The Dodgers end May with a 20-8 record, the second-best May they’ve ever had. The capper was last night’s “balk-off” win against the Diamondbacks.
The Blue Jays’ Facebook feed is telling me that Dana Eveland has been traded to Pittsburgh for Ronald Uviedo, but the news hasn’t made it to either team’s homepage yet.
I’m wondering when the Padres are going to implode. Pre-season guesses had them finishing last in the division, if not the league. Yet here they are atop the division, with little evidence of going away anytime soon.
Jesus, the MLB really needs to get a handle on balk enforcement-the umps have zero qualms giving the runner(s) a base every time a pitcher flinches, but turn a blind eye to the Andy Pettitte-type move, which is both patently illegal and also a much bigger impediment to baserunners than any other type of balk, near-balk, or pickoff move.
Can someone explain to me exactly what happened in that game last night? I haven’t been a regular spectator of baseball in years, and I didn’t watch the game. All I saw were the brief clips on Sports Center (with no audio), so I really don’t understand what the pitcher did. All I know is it looked nothing like the balks I remember being called in the '70s - where the pitcher would clearly wind up only to throw to first. Have the rules been revised, has enforcement/interpretation of the rules changed, or was this just one of those really odd, one-off scenarios that hardly ever happens?
CarlB, the balk in question occurred when the pitcher flinched (just before he removed his plant foot from the rubber), which is apparently being construed as the pitcher making “any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fail(ing) to make such delivery.”
You can look over the rest of the balk rules (section 8.05) and decide for yourself, but that’s the only applicable interpretation I see.
And the 1970’s style balks you refer to (where a pitcher raises his leg to pitch then steps on about a 30 degree line towardish 1st) are hardly being called anymore. Recently Mark Buerhle was called for two such balks in one game and it was so shocking that both he and his manager got ejected. Granted, the umpire (Joe West) acted an ass after the calls, and perhaps even made the calls for nefarious purposes-he is a musician and some have alleged he’s trying to drum up some press- but the calls themselves appear to be in accordance with the letter of the rule.
168 runs against. Best in the Majors. Even with an anemic offense, a team ERA of 3.04 and WHIP of 1.18 is going to help win quite a few games.
The offense shocked the hell out of everyone by putting 18 runs on the board last night, but even with those 18 runs the Padres are still one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league, so they’ll need the pitching to continue if they want to stay in the race.
And i don’t really think that last night’s performance signals some sort of offensive turnaround. The Mets pitchers handed out 8 walks, and served up some meatballs for the San Diego hitters. I think a Single-A team could have hit Mets pitching last night.
The whole enforcement of the balk in MLB is a clusterfuck, and needs to be addressed, IMO.
I see what you did there.
Care to let me in on it? Legitimized Joe West’s aspirations by calling him a musician? Called attention to an apparent attention whore?
A musical play on words.
Article about the Eveland/Uviedo trade.
A 23 year old Venezuelan, Uviedo is currently pitching at Double A-Altoona, and from the linked article will report to Double A-New Hampshire. Working out of the bullpen, he has two losses in nine appearances, with a 3.22 ERA, 28 K’s and only 13 hits allowed in 22.1 innings. He’s also issued 12 walks.
Dude’s pretty thin, too. 160 lbs on a six-one frame.
Pedro Martinez’s amazing 2000 season for the Red Sox resulted in a modern era record in ERA+ (ERA adjusted for the park they play in) of 291. Ubaldo Jimenez currently has an ERA+ of 581.
Tim Keefe of the 1880 Troy Trojans holds the all-time mark with 294.
:smack:
And the bad part is that I was vaguely aware of it when I wrote it, yet totally blanked when my attention was drawn expressly to it.
Carry on.
Those Buerhle balks are terrible calls. Its also amazing to me that MLB announcers can get away with calling an umpire a “joke” on the air. I thought that was a no-no, criticising the officials.
A salute to the idiot Dodger “fans” at last night’s game who decided to leave in the bottom of the 10th inning, with YOUR team at-bat, in a 0-0 tie. You left just in time to miss Matt Kemp’s game-winning homerun. I’m sure the Sports Center highlights you saw later were almost as good as being there.
Good job.
The Cubs’ season looks like it’s finished. They can’t even beat Pittsburgh. Luckily I still have the Lakers to root for.
God, what a depressing loss for the Jays last night. It’ll be interesting to see how they rebound tonight; it promises to be a hell of a pitching matchup.
As to the Eveland trade, I’m honestly a bit shocked Toronto got anything for him. He seems like a nice enough guy but he just doesn’t have major league stuff. His decent year in 2008 was apparently a humongous fluke.
Joe West is, with jowly relish, making himself into an exception.
Eveland was the starter for the game I was at on the first of May, against Oakland. That was actually the best he pitched in a game he lost. (at least according to Game Score)
I guess Gaston has once again decided fairly quickly when a starting pitcher is not useful to him. See Mike Flanagan, 1990, Denis Boucher 1991 and Doug Linton 1993.
But ya gotta beat the traffic! 
Some Dodger fans did that during Dennis Martinez’ perfect game against them in '91, too. Expo play-by-play guy Dave Van Horne even commented on it.