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2014 MLB General Discussion

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scarletmike said:
15 innings for the Red Sox vs. Rays tonight, the longest baseball game I've ever been to by 3 innings. You know its a long game when you have two 7th inning stretches! It was a "good" game, but 8 scoreless innings is tough. I couldn't believe how the Sox lost the game. Runners on 1st and 2nd, hit to short of 3rd base and the guy decides to throw it to 2nd base first and there's no one there so the ball rolls out into the outfield and the Rays runner scores the winning run. I think both teams had used all their pitchers as well, because there was no one on either bullpen bench at that point. :lol:

Also, has the Trop always had no "real" bullpens, or did they recently turn them into like the 3 different field level party deck areas they have? I couldn't believe they were using on-field bullpen mounds. Still my least favorite ballpark that I've been to. Just ugly all around.
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The Trop has always been that way with bullpens (or a lack thereof). It is truly an awful stadium, and this from someone who used to live down the street and go to lots of games just when the Rays were becoming a contender. They will always have trouble with attendance given the nature of Central Florida, with a large swath of the population coming from other corners of the country and bringing their own allegiances with them. However, getting a new stadium that is actually a fun place to watch a game, and relocating it near the population center in Tampa, would go a long way to making that franchise viable. Certainly, the Bucs and Lightening have a reasonably devoted following now. There's no reason the baseball franchise couldn't at least be sustainable if it were located in the right place.
 
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JFC, the Pirates are well on the way to losing this game either way, but the overturn on the force play at home play in PIT-CIN was asinine. He's got his foot on the plate, falls backwards to avoid contact, and still gets called for "blocking" the plate.

This experimental rule needs to go away if the people in charge are too fucking stupid to apply it.
 
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Mike80 said:
@Jaxbuck

Remember when Tony Gwynn died and we were talking about how the trend seems to be towards the pitchers? ESPiN wrote an article about framing pitches and how the strikeout rate is up. Mainly for the numbers, but this seems to bear out the theory that hitters like Gwynn and Rose, etc just aren't coming along like they used too:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...ll-smart-teams-new-york-yankees-espn-magazine
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I like the framing topic. Anyone who has played or coached at any level above tee ball knows this to be intuitively correct so you don't get bogged down in all that stats vs scouts nonsense.

As far as hitters like Gwynn and Rose vs the K rates of today I think its a mix of better pitching, bigger money (chicks and GM's dig the long ball) and the statistical awareness of the value of extra base hits vs the cost of strikeouts.Also, it kind of dovetails with the BHamilton discussion in the Reds thread, guys with power will get walked a lot more (if they have the discipline to take them) so if some big bastard has a .400 OBP to go with his 30HR most people (never all) are willing to live with his 200+ K's in a season because they are educated enough to know his good outweighs his bad.

This is totally anecdotal but I think the way the game is played and taught at the youth level has changed and won't promote the singles specialist anymore as well. My sons 9U travel team for instance, those kids are trained from day one to have an approach of going up there to get one good pitch per AB to drive somewhere, that a walk is as good as a hit and there is no real frustration if you K. I can't really explain it any better than to just say the approach to hitting isn't what it was when most of us were in youth baseball, "strikeouts are bad" isn't the prime directive as it were.
 
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AL All-Star Game starters:
1B Cabrera
2B Cano
SS Jeter
3B Donaldson
C Wieters
DH Cruz
OF Bautista
OF Trout
OF Jones

NL All-Star Game starters:
1B Goldschmidt
2B Utley
SS Tulowitzki
3B A. Ramirez
C Molina
OF McCutchen
OF Gomez
OF Puig

Seems like fans are getting better and better with each passing year in regards to voting. Fewer and fewer snubs and head-scratchers with each ASG.
 
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If I'm an A's fan, I'm probably worried about this.

A's on the move to San Antonio or Montreal? - SFGate

Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid says he doesn’t believe the A’s are bluffing in their threat to leave the city if they don’t get a 10-year lease extension at the Coliseum, and he pointed to a pair of possible destinations — Montreal and San Antonio, Texas.

Reid said that was the word he got from the Coliseum Authority negotiators who have been working for the past 14 months to try to reach an A’s lease extension.

“They have options,’’ Reid said.

Both cities would have issues. San Antonio has a domed stadium, the Alamodome, that is used mainly for football. It has hosted baseball exhibition games the past two years, but its right-field fence was a mere 280 feet from home plate, at least 50 feet closer than the standard ballpark.
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With the four additions to All-Star rosters today to replace SPs that pitched today, plus earlier injury replacements, 81 major leaguers are now All-Stars this year ... or 11% of everybody in the league.
 
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