Baseball Miscellany

My understanding is that there has been no official announcement regards either.

MLB did send out a memo several weeks ago saying clubs should assume no DH but the issue is far from resolved and there supposedly are ongoing talks between MLB and the union about it.

As far as the extra inning rule, while a lot of the speculation is that indeed it will return in 2021 again nothing has officially been released on the matter.

(See item #4 in the article below which was released today and confirms my understanding)

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Holy crap

Impressiveā€¦

I like this quote from Maddox about waste pitches:

Spoiler Alert

he's against them

This is a bit of a red herring. There is a fundamental difference in using a pitch to set a hitter up and ā€œwastingā€ it because youā€™re afraid of giving up a hit on an 0-2 count. Iā€™ve never heard any pitcher or coach advocate for the latter. You donā€™t approach an at bat thinking you have to get a hitter out on the next pitch no matter what. I agree that a hitter is most vulnerable down 0-2, so you shouldnā€™t waste that advantage, but that doesnā€™t mean you have to groove one either. You pitch with a purpose, not out of desperation.

Good quote. Rarely do you see the guys at the top of their game fuck around in 0-2 counts, at least enough to characterize it as a waste pitch.

Alternately, the guys at the top of their gameā€™s stuff is usually good enough that a shin high/bouncing breaking ball will fool a lot of people.

Yep.

He didnā€™t say always throw a strike 0-2.

Yeah, but you know the difference. We all see guys who are good, sometimes real good, get up 0-2 and they continually blow their advantage. The competent hitters just know the ā€œwaste pitchā€ is coming and wait. It often happens again on 1-2 and now the hitter is feeling good about the AB.

Smoltz will usually comment on the 0-2 slider that never tracks over the plate and ends up kicking up the far chalk in the opposite batterā€™s box.

ā€œThat pitch was never competetiveā€ is the phrase he uses iirc.

Unless itā€™s against Jose Altuve.

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Or Craig Biggioā€¦

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With about a third of the vote in, Wagner now up to 48.7%.

Others:
Clemens 72.2%
Schilling 71.3%
Kent 24.3%
Pettitte 17.4%
Abreu 15.7%
LaTroy Hawkins 0.0%

Ever wonder what to say when you hear a miserable prick dies?

Me neither.

Oh, Tommy Lasorda dead at 93.

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I hated that fat fuck when he was a manager. So I guess he was pretty good at it.

Peter Abraham in this weekā€™s Sunday Baseball Notes columnā€¦

Hall-Bound: Pujols, Cabrera, Trout, Verlander, Kershaw

Closing In: Scherzer, Greinke

Good Debates: Lester, Molina, Votto

Not Quite: Wainwright, King Felix, Chapman, Kimbrel, Price

Building Their Resumes (30-And-Under): Arenado, Betts, Bregman, G. Cole, Judge, Harper, Lindor, Machado (yeah, he intentionally or otherwise omits Altuve here)

An Interesting Case: Nelson Cruz

They Blew It: Robby Cano, Ryan Braun

Altuve has 1,610 hits through his age 30 season.

3,000 hit club members NOT in the HOF: Rose, ARod, R. Palmiero, Pujols (will get in), A. Beltre (will get in), Ichiro (will get in).

The long-term impact of the sign stealing scandal could hurt his chances.

Nonsense.

Altuve just needs to pick back up. There is the belief out there that without cheating Altuve is a .220 hitter. If he picks it back up and get 1,000 hits in the next six or seven seasons, heā€™s probably in. Itā€™s up to him.

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