Opening day! Vegas says Dodgers/Yankees WS. Lindor got PAID. Lot of teams got better. What’s your expectation for your squad? We lost Kolten, kept Yadi and Waino and added Arenado. With Kolten hon, the job is all Tommy Edman’s and we’ll see a lot of Paul DeJong. Not sure how they are going to assemble the outfield...especially with Harrison Bader out 4 to 6 weeks. Pretty happy with the pitching staff, as long as they can stay healthy.

Price, Gonsolin, and Nelson would be in the rotation for just about every other team, and they’re in the bullpen for now.

Betts and Bellinger have already won MVPs, and Seager may be primed to be in the running this year.

Hopefully the health is good, because this team could be great.

NL playoffs could be fun.

.

That's me being selfish because I've been hearing about him for years and I wanna see what he can do.

I know we lost a lot in regards to our pitching (Morton & Snell) but I'm hoping that we can fill those holes. I was never the biggest Chris Archer fan on his 1st stretch here but I hope he can put together a solid season.

We need some offense and I'm hoping that last season's run boosts our confidence. I think Brandon Lowe can make some noise. We need Kevin Kiermeier to stay healthy. And Randy Arozarena certainly can't keep up his playoff pace, but he needs to show that he's no fluke.

Most preseason previews have us at 3rd in the AL East but I think we'll be in the running for division.

----------

IG @erichrigonan

.

and Fernandez put it in the stands. It's wild to see a pitcher make a mistake...and you can see that he knows it, immediately.

.

guess we'll see what Jed Hoyer is made of. Hopefully, he can refresh the roster and keep the team competitive but this past off-season was very yawn inducing.

due to GA voting restrictions.

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-statement-regarding-2021-all-star-game

into having heart attacks over it.

Grand opening, grand closing!


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gets his first start of the season tonight on ESPN after a blistering spring at the plate and some good showing from the mound.


They taking kid gloves all the way off

Was in lineup last night and had a stolen base — so the decision to even steal a base before a start is a sign.

He’s gonna be in the lineup and pitch today

And he could be in the lineup tomorrow.


So far they’re letting him decide when he feels ready.

Let’s GOHHHHHH

https://twitter.com/FabianArdaya/status/1378874125083496451?s=20

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/mk90xw/pitchingninja_shohei_ohtani_101mph_fastball_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

https://twitter.com/jack_a_harris/status/1378889088846032899?s=21

https://twitter.com/fabianardaya/status/1378890359611121668?s=21

But Bauer, Buehler, and Urias all looked like horses.

Hopefully Kersh rounds into form. Excited to see how Dustin May looks.

As has the entire staff.

.

hurt it this time, on a big swing. He swings big. I hope this doesn’t affect how he plays, long term.

he gone have to get the surgery, at some point.

https://sports.yahoo.com/umpires-remove-ball-likely-inspection-011757750.html

.

.

.

Even though the boards are dead.


Yea, I know the baseball world is talking about it more and everyone Ive seen across the league want to see him win. Folks on this board havent been talking about it but baseball is a low popularity sport here, there are no Angels fans, and im shoving it down peoples throats lol...

But man its really something special to see -- he feels like a perfect build a player from a video game.

A guy who can hit with power of the top 5% of hitters and pitch with the stuff of top 5% of pitchers. Then you add on his speed, baserunnin, and general athleticism. What would be the equivalent in the NBA or NFL. o we even need an equivalent to marvel at how special he is?


of course the key and wondering is consistency....but has anyone else show this type of potential in sports in recent memory?

This about sums it up:

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/shohei-ohtani-angels-batting-exit-velocity-pitching-injuries-01f35mpkce36

It’s about time!

that it never happened before. especially since they've been in Petco for so long.

i watched the opening series beatdown and it looks like the Pads will be absurd this year.

>i watched the opening series beatdown and it looks like the
>Pads will be absurd this year.
>
>
Not if Tatis’ shoulder keeps wilding.

they also were smoking the Snakes and Tatis was like, 1-19, they have a lot of firepower.

.

to start the season.

that hr across the street was special.

he is seeing the ball, so good. He barrels up on everything.

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/1381797851479429121

Rays over Rangers, 1-0.

This cat has been on fire this season. I know it's only been 3 starts but he's looked almost unhittable.

We're gonna need him too because injuries are eating us alive. Chris Archer, Ji-Man Choi, Kevin Kiermeier, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks are all gonna miss some time.

a Picasso painting of a power pitcher. He was so frustrating to watch last year...especially in the playoffs. I dunno if it was him or how he was being coached...but man, he seems to have it going, so far.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/tyler-glasnows-new-groove/

Tyler Glasnow’s New Groove
by Ben Clemens
April 12, 2021

Did you know that Tyler Glasnow was once a Pirate? Yes, like every other baseball writer in existence, I’m contractually obligated to point that out in any article I write about him. Good news, though — I promise that’s the last time I’ll mention them in this article, because I want to talk about something that Glasnow has done this year to add a much-needed wrinkle to his game.

The Glasnow of the past few years was a two-trick pony, if such a thing exists. Trick one: a fastball that sits around 97 mph and touches 101 when he needs it. It doesn’t stand out for exceptional rise or transverse spin efficiency, but it doesn’t need to. Glasnow’s velocity and extension make for a flat-planed, dynamic pitch that both misses bats and induces weak contact.

You already knew that, because you can’t watch a Glasnow appearance without marveling at the graceful explosion of the pitch, seemingly catapulted by his smooth delivery. Here, watch him overpower J.D. Martinez:


Ah, what a joy to watch.

You’ve likely seen Glasnow’s second trick, as well: a big-bending, 12-6 curve that appears to warp space and time. There’s no way a pitch thrown that hard should break so much; per Baseball Savant, it has five more inches of drop than the average curveball thrown with similar velocity. This isn’t one of those pitches with just enough wiggle to miss the big part of the bat; this misses the bat entirely, and by more than a hair.

What’s more, the curveball spins in the exact opposite direction of the fastball. That makes it harder for batters to discern between the two, and you really don’t want to gear up for 97 up in the zone and then try to hit a curveball that falls 42 inches more on its flight home than the fastball would have. One more GIF? One more GIF:


Cool, great, we’re all caught up to Glasnow as of 2020. He threw a fastball and a curve, and the two paired masterfully. That was it! Oh sure, he threw the odd changeup — 63 in all of 2020, and 31 the year before — but that’s more of a technicality than a third pitch.

How much does that matter? It’s a matter of opinion, but you could pluck out some data points that suggest Glasnow didn’t suffer overmuch from a lack of diversity. For one, he led the majors in putaway percentage, the rate at which he turned two-strike pitches into strikeouts, last year. It doesn’t seem like batters were able to predict and lay off his pitches in high-impact situations. That list isn’t one you can fake your way onto, either:

Putaway% Leaders, 2020
Pitcher Putaway%
Tyler Glasnow 30.2%
Shane Bieber 28.4%
Corbin Burnes 28.4%
Framber Valdez 27.7%
Dinelson Lamet 26.2%
Aaron Nola 27.7%
Jacob deGrom 26.2%
Joe Musgrove 26.1%
Zac Gallen 26.1%
Dylan Bundy 25.9%

There’s also the matter of his performance. Between his 2018 Rays debut and the end of 2020, he compiled a 3.32 ERA and 3.40 FIP thanks to his 33.3% strikeout rate. That ranks among the best 25 starters in baseball on. Maybe the two pitches aren’t such a big deal.

On the other hand, Glasnow was the very picture of inefficiency. He averaged just over five innings per start in that span. It’s basically a math problem: Glasnow doesn’t often throw his curveball in the zone, but he can’t turn into a fastball-only pitcher when behind in the count — it’s a great fastball, but major league hitters are great at baseball, and they don’t generally miss fastballs in fastball counts from a pitcher who has no option but to tangle with them.

That means he has to mix in some amount of curveballs, but given its hellacious break, that leads to a good amount of pitches outside the zone. That puts a lot of pressure on Glasnow to start counts ahead — opponents have compiled a wOBA 140 points higher against him when ahead 1-0 as compared to behind 0-1, 30 points higher than league average.

To reiterate, none of this means that Glasnow wasn’t an effective pitcher before this year. He was one of the top 25 starters in baseball on a rate basis! He doesn’t throw a particularly high number of pitches per batter faced, and while his ahead/behind splits are elevated, they aren’t ghastly.

There’s the matter of times-through-the-order splits, and it’s easy to imagine that a pitcher with two pitches might struggle against hitters as they see those pitches more often. Two counterpoints: Glasnow has been better on the third time through than the second (in splits too small to be meaningful), and the Rays let him face at least one batter a third time in all but one of his 11 starts. He’s not Max Scherzer out there, but hey, lots of people fall into the general category of “not Max Scherzer.”

Anyway! We’re 800 words in, and I haven’t even gotten into the meat of this article yet: Glasnow is a two-pitch pitcher no longer. He added a slider to his arsenal, and he’s thrown it roughly a third of the time this year. It isn’t anything fancy so far, and it hasn’t had to be; batters need to gear up so hard for the two headliners that the slider befuddles them:


I cherry-picked an example, but this use case — a pitch he can throw in or around the strike zone that isn’t a fastball — is exactly what was lacking in his old arsenal. The exact shape of the pitch isn’t nailed down yet — it overlaps in velocity with his curveball, and while on average it has two-plane break, there’s still a good deal of variation from one pitch to the next, hardly surprising as he gains feel for it.

One thing is for sure: this isn’t the slider/cutter hybrid so many pitchers have added in recent years, despite velocity pushing 90 mph at times. It drops relative to spin-less motion, where those hybrid pitches have no drop or even slight ride. He throws it with a distinct axis as compared to his curveball — more sidespin, though still plenty of topspin — and with a similar spin rate. It feels more like a curve/slider hybrid than anything else, which makes sense for someone with Glasnow’s feel for breaking stuff.

Thus far, the raw numbers on the pitch are unremarkable. Batters are swinging at about half of the sliders he throws, an average rate. When they swing, they’re missing about a third of the time, ever-so-slightly less frequently than hitters miss an average slider. He throws it in the zone half the time — you guessed it, roughly average.

So, uh… what? Glasnow has two absolutely premium pitches in his arsenal. He’s shelving them — largely the curve, which he’s thrown only 11% of the time so far this year — in favor of a serviceable slider. This is supposed to be a good development?

It is! There might not be a conclusive body of research about the benefits of adding pitches, but so far, both of Glasnow’s other pitches appear to play well with the slider. He’s thrown 18 curveballs this year — and gotten seven strikeouts on those pitches. None of those have been thrown when he’s behind in the count, and why would they? It was always a pitch to throw when ahead. Glasnow simply had no other tools before. Subtracting the curveballs that he threw in suboptimal situations flatters the remainder.

Meanwhile, having another credible pitch he can locate in the zone when behind in the count protects his fastball. Last year, if a batter got ahead in the count, Glasnow went to the fastball 84.4% of the time. That didn’t stop him from throwing it by them, because it’s an incredible pitch, but it’s not like he was fooling hitters with his pitch selection. This year, he’s down to 70% fastballs when he’s behind.

It’s too early to look at count-based splits — honestly, it’s almost always too early to look at count-based splits, as they take forever to become reliable — but try this hilariously small-sample statistic on for size: in 19 1-0 counts, Glasnow has gotten a strike 11 times, a 57.9% rate. In his career before this year, that stood at 48%. For a guy with such lethal strikeout stuff, favorable counts are worth their weight in gold, and his slider is a way to get there with greater frequency.

Will this experiment work out? I have no clue. There are signs pointing both directions. Glasnow’s walk rate has plummeted this year, though of course he’s only made two starts. On the other hand, the slider isn’t doing what you’d hope in at least one way — batters aren’t chasing it much (28% of the time), but they are swinging a lot when he ventures into the zone (74%).

Want some more conflicting signs? Per our pitch weights, his slider has been tied with his fastball as his best pitch so far this year. Easy! What a good decision to throw it. But most of that positive value has been accrued on balls in play — volatile readings, to say the least. And batters are making more contact on out-of-zone pitches overall, even though the slider theoretically helps the curveball play up on that front. It’s a puzzle!

In truth, I’m not sure what to make of Glasnow’s new pitch. Glasnow has always been a study in logical extremes. You know how analysts are always saying “throw your best pitches more”? That’s exactly what he already did. He has two absolutely dominant offerings, and he threw them to the exclusion of any other pitches. Now he’s not doing that, and the results are intriguing.

I haven’t drawn any new conclusions about the pitch yet, and truthfully, I doubt Glasnow has either. He’s only used it in two games, and batters are adjusting to the new pitch as much as he is. Seeing its usage evolve will be fascinating, and the pitch certainly still has some growth left — it was literally created in a lab during spring training.

Given Glasnow’s feel for his curveball, there’s a good chance that he keeps improving the pitch, adding bite and refining its usage. Selfishly, though, I hope it doesn’t improve. I love the experiment of one of the game’s best two-pitch pitchers adding an ordinary third one. I don’t know how it will all shake out, and I love that I don’t know. Glasnow’s starts are appointment viewing, and watching him test out a new theory live on air is a fun subplot in an already-exciting season.

Just the guy who can hit a ball 119 mph
And throw a ball 101 mph

Beating out a routine grounder to SS

https://twitter.com/ohtani_mlb/status/1382127833519038465?s=21

I mean cmon.

https://twitter.com/MLBStats/status/1382126943655632902?s=20

https://twitter.com/fabianardaya/status/1382145620442378240?s=21

absurd.

I’m like a fiend trying to find angels streams to catch

in the same game

>absurd.

to catch the ball and the Angels fan looking like...”but, bro!”

That’s serious speed. (It’s the third-fastest home-to-first time recorded this season, by any player, per Daren Willman of Statcast.) But what’s perhaps most remarkable about it is that it isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary for Ohtani. Just look at the leaderboard for sprint speed:

MLB sprint speed
Screenshot via Statcast
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed

That’s the collection of up-the-middle types you’d expect—speedy middle infielders and centerfielders—and Ohtani. A DH in the top 10! That is not supposed to happen. And, of course, it only looks sillier when you sketch in the context around it. This speed-demon designated hitter is also a pitcher.


https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/04/14/shohei-ohtani-can-do-everything-the-opener

(LOL @ the JEFFBAGWELL acronym for measuring WAR)

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/this-is-the-byron-buxton-we-were-promised/

APR. 13, 2021, AT 10:11 AM

This Is The Byron Buxton We Were Promised
By Neil Paine

The Minnesota Twins have MLB’s second-best record over the past two-plus seasons (trailing only the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers), earning a pair of division titles over that span. They’ve scored the third-most runs in baseball and rank fourth in OPS, with a reputation as one of the most devastating offensive teams in the game. But maybe the most incredible part of the Twins’ recent run is that they’ve done it all with center fielder Byron Buxton playing fewer than 60 percent of the team’s scheduled games.

Buxton has had superstar potential ever since he was taken second overall in the 2012 draft and was named Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect before the 2014 season. But aside from an electric 2017 season at age 23, one of the fastest players in baseball has struggled to stay healthy long enough to reach his full potential. Only time will tell if that changes in 2021 — but in the first few weeks of the season at least, Buxton has tantalized everyone again with flashes of the stellar player Minnesota has been hoping he would become for years.

Byron Buxton now has FIVE home runs this year.

And he's a triple shy of the cycle today. 👀 pic.twitter.com/4pINyHgjkf

— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2021
So far this year, Buxton is putting up a collection of totally silly, video-game stats: He’s hitting .481 with a 1.734 OPS, five home runs, nine RBIs and 1.1 wins above replacement1 already in just eight games. In the last category, Buxton currently ranks as the third-most valuable player in all of baseball through two weeks of play:

The speedy Buxton is off to a very fast start this year
MLB wins above replacement leaders, 2021 season

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT
PLAYER TEAM POS BATTING PITCHING TOTAL
Tyler Glasnow TBR P -0.01 1.18 1.17
Ronald Acuña Jr. ATL RF 1.15 0.00 1.15
Byron Buxton MIN CF 1.14 0.00 1.14
J.D. Martínez BOS DH/OF 1.05 0.00 1.05
Mike Trout LAA CF 1.05 0.00 1.05
Jacob deGrom NYM P 0.19 0.85 1.03
Gerrit Cole NYY P 0.00 0.94 0.94
Cedric Mullins BAL CF 0.83 0.00 0.83
Ryan McMahon COL 2B/3B 0.82 0.00 0.82
Phillip Evans PIT 3B/OF 0.77 0.02 0.79

WAR is measured using JEFFBAGWELL (Joint Estimate Featuring FanGraphs and B-R Aggregated to Generate WAR, Equally Leveling Lists), which averages the metrics found at Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.

SOURCES: BASEBALL-REFERENCE.COM, FANGRAPHS

Surely those numbers will regress to the mean as the season goes on — or do we really think Buxton will keep playing at a pace of 20.5 WAR per 162 games? — but there are plenty of good things happening under the surface to suggest that he can continue enjoying a monster season. Here are the Statcast categories in which Buxton ranks among at least the 98th percentile of all hitters right now:

Average exit velocity (98th)
Barrel rate (100th)
Hard-hit ball rate (98th)
Expected batting average (100th)
Expected slugging percentage (100th)
Expected wOBA (100th)
Sprint speed (99th)

Buxton also ranks among the top third of hitters in avoiding strikeouts and swings-and-misses, and he remains one of the finest defensive center fielders in the game by several metrics. By the same tracking data, Buxton does have a legitimate hole in his approach at the plate — chasing 44 percent of pitches outside the strike zone (the league average is 30 percent). He also ranks among the bottom half of hitters in walk rate, despite a massive improvement over last year (when he drew a base on balls just twice in 135 plate appearances). But altogether, Buxton’s statistical profile represents an extremely unusual blend of power and speed. Since 2015, the dawn of the Statcast era, only two other players2 had at least 150 plate appearances per 162 team games and ranked in the 98th percentile or higher in both average exit velocity and sprint speed in the same season.

Buxton’s development into a star-level player isn’t entirely new this year, either. Although it flew somewhat under the radar in a COVID-19 shortened schedule, Buxton played at a 4.4-WAR pace last season (per 162 team games), which would have edged out his career-high output from 2017. He still missed time to injury, including the concussion-like symptoms that kept Buxton out of the starting lineup in an elimination game against the Houston Astros.3 But he hit well (.844 OPS) when he played, and he fielded at an elite level in center. In many ways, this hot 2021 start is the continuation of Buxton’s bounceback after injuries marred his 2018 and 2019 campaigns.

And if the Twins were already among the best teams in baseball with him playing only intermittently, how scary could they be with a healthy Buxton? We’re getting some clues early on. Though they’re in a tie for first place in the AL Central at just 5-4, the Twins rank third overall in runs per game, putting 6.11 on the board per contest, and they rank fourth in team ERA with a little help from Buxton’s glove in center. The club’s Achilles’ heel has been horrendous luck in extra-inning games; three of the Twins’ four losses have come after nine innings, the most of any team this year.

According to the underlying stats, however, the Twins have played like a dominant team so far, with Buxton’s MVP-level play leading the way. If he can stay on the field for anything close to a full season — a big “if,” granted — Buxton could finally put together the type of year experts have been envisioning for him since he turned pro.

that acronym sounds like something we would have made up in OKS. Buxton is crazy gifted, though. I'll admit, early on I kind of looked at him as a speedster who you couldn't get a hit into the outfield, past. He's much more well-rounded, than that.

.

we are the Farm Team for the Majors.

JD Martinez... Goldie... every fucking pitcher on the All Star team... BEING A FAN IN PHOENIX IS GREAT.

.

But we lost in extra innings.

Tonight?

Rodon is pitching a perfect game with an inning to go!

We are winning the World Series. Mark my words. This team
has it all, and Anderson and Jimenez haven’t even played yet.

Pale Hose!

walk.

He still got the no hitter and went the distance.

The tension, the back and forth scoring, 20 strike outs, extra innins, extra extra innnings. Manny hustling.

Thank you MLB for giving us 18 more this year! What a great rivalry

Santana striking out Tatis with the bases loaded and David Price coming through!

Seager is off to an MVP level start.

Two runners on in a 2-0 game. What a play.

http://twitter.com/mlb/status/1383631255195979784?s=21

but having played baseball through college...as an outfielder...the catch he made tonight is SO TOUGH, man. It’s also such a lonely place, cause it happens so fast, there’s no backup. That ball goes under your glove and you are not getting up to go after it for a minute, cuz you’re still sliding. Just supremely confident and skilled. He’s literally deciding games with his glove. Incredible.

Avg stat lines and covid positives from the twins.... hopefully we’re back tonight


Will be an eventful start to the week if he’s in the lineup today ashes slated to get his second start tomorrow

Trout is still striking out at an incredibly high rate (for him).
Ohtani took Arihara to the track but got robbed of at least an extra base hit and possibly HR by Adolis Garcia who also homered to start off the Rangers scoring.

They looked so ass-awful to open the season, and now they've won 8 in a row. Glad they've found their groove.

too much talent, though. They'll figure it out...but, man does it look rough.

He’s on a 75 pitch COunt tonight and used over 1/3rd (28) in the 1st inning but got out of a bases loaded one out jam.

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/1384686807665713154

4IP
7K
6BB
1 HBP
1 H
0 ER

Avg velocity down 96 mph
And fastest of the night was 98

He threw the fastball way less. Apparently that’s the pitch Tahts causing his blister so it makes sense

After shitting the bed the first 3 games we've been on a damn run. The hitters have started to come back down to earth a little bit, but I think this offense will keep us in contention. Very happy to see JD and Devers bounce back after a really tough 2020. The pitching will not be as good as it's been so far, but if we can get back E-Rod and Sale and somehow slide into the playoffs we're gonna be a really tough out.

Besides the record, this is just a likeable group though. Very easy to cheer for, and as much as I'd rather have Mookie, Verdugo seems like a really fun guy to have in the clubhouse.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Also they split the 2 games they played in them, so I don't think they did much lol

I love the Braves bringing back the Hank Aaron-era blue and red uniforms, they look brand new even though they're 50 years old and really pop, especially with the yellow armbands they're wearing.


I just saw some stat that Boston's taken 12 of 19 since the first night in yellow, I have no idea how often they're actually wearing them lol


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>I just saw some stat that Boston's taken 12 of 19 since the
>first night in yellow, I have no idea how often they're
>actually wearing them lol
>

they're inspired by the colors/look of the Boston Marathon finish line, which is usually in mid-April (cancelled this year and last due to COVID), so I think they'll only be pulling them out once a year around the same time. The stat you read was probably that they were 12 out of 19 on the season prior to last night.

https://streamable.com/5o371d

Clearing the bases in under 18 seconds is the low key batflip

not to jinx it but ya

How quickly you can go from “deep” to having 3-4 automatic outs in the lineup.

He is on pace to put up some ridiculous numbers as a rookie,
and is leading the way for ROY.

https://twitter.com/deepredthread/status/1386094500058042368?s=20

But he definitely doesn’t have that speed. Like I said that sprinting around the bases is the new batflip lol

Man... angels are faltering... that pitching is looking terrible again. They’ve been without a lot of guys in the lineup but I hope they can get it together.

They are league leaders in Hrs but they a lot of them are solo shots despite the scary lineup. They gotta mix in a lot more small ball. Ohtani has still been good as a hitter, but so far he’s been pretty mediocre with runners on base. Gotta capitalize.

440 ft
To give them a 3-2 lead. Don’t know if they can hold it

https://twitter.com/angels/status/1386420401861890049?s=21

.

I really hope they see each other in October again

Since 1921 lol... 100 years... that was Babe

But had a comical/painful bottom of the first pitching. It was bad; wildthing-esque. Dude couldn’t find the strike zone with basic pitches

Trout brings him home to tie the game

Then he gets the bottom 1-2-3

After upton and pujols went back to back

Lyles struck Ohtani up with two on and then had to see mike trout....

Trout knocked another run home

He scored again in the inning but then got pulled after 75 pitches. Maybe just getting him out early so he can be in the lineup tomorrow.

Can earn his first win since 2018 if the bullpen doesn’t blow it.

it's only 2, and he's tied for the lead, but NOPE! IT COUNTS!

https://twitter.com/NBCSAthletics/status/1387210692411932675?s=20

Ive watched it 5 times and keep laughing at the absurdity

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2021/04/28/rays-kevin-kiermaier-says-he-made-the-right-move-on-outfield-miscue/?outputType=amp

His explanation is even worse and reads like an onion sports article

or the throw.

Arrozarena has the better arm but if you look at his feet he was going to end up throwing that shit flat footed, my guess even with the lesser arm strength he had the better chance of getting him out. But that play looked fucking hilarious.


----------

IG @erichrigonan

after running across Arozarena's path and leaping for the catch to turn towards home and plant to make the throw.


>Arrozarena has the better arm but if you look at his feet he
>was going to end up throwing that shit flat footed, my guess
>even with the lesser arm strength he had the better chance of
>getting him out. But that play looked fucking hilarious.

LOL! Arozarena had to move his feet out of position to avoid colliding with Kamikaze Kiermaier barreling in on him.

I can't really speak to Arozarena's arm but Kiermaier has maybe the strongest throwing arm of any centerfielder in the game so no idea why you're talking about arm strength. Kiermaier's only problem is his throws sometimes tend to sail to the right.

yeah, Randy chopped his steps, but it was only cuz Kevin was flying straight towards him at Usain Bolt speed. As far as the actual throw, Randy was already facing home plate. Kevin had to make the catch then slow his own momentum, so he could even make a decent throw.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DentalAchingCockatiel-size_restricted.gif

He still wouldn't be as good as Byron Buxton.

*unless your favorite player is Mike Trout, but you dummies had a decade to put yourself in that line.

>He still wouldn't be as good as Byron Buxton.
>
>*unless your favorite player is Mike Trout, but you dummies
>had a decade to put yourself in that line.

unless he's better than Trout now? ok not really, but check this out, it's from a couple weeks ago, but still - whoa:

https://twitter.com/SlangsOnSports/status/1381640818449121285

Players who are currently 95th percentile or better in both hard-hit rate and Sprint Speed:

Byron Buxton: 99th pctile HH%, 99th pctile Sprint Speed

Mike Trout: 97th pctile HH%, 95th pctile Sprint Speed

Ronald Acuña Jr.: 95th pctile HH%, 98th pctile Sprint Speed

Yeah. That 3 homer game was nuts. Two off Mad Max, 1 being a Grand Slam. Loved it.


----------

IG @erichrigonan

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=31354277&_slug_=new-york-mets-jacob-degrom-ties-nolan-ryan-most-strikeouts-first-five-starts

"It was deGrom's 33rd career start, and third in 2021, in which he allowed one run or fewer and failed to pick up the win, most in the majors since he made his debut in 2014. Julio Teheran has the second-most such starts over that time frame with 25."


Insane. I remember there being a year or two where it seemed like every time Pedro Martinez pitched the Sox stopped scoring, but it wasn't even close to being THIS bad.

YouTubeTV doesn't carry those Bally Sports regional channels or whatever. I guess they haven't been able to negotiate a deal. So we haven't had regular Rays games all season.

I was hoping that this match up might get shown nationally but no dice. It's an NBA double header.

I'm salty.

Shohei is still questionable to pitch tonight.
My guess is they play it safe and just rest him. Don't know if he gets back in during this 4 game series or if they'll wait to start him vs the Dodgers this weekend.

But yea, dude had me sign up for the MLB network free trial to tune in. Im still deciding if Im gonna keep it or if im gonna keep signing up for free trials with different name/accounts.

I can find a lot of free streams online, but it takes too much time to buffer, close ads, etc.

I'm gonna have to look into one of those free trials though. Good lookin' out.

Do you live in the TB area though? if so, then you'd be blacked out anyways

For some reason, I thought the free trial you mentioned was for the Extra Innings package.

.

multiple times.

That would give us a sign of how bad it is. Didn’t look too bad since it hit him on the pad and he stole 2 bases.

But they gave trout 3 games off when he got hit.

I think it’s smart to scratch the start. Any soreness or anything that might compromise mechanics and lead to a bigger injury isn’t worth it.he should only pitch at close to the 100%.

Lol what if pitchers start targeting him more to keep him off the mound and possibly lineup.

at the expense of mechanics.

Offensively the big 3+ are out of sync. On any given night only 1 + trout plays well and they just seem to alternate. With that said offense isn’t a huge problem. They were 1-2 teams (besides dodgers) that had not been shutout until Sunday when the Mariners blanked them.

They rank in the top qtr of most offensive stays

BUT

That pitching has been garbage. Worst ERA, terrible bullpen, lowest 10% in an
Almost every pitching category

Cant waste more of these trout years

400 ft blast off Glasnow
https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/07e8396f-abb2-40da-954b-e3511464d9f3.mp4


Maybe even more impressive turning this hit into a double
https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2021/2021-05/03/47ab8f68-50ff3158-e30b951a-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_16000K.mp4


He was caught stealing third after this though lol
Not sure why they’d steal third with one out and trout up

With glasnow quote:

Glasnow on Ohtani
“when I throw a pretty good curveball, a lot of guys don't necessarily get close to it and hit it. I mean, I threw some reall good ones and he fouled them off. So I got him once, and then I hung a slider and he got me.”

I think Glasnow struck Ohtani out in the first. I remember thinking that we were about to show him how it's really done.

Next time I looked, Ohtani was 2-4 with a HR and a double. Ridiculous.

.

even if you cant watch

I usually jump around between the ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports and Fox Sports apps. Oddly enough, the only league I have the app for is the WNBA.

.

Colorado is…bad.

And is also expected to be in lineup

Otherwise nothing.

But yea the Angels are on full struggle mode. The pitching is ass and the defense is worse.

Fun is subjective, but I can't think of a more fun baseball player than Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani owns a .939 OPS in 114 plate appearances as a designated hitter (plus one appearance in left field), and he's thrown 13 2/3 innings with 23 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. The 13 walks are an eyesore, but the Mona Lisa's smile isn't symmetrical. Nobody's perfect.

Over the weekend Ohtani took a pitch to the elbow, forcing the Angels to scratch him from Monday's scheduled start on the mound. No matter. Ohtani was in the lineup at designated hitter, and he contributed a double on a ground ball to the shortstop, and also a 427-foot home run. That came one day after he stole second and third in the first inning. Elite speed and elite power.



"He's very impressive. Carries himself well. Ginormous human being. He's a good player, for sure," Rays ace Tyler Glasnow told reporters, including MLB.com's Justice delos Santos, after giving up the hustle double and home run to Ohtani on Monday.

Ohtani's nine home runs are tied for the second most in baseball. His under-the-hood numbers are incredibly impressive:

Sprint speed: 29.1 feet-per-second (14th highest in baseball)
Average exit velocity: 91.4 mph (well above the 88.4-mph league average)
Max exit velocity: 119.0 mph (best by someone other than Giancarlo Stanton)
Barrel rate: 24.0 percent (best in baseball)


Only five players in baseball currently sport a 91 mph average exit velocity and a 29 feet-per-second sprint speed: Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., Byron Buxton, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Mike Trout. That is some company, eh? Offensively, Ohtani is doing things typically reserved only for the game's very best players. It's a rare power/speed combination, truly.

Ohtani the pitcher isn't so bad either. He's pretty good actually, though he'll have to get his walk rate under control to make the jump from exciting pitcher to bona fide ace. Here's what Ohtani is doing on the mound:

Strikeout rate: 37.1 percent (eighth highest among starting pitchers)
Average fastball velocity: 97.0 mph (ninth highest among starting pitchers)
Max fastball velocity: 101.1 mph (third fastest pitch by a starter this season)
Swing and miss rate: 16.3 percent (ninth highest among starting pitchers)


Ohtani's velocity and ability to miss bats is on par with guys like Glasnow and Dustin May. Also, hitters have missed with over 50 percent of their swings against his slider and splitter, so he's not a one-trick pony who leans on velocity. The secondary pitches are really good too. Too bad a blister and now a pitch to the elbow have limited him to 13 2/3 innings so far this year.

On both sides of the ball, Ohtani is doing special things. His numbers as a hitter are outstanding and his power/speed talent is up there with anyone in the game. On the mound, Ohtani's a bat-missing extraordinaire with velocity and quality secondary pitches. The only question is durability. Can he do this all year? I sure hope so. Ohtani at his best is as fun as it gets in this game.

.

that's what I saw anyway. It always amazes me how many "firsts" can happen in baseball when the sport is 1,000,000 years old

we haven’t seen.

It’s amazing. No Roberts. No Jimenez. That’s 70 HRs, but the bats
are still popping. La Russa has to be the leading candidate for Manager of
the year. He has kept this club together through all the injuries.

Also, everyone called the Red Sox stupid for trading Betts. They got out of
that David Price contract and Betts’ salary off the books. They are sitting in
first, while the Dodgers don’t look so hot. It’s still early, but it’s looking good
for the Red Sox.

I Hate the Cubs like all White Sox fans, but I’m impressed with their ability to score
with such a limited lineup. I have no idea how they are doing it. Mess around
and have a Chicago/Chicago World Series.

I’m still not in full baseball mode yet. Soccer/basketball still going on.

5+
0 ER
7ks
6 BB

He put a runner on with two outs in like 4 innings.
Also started slow again in the first inning.

Had a chance for the W but the angels pen looked terrible and couldn’t hold the 1-0 lead.


Tonight they needed him in the lineup. It was just trout and a bunch of bums

He's pitched three very identical games in which he both looked unhittable and like the whole thing could collapse in a single pitch. It struck me watching last night that the ridiculousness of his off-speed stuff makes batters afraid to swing at it, while the excessive walks give them hope for a free base.


Part of that interpretation is definitely Ohtani's demeanor out there, too. He doesn't ever look all that frustrated by the walks, at most doing funny little kid type pouting faces on his way back to the dugout when it's all over.



~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Until he gets more stars and data under his belts he’s part of the 6 man rotation but has been inconsistent on days between starts due to the injuries. I’d like to see a couple of cycles on 6 -7 days rest to make more of a conclusion there.

I do agree that some of his off speed pitches are so crazy, the way he’s pitching you may as well sit back and hope it is out of the zone.

If I were hitting him in the next few games I’d sit back and make him throw strikes



>He's pitched three very identical games in which he both
>looked unhittable and like the whole thing could collapse in a
>single pitch. It struck me watching last night that the
>ridiculousness of his off-speed stuff makes batters afraid to
>swing at it, while the excessive walks give them hope for a
>free base.
>
>
>Part of that interpretation is definitely Ohtani's demeanor
>out there, too. He doesn't ever look all that frustrated by
>the walks, at most doing funny little kid type pouting faces
>on his way back to the dugout when it's all over.
>
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~
>"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
>http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
>Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

It’s sad to see. This is a move wanted by management, and I agree it needs
to be done. However, he should have retired prior to this season.
I’m not sure why he decided to come back. You don’t want to see a legend go
out like this.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/05/angels-release-albert-pujols.html

Hitting the ball than him during our lifetime if you could somehow exclude the steroid era?

Is Pujols a part of the steroid era?

and he wasn’t included in the Mitchell Report. But it’s baseball, where
players are always looking to get an advantage. It could be sign stealing.
It could be doctoring balls. It could be corking bats.

But, so far, he is known to be a clean player.

I would probably go with Ken Griffey Jr’s prime. Numbers are Wille Mays
ridiculous. But Pujols is up there, for sure.

but his run wasn't as good and long imo.

Id put some other guys above Griffey.

I feel like Pujols is the hitter in his prime that I always imagined Griffey would be -- including the ability to carry a team the way DSTl described

I got to witness a ton of it, in person. He was actually starting his decline in the last season in St. Louis. He was just so damn good, he could still do what he did in Game 3 of the 2011 WS and simply win a game on his own…when the stakes were highest. My personal favorite moment will always be the home run off Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS. I was in a restaurant with family, about to leave to go overseas and they had the game on every television in the place. Houston was looking to close out the series. Cards trailed 4-2, top 9, 2 outs. Cards loved the late rally. I forget who got on base with a single. Jim Edmonds got walked and then Albert stepped in with two on. Looked at a strike and took the next pitch OUT. I just remember the way he would stalk out of the box with the bat still in his left hand. You would have thought that was the WS. Houston won the next game and went on to get swept by the White Sox. Lidge was broken. He lost two of those 4 games.

Griffey jr
A-rod
Miggy
Mauer
Puckett
Gwynn
Boggs
Frank Thomas
Vlad
and of course
Trout


I think Pujols absolute prime run is longer than most of the above and he has the most team accolades to go with it right? Rings and Playoffs.

I think statistically the closest (im freestyling here) is Trout. But Trout has 1 playoff berth lol

I L-O-V-E Griffey Jr. 100% Stan. I've got Griffey posters, jerseys, tshirts that look like his baseball car, shoes, I was at the game when he hit his 600th homerun on Father's Day...with his pops in the stands. All that said, lol...his prime just was not as long as Albert's. Albert was absolute nails for basically, 11 seasons. Griff had some goofy numbers. He had a four season span where he missed hitting 50 homers in four consecutive season, by three home runs. They've both got some jaw-dropping slugging numbers. Albert was much better on-base guy. In the end, I personally think Albert just was better for longer and (this may matter to some, more or less than others) 2 WS rings and 3 MVPs is just tough...real tough. I won't bother with the gold gloves and silver slugger awards, cuz Griff got those, too.

One more Pujols anecdote that doesn't have shit to do with shit. The 2006 Cardinals were not a very good team. They won 83 games. We had So Taguchi as the starting LF...he was an everyday player. There was 32 year old, Scott Rolen (Scott was my guy). There was 36 year old Jim Edmonds. There was 31 year old David freakin Eckstein and a semi-washed Juan Encarnacion. What we did have, was Albert Pujols at the absolute peak of his powers. I was in Baghdad at this time. Watched as many games as I could. Albert starting out the season as hot as I'd ever seen him. He had 14 or 15 home runs in APRIL...just, April. May started out the same and then he injured his oblique. Missed a bunch of games. The Cardinals were flailing. Albert came back and carried the team through the summer and into the playoffs. He ended up hitting .331/49/137 with a .431 on base and .671 slug (WHAT?) Damn near swept the Padres, went 7 with the Mets (ending, of course with Waino locking Carlos Beltran up in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded) and damn near swept the Tigers in the WS. They don't even get to the post-season without Pujols.

And Piazza should be on the list too.

https://stathead.com/baseball/player-comparison.cgi?player_id2=pujolal01&type=b&player_id1=walkela01&sum=0&request=1

Batting avg, On base pct, slugging pct, OPS , Larry has him smoked and he
played in 1000 less games and 4000 less at bats.

I probably wouldn’t put Gwynn and Boggs in there. They didnt hit for power.
They hit for mainly for AVG and hits, not really RBIs and homers. I don’t think
Pitchers really feared feared them.

You cant put Larry miles ahead of him without also acknowledging the mile high city


>https://stathead.com/baseball/player-comparison.cgi?player_id2=pujolal01&type=b&player_id1=walkela01&sum=0&request=1
>
>Batting avg, On base pct, slugging pct, OPS , Larry has him
>smoked and he
>played in 1000 less games and 4000 less at bats.
>
>I probably wouldn’t put Gwynn and Boggs in there. They didnt
>hit for power.
>They hit for mainly for AVG and hits, not really RBIs and
>homers. I don’t think
>Pitchers really feared feared them.
>

I generally agree on Puckett and Gwynn being off. Not sure they weren’t feared but I was trying to capture Avg, power, slg% guys

But we would have to look at his on the road stats... are they comparable?

Walker gets shit for his injuries, counting stats and Coors tenure and yet all the advanced metrics put him in pretty rarified air after park adjustments. Meanwhile, Bichette has come to be known as perhaps the worst great player ever? That man was super famous for his bat in the '90s, and yet his WAR amounted to, what, 4.8 over his whole career or something wild like that? Walker is in the high 70s, low 80s.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

3 straight years of batting .360 or higher.

In his MVP year he hit 49 homers, batted .366 with an ops of 1.117.

Larry was getting either a base hit or a moon ball...

Oh, you just pitching Breaking balls? Cool. Base knock.

Oh, you got a heater? Moon ball!

that didn’t run in and stayed right over the plate. That version of Albert was not kind on mistake pitches. He put it up in that little fence on top of the wall of Minute Maid Park.

But are there any real explanations of why he was so average in LA? Was it injuries? Changing leagues? Poor lineup around him?

Dstl said he was falling off the last season.

I saw another blog that identified his last 3 STL seasons as a decline

His career really is a two-act play. If it sounds like I'm poking at him, I'm doing something wrong.

I just didn't think his career would tail off. I'm more shocked that something like this *could* happen than I am disappointed that it did. Very few players get the MJ or Elway or Rivera send-off. It's not a slight to him for his career to fade away.

He is a legend.

The same thing happened to Griffey. Funny how they both left the first team
they played for around the same age, and had a similar decline due to the switch.

For baseball players, familiarity matters. It’s everything. When a player switches
to a new league, he has to learn how to hit against pitchers he has never faced
before, and learn how to play in ball parks that he has never hit in regularly.
That’s a huge change for veteran players, and some never successfully adapt.
That’s what happened to Pujols and Griffey.

I think it’s important for in-prime or veteran hitters to stay in the same league for
the rest of their careers, or it will be difficult to have continuous success. Once
players get around 29 or 30, they are pretty much set in their way of playing.

I know a few players were able to have a good transition like Mark McGuire,
but PEDs were involved. Miguel Cabrera was another one, but he was really
young when he left the Marlins. He was 24.

Getting there just behind Acuna and JD

These guys don’t know how to hit. Either they hit a homer or strike out.
No one is simply trying to make contact. Strikeouts are through the roof,
and there are barely any infield hits, even infield fielding is down.

Already got 4 no hitters on the season, and it’s just the month
of may. We almost got 2 no hitters tonight.

This is insane:

“Strikeouts have averaged 9.06 per team per game, on pace to set a record for the 13th consecutive full season. Strikeouts already are 1,092 ahead of hits, just three years after exceeding hits for the first time over a full season.”

Sounds like basketball.

Isnt the analytical approach to baseball more small ball and base running? I

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/04/22/jay-bruce-retirement-shift-the-opener?fbclid=IwAR1AfhvLr8W48Aoyri5noBYkX1ZANwIzbO5qbnrO1neXOoMRJGd_XJhKfMo

I shared it with my boy last week and remarked how fuckin stupid it is that you’d end something because batters can’t figure it out. Learn how to hit away from the shift and shifts won’t happen. A day after this article Ohtani successfully bunted vs a shift.


With that said I think what combines both our responses above— is defensive analytics have become more prominent in recent years and now offensive analytics will need to balance that over the next couple of seasons

You’re right, a lot of over analyzing the game from an analytical point. I’m like just
play ball. Advancing a runner from second base should be an easy at bat, but there
have been so many runners stranded on base, because batters don’t know how to
get sacrifice hits....they are striking out.

Playing little league, the coach would just say try to make contact and that was it,
and that’s how we got hits. But these hitters are being instructed to swing hard and
swing often.

and saying it’s only going to get worse. Hitters aren’t taught to put the ball in play, anymore. It’s all about launch angle and exit velocity. Swing hard, get the ball in the air and over the wall…or strike out trying.

lack of pace, combined with a lack of any field action when at-bats are focused on strikeouts for both sides, is deadly boring

https://twitter.com/mlb/status/1390877723766239235?s=21

he got absolutely skewered, last night.

First time he’s on a 6 day schedule

The stros are a real test. They fight for every at bat and if he’s having control issues they will exploit that early and often(even though they are cheaters).

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31427293/oakland-athletics-start-looking-relocating-elsewhere-sources-say

I don't know why the league, the city, and the team has a hard time understanding that the best location for the stadium is its current location. It's between two highways, there's a BART station, and pair of huge parking lots. You're not going to find a location with better infrastructure already in place.

All this talk of a waterfront stadium like the Giants is a fucking pipe dream. The location isn't particularly accessible to BART. The city/state would have to build new highway exits and entrances. And, honestly, the site proximity to the actual Bay makes it smell bad.

The money's better spent building a new stadium at the old site. Otherwise, fuck right off.

my favorite Nats pitcher of all-time. loved how he worked.

Then Maddon pulled him in the 8th
And put him in RF which was fun


But the angels bullpen as usual failed.

Ohtani could’ve gone another Inning if you were gonna keep him in the game

as well as 5 Yankees coaches.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2020-12-23/padres-fernando-tatis-gatorade-bolt24-commercial-rule

.

https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/9b0f6781-2841-4550-973e-342f28ef73f6.mp4


biggest hit of his career


he's back in that 4 way tie for HR lead

Leads the majors in Home Runs!

Fuckin amazing

Here’s the footage
https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/d09c087e-5699-43d3-8dbc-e51946c5147a.mp4

Here’s the location of his last two Hrs
https://mobile.twitter.com/home

CC remix
https://twitter.com/cc_sabathia/status/1394486675334746113?s=21

JJ
https://twitter.com/jjwatt/status/1394487406880038912?s=21

KD
https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1392326211397984256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1392326211397984256%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-16500788731940232025.ampproject.net%2F2104302228000%2Fframe.html

such an ill advised swing, for most. 94, chest high, running away…and his hands are so quick, he’s able to pull it…with power.

.

But that pitching needs to figure it out or nothing matters

with the best pitching in baseball.

Also with the best hitter in baseball on a 12 game hitting streak.
We basically have 4 hitters in our lineup who hit .300.

and we are still without Roberts and Jimenez

Gonna be a loong season

https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/f0415291-f070-4262-9281-98f72a5827e9.mp4

Small sample size but over the last week he’s been slightly more disciplined at the plate and getting some walks. Being able to balance that with his IFGAF approach would make him a dominant hitter and not just a slugger

If you aren’t blacked out. I’ll be watching before the lakers tip

His velocity was waaaaaaay down. One fastball clocked in at 89. Throughout the game folks were questioning if there was another injury-- but afterwards he said there wasn't and he was just feeling heavy and sluggish.

he had to get creative with his pitching and threw some newer looks and was supported by some good defense. Rendon made one spectacular grab and throw from third.


Hitting wise he had some big opportunities he didn't capitalize on but was able to bunt and get on base before getting caught stealing. (this was a good sign he wasnt hurt).

But I was able to see all game he didn't have the same swag as he had in the past few days

It's a weird thing to experience or explain but it happens. Every pitcher (and position players, it's just not as noticeable) goes through this a couple times a season. I wouldn't be too concerned.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>It's a weird thing to experience or explain but it happens.
>Every pitcher (and position players, it's just not as
>noticeable) goes through this a couple times a season. I
>wouldn't be too concerned.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But if a player has a dead arm...doesnt it make sense to just push back their start more often.

I meanI know it happens to me some days where i just don't feel as good physically--but in today's recovery and analytics heavy sports game, feels like theres an easy solution (so long as the player is willing to report it pre-game).

first time in Major League history.

No other game matters No other.


Team La Russa! You don’t like rules?

Go watch softball!

What a focking game!!!

Both pitchers lights out!

24 SOs . No outs.

Rodon -14ks
Montgomery- 13ks

Both made field errors
Both made terrific third base plays...Sox for a double play
Yanks for a triple play!!

Best game of the season hands down!!

including a grand slam in the 8th…off the Pirates’ 29 year old middle infielder…while already up 15-1. No one got mad.

or already on the highway.

No need to prolong the game. This isn’t Xbox or PlayStation.

Hit a HR when it matters or when the game is on the line...that’s
a real baller.

and the Braves, as a team, lead the league.

I’ll take the home run Vaughn hit off Chapman to
tie the game against the Yankees late in the game....a
guy who throws 101 mph and came into the series with
a 0 ERA.

.

by Vaughn. You can use that picture for your screensaver.

Come see us!

everyone who watches baseball, already knew that. That wasn’t the conversation that was being had, though. You said Acuna can have all the meaninglessness home runs, then immediately cised a home run that came in Game 3 of a three game sweep. That’s what you do, though…continuously move the goal posts, when you have no reply to what’s actually being said. G’head have the last word. I can’t believe I’ve replied, this much.

Vaughn hit his home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie a game,
to try to get a victory to avoid a sweep, against a pitcher who had
a zero ERA and throws 101 MPH....Vaughn did it with the game on the line.
He was trying to win a game which counts in the standings, sweep or no
sweep.

And you’re talking about Acuna’s Grand Slam Home Run, where the score
was 15-1 and the game was over.....You’re kidding me, right?

Hopefully, you have time to Edit. If you don’t see the difference,
then you’re viewing baseball incorrectly. One had purpose, and the other
one was a cheap HR prolonging a game that was way out of hand.

See you took this whole thing to a personal level, when all my replies
we’re strictly baseball....and you started it with a shot at La Russa, saying
nobody got mad. Don’t put stuff out there than since you have to get personal
when you get proven wrong.

And we're up 13-7 (top 11th) in the last game of a 4-game series with Toronto as I type this.

The AL East is ridiculously tight. With Boston, NY, Toronto & Tampa all in the running for the top spot.

Not only are we winning, we're scoring a lot of runs on this streak which is reassuring to me. I always worry about out ability to get the offense going.

Arozarena is getting back in a groove & Wendle is hitting well. I hated to see Willy Adames go but I think we all saw it coming. Hell, they didn't even bring up Wander Franco to fill his spot. They pulled up a cat named Taylor Walls that I don't really know.

But we're looking tough right now. I feel good about this squad.

KC, Phillies, Yankes & Rangers up next.

.

Pitching is looking good, hitting is looking good.

They always come alive late around the 7th inning. Against the Yankees,
in the two close losses, pounded in late in innings. Some lucky bounces
just went the Yanks way.

Past two Cardinals game, destroyed everything late in innings to put those
games away.

Vaughn is a baller. He hits hard and isn’t afraid of any pitcher. He raked against the
Yanks and is raking against the Cardinals.

Let’s continue to rake and get the sweep.

Bats went quiet. They looked tired. No excuses, but playing a night game and
then go right into an afternoon game is taxing as hell. It should have been three
straight night games.

It is what it is. Next up, 4 straight games against the Orioles. Should
be a home run feast! And then Detroit after that.
Let’s sweep both teams before facing Devil Rays.

Fuggin terrible.

May. Be.

I checked the splits, because why not, and they actually weren't as sexy as I imagined. He's still making way too little contact and the mild increase in that has come at the detriment of some walks - which isn't a potato/potah-toe thing given his power, but there's no (good) reason they can't co-exist.

So yeah, this is based on observation and it may be entirely wrong. But he did hit a homerun off of the batter's eye yesterday that hit the wall so hard that it made an audible "clank" even though the wall is covered in juniper plants.*

But if I'm right, I'm definitely going to come back here and remind you all.

*fun fact, it's apparently the largest "living wall" space in the United States.

He hasnt pitched in over a week because some rotation flips with a doubleheader from earlier rescheduled games.

Last time his velocity was down, let's see how it looks tonight.

He is still hitting solid, but lost the HR lead to Vlad and Adolis
Though he blasted a 117mph HR vs the Rangers two nights ago

Most importantly he is walking more and his OBP in the last 7 games is .375

With Trout out long term he's gonna have to get on base more and make contact vs striking out or homering


The Angels have 3 wins in a row even thought they almost blew a 9-1 lead yesterday. Winning this series vs the A's will have some repercussions on whether they can hang in the AL West race.

He is either tied (with Stanton) or leads the league with the most
HRs against pitches of 100 MPH or faster.

That is a pure illustration of power and bat speed. If I had to vote right now,
he would get my vote for American League MVP.

The Angels are trash, though. Sorry.

He had a solid outing against the A's but lost it in the 7th when his control issues came back. He bounced back next game against the Mariners -- logging his first game ever with 0 walks and had 10ks to go along with it

He is 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA with 60ks and a 1.16 WHIP
over 42.1 innings Pitched. He'll never get the same amount of Innings as top starters but for some context, Bieber leads the league with 122Ks in 85 innings pitched.

-------------

As a Batter his average has been stuck in the Mid 200s but hes walking a lot more lately so his OBP is rising. 9 walks in last 7 games


He is batting .261/.346/.606 with a OPS of .952 and 17 HRs and 44 RBIS + 9 Stolen Bases

He is tied for 2nd in HRs
He is 7th in RBIS
He is tied for 11th in SBs
he is tied for 5th in Slugging %
He is Tied for 6th in OPS

He had a solid outing against the A's but lost it in the 7th when his control issues came back. He bounced back next game against the Mariners -- logging his first game ever with 0 walks and had 10ks to go along with it

He is 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA with 60ks and a 1.16 WHIP
over 42.1 innings Pitched. He'll never get the same amount of Innings as top starters but for some context, Bieber leads the league with 122Ks in 85 innings pitched.

-------------

As a Batter his average has been stuck in the Mid 200s but hes walking a lot more lately so his OBP is rising. 9 walks in last 7 games


He is batting .261/.346/.606 with a OPS of .952 and 17 HRs and 44 RBIS + 9 Stolen Bases

He is tied for 2nd in HRs
He is 7th in RBIS
He is tied for 11th in SBs
he is tied for 5th in Slugging %
He is Tied for 6th in OPS

Enjoy

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-hits-470-foot-home-run

Gerritt Cole has already folded under questioning

duh duh duh duh

https://twitter.com/snyyankees/status/1402379195007778821

The league decides what's beyond the pale, sets up mechanisms to investigate and enforce, and some guys will get busted and ejected/suspended and some guys will figure out how to get away with it. Everything in its proper place.

It's when we're enlisted in the endless cycle of the discourse that I get bored as hell because we don't have any power over the above process. I want a system and outcomes where my only opinion is about the people who are stupid enough to get caught and punished. Especially since the alternative is to hear Josh Donaldson and Gerrit Cole talk about it, which... hard pass. Those guys have already shown us the thing they're really good at and it's not moral reasoning.

I can’t be the only one.

June 15 - hit a HR
June 16 - hit a HR
June 17 - 6IP - W - 1 ER
June 18 - hit 2 Hrs

He’s got 21 Hrs and is just behind Vlad and Tatis jr.
And might be the MVP favorite even with Vlad Jrs triple crown year

First pitcher ever with 20 Hrs and 70ks

He’s also first hitter to enter the HR derby in colorado.

>June 15 - hit a HR
>June 16 - hit a HR
>June 17 - 6IP - W - 1 ER
>June 18 - hit 2 Hrs
>

Incredible. Even if you prefer the MVP to go to a guy on a playoff contender, this is just and undeniable season. If he keeps it up I think you gotta give it to him.

They’re playing a lot better but they gotta chase down two good teams in the As and Astros. I think trout coming back with random added to the way they’ve been playing will give them a shot.... but man their pitching still sucks overall. Bullpen just ass.

2 run shot. Also just tied Vlad for the lead

He’s homered in 6 straight hitting games

https://twitter.com/jJ45KSUQ3D128Xc/status/1407069089500057605

also, listen to the sound of the HR in the video:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=efff95f6-fcfe-4e76-9413-83014248bd3b


You are not the only one.

LOL i watched that game and didnt put it together that they happened in the same inning. This is the first time ive seen it mentioned too.

But yea sounds like they put a sound effect on that HR the way it just cracks.

Who knew id pay for MLB pass just to watch this dude play daily.
Added bonus I can tune into the padres and catch some Jays games too

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/with-double-duty-ohtani-is-playing-his-way-into-mvp-consideration/

If I played baseball this is the team I’d want to play for.
Fuck all that old school unwritten rules Tony LaRussa shit. This is live.

https://twitter.com/padres/status/1406451898702458880?s=21

Right before they went to full capacity. That team has so much energy and such a lively crowd.

>If I played baseball this is the team I’d want to play
>for.
>Fuck all that old school unwritten rules Tony LaRussa shit.
>This is live.
>
>https://twitter.com/padres/status/1406451898702458880?s=21

This city is absolutely bananas for the Padres right now. Even as a tourist, it's a ton of fun.

Although I'm a little jealous because I think Tampa could have this level of support if they would just put the new stadium in the right area.

would be in first place with a 43-28 record, after losing Madrigal
Robert, and Jimenez to injuries, I would have laughed.

They are on 3-game losing streak right now, but this team
comes to play every game against every baseball team.

Madrigal is down for the season. However, Jimenez and Robert
will be back soon.....That’s when the Sox will put it in full gear.

Baseball is basically saying it doesn’t want anymore 3-1 baseball
scores. They want more high scoring games, because today’s
generation has a low attention span, and get bored watching scoreless
innings.

Pitchers have been using substances to grip the ball since the beginning
of time, and their mechanics are based off it. This change will lead to
pitchers and batters getting injured due to the inability to have pitching
control.

Starting tomorrow, pitchers can no longer use foreign substances....

He looked good last night. I know he probably won't be the team savior but I'm hoping he can give us s big boost in offensive firepower. And help us end this 7 game skid.

***

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2021/06/22/wander-franco-makes-big-debut-but-rays-lose-7th-straight/

ST. PETERSBURG — After a miserable road trip in which they lost six straight games for seemingly a dozen different reasons, the Rays were hoping things would start going their way again at home Tuesday against the Red Sox.

There were some promising signs, most notably a three-run, game-tying homer in the fifth inning from 20-year-old Wander Franco as part of an electrifying major-league debut that had Tropicana Field rocking.

And even in extra innings, which have been vexing, as they wriggled their way out of a first-and-third-with-no-outs jam in the 10th.

But they didn’t have enough go right, and they did way too much wrong, losing again, 9-5 in 11 innings, extending a skid that is their longest in more than three years.

“We’re just kind of going through a slump lately and a lot of things aren’t going the way that we want them to go,” infielder Yandy Diaz said via team interpreter Manny Navarro.

The most egregious mistake was made by Diaz, who let a hard-hit ground ball go through his legs in what was a messy 11th inning by reliever Pete Fairbanks, scoring the first two of four Boston runs.

“Everything kind of unraveled,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Personally, I’m surprised that we were even in that ballgame at that point.

“We put ourselves behind. And then that inning just kind of speaks for itself. We didn’t make pitches. We didn’t make the plays behind them. And a team that’s playing well, like the Red Sox, they took advantage of it.”

The Rays had their problems on the mound, as Ryan Yarbrough had a brutal outing in a bulk role, allowing five runs over two innings, and Fairbanks was again not sharp.

They made mistakes on the bases, Diaz running into an out at third to end the second inning and pinch-runner Brett Phillips not running to third on what became a forceout in the 10th as Joey Wendle had been intentionally walked. “I’m not sure what happened with Philly,” Cash said. “I’m not sure if he forgot that they had walked Joey. I really don’t know.”

And they had another rough night at the plate, going 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position, including Randy Arozarena swinging at a 3-0 pitch and popping up to start the 10th. They failed twice more to score in extra innings despite the benefit of starting with a runner on second, extending their scoreless streak to six extra innings and eight of their last nine. No surprise, they are 3-9 in extra innings.

“We’ve gone a little quiet here as of late with guys in scoring position, and getting that big hit with extra-inning games,” Cash said.

“We’ve talked about it kind of over and over on this tough stretch that we’ve been on, that we’d like to somehow find a way to manufacture something, put a little bit more pressure on the opposition, but we’re just not doing it right now. l know we’re totally capable of it.

“But it does become frustrating day to day as we’re not getting it done.”

There was some good relief work, especially by Collin McHugh, and catcher Mike Zunino made a couple of good plays, but the only real highlight as the Rays dropped to 43-31 and 1½ games behind the Red Sox in the American League East was Franco.

The 20-year-old hit a three-run, game-tying homer, a double and a walk from an 0-2 count and played well at third base.

“Pretty electric player,” Cash said. “I wish we would have somehow got a win. Because it would have been in large part for his contributions.”

The way things are going for the Rays, even Franco’s dazzling debut wasn’t enough.

But he pitched a nice game yesterday vs Gausman which was a no decision for both.



6IP 1ER 9ks. The most surprising part is they had him throw 105 pitches to keep him in the lineup longer. Because they had him hit today with a short bench they ended up having to move a bunch of players around later --OF to catcher, Pitcher to OF, etc. It didnt necessarily ultimately lose them the game, but it didn't help

But he did walk..

His last at bat in top of the 9th was a hr

Here is a collection of tweets

https://twitter.com/mlbstats/status/1409237249716330497?s=21

https://twitter.com/goatani17/status/1409257113612783617?s=21

https://twitter.com/ajdavid22/status/1409256991734722562?s=21

https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/1409248253946830861?s=21


https://twitter.com/joepompliano/status/1409253085235515400?s=21

https://twitter.com/nmhdogg33/status/1409249013073956864?s=21

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-homers-off-tropicana-field-catwalk

If this is 456
https://twitter.com/cubs/status/1386860077508857858?s=21

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mlb.com/amp/news/shohei-ohtani-hits-first-career-homer-at-yankee-stadium.html

kind of crazy

There are rumors circulating that the Sox might trade for him, since recent injuries
have hampered the Sox’ Offense.

With him, it’s either moon-ball or nothing. He is hitting .253 with a .336 OBP.
So even though he is on a HR tear right now, he isn’t all that great of a hitter.

However, due to pitchers no longer being allowed to use foreign substances
on baseballs, maybe he will turn into a complete hitter..

97 degree day in NYC that feels like 100+ with humidity.

Let’s see if he can add more to the story tonight. I imagine the leash won’t be super long

Sucks to see his hot streak flame out like that but it's kind of nice to see he's a bit human


Hopefully this doesn't stoke any premature "he's a pretty good pitcher but an all-time batter" talk and pressure Maddon


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>Sucks to see his hot streak flame out like that but it's kind
>of nice to see he's a bit human
>
>
>Hopefully this doesn't stoke any premature "he's a pretty good
>pitcher but an all-time batter" talk and pressure Maddon
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~
>"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
>http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
>Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz


I mean I'd argue it was longer than it needed to be last night as all 7 ERs were attributed to him. Maddon tried his best to get him out of the inning cause Ohtani has struggled early and they know he can pick it up.

Also, taking him out made them have to pinch hit a pitcher the rest of the long game so maddon tried to wait.

BUT LOL WTF....The Angels came back to win that game with a 7 inning ninth after 3 hours of delay and hammered Chapman for a Grand Slam to close the night.

i was looking fwd to see Ohtani back in the lineup after that -- but the game has already been rain postponed.

>Sucks to see his hot streak flame out like that but it's kind
>of nice to see he's a bit human
>
>
>Hopefully this doesn't stoke any premature "he's a pretty good
>pitcher but an all-time batter" talk and pressure Maddon
>


Seems like he enjoys Ohtani and knows he’s a gift to the game and wants to share him.
He’s letting him play both sides without restrictions, he’s fine with him in the HR derby, and he is advocating that Ohtani get to pitch and hit in the AS game.

I guess the days of over/under 8.5 are dead....good damn football over and unders

Braves are up 20-2
Sox 10-1
Marlins 10-5
Milwaukee 15-7
Washington 15-6

Saw an over/under for a game today at 12!

Struggled to get out of the first, allowing 3 and briefly bumping his ERA over 1.00...

Then proceeded to go 7 innings and fan 14 without allowing another run, only for the Mets to lose 3-4 to the Braves as Seth Lugo falls apart against the heart of the order.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I mean….

My favorite part of his game is actually his speed. It shows what an absolute freak athlete he is.

https://www.mlb.com/angels/video/ohtani-s-key-steal-leads-to-win

He got walked rightfully walked in the bottom of the 9th after those two HRs—
But he stole second base (twice) cause on his first attempt Rendon tapped the catchers helmet and Ohtani got called back.

https://www.mlb.com/angels/video/ohtani-s-key-steal-leads-to-win
^^^the whole sequence with the SBs and the run are here


Here is a graph on the play— and some people are talking about what a trash throw it was— but how many guys in the league can put pressure on the RF like that?

https://twitter.com/JonMeoli/status/1411192824398336003?s=20


“He pretty much single-handedly beat us,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Such a good player. I don’t know what to say. The guys got everything — the hottest hitter on the planet right now and it’s not just driving the ball, base hits. It’s deep home runs. You walk him, he’s going to steal second on you. It’s plus-plus speed, plus-plus power, and he’s locked in. It’s extremely challenging to face him. ... I mean, he’s one of the best players on the planet.”


-Shohei Ohtani now has 30 HR.

-Over the last 10 seasons, only 2 players have hit more in a season prior to the All-Star break: Chris Davis in 2013 (37) and Christian Yelich in 2019 (31).

-Shohei Ohtani has his third game with 2 HR & a stolen base. Nobody else in #Angels history has done that more than once.

-In A.L. history, only five players have more such games:
Alex Rodriguez (5)
Mickey Mantle (5)
Carl Yastrzemski (4)
Kirk Gibson (4)
Jose Bautista (4)

-Shohei Ohtani is the first player in #Angels history with 13 HR in a 15 game span.

According to @Stathead, the only other players in A.L. history to do so are:
Frank Howard - May 1968
Albert Belle - Sept. 1995
Alex Rodriguez - Apr. 2007
Nelson Cruz - July/Aug. 2019

-Shohei Ohtani
Last 50 AB's
.320/.404/1.060/1.464
16 hits - 15 XBH

1 - single
2 - doubles
1 - triple
11 - HR's

HR every 4.5 AB's


-Most home runs in a MLB season by a player born in Japan:

31 • Hideki Matsui (2004)
30 • SHOHEI OHTANI (2021)
28 • Hideki Matsui (2009)
25 • Hideki Matsui (2007)
23 • Hideki Matsui (2005)
22 • Shohei Ohtani (2018)


-Shohei Ohtani is the first player in AL history to reach 30 HR and 10 SB in his team's first 81 games of the season.

The only NL players to have done it are Sammy Sosa (1998) and Albert Pujols (2009).

https://twitter.com/dannyvietti/status/1411224051578662912?s=21

Opens the lead to +4 on Vlad jr.
I mean let’s ignore the pitching for a second. He’s slugging at historic rates.
He’s not just leading the league in a down year, he’s on pace to chase all time slugging records.

First player selected (by fans) as a position player DH and by players as a Pitcher.

Gonna be in the HR derby in colorado.

They gotta win these last two series against the Red Sox and Seattle to close the week with Trout supposedly coming back after the break.

7 IP
2 ER
Only 3 ks
but 0bb

He seems to pitch differently every game. Sometimes he uses the slider and curve more and sometimes he uses the splitter. Last night he rarely used the splitter as the out pitch cause there was often somebody on 2nd or 3rd and seems like he didnt want to risk a past ball. Showing control this game was a plus even if the strikouts were down.

Anyhow, getting that win vs a really good Boston Lineup is a good one to have under your belt.

He has solid stuff, but right now probably more of a #2-3 starter vs an Ace.

On the hitting side, he had two chances to put the game away with RISP (once with bases loaded) but came up empty both times. He hasn't hot the ball well this series, but it is a tough Boston team.

By a Japanese player. Still a half season to go

Most Importantly the angels won the series vs the red sox

I’d give both of them a pass.

https://boxscorenews.com/matchups-set-for-tmobile-home-run-derby-p161536-188.htm


Coors
+
Juiced Balls
+
No Humidor on Balls

= Fun

We should see a couple of 500ft blasts. All eyes will be on Shohei with no Vlad and Tatis. Will someone pull off the upset?

pasted below for your paywall beating pleasure:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31743889/everybody-jaw-dropped-shohei-ohtani-teammates-share-their-best-stories-legendary-power



Shohei Ohtani's major league career was barely a month old, by which point his prodigious power, and the epic rounds of batting practice it produced, was still mostly legend on this side of the globe. Then the Los Angeles Angels visited the Colorado Rockies on May 8, 2018. It was a partly cloudy Tuesday afternoon in the upper 60s, and the ball was jumping off Ohtani's bat as he navigated through a BP session at Coors Field, a famed playpen for the sport's best power hitters. Momentum began to build, a crowd continued to swell, each ball seemed to travel longer than the one before it -- and then Ohtani unleashed what some consider the longest home run in the history of the sport's most hitter-friendly ballpark.

The baseball was driven to right-center with backspin, clearing the bullpen, then the first section of seats, then the concourse, then the second deck, then the third, ultimately smashing into the railing that lines the first of two rooftop sections at Coors Field, a place few, if any, have ever ventured.

"Everybody's jaw dropped," Angels hitting instructor Paul Sorrento said.

"It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen," said former teammate and current Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Kole Calhoun. "Ever."

Ohtani has barely taken batting practice on the field this year, opting to do most of his pregame hitting in indoor cages as a way to conserve energy for a full season as a two-way player. But those who spent time around him over these past three years believe his BP power displays are without precedent. And many of them have spent these past few weeks thinking back to that unforgettable home run as a preview of what's to come on Monday, when Ohtani headlines the Home Run Derby lineup from Coors Field.

"I'm saying it now: If you haven't seen him take BP, watch him in the Home Run Derby, because it's gonna be a show," Angels center fielder Mike Trout said. "He can hit, line to line, stupid power. To see him hit in Colorado, obviously with them balls, during the derby, it's gonna be must-see TV."

Ohtani still leads the majors with 5.3 FanGraphs wins above replacement. Through his first 81 games, he boasts a 3.49 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 67 innings as a pitcher and a .279/.364/.700 slash line with 12 stolen bases and a major league-leading 32 home runs in 330 plate appearances as a hitter. Before Ohtani, only five players had recorded at least one strikeout in a season when they accumulated 30-plus home runs. Nobody had more than four. In Babe Ruth's only season as a traditional two-way player, in 1919, he hit 29 home runs and struck out 30 batters, a total Ohtani has already almost tripled.

"There's not been one name mentioned, other than his, to compare Shohei to," Angels manager Joe Maddon said. "I think that just screams what this is all about. We all romanticize what it would have been like to watch Babe Ruth play. 'He pitched, really?' ... I mean you hear this stuff, and it's a larger-than-life thought or concept. Now we're living it, so don't underestimate what we're seeing. We always romanticize the past, and sometimes you miss what's going on right in front of your eyes."

The essence of what makes Ohtani so unique, what makes him unlike any player in Major League Baseball's prolonged history, exists in a macro sense. He throws hard, but plenty of others do too. His sprint speed is elite but certainly not unparalleled. His splitter acts as a devastating put-away pitch, but the game's best pitchers all featured at least one of those. He boasts an advanced feel in the batter's box, but others have been better. It's the combination of all those skills, on full display through the first three-plus months of this season, that place Ohtani in a class of his own.

But if there's a singular tool that sets him apart similarly, it's his power.

"I've been around a lot of good players, and I've never seen this," said Sorrento, who played into the late 1990s alongside the likes of Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez.

"He's probably one of the most explosive hitters I've ever seen," Calhoun, Trout's longtime throwing partner, said of Ohtani. "The way that he generates power by loading into his back hip as he's still going forward, the stretch that he gets and then being able to unleash that -- people can't do that consistently. At times, you'll see with a lot of hitters that homers come in bunches, and it comes and goes. But he's had it all year long, and it's repeatable."

Ohtani's home runs are an unmatched combination of loud and long and towering. His 14 home runs with a launch angle of 30 degrees or higher lead the majors. But so do his 15 home runs with an exit velocity of 110 mph or faster. And so do his 14 home runs traveling at least 425 feet.

And yet none of that compares to his batting practice.

Sorrento called those sessions "stupid." Matt Shoemaker, a former teammate and current pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, described it as "an absolute joke." Tommy La Stella, the San Francisco Giants infielder who is in his eighth major league season, said it's "the most power I've ever been around."

Angels starter Andrew Heaney cut through all of that.

"The ball f---ing flies," he said. "The only way to tell people is to just f---ing watch on Monday."

Everybody seems to be able to identify their favorite Ohtani homers.

For La Stella, Shoemaker and Jared Walsh, the Angels first baseman who will join Ohtani in the All-Star Game, they are the BP moon shots that cleared the center-field batter's eye at Target Field in Minneapolis, RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California, and Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, respectively. For several other people with the Angels, they are the balls that Ohtani routinely hits into the tunnels that are tucked within the first section of Angel Stadium seats in deep right field -- in the area where Barry Bonds deposited a mesmerizing home run during the 2002 World Series.

For those who followed him in Japan, one moment sticks out above the rest: Nov. 13, 2016, during an exhibition game for the World Baseball Classic, when Ohtani hit a baseball so high and so far that it disappeared inside the Tokyo Dome roof. The ball is now displayed at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, which resides within the stadium itself. It traveled an estimated 150 meters (492 feet) and was scored a ground-rule double.

In the United States, Ohtani's Coors Field homer has taken on a similar mythology.

Ohtani will return there for Monday's Home Run Derby, competing against Juan Soto, Joey Gallo, Trevor Story, Pete Alonso, Matt Olson, Trey Mancini and Salvador Perez in a timed, bracket-style competition (8 p.m. ET. on ESPN). It's a field loaded with power hitters, but many of those who have seen Ohtani up close consider him the prohibitive favorite -- and that home run, from 38 months ago, serves as principal validation.

Calhoun considered the trajectory, brought up how much harder the Home Run Derby baseballs will be and thought that if Ohtani could hit balls that hard down the right-field line, he might just clear Coors Field entirely next week, an unprecedented achievement.

Trout volunteered the same thought.

"I can't imagine, with these balls for the derby -- he might leave the stadium," Trout said. "I'm being serious."

This is the angels video:

https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/e9e97a78-27c6-42b2-bf69-0e96f1cc518e.mp4



I mean it’s so fun just watching this dude play every night. I started following baseball again. Unreal.

What if he’s roided to the gills? 😬

https://twitter.com/samblum3/status/1413696708626706437?s=21

https://twitter.com/ktvbsportsguy/status/1413698801328558082?s=21

https://twitter.com/sfutterman/status/1413698789555142660?s=21

https://twitter.com/mlb/status/1413695221876015111?s=21

https://twitter.com/cmasisak22/status/1413698727144050688?s=21

sheer amazement and completely baffled like, did this dude just did this?

and slugging and WAR

16 HR in his last 21 games, the most HR by any player over a 21-game span in a single season in American League history

https://twitter.com/StatsBySTATS/status/1413698625994203136

And he started 3 games as a pitcher in that span.


this is truly amazing stuff.

if he is roided to the gills, i dont give an iota of a fuck. he's restoring the feeling. dude is amazing.

>if he is roided to the gills, i dont give an iota of a fuck.
>he's restoring the feeling. dude is amazing.


The angels are tough to watch in some ways, but I watched some Padres games and Tatis the other night. Went to a Yankees game this season.

.

Fuck. I wa shopping it was a sprain or hyperextension

His longest was 494 ft

Story has the most HRs with 20 so far.

Ohtani should smack these dudes ...unless some home cooking is in store.

Also, love the reminder that Griffey would be awesome on TV if he wanted to do it


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Wow what an amazing swing off!

That was like the final round right there.


Props to Ohtani for battling strong!

That competition is tough, and he clearly has it down. That first round was amazing.

Its like 3 minutes of swinging all out. You do well -- you get rewarded with another minute and MORE ROUNDS! lol

Fuck That! Tiebreaker another minute. Id be like just beat me or lose straight up. Fuck another minute


I wouldve like Shohei to win, but he did fine. Hit some bombs and got to tap out to get some "rest" before starting and leading off today. Theyre gonna need everything they can get out of him to chase down that Wild Card

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31823940/boston-red-sox-new-york-yankees-eighth-game-postponed-season-due-covid-19

The Ringer's mid-season summary:


The rottenness that has befallen the Phillies is impossible to blame on one person. For six years, this club has been tethered to the most frustrating .400 to .500 record in the sport, like Prometheus to the rock where eagles eat his liver every day for all eternity. The funk is in the walls and foundations and has lasted through two front-office regimes, three managers, and three nine-figure free-agent signings—all of which, it bears mentioning, have been rousing successes thus far.

The concept of “absolutely fucked vibes” comes up pretty frequently in Philadelphia sports. But there’s the kind of fucked vibes that involve Didi Gregorius getting pseudogout. Then there’s the kind of fucked vibes that involve Didi Gregorious getting pseudogout and—according to a hair-raising article by The Athletic’s Matt Gelb—blaming it on the COVID vaccine as part of a clubhouse-wide anti-vaxxer discourse that leaves the team below the league’s 85 percent vaccine threshold. I don’t think a trade or a managerial shake-up is going to do the trick here. Sell the team, move the team, and turn Citizens Bank Park into a hippodrome and start over.

-----

The Athletic article mentioned in the second paragraph: https://theathletic.com/2700989/2021/07/11/depleted-phillies-will-a-win-but-face-continued-competitive-disadvantage-because-of-covid-19-vaccine-resistance/

I can't read it but that franchise just seems cursed by bad judgement and luck.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

https://mobile.twitter.com/inteldoge/status/1416582088451629058

4 ppl shot. atleast one nats employee. crazy shit.

And he essentially said it's the lesser of two evils in security, you need to get a mass of people that large moving so that if they REALLY have to move, they can scramble more effectively. If it escalates into a really real mass shooting and everyone is still confined to their seats, it becomes a stampeding/corralling issue without question rather than just highly likely.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

because at the time it wasn't clear if the shooting was inside or outside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFALIcG3MbA

But again, for me his speed is the most impressive part of his game to me.

https://twitter.com/mlbstats/status/1416888502969683968?s=21

It’s nore mind blowing to me that he has this speed than his Hitting power.

Tigers 11 games over 500 since that putrid 9-24 start

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1420494985070366726?s=20

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1420839184881917952?s=20

Padres continue to be Baylor.

Like, let us hold them.

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1420899794550239236?s=20

Ruiz is a stud too, but we already got Will Smith.

But man, Max AND Turner???!! Cmon. That’s incredible.

Cuz damn if they aren't the only ones getting banned for it.

Mets in 1st place…they trying to shift that into that can’t go any faster, Fast and the Furious gear.

Rich owner and always packed stadiums, and they play it cheap. Their fans should all buy White Sox tickets next year.

I’m a Sox guy, but the Cubs will probably be competitive as hell next
year. The Nick Madrigal pickup was huge, and I’m angry that the Sox shipped
him for Kimbrel. Nick is a stud hitter, batted .317 before his season ending injury.
I didn’t come into this season expecting WS. I was focused on next season being
the season to get a trophy. However, management was getting antsy because the
bullpen has been underperforming as of late, so they went and frantically got another
closer. Sox paid a huge price for a closer...smh

Cubs are going to build around Madrigal and Contreas, so they have some
nice pieces to build around. Cubs were expected to sell most of their
players at the beginning of the season, but they were playing great baseball
in the first half of the season, so they put the trades on hold. Once their winning
run ended, it was time to sell. It’s a shock they stuck with those players for this long

Rizzo and Bryant should have been traded last year... Cubs were hanging
on to past glory.

At this point they strung it along too long and are right to let go. The Cubs were on a strict timeline with their old core, now they're free to build a team however they want.


Fuck the Ricketts' all day every day, and I'm plenty ready to assume as long as they own this team it's mired in misery going forward, but these aren't bad prospects and it re-centers the farm system pretty well. If they want to build a competitive baseball team again, they can do it with what they got.


AND, I do like that they sought to make players happy. Bryant and Baez in particular seemed to basically dictate the places they got traded to in a way you usually only see in the NBA.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

watching the yankees in the playoffs while we close the season out 15 games under .500 is gonna be some painful shit

Cubs are airing out the locker room.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1421197940765384709?s=20

.

Rizzo gone
Bryant gone
Baez gone
Kimbrel gone

Yankees must really be desperate to take on Rizzo. He is 31 years old
with a bad back, and his numbers have been regressing since 2019.

He has a hell of a glove though, and can still hit a moon shot *when healthy*.
But he is just another power hitter who doesn’t hit for avg in the Yankees’
lineup.

.

In a game where he pitched 8 innings gave up 1 run and struck out 8

He has a 2.79 era and 1.08 WHIP. If you remove his 7 run Yankee disaster his ERAis what? Like 2.50? His pitching since the all star break has been good. He’s somehow turned into more of a control pitcher. He rarely pitches the same game twice in a row. He stopped using his splitter that was so dominant early on- and went to a slider and cutter (until tonight— the splitter came back). He doesn’t have overpowering devastating stuff in the classic sense—which is weird to say for a guy who can throw 101–he just pitches really smart

He’s struck out 120 batters

And my favorite stat as y’all know is his 18 SBs

I know it’s a running joke that him and trout do amazing things and their team loses 6-2, but I do think of trout wasn’t injured—and playing how he was to start the season— they’d be in the middle of that race. Rendon being out doesn’t help but he has t been good as an Angel. Trout being out has allowed Ohtani to step up— so hopefully that plays dividends.

Red Sox are falling apart, Blue Jays are fading and the Yankees are turning it on. Meanwhile, the Rays are staying strong on top of the division.

Rays took 2 of 3 from a really good White Sox squad this past weekend. Injuries are running rampant for us and I've been worried that we might not be able to maintain. But this squad uses interchangeable parts better than any team in the league.

Why wait? Let this season go as fun as a team as that is. This isn't their year. Stop fucking around with his shoulder and get ready for next.

and they been knowing. This playing in the outfield stuff…c’mon. He’s too special to play around with.

They are 1 game behind the Reds for the second wild card spot so I think they will see where they stand after the first week of September to make a decision on Tatis.

They miss the playoffs and Tingler is gone.