2022 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Hal Steinbrenner still owns the team, right? George wouldn’t have stood for a 13 year run with no World Series appearance.

George had his issues too. However, 25 years as a GM for one team is beyond its shelf life. It’s time for a new vision and a fresh pair of eyes to oversee the Yankees baseball operations.

 

[Jeffrey D]

George had his issues too. However, 25 years as a GM for one team is beyond its shelf life. It’s time for a new vision and a fresh pair of eyes to oversee the Yankees baseball operations.

Oh, yes- George definitely had issues. Hal is too patient and loyal- George was far too impatient.

 

[David Norman]

Pujols continues to destroy LHP this season maybe proving his HR derby wasn't quite as much of a legacy as it seemed

2-4 with 2 more HR with 4 RBI today. For the year he has around 85 PA against LHP -- 351/405/665 with 6 2B and 6 HR which is nearly +120 OPS above his career OPS against LHP
Career that HR number 688 and 689 in the regular season (plus 19 in the postseason)


The Cardinals appear to be somewhat dangerous against LHP. Looking at Players OPS, Goldschmidt at 1360, Arenado at 1052 amd Pujols 1070 are 3 of the top 5 hitters in MLB (Austin Riley and Altuve are the other 2 players)

I'm beyond the edit time on the previous post, but Pujols with another HR today off a LHP. Pinch hitting in the bottom of the 3rd (odd enough) increases the lead to 10-0 with Wainwright cruising. It didn't get a lot better for the Rockies as the game progressed.
A Grand Slam, HR 690 and 16th Grand Slam of his career.

Pujols 16 Grand Slams is the active MLB lead unsurprisingly. ARod is the career leader with 25.
The next most active player is Manny Machado with twelve at age 30 so a long time to go to accumulate the numbers.

Wainwright with 7 scoreless and will claim win 193 of his career when the game ends. Wainwright keeps making those "1 More Year" deals though I thought for sure this was his going away tour. If he ends up with 197-198 at the end of the year, would he consider going for 200.
Technically he has 2 WS rings though he missed the 2011 year with TJ surgery. Even at 200 wins, he's a borderline HOF pitcher and by all reports a massively popular player in the clubhouse and in St Louis community so very little left to prove or accomplish, but a pretty good story nonetheless

 

[David Norman]

And Ozuna lives down to my expectations of him yet again.

The worst DH/LF in the major leagues with a -1.2 WAR and now yet another legal issue.
Interesting that he's the 5th worst WAR in the league and playing virtually full time until the last few weeks.
Rosario (Atl) has been the worst in the league though at least he has an excuse of playing nearly blind for 6 weeks,
Cano also slightly worse and even the Braves released him

Even his splits suck
700 OPS vs RHP
500 again LHP
600 with men on base
480 with men in scoring position
Overall 260 OBP so he's not even setting up the guys behind him

65M over 4 years averaging over an arrest per year of the contract to date.

 

[David Norman]

And in the sometimes you just have to laugh department

Dodgers AA Farm team the Tulsa drillers were no hit by Wichita (Twins) Friday night. Wichita is leading the Division in the 2nd Half, Tulsa won the division in the 1st half so both pretty decent teams. No entirely shocking, but the Wichita Pitcher threw a 9 inning Complete Game on 120 pitches though he is 29 yo and pitched briefly in the major in 2017/2018 before having TJ surgery late in 2018 for the A's. He was supposed to be on a 100 pitch limit, but had 96 after 8 innings and begged the manager to let him finish. With 2 outs and bases empty, he was exhausted after walking 2 hitters, but again pleaded with his manager for "One more, just give me one more" and he ended up striking out Dodgers #5 prospect Andy Pages to end the game.

Former A's Right-Hander No-Hits Drillers

Wichita pitcher Daniel Gossett made history Friday night at the expense of the Tulsa Drillers. The former Oakland A's right-hander tossed the first no-hitter in Wind Surge franchise history. Gossett’s complete game effort was supported by a pair of home runs that propelled Wichita to a 3-0

www.milb.com

I also got a kick out of his player page -- nickname of GOOSE and damned if I didn't think that as soon as I saw the picture before I read his bio. Also apparently taken a bit after the action picture above it and a trip to the Barber

Daniel Gossett Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News

Daniel Gossett Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News

www.milb.com

Dodgers AAA Farm team had a more interesting and far more embarrassing game tonight against the Astros Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

Astros' Triple-A affiliate goes off in 17-run inning

The Sugar Land Space Cowboys, the Houston Astros' Triple-A affiliate, scored 17 runs in one inning Friday night in their 21-4 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

www.espn.com

After winning first game of the DH 4-1 the 66-48 OKC Dodgers were tied 4-4 with Sugar Land (53-62) going into the bottom of the 6th inning. A 60 minute nightmare started at that point in time leading to 4 different pitchers throwing 108 pitches to 23 batters (10H, 9 BBs only 1 HR, but 17 runs scored). 3 of the 4 pitchers have Major League experience including Pedro Baez who started the inning (300 G in the Majors with a 3.00 ERA most with the Dodgers). 5 runs scored before the 1st out and 12 Runs scored after 2 outs. I can't find any truly weird stuff like 1 hitter striking out 3 times or a hitter getting 3 hits in the inning.

Though as they say -- only counts as 1 loss no matter how memorable. It also comes 4 days after OKC beat Round Rock 20-3 in a game. OKC is in 1st place and the win by Sugar Land moved them out of last place in the division so only a bit of wounded pride.

Good news I think -- Graterol pitched in game one and was the WP. He faced 3 hitters getting 2 outs, 1 hit, 1K on 14 pitches/ 9 Strikes. I can't find any reason he didn't finish the inning, but I guess he was either on a 3 batter or 15 pitch limit. .

 

[MartinP.]

The Dodgers AA farm team may have been no-hit or AAA farm team had an embarrassing game, but the MLB team?

The Dodgers are on a run not seen in decades

The Dodgers are 46 games over .500, on a 37-wins-in-45-games streak. They have an 18-game lead in the division. They’re on pace to win a team-record 113 games. They have scored the most runs in the Majors. They have allowed the fewest runs in the Majors. You’d think that would

www.mlb.com

 

[Jeffrey D]

I just watched an embarrassing play by the Angels in Detroit- 2 outs, and the Tigers had a runner on second base. Tigers batter hits a sharp grounder to the Angels SS, and the throw goes to third base instead of first (the Angels 3B wasn’t on the bag)? No wonder why the Angels are 15 games under .500

 

[TonyD]

I see that happen much too often in mlb games. I just don’t understand why infielders don’t have a guy on second and third just in case there is a play.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^ Or the catcher stays at home...

In the Dodgers-Marlins game last night. Leading off the 8th, Mookie hit a triple. (He was one short of the cycle.) T. Turner grounded out. Freeman was up and the Marlins decided to walk him. Will Smith was then up. He hit a fielder's choice to 3rd. Mookie scored, Smith reached first and Freeman reached second, and no one was out. How did this happen? For some reason the catcher moved toward 1st thinking he had to cover it so Mookie had no obstacle getting home, scoring the lead run. Berti, the 3rd baseman, his first reaction was to throw the ball home and then realized no one was there, leaving a run in and two men reaching 2nd and 3rd.



By the way, the catcher, Jacob Stallings, won a Gold Glove last year with the Pirates before being traded to the Marlins.

 

[Jeffrey D]

^^^ Or the catcher stays at home...

In the Dodgers-Marlins game last night. Leading off the 8th, Mookie hit a triple. (He was one short of the cycle.) T. Turner grounded out. Freeman was up and the Marlins decided to walk him. Will Smith was then up. He hit a fielder's choice to 3rd. Mookie scored, Smith reached first and Freeman reached second, and no one was out. How did this happen? For some reason the catcher moved toward 1st thinking he had to cover it so Mookie had no obstacle getting home, scoring the lead run. The 3rd baseman's first reaction was to throw the ball home and then realized no one was there, leaving a run in and two men reaching 2nd and 3rd.

It’s the Marlins- that explains it all.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I see that happen much too often in mlb games. I just don’t understand why infielders don’t have a guy on second and third just in case there is a play.

I wasn't watching, but was the D shift on? Teams are doing that a whole lot these days, especially if the batter's a lefty w/ some pull-side power (vs a pure slap-hitter).

Of course, if the shift is on against a lefty, the middle-infielder should know not to throw to 3B. Going for the tag play for 3rd out instead of the force at 1B probably isn't a good idea anyway unless it was a hard stop where he just didn't have time to throw out the batter and the on-base runner delayed his attempt at 3B...

_Man_

 

[Jeffrey D]

I just watched a Cub look at 3 strikes. Unacceptable. This should never happen in a game.

 

[Malcolm R]

I just watched a Cub look at 3 strikes. Unacceptable. This should never happen in a game.

Many players seem to just watch strikes go by (though maybe not three in a single at-bat), while they swing at pitches that bounce in the dirt or are so far outside they're beyond the length of the bat.

 

[TonyD]

I wasn't watching, but was the D shift on? Teams are doing that a whole lot these days, especially if the batter's a lefty w/ some pull-side power (vs a pure slap-hitter).

Of course, if the shift is on against a lefty, the middle-infielder should know not to throw to 3B. Going for the tag play for 3rd out instead of the force at 1B probably isn't a good idea anyway unless it was a hard stop where he just didn't have time to throw out the batter and the on-base runner delayed his attempt at 3B...

_Man_

I don’t think it was a shift.

 

[Malcolm R]

Agreed. The 3rd baseman wasn't far enough away for a shift. He just didn't bother to cover the bag, likely expecting the throw to go to first.

 

[David Norman]

^^^ Or the catcher stays at home...

In the Dodgers-Marlins game last night. Leading off the 8th, Mookie hit a triple. (He was one short of the cycle.) T. Turner grounded out. Freeman was up and the Marlins decided to walk him. Will Smith was then up. He hit a fielder's choice to 3rd. Mookie scored, Smith reached first and Freeman reached second, and no one was out. How did this happen? For some reason the catcher moved toward 1st thinking he had to cover it so Mookie had no obstacle getting home, scoring the lead run. Berti, the 3rd baseman, his first reaction was to throw the ball home and then realized no one was there, leaving a run in and two men reaching 2nd and 3rd.



By the way, the catcher, Jacob Stallings, won a Gold Glove last year with the Pirates before being traded to the Marlins.

Multiple errors and/or miscommunications on the play. I suspect Stallings being new (relatively) to the team and Berti only has 100 career MLB games at 3D (25 this year) both probably caused the issue. Berti is a utility guy who came up in the minors mostly as a 2B/OF and only played 80-90 games at 3B is several years of Minor League baseball. I don't know how many reps they've had this year in Spring and IF drills to cover this specifically

Berti (3B) had a rather simple inning ending DP is he just throws to 2B as the situation and pretty much every analyst says he should have -- GB to his left leading him directly to an easy throw to 2B. They intentionally walked Freeman to set up that exact scenario, they were playing at DP depth and not inside the baselines so they were going for the DP and then messed it up. It was a bit odd with the Second Baseman shifted on the SS side of 2B, but he wasn't that far away and immediately went to cover the bag as he should have - he would easily been on the bag when by the time the throw arrived. Stallings could have stayed at home, but the situation was supposed to have been called and setup ahead of time.

Stallings was going to back up 1B as a catcher would normally do on a Groundball to the IF. I don't know if the Catcher should have stayed at Home instead of breaking to back up 1st, but the MLB.com guys and the Dodgers announcers/analysts at the time of the play and after the game all insisted he was very likely correct

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Mental mistakes do seem to occur around the league though...

I saw the other day that Jeremy Pena, the Astros SS, neglected to keep his foot on 2B while waiting for the throw from Altuve in shallow outfield. They probably woulda just barely beaten the baserunner to 2B on the force play if he actually waited w/ his foot on the bag. But he was just a bit too late since he waited to catch the ball before taking the slide step over to the bag.

It didn't (clearly) end up costing them anything more, except the extra out, but the game did eventually turn into a very close one they lost by 1 in the late innings despite being ahead much of the time w/ Verlander on the mound for 7 innings.

Maybe they just didn't practice that kinda play much/enough (w/ a middle-infielder throw to 2B from very shallow outfield after a diving stop or something) since it probably hadn't happened quite that often (though that should probably change w/ the kinda D shifts these days), but if so, they'll probably practice it more often going forward...

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Multiple errors and/or miscommunications on the play. I suspect Stallings being new (relatively) to the team and Berti only has 100 career MLB games at 3D (25 this year) both probably caused the issue. Berti is a utility guy who came up in the minors mostly as a 2B/OF and only played 80-90 games at 3B is several years of Minor League baseball. I don't know how many reps they've had this year in Spring and IF drills to cover this specifically

Berti (3B) had a rather simple inning ending DP is he just throws to 2B as the situation and pretty much every analyst says he should have -- GB to his left leading him directly to an easy throw to 2B. They intentionally walked Freeman to set up that exact scenario, they were playing at DP depth and not inside the baselines so they were going for the DP and then messed it up. It was a bit odd with the Second Baseman shifted on the SS side of 2B, but he wasn't that far away and immediately went to cover the bag as he should have - he would easily been on the bag when by the time the throw arrived. Stallings could have stayed at home, but the situation was supposed to have been called and setup ahead of time.

Stallings was going to back up 1B as a catcher would normally do on a Groundball to the IF. I don't know if the Catcher should have stayed at Home instead of breaking to back up 1st, but the MLB.com guys and the Dodgers announcers/analysts at the time of the play and after the game all insisted he was very likely correct

Yeah, those situations do seem tough, split-second judgment calls in the gap between what they planned and can expect and what probably needed to be done to ensure at least getting an out instead of what happened. Most times the throw is made somewhere: if to 1B, they give up the run for an out; if to home, it's not a guaranteed out even if Stallings got back.

It may look to us like they could've easily enough caught Mookie at home, if only Stallings stayed or returned immediately, but he only had split-second to decide to change plans and return home, if he does so... and it might not be that easy to catch Mookie that way.

And the 3B-man also only had split-second to decide what he was going to do -- Turner is very fast going to 1B, and Freeman ain't no slouch on the basepath either.

_Man_

 

[David Norman]

And the 3B-man also only had split-second to decide what he was going to do -- Turner is very fast going to 1B, and Freeman ain't no slouch on the basepath either.

_Man_

Probably not much of a difference, but wasn't it Smith batting? Still young enough he's not Catcher Speed yet.

It just one of those plays that has to be set up ahead of time. If a ball;s hit in front or to my right what do I do, if it's a solid GB to my left, etc. Walking Freeman intentionally, 3B and IF all even with the bag suggests they'd set the Defense for the DP esp with Floro pitching.

Being the veterans they are both Berti and Stallings took the full blame after the game for the play so at least that part fits a Mattingly type team. I couldn't find any comment by Mattingly at all

 

[Carlo_M]

Just looking at that video (FLA/LAD) and assuming that FLA is like most every MLB franchise and communicates the plan for the infielders, it's seems to me that there was a judgment call in place.

If: the ball is sharply hit to an infielder and a double play can be turned, do so. In that case, the catcher runs up the first base line to back up an errant throw to first. With one out, the runner does not score at home on a DP.

If: the ball is hit more slowly and a DP cannot (or is likely not able to be) turned, then throw home to try to prevent the go-ahead run.

This is a routine thing that's communicated even way back to when I played HS baseball (I was a perennial bencher, but at least was involved with the team's strategies).

It seems to me the 3B thought he wouldn't be able to turn the DP and the C thought he could.

To the naked eye on TV, it looked hard enough to potentially be a DP ball. But Freeman is not your typical lumbering big man, he's got some speed. So I can understand the different conclusions the 3B and C may have arrived at. My theory is the ball was hit at just the right speed to cause the disagreement. If it were hit harder, they'd have gone for the DP. If it were hit softer he'd have gone home and the C would have been there.

Usually there's a captain of the infield (in that case I'd have thought the catcher) and he should have been yelling "two, two, two" on contact if he knew he was leaving home to cover the throw to first.