to-play-moneyball-without-any-money/

This is a long read but it's brilliant for anybody who might feel the slightest bit nerdy about baseball.

[ClockShot]

Two days ago, A-Rod to the DL. Yesterday Gardner. Today Sabathia.

Doesn't get any better than this. Nova moves to the rotation, Phil (Loves) Coke called up to the open spot in the 'pen.

[Bad News Gertner]

The Jays starting pitching has been so good this month. Now for it to fall apart and the hitting and bullpen to come together :P

Lol Dickey's is pitching tomorrow

[Droford]

I'm feeling pretty good about 3/5ths of the Os rotation so far.
Tillman 3-1 2.81 era 1.13 whip 33k's 1 hr 32 ip
Gausman 0-1 1.43 era .68 whip 14k's 1 hr 19ip
Wilson 1-1 3.03 era 1.10 whip 13k 2hr 23.2up

Tillman is even better than 2014 Tillman with 9ks in his last two starts.
Gausman missed 3 starts but has been ridiculous in his 3 starts.
Tyler Wilson started in the pen but has made 3 good starts.

Leaves Ubaldo and Mike Wright (who has pitched ok in place of Gallardo but not as good as the first 3) even with them the Is are 78th in Team ERA which is higher than most people predicted

[ClockShot]

MLB pulled the Puerto Rico games scheduled between Pittsburgh & Miami because of Zika.

Games will be played in Miami.

[Droford]

Two days ago, A-Rod to the DL. Yesterday Gardner. Today Sabathia.

Doesn't get any better than this. Nova moves to the rotation, Phil (Loves) Coke called up to the open spot in the 'pen.

Tomorrow Ellsbury..left the game tonight with a hip issue

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Joey Rickard is hitting 12% below league average, no pop and atrocious defense. He's now at negative value. Ready to give up on him, Droford?

[Emperor Smeat]

Ump for the Red Sox-Yanks game tonight was atrocious near the end of the game. Surprised only two Red Sox guys got tossed but he cost them at least one run from how bad the strike zone got against them.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Saw that. Just terrible. Being on the robot umps.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Lol Dickey's is pitching tomorrow

Happ, Sanch, Stro and Estrada have all be legit though. They're pitching with swag.

Wish the fans would stop booing Cecil. I mean he's pitching like garbage but he's a fucking Blue Jay lifer and is a slow starter. Fucking assholes, he deserves better.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Ump for the Red Sox-Yanks game tonight was atrocious near the end of the game. Surprised only two Red Sox guys got tossed but he cost them at least one run from how bad the strike zone got against them.

WAHH WAHHH WAHHHH DON'T ARGUE BALLS AND STRIKES.

jk, I fucking hate when umpires can't do their god damned jobs properly and they aren't held accountable at all.

[Emperor Smeat]

Don't have a big problem with a mistake or two during a game but this ump managed to do a few in back-to-back innings that killed potential scoring drives in a very close game. The ones against Hanley and strike two against Ortiz were borderline at best but strike three against Ortiz was comically bad. Didn't help that the ump's smiling when Ortiz is yelling at him which made things worse.

Hanley pretty much had to do HR-type swings for the final out since he knew anything close probably was going to be called as a possible botched strike.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I'm the same as you. Don't mind a few mistakes throughout, but there is never an excuse for missing obvious calls, or when they are inconsistent with the same locations. Like yeah I never mind if they are caling low and outside a strike, if they're calling it a strike all game.

[Evil Vito]

Like I said, the Mets play horribly in San Diego. Every year. The Padres have a better winning percentage against the Mets in Petco than they do any other NL team.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

The Dickman vs Kershaw today. Ugh

[ClockShot]

Can't remember the last time the Yankees sent Price to the dugout this early.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Looked at the score and thought Buchholz pitched. Shit. Hope he doesn't end up on the DL.

[Evil Vito]

BARTOLO COLON HOME RUN OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!

[Evil Vito]

Genuinely can't remember the last time a single play had me react like that. I've been sick and mostly in bed all day. Colon's HR gave me a burst of energy and I immediately called my dad to rejoice as if it was a World Series win or something.

[Evil Vito]

https://streamable.com/txu0

Anybody who still wants the NL to have a DH can eat my asshole.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I want the dh and Bart has further solidified my stance.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol amazing

[screech]

That was awesome lol

[ClockShot]

Don't think Big Bart is gonna retire anytime soon.

[Droford]

Joey Rickard is hitting 12% below league average, no pop and atrocious defense. He's now at negative value. Ready to give up on him, Droford?

.282 with 3 homers isn't awful

Its as many homers as he was projected to have all year

[Ruien]

Hell ya, White Sox are still crushing their crappy division. Pretty damn amazing.

[The Condor]

Is anyone going to tell Dallas Braden that he looks like Kelsey Grammer from the first three seasons of Frasier?

[Droford]

6 homers for the Orioles

[Evil Vito]

This 8th inning for the Mets illustrates why I hate bullpen roles. In this instance I'd use Familia against the heart of the order and use someone else for the 9th against a worse part of the lineup. Who cares about the saves stat?

[Damian Rey 2.0]

.282 with 3 homers isn't awful

Its as many homers as he was projected to have all year

I'll simplify it. He makes lots of outs and doesn't hit for enough power to offset the outs, to The point where he's mediocre at best offensive relative to league average. And he's a terrible, terrible defender. Of 33 American league left fielders with at least 20 innings logged, Rickard ranks dead last in runs saved.

So a maybe mediocre hitter who's a zero On defense. Why keep playing him. He has minus war. The Orioles are less likely to win with him playing. Why keep playing him? Makes no sense.

[Droford]

Yes no better than Kim in the OF. And Rickard played a lot of CF early on when Adam Jones was out.

The entire OF sucks

The outfield defense has been atrocious. In fact, it has been the worst defensive outfield in baseball according to Ultimate Zone Rating (-11.1) and Defensive Runs Saved (-16). The only above average aspect thus far has been avoiding errors. The outfield defense was not going to be the strong point of the team coming in, but so far it has been a glaring weakness.

To date, only Nolan Reimold has posted a positive UZR in a mere 110 innings in the outfield. The typical outfield of Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, and Joey Rickard have altogether dragged down the defense. Adam Jones currently at -1.2 UZR and -4 DRS. Mark Trumbo has also dragged the defense down with a -4.5 UZR and a -5 DRS. Surprisingly, to me, is that Joey Rickard has been particularly poor according to the metrics posting a -7.3 UZR and a -7 DRS


That's from my favorite Orioles site (http://www.camdenchat.com/2016/5/9/11635698/orioles-defense-outfield-jones-reimold-trumbo-machado) today

And yet somehow with all that AND 5 guys in the lineup hitting less than .212 (Jones and Davis .200 Alvarez .206 Flaherty.208 Wieters .211) they have 2nd best record in AL at 18-12. Eventually they're going to start hitting and if the pitching stays around the same they're going to be even more of a force. Right now it's Trumbo and Machado carry the team on offense..

[ClockShot]

This just in:

Nationals lock up Stephen Strasburg. 7-years, $175 mil. Got an opt-out at either year 3 or 4.

[Evil Vito]

Wow. The free agent market for pitching this offseason was already looking bad, now with Strasburg off the board it's totally barren.

[ClockShot]

Another player caught.

Royals infielder Raul Mondesi Jr. suspended 50 games for a positive drug test.

[Nicky Fives]

wouldn't have bet a dollar that Strasburg was staying in Washington, thought for sure he'd be in pinstripes next season.... props to him for staying loyal to the organization that brought him up....

[Emperor Smeat]

Another player caught.

Royals infielder Raul Mondesi Jr. suspended 50 games for a positive drug test.

If he's the person ESPN was teasing about last week, a bunch more are going to get punished very soon.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Sox helping out pitcher who has a career era of just under 6. Eight runs so far.

[ClockShot]

Lorenzo Cain got Tanaka's number tonight.

Although KC is on their 5th pitcher right now. This game could go either way right now.

[Nicky Fives]

Another player caught.

Royals infielder Raul Mondesi Jr. suspended 50 games for a positive drug test.

Apparently the PED he got dinged for was found in cough medicine....

[ClockShot]

Sweet story out of Japan.

Former MLB player Brandon Laird hit a home run in the Tokyo Dome in Japan and it hit a sign for Kirin Beer. He won $10,000 and a year's supply for beer for that.

I guess there's a bunch of signs there ranging from car companies and electronics companies. And if your homer bounces off one, you win something. Sweet deal if you ask me.


http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15505438/ex-mlb-player-brandon-laird-wins-year-supply-beer-home-run

[ClockShot]

Yankees come back and win. But Cain hit 3 homers in that game.

Which ever one of you guys got him for fantasy, you're probably in good shame in the home run category for the rest of the week.

[Droford]

Sweet story out of Japan.

Former MLB player Brandon Laird hit a home run in the Tokyo Dome in Japan and it hit a sign for Kirin Beer. He won $10,000 and a year's supply for beer for that.

I guess there's a bunch of signs there ranging from car companies and electronics companies. And if your homer bounces off one, you win something. Sweet deal if you ask me.


http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15505438/ex-mlb-player-brandon-laird-wins-year-supply-beer-home-run

http://rs24.pbsrc.com/albums/c9/skyaa1/Saints%20and%20Sports/Scan3908.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip

Realistically not even Chris Davis could hit that sign though

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a0/50/a9/a050a9794a3ecb5b93cefec1482b85e2.jpg

It might only be 501 ft but a ball hit that sign would have to go about 700 ft

[Droford]

Also Manny Machado is slugging .722 next highest is Ortiz at .688. He's opsing 1.147 next highest is aledmys Diaz at 1.115

[Nicky Fives]

HR target would be something great for charity at the home run derby....guys who are out of it quickly can focus on trying to hit the targets to have MLB donate $100,000 to Little League America, WarAmps or whatever....

[Bad News Gertner]

J.A Happ killing it this year.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

As gorilla monsoon would say, it's a Happening

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol I HATED the signing when it was announced

[Droford]

Trumbo 11
Machado 10
Davis 9

Only team with 3 players 9+ homers and also currently lead the league with 48

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THIS JUST IN: Bryce Harper gets 1-game suspension, undisclosed fine for actions after ejection Mon. He is appealing. <a href="https://t.co/Otn1mbbOJI">pic.twitter.com/Otn1mbbOJI</a></p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/730504734788980736">May 11, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Damian Rey 2.0]

You know what would fix so this strike zone nonsense? #RobotUmps.

[Droford]

If the Os hit back to back homers tomorrow night vs Detroit they'll be the 2nd team ever to have back to back in 4 games straight (other being the 64 twins..the 64 Twins?)

[Emperor Smeat]

Not sure what's more surprising, Red Sox scoring 40 runs against the As this series or Rick Porcello putting up great numbers this season.

[Evil Vito]

Inspired by Bartolo Colon's majestic HR, Noah Syndergaard has now gone deep twice in one game!

[Damian Rey 2.0]

He's hitting it to all fields as well. I smell a super win coming.

[Evil Vito]

Indeed, it happened. Thor drove in all 4 runs in a Mets 4-3 win.

OFFICIAL SUPERWIN LIST
4/3: Francisco Liriano
4/6: Kenta Maeda
4/14: Jason Hammel
4/18: John Lackey
4/19: Jason Hammel (2)
4/22: Jeff Samardzija
5/1: Clayton Kershaw
5/3: Jake Arrieta
5/11: Noah Syndergaard

[Droford]

Of course Mike 6+ ERA Pelfrey is 1 hitting the Orioles

Ugh

[Droford]

And now it's 7-5 os mostly off their bullpen

[ClockShot]

Yankees take 3/4 from the champs. Something I didn't see coming.

This might be the start of something.

[weather vane]

I love this fucking team.

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/the-red-sox-are-literally-murdering-teams/

[ClockShot]

Jose Reyes suspended until May 31st.


Bunch of bullshit if you ask me.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Why is that?

[ClockShot]

Chapman missed 30 games for firing off just a few gunshots. Never arrested, never charged, and there was allegedly no contact with the girlfriend. But a gun was involved.

Reyes is missing about 18 days because his wife doesn't want to cooperate with the police and we don't know the extent of this domestic abuse case. He was arrested, charged, and had a trial date. According to the wife she was grabbed by the throat and slammed against a glass door and was taken to the hospital.


Punishment doesn't fit the crime here.

[Droford]

Pretty sure Reyes essentially got 50 games

[ClockShot]

ChiSox are in town. I wonder if we can get John Danks at a bargain since they cut him loose today and Pineda & Severino ain't getting the job done.

[ClockShot]

52 games altogether but he's been in "paid administrative leave" and he's getting credit for those games missed.

Still think it should be harsher punishment.

[Ruien]

I remember when Danks was supposed to become the Chi Sox next ace pitcher. So sad he didn't pan out.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Reyes has to pay that money back from what I've gathered. So no, he will not end up getting paid. Chapman is no less innocent. Let's not devolve into which wrong is more wrong.

[Evil Vito]

Charlie Blackmon looks like a goddamn gold prospector.

[Droford]

Orioles win 1-0 for the 2nd time in about a week

[Evil Vito]

Matt Harvey blows.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

We'll take him.

[Frank Drebin]

Lol at hoping your team signs John Danks. One of the worst starters last year. More of the same this year. He's done. I liked Gavin Floyd better when the sox signed Danks instead. Too bad injuries killed Floyd. Could have been solid.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

No I meant Matt Harvey. Vito says he blows. Send where sunny days sweep the clouds away and the air is clean. He'd look very handsome in a Padres uni.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

How are they crediting Ortiz with a double? Winning run crossed home way before Ortiz stepped on and then grabbed 2nd base.

[Emperor Smeat]

Probably one of those little stat quirks in baseball.

Whoever was keeping track assumed Ortiz was extending the play. Think the winning run wouldn't have counted if Ortiz got thrown out at 2nd since there were two outs.

Or just felt Ortiz's milestone 600th double would look better as a game winner.

[Droford]

Seems weird the Os are the 2nd best team in baseball brlehind the Cubs.

[Lock Jaw]

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--M2TdiV34--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/dzytltukqx096x7lbsyd.gif

[Evil Vito]

The umps in this Mets/Rockies series were fucking dreadful. Two backbreaking, blatantly incorrect calls in two days. And neither time did they even get together to talk it out to make sure they'd made the right call.

They need to be suspended or at least reprimanded.

[ClockShot]

Balls & strikes calls or stuff on the field.

If it's the latter, that's on the managers who should be challenging.

[Evil Vito]

Last night: batter struck out, ump called it a foul tip. Despite there being no noise of a bat hitting a ball and the batter starting to walk back to the dugout

Today: Lagares called for being out of the baseline even though the ump with the clearest line of vision to the play ruled him safe

neither play is reviewable

[Emperor Smeat]

Was play #2 part of the new base running rules this season?

[Evil Vito]

I don't believe so.

[Evil Vito]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiiDE0AVEAAkgaG.jpg:large

[Droford]

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--M2TdiV34--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/dzytltukqx096x7lbsyd.gif

Old spice should use that for conmercial

Don't let Odor knock you out

[Evil Vito]

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--M2TdiV34--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/dzytltukqx096x7lbsyd.gif

This glorious punch wasn't the only highlight as we had two more SUPERWINS! Including Dan Straily who did the bare minimum by pitching 5 shutout innings and driving in 1.

OFFICIAL SUPERWIN LIST
4/3: Francisco Liriano
4/6: Kenta Maeda
4/14: Jason Hammel
4/18: John Lackey
4/19: Jason Hammel (2)
4/22: Jeff Samardzija
5/1: Clayton Kershaw
5/3: Jake Arrieta
5/11: Noah Syndergaard
5/15: Jose Fernandez
5/15: Dan Straily

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol great punch by Odor and nice chin on Bautista.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Baw gawd what right hand by odor. Where's the ref to enforce the closed fist rule!

Bautista had it coming with that chicken shit slide. I cannot comprehend how hard it is to slide into the bag.

[Droford]

<iframe width="330" height="186" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wt5eZJWMELo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Guess who #2 is..win..absolutely nothing

[Nicky Fives]

I don'r care about tradition, terrible umping is in the news every second day.... actually acknowledge PitchTrax technology and put sensors in god damn the bases already....

And on a sidenote, Bautista prolly deserved that shot for that slide, but that would never had happened if he wasn't plunked in his last at-bat of the series.... curious to see how many games Odor gets....

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I watched Alex Cora break down the slide and it didn't seem too bad. Not gonna villify Odor, as it would have been expected from his teammates to throw that bomb, but I feel like he should probably get a couple of games for that lol

[Nicky Fives]

It was right on the limit, but Smoak didn't get called out at first so the umps must have seen it as clean.....I'm assuming Bannister, Odor, Bautista, Bush and a few others may be seeing some sort of suspension....

[ClockShot]

Tim "The Freak" Lincecum and the Angels are close to a deal.

I guess he's got something left in the tank if he was able to impress them at his showcase last week.

[Evil Vito]

The Angels have some injury woes so it makes sense to take a flyer on a guy like Lincecum.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Yeah. Not sure impressed is the feeling behind their desire to sign him. More like desperate.

[Emperor Smeat]

ESPN had an article about the greatest brawls in baseball after the recent Rangers-Jays brawl and #1 on the list is amazing.

1. Padres-Braves, August 12, 1984

The brawl to end all brawls. The Padres, upset that Braves pitcher Pascual Perez started the game by hitting Alan Wiggins in the back, threw at Perez four different times in the game. The brawl would feature fans on the field, Bob Horner fighting while wearing a cast, Champ Summers going berserk, plus another brawl in the ninth inning after the Braves retaliated. Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams of the Padres was given a 10-game suspension and Braves manager Joe Torre would get three games and call Williams an "idiot" after the game and compare him to Hitler. Torre would later call it the most embarrassing moment of his career. Once again, the 1980s, everyone!
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/70727/you-like-a-good-baseball-brawl-here-were-10-of-the-best

[Droford]

Orioles in at 2 & 3..I remember #3 very well but not #2

[DAMN iNATOR]

Speaking of the umpires not knowing their shit, good on Ausmus for going out on the field and standing up for his players. So many complaining about the strike zone just cannot be wrong. I'm sure a lot of experts and maybe some here and other places even, would argue it's up to each ump's discretion but it isn't. The strike zone is a clearly defined boundary on and around the area of home plate, and when umpires are calling strikes in areas where it's not even close and continue doing so for the better part of a game, they NEED a manager in their face to correct the error of their ways.

The late George "Sparky" Anderson (RIP greatest Detroit Tigers manager of all-time) would be proud.

[ClockShot]

Amateur Hour for the Yankees pitching staff last night.

[ClockShot]

Braves fire Fredi Gonzalez.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Rougned Odor suspended 8 games.

[Evil Vito]

Going to the game tonight. Mets rolling out a AAA lineup against Scherzer but whatever. Live baseball.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Rougned Odor suspended 8 games.

Could see him appealing and getting less. I'm of different minds about it, but really think Texas's lust for revenge was ridiculous and feel like Sam Dyson should have been the one to plunk Bautista. All that's going to happen now is the feud is going to escalate and Dyson will probably end up STILL hitting Bautista and there will be another bench clearing brawl.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I'm aware they don't play again this year, but these guys have fucking memories like elephants.

[Emperor Smeat]

According to MLB, Bautista got 1 game suspension because of the brawl and not the slide which I guess they felt was legal. Think what helped Bautsita's case was a day later an A's player slid in a very similar way and Odor didn't try to throw at the guy's head like with Bautsita.

Odor got hit with 8 games because of the brawl and the established rules against fighting regardless if the slide was legal or not.

Everyone else got hit with the usual amount for bench clearing brawls and/or ejections.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol literally got a game suspension for getting punched in the face really hard and being really disoriented afterwards.

[McLegend]

Yeah bitches

[McLegend]

Wrong thread

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

lol literally got a game suspension for getting punched in the face really hard and being really disoriented afterwards.

He was going into fist position when he got clocked. He was going to punch had he not gotten rocked.

[Evil Vito]

Multiple Thorgasms were had on this night.

[Ruien]

Maaan, White Sox really need to get the W tonight.

[Ruien]

And they lost. The true White Sox seem to be emerging now. It was nice while it lasted.

[Evil Vito]

Think one of my favorite parts of the game was seeing a clean-shaven Danny Espinosa stride up to the plate only for this pic to appear on the massive center field video board:

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/ICllMGYalVe.vHyCEfwKnw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztmaT1maWxsO2g9MjMwO3E9NzU7dz0zNDU-/https://s.yimg.com/xe/i/us/sp/v/mlb_cutout/players_l/20160401/8805.png

[Nicky Fives]

Taylor Motter needs a haircut.... baseball players all look weird with straight long hair, except for Thor....

[screech]

I know it's May, but the Phillies are tied for first place in their division right now.

Love baseball

[weather vane]

Yeah pretty hilarious. Especially considering they are really bad. Run differential tells the bigger tale.

[Nicky Fives]

I love Odubel Herrera..... kid's gonna be great.....

[screech]

The wheels are gonna fall off and it will be comically terrible.