2019 MLB Regular Season running thread

I can't fathom how bad that hurt.

 

Insert caption here:



"Psst.....hey man.....it's my kneecap."

OR

"DOC......CAN YOU SEE THE HEAD YET?!?!?!?"

 

Then there’s the Cubs. They fell way behind the Padres, tied the game to force extras then lost on a hit and three consecutive walks to the bottom of the lineup, the last on four pitches

 

My son was really annoyed by this one. Look at the parade of minor leaguers Boone pulled out of the bullpen to protect this one. He's in coast-mode. Not sure why- home field matters.

 

Nothing happening in Seattle.

 

Gray has thrown 100+ pitches and they're in the 7th. Nothing gonna happen.

 

Broken up. And the Mariners avoid getting no-hit for the third time this season.

 

The Mets finished with 9 runs and 11 hits on 9/11.

 

They have 95 wins and a lead of 8.5 games in the division. The only thing they have left to play for is home field. This is a team that has battled injuries all season. I'm not sure Yankee fans have much to complain about regarding their team or their manager.

 

Kevin Gorman: It’s time for Pirates to clean house, top to bottom | TribLIVE.com

Speaking of embarrassments, this is a pretty good breakdown of the disaster that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. For a few years, it seemed as if Neil Huntington could bring some respectability despite an owner who refuses to spend what it takes to compete and forces the organization to always take the cheap route, but he has made some disastrous moves the last couple of years. Trading Gerrit Cole, a financially-driven move even though he had two years left on his contract at the time, turned out to be every bit as bad as I said it would be. Cole has taken steps forward last year and this season, emerging as one of the top seven or eight starting pitchers in MLB. Verlander is going to keep him from the Cy Young Award, but who else in the American League is better?

The key player in that deal for the Pirates was Joe Musgrove, a mediocre starter who can't stay healthy. The only other useful player they got was Colin Moran, a middling third baseman who wasn't even a starter when the season opened.

Even worse, the Pirates traded for a replacement last season in Chris Archer, though the key there was a manageable contract. It certainly wasn't his production. Archer's numbers were declining before the Pirates got him and that has continued. Injuries limited him to 23 starts this season and he has an ugly 5.19 ERA. That cost them Austin Meadows, an emerging star for the Rays, and another pitcher with upside in Tyler Glasnow.

In short, perhaps the Pirates wouldn't be on the verge of falling 20 games under .500 if they had Cole leading their rotation and Meadows near the top of the lineup, but when the financial bottom line is always the priority, bad things tend to happen.

 

I do think that with baseball, a bad owner is probably more detrimental than the other sports, because the best teams often get that way by making repeated good decisions. From the outside looking in, I've always thought that Huntington is a good GM, but it doesn't matter if you're not going to give him the ability to pay guys.

 

I think Huntington could do great things with an owner who gives a damn, but Nutting isn't that owner. All Nutting seems to care about is doing just enough that he can lie to the fans about trying to win and enough of them will believe his crap and continue to buy tickets.

Even worse, when fans see through Nutting's bullshit and stop showing up, he just uses that as an excuse to cut even more payroll.