As a 30-second respite from politics and greed and such, we go to the top of the 3rd inning on Friday evening, June 16, 2017, in Great American Ball Park. Dodgers playing the Reds. In the top of the 1st, Justin Turner hit a single to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. Now it’s the top of the 3rd…
[ul]
[li]29-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers TV announcer Joe Davis, interestedly: “Talk about Justin Turner’s average overall bein’ three seventy-seven comin’ in, when you narrow it down to just this hitting streak it’s over four fifty.”[/li][li]58-year-old Orel Hershiser, former 204-game winner, emphatically: “That’s hot.” (followed by 10 seconds of dead air as Turner preps for getting into the batter’s box)[/li][li]Joe, matter-of-factly: “You’re not the best analyst in the biz for nothin’, Hershiser.”[/li][/ul][/QUOTE
I heard that exchange. I cried.
Sorry, but the Mets lead the Yankees in MRIs and trips to the DL by a considerable margin.
Right now, their DL list includes two starters (Harvey and Syndergaard), the closer (Familia) and three infielders (Cabrera, Walker and Wright). It’s news when a Mets game doesn’t involve a serious injury to a valuable player.
I’m thinking Cy Young hangover. I don’t think there’s a health issue because he’s throwing as hard or harder than last year. Never thought he’d repeat last season, but didn’t think he’d be this bad, either.
Is not well supported by his defense, which has been weirdly bad when he is pitching, and
Seems to be giving up an unusually epic number of hard hits.
#2 is the hard one to diagnose because it has so much to do with his mix of pitches, approach, velocity, and a zillion other things. I have read it theorized that Porcello, who has always been a control pitcher, is trying too hard to strike men out (his strikeout rate is the highest it’s ever been) which is giving him a few more strikeouts but causing him to miss his location more. That would certainly explain the huge glut of base hits and home runs; if you are going too far in your efforts to strike men out you’ll often miss IN the zone and serve up a meatball.
Of course, it also may be that this is actually how good Porcello is. Remember, he was pretty bad in 2015, in more or less the same way; he wasn’t walking guys, they were just squaring up his pitches and beating them like rented mules. 2016 is the outlier in Porcello’s career; he has usually been a guy who was reliable enough to pitch a lot of innings but always got hit pretty hard. If you adjust for the support he’s gotten from his D, he’s the same this year as he was two years ago.
Trade talk is starting to heat up a little bit. The Red Sox may look for a third baseman. Having just taken 2 of 3 from the Astros in Houston and pulled up to even with the NYY, they’re feeling pretty good right now. Not sure who’s available at 3B that I like. I’m not crazy about a guy like Todd Frazier. But if it’s between giving up a little bit for him or giving up a lot for Mike Moustakas, I’ll take Frazier.
In case anyone missed day baseball, Max Scherzer took a no-hitter into the bottom of the eighth. He pitched a complete game but managed to take the loss after a lucky bounce, some bad defense, and a pretty bad “strike” call to end the game. Granted, some of it was on him, but I feel for him.
