2013 MLB Regular Season running thread

At least Mattingly did one thing right, demoting League from the closer role. He's been terrible, Jansen, aside from that stretch in ATL, has been very good.

 

What needs to be asked is, why is Greinke still in the game in the seventh? Situation screamed for a pinch-hitter. I'm no fan of "the code," but was Mattingly trying to start something?

 

You're kidding, right?

Didi Gregorius, at 23, is already the second-best defensive infielder in the National League (behind Andrelton Simmons.) He's hitting .308/.374/.474 despite being a no-bat, all-field prospect in the minors, and will probably be in the running for Rookie of the Year. He was the Diamondbacks' centerpiece acquisition in the largest trade of the offseason, the one that sent Trevor Bauer to Cleveland and Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati.

Greinke was in the right all night except for that slide. He took care of business after Kennedy's dangerous plunking of Puig and he took his own dangerous plunking like a pro. But the reckless takeout slide was completely unnecessary: There was no play at second base and no need to go after a rookie shortstop like that. Stupid move.

 

Also strikes me as a really good way to tear up his own knee. Can see why he did it, but it was a bit pointless.

 

Why is it relevant that Gregorius is a rookie when evaluating whether Greinke should slide like that or not?

 

I think Buck's point is that it seems strange that Bodie would seemingly never have heard of the top young player for one of his favorite team's division rivals, a team they play 19 times a year. Gregorius has been dynamite since the D'backs called him up.

And rightly or wrongly, this is the second bench-clearing incident Greinke has been involved in this year. He'll be punished one way or another.

 

Once Russell Martin got Cole to start using his slider more, the hits stopped. Retired 13 in a row at one point before some trouble in the 7th. He's not a strikeout pitcher. He pounds the zone low and gets ground balls. That's what started to happen. Good first start. Things should be a bit easier in start No. 2. He's likely to pitch opposite some journeyman named Kershaw on Sunday.

 

Cole struck out 8.2 per 9 in the minors. Everyone's a strikeout pitcher, and he's nt bad at it.

 

Didi Gregorius is going to be a great player, and I want him on my fantasy team Hi #RIPRon!

 

Eh, I'd take Brandon League over Kershaw. Kershaw is only 5-4.

 

At least on a per-capita basis, Curacao is catching up with the Dominican in terms of producing great young middle infielders — Gregorius, Andrelton Simmons and Jurickson Profar are all from there (as are Kenley Jansen, Andruw Jones, Roger Bernadina and Jair Jurrjens).

 

A couple of years ago the NPB apparently deadened the ball to bring into line with the MLB ball in an attempt to create more of an international standard but when homers went down drastically they turned around and juiced it back up this year. The league had sworn Mizuno, which had an exclusive deal to produce NPB balls, to keep the juicing secret. But when the Japanese players' union began to ask questions about the fluctuation in stats, the league finally came clean.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/354749/japan-baseball-chiefs-admit-lying-over-ball-change

How much of an uproar would there be in the US if baseballs were secretly re-engineered twice in four years?