Fun game between my Nats and the Braves, with the Nats falling just a little bit short, 5-4. It would have been 5-5 if not for a bad called third strike earlier in the game that would have made a subsequent one-run homer into a two-run homer.
And the final pitch was a 3-2 pitch that was well out of the strike zone, but swung at and missed by Josh Bell anyway. Damn.
What a game. As pissed off as I am at the morons who sat at home, I’m a Royals fan, and am excited for the new generation (minus Melendez). This was a night they’ll remember their whole lives. It’s always fun to watch MLB debuts, first hits, etc., and I’m glad Eaton had family in the stands to see it happen.
I’m a sentimental grumpy guy, and I’m getting a strong Norman Dale from Hoosiers moment. When his team hadn’t bought into his system, and he benches his star player for not following the rules, the ref runs over to inform him there’s only 4 players on the court. He responds with, “my team is on the floor”.
Ditto. I’ve been screaming since the beginning of May to let the kids play.
That was a helluva AB for Eaton. He fouled off four 3-2 pitches before going yard.
Stunned fans watched in an agony of disbelief.
No jinx! Now 11 in a row. 2nd-longest streak in franchise history. (Longest is 15.)
They were down 4-0, then got it to 4-1 with an in-the-park home run. Then they were down 5-1. They end up winning 6-5 in the 9th inning. This team has got something special right now. I think they’re really playing for each other after that big brawl. You can just see it in the way they encourage each other and celebrate.
Here’s a question sure to start a debate. Who is the greater pitcher; Nolan Ryan or Justin Verlander?
OK, how about Ryan or Max Scherzer?
I think by most standard Ryan > Verlander & Scherzer.
Is this a trick question? The only place Ryan suffers in Winning Percentage and Walks per Inning. Meanwhile, Wins, Innings, Games Started, Ks and WAR are all Ryan. ERA is pretty much a wash.
I’m not sure where to find it anymore, but I think Ryan’s Win Pct vs. Teams Win Pct was pretty good. Though Walter Johnson was the King of this stat.
Ryan threw seven no-hitters. Verlander has three, while Scherzer has two.
Another vote for Ryan over both other pitchers.
Max wasn’t even the best pitcher on the Nats’ staff when Strasburg was healthy. (cf: 2019 World Series).
Scherzer was better than Strasburg every single year on the Nats. Strasburg earned the hell out of his World Series MVP, but that’s a different discussion.
As for Nolan Ryan, that’s a really tough one. Ryan was my favorite player when I grew up in the 80s/90s (and he’d been playing for almost 20 years before I ever started paying attention!). His endurance was worthy of the dead ball era iron men, and the stats he accumulated are impossible to comprehend in today’s game. For a lifetime discussion, he’s the winner. For any stretch of 5-10 years, I think Scherzer wins - he finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting 8 of 9 years from 2013-21 (Ryan finished in the top 5 just 6 times, never winning it - but he probably should have in ‘73).
Not at all. Ryan compiled stats for a long time but wasn’t much of an actual winner at any one time; there’s a reason he never won a Cy Young Award.
Wins above average, according to Baseball Reference:
Verlander: 46.2
Scherzer: 45.7
Ryan: 34.9
The Dodger Stadium concession workers have made significant progress towards a new collective bargaining agreement and will not strike during the All-Star Game.
In 2017 Max was 16-6 with a 2.51 ERA, Stras went 15-4, 2.52. So, Stras by a hair.
In 2019 Max went 11-7, 2.92, Stras 18-6, 3.32. You decide whether a .4 better ERA outweighs 7 more wins.
Wins isn’t a great way to evaluate pitching
Scherzer won the Cy Young Award in 2017. He struck 60 more guys out and had a 0.90 WHIP. 2017 is not a year in which this discussion is close.
Scherzer pitched 25 more innings than Strasburg in 2017, a significant difference. They were about as good as each other inning per inning, but Scherzer had a lot more of them.
Ah, talk of happier times, when we legitimately had two of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball playing for us.
It’s about the same amount of IP that Stras outpitched Scherzer by in 2019 - but I think Scherzer was still the better pitcher then as well, because his ERA was drastically lower. Add in postseason performance, and I don’t think I’d really argue against someone advocating for Strasburg.
Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle, who was a member of the '19 World Series Championship team, is having season-ending surgery on his UCL. He hasn’t played since April 19.
Is it inappropriate to say he’s living up to his surname?