Kershaw just mercilessly mowed down the Brewers last night. Going to tonight's game to welcome Greinke back to Milwaukee. He was undefeated at Miller Park last year. Maybe I'll get to see Gordon try again to steal third with 2 out and Matt Kemp at the plate. My guess is that if Earl Weaver or someone of similar termperment had been his manager when he did this, Dee would have been sent back to the Dodgers A ball club the next day for the remainder of the season.
WHAT???? Stealing third with two outs? Oh, I see. If he gets to third, a sac fly will knock him in. WAIT!!! THERE WERE TWO OUTS!!! Oh, I see. Matt Kemp was at the plate, and we all know he's not a power hitter. WAIT!!!! IT WAS MATT KEMP!!!!! :roll: I sure hope Dee did that on his own and it wasn't called by the manager. This is the kind of stupidity on the part of players that gets managers fired.
:roll: Brewers win and Dee Gordon did it again. This time, it was a sacrifice bunt situation, so he tried to bunt for a base hit and accomplished nothing. When a young player is this selfish, it's because he doesn't understand the game. These coaches are in big trouble...
I was reading an article about Catholic High of Tampa winning their 2nd straight title and they are a shoo in for being #1 in the Prep Rankings..ie Nat'l Champions. Their starter got into trouble after about 5 innings and they brought back the previous day's starter who pitched the rest of the way. While it was their last game of the season so it's not like the kid is likely to be damaged goods from over pitching. But is that something that you baseball mavens, Sid, Corey, JO'Co would approve of to win a big game?
I'll defer to JO'Co and Corey, but at the high school level, with the state championship at stake, it's probably OK. Not knowing how many innings he pitched the previous day, it's hard to say he was "over-pitched" in the final game. IMO, the issue bigger than total innings is multiple innings on consecutive days. There probably is a rule on maximum innings within a specific time period, so he was within the rules.
:idea: Sid is right. The key here is how many innings the kid threw the previous day. High school games are seven innings: not nine. So, the pitcher was being asked to come back on no rest and throw two innings or less. That's doable if he didn't throw too many pitches the previous day. I would be more worried about his summer team coach. A lot of these players join their summer team (American Legion or Connie Mack) as soon as the high school season ends. I've seen bird-brain coaches start a pitcher the next day without even asking the kid about the last time he pitched. Over pitching and arm troubles usually happen in summer or winter leagues rather than high school ball where the teams only play two games per week. In the summer, it's not unusual to play five or even more...
the other guys covered it. for me, it's all about pitch count, and the type of work he was doing more than IP. I'm a bit different than a lot of people in that defense is just as important to me as pitching. At the youth level, at least, you don't always have real pitchers. You can teach some kids to hit spots. You can teach kids to play defense. With those 2 working in concert, you're a lot more unbeatable than people realize. I was never a big fan of the 'hero closer' because honestly, how many Mariano Rivera's are there in the world? Youth level closers can be got by the right team, and then where are you? I really don't know the ins/outs of this situation to really give an informed opinion. Like JOCO, I worry about that stuff because of summer ball coaches who throw these kids right into the fire. That's where his arm injury will come from IMHO. Honestly, I'm still of the school that these kids don't throw enough. There is too much specialization and too little understanding of the game from players to coaches. The kids just need to play and play right. Winning takes care of itself.
Damn those Pirates Tigers just played the last 3 games against the Pirates and didn't give up a run in the first 9 innings of each game. Tigs lost all three games. Bucs have a hell of a bullpen.
Above post is wrong. Pirates have done that to the Tigers 2 of the last 3 games. I forgot about Wed. since I was watching the Red Wings go down in flames.
I see that a kid from JO'Co's backyard had a pretty big night, Jake Marisnick, ...in AA (Jacksonville). He hit back to back grandslam HR's. He went to Riverside Poly. He's not a big slugger in 4 seasons in the minors he's only hit 32 hrs. He's in the Marlins system...so right now he's playing in front of bigger crowds than he will if he makes it to the bigs.
I'm sure AJ would have already jumped in with the Cardinals Fernando Tatis game vs the Dodgers where he became the only player ever to hit 2 grand slams in 1 inning and off the same pitcher. Chan Ho Park! I wonder why Park was still in the game for that 2nd Grand Slam? Every hear of Tatis after that?
:idea: re: Tatis It was just a fluke. He was an average player who got hot for awhile... re: Jake Marisnick Riverside Poly is one of the great breeding grounds for athletes in this state. In all major sports: football, basketball, baseball, track, they've been turning out undefeated teams and great players for decades. I coached against them a few times with mixed results and I've known a lot of guys who played for or coached at that school. Any athlete who was a "Poly Bear" comes with great preparation and conditioning...
I'll never forget Tatis for one reason. It was my first season of playing fantasy baseball. I had him on my team. The two GS's in one inning resulted in a ton of points for that day, the likes of which I haven't seen since.
Sorry your boys went down Gip. I was pulling for you as I'd prefer the Kings held home ice advantage. The 'Hawks are having an incredible season. I did get this awesome gif from the Wings/Hawks series though. I'm going to use this while trolling people this year.
I see the Dodgers are bringing up their Cuban defector, will they be able to keep him out of trouble in L.A.?
:roll: re: Yasiel Puig If he couldn't stay out of trouble in places like Chattanooga and Rancho Cucamonga......my expectations for Hollywood are not high...
Well your new Cuban showed off a big arm last night, doing his best immitation of Rocky Colovito in the 9th innning.
re Yasiel Puig (pronounced "Poo-weeg") Last night, in his major league debut, the 22 year-old, highest paid Cuban in history, played rightfield and batted lead-off. In his first at-bat, he got a clean base hit to centerfield. He finished the game with two hits in four at-bats. He also got a double play to end the game when he gunned down a runner at first base on a throw from the warning track... He hits like Bo Jackson and plays rightfield like Roberto Clemente. He's listed at 6'3" 245lbs and he's probably 6'2" 230. He's also a legit 5-tool player with exceptional running speed, a big time cannon for an arm and ridiculous power. He doesn't try to hit the ball; he tries to crush it on every swing. His weakness is...he almost never walks. In spring training the Dodgers gave him a ton of at-bats and he batted .512...but he never walked. Home gamers should pick this kid up now. He's still learning what he's doing, but his potential is off the chart. Right now, both Kemp and Crawford are on the DL, but they may not have jobs when they come back. Puig and another kid, Scott Van Slyke, are playing like they own those positions and they both have power. Puig appears to be a bigger version of Bryce Harper or Mike Trout.