MLB: May 2018

Robinson Cano is suspended for 80 games for violating the MLB PED ban.

Perfect game in progress right now for Jordan Lyles of the San Diego Padres vs Colorado. 21 up, 21 down so far.

And that’s about how long his broken hand was going to take to heal anyway. Remarkable timing with that suspension, huh?

I’ve long thought that any suspension shouldn’t be enforced until the player is on the active roster. It’s always too convenient for a suspension to coincide with a DL stint.

Move over, David Price. One of your teammates has you beat in the dumb injury category.

My favorite stupid baseball injury still has to be GlenAllen Hill cutting himself on his coffee table after dreaming about spiders.

Gone with one out in the 8th.
You shouldn’t have mentioned it.

Lol, I figured it was safe to mention it since I’m thousands of miles away from San Diego. It was a pleasant surprise to find a day ball game on MLB.TV on a Tuesday as I’ve just gotten back from Europe and watched very little baseball when I was there. A day game, on TV, on travel recovery day is exactly what I need.

The Braves had two challenges go against them in the same inning in last night’s loss to the Cubs.

A Mike Montgomery pitch got past Willson Contreras. It bounced back to Contreras, who fired a bullet to Montgomery covering home. Johan Camargo appeared to get his hand on the plate just before the tag, but was called out. After the Atlanta challenge, umpires said that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call. Atlanta announcers started doing their impressions of Hawk Harrelson.

Shortly thereafter, another pitch got past Contreras, who fired another bullet, this time to third, where the tag appeared to be just after the runner’s foot hit the bag.

As a Cub fan, I’ll take the “W,” but I have to admit that, as a pure baseball fan, they probably didn’t earn the win.

Yeah, another Cub fan and I agree. But the flip side is, somewhere along the line this season we’re gonna get hosed on a call and lose a game as a result.

God I hate John Gibbons’s strategy of ALWAYS pulling the starter after 100 pitches. Today he yanked JA Happ after 101. Happ had gone seven innings, striking out 10, no walks, two hits, no runs. He personally reached base more than the Mets did, in fact; he is the first Blue Jay pitcher to ever reach base three times in one game (two hits, one walk.) But sure, yank him, and askk the exhausted bullpen to pitch a few innings Happ might have pitched. Jesus Christ. Let’s protect young JA Happ’s arm, he’s only 35 goddamn years old.

Absolutely my all time favourite. “The Thrill” was a fun player to watch, too.

Price isn’t even the first MLB player to miss time due to video games; awhile back Joel Zumaya hurt his hand playing “Guitar Hero” and missed the entire ALCS.

Dave Righetti once got hurt and missed time because he’s Italian. Or that’s the way he explained it at the time. He was telling someone a story and talking with his hands. Whacked a sharp object.

Speaking of whacking, Bob Ojeda nearly severed the top third of the middle finger on his pitching hand with a hedge trimmer. Fortunately, surgeons were able to reattach it and he went on to pitch for six or seven more seasons.

Some other examples, including Joel Zumaya straining his pitching forearm by playing too much Guitar Hero.

So the Astros, as a team, have a 2.44 ERA in 400+ innings. (League ERA 4.32)

Max Scherzer, last year, had a 2.51 ERA in 200+ innings. (League ERA 4.34)

Makes me wonder when was the last time a Jays starter actually pitched a complete game.

Not technically MLB - quite something that Vladdy is batting over .400 in a league where he’s six years younger than the average player.

By a cursory boo, looks like Stroman in a loss two Aprils ago, and before that, RA Dickey in Sept. '15.
2016 wasn’t a very good year for Jay starters for complete games.

Speaking of Stroman, quite the hill to climb whenever his shoulder will hopefully get better (a week ago was put on 10 day DL) and try to salvage his numbers which are at a concerning 0-5 and 7.71 ERA.
Too bad Biagini can’t get his shit together - he is the Greatest Interviewee in the History of Major League Baseball.

I don’t know whether their Fielding Independent Pitching stats mean that either their ERAs will come back to Earth, or that the shift is really, really effective. I lack the skills with the Play Index to figure out just how historic this first quarter pitching performance is, but it seems really damned good.

Verlander: ERA 1.05, ERA+ 376, FIP 2.20
Cole: ERA 1.75, ERA+ 225, FIP 1.96
Keuchel: ERA 3.10, ERA+ 127, FIP 4.16
Morton: ERA 1.94, ERA+ 204, FIP 3.39
McCullers: ERA 3.63, ERA+ 109, FIP 3.05

Now if only they could get some timely hitting, although Gattis seems to have just found some of his stroke from last year.

Assuming the weather holds up, I’ll be participating in one today for the first time. Today’s Dodgers/Nats games are scheduled for 2pm and 8pm. I have some questions.

[ul][li]What does one do in between games? [/li][li]Do they really force everyone to exit the stadium to be readmitted even for those who have tickets to both?[/li][li]Do folks just mill about the area outside of the stadium until they’re allowed back in?I have parking passes (in two separate lots) for both games. Am I expected to drive out of one and move to the other between games? Assuming not, can I get a refund on the second parking pass?[/ul][/li]
I’m just generally curious about people’s experiences with day/night doubleheaders.

At Yankees you have to leave and come back. We got a meal at a nearby diner and a few brews between the games. True doubleheaders of course you stay put.