MLB 2018: let the games begin!

[Hardbopjazz]

 

Ouch!!! The Cards Yadier Molinas takes a foul ball to the groin. The Cardinals now went out and bought three bullet proof nutshellz to protect their catchers.  I'm glad I wasn't the guy doing the product testing for this cup.

 

 

[Brad]

They were discussing this on The Morning Show on WFAN in NY this morning. Apparently, these are made of Kevlar. 

[ghost of miles]

... and there you have it. Boston went 17-2 to open the season and since then has gone 9-9. New York opened 9-9 and since then has gone 17-2. Boston took two of three from the Yankees at Fenway, the Yankees took two of three from Boston in the Bronx. Both teams have one sterling ace (Sale and Severino) and a remaining rotation that tends to perform all over the place, though generally well overall. As of this moment they’re tied for the best record in baseball, and I suspect it’s far from the last time we’ll see that standing this season. 

[ghost of miles]

Other Boston-NY parallels: rookie managers (Cora and Boone) and new marquee hitters (Martinez and Stanton). So far Martinez is outperforming Stanton, as he has over the past several seasons in general (there’s a commenter at Over the Monster who has posted a Martinez-vs-Stanton stats chart several times that makes a convincing case for Martinez being the better overall hitter. And sure, Stanton’s a better fielding outfielder, but he’s playing the OF only sporadically for NY.). All this simply by way of saying that it’s crazy how much these two teams match up against each other. 

[soulpope]

Yankees mere mortals again .... and Aaron Judge is looking good ...

[Brad]

1 hour ago, soulpope said:

Yankees mere mortals again .... and Aaron Judge is looking good ...

That can happen after an emotional series. 

Mets got off the schneid.  I think Conforto is ready to break out, hopefully.  

I watched a few innings of Harvey's debut with the Reds.  I thought he looked pretty good, moving his pitches around well. The Reds got him out of there after 4, probably to instill confidence. That was a trick that Davey Johnson used to do, to great effect. 

[Matthew]

On 5/5/2018 at 8:51 PM, Aggie87 said:

Yankees looked fantastic in the series at Houston.  Will be a very interesting playoff series, assuming nothing squirrely happens and they both get in.

Astros are playing the Dbacks right now.  Gerrit Cole has 16 strikeouts through 8 innings, a career high (and matching the MLB high this season I believe).  And the Dbacks put in Daniel Descalso to pitch, with one out in the 9th, after playing third base the entire game.  I guess they're trying to save their bullpen for the rest of the series.   

edit - game's over, Cole pitched a 1 hit shutout with 16 strikeouts.  Not a shabby way to start May.  

And yes, I miss Matthew as well, both here and on Facebook (where he also disappeared).  Always enjoyed chatting with him about music, sports, and life in general.

Hey! I ain't dead yet, but the SF Giants sure are.

[ghost of miles]

34 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Hey! I ain't dead yet, but the SF Giants sure are.

Aren’t you a Dodgers fan as well? So good to see you here again, Matthew! 

[Matthew]

11 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Aren’t you a Dodgers fan as well? So good to see you here again, Matthew! 

It's been about equal the amount of time I've lived in NoCal & SoCal, so that I'm attached to both teams, plus the Padres, who I grew up with, and none of them are looking that good this year.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Matthew

[ghost of miles]

5 minutes ago, Matthew said:

It's been about equal the amount of time I've lived in NoCal & SoCal, so that I'm attached to both teams, plus the Padres, who I grew up with, and none of them are looking that good this year.

There was speculation after Corey Seager went down that L.A. might try to trade for Manny Machado as a rental, but at what point do the Dodgers write off this season? I guess we’ll have a much better idea by the trade deadline... also, I’ll be very surprised if Clayton Kershaw opts out after this season, given that he’s set to make $65 million over the next two years and is now 30–I think a contract extension with the Dodgers is more likely. 

[Aggie87]

4 hours ago, Matthew said:

Hey! I ain't dead yet, but the SF Giants sure are.

 

Glad to see you come up for air, Matthew!  Hope all is well with you.

[Soulstation1]

Francisco Lindor 

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Patrick]

yes. finally. Tribe rotation has been pretty damn solid. Hopefully bats continue to heat up, and not just against the AL Central.

[Dan Gould]

Interesting fact: Yankees are 18-7 at home while the Red Sox are 17-8 on the road.  And since they are tied, the Sox and Yankees are almost indistinguishable home vs away (Sox 11-4 Yankees 10-5).

I don't know when it starts to even out but that's 10 extra home games the Sox have coming.

[ghost of miles]

10 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Interesting fact: Yankees are 18-7 at home while the Red Sox are 17-8 on the road.  And since they are tied, the Sox and Yankees are almost indistinguishable home vs away (Sox 11-4 Yankees 10-5).

I don't know when it starts to even out but that's 10 extra home games the Sox have coming.

Somebody at Over The Monster made a similar observation recently about the Red Sox having significantly more away games than the Yankees in the first fourth of the season.  At least NY got through that recent Angels/Astros road trip in good fashion.  Last year they were motoring away until they went on a West Coast tour that sent them into a tailspin which lasted most of the summer.  Iirc correctly they ended up almost exactly .500 on the road for the 2017 regular season, which is generally not the sign of a strong division winner--and they certainly folded at Houston in the ALCS.  

What concerns me even more is the inconsistency of the starting pitching.  In between Severino's two last starts, the rotation performed terribly.  In four games against Boston and the A's it totaled 19.3 IP, 32 H, 8 BB, and 19 ER (for an 8.84 ERA).  That will continue to be NY's biggest vulnerability (and will take a toll on the bullpen as well, even after Warren and Kahnle come back from the DL).  Yeah, it's great if you can generally count on scoring 5-7 runs a game, but not so great if your opponent's scoring 6-8.

[soulpope]

22 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Interesting fact: Yankees are 18-7 at home while the Red Sox are 17-8 on the road.  And since they are tied, the Sox and Yankees are almost indistinguishable home vs away (Sox 11-4 Yankees 10-5).

I don't know when it starts to even out but that's 10 extra home games the Sox have coming.

Could turn in favour of the Red Soy with the next series vs Oakland @home whereas the Yankees plays away a two game series vs Nationals ....

[Brad]

The As are no easy mark. They could have won the series against the Yankees.  The Nats are playing their best ball right now, all without Rendon and Murphy. 

[soulpope]

13 hours ago, Brad said:

The As are no easy mark ....

And they proved you right ....

[Dave James]

Speaking of the Yankees and Oakland, if I was Brian Cashman, I'd trade Sonny Gray back to the A's for a bag of balls and a carton of Big League Chew.

[soulpope]

31 minutes ago, Dave James said:

Speaking of the Yankees and Oakland, if I was Brian Cashman, I'd trade Sonny Gray back to the A's for a bag of balls and a carton of Big League Chew.

;-) ....

[Dan Gould]

You can't cover two hands with one glove, kids.

[jlhoots]

Brewers hanging in there. I'm a fan.

[ghost of miles]

Whoa! 

Robinson Cano suspended for 80 games

[soulpope]

1 minute ago, ghost of miles said:

Whoa! 

Robinson Cano suspended for 80 games

And will serve a vast part of it while being on the disabled list (broken finger) ....

[Patrick]

Can you serve it while injured?