MLB 2015 Season Thread

jack presley

circular flexing wrote: »

But if pitchers didn't bat then you wouldn't get to see Bartolo Colon bat and that alone is worth keeping DHing out of NL.

Also, plenty of position players struggle to hit over .250 also (and even some DHs) - should we stop them batting too and just have 9 DHs instead?

The Mets DHs went 1-13 this weekend against the Yankees. Maybe they should have let the pitchers bat instead!

Seriously though, I love it when pitchers bat. It's probably because of the unexpectedness of them getting a hit that makes it great when they do actually get on base. I still have nightmares from a few years back when Felix Hernandez hit a grand slam against Johan Santana. So I think it's worth putting up with the 90% of mediocrity for that 1 in 10 excitement when the fielding team think they have an out in the bag and the pitcher whacks one into gap.

I'm also a fan of low scoring pitching duels so that might explain my lack of enthusiasm for seeing more Big Papis.

jack presley

Time to bring helmets to games! Between yer one getting the ball int he head last week and some bloke getting hit with a bat last night, it's getting dangerous to be in the expensive seats!

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25165912/addison-russell-feels-terribly-bad-after-fan-struck-with-flying-bat

8-10

circular flexing wrote: »

But if pitchers didn't bat then you wouldn't get to see Bartolo Colon bat and that alone is worth keeping DHing out of NL.

Also, plenty of position players struggle to hit over .250 also (and even some DHs) - should we stop them batting too and just have 9 DHs instead?

Sorry hang on nobody's stopping them from batting. The DH is optional in the AL not mandatory. If the pitcher is good enough then you can still bat him. If you're against the change then just don't name a DH in the lineup.

jack presley

8-10 wrote: »

Doubt any of them will go ahead

Tomorrow's game going ahead at 2pm behind closed doors and they've moved the Rays series to St. Petersburg but Baltimore will still be the home team. And the 2 White Sox games are going to be made up as a double header at the end of May.

8-10

jack presley wrote: »

Tomorrow's game going ahead at 2pm behind closed doors and they've moved the Rays series to St. Petersburg but Baltimore will still be the home team. And the 2 White Sox games are going to be made up as a double header at the end of May.

Surprised there's a game tomorrow even if it is closed to the public. Will be a weird one.

MoyVilla9

Tanaka to the DL. Felt a little sick when I read that this morning, the Yankees chances of reaching the playoffs rely on getting as many starts as possible from him and Pineda.

boccy23

MoyVilla9 wrote: »

Tanaka to the DL. Felt a little sick when I read that this morning, the Yankees chances of reaching the playoffs rely on getting as many starts as possible from him and Pineda.

Sad alright. He had looked great in his last outing as well.

Took a big chance with no surgery last year. May have been better off now by the looks of it.

jack presley

MoyVilla9 wrote: »

Tanaka to the DL. Felt a little sick when I read that this morning, the Yankees chances of reaching the playoffs rely on getting as many starts as possible from him and Pineda.

Still have an amazing bullpen so although he's a big loss, they should still be alright if they can stay in games early.

Hitters need to step up too.

mmarch2

Hey all,

Been a weird couple of days in Baltimore. Saturday night I went to the game with 7 other people. We got through the Baltimore Harbor about 4 minutes before they started rioting in the gallery. We were heading to Pickle's Pub (an Oriole bar right outside Camden Yards) but the police had lined up and prevented us from getting there.. Instead we watched television from outside Dempsey's, a bar located in the warehouses of Camden Yards. We saw the protests which were occurring about 500 feet away. I don't know how much footage you guys have seen regarding the looting/riots in Baltimore the past days but it has been pretty bad. On Saturday, there were 30-40 rioters at Pickle's Pub throwing tables, assaulting, and throwing bottles at Orioles fans at Pickle's pub.

The game was like being inside a bubble, there was no mention of what was taking place outside the stadium; however, as we sat at the 300 level on the 3rd base side, we could see 3-5 police and news station helicopters constantly circling around right outside. We also could hear firetruck and police sirens the entire time and hear the shouting in the streets. After the game, we were locked into the stadium due to police orders. After finally getting out, we left and headed in the opposite direction towards Federal Hill, Baltimore which is normally a very safe area without any incident.

Monday night was awful, as over 200 people were arrested and 150 fires were set in the city along with rioting and looting all over.


Today should certainly be an interesting day as the game will be closed off to the public.

mmarch2

8-10 wrote: »

Surprised there's a game tomorrow even if it is closed to the public. Will be a weird one.

I believe they decided to go ahead with the game because yesterday with the National Guard, Maryland State Police & surrounding county police being brought in things have calmed down a bit. As a precaution, they closed off the game to the public so the national guard and police would not have to divert their forces to protect Orioles fans.

Needless to say I have never seen anything like this before. I can't imagine how weird it will be for the players!

I also believe they moved the Rays series to Florida because this Saturday will be the biggest planned protest/possible riot thus far.

jack presley

mmarch2 wrote: »

I also believe they moved the Rays series to Florida because this Saturday will be the biggest planned protest/possible riot thus far.

So with today's game behind closed doors and 3 in St.Petersburg, that'll be 4 games in a row for Baltimore with no crowd!

My first experience of baseball was back in '88 when I was on a holiday to Florida as a kid and I watched an inning or two of a Spring Training game between the Reds and the Royals (I think it was them two anyway). It was at a theme park called Boardwalk and Baseball and one of the teams had their ST base there. Admission to the game came as part of the theme park admission so I went along out of curiously but I was literally one of only about 5 people in the crowd in a stadium that probably held about 5,000. I'd imagine it'll be like that today.

I remember the sound of the ball hitting the glove being a lot louder than I expected it to be.

boccy23

jack presley wrote: »

So with today's game behind closed doors and 3 in St.Petersburg, that'll be 4 games in a row for Baltimore with no crowd!

My first experience of baseball was back in '88 when I was on a holiday to Florida as a kid and I watched an inning or two of a Spring Training game between the Reds and the Royals (I think it was them two anyway). It was at a theme park called Boardwalk and Baseball and one of the teams had their ST base there. Admission to the game came as part of the theme park admission so I went along out of curiously but I was literally one of only about 5 people in the crowd in a stadium that probably held about 5,000. I'd imagine it'll be like that today.

I remember the sound of the ball hitting the glove being a lot louder than I expected it to be.

I went to a game in the old Joe Robbie stadium when the Miami Marlins were there and they played the Montreal Expos. It was in 2000. Derek Lee hit a monster home run to center field.

Had a look on Baseball Reference and there was 7864 in attendance. But it silent. You could hear all the base coaches, the ball hitting the mits, the talk in the dugout even.

jack presley

boccy23 wrote: »

I went to a game in the old Joe Robbie stadium when the Miami Marlins were there and they played the Montreal Expos. It was in 2000. Derek Lee hit a monster home run to center field.

Had a look on Baseball Reference and there was 7864 in attendance. But it silent. You could hear all the base coaches, the ball hitting the mits, the talk in the dugout even.

If the records say thee were 7864 there, you can probably assume the real figure was about half that. Baseball attendance figures include all season ticket sales, even if they're not there on that day.

boccy23

jack presley wrote: »

If the records say thee were 7864 there, you can probably assume the real figure was about half that. Baseball attendance figures include all season ticket sales, even if they're not there on that day.

Would definitely agree with that. It felt as if there was about 786 at the game.

8-10

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/why-this-ex-pitcher-with-a-brain-injury-will-be-padre-for-life-428747331782

Padres showing why they are one of the classiest franchises in MLB

8-10

mmarch2 wrote: »

I believe they decided to go ahead with the game because yesterday with the National Guard, Maryland State Police & surrounding county police being brought in things have calmed down a bit. As a precaution, they closed off the game to the public so the national guard and police would not have to divert their forces to protect Orioles fans.

Needless to say I have never seen anything like this before. I can't imagine how weird it will be for the players!

Is the mlb.tv game of the day

jack presley

8-10 wrote: »

Is the mlb.tv game of the day

I'd never specifically tune into a Baltimore v White Sox game but for some reason, an empty stadium has made this game alluring to me.

jack presley

You learn something new every day. Never knew until now that it was against the rules to go into the stands to catch a fly ball. You can lean in and catch it but you can't jump into the stands and catch it in there.

jack presley

jack presley wrote: »

I'd never specifically tune into a Baltimore v White Sox game but for some reason, an empty stadium has made this game alluring to me.

It's gas seeing the fans outside the gates cheering.

Itssoeasy

Just turned on the game between the oriels and the white sox and its a really weird situation and its weird that the fans allowed to stand outside the stadium but not actually in it. The echoing is strange.

jack presley

Ubaldo doesn't go all Ubaldo anymore does he? Is a 6 run lead safe with him? I might switch over to the Yankees.

That_Guy

Just saw this article on Twitter. Great little read about that behind closed doors game last night.

http://www.punditarena.com/other-sports/thepateam/first-major-league-baseball-game-behind-closed-doors-gets-really-weird/

MoyVilla9

jack presley wrote: »

You learn something new every day. Never knew until now that it was against the rules to go into the stands to catch a fly ball. You can lean in and catch it but you can't jump into the stands and catch it in there.

I found this out last year when Wheel's Wheeler got this overturned. Personally I think that if you catch it you should get your out, regardless of where you are.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v34285269/nyymin-twins-challenge-a-foulball-catch-in-the-9th

jack presley

I thought this was funny. Like buses. None for ages then 2 in a row!

http://deadspin.com/angels-diamondbacks-both-lose-on-runners-hit-by-batted-1701859596

rockonollie

They may have loaded their farm system and big lead roster.....but they're still the Cubs

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/logan-schafer-races-around-the-bases-as-cubs-defense-falls-apart-215140203.html

Thidp

Ron Roenicke fired.

jack presley

rockonollie wrote: »

They may have loaded their farm system and big lead roster.....but they're still the Cubs

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/logan-schafer-races-around-the-bases-as-cubs-defense-falls-apart-215140203.html

That definitely needs the Benny Hill music on that. But I can't laugh really, I've to watch Wilmer Flores at SS every day and it's painful to watch the amount of double plays he fails to make that then come around to score.

MoyVilla9

Harper 3-3 with 3HR's so far today. Decent afternoon.

jack presley

MoyVilla9 wrote: »

Harper 3-3 with 3HR's so far today. Decent afternoon.

2 more homers last night. Certainly in the zone these past 2 outings.

Waitsian

jack presley wrote: »

That definitely needs the Benny Hill music on that. But I can't laugh really, I've to watch Wilmer Flores at SS every day and it's painful to watch the amount of double plays he fails to make that then come around to score.

...with Benny Hill music.