A no-no, new depths of John Angelos’ jackassery, a unique Dodgers signing, new Premier League kits, “Neurotic” voters, fiduciary snapshots, and disappearing into one’s own head.
Gov Moore is also wooing the Washington Football team, now that Skipper Dan has ridden off to Monaco (or wherever he currently parks his yacht). Not sure how much the Angelos clan can extract from the state or city.
Years ago, a very close friend worked at the same publication at Matt Ygelsias. I have a vivid memory of going to the “office” holiday party where my friend popped over to say hello. I’ve never, and I mean ever, been introduced to someone so rude and uninterested in having a conversation with me and my friend. Oh my friend is a woman, so there’s that. Bonus points: Ezra Klein was equally rude, so he’s in the same elitista self-important bucket. I go out of my way to ignore them both.
Coda: Chris Hayes, who I met around the same time, couldn’t have been nicer.
My view of him is that falls into the Fake Centrist group. He doesn't just hold political opinions that, both in combination of "left" and "right" leaning and in distance, put him generally in the middle of the spectrum. Instead, because he doesn't particularly like either side, he feels he must support the *exact middle* position no matter how extreme one side may be on any particular issue.
I think Bari is genuinely too stupid to pull off something this calculated. She’s just a conservative who happens to be a lesbian woman, which upends our expected categories for these types of things.
Someone once described Marty’s thinking as possessing a “schoolboy earnestness.” While I think the earnestness part has been pretty well revealed as inaccurate, there is something decidedly adolescent about his whole deal.
But Bari tries to frame herself as sitting in the middle, separate from the nonsense being pushed by either side. Which is what Yglesias and others like to do, too. Fake Centrism is just a framing device, not a real set of ideological beliefs, but it is pushed as such. Like the "No Labels" nonsense.
I think it's even simpler than that: The last decade, particularly on social media, has proven that a lot of people who were once considered provocateurs or "thinkers" are really just asshole contrarians. It's the same thing that happened with Bill James
I don't mean this insultingly, but gawd I hate the obsession about pitch count. Lorenzen threw 124 pitches. Sure, that is more than most throw these days. But that is because pitchers are less effective going through the order a 3rd or 4th time. There has been nothing that shows a correlation between high pitch count and injury. (The data actually shows the opposite, low pitch counts correlate with injury, but it would be reasonable to have as a prior that the causation arrow is reversed there.) Baseball Prospectus' PAP and revised PAP and the attention to a magical 100 pitch threshold was speculation not rigor.
And here we have a game that every fan in attendance will remember and will be the cornerstone of Lorenzen's personal history. Taking him out because he threw a magic number of pitches would have been dumb. With a big lead, there were no issues of 3 time through the order risk. Just like the Astrodome crowd chanted in Bad News Bears: Breaking Training - let them play!
I am sensitive because Johan Santana threw his no hitter, stayed in way too long, and that was it for him. And because Lorenzon is a spot starter for the most part. I suspect he'll be fine, but there is still risk involved.
Really? Santana had missed the entire prior year due to a shoulder injury. Then the next year, he got his No-no throwing 130-something pitches. Then he hurt not the previously injured shoulder or even an elbow, but rather his ankle! He returns from ankle problems and then has back problems putting him back on the DL. He returned for spring training the next year and suffered the same injury that he had the year before his no hitter, essentially ending his career.
I don't know how this could be measured, pitch speed maybe, but there is an argument that the pitch clock is causing pitchers to not go 100% on every pitch, but instead pace themselves a bit. If that is true, in theory, it could allow pitchers to throw more pitches per game.
In my defense, that is what I remembered, along with a lot of debate in the media about whether he should have stayed in. It was a while ago, after all.
You aren't special. Well you are, but not in that way. It's human nature. See Big Event A happen in vague close time period as Big Event B; assume A must have caused B. Add in external reinforcement from clickbaity media and it becomes Fact with a capital F. (See also 99% of political discussion.)
It may not have been "it", but it sure was a contributing factor. The PBP in the late innings of that game was focused—rightly so—on Santanta's pitch count and how much he was blowing past it, in the interests of team history. So Simon's position isn't even hindsight.
"Sure" is assuming a conclusion for which we really have little or no evidence. That people were, in real time, monitoring pitch counts does not mean that pitch counts had anything to do with an ankle injury 4 starts later or a bum back two months later or a shoulder injury a season later.
It's about the next game. Since he threw 124 pitches, his next start should be limited to n more than say 80 pitches. It's the back-to-back-back-to-back 100+ starts that make injury more likely. And skipping a start isn't good either.
Would really make the "picking this guy up for the stretch" thing a bit more like "picking this guy up to do a cool thing and then sit on the bench for 11 days."
I remember reading about a pitch count study in SI way back in the day and the conclusion was that excessive pitch count was important to avoid for younger guys - throwing 200+ innings before age 26 comes to mind - but not as much later on. Iirc, Bret Saberhagen was mentioned.
I feel like I remember that article. And we can all come up with guys who pitched a lot young and burned out. From Gary Nolan to Doc Gooden to Kerry Wood, there are plenty of examples.
But that was innings, not pitches. Obviously one is proxy for another. But, and it is a big but (thanks, Sir Mix-a-Lot!), there is a huge difference between pitch counts in a game and innings pitched in a season.
Yeah modern kinesthetics guys tell us that it ends up being more about pitches in a single inning - which I suspect is even more of an issue with the added pitch clock - than innings pitched. Imagine the stress of trying to get out of a broken inning and knowing the bullpen isn't ready to save you, and you can't even catch your breath because Angel Hernandez is ready to had out free passes if you don't keep pitching faster
Hard to say on Severino. He's been horrendous, but he was very good in 19 starts last year. I have no idea what's going on with him but Cody Bellinger looked done a year ago and look at him now.
Severino is a pending free agent, and he may have to take a 1 year deal like Bellinger did to try and reestablish his value.
The thing that's driving me crazy about Severino is that it's very obvious there's *something* wrong with him - whether it's his release point, delivery motion, etc I have no idea - so why is it so hard for the Yankees to get it figured out? Seems an awful lot like that now-famous chicken parm with Volpe. It took another player and not the coaching staff to see his swing mechanics were off.
The winning run that MHII scored had both some here's pet issue of video review of an ump (it was very close; Harris rocked his momentum before the catch but somehow kept contact with the bag) and other's pet of dumb fielding. The ball was lofted to shallow right, but rather than the RF coming in with his momentum heading to the plate for the throw, the ball was caught by a back peddling 2B who got nothing on the throw.
Atlanta starting pitcher's ERA is over 6.00 in the last month.
I'd say that the only concrete cause is that Bryce Elder is returning to a more reasonable level. His first half was pretty flukish compared to his talent.
Morton's control has been *just* off the last few outings. Missing by a couple of inches. Maybe mechanical, possibly just wear and tear, maybe just random chance.
Fried just returned from IL. He was great in his first outing and struggled in his second.
The other cause, I guess, would be the pick up of Yonny Chirinos from Tampa. He wasn't expected to be good, but was supposed to be able to throw bulk innings without it being ugly. Tiny sample of course, but 3 games, 13.2 IP, 13 runs since being picked up on waivers. But he is being used instead of rookies like Smith-Sarver or Winans, not exactly standing in the way of peak Niekro, Spahn, Maddux or Kid Nichols.
I've done both the waterfall hike where we jumped into the 55F water and took a swim under the waterfall, and then continued on to hike to the highest point in El Yunque. The hike to the top is boring, it's all forest service roads and for our hike was also completely fogged in. I'm sure the view is spectacular when you can see more than about 12 feet.
It doesn't seem likely that the Phils can catch the Barves (or even want to, since they know you don't need to win the division to get hot). And unlike a certain team in Queens last year, there is no reason to doubt ATL's offense. But an ERA that high suggests maybe the division is not 100 percent settled yet.
I said “almost”. Also the Red Sox only had a 10-game lead in the division and that half game would have made the difference. (Though the Yankees were 14 back, if Google has it correct.)
Severino: one of the great things about baseball is that a guy like Severino can be in the midst of an epically bad season and yet still, on one night, somehow throw a perfect game. See, also, Don Larsen.
Ohtani: he is, as you say, the best hitter in baseball this season, and one of the best pitchers. The crazy thing is that, even if he were merely just good at both, he would still be a unicorn, even if not quite so great a unicorn as he actually is. It makes you wonder how many other good-hitting pitchers of the past could have done this, had the DH been available. Smokey Joe Wood? Wes Ferrell? Earl Wilson?
Yglesias: I’ve been reading Yglesias for twenty years or more and you since discovering you in Hardball Talk many years ago. There are lots of ways to use the term “neurotic,” some more colloquial than others. When I saw that turn of phrase, the distinction that came to mind for me was between adopting and boosting the policy positions of your “tribe” because it’s your tribe (many conservatives) and worrying about whether you are adopting the correct position for the correct reasons and on the basis of sufficient evidence (many liberals). I would take the latter as one instance of a colloquial usage of the word “neurotic.”
Ken Brett is the one that comes to mind for me. Supposedly he was a betting hitting prospect than his little brother but he was a better pitcher than he was a hitter.
How about someone who is in today's news: Michael Lorenzen? He isn't Ohtani, but 7 homers and 11 extra base hits in ~135 at bats suggests real power that could be unleashed if he was getting more opportunities.
Lorenzen is a great example of why being a two-way player is hard. Certainly has become a better pitcher since he decided to focus on doing one thing instead of two.
Getting the batting reps and time in the cage is hard for a pitcher. And also the perceived injury risk keeps many from trying.
I guess it is neurotic to worry about whether you are doing the right thing, but I will still take that over the alternate. And certainly, we stare at the absolute certainty of the right and really, really don't want to be like that.
Oh, absolutely. I wasn’t trying to plumb the depths of Yglesias’ subjective intent, I was just suggesting that “neurotic” isn’t the worst thing a person can be called, and in any case it’s better to be a careful, thoughtful, evidence-based voter than a soulless authoritarian automaton.
Ay caramba. The word on the screen is to be interpreted by the reader once it leaves the fingers. It's past wordsmithing here, because at initial glance he's calling 57% of Ohio voters crazy-in-some-way. And that's what he wanted to say. Now, my personal example of neurotic also refers to Jewish mothers, as in, my neurotic mother wants to know whenever my plane lands, and will stay awake until she gets the text. It's possible that connotation was also on purpose too.
You would have gone full-blown psych waiting for word from our kids near the fire in Kihei on Maui. Finally got word that they had packed everything but fortunately never had to evacuate. Wife is a wreck because all 3 fires are still not controlled.
My father-in-law was from Barbados, and eventually settled in Philly. He was a big sports fan, and was passionate about the Eagles, Sixers, and Phillies. Back in 2015, he was here in Chicago, and me, Morris, and my wife Jenn, went to see the Phillies play the Cubs at Wrigley. It was pretty clearly going to be Cole Hamels' last start for Philadelphia, as the trade rumors were flying. And that was when Hamels twirled a no-hitter (and broke the Cubs streak of not getting no hit since Sandy Koufax did it to them on September 9, 1965, the day before I was born). Morris got a little teary eyed.
This past June, after fighting cancer and then developing heart problems, Morris passed away. It was about two or three weeks ago that MLB TV was free a week. So we'd turn on the Phillies games, and it really brought back feeling about Morris for both me and Jenn. We ended up buying the MLB package for the rest of the season.
Of course we had the game on last night. And had Lorenzen not pitched his no-no, the big story might have been baseball lifer Weston Wilson, in his first major league game, hitting a home run in his first at bat (we also walked twice and scored both times, giving him three runs on the night). Wilson's parents and wife and young child were in the stands. After Wilson hit the homer (a no doubter), they cut to a shot of his teary eyed dad. And as Lorenzen was putting the finishing touches on his no hitter, they cut to shots of his wife and infant daughter and his mom (his father passed away a few years ago).
As a White Sox fan, I've become fairly alienated from my own team. Last night, wasn't just thrilling, it was really emotionally resonant, and made me feel connected to a guy who I really miss.
I just re-read this and feel compelled to say how wonderful it is. I have one work colleague who is a Phillies fan who will undoubtedly give me grief today - but this makes my heart bulletproof. Here's hoping Morris is smiling even bigger today wherever he is.
Last night had everything. Castellanos hit his 199th and 200th career homers and it's just a footnote. BTW, the Phillies gave out rings to their employees prior to the game and finished the night with a toast to Lorenzen, Wilson and Castellanos in the locker room. All in all, pretty good night in South Philly.
The Cubs?Mets game was mostly well pitched with the exception of one reliever for each team who was horrible. Wesneski for the Cubs and Ottavino for the Mets combined faced 7 batters, got no outs, gave up 2 homers, and Ottavino mindlessly made a casual 3rd pickoff throw to give the runner second base.
The difference in the Mets getting one more run off Wesneski might have been due to David Ross giving the Mets an out with a sacrifice. You never know how things would have turned out on the road not traveled, but there was a subsequent walk that could have advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd anyway.
These games are, to a large degree, auditions for the Mets for 2024. Even if Ottavino is one guy who will have a major league deal somewhere. Will be interesting to see if anyone in this group emerges as more than a replacement level journeyman sixth inning pitcher.
I assume something was up with Brooks Raley though, because he never even warmed up in an obvious situation to use him. It might well be just a one day illness or something rather than an issue of concern.
The no-hitter bothered me way less as a Nats fan than I thought it would have. It’s a little disappointing because the team has hit pretty well lately, but taking into account the punchlessness of the entire season, it’s not that surprising. If they win today, they split the series!
PS It also helped that I was distracted last night by something incredibly dumb I did … I cooked some burgers on the little grill on my deck, and when I went out to let the dogs out one last time for the night, it seemed really buggy… Turns out that I hadn’t turned the grill all the way off, which meant that there was a small cone of heat, which attracted every $&@?mosquito still alive on the whole damn lake. At least a dozen managed to follow the dogs and me back into the house so I spent over an hour dodging and slapping and cursing my own stupidity. A no-hitter seemed small potatoes by comparison.
PPS I saw a tweet yesterday that suggested the only way Angelos would get his land for development is to encourage the city to use eminent domain on housing in the area. If anyone is willing to make a heel turn like that, it feels like it’s him.
I'm a big soccer fan too. Have you tried Fantasy Premier Leauge yet? It's a great game if you're interested in the league. Somewhat different from US fantasy games, in that you don't have draft, but everyone has a 100mm budget, to by 15 players (max 3 from one team), to then field 11 every gameweek. Gameweek 1 deadline is 6.30pm UK time tomorrow (just before the City - Burnley kickoff).
Fiduciary Snapshots is the name of my new band. Playing on the corner of Second St. and Newton, we play alternate Thursdays from 6:30 till 7:00 am for all the dog w alkrrs.
because of the level of running involved and it being an all-weather game, it makes more sense to avoid the heat as opposed to the cold, though leagues like the Russian league take a long winter break as well
England isn't exactly known for it's hot summers. Soccer/football is regularly played in places far warmer than an English summer. If nothing else, you'd think the fans would be more comfortable in the summer than the winter.
when it's warm out, they want to sit outside and guzzle their cheap lager and cider. When it's cold outside, they go inside to guzzle their cheap lager and ale.
yes and in Italy / Spain / France where the summers are quite hot the calendar makes perfect sense where you have the summer off except for tournaments which are often and famously “too hot”
though I guess it is in some ways surprising the Brits aren’t doing their own thing, I still think it makes sense to run around lots when it’s colder as opposed to hotter. American football opts for the same thing
Football is a winter sport. Football is designed for cold, wet winter days when Englishmen huddle together warming their hands on cups of piping-hot Bovril and warming their insides with piping-hot meat pies. Cricket is the summer sport.
It's like asking why the NFL break is always in the summer.
Not all these sentences are entirely accurate now we are in the 21st century...
Fun (maybe only to me) story about soccer kits. Saturday night, South Georgia Tormenta debuted their "Championship Nights" kit, which is solid black with white numbers on the front, and solid white, with black numbers on the back. It was a whole thing. The team promoted a "blackout" for the fans to wear black for their new jerseys. It was going to be a big deal.
And it was, for about two minutes until the officials made them change jerseys because the backs of the jersey weren't different enough from the visiting team. The stopped the game and you could see one of the equipment guys running off to get a different set of jerseys and then running back to the field to pass them out to the players. (I spoke with the owner later who was quite upset as the league had already approved the jerseys to be worn and the visitors knew what they looked like.) Tormenta got to wear their new jerseys last night as their opponent wore green.
My Premier League team got relegated last season, so my season started last Friday. ESPN+ shows a fair bit of Championship football, so I should be able to see a few Southampton matches. They were on opening day last week and won over Sheffield Wednesday. I won't be paying $225 for the team's streaming package.
Lots say “in the US we should have relegation to make sure teams aren’t tanking.” But man when your club gets relegated it must suck. Then again, I feel like Southampton’s issues weren’t a lack of spending (I mean no one spends like Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and United so I guess there is a certain level of correlation). I remember just a couple of seasons back NBCSports had a mini special “the Southampton Way” about the years of success building within. Anyway I feel for ya.
That Southampton Way special was the hook that sucked me in as a supporter. Like the lower-budget teams in MLB, if everything goes right you can compete. But one or two bad signings or injuries will tank a team like Southampton. That is what happened last year. They went all in as the youngest team in the PL, and it didn't work.
It sucks for the fans. But more importantly, it sucks for the OWNERS, because of the money they lose. So they actually have an incentive to win games even in a "rebuilding" year.
You’re suspended.
Gov Moore is also wooing the Washington Football team, now that Skipper Dan has ridden off to Monaco (or wherever he currently parks his yacht). Not sure how much the Angelos clan can extract from the state or city.
If you find out where Snyder is, let me know and I'll pass it on to the orcas. Thanks.
If only Snyder were forced to spend eternity as a tour guide on the Jungle Cruise ride...
Years ago, a very close friend worked at the same publication at Matt Ygelsias. I have a vivid memory of going to the “office” holiday party where my friend popped over to say hello. I’ve never, and I mean ever, been introduced to someone so rude and uninterested in having a conversation with me and my friend. Oh my friend is a woman, so there’s that. Bonus points: Ezra Klein was equally rude, so he’s in the same elitista self-important bucket. I go out of my way to ignore them both.
Coda: Chris Hayes, who I met around the same time, couldn’t have been nicer.
My view of him is that falls into the Fake Centrist group. He doesn't just hold political opinions that, both in combination of "left" and "right" leaning and in distance, put him generally in the middle of the spectrum. Instead, because he doesn't particularly like either side, he feels he must support the *exact middle* position no matter how extreme one side may be on any particular issue.
This can also be called "pulling a Bari".
I think Bari is genuinely too stupid to pull off something this calculated. She’s just a conservative who happens to be a lesbian woman, which upends our expected categories for these types of things.
Someone once described Marty’s thinking as possessing a “schoolboy earnestness.” While I think the earnestness part has been pretty well revealed as inaccurate, there is something decidedly adolescent about his whole deal.
But Bari tries to frame herself as sitting in the middle, separate from the nonsense being pushed by either side. Which is what Yglesias and others like to do, too. Fake Centrism is just a framing device, not a real set of ideological beliefs, but it is pushed as such. Like the "No Labels" nonsense.
I think it's even simpler than that: The last decade, particularly on social media, has proven that a lot of people who were once considered provocateurs or "thinkers" are really just asshole contrarians. It's the same thing that happened with Bill James
Nate Silver, too, as much as I think he still has valuable opinions on some things.
Craig's analysis tracks for me. Consider the MY reaction to the notorious Bangladesh garment factory disaster a decade ago, which was essentially him musing that it's good for people to live and work in squalor so that Americans can have cheap goods. https://slate.com/business/2013/04/international-factory-safety.html And then his follow up began with whining about how misunderstood he is. https://slate.com/business/2013/04/some-further-thoughts-on-bangladesh.html
That Lorenzon trade sure looks good today. Just hope he didn't toss too many pitches. Still, nice night for the Phils.
Severino is done, sadly. Remember when he looked like the next Yankees ace?
Extend Alonso now!
ETA: So glad someone else is as clearly wary of legal gambling as I am. Way to go, Hannah!
I don't mean this insultingly, but gawd I hate the obsession about pitch count. Lorenzen threw 124 pitches. Sure, that is more than most throw these days. But that is because pitchers are less effective going through the order a 3rd or 4th time. There has been nothing that shows a correlation between high pitch count and injury. (The data actually shows the opposite, low pitch counts correlate with injury, but it would be reasonable to have as a prior that the causation arrow is reversed there.) Baseball Prospectus' PAP and revised PAP and the attention to a magical 100 pitch threshold was speculation not rigor.
And here we have a game that every fan in attendance will remember and will be the cornerstone of Lorenzen's personal history. Taking him out because he threw a magic number of pitches would have been dumb. With a big lead, there were no issues of 3 time through the order risk. Just like the Astrodome crowd chanted in Bad News Bears: Breaking Training - let them play!
I am sensitive because Johan Santana threw his no hitter, stayed in way too long, and that was it for him. And because Lorenzon is a spot starter for the most part. I suspect he'll be fine, but there is still risk involved.
Really? Santana had missed the entire prior year due to a shoulder injury. Then the next year, he got his No-no throwing 130-something pitches. Then he hurt not the previously injured shoulder or even an elbow, but rather his ankle! He returns from ankle problems and then has back problems putting him back on the DL. He returned for spring training the next year and suffered the same injury that he had the year before his no hitter, essentially ending his career.
No, the no-hitter wasn't "it" for him.
I don't know how this could be measured, pitch speed maybe, but there is an argument that the pitch clock is causing pitchers to not go 100% on every pitch, but instead pace themselves a bit. If that is true, in theory, it could allow pitchers to throw more pitches per game.
Speed, spin rate, perhaps pitch mix. Maybe the called ball / strike rates on the big edge counts like 1-2 or 3-1. It would be difficult to study.
That theory was one of the things they hoped would lead to more offense but there is no evidence it's helping.
In my defense, that is what I remembered, along with a lot of debate in the media about whether he should have stayed in. It was a while ago, after all.
You aren't special. Well you are, but not in that way. It's human nature. See Big Event A happen in vague close time period as Big Event B; assume A must have caused B. Add in external reinforcement from clickbaity media and it becomes Fact with a capital F. (See also 99% of political discussion.)
I would rather be wrong about Santana than something important, though. Like my anniversary.
It may not have been "it", but it sure was a contributing factor. The PBP in the late innings of that game was focused—rightly so—on Santanta's pitch count and how much he was blowing past it, in the interests of team history. So Simon's position isn't even hindsight.
"Sure" is assuming a conclusion for which we really have little or no evidence. That people were, in real time, monitoring pitch counts does not mean that pitch counts had anything to do with an ankle injury 4 starts later or a bum back two months later or a shoulder injury a season later.
Lorenzen will get extra rest. The Phillies now have a six man rotation and there are extra off days ahead so he'll have plenty of time to recover.
It's about the next game. Since he threw 124 pitches, his next start should be limited to n more than say 80 pitches. It's the back-to-back-back-to-back 100+ starts that make injury more likely. And skipping a start isn't good either.
The Phillies are already using a six man rotation to save wear, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they skipped his next start as well.
Would really make the "picking this guy up for the stretch" thing a bit more like "picking this guy up to do a cool thing and then sit on the bench for 11 days."
I doubt they'll skip him. They're running with the six-man rotation because they are in the midst of a 17 games in 17 days stretch
If the Phillies are serious about keeping a six man rotation, then an extra day of rest between starts is already hard wired in.
I remember reading about a pitch count study in SI way back in the day and the conclusion was that excessive pitch count was important to avoid for younger guys - throwing 200+ innings before age 26 comes to mind - but not as much later on. Iirc, Bret Saberhagen was mentioned.
I feel like I remember that article. And we can all come up with guys who pitched a lot young and burned out. From Gary Nolan to Doc Gooden to Kerry Wood, there are plenty of examples.
But that was innings, not pitches. Obviously one is proxy for another. But, and it is a big but (thanks, Sir Mix-a-Lot!), there is a huge difference between pitch counts in a game and innings pitched in a season.
Yeah modern kinesthetics guys tell us that it ends up being more about pitches in a single inning - which I suspect is even more of an issue with the added pitch clock - than innings pitched. Imagine the stress of trying to get out of a broken inning and knowing the bullpen isn't ready to save you, and you can't even catch your breath because Angel Hernandez is ready to had out free passes if you don't keep pitching faster
Hard to say on Severino. He's been horrendous, but he was very good in 19 starts last year. I have no idea what's going on with him but Cody Bellinger looked done a year ago and look at him now.
Severino is a pending free agent, and he may have to take a 1 year deal like Bellinger did to try and reestablish his value.
The thing that's driving me crazy about Severino is that it's very obvious there's *something* wrong with him - whether it's his release point, delivery motion, etc I have no idea - so why is it so hard for the Yankees to get it figured out? Seems an awful lot like that now-famous chicken parm with Volpe. It took another player and not the coaching staff to see his swing mechanics were off.
It could be some kind of injury too I suppose.
Notably the Nats had not been no hit since the move from Montreal. Fun to watch even as a Nats fan, my Phillies BIL was in a slightly better mood.
Guardian Football Weekly is a great pod if you're in the market for one about football writ large(ly European.)
The winning run that MHII scored had both some here's pet issue of video review of an ump (it was very close; Harris rocked his momentum before the catch but somehow kept contact with the bag) and other's pet of dumb fielding. The ball was lofted to shallow right, but rather than the RF coming in with his momentum heading to the plate for the throw, the ball was caught by a back peddling 2B who got nothing on the throw.
Atlanta starting pitcher's ERA is over 6.00 in the last month.
I'd say that the only concrete cause is that Bryce Elder is returning to a more reasonable level. His first half was pretty flukish compared to his talent.
Morton's control has been *just* off the last few outings. Missing by a couple of inches. Maybe mechanical, possibly just wear and tear, maybe just random chance.
Fried just returned from IL. He was great in his first outing and struggled in his second.
The other cause, I guess, would be the pick up of Yonny Chirinos from Tampa. He wasn't expected to be good, but was supposed to be able to throw bulk innings without it being ugly. Tiny sample of course, but 3 games, 13.2 IP, 13 runs since being picked up on waivers. But he is being used instead of rookies like Smith-Sarver or Winans, not exactly standing in the way of peak Niekro, Spahn, Maddux or Kid Nichols.
I’m not up for that kind of adventure. Visiting a tropical rain forest is an item on my un-bucket list, in fact.
I've done both the waterfall hike where we jumped into the 55F water and took a swim under the waterfall, and then continued on to hike to the highest point in El Yunque. The hike to the top is boring, it's all forest service roads and for our hike was also completely fogged in. I'm sure the view is spectacular when you can see more than about 12 feet.
It doesn't seem likely that the Phils can catch the Barves (or even want to, since they know you don't need to win the division to get hot). And unlike a certain team in Queens last year, there is no reason to doubt ATL's offense. But an ERA that high suggests maybe the division is not 100 percent settled yet.
A 10.5 game lead is almost impossible to blow. But poor starting pitching sure makes the Braves look more vulnerable in the post season.
The 1978 Red Sox would like to have a word.
I said “almost”. Also the Red Sox only had a 10-game lead in the division and that half game would have made the difference. (Though the Yankees were 14 back, if Google has it correct.)
Severino: one of the great things about baseball is that a guy like Severino can be in the midst of an epically bad season and yet still, on one night, somehow throw a perfect game. See, also, Don Larsen.
Ohtani: he is, as you say, the best hitter in baseball this season, and one of the best pitchers. The crazy thing is that, even if he were merely just good at both, he would still be a unicorn, even if not quite so great a unicorn as he actually is. It makes you wonder how many other good-hitting pitchers of the past could have done this, had the DH been available. Smokey Joe Wood? Wes Ferrell? Earl Wilson?
Yglesias: I’ve been reading Yglesias for twenty years or more and you since discovering you in Hardball Talk many years ago. There are lots of ways to use the term “neurotic,” some more colloquial than others. When I saw that turn of phrase, the distinction that came to mind for me was between adopting and boosting the policy positions of your “tribe” because it’s your tribe (many conservatives) and worrying about whether you are adopting the correct position for the correct reasons and on the basis of sufficient evidence (many liberals). I would take the latter as one instance of a colloquial usage of the word “neurotic.”
Ken Brett is the one that comes to mind for me. Supposedly he was a betting hitting prospect than his little brother but he was a better pitcher than he was a hitter.
How about someone who is in today's news: Michael Lorenzen? He isn't Ohtani, but 7 homers and 11 extra base hits in ~135 at bats suggests real power that could be unleashed if he was getting more opportunities.
PS no "e" in Smoky Joe Wood's moniker.
Lorenzen is a great example of why being a two-way player is hard. Certainly has become a better pitcher since he decided to focus on doing one thing instead of two.
Getting the batting reps and time in the cage is hard for a pitcher. And also the perceived injury risk keeps many from trying.
I guess it is neurotic to worry about whether you are doing the right thing, but I will still take that over the alternate. And certainly, we stare at the absolute certainty of the right and really, really don't want to be like that.
Oh, absolutely. I wasn’t trying to plumb the depths of Yglesias’ subjective intent, I was just suggesting that “neurotic” isn’t the worst thing a person can be called, and in any case it’s better to be a careful, thoughtful, evidence-based voter than a soulless authoritarian automaton.
Could have been worse, he could have used "hysterical." Now THERE'S a word with a lot of sexist baggage attached.
Ay caramba. The word on the screen is to be interpreted by the reader once it leaves the fingers. It's past wordsmithing here, because at initial glance he's calling 57% of Ohio voters crazy-in-some-way. And that's what he wanted to say. Now, my personal example of neurotic also refers to Jewish mothers, as in, my neurotic mother wants to know whenever my plane lands, and will stay awake until she gets the text. It's possible that connotation was also on purpose too.
Well, heck, I always stay awake until I get the text that my kid’s plane has landed, also the text that they’ve checked in at their hotel
I think there’s a word for that :).
You would have gone full-blown psych waiting for word from our kids near the fire in Kihei on Maui. Finally got word that they had packed everything but fortunately never had to evacuate. Wife is a wreck because all 3 fires are still not controlled.
Glad they’re safe. Terrible thing to have happen.
My father-in-law was from Barbados, and eventually settled in Philly. He was a big sports fan, and was passionate about the Eagles, Sixers, and Phillies. Back in 2015, he was here in Chicago, and me, Morris, and my wife Jenn, went to see the Phillies play the Cubs at Wrigley. It was pretty clearly going to be Cole Hamels' last start for Philadelphia, as the trade rumors were flying. And that was when Hamels twirled a no-hitter (and broke the Cubs streak of not getting no hit since Sandy Koufax did it to them on September 9, 1965, the day before I was born). Morris got a little teary eyed.
This past June, after fighting cancer and then developing heart problems, Morris passed away. It was about two or three weeks ago that MLB TV was free a week. So we'd turn on the Phillies games, and it really brought back feeling about Morris for both me and Jenn. We ended up buying the MLB package for the rest of the season.
Of course we had the game on last night. And had Lorenzen not pitched his no-no, the big story might have been baseball lifer Weston Wilson, in his first major league game, hitting a home run in his first at bat (we also walked twice and scored both times, giving him three runs on the night). Wilson's parents and wife and young child were in the stands. After Wilson hit the homer (a no doubter), they cut to a shot of his teary eyed dad. And as Lorenzen was putting the finishing touches on his no hitter, they cut to shots of his wife and infant daughter and his mom (his father passed away a few years ago).
As a White Sox fan, I've become fairly alienated from my own team. Last night, wasn't just thrilling, it was really emotionally resonant, and made me feel connected to a guy who I really miss.
I just re-read this and feel compelled to say how wonderful it is. I have one work colleague who is a Phillies fan who will undoubtedly give me grief today - but this makes my heart bulletproof. Here's hoping Morris is smiling even bigger today wherever he is.
A nice story, mrhonorama. Thanks.
Last night had everything. Castellanos hit his 199th and 200th career homers and it's just a footnote. BTW, the Phillies gave out rings to their employees prior to the game and finished the night with a toast to Lorenzen, Wilson and Castellanos in the locker room. All in all, pretty good night in South Philly.
The Cubs?Mets game was mostly well pitched with the exception of one reliever for each team who was horrible. Wesneski for the Cubs and Ottavino for the Mets combined faced 7 batters, got no outs, gave up 2 homers, and Ottavino mindlessly made a casual 3rd pickoff throw to give the runner second base.
The difference in the Mets getting one more run off Wesneski might have been due to David Ross giving the Mets an out with a sacrifice. You never know how things would have turned out on the road not traveled, but there was a subsequent walk that could have advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd anyway.
I truly hope the Cubs go after Counsell when the season is done. Ross isn’t up to it.
These games are, to a large degree, auditions for the Mets for 2024. Even if Ottavino is one guy who will have a major league deal somewhere. Will be interesting to see if anyone in this group emerges as more than a replacement level journeyman sixth inning pitcher.
Hartwig and Walker have looked promising lately.
I assume something was up with Brooks Raley though, because he never even warmed up in an obvious situation to use him. It might well be just a one day illness or something rather than an issue of concern.
I thought the same re: Raley. Checking the stat line, he's pitched on 8/1 and 8/7, he should have been well rested.
I'm probably just a spiteful Sox fan, but Rossi definitely seems to be a wee bit bunty....
The no-hitter bothered me way less as a Nats fan than I thought it would have. It’s a little disappointing because the team has hit pretty well lately, but taking into account the punchlessness of the entire season, it’s not that surprising. If they win today, they split the series!
PS It also helped that I was distracted last night by something incredibly dumb I did … I cooked some burgers on the little grill on my deck, and when I went out to let the dogs out one last time for the night, it seemed really buggy… Turns out that I hadn’t turned the grill all the way off, which meant that there was a small cone of heat, which attracted every $&@?mosquito still alive on the whole damn lake. At least a dozen managed to follow the dogs and me back into the house so I spent over an hour dodging and slapping and cursing my own stupidity. A no-hitter seemed small potatoes by comparison.
PPS I saw a tweet yesterday that suggested the only way Angelos would get his land for development is to encourage the city to use eminent domain on housing in the area. If anyone is willing to make a heel turn like that, it feels like it’s him.
You’re suspended.
I’ll take it back for $100M.
You’re suspended.
Just as well - I don't plan to take it back.
I'm a big soccer fan too. Have you tried Fantasy Premier Leauge yet? It's a great game if you're interested in the league. Somewhat different from US fantasy games, in that you don't have draft, but everyone has a 100mm budget, to by 15 players (max 3 from one team), to then field 11 every gameweek. Gameweek 1 deadline is 6.30pm UK time tomorrow (just before the City - Burnley kickoff).
A no hitter! I like it when the Phils do that. A+ baseballing.
(In depth analysis provided by Sarah!)
Fiduciary Snapshots is the name of my new band. Playing on the corner of Second St. and Newton, we play alternate Thursdays from 6:30 till 7:00 am for all the dog w alkrrs.
You free later this year for a European tour? I hear Industrial Shithouse is looking for an opener for their Wembley dates
At this rate anything can happen.
Why is the Premier League's off season in the middle of summer rather than in the dead of winter as one would expect?
Summer is sort of a concept there too, occasional heat wave aside.
More than occasional now, though I think many would rather be at an outdoor stadium at night than stuck in un-air conditioned homes.
because of the level of running involved and it being an all-weather game, it makes more sense to avoid the heat as opposed to the cold, though leagues like the Russian league take a long winter break as well
England isn't exactly known for it's hot summers. Soccer/football is regularly played in places far warmer than an English summer. If nothing else, you'd think the fans would be more comfortable in the summer than the winter.
when it's warm out, they want to sit outside and guzzle their cheap lager and cider. When it's cold outside, they go inside to guzzle their cheap lager and ale.
No televisions outside.
Simple ecomonics.
yes and in Italy / Spain / France where the summers are quite hot the calendar makes perfect sense where you have the summer off except for tournaments which are often and famously “too hot”
though I guess it is in some ways surprising the Brits aren’t doing their own thing, I still think it makes sense to run around lots when it’s colder as opposed to hotter. American football opts for the same thing
It would clash with the cricket season...
Football is a winter sport. Football is designed for cold, wet winter days when Englishmen huddle together warming their hands on cups of piping-hot Bovril and warming their insides with piping-hot meat pies. Cricket is the summer sport.
It's like asking why the NFL break is always in the summer.
Not all these sentences are entirely accurate now we are in the 21st century...
Fun (maybe only to me) story about soccer kits. Saturday night, South Georgia Tormenta debuted their "Championship Nights" kit, which is solid black with white numbers on the front, and solid white, with black numbers on the back. It was a whole thing. The team promoted a "blackout" for the fans to wear black for their new jerseys. It was going to be a big deal.
And it was, for about two minutes until the officials made them change jerseys because the backs of the jersey weren't different enough from the visiting team. The stopped the game and you could see one of the equipment guys running off to get a different set of jerseys and then running back to the field to pass them out to the players. (I spoke with the owner later who was quite upset as the league had already approved the jerseys to be worn and the visitors knew what they looked like.) Tormenta got to wear their new jerseys last night as their opponent wore green.
My Premier League team got relegated last season, so my season started last Friday. ESPN+ shows a fair bit of Championship football, so I should be able to see a few Southampton matches. They were on opening day last week and won over Sheffield Wednesday. I won't be paying $225 for the team's streaming package.
Lots say “in the US we should have relegation to make sure teams aren’t tanking.” But man when your club gets relegated it must suck. Then again, I feel like Southampton’s issues weren’t a lack of spending (I mean no one spends like Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and United so I guess there is a certain level of correlation). I remember just a couple of seasons back NBCSports had a mini special “the Southampton Way” about the years of success building within. Anyway I feel for ya.
Tell me about it. I’ve somehow found my way into Everton fandom.
I'm looking forward to seeing them win more frequently this year.
That Southampton Way special was the hook that sucked me in as a supporter. Like the lower-budget teams in MLB, if everything goes right you can compete. But one or two bad signings or injuries will tank a team like Southampton. That is what happened last year. They went all in as the youngest team in the PL, and it didn't work.
It sucks for the fans. But more importantly, it sucks for the OWNERS, because of the money they lose. So they actually have an incentive to win games even in a "rebuilding" year.