Grabbed this off another board re: discussion of DeGrom's season being "historic". This guy says while it's being compared to Bob Gibson, it should be compared to Pedro's 2000 season. This is where JO'Co is really missed! __________________________________________________________________________ And I hate the guy, but his 2000 season should go down as the best pitcher’s year of the live ball era. His numbers, as compared to other pitchers in that season are insane. Not to take away from Gibson, but the league batting average in NL was .243. Drysdale pitched 6 shutouts in a row. Home runs were pretty low too with only 4 NLers hitting over 30 HRs. The AL hitting was even worse with Yaz winning batting champ with a .301 batting average. The hitting numbers are pretty bad this year as well, albeit with much more power. The NL has a .235 cumulative batting average. Now look at 2000. The height of steroids, AL hit .276 as a league, but Pedros batting average against was .172. AL ERA was almost 5.00. His KOs per 9 was much higher than Gibsons too. His ERA was a 1.74, second place was Roger Clemens at 3.7. His WHIP was .73, second was 1.2. For me Gibsons year is amazing and looks ridiculous on paper with the eye popping 1.12,, but when you start comparing the details to Pedro’s 2000 it’s close, but Pedros was better.
The crack down on pitchers starts this week!! _________________________ Major League Baseball, tired of pitchers blatantly cheating, will inform teams as early as Tuesday that every pitcher appearing in a game will be checked for the use of illegal foreign substances, with violators receiving an automatic 10-game suspension, two persons with direct knowledge of the protocols told USA TODAY Sports. Crackdown on pitchers and illegal foreign substances starts next week: How it works
Doesn't matter here...Cleveland is running out of starting pitchers. Bieber down with shoulder strain.
Remember Will Craig, the Pirates 1b who chased down Javy Baez? Well, he now is playing 1b for the Indianapolis Indians, the Pirates' AAA affiliate. Sorry, George. He wasn't kicked all the way down to single A.
Ryan Spaeder has had enough and is on a Twitter rant about cheating in baseball... https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1405039938769412096
Lot's of unhappiness over MLB's crackdown on substances to enhance the pitchers grip on the baseball. New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is the latest player to speak out about using foreign substances on baseballs in order to get a better grip when throwing. Cole aired his frustrations after the Yankees' 3-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. Cole threw 104 pitches, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out four batters, tied for his season low. "It's so hard to grip the ball," Cole said. "For Pete's sake, it's part of the reason why almost every player on the field has had something, regardless if they're a pitcher or not, to help them control the ball." Major League Baseball has instituted a crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances and will eject and suspend any player caught applying foreign substances to baseballs.
I'm not a big MLB fan but makes me wonder, were these pitchers upset with the Astros for stealing the signs? Maybe I just don't understand.
Give me a break. When in the history of the game has it ever been hard to grip a baseball? It's the old adage, which goes something like, Better to have people think you're stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. In this case, substitute "cheating" for "stupid".
Isn't the game filled with intrigue over pitchers doctoring the ball? Hiding a piece of sandpaper, a finger nail file, dab of something under the bill of the cap, etc. I guess I wonder why the rosin bag isn't enough to allow the pitcher to grip the ball? Astros pitcher Mike Scott was accused, esp by the Reds, of cutting the ball somehow.
Astros are playing really well right now, but can't make up ground on the A's who are playing even better.
A's finally stumble to the Yankees and the Astros sweep the Chisox and are now tied with the A's atop the ALW. Right now the Astros have the best offense in baseball.
Pitchers are a little upset about these new checks ordered by MLB. Phillies Manage Joe Giradi asked for Max Schnezer to be checked in the 4th inning and then there was this reaction from another pitcher.
Is there any restriction on how many times the check can be requested/conducted? Can a manager request it every inning? Once a game?
Good question, it would seem like there should be or an opposing mgr could use it to try and disrupt a pitcher's rhythm.