MLB 2015 - AUGUST

[DEAN]

I AM RIPPA!

 

Mark the Bird Fydritch to ease you into August.

[Jiji]

Heck of a game between the Jays and Royals today. Jays have a ludicrous line-up but their pitching is still a huge hole. Fangraphs' project standings has them at 50.1% chance of making the playoffs. Apparently the Orioles are going to nose dive, as they have a .488 rest of the season win percentage (Jays are at .542). Should be a really good race.

[OSJ]

Was young Rippa even born when The Bird was a thing?

 

 

I AM RIPPA!

 

Mark the Bird Fydritch to ease you into August.

[DEAN]

 

Was young Rippa even born when The Bird was a thing?

 

 

I AM RIPPA!

 

Mark the Bird Fydritch to ease you into August.

 

I would think not.  These kids need to learn to talk to the ball,

[Tabe]

My first glove was a Mark Fidrych model. Had it for over twenty years before it disappeared

[odessasteps]

My first glove was a Mark Fidrych model. Had it for over twenty years before it disappeared

You mean ... Flew the coop?

[Dolfan in NYC]

[grilledcheese]

Sweet Jesus is Clayton Kershaw some kind of pitcher. Now at 37 straight scoreless, 8 IP, 2 H, 7 K and his first BB since 7/3. Plus a gem of a defensive play to get a DP on a popped up bunt. 

 

Additionally, he's a goddamn peach of a human being, so it makes rooting for him that much more fun. 

[Craig H]

Kershaw and Greinke just have to do their thing in the post-season.

 

Speaking of dudes hotter than hell right now, Rizzo has basically said, "fuck this" and put the offense not named Kyle Schwarber on his back. Schwarber continues to hit at a ridiculous clip for a rookie of his age. One of my friends also pointed out that Schwarber's swing is similar to Babe Ruth's, which isn't a comparison I see all that often. 

[Joe Lucia]

One of my favorite stories from this season is Manny Machado.

 

Two years ago when he was hitting doubles by the truckload, the common refrain "once he gets stronger and these balls start going over the fence, look out".

 

23 bombs already this year. Along with 15 steals. And plus-plus defense at third. And he's 24.

 

As a comparison, Josh Donaldson has a .388 wOBA and a 148 wRC+. Machado is at .383 and 145, and he's five years younger. Good god almighty.

[Craig H]

Jesus. Wasn't he also injured for part of last season? I would imagine that set him back a little bit.

[Joe Lucia]

Yeah, he only played 82 games because of a gross knee injury that thankfully wasn't that bad. Even with that, he homered 12 times in 82 games after 14 in 156 two years ago.

 

Baltimore's gonna be interesting to watch this winter. They have almost $80 million coming off their payroll, but lose some key guys. Yet, they're not really going to lose anyone after 2016, so they can try for another run. Incredibly likeable team too.

[Craig H]

Maybe they can get Junior Lake to mature as a player to get his skills up to his level of athleticism. If he turns out like Corey Patterson turned out for them, I think they'll be happy. Or he could turn out like Felix Pie.

Meanwhile, Tommy Hunter hit 99 mph on the gun last night, earning himself a save. He looks damn impressive. Then again, it's the AAA version of the Brewers.

[BillThompson]

I was upset to see Lake go, though I understand the reasons why. He's put a lot of work in the past offseason and this season in the minors and has been turning the corner. His walk rate is up, K rate is down, he's showing more power, and displaying a good glove. I think the O's will have themselves a good everyday MLBer if they give him a shot.

[RIPPA]

It appears that AJ Burnett's career is over as his arm is fucked again.

 

Burnett himself said that he won't undergo the surgery. He meets with Pirates doctors tomorrow and expects the worst.

[Death From Above]

The Jays/Royals game has been both the best and worst game I've seen all year.

 

Drunk umpiring is amazing.

[RIPPA]

So much basebrawling...

[Infinit]

The Jays are such a fun team to watch. This is gonna be a great couple of months...especially if the attendance spikes at the Rogers Centre. 45k+ today and the same expected for tomorrow.

[Joe Lucia]

I'm so shocked the Royals were involved in yet another beanball war that wasn't their fault.

 

I know this wouldn't fly, but if I'm Rob Manfred, I call Ned Yost and tell him that is your team involved in another incident like this, you're suspended for the rest of the year, including playoffs. This is ridiculous.

[BobbyWhioux]

I'm so shocked the Royals were involved in yet another beanball war that wasn't their fault.

 

I know this wouldn't fly, but if I'm Rob Manfred, I call Ned Yost and tell him that is your team involved in another incident like this, you're suspended for the rest of the year, including playoffs. This is ridiculous.

 

Not sure what the umpire expects to happen when he issues a warning to both benches but only upholds it against one team (and it's not the team that threw at a guy's head).  Granted I only saw the highlights of this game and didn't see the rest of the series, so there's quite possibly context I'm missing, but it sure seems like the umpire escalated the situation and made it much more likely the benches would clear (as they eventually did).

 

Of course, Manfred taking an umpire to task for screwing up and/or baiting players/coaches/teams is even more of a pipe dream than your proposal

[Ryan]

The AAA version of the Brewers has more pop in their bats, don't disparage the Colorado Spring Sky Sox. On second thought, disparage them.

[Ryan]

This team is sub-70 win territory for 5 years if their farm system doesn't pan out and they don't get a few lucky FA signings. We're in for a lot more 2002's. The lowest non-strike season win total in franchise history of 56. That team was full of just the dregs of the league. Outside of Ben Sheets in his prime and Wright, I don't know what became of ANY of those pitchers or who the hell most of the regular lineup even is. I know none of the catchers.
 

Pitchers

    47 Mike Buddie    49 José Cabrera    43 Matt Childers    28 Valerio de los Santos    48 Mike DeJean    81 Ben Diggins
    56 Jayson Durocher    52 Nelson Figueroa    40 Chad Fox    26 Wayne Franklin    46 Ray King    23 Andrew Lorraine
    59 Brian Mallette    30 Mike Matthews    47 Shane Nance    32 Nick Neugebauer    95 Takahito Nomura    30 Jimmy Osting
    13 Dave Pember    37 Rubén Quevedo    39 Glendon Rusch    15 Ben Sheets    50 Everett Stull    51 Luis Vizcaíno
    21 Jamey Wright

  Catchers

     9 Paul Bako    25 Raul Casanova     6 Jorge Fábregas    26 Marcus Jensen    72 Robert Machado

Infielders

    10 Ronnie Belliard     1 Keith Ginter     2 Bill Hall    16 Lenny Harris    18 José Hernández     2 Tyler Houston     1 Luis López
     8 Mark Loretta    11 Richie Sexson     7 Eric Young

  Outfielders

    55 Izzy Alcántara    27 Ryan Christenson    41 Jeffrey Hammonds     5 Geoff Jenkins    23 Alex Ochoa    33 Jim Rushford
    22 Alex Sánchez    12 Matt Stairs    38 Ryan Thompson

[Cobra Commander]

hey, if you're gonna eject a guy for going inside on a 2 strike count (Volquez's inside pitch was a 85mph changeup), you might as well switch the game to coach-pitch softball. Especially against a team like Toronto in their park.

 

Donaldson going for the fences v. Madson on 3-2 and missing was a beautiful sequence. If that guy is going to be bent out of shape over inside pitching, you keep going to that well until he does something.

 

Also, haven't the Jays had their own problems involving teams like Baltimore? not to mention various accusations involving Toronto's unusually good hitting at Skydome?

 

Reds and Pirates had their own situation today with just as much action as KC/Toronto. Nobody is calling for Rob Manfred to punish Clint Hurdle more than any other team though.

[Death From Above]

Haha you believe the sign stealing Illuminati bullshit I can safely put you on ignore.

[Ryan]

The conspiracy goes deeper than you want to know.