I could be wrong, but I think Day/Night doubleheaders are not pre-scheduled and are played out of necessity to make up cancelled/postponed games, especially when they affect playoff standings.
Well there are more doubleheaders than I thought. Looks like almost 30 will be played in MLB this season. 4 more are scheduled before the end of the season. MLB Baseball Doubleheaders - Major League Baseball - ESPN
Man finally a win! Ever since the Astros beat the Orioles 23-2 the team has played/pitched terribly. Finally got out of Oakland without being swept. Home cooking for next 10 games. Bullpen is stretched very thin. Is there a team in the MLB whose BP isn't that way right now? Grienke got his 200th win and gave us 7 good innings. Need more of that, Gerrit Cole's hammy seems to be doing ok and will be back in the rotation back in Houston. I see that the Twins are back on top of the ALC.
Really enjoying the Sunday night Cubs-Pirates game in Williamsport. Loved the extended interview with Mike Mussina. Also enjoying the shots of the players interacting with the little leaguers.
Tribe splits series with Yankees...finally a day off today then 3 games with the Mets. George, our biggest issue is perhaps closer Brad Hand struggling a bit after the All Star game. Also the fact that Minny keeps on winning.
Sid what's your opinion on Maddon? He's getting a lot of fire from Cubs fans, is this his last season in Chicago? How'd he go from genius, to dunce so fast!
I don't agree with what I consider the guesstimates of the writers. In my opinion, he remains one of the best, if not the best, managers in baseball. If fingers are to be pointed, I'd look at Theo, whose choices for relief pitchers have downright sucked. I don't know the exact numbers, but we've lost a number of leads and games in the late innings after the starters have pitched well. An elite closer solves part of the problem, but big holes remain in our relief corps. Our road record as of last night is pitiful, something like 25-39. We have big problems and not much time left to correct them if we intend to make a run toward success in the playoffs. Back to Maddon. I'd be shocked if this is his last season, but what do I know?
O'Connors ! I stumbled on a baseball topic on FB where several Dodgers fans were arguing that Clayton Kershaw is a better pitcher than Sandy Koufax. I avoided the fray, assuming this madness is caused by a resurgent use of LSD. I don't see it but I view from afar ( I did see Koufax pitch both in person and on TV ). What say you? p.s. when is the last time you saw numbers like these? Sandy Koufax 1963 season is damn mesmerizing Games: 40 Games Start : 40 Wins : 25 Losses : 5 ERA: 1.88 Strikeouts: 306 Shut outs : 11 “I knew every pitch he was going to throw and still I couldn't hit him." —Willie Mays
ugh...Carlos Correa back on IR ...again...back stiffness. New starter aquired from Toronto also left last night's game with an injury. We did win though.
Sandy Koufax was so good there's nothing to compare him to. Like Babe Ruth, he was his own category. Boog Powell said, "trying to hit Koufax is like eating soup with a fork." Other teams refused to pitch their ace against him. The Giants wouldn't even throw Marichal against him on opening day. Kershaw is a future HOFer for sure, but I can't say that he's better than Verlander or Scherzer. - Bellinger reached 100 RBIs last night. - Kershaw is 13-2. - Toronto really needs some pitching... - Chris Taylor returned from the IL with 3 hits including a HR. - Rookie catcher Will Smith hit his 11th HR. - Dodgers vs. Yankees this weekend...
Pete Rose told me the same answer twice; in 1964 at baseball clinic when I was 10 years old and in 2006 in Caesars Palace / Las Vegas. Question: Who was the best pitcher you ever faced? Answer: Sandy Koufax. I could hit his fastball; I could hit anyone's fastball if I saw it enough. I couldn't hit his curveball to save my life.
From an article in 2012. The Dodgers are having Tommy John and the man who performed his famous surgery, Dr. Frank Jobe, throwing out the first pitches prior to Saturday’s game, and Jobe said something very interesting in talking with the media: “If I was smart enough to do this 10 years before, it might be called the Koufax surgery.” No longer able to deal with his elbow pain, Koufax retired after going 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA and 317 strikeouts in 323 innings in 1966. He was just 30 at the time. Jobe said Koufax had “essentially the same thing” as Tommy John, who underwent his revolutionary procedure in 1974. At the time, Jobe thought he had very little chance of returning to the majors, but John went on to pitched 14 more seasons and win 164 games.
Next question is what would modern management of starters done for Koufax, in today's world he'd have not pitched more than 220 innings, not the 323 innings he pitched in his last season. Max Scherzer lead the MLB in innings pitched at 220 last year. The most that Clayton Kershaw has ever pitched in his career is 236 innings in 2013, he's not even sniffed 200 innings in the last 4 years. Koufax was over 300 innings 3 times once he got things rolling in 1961.