Running 2015 MLB Regular-Season Thread

Hard slide = part of game. Always has been. There will be 25-50 of those this season.

And don't forget: Lawrie took a 95 mph fastball to the ribs the next night and walked to first base. It was over then. Until Ventura decided it wasn't over. And then Kazmir got the most token "revenge" you can get by putting one at Cain's feet, and the Royals lose their shit again.

 

So, Royals starters are averaging just under 6 innings per start. So if you suspended a starter and forced him to miss a start, you cost the team roughly 6 innings of his work.
Herrera has appeared in 6 games, with 5.2 IP. So just under an appearance every other day, and roughly an inning per appearance (and that's not skewed by small sample, he pitched 70G and 70IP last year). So, over a 5 game suspension, you're costing his team roughly 2.2 innings of his work. So, not sure what the quote was, but I could definitely see an argument that as a RP Herrera got a disproportionately light sentence.

 

There was zero chance at a double play.

 

Hard slides are fine. Breaking up a double play is great. He just wanted to put his spikes in Escobar's knee.

And you are right, it should have been over after Lawrie took his lump, but then the A's talked about retaliation for that and Cain, who has been hit repeatedly this year, takes another one in the first. It would have been over if Oakland hadn't done that.

From the Royals point a view, they had 14 HBP and a dirty play at second in 12 games. Two guys were out of the lineup as a direct result and Lorenzo Cain's leg, which is pretty damn important to him, is bruised all to hell. The Herrera head point was overboard, but if Lawrie says he's worried about stepping in against the Royals flame throwers and the rest of the A's think they are jerks, then good. It's worth it.

 

Hey, they won the series. Hopefully Escobar will be back soon. And they're clearly deeply inside the A's heads, and if LTL is to be believed, the rest of baseball's as well. Assuming they get Escobar back and up to speed soon and Ventura and Herrera can avoid further incident, if they wind up as heels for a while, I can live with that.

EDIT: He's batting right now. Shows what I know!

 

It's the world against the Royals, yep. Everyone's out to get them.

 

I hope he gets traded to a team in the Central so he can come back to the K a few more times.

 

He just wanted to put his spikes in Escobar's knees?

Please.

 

It would really suck if the Royals join the Red Sox and Steelers as teams who have some success after a long drought, only to launch their fans into the highest stratosphere of "SUCK IT HATERS" insufferability.

 

Apparently Stevie Wonder is handling replay reviews for MLB tonight.

 

Well, maybe for you.

 

I get what you're saying, and (appearances here to the contrary ) I really don't want to be that guy. But you have to admit that the backlash to the Royals last year was pretty much instantaneous. They had a lot of people jump on the bandwagon, but there was also a large, loud contingent of pearl-clutchers calling them disrespectful punks*, for what amounted to some enthusiasm. Forgive the fans who have their guard up a little after that, particularly given the circumstances Jake outlined. Keep in mind that a significant portion of Royals fans have approximately eight months' worth of experience rooting for a winner.

Also, when did the Steelers have a "long drought"? Certainly not in the memory of at least half the fan base.

* Swear to God, I originally typed this as "pubis."