MLB 2018

[oilpiers]

Edinson Volquez 6th inning today. Possibly the greatest pitching performance that resulted in 3 walks and a hit by pitch. He was just missing the black in almost every ball called. The ump would not yield on those outside pitches that just barely missed. The ball 4 on Bautista was a missed call by the ump, after a real big boy battle. Hitting Donaldson was the only real bad pitch in a 100% freebee walk-in run. Too bad it all fell apart, some real great pitching by both teams through 6.

P.S. Schwarber should be banned from the NL.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Schwarber will get better.

[Tequila Cowboy]

The funny thing is that I'm only sad that it's over. The 2015 Cubs made me love baseball again. Not in the way that I always like the numbers and the strategy but in the kind of way that I loved the game as a kid. First of all they had a manager who recognized that it's a game and instilled that in his team. We get so caught up in analyzing it and alternate that with screaming at our TV's that we forget that. I remember now. These ball players smiled and had an "awe shucks" thing going that I didn't know could exist in 2015. They were young and it showed in ways good and bad.

In the past a Cubs team getting swept out of the playoffs would have had me angry for a week. I would not be fun to be around during that time and I would have probably thrown my shoes at a television last night (I never broke one but I was there when a buddy did in 2003). I don't feel that way. Instead I'm going to root for the Mets next week (the horror!) and wait for that magical day when pitchers and catchers report. Oh and I've got two Rock Shows in two nights starting tonight so in honor of that I'll close with this..."Hell No I ain't happy, but I ain't too crappy...".

Thank you Cubs for a great ride.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Schwarber will get better.

nice segue into this

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015- ... bs-future/

[Tequila Cowboy]

Schwarber will get better.

nice segue into this

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015- ... bs-future/

There has always been a contingent of the scouting community with no use for Schwarber as anything but a DH. That's not a surprise. The surprise is Law who has warmed to him. Theo Epstein said today that he would get some reps a C next year but would play everyday mostly in LF. He's more athletic than people give him credit for and comparing him to Adam Dunn is silly. Not to mention the fact that he's nothing like Dunn as a hitter and He should get his K rate down to under 25%.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

it comes as no surprise that Mattingly is out with the Dodgers. It is a surprise that they are reportedly interested in replacing Mattingly with this guy



will be interesting to see how he reacts the first time Andre Ethier drops an "up your nose with a rubber hose!" bomb on him

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Stunned at how easy Kornheiser was on Wilbon re: Cubs yesterday on PTI. Typically they talk huge smack with one another over their favorite teams winning/losing and I fully expected Tony to tee off. He didn't say a peep

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

good lord, whoever dresses Pete Rose for FS1 needs to be waterboarded..... and while they are at it, go ahead and waterboard the hell out of Joe Buck

[Zip City]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

gotta be due to this

http://deadspin.com/dusty-baker-once-sm ... 1737726562

[Shakespeare]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

token minority interview

though the reports im seeing of a second interview in dc this time have me concerned.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

token minority interview

though the reports im seeing of a second interview in dc this time have me concerned.

Hah! You guys could hire Dusty the token, Ted Williams' frozen head, or Felipe Alou's pool boy and you'd still be better off than with Matt Williams

[Zip City]

Now that the Workd Series is set, I couldn't be less interested in watching any of it

[Shakespeare]

congrats?

its one of the last matchups i was pulling for but theres lots of intrigue there. a small ball team that was great all year versus a team that rebuilt itself midseason and got hot at the right time. i want the royals to win it this year cuz i cant fall back on a division rival, but truthfully im fine with either team winning since its always nice to see long dormant franchises come back. should be an interesting matchup since the royals are built to face elite pitching. keep a team like the blue jays in the yard and your chances look good but even the best pitchers are susceptible to the kind of runs the royals produce so i could see it going either way. my gut tells me the mets will do it, unless this lengthy break between series cools them off, but the royals are such an outlier in todays game id really like to see them win it all

[Clams]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

token minority interview

Speaking of Dusty Baker and tokin'...

http://deadspin.com/dusty-baker-once-sm ... 1737726562

[Tequila Cowboy]

How is Dusty Baker getting real interviews for real jobs?

Baseball is funny. DoN Mattingly has been bad with the biggest payroll in history and there are rumors that the Nationals and Dodgers could get in a bidding war over the guy. The Marlins fall back is said to be Baker. SMH.

[Shakespeare]

everything ive seen has said the nats arent even bringing mattingly in for an interview. with the dodgers vacancy theres now some urgency and i think the nats are moving into their second round now, hopefully settling on bud black soon enough to make him an offer before anyone else. other candidates are baker (somehow) and giants bench coach ron wotus. i think they stillw ant to interview dave martinez as well

im glad but i think donnie gets an unfairly bad rap. that "$300 million payroll" narrative is catchy but stretches the truth in many ways and none of them fall on mattingly. a huge chunk of that is money spent trying to undo the past regimes many fuck ups. just look at how much theyre paying bench guys or guys playing for other teams. that is not a $300m team at all. yes theyve spent a lot of money anyway but have they really given mattingly that complete a team? their rotation cratered after kershaw and greinke, their bullpen was a mess, and they were giving jimmy rollins and chase utley starts in a playoff series in 2015. gonzalez is about as good as youll find but other than him they had no dependable bats. mattingly deserves credit for consistently getting them to the playoffs but even with two of the games best pitchers that was a poorly constructed october team. id hesitate to call him a great manager, but bad just isnt fair either.

i see him going to miami. good young core he can actually coach and grow with (didnt have that in la, escept with dee gordon who they inexplicably traded) and less pressure to win now. of course the downside is loria, and mattingly wont come cheap.

[Gang Green]

congrats?

its one of the last matchups i was pulling for but theres lots of intrigue there. a small ball team that was great all year versus a team that rebuilt itself midseason and got hot at the right time. i want the royals to win it this year cuz i cant fall back on a division rival, but truthfully im fine with either team winning since its always nice to see long dormant franchises come back. should be an interesting matchup since the royals are built to face elite pitching. keep a team like the blue jays in the yard and your chances look good but even the best pitchers are susceptible to the kind of runs the royals produce so i could see it going either way. my gut tells me the mets will do it, unless this lengthy break between series cools them off, but the royals are such an outlier in todays game id really like to see them win it all

The Mets are still weak defensively up the middle with Murphy, who is due for a catastrophic error, and Flores with very limited range. Cubs never seemed to take advantage. Certainly, the Mets have slightly more starting pitching, but the Royals have a much deeper bullpen. From what I've seen, the Royals have a much better all around team and should win this World Series. Mets are playing as well as I've seen them play in a long time and they would not be where they are in this post season without Murphy and Granderson, hopefully Murphy keeps averaging a homer a game. I'm picking the Royals in 5.

[StevieRay]

I'm going to root for the Mets next week

No.

[Jonicont]

I'm going to root for the Mets next week

No.

Yes

[StevieRay]

I'm going to root for the Mets next week

No.

Yes

Ok - hold on, the Mets bandwagon now includes Cub fans and Yankees fans?

This Red Sox fan just can't go there.

KC deserves to see that team win it all. Not sure they can get past this Mets pitching: but my inner sixteen-year old is still nauseated by those orange unis. I think TC (who's favorite player was George Brett) is just not rooting for KC because he thinks Ned Yost doesn't belong in a major league dugout.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Ok - hold on, the Mets bandwagon now includes Cub fans and Yankees fans?

This Red Sox fan just can't go there.

KC deserves to see that team win it all. Not sure they can get past this Mets pitching: but my inner sixteen-year old is still nauseated by those orange unis. I think TC (who's favorite player was George Brett) is just not rooting for KC because he thinks Ned Yost doesn't belong in a major league dugout.

You got me. I just can't root for a Ned Yost team. I've acknowledged that he has some value because his players love him but he makes too many fundamental baseball mistakes for me to root for team he is leading. The Mets shattered me as an 8 year old but I ain't a kid any longer. I love pitching and solid play and they have it. Guys like deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz and Harvey are just fun to watch, at least when they aren't beating your team's brains in, That's just the way i gotta go.

[StevieRay]

Ok - hold on, the Mets bandwagon now includes Cub fans and Yankees fans?

This Red Sox fan just can't go there.

KC deserves to see that team win it all. Not sure they can get past this Mets pitching: but my inner sixteen-year old is still nauseated by those orange unis. I think TC (who's favorite player was George Brett) is just not rooting for KC because he thinks Ned Yost doesn't belong in a major league dugout.

You got me. I just can't root for a Ned Yost team. I've acknowledged that he has some value because his players love him but he makes too many fundamental baseball mistakes for me to root for team is leading. The Mets shattered me as an 8 year old but I ain't a kid any longer. I love pitching and solid play and they have it. Guys like deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz and Harvey are just fun to watch, at least not when they aren't beating your team's brains in, That's just the way i gotta go.

I suppose I need to concede that the Metropolitans are every bit as deserving. I also do understand the Cub fan rooting for an NL team in the WS. I would need to root for an AL team under this paradigm. Regardless: the best two teams are absolutely playing each other this week. Peter Gammons has an interesting take as always:

In a game in which pitchers of all sizes, shapes and backgrounds are throwing harder and harder with astounding frequency—since Pitch FX was born in 2008, the percentage of pitches thrown 96 MPH+ has more than doubled, and the number of pitchers that threw at least one pitch that hard has risen from 282 in 2008 to 416 in 2015—we get the first World Series without a pre-expansion team gives us two of the hardest throwing pitching staffs in recorded history, if not ever. The Mets are, as the Cubs well know, number one. Their pitchers this season threw 4948 pitches over 95 MPH (22.2%). The Royals were second to the Mets with 3498 pitches over 95 MPH (14.8%).

[ScottyC]

Ok - hold on, the Mets bandwagon now includes Cub fans and Yankees fans?

This Red Sox fan just can't go there.

KC deserves to see that team win it all. Not sure they can get past this Mets pitching: but my inner sixteen-year old is still nauseated by those orange unis. I think TC (who's favorite player was George Brett) is just not rooting for KC because he thinks Ned Yost doesn't belong in a major league dugout.

You got me. I just can't root for a Ned Yost team. I've acknowledged that he has some value because his players love him but he makes too many fundamental baseball mistakes for me to root for team he is leading. The Mets shattered me as an 8 year old but I ain't a kid any longer. I love pitching and solid play and they have it. Guys like deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz and Harvey are just fun to watch, at least when they aren't beating your team's brains in, That's just the way i gotta go.

Fuck Ned Yost.

Should root for Royals, can't because of that moron.

Fuck Ned Yost

[Shakespeare]

is there ever a point where you yost haters will admit that maybe hes not so bad? im not normally one to heap credit or blame on a manager but he seems to do great thigns for that team. they do all the little things baseball teams should do, and for not having rosters loaded with conventional big name types they sure seem to make it look easy. they play the same way no matter the score but yost seems to have the perfect touch as far as treating october games as the unique situations they are. credit to the gm too, and i wont deny theres some semblance of luck involved in the way seemingly every one of yost's moves works out but i think the man deserves more credit than hes getting. ive alway said its nearly impossible to know how a manager will fit a team till you see them ina ction together and i think he might be the best current example. if theyd faded back to irrelevancy this season i might agree with TC and the like but theyve played all this year with an obvious chip on their shoulder, proving 2014 was no fluke in the process and i dont think its fair to keep acting like its all in spite of ned yost.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

I think the middle infield defense of Cookie Rojas and Freddie Patek will be the difference for the Royals in this series

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

there's never enough Liz Phair, that's why!

[Shakespeare]

what a royals way to start this series

on a somber note, edison volquez' dad died today and hes still making this start. mad respect.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

holy Buddy Biancalana, what a way for the Royals to start!

[Shakespeare]

also it seems somehow appropriate that the royals have a player who could make his major league debut tonight