Make that three. Not only has he not regressed, but he actually gotten better.
Reds sweep the Redbirds!
On another note…Aroldis Chapman can’t get anybody out…again. He’s become a base on balls machine.
Posada’s actions are one thing. It’s kind of expected from a prima donna who’s been told how awesome he is his entire career and is now dealing with diminishing skills. But Brian Cashman is something else. Some choice quotes from the NY Post:
“He can’t put this on me?” “If we felt he was toast?” What kind of professional executive says those things? This is a continuation of a string of bizarre actions over the last 6 months that includes publicly bashing Derek Jeter and announcing at a press conference that he didn’t want Rafael Soriano and was forced to sign him. Cashman has always been a little more frank than some GMs but this is an entirely different animal and seems like a distinct personality change.
I’m a Red Sox fan, so the whole thing is pretty funny at the moment, but if it was Theo Epstein behaving like this, I’d be seriously concerned.
If Bautista had, in 2011 done exactly what he did in 2010 with with half as many home runs, I’d have been quite happy. .260 with 27 home runs, 100 walks, and you can play four or five positions? I’ll take as many of those players as you’ve got.
Instead, he’s not only better, but actually quite a lot better so far - over 100 more points in average, more walks. If you took all his home runs and converted them into singles he’d STILL be one of the best hitters in the major leagues. Alex Anthopolous looks like a genius for giving him the $65 million extension.
Obviously Bautista cannot keep hitting like Babe Ruth, but he has a long way to fall and could still remain an elite hitter. He’s been the best home run hitter in baseball for a season and a half now (this started in September 2009) and he isn’t just putting up fluke numbers; he LOOKS like the best hitter I’ve ever seen, every bit as dangerous and unpitchable as Pujols, albeit with a different swing. His batting eye is razor sharp. His bat speed is amazing, and he can hit pitches in a wide power zone - the inside pitch is his breakfast, but he can hit them outside as well. I’ve seen new Blue Jay power hitters kill the league for a month or two and then get a rude reality check when the opposition learns their weakness - it happened to McGriff, Delgado, and others. Bautista looks like a frigging monster. I don’t know how you should pitch him. Evidently no one does.
After the 2010 season it came out that Bautista had been playing with a hernia most of the season, which he had operated on after the season ended. It was much joked around Toronto that, holy moly, imagine how he’ll hit now that the hernia’s fixed. We’re now finding out.
No Mariners baseball this weekend. They can’t lose if they don’t play. They’ve been rained out in Cleveland more than any other city. Bedard and Pineda get skipped in the rotation as King Felix will keep his spot in the rotation. Maybe this time off will fix Brandon League because the M’s are pretty much stuck with as closer.
No Cleveland baseball this weekend. I feel itchy.
I guess there’s been more postponed games this year so far than all of last year.
You didn’t happen to pick up a staph infection from the Browns locker room, did you?
Now it’s my turn for the /whiper emote, I suppose. Just shitty performs by the birds on the bat this weekend. I’m also starting to get anxious for TLR to get back. I don’t think he would have used Batista instead of better relievers on Friday night or left Carpenter in for so long on Sunday.
And now the Cards get Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt today and tomorrow night… here’s hoping for some good pitching from the home side to make the games interesting.
Yeah, it was way too big a mountain to climb, but he at least gave me hope. I’m guessing they send him down soon?
What’s with the Cardinal players (Laird, Carpenter) being little bitches?
Now they got all pissed off at Derek Jeter for comments that to me sounded rather innocuous.
I don’t even begin to understand how this story got to the press or why the Yankees have so stupidly managed this. They have managed to make a huge hairy deal involving two players and the manager and the GM from an incident that amounts to absolutely jack shit and that every person in management should have responded to with “There’s no problem.” It’s truly bizarre.
And baseball teams don’t need “captains,” I feel the need to point out.
All of this. IT gets blown way out of proportion because it happens in New York.
Vin Mazzaro for the Royals: 14 ER on 11 H in 2.1 innings.
The Indians’ bats must have been restless.
R.I.P. Harmon Killebrew.
Last night was super fun, after our last 10 games against awesome pitching. One more against the Royals then we see the White Sox for two, so hopefully we’ve got 3 high-scorers coming our way!
Nice article Tanbarkie, thanks!
Bouncing back for a moment to the Braves and the unusual number of bunts - we Braves’ fans have been dealing with the sac bunts for 20 years now - as Bobby Cox was a fan of them and Fredi Gonzalez is a Cox disciple. In fact, I think Fredi orders MORE scarifices than Cox did…
But, the Braves are 11-4 in May, only 2.5 back of the Phils, and with the staff the Braves have a run can be all they need in a lot of games.
My favorite factoid about Mazzaro’s Meltdown: Vin didn’t even get the loss, since he entered with the Royals already down 3-0.
How long can Cleveland keep it up? They won like 9 games in the last at bat. They have to come back to earth , don’t they?
Before last night their bats had cooled off after having to play Oakland and Anaheim. But Choo and Santana haven’t even really started hitting yet.
It’s been mainly pitching and defense. They’ve got some good gloves out in the field, and the rotation has had plenty of quality starts.
Mostly pitching and defense? They have the most runs scored in the AL. Also, they have the best run differential in MLB. They aren’t going away.
Speaking of run differential. The Twins are in pace to be outscored by almost 400 runs. Last years worst team, the Pirates, weren’t outscored by 300 runs. Even if they start scoring in bunches or their pitching and defense get markedly better, they could still be outscored by 300+ runs. They were good last year. What happened?