Went to he Jays game yesterday, a lovely day to watch baseball, and got to see the Jays lose because they only have one outfielder on the team.
I’d like to say I’m kidding but I’m not; since Jose Bautista is hurt, the team has decided to just have infielders, and they play Kevin Pillar, the one outfielder, in center. Yesterday’s left fielder was an infielder, Danny Valencia, and the right fielder was a first baseman/DH, Chris Colabello. If you think playing the outfield is easy, you didn’t watch the game; both botched plays any real MLB outfielder would have made, and it cost them two runs and the game.
I do not believe there is ANY point this year at which the Jays have had more than three outfielders on the roster, which you may all recall is traditionally the minimum number you need. Now, basically, they have one, and lost a game as a result and will lose more.
People around here are calling for the manager, John Gibbons, to be fired. I don’t understand why. He’s deploying his players as best he can, but SOMEONE has to play right field. Sure, he’s stuck sending a lumbering first baseman out there, but who else is there? No one. And Kevin Pillar, your only outfielder, therefore also has to play the outfield, and as a result he has to hit (which he cannot do.) Gibbons has to let people like Aaron Loup and R.A. Dickey pitch, because those are the pitchers he’s been given. Alex Anthopolous should be fired. Today.
10-0, bottom of the 6th, and the Dodgers are playing like the Quakes. No, worse than the Quakes. For High A, the Quakes are damn good. The wheels came off in the first 10 minutes today, and Mattingly is just trying to ride it out. The ERAs are going to be sky-high after today.
Dunno if they went up there, but have you heard of Eddie Feigner - the King and his Court One infielder, one outfielder, a catcher (else lots of passed balls - not that there were many base-runners) and Eddie the pitcher. Sure, it’s under-hand softball. Still, very impressive they rarely lost (or let up a run)
Jeremy Guthrie managed to give up 11 runs and get three outs, for an ERA of 99.0 today. The Yankee short porch right field didn’t help, but was hardly the root cause.
It had kind of looked like he was turning things around - hopefully this was just one of those days.
The Marlins have found their solution: Fire the 3rd base coach. This team really reminds me of one of those comical teams I used to read about in books on the history of baseball.
Anybody see the Khris Davis HR that almost wasn’t?
Davis homered for Milwaukee against SF yesterday and then was called out by the plate umpire on appeal for not touching home. The out call was overturned upon a challenge from the Brewers. It looked to me to be clear that the back half of one foot was on the plate, but I have read comments from people who say either that it’s inconclusive or that he clearly did not touch the plate. As I said, I thought it was quite clear that he touched the plate…curious what you guys think.
(I have no particular like or dislike for either team btw)
The annals of baseball history are filled with examples of teams that turned their seasons around by firing the guy whose job it is to either wave his arm around or not wave his arm around.
I think that the umpire who was standing less than three feet from the plate, who was looking directly at the plate for the sole purpose of determining whether or not the runner touched the plate, probably had the best look at the play…and he ruled that the runner missed the plate.
Every camera angle I saw looked pretty darn ‘inconclusive’ to me.
The replays I’ve seen include a top-down view, and it looked to me like there was shading under the back half of his foot, indicating that there was space between the plate and that portion of the foot.
It’s easy to pick on the dysfunctional Marlins, but it’s comical to see the managers they considered before hiring Dan Jennings. Ron Washington? Managed to choke away two World Series , awful with pitching staffs, and highly questionable lineup decisions (Michael Young) Dusty Baker? And bring back Ozzie Guillen, by far the least competent manager in MLB recently, known only for his useless big mouth.
The Marlins seem determined to finish at the bottom of NL East, Loria is a completely useless clown. No team with that outfield should be struggling like this.
Oh Thor, how I love thee. Throwing 7 (or so) shutout innings while going 3-3 at the plate, including a 400+ foot bomb. Yeah, you are going to do fine in NY.
This is why the correct decision should have been “replay inconclusive; the call on the field stands”
Here in Giants country, we don’t like to think about that month that falls between May and July…we’re just hoping that this year the “June Swoon” was replaced by “Awful April”*
*credit to **Rhiannon8404 **for coining that when we were 3-10