# MLB: May 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514 "2012-05-01T14:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/181 "2012-05-16T21:43:37Z")
Yeah, I guess. I really can’t tell how much the helmet spike was inadvertent - it’s not like he throw it to the side and it bounced funny. He clearly meant to throw it down at the ump’s feet at the least, IMO. It just bounced higher than he expected. He wound up, threw it down forcefully no more than two feet away from the ump’s feet, from what I can tell from this video: [http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/5/16/3024906/brett-lawrie-umpire-helmet-suspension-blue-jays](http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/5/16/3024906/brett-lawrie-umpire-helmet-suspension-blue-jays) ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/182 "2012-05-16T21:48:06Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > In terms of their location, the calls were no worse than some of Miller’s other ones, but i tend to agree with **RickJay** ’s interpretation, whereby the second one was basically the umpire deciding to teach Lawrie a lesson for “showing him up” on the previous pitch by jogging towards first base. Well, maybe. If anything I think the first one was a “show up” call. The second one was a high change-up but was at least over the plate. PitchFx has it as a borderline strike (very borderline considering how rarely high strikes are called). The first one was well outside. You can see the entire game’s right-hand hitters strike zone here: [http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/fastmap.php?pitchSel=all&game=gid\_2012\_05\_15\_tbamlb\_tormlb\_1/&sp\_type=3&s\_type=7](http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/fastmap.php?pitchSel=all&game=gid_2012_05_15_tbamlb_tormlb_1/&sp_type=3&s_type=7) The Lawrie calls were not the worst of the game. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/183 "2012-05-16T23:02:45Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > The only way the suspension is light, in my opinion, is if you believe that Lawrie intentionally hit the umpire with the helmet. Had he directed it at the ump, i’d agree with you, but he slammed it straight down and just got an unlucky bounce. If Lawrie had hit the ump on PURPOSE he would have been lucky to just get four _weeks_. Pete Rose got a month for bumping a guy with his chest. Had Lawrie actually thrown his helmet at Miller with intent he’d have probably gotten 50 games. Four days is, in my opinion, a bit light, and I’m a Jays fan and a huge Lawrie fan. I expected 7-10 days and would have called that fair. He has to be held responsible for doing something that quite obviously could have resulted in the umpire being struck with a peice of equipment. I don’t think he wanted to hit Miller, either, but it was negligent. Miller’s a bullshit umpire and the call was, IMHO, wholly intentional (but impossible to prove, so forget anything coming from that) but you have to protect them. The inviolability of the umpires is a cardinal rule, as it should be. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/184 "2012-05-16T23:40:03Z")
Incidentally, I was thinking today about how batting averages and offense are way down. There’s a lot of talk about why this is; fewer 'roids is often cited, but better glovework and a lot of good young pitching are also explanations. I wonder, though, how much defensive shifting comes into it. Maybe it’s just that I’m a Blue Jays fan and the Jays are extreme practitioners of unusual defensive shifts but it seems like every team does exagerrated shifts WAY more than they used to. 20, 25 years ago, every team played every hitter more or less straight away; shifts were very rare. Now you see them shifting all the time, even on righthanded hitters, which NEVER used to happen; the Yankees are using three men on the left side of the infield when Jose Bautista bats, and against Brett Lawrie had a weird two-way shift on where the infield was playing a slight pull but the center fielder was playing him the other way. My perception is that not only is there like thirty times more of this than there used to be, but that it works. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/185 "2012-05-16T23:52:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > If Lawrie had hit the ump on PURPOSE he would have been lucky to just get four _weeks_. I agree. If i thought he had hit him with the helmet on purpose, i’d be advocating for a suspension in the weeks, not days. Also, i looked at the clip again after **Jas09** ’s post, and i would amend my previous position a bit. While Lawrie didn’t throw the helmet _at_ Miller, he did throw it forward and down, between himself and the umpire, and he was only a few feet from the umpire at the time, so the chances of it bouncing up to hit the ump were pretty good. I’m not unhappy with 4 days, but i also wouldn’t cavil too much as 7-10, if that’s what they decided. Lawrie is appealing the suspension, apparently, and is in the lineup tonight, so he’ll spend half the game about very close to Miller. I think appealing the suspension is a dick move, personally; he got a punishment that was, at best, fair, and at worst too light. Back when i lived in Australia, the National Rugby League instituted a system whereby, if a player appealed a suspension and lost, he would actually serve a longer suspension than if he just accepted it. I think MLB could usefully institute a similar system. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/186 "2012-05-17T00:01:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > My perception is that not only is there like thirty times more of this than there used to be, but that it works. Some players are starting to work against it, too, though, and it will be interesting to see how it balances out. David Ortiz bunted down the third-base line yesterday, and strolled into first base because of the shift. He ended up coming around to score. How many times can a player do that, do you think, before a team decides that the shift isn’t worth it? I realize that bunting against the shift only allows a single, and takes away the chance of an extra-base hit, but even the best hitters only average around .350, and a hitter that gets a single in every at-bat would be the most valuable player in the history of baseball. (Obviously, there are also baserunner situations where a shift isn’t used, like when there’s a runner on second and/or third. But even in bases-empty situations, you don’t want to guarantee someone a hit almost every time.) ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/187 "2012-05-17T14:25:30Z")
A bit of a scary moment in the Boston-Tampa Bay game last night as Rays second baseman Will Rhymes collapsed briefly at first base after being hit by a pitch. He is going to be all right. [http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=320516130](http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=320516130) ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/188 "2012-05-17T16:32:39Z")
I can’t prove it, but I feel like the Indians lead the league in fouling pitches off of themselves. Michael Brantley knocked his own legs out from under him last night. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/189 "2012-05-17T16:56:28Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > I can’t prove it, but I feel like the Indians lead the league in fouling pitches off of themselves. Michael Brantley knocked his own legs out from under him last night. It’s hard work being in first place! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/190 "2012-05-18T00:26:12Z")
Toronto’s Yan Gomes is playing in tonight’s game against New York; that makes him the first Brazilian-born player in the history of the major leagues. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/191 "2012-05-18T05:49:45Z")
At the end of tonight’s play, the NL East can boast that every single team in the division is above .500. When is the last time that happened? Am I wrong in thinking that’s extremely uncommon at any point in a given season? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/192 "2012-05-18T11:42:40Z")
Curse you, David Wright! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/193 "2012-05-18T12:58:03Z")
Travis Hafner becomes Indians’ all-time leader in getting hit with pitches, surpassing Hall of Famer [Nap Lajoie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap_Lajoie), who played with the Tribe from 1902, when they were the Cleveland Bluebirds, through 1903 when they changed their name to the Naps, through 1914. “It took a lot of hard work and dedication,” says Hafner. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/194 "2012-05-18T14:30:12Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > “It took a lot of hard work and dedication,” says Hafner. That’s hilarious! Joe ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/195 "2012-05-18T15:53:22Z")
Apparently Kerry Wood is calling it a career. Reports say that he’s going to retire after making one final outing, probably something this weekend against the hated White Sox. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/196 "2012-05-18T15:53:52Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > At the end of tonight’s play, the NL East can boast that every single team in the division is above .500. When is the last time that happened? Am I wrong in thinking that’s extremely uncommon at any point in a given season? At the conclusion of the 1991 season, every team in the 7-team AL West was .500 or better. I can’t easily search for how common this is, but you have to think in 5-team divisional play, early in the year, it isn’t THAT unlikely. I doubt it happens much but it wouldn’t take a lot for it to happen. The smaller you split up divisions, the weirder the results can be. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/197 "2012-05-18T16:17:22Z")
In 2005, every team in the NL East finished .500 or better. The Nationals, at 81-81, were the bottom team in the division. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/198 "2012-05-18T16:54:26Z")
This may just be true in my head, but for some reason, it strikes me as being significantly more difficult to have every team in a division OVER .500 as opposed to at least AT .500, given how often they all play each other. I suppose it could be more likely early in a season if one or two teams spend an unusual amount of time playing out of their division to start the year. So has there been a year where everyone finished above the .500 mark? And I wonder if this will become more common from next season forward, given the increased amount of interleague play. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/199 "2012-05-18T17:03:11Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > This may just be true in my head, but for some reason, it strikes me as being significantly more difficult to have every team in a division OVER .500 as opposed to at least AT .500, given how often they all play each other. Obviously, it’s a _little_ more difficult, but i’m not sure that the difference is very significant. For example, look at the NL East in 2005. The Nationals ended up at 81-81. They lost 14 out-of-division games by 1 run. If they had managed to win just one of those games, their record would have been 82-80, without changing the standings of the rest of the teams in their division. I’m no probability expert, but it doesn’t seem to me that 82-80 is very much less likely, in this situation, than 81-81. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514/200 "2012-05-18T20:42:46Z")
Umpire Bob Davidson, the worst umpire in baseball, was suspended one game for repeated violations of the standards of “situation handling”. This action is really rare (last time an ump was suspended was in 2008) and about the only thing that can be done to an umpire, who have the strongest union in baseball. By any objective measurement, this guy does not belong in Major League Baseball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2012/620514.md?page=11)