MLB 2014 season thread

Lincecum has always been a fastball-changeup guy.

When his fastball was/is 95 and his change is 78, he can dominate.

When his fastball is 88 and his change is 78, he --- as someone artfully put it --- gets his tits ripped off.

 

The Brewers had a streak that I would think isn't all that common. They had at least one hit in 22 consecutive innings. The streak was snapped tonight but they still handled the Phillies, 6-2, to sweep a six-game road trip.

I wonder how often a hit in 22 straight innings occurs. I would think not very often.

*EDIT: Last time it happened was 2009 by the Yankees.

 

Pineda won an impressive start (albeit one that may have been helped by a foreign substance on his hand) last night.

Yankees were without three of their relievers (Robertson on the DL, Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren had been used three of the past four games) and needed Pineda to pitch well if they had any chance to win. Gerardi was on WFAN earlier in the day and basically said he thought the Yankees needed to outscore the Red Sox because they weren't going to out pitch them.

Pineda allowed one run on four hits through six innings and David Phelps was lights out over 2.1 to close out the win. I think the Yankees are feeling very fortunate to win the first game of this series.

 

Anna also hit his first MLB homer.

 

Clearly, the only reason the Red Sox didn't raise stink over it was because they know Jon Lester was doing something similar in the playoffs last year.

 

Madison Bumgarner helps himself a little bit with a grand slam against Colorado. Also has a sac fly almost to the fence, for five RBIs through four innings.

 

Stanton had 2 RBIs taken away on replay though it's hard to tell if Rollins touched the bag before Ozuna.

Stanton hit a homer in his next 2 ABs.

Actually now that I think about it: Stanton would have gotten an RBI for the FC (it was bases loaded, 2 out). Would he get a second RBI because another runner came across too?

 

http://deadspin.com/jeff-francoeurs-teammates-pulled-a-hilarious-month-lon-1562734995

One of the greatest pranks ever -- El Paso teammates spent a month fooling Jeff Francoeur into thinking teammate Jorge Reyes was deaf. Apparently he bought the explanation of how they can communicate on the mound even when the catcher covers his mouth. It's a seven-minute video, but it is a riot.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/south/story/braves-listed-as-nationals-owner-on-wikipedia-page-041414

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/umpire-angel-hernandez-smoked-line-drive-fans-cheers-070112344--mlb.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

 

Weird game in Philly. Braves led 2-1 entering the eighth, then the teams decided to play home run derby.
Braves go back-to-back-to-back in the top of the eighth to go up 5-1.
Phillies scored five runs in the bottom half, the last three on a home run by Dominic Brown, to take a 6-5 lead.
Then Dan Uggla hits a grand slam in the top of the ninth to put the Braves back in front.
So, if you're keeping track, the Braves won 9-6 and the teams ended up combining for 12 runs and five home runs in the last two innings.

 

Apologies if this was addressed earlier, but ...

Why the obsession with "making the transfer" this season?

I don't recall tons of controversy over this in past years, but there's been several strange plays because of it this season, including tonight in the Mariners-Texas game.

Bases loaded, ball bounced back to the Texas pitcher. He throws home, the catcher snags it with his foot on the plate, but drops ball as he reaches into mitt to try for the double play.

M's Lloyd McClenden challenges call, and on replay review, they rule the runner safe at home. Washington comes out to argue and is immediately tossed for challenging a replay review.

I'm no umpire, but the process of catching the ball for the force out, then reaching into the glove to throw it is two separate things, right? In tonight's example, the Seattle runner should have been forced out at the plate. The catcher caught the ball cleanly with his foot on the base; the fact he couldn't grab it cleanly to make a throw doesn't change the fact the runner was forced out.