2013 MLB Regular Season running thread

Mariners, A's share showers after plumbing problems at Coliseum:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/16/mariners-and-athletics-head-for-high-ground-after-o-co-coliseum-drains-back-up/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

Rays call up Wil Myers. Off Monday, but play a doubleheader vs Red Sox Tuesday:

http://www.foxsportsflorida.com/mlb/tampa-bay-rays/story/Rays-promote-top-prospect-Wil-Myers-from?blockID=912473&feedID=3720

 

Gehrig, it's an interesting thesis but I think you're wildly overstating the influence of the slider in the 1950s. A pitch which wasn't new, by the way — it was similar in movement and speed to what they called an "outshoot" in the Deadball Era. And Lefty Grove, who is indeed a deserving inclusion among the top 3 or 4 pitchers of all time, had a great one.

Anyway, you can't attribute run-scoring levels in any significant way to the slider. There weren't enough pitchers using it then. It didn't really become prevalent until the 1970s. It was even called the "pitch of the '70s" by some writers (though I'm forgetting who at the moment.) Just like the splitter was the pitch of the '80s, the circle change of the '90s and the cutter of the 2000s. Not sure what the pitch of the '10s is going to be, but I would put money on Yu Darvish already having it in his repertoire.

The fact is, the pendulum was swinging from hitters to pitchers on a steady and gradual basis from the mid-1930s all the way to the early 1970s. There was no dramatic change in run-scoring levels during the 1950s, no "evening out" of the balance. It was just the continuation of the same pattern that had been in place for 15-20 years already. And it continued for another 15-20 years after that. It wasn't until the strike zone was enlarged in 1963 and the pitching mounds were rising to skyscraper heights that the pendulum shift became noticeable to most fans.

Besides, the biggest change in the 1940s-50s was not pitching strategy — it was offensive strategy. By then, an entire generation of players had grown up emulating the Ruthian "swing for the fences" style. In the '20s and '30s, the running game was still prevalent because it was hard to find enough powerful sluggers to stock your lineup. This was no longer true by the late '40s. As a result, you see higher home run totals in the '50s but lower batting averages, almost no stolen bases and fewer rallies because nobody can string together three hits in a row anymore.

This, more than any other reason, is why the run-scoring levels continued to decline. Then the rules changed to favor pitchers even more and then we saw pitchers dominating in the '60s like hitters did in the '30s.

 

I'm excited to see this kid play. He was tearing it up in Triple A.

 

I think that new second baseman for the Nationals can play a little bit.

 

The pitch of the 2010s may be that ridiculous Swiss army knife Darvish carries — that is to say, "Um, all of them." His slow curve is practically an eephus pitch.

 

Scherzer is a tough nut. Gave up a solo shot to Davis (24th) early but just struck him out with the bases loaded -- swing and a miss on a 97 MPH fastball -- to get out of it.

Tigers lead 3-1. If it holds Scherzer will be 10-0.

Corbin goes for 10-0 tonight at home against the Marlins. It would be the first time since '85 that two guys started the season 10-0 (Lamp and Hawkins).

 

W/L records for pitchers are irrelevant.

 

So are you.

 

That NDJ was only banned as long as Ian Kennedy is a horrible miscarriage of justice.

 

I was simply stating a point.

 

So was I.