Yadier Molina leaves the game looking ‘not good’; he hit a ground ball, and never even left the batter’s box. He had taken a foul ball off his foot earlier in the game, but the Fox folks think there’s something else wrong. Based on how he looked on that play, I have to agree.
Crappity crap crap. 
The radio guys (Mike Shannon & John Rooney) say left oblique.
Oh good, Rosenthal. Nothing at all can go wrong.
Cardinals-Giants, bottom of the 7th, 2 out, Jon Jay on first. Hunter Strickland comes in to pitch to Matt Holliday and, after his third pitch, Strickland picks off Jon Jay (1 to 3 to 6 to 1 to 4). 3rd out. Is Holliday credited with a plate appearance? There is no “at bat”. If Strickland gets no credit for a “batter faced”, then I assume that some pitchers have thrown 1+ pitches without ever facing a batter. Please excuse me if there is an easy-to-find answer to this.
A batter only gets a plate appearance if he completes the at-bat. That is, if it ends with him being retired or becoming a runner. If an inning ends by some other means (such as a runner caught stealing), it is not a plate appearance.
Thank you. I idly wonder how easy it is, then, to reconcile the totals of batters faced and plate appearances.
That was not a relaxing 9th inning. Phew.
Between the Packers game, Molina going down and Rosenthal being Rosenthal I think I’ve had three heart attacks today. Thank the higher power that tomorrow is a travel day!
Tough loss for the Giants. A hard-fought win for the Cardinals. On to Tuesday and Lackey vs. Hudson.
Interesting Hardball Times piece about the expansion of the strike zone over the past five years.
The zone has grown about 9% over that time, from 436 to 475 square inches, with the biggest year-over-year change coming from 2013 to 2014, when the strike zone added 16 square inches from one season the next. The biggest area of expansion seems to be downward, on pitches that cross the plate less than 21 inches above the ground.
The article also notes that the strike zone is significantly larger for right-handed batters than for left-handers.
As the author notes, this shift has considerable consequences for pitching strategy, hitting strategy, and overall run production.
Dammit, rain, I had a nice lazy evening planned. I have rehearsal tomorrow night.
(Grumble.)
I heard on the radio today (KNBR, Giants flagship) that Molina says he’s “not done”, and the ballclub said he can catch and throw fine, but batting is a problem. If that’s the case, I don’t see him getting too much action…
They’re keeping him on the roster.
If they make it to the World Series, they can use a designated hitter to bat for him when they play in an American League park, right? Right?
Sorry, but no. The DH is a replacement for the pitcher only; it can’t be used to bat in place of a position player.
Reading the DH rule I note this:
Am I missing something, or does this entirely neglect regular-season interleague play?
So in a world where new threads had a chance this would probably be its own thing, but I wanted to at least bring up here:
Andrew Friedman, Rays GM (until his resignation yesterday) will become President of Baseball Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Everyone asked the question a decade ago, “what would happen in Billy Beane left for a team with resources?”, and this is about as close as we’re likely to see to getting a real-life answer. Friedman has turned the Rays from a punchline into the AL East competitor that Sox fans have been scared of over the past several years (more so than the Yankees, from a competitive point of view). It looks like he’s being put into a similar situation as Theo Epstein in Chicago: he’ll be hiring a GM under him to spread the work, but Friedman will be the one in charge. I wonder if having to trade Price was finally the last straw, if he just saw the coming few years for the Rays as a possible rebuilding period, if the Dodgers completely backed up a truck full of cash, or (most likely) all of the above.
You have to also think that Mattingly is on a really short leash now, since he doesn’t particularly fit with what Friedman has looked for in a manager in the past.
Of course, Epstein’s tenure in Chicago has not been a model of success. Sometimes what works in one place will not work in another. Sports history is littered with GMs who were geniuses in City A and just could not win in City B.
I’ve just realized that I can’t watch a postseason pre-game show from SF without expecting an earthquake.
Finally, an excellent catch by a Cardinals outfielder that they actually held on to.
Lackey doesn’t appear to have his ‘good stuff’ so far today…