From the official rules:
It’s been like this (or something like this) for as long as I can remember.
If I’m understanding you correctly it’s because the bullpen sucks so badly that the starters get more time before the hook than would otherwise be considered necessary. Simon pitched great tonight, and fortunately, the bullpen followed suit for once.
ETA: Even at his “advanced age” Phillips is THE MAN with the glove.
After giving up 22 runs in three games to the Indians, the Tigers are now down 9-0 in the bottom of the 4th inning. That’s bad enough under most circumstances, but when you’re facing Yu Darvish it’s pretty much game over.
It looks like Prince Fielder is going to have surgery and be out for the season.
Edit: I don’t know why i thought Fielder was still with the Tigers. Anyway, bad news for the Rangers.
And Olivo is gone. It’ll be interesting to see if another team picks him up after this. I’m certain that if anyone makes an offer, he’ll be all ears…
Adam Dunn, a walk off two-run homer off Dave Robertson to erase a 5-4 Yankees lead in the 9th. The White Sox aren’t going anywhere, but it’s always fun to beat the Yankees.
Josh Beckett is pitching a…well, he’s pitching very well for the Dodgers through seven innings. Not that I’m superstitious or anything.
And he get it!
First Dodgers no-hitter since 1996. Beckett’s first. 128 pitches, and he gets Chase Utley with a called third strike. A thing of beauty.
I have thought for two or three seasons that the Dodgers have the staff to get themselves a no-hitter, but I would not have guessed it’d be Beckett to get it.
Selfishly, I’m glad he did it on the road, since I won’t be able to get to a baseball game for a couple of weeks, and I’d have been kicking myself if I’d missed it in person.
I spent the week in a resort in the Dominican and the Blue Jays went absolutely insane and are suddenly in first place.
I may approach the Jays about a deal to send me to more all inclusives. It’s a tough job, but, dammit, you have to spend to win.
Yeah, Beckett just made this a pretty special Sunday for this Dodgers fan.
If your excursions also keep the Red Sox on more 0-10 streaks, i might have to pitch in.
The difference in overall roster quality between the Red Sox and Blue Jays is so vast that at this point, if you forced me to bet $20 on which team was going to finish first, I might still bet on Boston, dreadful though they have been.
Still, it has to be concerning that the Red Sox aren’t hitting home runs. If you look at the two team’s offenses they are rather strange in that Boston has a better on base percentage but has scored far fewer runs than Toronto. The reason is that walking is literally the only thing the Sox do better; Toronto gets more hits, hits (way) more home runs, runs the bases better, etc. The Sox only have walks, really, and it’s not enough.
Still, I cannot shake the feeling Boston will turn it around. The Grady Sizemore experiment has failed and Will Middlebrooks has turned out exactly as well as I expected him to. Those are clear deficiencies that can be easily improved at least a little, and possibly improved a lot, depending on who’s available for trade. Toronto, conversely, is doing about as well as they possibly can and has nothing that can be easily improved given the personnel they have or tradeable assets they can give away. I will not be at all surprised if Boston can climb out of this.
“Losing is a disease.” 
It is, too. This is a full team slump.
They’re all trying too hard, *all *of them, and all but Holt and Bogaerts of all people have shown it. Maybe the little scuffle last night will break the pattern, but I doubt it, there was too little participation.
The Red Sox have been a dumpster fire so far this year, it’s fantastic.
How do you explain Buehrle? His WHIP is about the same for his career and his strikeouts are about the same too. How is he doing it?
He’s getting very lucky on fly balls. Only 3% of the flyballs he’s allowed this year have gone for home runs, versus a career average of about 10% (which is in-line with most pitchers in MLB).
A few more balls over the fence and his numbers end up looking a lot different.
Half of it is luck; his hits allowed are 8.5/9 innings, lower than in any season he has ever had except 2001. That’s just guys catching the ball well, there’s no other explanation for it.
The other half is he’s not giving up home runs. He’s only given up two, where normally by now he’d have given up six or seven.
Nice win for the Orioles in Milwaukee today.
Baltimore was down 6-4 in the top of the ninth, with two out and no-one on base. A home run, a single, and then an RBI double tied it up.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers had a man on third with one out after a throwing error by Orioles catcher Nick Hundley, but Mark Reynolds lined out to Hardy at short, and an awful baserunning play by Elian Herrera allowed Hardy to go to third for the DP.
Then, again with two out and no-one on base in the tenth, the Orioles got a double and an RBI single to take the lead, and then closed it out in the bottom of the inning.
The Red Sox managed to bust their long winless streak, beating the Braves.
Through 7 innings so far, Hyun Jin Ryu is having…a very good game.