I just heard on TV that the Cardinals are the fastest team in MLB to get to 50 wins since the White Sox of 2005 and the fastes Cardinal team since the 1944 Cardinals. That's pretty impressive.
Cards are doing it with great pitching/defense. Astros just had a good series with the Yankee's. Split at home, our starting pitcher threw a knockdown at ARod and not only was tossed from the game but the team demoted him to AAA. I have to think they were thinking of that any how but the incident just upped the time table.
LOL. I'm sure that pitcher was selected to low-bridge A-Rod BECAUSE he was being sent down. It didn't even have to be an order. I'm sure that someone, maybe the bullpen catcher, pointed out to the kid that SOMEBODY needed to drill A-Rod and that guys who want to get back to the Big Show need to make a favorable impression while they're there...
Cards must be butter....'cause they're on a roll.... What's really amazing is losing Wainwright and Walden, and still having good pitching.....and losing 2 starters that they're replacements are knocking the ball stiff is great also....FUN TIMES FOR US CARD FANS FER SURE.... Oh...and they swept the cubbies.....he he he he heh........... JIFFY!! WHATCHA THINK?....12 RINGS THIS YEAR?
I saw an interesting article on pitching. Apparently there is a new theory that says it's not pitch count that matters, but number of batters faced that counts. After the batter has seen you several times they start drawing a bead on you. The Ray's go by this and pull their starters after they have faced a certain number of batters. Maybe it's true, but what about the pitcher getting in a groove and getting in the batters heads as the game goes on?
:idea: Getting in the batter's head is a key. If you can do that, you've already won. For starting pitchers (I was a starter) a lot depends on how many pitches you have and how well you can hit different locations. The idea is that even on the third time through the lineup, batters are seeing new pitches in old locations and old pitches in new locations. Guys like Spahn, Marichal or Maddux could prolong a batter's confusion indefinitely. Modern managers solve the problem of not having a top ace by using four pitchers per game, with the last three being gassers...
Joel is distracted by his ages-old criticism of Notre Dame's schedule and is ignoring the problems in his own back yard.....1) Can he convince the Patriots to stop cheating?......2) What if the AL declares that the Red Sox no longer are good enough for MLB and must go down to AAA?
Joel's favorite team, PSU, opens with a schedule that would have him apoletic if the Irish opened with these guys. 1. Temple 2. Buffalo 3. Rutgers 4. San Diego State 5. Army....OMG it's not 1950 Joel!! 6. Indiana.
Astro's are said to be looking for a starting pitcher in a trade deadline deal. Is Jeff Samarzdja going to be available?
:roll: Sigh... The new Dodger GM has done well. Most of his trades have worked out and he's being efficient with his spending. There is, however, one trade that he made that left me shaking my head. It looks worse and worse every day and may go down as one of the worst ever... You may recall that he traded Dee Gordon to the Marlins in exchange for a young left-handed flamethrower named Andrew Heaney. At first I cheered. Losing Gordon was a disaster, but Heaney was a young star on the verge of big things, and real starting pitchers are rare...especially lefties who throw gas. My heart sank the next day when I read that the Dodgers had flipped Heaney to the Angels in exchange for Howie Kendrick...who plays 2nd base...just like the departed Dee Gordon. Let's review how all of this is turning out. 1. The GM (Friedman) didn't understand Dee Gordon's situation at all. Gordon (like Matt Kemp) was a basketball player that the Dodgers turned into a baseball player. After years of struggles, Gordon had a break-out season last year as probably the best 2nd baseman in the National League. It never occurred to Mr. Friedman that Gordon was still young and still improving. 2. Gordon is having a season for the ages. Through the first two months he was batting .436. I think he's down to around .360 now, with 26 stolen bases. The entire Dodger TEAM has just 14. If Gordon continues at this pace, he will finish with the greatest season of ANY NL 2nd baseman since Rogers Hornsby more than 70 years ago... 3. Meanwhile, young Mr. Heaney was brought up by the Angels and stuck the bat up the arses of the New York Yankees tonight, giving them only 2 hits and striking out 7... http://www.halosheaven.com/2015/6/30/8875177/young-gun-angels-pitcher-andrew-heaney-looks-studly-in-2-1-victory I like Howie Kendrick. He's a solid MLB player and he won the game for us tonight...but I'm not sure that he was worth two potential Hall of Famers...
Well inspite of maybe fleecing the Dodgers on that Trade the Angels apparently are firing their GM, DiPoto. According to ESPN. Hey how about those Astros! Dallas Kuechel gets win #10 as Astros shut out the Royals 4-0!!
Huh?I remember a guy named Joe Morgan, who in 1975 hit .327 and had 67 SB and 17 HR, followed by 1976 @ .320 with 60 SB and 27 HR. Over a 22-year career, he had 9 yrs. with 40+ SB, 5 yrs. with 50+ SB, and 3 yrs. with 60+ SB. Over his 22-year career, he averaged .271, 31 SB, and 12 HR. His career fielding % was .981. Rogers Hornsby is in a class by himself. His career BA (23 yrs.) is .358 with 4 .400+ seasons, but he never had more than 17 SB in a season and averaged just less than 7 per season for his career. His career HR average is 13, just 1 more than Morgan. His career fielding % is .965 (Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.com). Dee Gordon is an exceptional 2b and very possibly could be a future HOFer, but he has a long way to go compared to Hornsby and Morgan. This does not diminish your assessment of the original trade and the aftermath, with which I completely agree.
:idea: :arrow: re: Kuechel That is one outstanding pitcher. I saw him in a game early this year and I had never heard of him. He has jaw dropping talent: a true, dominant ace. re: Gordon Neither Hornsby or Morgan is in his class defensively. He covers everything within 150ft of his position and that doesn't show up in the stats. While it's difficult to compare a power player like Morgan with the other two, a good example of what makes Gordon special was on display last night. He had an inside-the-park HR that wasn't even close. Just one little mistake by an outfielder and he cleared all four bases easily. I'm not alone in comparing Gordon to Hornsby. ESPN has been doing it since May, and I agree with them. The threat that Gordon presents is immense. It begins with his ability to bunt, and continues with his threat to all fields. MLB has become a computer game, with all teams using shifts to take away a batter's strengths. What shift can you put on for Gordon? Furthermore, he's still improving. I appreciate the arguments in favor of Morgan. I was a fan of his too, and nobody is a Hornsby...yet. Keep watching. I don't believe that Gordon has come close to reaching his potential and he's batting .360.
Jim, you do a nice job of differentiating Gordon from the other two. I didn't even consider his defense. I've seen his speed. It is other-wordly. My stat research opened my eyes to Hornsby. Although he averaged only 13 HR over 23 years, he had 3 years (not consecutive) of 39, 39, and 42. Also, and I did a double-take on this one, he had a BA of .424 in 1924 in the middle of a 5-year stretch 1921-1925, in which he was below .400 only twice (.397 and .384). Amazing. ESPN notwithstanding, I contend that Gordon deserves all the praise he's getting, but he has a long way to go to equal or surpass Morgan's career-long performance. I hope he does. The bottom line is that the Dodgers committed a major mistake in trading him.
That inside the parker was declared the fastest one in history...note however that they have only been keeping that stat for 6 years.
Hold on there, Baba Louie! Dee Gordon is in his 5th season and carried a .272 lifetime batting average into this year, by far his best .... so far. Hornsby hit .358 over 23 years with 301 HRs and over 1500 RBIs. Gordon will never get within a galaxy of any of those numbers. To illustrate, he has 5 HRs and 88 RBIs in five seasons. Morgan had 268 HRs and 1133 RBIs, also unattainable. Morgan also had 689 SBs .... Gordon haS 156 and counting. Gordon's 2B fielding pecentage is .984. Hornsby's was .965. Joe Morgan's was .981. Kid is a helluva a player but he has a LONG road ahead and there is "many a slip twixt the cup and the lip". p.s. Three other second basemen come to mind. Gehringer, Alomar, Carew.
:idea: :arrow: re: Gehringer A convincing argument could be made for Detroit's Charley Gehringer being the greatest 2nd baseman of all-time. I'm sorry I can't find the video I was looking for. It showed Gehringer warming up with the old fashioned three-finger glove and he was astounding. Gehringer and Mazeroski are the only two infielders who stopped the show at all-star games. Players from both teams would stop what they were doing just to watch the show. Here's a Hall of Fame short bio on Gehringer... <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xOY7DxELShU?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0"></iframe> re: Gordon He hardly played his first three years. Remember, he was a BASKETBALL player! I'm not even sure he played Little League. He's just beginning to become a baseball player and learning how to use all his tools in that game.
Great stuff. My father passed down an autographed baseball he obtained in 1936 from members of the Detroit Tigers. They were passing through Dayton, Ohio on their way north from spring training. They stopped to play an exhibition game against the Dayton a Ducks. My old man was 13 and was allowed to walk through the dugout during the game for signatures. Among the signatures are Charlie Gehringer. Also Hank Greenberg, Mickey Cochrane, Schoolboy Rowe, Al Simmons and Goose Goslin. Quite a team. Joe Morgan's mitt was so small it looked like my 6 year old grandson's. I have seen it in Cooperstown