h2oface

Kirilloff should have been the hitter of the month every month.

I see it happening all around the league. They bring guys up and they do well. Young pitchers, batters, etc. We bring our guys up and the usually suck. Especially pitchers seem so unprepared. Whether it's in their head or they just can't get a grip, they just suck. Change the front office, and they still aren't ready. Change the coaches and managers in the minors....... and they still aren't prepared. Is it just me? Or is anyone else feeling it? We are left to make the standard sing song homer excuses for them.

All true. The point isn't to win games, now, right? Just let him try. In Odorizzi's defense, the 3rd pitch to Rameriz was a perfect edge of the zone strike called a ball by inadequate eyes, and the 1st pitch to Encarnacion was a perfect low corner strike, also miscalled. The calls never really even out, they just keep magnifying different results.

Insanity. Odorizzi can't make it through the order the 3rd time, so just keep making him do it, and expect different results.

Seriously? Baseball compares to war? Getting to play baseball everyday is like being in a war zone? Nope.

2017 was a couple of games better than 2015. Molitor being Manager of the Year for that is a joke. So they inherited around a .500 team really, and now will be considerably worse than last year. What really matters? Results. The rest is hopes and dreams and smoke and no fire. I can't live there. Regardless of players doing what is expected or not, the buck stops with the controller. This team has gotten worse in the 2 years of control. Their "great drafts" and trades and restructuring of coaches and managers, have produced, overall in the farm, an unimpressive set of team records. Will the great drafts really produce where it matters? Time will tell. They will be graded appropriately. Results. Seasons still happen, whether you want to grade them or not. Seasons are complete. We all live through them. Baseball doesn't get incompletes, even if one feels like they should have mercy. This season's grade? Solid D.

Lewis is really tanking down the stretch. Do teenagers get tired?

Great share and write up. The example comparing a pitcher in the softball era of baseball is really stretching to try to discount your observations and laments. Plus, he never saw any of those pitchers, either, or watched any of those games. I like to see the game evolve. Some of the evolutions are better than others. I like the move toward playing baseball instead of trying to take someone out on the base paths and at home plate. I hate that a pitcher gets no real punishment for hitting a batter. I hope that they make a rule to stop unnecessary players from coming on the field for a "have you back" episode (so childish), like in basketball. I hope to see automated strike and ball calling, and have a consistent strike zone that rewards the perfect take and the perfect pitch, instead of a pompous umpire calling it wrong. But I do miss some things. Mostly I enjoy the rich history of the game. Just as many never know the history of the game, many never really know the history of the last 100 and 200 years (or more) of the human race. To study it is not a 2 second internet bit. Some will, though, and pass it on. Today's stars may be worthy of being included in the history 50 years from now, and most won't. The thing I miss the most about going to the games is the sounds of baseball. Dodger Stadium, two years ago, revamped the PA and got a DJ. The sounds of the ball park, the stadium, the chatter, the heckling..... are all now drowned out by incessant noise and volume. Angel Stadium is also super loud, even before Dodger Staduim. That is just the LA area, but the trend is really in all ball parks. It may be music, fake PA cheering, promotions, ball park commercials, etc....... but it is all 5 times or more louder than it needs to be. I look around and at least half of the crowd in my field of vision are looking at their phones, and missing the game. They never just let the sounds of baseball, that I so loved, get through the din. I like to go to minor league games, too, and you can still get some of the real sounds of baseball there, but the,y too, are driving up the unnecessary volume and bombarding the audience with crap that they think they need to attract a younger audience. Regardless of the changes, I still love baseball, as a pastime and a sport to watch and follow, more than any other.... (except hang gliding and skydiving, but that is not watching.)

"You can't do anything about it. That's the unfortunate part. His (Berrios) day comes up, and that's the one day where he's not feeling his normal self. It happened to be a day game, too, which has been a little bit of a stickler for him. We're not sure what the solution there is, if there's really something there to address. You just try to find a way to come back and split the series, and knowing that he's not at his best puts you at a disadvantage." -- Molitor on Berrios, who is 8-2 with a 2.73 ERA in 14 night starts but is 3-7 with a 4.94 ERA in 13 day games. Can't do anything about it? Really. The guy is sick, and he sucks in day games, relatively. How about giving him the day off and pitching someone else, or making is a bullpen day? Sure you can do something about it..... if you are the manager..... Hey, I don't really care, but I just don't buy, "you can't do anything about it." I mean, it's not like we are in a pennant race.

That's what I was thinking. Looks like Houston is still using him a ton. I wonder if the pitch count is down .... significantly, that is.....

They bring up a catcher they don't let catch. Seems odd, to me. We are entering "fall training" period. May as well take a look at prospects instead of suspects.

I love it!

It will surprise me if this ill-fated 4th overall pick makes it anywhere but in Japan or Korea, but I hope they use this last 5-6 weeks to give him a chance, and either the unexpected happens, or he can move on to his future. It is unusual for a pitcher who is mediocre in the minors to all of the sudden turn that corner at the highest level of competition, but hey, maybe Kohl Stewart will be the rare exception. His roster spot needs to be earned, now. And, he can always go back to college and be that adult quarterback playing against the older boys, like Chris Weinke, who won his Heisman on that level playing field at the age of 28.

Well, that was the "guess". The first radar guns weren't used until the 60's for baseball. You can say the 90 mph thing is fact, but it is unsupported with actual evidence. The mound was also 15 inches high, (and the Dodgers in particular were notorious for pushing that limit). Some doctors think it is the arm angle from the lower mound. And the velocity. No one really knows how fast the pitchers were before they could be measured more accurately. Thanks for the clueditude. I never would have considered the obvious without your help. Plus, the most successful pitchers don't throw it as hard as they physically can every pitch. The command and control usually comes from backing off a bit to get movement. How many times have we heard "the pitcher was over amped, and the ball lost it's movement. Throwing the ball hard certainly is a part of it.

There are probably more. I didn't even try to find any other than off the top of my head. But I agree, if you sign someone to the long contract, free agent or extension, you will probably live to regret it. It seems that age has nothing to do with shoulder/elbow/arm injuries, as we see it is an epidemic in the sport, regardless of age. Or whether they are pitching in the minors or the majors. It seems pitching at all is the main culprit. I just feel talent should never be held back just because of age..... whether older or younger. We can say someone is not ready, but if they don't get the opportunity, one really doesn't know. I wonder how baseball ever survived with a 4 man rotation for so long.

I really root for Garver, but I have a hard time understanding how he can be so mentally absent at this point. First the bunt play, and now this rundown that became a movie to watch for him. Hard to believe, but you can watch it over and over to try to get it. It's not helping.

I don't really know the answer to your question, and am too lazy to research it. Most pitchers not, but Sale, Kershaw, and Greinke mostly, come to mind. Don't tell the Braves that 23 is young...... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/08/braves-promote-bryse-wilson-pitching-prospect.html Remarkably, Wilson will join Mike Soroka, Kolby Allard and Ronald Acuna as prospects to debut in Atlanta before their 20th birthday this season. He draws praise for a fastball that sits 93-95 mph and can touch 97 mph with plenty of sink, as well as a slider and changeup that each have average or better potential. ....but only 3 of them are pitchers.....

Kennys needs to play in Japan or Korea.

One game. Means nothing. I don't understand, if the season is now a throw away anyway, why you just don't let the man pitch some innings. The additional 4 runs the other relievers gave up were the losing runs. (Shutout pen and Twins win 5-4). Let the rookies pitch. Hell, they let Santana stink and keep pitching....... It also may be good to bring them up earlier in the season, when they aren't at the end of the innings limit, or approaching it. Gonsalves, at this time, is an AAA to AAAA pitcher. The White Sox are, this year, an AAAA team. Nervous or not, I expected him to breathe and pitch better.

It took Charlie Steiner (play by play on radio for the Dodgers) until the middle of August to stop pronouncing Chargois' name wrong, and David Vessegh, who does the after game talk type show, Dodger Talk and Clubhouse something, still is using the R. shar-gwah, with the accent on the gwah, is how they called it all year, even after I called in 2 times at the beginning of the year and tried to help them.... Shag-wah. Stiener still likes to put the accent on the gwah, though. Kind of embarrassing. Vessegh is just not paying attention.

He has settled into the Dozier that was traded. Now hitting .218 for August and the Dodgers. After the first two games high, he has been the streaky slumping hitter he was all year. He is getting a bunch of walks. Good in the field and good getting on base for LA, though.

Awesome piece. Thanks a lot. Morrison should have been more honest and brought this to the surface in May.

23 is young but 28 is old. I don't agree. The being "young" excuse is getting "old". At this rate, even if you can't risk contracts for 30 yr old free agents, and, let's say, by 25 a pitcher should be ready..... that means a pitcher only has a 5 or 6 year viable career. I don't buy it.

Looks like Joe may finally be deciding to try to drive the ball. Never have understood why he didn't evolve into a slugger. Such a big strong man.

It will be interesting to see how Stewart does, especially since the Tigers will be seeing him again, just a few days after his first start. Pitching against the same team ...... I really wish he was pitching against a different team, instead.