2022 MLB Regular Season

[DPMOmaha]

Miggy sitting at 2,999 career hits. Coming up with 2 outs and 2 on and the Tigers leading 1-0 in the 8th, the Yankees intentionally walked him. Let's just say the Tiger fans were not thrilled.

[dracnal]

Miggy sitting at 2,999 career hits. Coming up with 2 outs and 2 on and the Tigers leading 1-0 in the 8th, the Yankees intentionally walked him. Let's just say the Tiger fans were not thrilled.

I wonder if the Yankees can sign Mike Bacsik in time for the next game?

[bluestreak]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CaV0B0DAoCl/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[imref]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CaV0B0DAoCl/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Ouch

[imref]

TJ for John Means

[Dave in Fairfax]

Miggy gets #3,000.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Kiermaier with a walk off hr against Hansel Robles in the bottom of the 10th. Sox had grabbed a 2 run lead afyer a leadoff triple by Dalbec in the top.

[Natsinpwc]

Kiermaier with a walk off hr against Hansel Robles in the bottom of the 10th. Sox had grabbed a 2 run lead afyer a leadoff triple by Dalbec in the top.

That seems like it was quite a game. Rays had a no hitter going into the 10th. Boston had the game won but made an error. I am pleased as it was one of my weekly MLB contest games and I picked Tampa.

[Dave in Fairfax]

Orioles currently tied 2-2 with Mike Trout. The rest of the Angels are hitless except one hit for Rendon.

[Dave in Fairfax]

Two other Angels managed to get a hit, including a HR by Brandon Marsh, to get to 4-2, but the Os fought back for a 5-4 win. Pretty good game.

I wonder what Kevin "I don't like unwritten rules" Frandsen thought of the Cubs' 21-0 win over the Pirates? The Cubs were up 9-0 in the 2nd and still kept piling on, including 4 runs in the 8th (home game so no opportunity to add more in the 9th).

Or the Tigers/Rockies game 1, where Detroit, up 12-0 in the 8th, put in a pinch runner to help get to 13-0? They also used a pinch runner in the 7th when they were up 8-0, but he was running for Cabrera, so maybe that was more for Miggy's sake than to pile on runs.

[English Natsie]

MLB fans getting ready for World Cup US 2026....

https://www.mlb.com/news/guardians-yankees-ugly-fan-behavior-in-ninth-inning

[Five Banners]

MLB fans getting ready for World Cup US 2026....

https://www.mlb.com/news/guardians-yankees-ugly-fan-behavior-in-ninth-inning

Let the bleacher creatures know that lifetime bans are now on the table, and go from there

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/introducing-the-new-orioles-bullpen/

Interesting article on the recently-effective Orioles bullpen. Much of the article is about the additional movement and velocity relievers are getting, but then it gets into how the Orioles catchers are giving targets right down the center of the strike zone for non-2 strike counts.  What the Os have observed is that, generally, pitchers miss targets, so it's almost like "if you don't want a pitch over the middle of the plate, then set your target there." the movement and the velocity help bail their pitchers out.

[UMDNats]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/introducing-the-new-orioles-bullpen/

Interesting article on the recently-effective Orioles bullpen. Much of the article is about the additional movement and velocity relievers are getting, but then it gets into how the Orioles catchers are giving targets right down the center of the strike zone for non-2 strike counts.  What the Os have observed is that, generally, pitchers miss targets, so it's almost like "if you don't want a pitch over the middle of the plate, then set your target there." the movement and the velocity help bail their pitchers out.

galaxy-brain move to assume your pitchers suck ass and you operate as if they cannot pitch effectively

[JCA-CrystalCity]

galaxy-brain move to assume your pitchers suck ass and you operate as if they cannot pitch effectively

I get the humor but it has been done for other pitchers with movement.  This is how you set up for a knuckleballer, for example.

[Elvir Ovcina]

I get the humor but it has been done for other pitchers with movement.  This is how you set up for a knuckleballer, for example.

Yes, exactly.  Knuckleballs have movement but little command. 

Home plate is 17 inches wide.  If you're setting up down the middle and hoping that means pitches on the corners, you're hoping your pitchers are missing the glove by 8 inches of horizontal movement consistently (not a lot more, not a lot less). It's one thing to shade a side of the plate, but it's another entirely to just put the glove right down the middle like you do for a 12-year-old.   I know pitchers miss the glove by massive amounts regularly, but a lot of that is vertical - for example, a target at the knees and a curveball in the dirt. 

This strategy will work for a little bit - after all, one reason it works is that it results in more strikes and modern hitters take tons of pitches early in counts - but hitters will adjust and start pounding early-count stuff that doesn't miss the target by much.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

this Baltimore Sun article goes into more depth on setting up in the middle of the plate. 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-reset-catchers-change-set-up-more-strikes-20220418-t2dllbzrrzcibe6mwbgftyr7ii-story.html

Some of it is as expected (by Elvir) - get ahead early, let the ball be put in play, increase the strike zone %, rely on movement on the curve and hard stuff.  There's some nice quotes from Chirinos and his reaction / implementation of the team philosophy.  Says the Astros used to do it with Framber Valdez, and that he did it with the Cubs, too.  The pitching coach explains how they came up with it:

When pitching coach Chris Holt analyzed his staff this offseason, he first looked at what each pitcher does well. Next, he tried to identify how each hurler does that thing well before diving into when they do it well.

What he noticed piqued his interest. The pitchers under Holt’s direction often struggled when attempting to pick out a corner of the zone. There was a tendency to be too focused on a specific location, causing overthinking and resulting in misses.

“So the initiative right now is to have them attack through the zone more,” Holt said, “as opposed to aim at corners.”

Especially for a bullpen full of pitchers with power fastballs and/or ample movement on breaking pitches, establishing the center of the plate early in the count makes it tougher on batters. And if the ball is put in play, manager Brandon Hyde emphasized there are fielders for a reason.
...
The catching change doesn’t make Baltimore’s pitchers throw down the middle of the plate, although 8.3% of their pitches have wound up in that location, the fourth-highest rate in baseball. It’s merely the initial target the catchers will set, a way for pitchers to concentrate on the first priority: getting the ball over the plate.

[Kevrock]

The Mets are a bunch of babies. They're the only team that has buzzed intentionally in their games. "My guy ran to first", uh your guy wasn't hit on purpose and it was a change up. Bunch of hypocrites actually going after people after getting accidentally hit all while crying foul.

[imref]

Mets DFA Robinson Cano

[imref]

Watch Marcell Ozuna strike out looking on three straight balls:

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1521919829271273473?s=20&t=m8963oCSV9gEAMVb6u4Tew

[Natsinpwc]

Free MLB TV preview this weekend.

[Dave in Fairfax]

Cincinnati Reds are on pace to come close to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders as the worst team in Major League history. The Spiders were 20-134. The Reds are on pace for 24 wins.

[Natsinpwc]

https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-rookie-reid-detmers-no-hits-rays

With the lefty Rendong no one mentioned this.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-rookie-reid-detmers-no-hits-rays

With the lefty Rendong no one mentioned this.

beginning to love the Angels this year.  If they really have a pitching staff, then they are fun.  Walsh, Ward, Marsh are adding a ton to Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon, Velasquez is a pretty slick fielder, and the other pieces seem adequate. 

[imref]

beginning to love the Angels this year.  If they really have a pitching staff, then they are fun.  Walsh, Ward, Marsh are adding a ton to Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon, Velasquez is a pretty slick fielder, and the other pieces seem adequate. 

keeping Ohtani healthy is job 1