Yanks hold Toronto scoreless for 13 innings, pretty impressive. Amazing that this is the first time in Yankees-Blue Jay history that the two teams went scoreless into extra innings. Of course, it’s just a matter of time before teams start extra innings with a man on base, and just a little longer before extra inning games are settled by managers playing an application on their phones.
On the other hand, Toronto held the “mighty” Yankees scoreless for 12 innings. They even got away with using Tyler Clippard. I was impressed by their starter, Gaviglio. Where did he come from?
Good night for Sonny Gray, but we shouldn’t fool ourselves. That was a depleted roster on the other side.
Sad, but not surprising. I was afraid his health was failing when he wasn’t at the ballpark for this year’s home opener.
Half of Toronto has been asking that same question for a month now.
Gaviglio was acquired from Kansas City for, apparently, nobody; it was a Player To Be Named Later who so far as I can discern has still not been named. Last year the Royals also got him for nothing; they claimed him off waivers from Seattle. Seattle, uin turn, had acquired him from the Cardinals for Ty Kelly, who isn’t nothing but I’d rather have Sam Gaviglio for sure.
Gaviglio is pitching very, very well, and of course this makes you wonder why his previous employers were rather cavalier about him, but he’s not exactly a kid - he’s 28 - and he’s never pitched like this before. In 2018 he is suddenly WAY better; he was even better in the minor before Toronto called him up than he’d ever been in the minors before. Honestly, there’s lots of guys like this, pitchers who always had stuff and velocity but it took years, and some adjustments, and the right opportunity, to put it together and be effective.
Well, I wish Gaviglio well against teams not named the Yankees. You have to admire the persistence and faith. There are a lot of great stories like that in baseball.
John Venters is another one. He’s pitching for Tampa Bay after last having pitched in 2012. He’s had 3.5 Tommy John surgeries (the .5 being a tear that needed fixing instead of replacement, and it happened while rehabbing from his most recent TJ.) I see he got clobbered by the Nats yesterday but still, he’s been effective in his other 14 appearances. I wonder if he’d be willing to do it again if, god forbid, his elbow went again.
Dodgers are playing with fire in a very enjoyable game this afternoon against Pittsburgh. They’re already down to two pitchers and it is only the bottom of the sixth with the Pirates threatening. They’d better hope this doesn’t turn into an extra inning marathon.
And now Jansen (closer) is trying to get a five-out save with a two-run lead. Hoping the team can get a little more insurance in the top of the ninth.
Ohtani out with a Grade 2 UCL sprain…and possibly needing Tommy John surgery.
The Angels need an exorcism of the mound at The Big A.
I am so sick of inter league play. Can we please either end it or at least do away with AL pitchers needing to hit? All Inter league games if they must happen should have the DH. and no, this is not just a reaction to Tanaka leaving the game early with hamstring tightness last night. I’ve been bitching about this for years.
I don’t like Inter league and watching AL pitchers hit is just not a good thing.
NL pitchers aren’t fun to watch at bat either. It’s time to bring that last holdout league out of the dead-ball era.
I’ve got to hand it to Kyle Schwarber, he’s never going to be the second coming of Willie Mays, but he has really been working on his defense in the outfield. I no longer cringe at every ball hit to him and he’s made some decent major league defensive plays over the past couple of weeks.
You’re absolutely right! In fact, why should any fielders be required to hit the ball? It’s not like soccer or hockey where the shift from O to D occurs fluidly. There’s always a break, so let’s go full football and have offensive and defensive squads. We can expand the roster to 45 guys and have a full hitting lineup and a full fielding lineup with spares for both as well as a full pitching staff and bullpen. It’ll make things so much better. :dubious:
Er, there is no slippery slope here. The AL has had the DH since the early 70s without going split squad.
One problem is that the DH is everywhere: NCAA, Rookie league, A ball. AA and AAA have it in most games. Pitchers are specialising at a young age and most of them are completely inept at hitting once they reach MLB. It’s painful to watch.
But oh yeah, that sweet, sweet strategy in the NL. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Probably the silliest “argument” made by opponents of the DH. If the average shortstop was only able to play every five days because of the nature of his position that would make more sense.
True, it’s not uncommon to give the catcher a day or two off every week due to the demands of the position, and any hitting you can get out of the catcher is good, but no one has ever suggested using a DH for the catcher.
How many batters on your favorite team are hitting .273? Max Scherzer is.
C’mon man. Scherzer has had 33 at-bats. His career line is .192/.224/.217. Putrid. Sure, a handful of pitchers can hit.
I’m not going to hunt down all the numbers, but here are some recent tallies:
It’s ugly, and getting uglier.
There are so few pitchers who are a bit less than putrid as hitters that you can name them individually. QED.
Often, it’s because your staff ace wants a personal catcher (Jon Lester and David Ross, for example), or you have a knuckleballer that your starting catcher can’t or won’t work with (i.e. Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli). But that does set up a regular catching rotation that works for the team over the course of the season.
The statement was “NL pitchers aren’t fun to watch at bat either.” Max is fun to watch at bat.