2013 MLB Regular Season running thread

Matt Kemp gets some air to rob Jason Heyward of a home run tonight. Some of the looks on the fans' faces are priceless (click to enlarge):



I think that's Lamar Luttrell from Revenge of the Nerds in the Batman shirt at lower left.

 

Worst sock puppet fail ever?

 

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

 

Can I send you my credit card information now for the next Chicago get together? How did the last one go?

And that Strasburg stat a few pages ago was pretty interesting about him never pitching into the eighth inning, don't you think?

But starting pitchers going later into games has no value in keeping a bullpen fresh. You are right. You must have learned that in your 12 or so credit hours earned.

 

Has anybody stated that it wasn't?

Do you really think you came up with some novel idea by telling us that pitching 8 innings and giving up 1 er is a great start?

It's all bullshit anyways, winners win.

 

Parra hits first pitch of the game for a home run last night.

First time it's happened in 50 years. Well, not just that it was a first-pitch-of-the-game homer, but this:

http://yhoo.it/18V0Dzf

 

Wow, that's pretty cool.

When I clicked on it though I was expecting it would be an inside-the-park home run.

Wonder if that's ever happened on a first pitch.

 

I propose we name this feat a Rose-Parra.

My preliminary research indicates that the lifetime leaders in Rose-Parras are Pete Rose and Gerardo Parra. They are tied with one a piece.

I believe this record will be as hard to break as Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak, or Johnny Vander Meer's two consecutive no-hitters.

Just the same, I home MLB will allow Rose to follow Parra around, to be on hand to congratulate him, should he break the record.

 

Or, Aoki will do it tomorrow against the Dodgers and then so much for the Rose-Parra Parade.

 

The interesting thing about the Rose-Parra, is that in addition to needing the first pith HR, its almost impossible to pull off without both pitchers delivering a Dominant Start as well.

 

To get that percentage you divide QS by the R-P.

Speaking of which, but not really, Theo's on the phone ready to give this dude a tryout.

http://yhoo.it/16BjX69

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/mastery-yu-darvish-one-tremendous-gif-163451796--mlb.html

It's really interesting to see this. It appears his mechanics, positioning, and release point are virtually identical, and nothing changes until his follow-through, when the ball is already at the plate. Compared to that, there's clearly 3-4 different outlines of Pujols throughout the entire thing.

And Darvish even has 2-3 more pitches (depending on which site you look at) he didn't even use that game .