MLB 2014 season thread

Gary Dell' Abate laughs at that pitch.

 

Fiddy's was even worse.

 

I believe Floyd Mayweather would say Fiddy throws like a bitch.

That was bad. That was Carly Rae Jepsen bad.

 

@SteveRushin: 50 Cent's first pitch tonight reminds us that Snoop Dogg threw one in 2012, fresh off Tommy Chong surgery.

 

OK so this was a head-scratcher ... bottom of 10th inning last night, two outs, nobody on, and the O's intentionally walk Mark Reynolds (.216 BA, .293 OBP, though he had already hit his 12th home run last night). They did it because the Brewers had no position players left and had the pitcher's spot coming up.

So Milwaukee sent up Yovanny Gallardo, its best hitting pitcher, and he smacked a double to the wall to bring in the winning run.

WTF Buck? Put the winning run on base? Is Mark Reynolds that scary?

Buck said he knew about Gallardo's hitting -- career .204 BA and 12 home runs in eight seasons -- but he called for the walk anyway because Gallardo is today's starting pitcher so Buck thought the Brewers would have sent him home to rest.

 

Showalter once intentionally walked Barry Bonds with the bases loaded, so this is not new territory for him.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-05-30/sports/9805300170_1_barry-bonds-hands-bill-nicholson-bases

 

I remember that. Looking back to refresh, that was a deal where the tying run was on second base, so even a single from Bonds would have tied the score. And it was a choice between Bonds (who even in that last pre-steroid year was 1.047 OPS) and Brent Mayne (.719 OPS).

This one seems entirely different -- putting the winning run on base when A) there's a 70 percent or better chance of getting him out; and B) there's a less than 10 percent chance he goes yard, which is the only way pitching to him can end up any worse than walking him.

 

Ridiculous overthinking. Pitch him carefully, chances are he gets himself out.

 

Couple of things probably went into that. Reynolds had already homered in the game. In the eighth inning, with one out and the bases loaded, he hit an absolute seed right into Machado's glove at third. So Reynolds was seeing the ball pretty well, and this AB was against a lefty. Also, Buck had already gotten away with an against-the-book IBB in eighth -- two batters before Reynolds' liner (though if that liner was a foot higher or to the left Buck's decision would have blown up). Another interesting thing is that Gallardo wasn't in the dugout for a period of time. He's the starter for tonight's game, and Showalter said he had hoped Gallardo -- the Brewers' best-hitting pitcher with 12 career homers -- had gone home to get a full night's rest. Instead, Gallardo wasn't in the dugout because he was in the batting cage behind the Brewers' clubhouse.

 

Carlos Gomez really knows how to treat his No. 1 fan.

http://nesn.com/2014/05/fan-carlos-gomez-made-cry-throws-out-first-pitch-at-brewers-game-gif/

And this 15-year-old girl throws it down the middle on the same night 50 Cent can't keep it in the same zip code.

 

OK, I think I'm a Carlos Gomez fan right now.

 

Brian McCann says don't fucking wave.