RickJay:
Amen.
This puts a slightly sick spin, though, on your referring to the team as the “hapless Blue Jays” on the prior page.
The things that were nice about the way that game ended was that a) Mesoroco is a backup catcher not really known for his offensive prowess, b) the Reds offense had been practically silent all night and c) it was on a 2-out, 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
I was about to go to bed as I assumed it would then go into extra innings, but Choo crushed the first pitch of the next at bat and ended the game. That was pretty sweet.
Happ has been released from the hospital. It sounds like he didn’t suffer any fractures or brain injury like McCarthy did.
I hadn’t heard of pitcher headgear before. At first I envisioned pitchers wearing amateur-style boxing headgear, which would have been weird. The caps with padded inserts don’t look too cumbersome.
Oddly it seems to be the union holding up the implementation of the protective headgear.
Jordan Zimmermann is pitching a great game tonight.
Goddamn the Reds are in an offensive slurry. Jay Bruce fucking sucks. Zach Cozart fucking sucks. Todd Frazier is slumping badly. Votto is just seeming to get going. Left field is a black hole of bad hitting (although this Lutz cat seems to be doing okay…for now) We complained for the last few years, us Reds fans, about not having a good leadoff hitter. “If we could only get the leadoff guy on base, we’d score so many more runs!” we said.
Well fuck me if Shin Soo Choo isn’t a fucking badass motherfucker. Problem is, he gets himself on base every damn game but nobody can bring his Big League Choo ass around!
Argh.
The union isn’t holding things up. The holdup is the lack of an option that would be light enough and would really work. Brandon McCarthy has been particularly emphatic about this. For example cap inserts might be a good idea, but they wouldn’t have done anything for him or for Happ.
On the metro headed to Nats v Tigers.
Cubs were cheated by an unfair interference call 
The Yankees are in first place…how did that happen?
This has to be the most intriguing Yankee team in decades. You never know what the patchwork offense is going to do, if anything at all.
Finally…a day when the Dodgers don’t lose a game.
Who’s more disappointing so far, the Blue Jays, the Angels or the Dodgers?
So the umpires are much in the news:
–First, a game-tying homer by an Oakland A in Cleveland which was mistakenly ruled a double–and the call was not overturned even though the umps went and watched the replays.
–Second, the Astros were allowed to put one pitcher in the game and then remove him before he faced any batters (actually, before he completed his warmup pitches).
The bigger issue “out there in media-land” right now seems to be the Oakland affair, which I guess is reasonable considering that they lost the game and that there was a wealth of evidence that the ball was absolutely a home run. But I find myself shaking my head much more at the Houston situation, even though the Astros wound up losing. I can understand, sort of, missing a judgment call–it happens–and maybe they didn’t watch all the angles they should’ve on the replay. But not to know the rule about replacing pitchers–that boggles my mind. especially since the Angels’ manager pointed it out to them. And especially because I have known this rule since I was about eleven! Epic fail, I’d say, epic fail.
These replacement umps suck.
So who are you calling on to move asses, then?
The people working on the headgear. And if there’s anything MLB can do to speed it up, it should do that.
MLB agress and suspends the home plate ump for 2 games. The base umps were all fined.
It is a wild ride and now Granderson is close to coming back. Also Nunez is available tonight. So the help is finally getting close.
Probably the **Angels **as their fans have got to feel like the Pujols deal is going to end up looking worse than A-Rods and he is already under performing early in the contract.
Albert PujolsFirst Baseman12/8/2011: Signed a 10-year, $250 million contract. The deal includes a full no-trade clause, a 10-year personal services contract and incentives based on performance. 2012: $12 million, 2013: $16 million, 2014: $23 million, 2015: $24 million, 2016: $25 million, 2017: $26 million, 2018: $27 million, 2019: $28 million, 2020: $29 million, 2021: $30 million, 2022: Free Agent
All thee teams have been so bad, how can you choose?
As to the Astros pitching thing… I am quite honestly stunned. I don’t understand, at all, how that could happen. I know the rule, you all know the rule, everyone knows the rule, and even if you don’t know the rule, it’s common fucking sense. These umps have been in how many games, and this happens, and none of them thought “hey, you know what? I’ve never seen anyone be allowed to do this before. I’ve seen like a million guys pinch hit to face a new pitcher and I’ve never seen another pitcher be brought in right away. Maybe there’s a reason for that.” How can four MAJOR LEAGUE UMPIRES all forget that rule all at the same time?
Would it have killed the crew chief to carry a rulebook with him? Mabe have a quick look at it? Jesus.