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second time to say that this morning.. found my way to the new site and said it there...to all posters old and new happy thanksgiving to all of yyou
I'm annoyed when people tap their brakes for no reason. Also when they wont pass or move over. That annoys the hell out of me. Or two cars driving side by side 5 miles below the speed limit on a two lane interstate with a parade of cars behind them that only want to drive the speed limit. Fuck them! Those people are total assholes.
You're so annoying
[/quote
I'm pretty sure he takes that as a complement.
Righto!!!
You're so annoying
If they really want to honor Jeter, they should make casting a really easy ballot look difficult.
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Yuli has been a great addition. Fuck “racist gesture.” He seems to be loved in the clubhouse.
All of this is so much BS. There’s so much talent on this team. I’m not even going to read anymore about it. Take a draft pick... whatever....
LSU almost stomped their collective dick last night. But they just grazed it.
He switches allegiances when it suits him.
Of course they did, but being lucky in being born well does not mean they lack talent or ability. Thinking otherwise without personal knowledge is an insult.
Far, far worse. Unlucky is a fact. “Wanted it more” sounds like HS football. Completely silly applied to professional baseball players in the World Series.
Until 2017 I was convinced this franchise was established simply to break my heart every few years.Hank Williams, you wrote my life.
I do not believe this. Yuli was elite.
It has to be the SF Giants. 3 WS wins.
The Mets are hiring Carlos Beltran to be their manager.
I've found myself saying this a lot recently, both to myself and to others, I'm pretty sure I've even said it on this site a time or two. It definitely fits here.
Just because something doesn't work, doesn't mean it was the wrong decision. Just because something works, doesn't make it the right decision.
Bringing in Harris when he did, was the right decision. 9/10 times, Harris gets the job done, and the Astros probably win the game, this was the 1. Anybody who says that bringing in Harris in the 7th was a bad decision, simply has no baseball intelligence.
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There's some smart people on this board; I'm surprised few see the obvious. The post-game actions and comments by Cole seemed out of character because they were/are. What you witnessed last night was the spirit of Scott Boras in Cole's body. Cole was carefully coached by Boras -- the comments, hat, etc. -- all part of the act. It was a message to the marketplace that Team Cole isn't fucking around.
Verducci on how Strasburg was tipping his pitches in the first two innings last night, but the Nationals caught and fixed it:
“Stephen, you’re doing it again.”
Menhart didn’t have to show video to Strasburg. The pitcher knew instantly what he was doing to telegraph his pitches. The pitching coach and his pitcher came up with a fix. Strasburg would reach into his glove for his grip, then briefly start flapping his glove at the waist before raising his hands at the set position.
The game flipped right there.
“He told me it was—what is the right word here—just so re-assuring to him,” Menhart said. “It gave him such relief and confidence. He said, ‘I got takes on balls they were hitting before, and they were swinging and missing at balls they were spitting on in the first inning.’ It freed him up.”
Strasburg gave up two runs in the first inning and none thereafter. The Astros went 3-for-22 after Strasburg stopped tipping his pitches. They didn’t know what hit them.
Good stuff.
Also corroborates what various folks have said: hitters don't listen to the team'scoaches much.
Thanks Das - I guess first order of business is whether we make it to Sunday in the first place.
This kind of goes back to my point about Hinch and his consistency and giving guys rest days regardless of how much they campaign to play. I have a hard time believing Cole would dictate his start to Hinch and an even harder time believing AJ would acquiesce.
He may have taken the notion of read more post less a little too seriously, but if this is the outcome then others should adhere.
Not sure for Boone - but for AJ, I think declaring that JV is pitching on Friday puts an enormous amount of pressure on the Yankees tonight. Maybe it causes their hitters to press or Boone to over-manage.
Long time lurker...over a dozen years but hey, I'll give my first take and try not to be called a neck.
Hinch is consistent in his approach...and players love that about him, they know what to expect. He always gives guys scheduled days off whether they were hot or not or whether they liked it or not. He uses analytics for shifts and sticks with it despite some player's objections (cough, Dallas, cough) and he doesn't put up with disrespect (see ya Giles).
He also never intentionally walked a batter. From a macro level that's what this pitching decision is...essentially we're not going to intentionally walk a game with our bullpen. We're going to go right after you and if you beat us, you tip your cap and move on to the next game.
Great - but why? Do you say that because you believe you shouldn't ever change the lineup in a series? Because it conveys a lack of confidence in the demoted? Because you think that the left/right balance is more important? Do you think that Carlos isn't ready to be moved up yet?
Fuck no. Leave the lineup alone.
It doesn't seem possible but I believe by the end of this series I will hate Brett Gardner even more than I already do.
They self-identify as hitters.Well played, sir.
Kevin Cash handled it very well.
When asked he said he knew there was speculation, but credit should be given to the guys who hit line drives.
Enjoyed that story, Jim.
Watching on cable... FS1 is fine
Osuna to close it out.
The Roberts Dodgers have won 393 regular season games over the last four years. If you say he's a shitty manager, then you have to admit they've done a pretty decent job succeeding in spite of him. Maybe you want to make the argument he's a good regular season manager and a lousy postseason manager. My hunch is that he's a system manager, and that he's implementing the will of Andrew Friedman.
Brian McCann announced after the Braves' loss last night that he was retiring. He had a good career, and was the right guy at the right time for the Astros. I will always remember him fondly.
Before the Division Series wraps up, I wanted to point out that there are at least three former bus ride managers manning coaching positions on playoff teams:
Rodney Linares - 3rd base coach - Rays
Stubby Clapp - 1st base coach - Cards
Tim Bogar - 1st base coach - Nats
Did I miss any?
My knee jerk reaction is that Roberts is not a good enough manager.
If you would have told me ahead of time how JV would do last night and given me two choices; a) Verlander on short rest knowing you would give up the four runs, or b) take your chances with Urquidy and the pen, I take option A. Every. Single Time.
The Yankees aren't better than us, but they're better now than they were most of the year and they're better than people have been giving them credit for. If we're lucky enough to face them again this year it's going to be intense.
For the most part, I’m a functional mess.
Anybody worried?
There doesn't seem to be the McCullers/Morton/Peacock option this year as in '17. Who steps up if the usual reliables fall through?
He played. I coached him in kid baseball. Devin is a good fan and baseball-knowledgeable.
I love how predictably you enter dead conversations days later to concur with a prevailing opinion. It's amazingly courageous of you.
HH's comment would have been "against ridiculous thinking" had I been proposing that the A's set-up their rotation at the expense of a chance to win the one game they had to win. But I wasn't. Fuck the fuck right off.
You have to play to win that game. You don't "set up a rotation" for a series you don't know you're even gonna be playing. Melvin thought Manaea game them the best chance to win last night. It didn't work out, but it was not an unreasonable move.
I don’t think it’s just trusting his stuff. These guys have been teeing off like they know what’s coming.
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This seems most likely.
Before the collapse Sparks commented that for guys like Miley it can be tough to put guys away with 2 strikes. "Hard to get them living on the edges" or something like that.
CB Bucknor's called third strike makes for the trifecta of pettiness.
Ummm, I'm not a Texans fan. But, I still think you are wrong for saying what you did.
I have no idea what you're talking about. Fortunately, I don't care about your bizarre claims and positions enough to try to figure it out.
What a horrid statement. Wallow in your misery? Astros fans (us in particular) wallowed in a lot of misery I guess we should have jumped on any number of other teams wagons. I'd never seriously tell a fan to leave the one they support. Part of supporting your team is being honest about them.
And if I remember correctly, a lot of your "nation" wore bags on their heads when Hebert was their QB. Aren't they the originators of the bagheads??
But, I will give you the fact that Sean Payton is a good coach.
Joke's on you, Hap, the Texans don't even have a GM! hahahaha!I am well aware that the Texans presently have no GM. However, I wasn't referencing a particular GM but rather y'alls dislike of the ones that you have had. I don't expect y'all to agree with and like him or her. That's because, despite being bereft of evidence supporting your position, most of you truly believe that you know more than the professionals.
The thought of being a Saints fan is not attractive. It’s like pissing down your leg. I’m sure it feels warm to you, but to everyone else it’s disgusting.
Anyone who refers to their fandom as a “nation” deserves to be punched in the dick.
You think so? You live close to Detroit. Drive up there one day and ask around.
Nope. But the clock management and lack of panic was exemplary. This Texans roster likely scores there, but they’d never actually get there with the time...or timeouts...to do it.
My Dad & I played a homemade dice baseball game when I was a kid ... taught myself long division keeping stats, which in retrospect may have been my Dad's motivation all along. It did get me an extra recess period in 3rd grade during math class, but I digress. We each "managed" 4 teams in the National League (playing a 42-game round-robin schedule), so when expansion hit I got the Colt 45's (somehow) while he got the Mets. That could not have been geographical, because it was the summer we moved from Michigan to South Carolina. As a side note, an expansion team typically does a lot better in a league that is 100% based on luck. :-) This was also one of two years I got to see the Pirates, my favorite NL team (and my Dad's), in spring training. (My favorite AL team was the Tigers where I saw my first professional baseball games a few years earlier.). In any case, that was the beginning of my dislike of the Mets.
A couple of years later we moved again, this time to Texas. My Dad's Pittsburgh roots ran deep, but as a brand new Texan I continued to follow the Astros neé Colts. Probably due to the successes in 1968, 1979 & 1984 of my "favorite teams", the Astros were always a bit in the background, but seeing several games in the Dome helped. And I was definitely crushed by the collapse of JR in 1980. But I think 1986 is where my "bandwagon" turned the corner and I became an Astros fan first, with only a nostalgic attraction remaining for the Pirates and Tigers. And when the Express showed up in RR, I was among the first to buy season tickets. I had always followed the minor leagues, but that was when I graduated from occasional bus rider to aspiring bus driver. Since 2000 I have spent 100% of my baseball time on the Astros and their minor league system. I barely even recognize the names on opposing teams unless they happen to be refugees from Lexington or Salem or Lancaster or somewhere like that. I am probably missing a lot of good baseball, bit I am enjoying the heck out of this "Golden Age" ... and all the more for my time on the bus.
I was at the game 5 loss against the Phillies. I am still not over it.
I've been following this team since I was a wee tyke during the Colt .45 days. As the team and I grew older, I started paying more attention to the standings and statistics.
Around 1969 or 1970 I started making note of the team's 82nd win, or 82nd loss. A winning record was a victory in those days and I always wanted the team to get that 82nd win. Years later, sometime after the All Star break, I started estimating the number of wins needed to win the division. Usually the Astros weren't the one to get it, but I was right in 1980 and again in 1999.
Then came The Troubles and the 63rd win became an annual milestone marked with solemnity.
At last came The Great Redemption and the Crane / Luhnow era. We have seen the greatest milestone of them all: 100 wins for three straight years!
I fuckin' love this team!
I am not over 1986. I never will be over it.
I baby sat Magellan.
Thot we were talking about 2020....
While my D+ and I racked up 108
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It's really sad how whiny Saints fans have become. They are insufferable. You want to actively root against them when not playing your team.
Of course Springer will probably be addressed this off-season as well.
People got fatter, seats got smaller.
Maybe the luxury tax is unavoidable if they want to keep enough guys around while this window is open. Remember that their 2020 payroll is already halfway there with only four players (Verlander, Greinke, Altuve, Bregman).
Read less, post more!
The terms baseball fan and Yankee fan are synonymous. You are not a baseball fan unless you are a Yankee fan.
Hell of a game. Could have gone either way, but all credit to LSU. They kept the foot on the gas and earned the W.Indeed, it could have gone either way. If Texas converts in the red zone in the first quarter, the game might have turned out very differently. Like I said, I love Ehlinger. He's a leader and one helluva QB. In my opinion, Texas is indeed back. It's clear beyond cavil that, after considering your Georgia asswhipping in the bowl game and this game with LSU, the difference betwen the SEC and Texas is zero.
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The thought of LSU with a good QB should terrify you enough for the week.
I want a fun game this weekend.
Good. Some growing up to do.
Cool moment.
Take it away, Jomboy... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zrPWk3YLGw
Why? No fence to run into, gradual slope, embarrassment from falling down might injure pride. Twisted ankle? I suppose that is possible. I liked The Hill but really like what the Astros did with CF.
Fences are the issue for hurting OFers.
Mental illness seems to be the cause of everything from mass shooting to heroin addiction. No.
So I know next to nothing about fentanyl or the drug culture in general. Why is it found in these pills in the first place? Do bad actors put it in the pills specifically for the reason of harming/killing people, or it is because the drug can have other desirable effects when combined with oxy?
Seriously, was anyone surprised? I was not.
Wally Pontiff and Don Redden were LSU athletes who died in their sleep of heart disease. My son’s hs classmate had that happen in his first year of med school
I wouldn’t sweat it. The rating system shined praise on Sphinx’s draft and noted that his best pick was Eric Ebron. I am not down on Sphinx’s team but rating the best pick on highest rated team as the poster boy for touchdown regression whose QB retired 2 weeks before the season may suggest the robot is huffing paint thinner.
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I actually kind of liked my draft, so of course Yahoo gave me a lower grade than Hap’s robo picks
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Only 29. He is tired of battling injuries. I thought he was gonna be a great professional quarterback when he came out of college. I think he only had one injury free year.
He is 4-0 and does not appear to be concerned about hits, especially soft contact ones. Not every ground ball to an open space is caused by a shift. My guess is if it becaomes a problem, he will speak up, and the Astros will adjust.
(Hovers finger over “Walt Fucking Weiss”nuclear buttton)Gotta add Country Joe and Angel Hernandez. Throw in CB too.
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I think Carlos may have just one more year to show he can play a full season. His injury history is becoming a threat to his career potential. He is at least at some risk of having to become a Bill Spiers type player. One with superb talent but only able to play part-time because of back issues.
Of course I could be, and hopefully am, wrong.
I switched from the Pirates to the Astros immediately, but I do not remember when Houston baseball became available on the radio. Soon after though because I listened to Gene Elston and Lowell Passé (ugh) nightly. I also read box scores religiously in those day. Baseball season of 1962 I was 16 and would be 17 in September. My HS senior year was ‘62-‘63.
Thanks, MusicMan, JimR, and Happy,
I need to remember OWA is a family; to post only when rested & it has been proof read; and not to pretend I have a blazing fastball....
If I go geezer and start talking about my family, shoot me.
Great article, which somewhat confirmed my thinking yesterday about why Ruiz got so many changeups. Osuna’s slider is a great pitch too, and he and the hitters are now 1-26 on changeups. No doubt Hinch has or will make the catchers aware of this too. A conversation with all of them in the room is a good idea which Hinch likely already has done. Maybe this is why Chirinos called so many in a row. Wilkerson ambushed his first pitch yesterday for a double, and this could have made Osuna reluctant to throw it at the end. Closing is tough business. If he gets them out, fans say “that is why he gets paid.” If he blows one like yesterday, all hell breaks out, and scorn and derision rain down.
I was going to meet some folks yesterday so listened to the bottom of the 9th on the radio. I had a vague, uneasy feeling from the beginning because Baltimore fought so hard all day and outplayed the Astros until the top of the 9th. I did not think they would go quietly, and Wilkerson’s charmed life movement around the bases intensified my uneasiness. He could have been thrown out at third, he maybe WAS thrown out at home, yet the run was on the board. Then there was the HBP. After Sparks praised Osuna for being a pitcher who protects his teammates, I said out loud (to the radio) “Yeah, but that is the tying run.” Then multiple changeups to Ruiz (scouting report?) with the last one in the worst possible location and BOOM.
As I said yesterday, maybe on the GZ, my initial thought was the Astros were supposed to lose that game. Call it karma or the BBGs, but Baltimore deserved to win after their effort against JV taking the lead and driving him to cover after 5. A team does not beat another 23-2, even in the classy way the Astros handled the win, without some consequences somewhere. I hated the loss, which kicked me in the stomach like it did you, but part of me said “Good for you, Orioles, for not rolling over and quitting when the superior team rallied late.” The BBGs reminded me (and everyone?) even last place teams deserve respect.
Getting back on the winning track in Chicago will help hurt feelings a lot.
Astros insider: Roberto Osuna changes it up
Easy to criticize after a loss. Have not heard much when he gets outs.
No
Are you worried about JV?
I am amazed at the traded Astros guys who are in MLB rotations, in just the last two days these former Astros made a start:
V. Velasquez - Phillies
Adrian Houser - Brewers
Joe Musgrove - Pirates
Folty - Braves
Lyles - Brewers
This is not counting the FA, released, etc... or relievers.
That's a huge gift, Chuck.
Life makes it hard to focus at times - most of the time - and it's easy to miss what is really important. Only one of our grand kids is under five, They grow up really fast and will soon reach the point at which they no longer want much of our attention. I have to remind myself that while it is easier to type on a computer keyboard than to listen to and play with them, it may not be as rewarding in the long run. Some of our grand kids call to have us come and play with them. That's a huge gift also. I know they can wear you out, enjoy them while you can. (We have a bag of games in the back of our van, just in case.)
TY for taking the time to read and explain my cryptic post.
Snuff
Yep. Hell, it could happen again. You get a hot pitcher twice in a post-season series.
I was devastated they did not proceed deeper into the post-season.
tucker still needs to prove he can do it in the show
To a lot of folks in my life, Jim R. is Coach. Maybe there is another one around here. Dunno.
TY, Chuck. I am sometimes hard to follow.
Apparently Luhnow knew the Angels were looking to replace Lucroy, making a potential landing spot for Stassi and a reward in the form of two prospects. It was something when nothing seemed likely for a player that the Astros had DFA - Luhnow's magic on a smaller scale.
It's a stretch, I know....
? Surely, you jest.
Wow, I am surprised. Loyal Forever. Class of 1963. Football, basketball, and baseball teams. Austin High on West Avenue, and House Park. Those were the days.
As much as I hate to say it, Pujols was right there with them.
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Happy birthday!
Ball is about to hit him in the chin. Pull those hands in. Boom! Upper deck!
Mo Alou could hit them out of Yellowstone.
Yes, but he did not, and Luhnow was expecting him in Houston this season.
He hit his first homerun as a Blue Jay today.
Somehow all those folks behind the plate have survived it for years.
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I would argue that the wildcard is a playoff to reach the Postseason
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But that was the late years Dome, that wasn’t nearly as hard to hit in as the early days.
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Warning: small sample size
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Roughly same as the 4seam. Average velocity on those to are separated by about .3 mph. Remember when McCullers would throw 90-91 mph change ups? It's not the mph difference by itself that makes the change up effective, it's the arm action paired with a slower spead. You would like a 10mph difference but most guys these days only have a 5-7mph difference, some less.
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Based on the responses so far, we will draft Monday, Aug. 26 at 8:30 p.m. central.
A guy who not only manages personalities, but who excels at translating the front office’s metrics into language for the players.
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Am at Dell Diamond to work tonight. Media notes say Abraham Toro has been promoted to RR. He is not in the lineup tonight. Tucker is playing 1B. He did not hit a homer at home in July and only 3 during the month.
Must be that U of Texas upbringing.
My dad tells a story of struggling with command on the mound one day, and the manager comes out to have a word. Manager says “throw strikes”, and turns around and walks away. Dad says it was all he could do to not drill the manger right in the back.
Same. I wander in and out and think about the salad days of 100 loss years and franchise type players traded away in their near prime and think, "Where does the time go?" Then I realize that I'm really old now.
I don't remember what year it was I joined this band of merry misfits, but it was the days of the BFT. My loathing for HD ran deep, and many were the days that I wished to punch him in his face until he peed himself. Then I realized that I didn't really have anything to offer most conversations (I may have killed more threads than anyone in history), so now I mainly just lurk. The last post I remember making was WS game 7, but I may have something since then. No idea for sure though.
Let’s make sure we talk up crane as well! Only seen one short tip of the cap to him during all of this.
Aw shucks, ETA. Thanks!!! I so value your friendship.
Good stuff!
How old is your friendship?
Did it start on OWA?
He is so much more than that, but a good start.
Great to hear eye witness testimony regarding his current & potential OF and 1B proficiency! That is good news. My question was based on a limited sample, having seen him handle a few innings in one game, as well as how he has been under utilized (so far) in an NL home game - the St. Louis series.
Thanks also for your take of LA's reason to want a present value of Field's FB to any future value of their fresh and certainly unknown/unproven signee. That makes sense to me.
Heck, tho they had been w/ the organization for some time, the Astros gave away JD Martinez and Laureano b/f their potential was fully realized and, until they showed more, they could not break in to 25-man roster, much less the lineup. The Dodgers trade was based on scant information about Alvarez, obviously less than the Astros scouts had seen.
His ONLY AB last night reminded me why I hated the DH. It's hard not to enjoy Alvarez as a DH. (Tho I still get the haunting feeling from my younger self, that I am losing my baseball "virginity"}
I wonder if another former NL Astros fans also feel some minimal discomfort mixed with their joy of having Alvarez as an Astro DH.
Tks, JimR
Hearing the Cardinal announcers getting excited over seeing Alvarez come to the plate - "We finally get to see him! We've heard a lot about him...." - only to see him take a couple swings, smash a 2B, and then return to the bench after Straw comes in to run for him, it finally dawns on me that the Dodgers had no choice.
W/o a position, Alvarez was limited to a AB per game for the Dodgers. They could have gotten much more for his bat had they waited, but Alvarez's value was limited in the NLteam.
He is a force at the plate, but ultimately he is a one-dimensional player for now - the reason most of us hated the DH b/f the Astros moved to the AL.
OWA FF & SCOTUS FTW!
Correction noted regarding the A's. (Should have remembered that from the movie.)
Perhaps TY IN TAMPA could address whether the Rays PR is limited by market size, owner intentional, or some combination?
10 years ago tonight I was part of an OWA group outing to watch the Astros lose to the Mets 10-3 and it was one of the greatest life changing nights of my life. Thanks to all, especially those who keep this community going.
I would trade Tucker if necessary to get him.
I just did admittedly imperfect research and found only one game at SS in 2018. I know how infrequently he played SS at RR in 2019. No doubt he took a million ground balls and listened to instruction about playing SS, but for him to be starting at SS for the Astros and holding his own in a pennant race is an amazing feat.
They might have had the idea in 2018, but part of one game is less than minuscule for such a demanding position. He was thrown in to see if he could handle it.
Thanks for your detailed knowledge, Duman. I was not misinformed after all.
Second chuck’s motion if the bench size is cut down. It’s already too big. You fantasy mavens hoard multiple TEs and kickers.
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I have been surprised (not in a good way) at Ausmus in post game interviews and especially in his comments after the Marisnick incident. He comes across exasperated, dull, full of platitudes, not very insightful and decidedly old school. I have a hard time reconciling what I see with his reputation.
That said, my perception may be tainted by 4 years of Hinch, who is one of the most media-savvy baseball people I have ever seen.
Spiking Marisnick was 100% bush. Marisnick was guilty of nothing but playing clean, sportsman like baseball. The Angels have been through a difficult time and Marisnick correctly gave them a pass.
It's easy to take for granted a player that has become so familiar. That's when it can help to see him through the eyes of his opponents.
Last night the Rangers announcers highlighted Bregman's increasingly rare talent with these stats: "Players with at least 25 HR's & more walks than strikeouts".
It was a short list.
Only MLB Players with 25+ HR & more walks than strikeouts
ML Players HR BB SO
Mike Trout 30 77 70
A Bregman 26 76 56
In 2016, only five players had more walks than K's, including one Astro. This article did not focus just on HR hitters.
Thankful to see Bregman's interview about the HBP and the game last night.
He is a rare talent!
Mr. White is not an athlete, he is a baseball player.
He was not going to stay in Houston. Mrs. Unit wanted Arizona.
One cannot pitch effectively with a sore shoulder. He had to speak up. I think you may be right ultimately.
Yes on both accounts. For Beltran, he was a rental that I hoped would stay but felt confident that the team would still be a playoff contender with Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman, Ensberg, Lane, Palmeiro, etc… at the helm on offense and field defense. I was dazzled by his performance during the rental, for sure but also suspected he’d come back to earth over a full season, which he did and that might be the difference in a few games over the year. Which, in turn, would not have raised my expectations from playoff contender to WS contender.
Regarding Johnson, he was a rental and I never expected him to resign with the team. I had a hope but that was not based on anything other that fanboi desires and was deeply countered by the practical realities of the FA market at the time and known intelligence suggesting destinations on other teams.
About Morton, McCullers status was known and Morton represented the difference between WS aspirations and a potentially historic run for the year. Couple that with all the chatter about his happiness playing for THIS specific team, it was a shock and the implications were potentially noteworthy and actually being realized. So, yes, easily including Beltran and Johnson.
Good article about Marisnick
According to the HC, during a team meeting after the loss (and his HBP) that seemed to help the team refocus.
Well done!
Not many people can say they were an AL Playerof the Week.
Yup. Months in now, his is the most stinging Astros loss of a FA in the entirety of my fandom. That said, the Rays offer was so extravagant, it even surprised Morton. It's proving to be a prescient move on their part, for sure, but it's hard to manage to such an outlier.
Dunno.
Fine, we'll agree to disagree. I just don't see how you can say $17.9MM was a low ball when it was clearly more than anybody else was willing to offer. And don't get me started on the $90MM he turned down in 2016...
Discount? Again, it was more than anyone else was willing to pay him. The Astros tried to sign him at OVER his market value. TWICE! I get that he overvalued himself. That doesn't mean that the Astros tried to discount him. They were clearly the highest offer.
Me as well. Still standing.
Well, even though I don't comment very often, I am still here.And I, for one, am glad of that.
Of course people come and go, and we had at least one death I remember well. OWA will last as long as the Astros do.
When each new season starts, I forget. I forget there will be nights like last night when formerly dependable players falter and fail. I forget my favorite team occasionally blows a game it should have won. I forget those games when inferior teams suddenly display skills I forgot they had and for a brief time cannot be stopped. I remember only the good times, come from behind triumphs, and my team’s celebrations on the field after a win. I forget the other team wants to win badly also. I go into each season wanting to win them all, and I forget there will be crushing defeats keeping me from sleep.
Despite all this inevitable gloom and doom, occasioned by nights like last night, the beauty and joy of baseball makes it all worthwhile, and I am once again reminded: there always is another game.
I wrote this in 2012, as a part of a series preview. I still feel this way.
Fuck him. Fuck his bullshit "book," his chortling reminiscenses of times spent emptying the spittoons of the Really Wealthy, his giggling with Other Millionaires and the twisted dream that they think of him as a friend. Or that any of us have the slightest interest in whatever warped sack of lies he hawks as his story.
I watch, but I don't like the players making it all about themselves. Yes, it's an honor, but it's the fans' game, and they've forgotten that.
Do people actually watch the ASG? To me next week is a mini void.
He falls in love with his fastball. And it's a good one. And I like that he challenges hitters. But maybe sometimes he's just stubborn about strike outs.
The GM that traded Hader away put together the team that won the 2017 World Series.
Well, he may pitch for a while today. Peacock has already given up 2 in the first and the Pirates are still batting....Uh, double that.
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Michigan's improbable run ends one game short.
Vanderbilt wins 8-2 and are the national champions.
Congratulations to the Vanderbilt Commodores: 2019 NCAA D1 Champions!
The fact that we allow pharmaceutical advertising is a big part of what’s fucked up about our health care system.
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The Tech program is so far beyond the program I saw forty years ago that it's a completely different thing. The field then was about high school caliber and one just walked up to watch a game. The players practiced on hard pan dirt in 25 degree weather and 30 MPH wind in down jackets.
Rip Griffin donated a bunch of money and got the Red Raiders a real stadium and some other facilities, like indoor practice capability for harsh Lubbock winters. Then Kirby Holcutt was hired as A.D. and he hired Tim Tadlock who turned the program from an also-ran into a power.
Tadlock is a master of player development, which is what's needed to pull a program up from the bottom. Now, with the Red Raider's success, Tech is starting to see better recruiting which will hopefully keep us in the mix for Omaha for some time to come.
With men's T&F natty, men's basketball national runner-up, baseball, and Tech's continuing national dominance of meat judging, it's a golden age of Texas Tech sports......well, except for football.
Louisville walks it off in the ninth 4-3. Mississippi State is eliminated,
Now, the "Final Four" of baseball are:
Texas Tech (Big XII) 2-1
Michigan (Big 10) 2-0
Vanderbilt (SEC) 2-0
Louisville (ACC) 2-1
A great representation of conferences and four fine baseball teams. Tomorrow's games are:
Texas Tech vs Michigan at 1:00 PM CDT. This is an elimination game for Tech.
Louisville vs Vanderbilt at 6:00 PM CDT. This is an elimination game for Louisville.
If either Texas Tech or Louisville win their game, they will repeat the same match-up on Saturday.
There are Tech fans saying: "this is the fourth trip, it's time we win one". It doesn't work like that,
Texas Tech defeats Florida State 4-1. Mike Martin coaches his last game at FSU as the Seminoles are eliminated.
Texas Tech gets a rematch against Michigan on Friday at noon CDT.
"The daily grind makes a difference." Indeed.
Kinda like the difference b/t dating and marriage: someone may think they are a "pro" at dating, but whether they know it or not they become rookies when they enter marriage. It's a whole different ball game.
IMO.
I remember Ben McDonald saying that the CWS teams were equivalent to AA. I'm of the belief that his statement is off the charts wrong, so much so that I went through a thought experiment. If there were 8 four-team, double elimination tournaments with the top 24 ranked college teams and the 8 Texas League teams, I'd take even money that the final 8 teams would all be the Texas League teams.
Sure, there are college players who would not embarrass themselves in AA, but the average to below average AA position player would be one of the top players on the best college teams, and the sheer pitching depth of an AA team would overwhelm college teams.
That's interesting. I would not have expected college (even the mighty SEC) to have a higher level of competition than AA and AAA professional baseball.
Apparently.
Why would we start being fair now?
He is something, isn’t he?
This is Texas Tech's fourth visit to the CWS in six years. They were there last year.
Arkansas finishes the destruction of Ole Miss 14-1 and are the last to get their ticket punched to Omaha.
The College World Series field is set. Here are the first game match-ups:
Michigan vs Texas Tech
Vanderbilt vs Louisville
Arkansas vs Florida State
Auburn vs Mississippi State
Congratulations to the super regional victors. Next weekend in Omaha.
Florida State sweeps LSU in Baton Rouge. The Seminoles win 5-4 in 12 innings. Big upset.
Earlier, Vanderbilt ended Duke's delusions of grandeur 13-2 and are headed to Omaha.
I hope Alvarez can deal with the expectations. It's going to look like, and I'm sure he's going to fee like, it's on his shoulders to turn this offense around. I think it would have been much better if he had come up when he was surrounded by the regular lineup and just had to fit in, but we are where we are.
Anyone who matters understands its always 100% the player's call. He probably doesn't lose any sleep over what the talk radio crowd thinks.
Current episode is out and it is very good. Love hearing Brent Strom talk pitching with McHugh. Hot take - the Vietnam war was an important part of making Nolan Ryan the pitcher he was due to Ryan having to do Guard duty and limiting his pitch count during his 18-20 yr old years when he was wild and still growing.
When I first saw the first and third play on which the fourth run scored, my first thought was “WTF is the SS doing?” Why did he throw home instead of turning two to end the inning?” TK said this on his pbp. Perhaps some or many of you thought the same thing. But after watching the replay several times, I changed my mind, and Stanton voiced my current opinion in the postgame show.
The catcher was the one at fault. With a runner at third and one out, he cannot assume a double play attempt and leave the plate uncovered. Think Bregman and McCann in Game Seven against NYY. The Seattle SS had to charge the ball slightly to his right and was moving diagonally away from second base. Right or wrong, he made the judgment he did not have time to stop, plant, turn, and get the DP to end the inning and to keep the run from scoring. Like Bregman in the ALCS, he threw home to cut off the run which he thought would score if he tried for a DP. The catcher had no business vacating to plate in that situation, and the runner coming from third would have been out. The SS looked foolish throwing to an uncovered base, but the error in judgment was the catcher’s.
No worries. Hyperbole is no stranger to OWA.
What does Detroit have to do with anything re: the Astros?
I mainly watched AA over the last decade and only seen a few AAA games during that time. From that small sample size, I agree that a lot of AAA players just appear to be going through the motions. However, I've concluded that you can't take much away from that. I saw Fisher just last week loaf out a ball hit to second, and it was difficult to watch but he's hustling in the big leagues now.
AA is a better product IMO as the games have more intensity.
I was listening to the Auburn Vandy game in the SEC tourney and the Auburn play by play guy (may he rest in peace) was already talking about who Auburn would face in the losers bracket in the 2nd inning! Everyone knew who was going to win that game.
Going simply with A&M or LSU hurts the resale value.
Conference fandom is one of the strangest things about college sports. You'll see plenty of trucks sporting around with an "SEC" sticker but I simply can't bring myself to root for the AL West on pure principle.
Based on what I saw during the SEC tourney. Someone is going to have to be really really good to beat Vandy.
Little known fact, Alvarez suffers from Gerontophobia.He shoots; he scores!!!
Michael Feliz (sent as part of Cole trade) started for the Pirates tonight against the Dodgers. Only recorded one out, left losing 5-0 after giving up a run scoring double and a grand slam in the 1st.
There aretoo manynot enoughSEC teams for my taste and I'm not happy about Texas Tech and Oklahoma State being paired in the same super-regional assuring only one can possibly get into the College World Series. Nevertheless, it is a great field and promises to be some of the most entertaining baseball to be seen all year.
Totally worth it.
Watched it last night because of this thread. I don’t know what it was like to experience it in 1969, but I imagine this is as close as I’ll ever get. What an amazing tribute to everyone who worked in the space program.
This is a good thread, I love learning about pitching from you guys. Stuff I never noticed before, I now look for because of info passed along from Jim, HH, Doyce, and a few others. Even Mr Happy.
If it helps, I'm fairly certain they misspelled Front Page
I don't mind him betting on himself in 16 but just because you turn down 90 3 years ago doesn't mean you can get 90 now
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He should have accepted the 5 yr/$90 million deal back in 2016.
They absolutely should. And I think the approach that the Astros took with Bregman is a good example of what the model should be. Compensate the prime years. The model of over-paying for what a player has already accomplished doesn't make any sense.
Now I can’t recall our nicknames for Redding though.
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Seconding the Brocail memory.
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My argument would be, "What's the rush?"
White, Kemp, Diaz & Guerriel have all struggled to this point in the season, but a month is all we have played. No reason to think any of them can't turn it around.
I realize Kemp & Diaz are more valuable because of their ability to play multiple positions but White posted a line of: .276/.354/.533 in 66 games (210 ABs) last season. It is only one game, but we are leading the division, and done so even though it has been against a fairly tough schedule (as others have posted). So I'm thinking there is no reason to change anything, yet. Let Alvarez get more PT in the OF and let White get a few more ABs to turn things around. If he's still shitting the bed in 3 or 4 weeks then I'll agree with you.
One of the things I love about the Astros organization is they tend to play the long game with players. Sometimes you'll get burned doing this but overall I think it pays dividends as players know they will be backed (to a certain point) and are given fair shots to succeed or fail.
Got an email this weekend from the Astros about this event:
https://www.mlb.com/astros/community/foundation/events?partnerId=ed-13663792-1137558143
After the Osuna controversy last year, glad to see the Astros following through on their commitment to raise awareness/support concerning domestic violence.
Kaplan article on Brantley:
https://theathletic.com/930457/2019/04/19/uncle-mike-why-michael-brantleys-value-to-the-astros-extends-well-beyond-his-bat/
Confirms what my impression of him has been thus far: even keel, professional.
People would value that text more if they knew how long it took to chisel.
I think they seek out players who are open to the information, too.
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That's the only thing he should have said.
I am going to be doing color with Capps for a game or two each month this season. I am so looking forward to talking about some guys I know a little about. Lots of talent in RR in April.
If the offense doesn't kick into gear soon, at what point does Curly show up?
I wish I understood the law better. The Obama administration was negotiating for something illegal? There has to be many more nuances to this than just what the article has.
Well apart from the 199 criminal counts, 37 different people and entities charged, 7 guilty pleas, 1 trial conviction, 5 jail sentences and near $30 million received in forfeiture...what has Mueller ever done for us?But he didn’t get the target, which was a duly elected president. You libs know that you’re upset that Mueller didn’t find anything concerning collusion with the Russians. The other convictions were just about meaningless.
Your league doesn't have a mechanism to keep people from drafting non-affiliated players?
Thanks, folks. So nice.
Big game winning hit by him yesterday after a rough spring training. I wish him the best. I really like that Twins team.
They really should sign Keuchel.
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I know I do this every year. Any meeting plans for Saturday?
TZ rite of passage.
There was, and there were a couple of other cards that were passed out at an Opening Day lunch at Spanish Flowers a few years back. I have no remembrance of the recipient or if they moved on from there.
Ask him. If he says yes, then you know it's not Neil.
This place is interesting. As an out of towner I was thrilled to find a really smart Astros baseball community.
Until I had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with good ole Jim R - the proverbial internet tough guy.
JR decides who has the right to speak her. He demands credentials. He needs posts to be appropriately worded.
He doesn't need anyone else to contribute. He is MR CONTRIBUTOR.
I had this crazy ass notion that being the fan of the same team made it OK for 'outsiders' to post here.
But no, good ole JR just wants to play a colossal game of dick out deciding who gets to talk Astros baseball and who doesn't.
So when I mention at 10pm at night that I saw Verlander was in final stages of contract negotiation, and I look at the headlines and don't see it
mentioned, I figured what the hell, no one could possibly find fault with me sharing that insight.
Wrong.
Good ole JR decided that he had to attack even that innocuous post. Personally.
You guys have a helluva website. And I know you are a tight knit community, so leaving this here isn't going to make any friends.
But it truly sucks that one tired, bitter old man can spew his shit with immunity.
Good Ole JR, kiss my internet loving As-tros. goodnight.
This, this, this. Does anyone doubt they have a plan? Crane said at the outset of ST they wanted to extend both pitchers, and I’ll bet they try. Handwringing posts about money and luxury tax saying what the Astros will or won’t do are a waste of time to type and an even bigger waste of time to read. It is Crane’s money, and he has had a taste of winning big and likes it. We fans owe him a million thanks.
Cincy gets another shot against the Coogs tomorrow in the AAC tourney championship game. It will be a real slobber-knocker. Always hear about how it's tough to beat a team three times in a season. I love watching the Cougars play but I hate watching them shoot free throws.
Waldo did the legwork and history says this is normal for McHugh so I’ve backed away from the edge a little bit.
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I know half the people on this board will say don’t worry that it is just spring training. Well I’m sorry, if you are not concerned about McHugh at this point you need to be. It looks like he needs to be back in the bullpen and Peacock in the rotation.
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I do blame Bregman. His ego is and will be a continuing potential problem. Second highest to Correa is good. Wait your fucking turn, and STFU.Agreed. Gotta call out my LSU boy here, especially a former No. 8. You knew the ropes and the rules when you got in. If you want to use your stardom to act for the younger players, do it. But in the meantime, play ball and STFU.
This one was pretty good from 12 years ago...
He's on tape as much as admitting that he's done multiple deals for players. He has to be a goner if the administration has any integrity.
I just wonder how many coaches have done the same thing but were smart enough not to discuss it on a telephone.
You sir are amazing. So impressed with the detail of your research and your ability to find things that most folks would never even think to look for. Glad you are on our side.
Only resurrecting the thread, not Rusty himself.
The error that allowed those runs to score was by the usually reliable Roger Metzger.
Unconnected to the above but the NY Times article about Metzger's later encounter with a table saw.
And what would Carlos May's career have looked like if he hadn't lost his right thumb in a training accident while in the Marine Reserves in Aug. 1969? Even thumb-less, it wasn't shabby.
Was Carlos the only MLB player to ever where his birthday on his uni? "May 19"
Yes, I'm sure you knew Carlos was Lee May's brother.
Touched on in the thread but had Wilson gotten that 3rd no-no he would have joined Ryan, Koufax, Feller, Cy Young and Larry Corcoran as the only members of an exclusive clique with more than 2 no-hitters.
And finally why I sought this thread out in the first place was to post a link to this: Don Wilson's life and death, his career, how Clay Kirby was probably sympathizing with Wilson during the near no-hitter and why the Claude Osteen acquisition stunk for several reasons.
And it's a damn good article and I don't really give a flying fuck if someone might've previously linked to it in the past 8 years.
Why yes, I am having one of those stream of consciousness type mornings. How's yours?
Heads among the haters must have absolutely exploded today.
Has the statue of limitations on this thread expired?
Stroman should still be available. I don’t know how low Keuchel’s price would have to drop for Luhnow to give up that draft pick, but I bet it’s “pretty damn low.”
I am hoping for a little 1980 revenge in the WS. Really still pissed off with the Phillies 5 run 8th inning in game 5.
Might have even cried... Hunt for Dead Red October (2 pings Vasilli, 2 pings)
No kidding. Foul balls are not a problem, they are one of the compelling features of the game. A 10+ pitch at bat is entertainment gold to me. The pitcher with a “oh, got away with a mistake there” look or the hitter digging in and thinking “I just missed that, throw one more of those and I’m going to crush it”. High drama and quintessential baseball.
Even the years they won, they didn't really put together a great team. Just great manager + 2 great players and a bunch of cogs
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I always kind of thought he was the best manager out there over the last 10 years. Who's better Francona? Maddon?
That implies that he has character to assassinate. Lighten up, Tyler.
I am staring to think winning these hearings is less important to Luhnow than following his plan. Part of the plan is determining what the players are worth budgetwise and offering only that amount. The club will consider a reasonable compromise to a number within the plan and go to a hearing if the player is not interested in the compromise number. The club puts on its best case in a businesslike professional manner without getting personal or denigrating the player’s efforts or contributions to the organization, and if the arbitrator rules for the player, so be it. Luhnow stuck to the plan without emotion or rancor, and the club did not piss off the player. Going to a hearing is merely a business decision based on an impersonal evaluation of monetary value, and win or lose, the decision is not a personal attack on the player or his accomplishments and contributions to the team and its season.
All of this stuff exists only in my head, of course, but I starting thinking this might be Luhnow’s approach when Correa complimented management on its professionalism after his hearing.
What are the chances Harper and/or Machado don't play this year?
$175-200mm+ over 6-7 years for Dallas is holyfuckingshit-I’m-on-meth-and-carrying-an-alligator-into-a-convenience-store-in-Florida-to-buy-beer level of crazy.
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Old Man jokes never get old, do they?
a look back at Astros 2006 Top Prospects. https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2019/2/8/18216193/where-are-they-now-astros-top-prospects-from-2006
Baseball is a humbling game.
Just leave the fucking game alone. Let the players play.
Let's pretend Devo comes into a game with the Astros up 6 - 1 in the top of the 8th to relieve Peacock who has just loaded the bases with no outs. Devo throws three balls and then gives up a grand slam to make the score 6-5. Next batter hits a rope to LF for a single. Then Hinch says to no one in particular, "Damn, Osuna hasn't pitched in three days and is ready to go. Too bad Devo has to face another batter before I can make a change."
That is not the kind of magerial handcuffing I want to see.
I took a crack at it this morning to see if there was an obvious answer. Didn’t find anyone who jumped out, but another data point or two could probably solve the mystery. Baseball Reference has some really good search tools. You can even search for players who died in a given state, if you happen to have a hunch that the guy lived out his days in East Texas.
Hap, if you know the teams he played for and roughly the years (and he was telling the truth), it wouldn't take but a small amount of detective work to figure out who it was.
I can go either way on the DH, but I really dislike the three batter minimum. I got no problem with mound visits being limited to 3 per game. I like baseball game management and strategy but that is hurt by the inconsistency of one league having a DH and the other not, and it would be hurt by imposing batters faced minimums.
If saving time is a priority then they do need a 18 to 20 second pitch clock and a rule to keep batters in the box.
Dizzy was probably remembered more for his voice than his baseball talent. What a personality-just a good ole country boy who played that shtick to perfection.
I know I’m probably in the minority, but I’ve grown to love the DH. I never want to see another pitcher hit.
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This is my source for most of my Astros news. Why no discussion here on the recent developments with Devenski and Correa on their contracts?
Cancelling Hulu Live today and signing up for fubo.
Twelve dollars here, Twelve dollars there. After a while it starts to add up to almost real money.
It really is that good, huh? I guess I'll have to try it. I'm more frugal than you though, so If I do a free 7-day trail and then cancel at the end of the trial before the $3.99 a month charge incurs. will they come back with the $2.99 a month offer?
With the retirement of legendary coach Mike Gillespie, Orloff has moved up and is now the HC for UC Irvine.
This is why I pay for the Athletic. Best writing in sports. ($)
So, apparently, there may be tickets for Opening Day after all.
Would you all still be interested? I do not have the pricing yet.
Don't read Rotowire or cbssports.com. Read me. You'll get your news two months sooner...
Well, here is mine. I was always a pretty good hitter. Started as a freshman in high school and played every game into my senior year. I had NO power however. I was a line drive hitter and almost never struck out. I struck out only once my senior year in 20 plus games. Remember, I said I had NO power. I had never hit a home run in any league at any age in my life...EVER. Well, senior year of high school 3 games left in the season. I got a hanging curveball and hit my first home run over the left centerfield fence. I still remember to this day how the ball felt coming off the bat. After hitting the only home run of my life, my next at bat was also memorable. Ground ball down the line at third pulled the third baseman into foul territory as he threw to first. The throw was up the line and I collided with the first baseman. I went over him into the air and came down on my left shoulder breaking my collarbone. I knew it instantly as it sounded like a shotgun blast when it broke. Almost came thru the skin. It basically ended my playing days as I fell in love after that and stayed home rather than taking a shot at college ball. I do wonder what could have been but I married her and have two wonderful children, one of whom just got a full ride to Mercer University. We’ve been married now for 27 years so it all worked out!!
Go Astros!!
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Fuck. Sorry!
Do I really have to remind most of you to pay me???Sorry about that. Just took care of it. Come on, folks, let's make BudGirl whole.
I just found one of my score books from scoring my son's games. One was his first varsity start from his freshman year. My wife scored since I was at a conference. My son took the book from me, pointed to a double in the first and said, "That was my first curve ball in my career. It didn't break." He handed the book back to me with a smile.
He had been taught the curve ball in the bullpen warming up for the game. Fun memories.
My daughter has recently expressed interest in joining a fantasy baseball league...I told her I would help her find one and also help her with the process in her first season. If anyone knows of a league that has a spot to fill please shoot me a PM. Thanks. I sure hope I can find one. Just another way her and I can share the great game of baseball. Hopefully it's ok for me to post this here. If it needs to be moved to another forum just let me know and I'll nuke it myself and move over as needed.
Thanks.
I love old programs. I have a program or scorecard from every MLB game I've attended since I was 10, and it's fun to go back through them for the various memories they bring up (like those you mentioned).
My father passed away when I was really young, so finding some of his old scorecards years later -- he grew up in Chicago, so they were from Comiskey and Wrigley in the '60s -- was really cool. To see the names of the players he saw in person, and to picture him there... it's hard to put words to the feelings it brought up.
Now that you all have confirmed.
Tickets are going to be $44 each. Please send payment through Paypal to Leslie Pruski ([email protected]). Make payment as a GIFT, otherwise you will then owe me for the service fee.
I will let you know the seats as son as Mariza tells me.
Please do this timely or next year someone else can organize it.
In a few years, you'll have to wake up 2-3 times just to pee.
Is this just so they can sell tickets to the Berkman & Oswalt induction days?
Thanks. You are awesome. Seriously.
Damn. I was hoping LaGenius' cap would be turned to the side JimR watermelon hat style.
There is a block of tickets for Saturday's 2nd home game. The cost is $44 for Terrance Level.
Please confirm your interest.
Good points Doyce across the board.
The only pieces I might add would be that our lineup could afford BH some more protection than I think the Nationals were able to provide. I would expect his numbers to increase given no big injuries. Could be off here, but I think he could really be dangerous in the juice box. We have not had that kind of power since Beltran's wonderful year in the playoffs.
Also, I wonder if FA's see Houston as a place to (re)learn, improve their craft --- Brett Strom and his staff are top drawer and could offer BH some input in how pitchers attack him --- a lot of places can do this, but Astros analytics seem to make players better (i.e. Pressley, Cole, McCann when not injured, and Reddick has improved in some weird areas.)
Lastly, in terms of WAR - you are correct, but I would hope with a lineup including Harper that everyone contributes and any one players' WAR would be around the same --- considering MVP's out the wazoo on our team. In short, my thesis here is that Harper's individual contribution would be a nice part of the greater whole but not reliant upon him and his WAR...
Thanks for the conversation. I am not sure about CC or Springer, and I think Cole will be resigned with Verlander money when the dude puts up the spikes. But there are people here like yourself who know much more about this than I.
Noe & Nate, might have some insights to this as well.
Machado is not a fit on this team and I seriously doubt the Astros have done any pursuing of him.
The article is very good.
In a sea awash with them, a subscription to The Athletic is the only "print" media subscription I own. And, I don't regret it one bit.
I always liked Brocail as pitcher and coach.
(For those who don't follow college football or read the B&Q thread)
Yes, he now has 2 rings. And the ex-punter is the proud papa of a punter. No, Will is not a 2-sport athlete like the old man. But nephew Carson does play on the Clemson baseball squad and as a soph reliever last year allowed just 22 hits in 48 IP. Three generations of Spiers have played baseball at the school.
I hope the Astros stay way away from him. His immaturity at his age should be very concerning. It won’t end well on the current trajectory.
Another write up/perspective on Adolph, for whatever it's worth:
https://www.amazinavenue.com/2018/10/24/18003606/2018-best-prospects-cf-ross-adolph-brooklyn-cyclones
All I get with that link are a bunch of popups. Care to elaborate?
It's kind of like conservatives blame Obama for "worsening race relations in the country." It's an assertion that not only has no basis in fact but is directly refuted by actual history, but it gets repeated enough they convince themselves it's true.
Hey Hap, after the Bevo-Uga showdown, y’all gonna bring Mike to Austin?
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I think you are going to enjoy Neil Brown in WV. Solid coach and appears to be a solid man, too. I live near Troy and no rumblings of any trouble down here.
All that stuff you said about hordes being infiltrated by gangs and Muslim extremists is completely false. Think about it: why would they? To think otherwise is to believe that someone from ISIS is going to go to Honduras - obviously after having learned Spanish with a pitch-perfect Honduran accent - to join a caravan, slowly to walk thousands of miles under the gaze of the world media apparatus, to get to the US. All of this instead of buying a plane ticket. The alternative to believing all of that inconceivable nonsense is to believe that brown people are universally interchangeable.
In the meantime, the people actually in the caravan are asylum-seekers risking life and limb to make a better life for themselves and their families. US law allows them to cross the border and - as long as they present themselves to US authorities at the earliest opportunity - their crossing of the border is entirely legal.
As for the free stuff comment, you should know better. Immigrants - like myself - drive the economy. We buy goods and services that drive demand. We supply labor. What we don’t get is free stuff. You are completely ignorant - willfully or otherwise - of what you speak. Maybe that’s why you love Trump so much.
You do understand that your “border security” issue is bogus, correct? People crossing the border illegally has been dropping for decades. The government is closed and the media can’t talk about anything else, but it’s a made up issue.
What good things do you think he has done?
Why? This is the thing that confuses me. The guy is clearly out of his element, and completely lacking in any sort of ability to assess a situation. Is the desire to keep Republican control of power so extreme that you're willing to support an obvious moron?
I’d love to hear from anyone who use to trumpet that Obama was the most divisive president ever, but that now supports the fucking moron in office.
In the Rose Garden, Trump is lying his considerable ass off about things as diverse as the whereabouts of Mitch McConnell - "he's running the Senate", says Trump, when the Senate had long adjourned for the weekend - to declaring a national emergency and using the "military version of eminent domain" to get the wall built.
Does he really think he can send the army down to the Texas border to seize private land and hold it while he builds the wall? Isn't this what militia folks think the 2nd Amendment is there to prevent? Are conservatives going to have to eat a Texas-sized shit sandwich about eminent domain? Seriously what the fucking fuck?
On the other hand, if HH said why don't we all go to Tampa for opening day? I might consider it. I'm a bit annoyed with the Astros.
Honest question - to which members are you referring? Because in looking at the list of countries represented on the committee, there are only 2-3 that really jump off the page for me. One of them is Israel, a perennial darling of the Republican party. But maybe I'm not completely up on current events.
There's a difference between the committee, which is the 18 independent experts you linked to and the human rights council, which is comprised of 47 member states serving staggered three year terms. Currently the council includes stalwarts as Somalia, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan, UAE, China, etc... The council has been criticized for condemning Israel more than the rest of the world combined. My guess is Happy is conflating the two.
If you can't lead by example, you can't lead.
In making America great again news, we are no longer responding to the UN when they ask us questions about potential human rights violations.
#Leadership
A quick google search told me that Justin Amash was also booed. This entire thread needs some serious fact-checking.
What's in it?
He did a good job of making OSU and WVU fun to watch (please hire a good DC though), UH needs some local buzz and people in the stands if they want a chance to get picked up by a real conference. Sampson is doing his part so far.
Winning the league without your top pick playing a single snap. That's pretty impressive
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Noe, I’m docking you 100 internet points for repeated use of “ask” as a noun.
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If you all want me to go with a Saturday, I need at least 20 confirmed yeses before I contact Mariza again.
Sphinx
Happy
DVauthrin
doyce7
And.....
I'm good with Saturday, if it comes to it.
What’s the general consensus around here re: who is more desirable? Kluber or Bauer?
I do also.
I found the country's reaction to his passing comforting.
He was recognized for being a good person who also happened to serve his country well most of his adult life.
Don't feel bad he beat me too. It's been a questionable strategy but not entirely without success, Robo-Zipp could end up at .500.
Ssssssssssswing and a misssssssssssss
Nate, others have said this many times, but your contribution to this site is immense.
to all you turkeys and non turkeys. wow been doing this many a year
be safe happy and full
The amount of ignorance you present as fact makes it hard to draw any distinction between you and Mr. Happy.
So Vauthrin, with a commanding lead, gets beat in successive weeks by me, who sucks, and then by Zipp, who's not even fucking playing, and I'm not sure which is worse.
And then duman turns in a perfectly respectable game leaving nothing of value on the bench only to lose by a fingernail.
And austro, man, I don't know, but I feel for you. I bet there are three or four teams this week with one player that eclipsed your entire team.
Fantasy football is a cruel mistress.
So did I. One of the very few Rangers that I liked. He was a combination between Schmidt and Boggs.
You can take the guy out of LSU but you can't take the LSU out of the guy.
Catching is hard. It's a quick path for advancement if you're good at it, but its a rough position. And it's not as glamorous as P/SS.
Daniella quickly tired of his snoring.
But was your server wearing a Yankees' cap?
The correct expression is "you don't have to shovel sunshine"...but you're becoming a true Southerner. We're proud of you.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/san-francisco-giants-fans-ruthlessly-154353822.html
LA = Lost Again!
Most college coaches do. None in the Major Leagues do.
College coaches are judge, jury, and executioner. Professional coaches have a boss to answer to.
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College basketball had started going downhill before that rule
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They are, yes. But professional coaches have less power over their players than a college coach
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That's not why college basketball is so terrible.
College coaches of all sports are control freaks who dont trust their players. It's why college basketball is so goddamn terrible these days. Just because a pitcher is told "this is what your throwing" doesnt mean he isn't thinking. At the professional level, coaches have input but you are not going to let them take that control away from you. You know what pitch you're feeling good about and the catcher knows what pitch is working. Professional coaches understand this.
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College level is not the majors.
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0%
What percentage of pitches are called from the dugout?
Snuff, you might want to take a look at these OWA threads from the past few years. Lotsa good info on TJS and how it's developing:
New Tommy John Procedure?
http://www.orangewhoopass.com/forums/index.php?topic=120153.msg616376#msg616376
Facts about Tommy John surgery
http://www.orangewhoopass.com/forums/index.php?topic=120065.msg612731#msg612731
Reducing Tommy John surgeries
http://www.orangewhoopass.com/forums/index.php?topic=116895.msg496853#msg496853
I'll bet the Urban Meyer press conference afterward was fun.
At the time, bringing in Miller was the absolute right move. They turned Marwin around to his weaker side, and he had almo no previous success against Miller-6Ks in 8 ABs. Hindsight never loses.
In the past, I used to worry about players leaving for a team where they would have a better shot at a championship. But now the Astros are that team. I think that's a significant factor in their favor.
Starting to think that a quick end to the NLDS would be a good thing, so that the Brewers aren't facing a tired team to start the NLCS. Basically, I want as many teams as possible left in the playoffs - save the Astros - to have the hardest time.
Gee. I hope all of you guys can still be friends.
Let me guess, Happy and all his fake DM/inbox crowd are all huge “personal responsibility” and limited government phonies
Nothing fake about a couple of supporters, neither of whom said much about their politics.
First of all, my only knowledge of you comes from what you have posted on this site over the last two decades. One fact is entirely clear based on that history: you are a loser. And, I honestly only mean that as a statement of fact and not in a pejorative way. You played college baseball and had enough intelligence, luck, connections, strong work ethic--or some combination of the four--to be accepted to Georgetown Law School. Those facts alone indicate that your life was off to an auspicious start. Your addiction and other personal issues derailed you. You were a negligent father and a shitty husband. You now seem to be relatively economically disenfranchised, a key symptom of many of those who support Trump, and something that our leadership and government needs to address for all demographics that are struggling to pay bills as the wealth gap continues to widen. And I applaud you for overcoming your struggle with addiction. However, rather than to use your struggles as a lens to view the world through, making you a more empathetic person, you have chosen to be bitter and angry, to revel in "owning libs," which I swear will never do anything to improve your own personal economic or social circumstances, and to be divisive on this board and, I'm sure, in your community.
The truth is, if you weren't white, you would be dead or in jail. The time you were standing on your wife or ex-wife's front yard with a baseball bat when the police showed up while she and your kids cowered inside? That doesn't end well for people who weren't born with the inherent privileges you were. It's ironic that I've read indirectly racist comments from you about young black men who lost their lives during encounters with police. Sure, maybe they were selling a loosie or standing on a corner, but how could you become so callous and out of touch given what you went through and all the second chances that you've had?
Anyways, I'm not here to try to win some message board chat; honestly, your posts in this thread only make me feel sad for you... and I'm not part of the "echo chamber" you think that you're enlightening with your right wing takes. And, I'm sorry that your addiction and personal demons derailed your life and career. My only point is that nothing Trump has ever done or will ever purport to do (or lie about doing) is ever going to make your life better. You aren't winning. You already lost many years ago, and I hope that you'll take that knowledge and use it to make your personal life as fulfilling and happy as it can be and to try to live with some empathy and compassion for others who are also struggling in varying and complicated ways that we can never truly understand as outsiders.
Also, the juxtaposition of "all times have always been a southern gentlemen, particularly with women" and an overtly ugly misogynist comment like "PMSNBC" only really highlights the disconnect between who you THINK you are and who YOU REALLY ARE. Embrace the reality of it, stop projecting blame onto a society and economy that has largely left you behind, and try to be a better person during your remaining days.
I am sad to say that you are extending him a line of credit for which he does not qualify. He attended law school at LSU. At some point thereafter he found his way to Georgetown where he received some sort of estate planning certificate.
Enough to get disbarred. In Louisiana.
How many woman did you assault when you were high?
Congrats on being a racist rapist enabler. The women in your life must be so proud.
I'm curious: leaving aside the fact that you love that the pick pisses us off, do you genuinely believe that Kavanaugh is fit to sit on the Supreme Court?
Welp. This thread escalated quickly. So Happy who rails on Hillary, is a disbarred drunk with a history of sexual assault?
Are you upset your Indians lost today? Tough shit.
My point is that I bet Manchin and Collins worked it together, to split the heat, because ache could point to the other to say their choice is irrelevant (Pence would split the tie).
Which bathroom do you go to afterward?
Dodgers and Rockies both leading 2-0. Cubs down 1-0. Brewers up 2-0.
Interesting. I would have thought Luhnow had final say on the roster. Nevertheless, I agree it's a purely academic discussion.
The above paragraph deserves additional commendation to the reader.
Also, I enjoy being lectured on the evils of the UN by a fuckwit who does not own a passport.
Delegates at the UN General Assembly - i.e. other world leaders - laughed out loud at Trump today.
That is all.
I'm sure his teammates appreciate how much he's been grinding to try to help this thing along. The discomfort is largely personal, the failure is very public and he's kept his composure admirably.
No need to be cute.
He's a fucking Nazi.
I read a blog post he linked to from his Facebook account where he basically said the same thing. I don't think he is kidding.
I wish there were people on this site who weren’t too chickenshit to defend QAnon and trump. Seems as if they have all slithered to their corner and refuse to talk about it.
Man, sorry about the computer. That sucks.
You should get a 75 day suspension from posting for this type of unnecessary, hostile bullshit JimR.
It's simultaneously amazing and unsurprising that Tucker would be abusing AAA and totally lost in the majors. It just goes to show yet again what a huge jump it is.
Wow. Dude is 23 and isn't the best player in baseball. Yeah let's trade him. Come on man.
Yeah Carlos is not playing great right now but lets not forget that he was a top 5 player in baseball before his injury last season and was good after coming back. His defense has improved and while he'll never be a great defensive player, he doesnt hurt you there.
Just because he isn't Lindor, doesnt mean you trade a Carlos Correa. And if you actually look at the career numbers to this point, the two are very similar.
Lindor has a career slash line of
.293/.354/.491/.845
Correa's career slash line is
.281/.360/.488/.848
On offense, it's a wash.
"James harden isn't the best player in the league and we could get a haul for him so we should trade him"
You dont trade a guy for being really really good but not the best in the league. That's fucking stupid.
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That may be. But Correa is still not hitting, be it because of back problems, knee problems, or because Jobu is on vacation. Results matter.
That was a heart-breaking loss. I am convinced they would have been World Champs with a healthy J.R. Richard.
Who is going to pinch hit for them, when there's no bench because they have 3 catchers?
I think that McCann is the odd man out. He's maybe the worst defensively of the three. And Stassi is the best hitter.
Nice of you to be thinking of my dad like that.
No. I wonder if he knows something about Correa and Altuve that we don't that leads him to believe that this year just isn't meant to be, and he'd be better off staying out of the feeding frenzy.
I don’t think many people would have predicted a Dozier-Machado keystone for the Dodgers before the season.They can print money.
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I was going to respond to this but just asked myself why. The moral high ground is too steep for me to climb. I know what redemption is and believe in second chances. Those who are remorseful and contrite and who sincerely seek forgiveness and an opportunity will earn their second chance every day of their lives.
I am trying hard not to comment on the smug moral superiority and rush to judgment I see. He apparently did a bad thing and has been punished. None of us knows what happened. He, like my daughter, deserves a chance to atone and to be forgiven. He, like my daughter, deserves the opportunity to become the kind of person he should be. Perhaps the Houston Astros will help him in his endeavor. If he, like my daughter, has not truly changed, he will lose his job and be punished again.
I, for one, am going to wait, watch, and hope his remorse and contrition are real. I will hope fervently his changes, like my daughter’s, are permanent. If they are, he has my unqualified support.
My attitude no doubt is greatly influenced by personal experience. If you ever live through a similar experience, God forbid, perhaps you will better understand.
Color me unimpressed. I’ll certainly take my chances facing Lynn and Happ.I agree. The Yankees seem to have an endless supply of prospects these days.
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I have a daughter who went to prison, then turned her life around. I am not as inflexible about atonement and redemption as some of you who have claimed the moral high ground. I trust this organization to do the right thing.
Here's my unprofessional scouting report.
Perez started. Lots of swings and misses off his Curve. Consistent 95
First hit in the 5th. Three straight for two runs.
Hooks not patient at the plate. 57 pitches through 5 innings. Definitely made for a fast game.
Adcock pitched other 4. Nothing seemed special but he did a great job of going scoreless.
Quintana got hit by a pitch of adcock's. Not sure where but it seemed like it hurt bad. Stayed in the game.
Wrenn. Runs hard and takes chances. Makes the defense make plays -thankfully was safe on his double.
Midland had a player named Skye bolt. Just thought it was an interesting name.
Bracewell pitched for the hounds. Did a good job. Seemed to be in the zone all night though.
3 scouts. One in a Toronto shirt. Just an observation. I don't know if they were watching anyone in particular.
You know the old saw about good teams being strong up the middle? Well, our C, SS, and 2B are all on the DL. Springer should be afraid. Very afraid.
These are the times that try fans’ souls. Do not bail on this team.
Or, the guy has a serious injury and can barely fucking run. But hey, whatever fits your narrative.
Speculation from the Yankees training staff is that he'll be on the DL until late August/early September.
James looks to be a STUD! I would rate him directly below Whitley at the moment and would not give him up for a rental. Striking out 10+ per game is amazing - although his best spot may end up being in the bullpen
All four of those guys could represent a better package than the O’s got for Machado.
I trust Luhnow to make the right call. Personally, I’m not that excited about Britton, but I’ll be enthused to add a lefty arm to the bullpen that has the imprimatur of the Astros front office if the FO decides to pull the trigger on him.
My guess is that the Astros will not overpay for ZB and will make a move for an arm that hasn’t been widely rumored.
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My point was I'm not in love with any of the players in my list. In Luhnow I trust.
Yeah, I don't get the Britton love. Two years ago, sure, give up a lot. Now, not so much.
Thanks, Nate.
Col. Perez outranks Gen. Admission.
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Why would it concern you?
So, not "No", then.
I don't know anything about his law license but I do know that a couple of years back the controlling authorities went ahead and granted him a lifetime exemption from having to file the annual papers on his dumbass license. I think they waived the fees, too.
I’m honestly less interested in whether Happy can practice law than I am if he is a birther. Mr Happy do you think Seth Rich was murdered by the DNC? Is Obama not a US citizen? Did the President order JADE HELM. Is Alex Jones really Bill Hicks?
These are the real issues.
There's a lot of parsing here. I have a license to practice insurance, so I can call myself an insurance agent. If I don't keep up my license, I can't represent anyone until I get it back. I can spin not having a license however the fuck I want but, if I try to represent an insured in a transaction as an agent, I'm breaking the law.
You say, amid a blizzard of technobabble, that you do not have an active license to practice law. If you tried to represent someone as a lawyer, you would be breaking the law too.
I used to have a pilot's license; want to jump in a plane with me tomorrow? I can call myself a pilot if it makes you feel safer.
Still sounds like a former attorney. Right now, you cannot practice law - as I understand it - since you are not currently licensed in any state. I know a lot of people with law degrees that do not practice law. But a lot of people can be former whatever.
Former attorney.
Can one of you republican/Trumpkins explain why this investigation needs to WRAP THE HELL UP, like Trey Gowdy is demanding?
And people who have no problems with locking babies in cages will have no problem with pushing an old lady down the stairs.
I haven't followed or seen the FTC since their WS win, but it seems like just yesterday, they were going to be a dynasty. I read where some of their pitching acquisitions weren't stellar, but which of the young bats haven't panned out? I thought they were supposed to mash well into the future.
He slings the ball, but it gets up there in a hurry. 38 IP, 75 Ks.
Saw the Cubs get shut out two days in a row! FTC.
Fuck Bud Selig.
Pirates all the way.
I don't think we're really giving Ohtani enough credit. This hasn't been done in 100 years.
Look at this one! Ohtani's FB and split. Same exact release point and trajectory for the first 50% of the path to the box then, BLAMMO, the bottom falls out. The batter swings over it by like a foot. So very cool to look at.
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/998912541903306753
<<edited to add, look at the 2nd .gif in the link; it is slo-mo and zoomed in>> Incredible.
Liriano flirted with a no-hitter recently.
That is good stuff. If you are not following Pitching Ninja on twitter, do it today. He post great gifs of pitchers. He did this overlay of McCullers change & curve last night.
This post surprised me, as I didn't think he played on the team last year, but you are absolutely correct: played in one game in right, but no ABs.
Will go to AAA.
ride off in the sunset and never be heard from again?
Don’t know what that means, but he will be 38 in June. He may simply be at the end of the road. He stays in fantastic shape, but no one beats Father Time.
Belisle DFA.
I think there's a lot of great info in the article, although I disagree with the implication that the goal is to hit like Joey fucking Gallo. I can't think of a situation where I'd not rather have, say, Alex Bregman at the plate instead of Gallo. \
The article also made me wonder, given how many balls now are being hit to the outfield rather than on the ground (and I think it will keep going up), if the Astros might focus even more on outfielders with superior defense.
I hope Hinch gets Davis some ABs.I think that he’s got 10-15 games to show something.
One of many by Spec. All the GMs must have seen him coming from a mile away.Spec was a moron. Had we had Cuellar, we might have been much better in the early 1970’s.
He became an Astro from Day One. I love that.He absolutely did. In my opinion, he’s more of an Astro right now than Keuchel.
More from Verlander:I love that attitude. He’s a fucking gamer!
The last few years I've done a much better job of taking off [my blinders] and seeing what other guys are doing, watching their routines and seeing any way that maybe I could help guys out. So that's a lot of fun for me especially in a new organization with tons of new guys, tons of young guys. I feel like I have a lot of wisdom and I've experienced a lot in this game...so any way I can help them that's what I'm trying to do.
On my really good McCallum team Mark’s senior year (The Improbable Odyssey), one of our hitting coaches was David Lowery who has played at UT and several years in the Rangers organization. Early in the year he said this to our team: “You cannot hit a curve ball. I cannot hit a curve ball. No one can hit a curve ball. We are going to look for fast balls and hit them.”That reminds me of Joe Morgan’s description of the difference between a curve ball and a motherfucking curve ball in Ball Four.
Out team BA was over .300 in a 31-game season which included a trip to the State Tournament.
Fisher and Davis are in. White and Kemp were optioned to AAA.That was the most appropriate by spring training stats. I hope that Davis doesn’t crap out like White did.
The Gator!!!Or that sorry Curt Blefary, whom the Orioles sent us in exchange for Mike Cuellar. One of the worst trades in baseball history.
Fisher just turned his ankle on a double and was pulled from the game.Divine providence?
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I sure like reading Verducci. I loved his work during the post season and this article carries that pattern of good work forward.You might pitch these feast or famine hitters backwards.
I love the analytics behind the changing swings in MLB over the last few years. And, I'll love watching the process of MLB pitchers opposing with increasingly effective countermeasures (like going up the ladder) over time as well. It's one of the things that makes baseball, watched over a length of seasons, so enjoyable for me.
On Cleveland’s OD roster!That's awesome!
I bet you will recall LSU-ex Russ Johnson.
Keith Ginter anyone?
I guess I'll just say it and get it out of the way: JR Freakin Towles
Yes, Davis has played LF this spring.
I figured I would be hearing from you.
It is stupit.
They were all in one inning but it doesn't excuse Giles from letting them all cross home.
Morton reported to be the home opener.
According to Julia.
If season started today, #Astros rotation would look like this: Verlander, Keuchel, McCullers, Cole and Morton. Hinch said he wanted Morton to start the home opener.
I wonder if Boras is getting a little nervous with the FA market after this off-season? Or if his client just said, "Scott I want to do this?"
Biggio's is kinda "upscale". Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this is more of "let's sneak you in the back door so the decent folks don't see you" kind of crowd.
I’m hoping for the reincarnation of Jimy.
It's precisely because long-term contracts haven't worked out that there'll be a huge fight. League revenue isn't going down. The teams have the money to pay veteran free agents, they've just realized they aren't great investments compared to cheap youngsters. If the players are going to maintain their share of increasing revenues, they'll have to fight for a new system where younger players get paid more. Earlier free agency, earlier arbitration, and a higher league minimum would make young players (1) better compensated and (2) less of a bargain compared to free agents. The players will have to go to war to get concessions like that. They've negotiated themselves into a terrible position, and I think they're starting to realize what it'll take to get out of it.
Labor war's a-comin'.
The system worked exactly as designed. He declined a QO, and offered his services on the open market for whatever rate he could negotiate. That's precisely what players and agents want...the market to determine their value. It worked to perfection.+10,000
Ah Preston Gomez. He pissed me off royally when he pinch hit for Don Wilson in the bottom of the 8th of a meaningless game vs the Padres? in which he (Wilson) was pitching a no-hitter. Could have been my first no hitter, I did get to see Ken Forsch's a bit later.
Wouldn't the contract have something to do with it?
Bowie Kuhn should have vioded the deal, but had Montreal throw in a couple of pitchers, one of them passable. Richardson was just getting started, a process which ended with the cellar team of 1975
.....that didn’t Gose so well.
Hopefully he can rebound.
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Reed did not help his cause today.
+1, Nate. You take care of you. We’ll be here when you are up to returning.
Perhaps, but mostly my own aches and pains.
Sounds like y’all got a hell of a deal. single game tix for opening day in the Terrace are $199. Tickets for opening day are insane.
Absolutely - just as the road to the World Series runs through Houston.
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I’m still amazed that Cobb, Lynn and Lucroy are unsigned. Arrieta I can understand because of how much he money he wants.
Lucroy’s skills may be diminished somewhat but he is a quality catcher. Those just don’t grow on trees. Is there something about him, perhaps off the field, that has teams reluctant? Is he bad in the locker room??
If the Twins wanted to be bold, they should take the money they were going to throw at Darvish and sign Cobb AND Lynn. Pair them with Berrios and Santana when he comes back and they can certainly will the central.
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I don't think that 2 warmup pitches for relievers is a good idea. No matter how warm you are from the 'pen the game mound has a different feel. Particularly if you are a visiting pitcher not used to the mound.
Put me in the list of people who do not give a damn about how long games last.
Signing with SF. I never saw any printed interest by the Astros. Wonder why?
This could be copied and pasted in response to pretty much any Mr. Happy political post.