MLB

Base Ball Today

127 Comments

The first game has just started and I don't see a game log.  I'll be leaving in a few minutes and have obligations the rest of the day and evening, but have fun, guys.

127 thoughts on “Base Ball Today”

  3. Jordan Zimmerman is someone I wanted the Twins to target if they were going to send D-SPAN2 to the Nationals. Looks like he'd fit right in to a Twins' playoff rotation!

      1. I was just about to say the Zimm seems to be leaving his slider over the plate and then someone deposited a meatball into the stands. I can only hope this drives his trade value down.

    1. Was it as good as the brothers seemed to suggest? Last night, I made up a crock of my annual Guinness Stout Porter Chili. I didn't have the requisite Guinness or Stout so I used what I had - namely this. I almost hate to pour a most excellent beer into chili, but I had two available and I think that the end product is worth it. Of course, I enjoyed the second while preparing the pot.
      Regarding the chili. The recipe calls for brown sugar which I used. I also had some molasses available so I added a few tablespoons of that in place of about 4 Tbsp of brown. I thought it might add some nice, dark sweetness to what is already a very dark chili (coffee, cocoa powder, stout porter, etc.). Anyone have much experience using molasses? because I don't.

      1. It's a worthy beer, no doubt, and for 4.50£ a sixer 4 pack a steal of a deal. I've not yet had my fill of the black, but can't afford to have more than 2 at the pub --- between 3.20£ and 3.60£ depending on atmosphere. What I would call my local charges 3.30, and I don't feel like I'm going to get stabbed which is a bonus.

          1. Heh, the offer was 2 for 9£ and I ended up with 4 Old Speckled Hens as well. OSH seems to be a bit thin and lifeless next to the Abbey Ale.

                1. I constantly found that things in Belfast were about 1/2 the price of Dublin. I may have partaken in some low-level booze-running across the border a time or two. The savings paid for the train ticket.

                  1. Were you ever stopped at the border for passport control? I've been over and back about a dozen times in the last year and never seen border guards.

                    1. The UK and Ireland have an agreement that creates the Common Travel Area that eliminates a lot of border checks and allows for easier crossings. In the countless times I've crossed the borders since 2007, I've never once been asked for ID. I even flew from Dublin to Birmingham without border checks. I was checked in Dublin on the return flight, however, and the ferry from Wales to Dublin.

          2. The Old Speckled Hen was something I enjoyed while in London/Dublin and then completely forgot about when I returned. Based on these reviews, I'll have to seek the Abbot out.

      2. mmm, chili weather.

        You should do a full post, CoC. It's past time we had an Appetite post (sorry, been preoccupied; I have multiple posts that need writin').

                  1. Well, shit doc, you could have just told me that you expect me to shell out more than I make this year on a blender and I would have guessed what the link was.

                    1. hey, aren't you a Kept Man, what with Dr. Chop being part of the intellectual elite now?

                      I'm telling you, red chile sauce as smooth as buttah.

                    2. Kept on an english faculty's salary means unlimited* dollar PBRs at down the hatch, not, unfortunately, a vitamix. Someday. /sigh

                      *well, unlimited really mean about 4.

        2. Yeah, that recommendation sounds familiar. I thought I'd shared the recipe, but I can't find it here...perhaps in the old basement. I will do an Appetite post featuring my Guinness stout Fuller's London Porter Chili this evening after sampling said menu item for dinner.

      3. Sweet sorghum may be something to consider the next time you're making up a pot of chili. It'll add that sweetness and some je ne sais quoi to anything asking for sugar.

        1. Sorghum you say? If this foray into substitute-brown-sugar-with-molasses is a success, that will be the next step I think.

  8. I haven't had much experience with gameday recently, so, can anyone explain what 'nasty factor' is supposed to mean on the pitch fx, and is the scale 0-100?

    1. It showed up at the beginning of the season. I quickly learned about and utilized the fact it can be hidden by clicking the preferences gear in the upper right. I've not thought about it in a few months and can't tell you anything more about it.

      1. It seems... pointless. Every pitch is +100 nasty to Drew Butera, but not so much to sweet baby joesus.

  9. I see the Nats are another victim of the 'better record so play the first two games on the road' setup this year.

    edit* I forgot they won yesterday. but still, i hate this 2-3 format.

    1. It's only a one-time thing. It was done to shorten the postseason. Next year, they will move the regular season up to accommodate for the wild card playoff games.

      1. I do really like the condensed format so far. Baseball and off days don't go well together.

    2. I still like it. Division Series were 2-3 for 1995-1997 as well.
      Sports have added too danged much travel to the playoff schedules in the sake of being fair to the "higher seed" as it is. As if "higher seed means anything anyways. Different schedules, different starters, etc.
      Oh no! Our team is disadvantaged because it lost two games on the road! Well win one of those and you're advantaged. It's a short series and losing two games means you're one loss away from being swept out of the playoffs.

      As a Twins fan, I'm acutely aware of how biting quick exits are, but that's the beauty of short series: you cough wrong and you're eliminated before your team is even on prime-time TV. I wrote a tribute to five-game series last year or the year before, and I think the 2-3 schedule makes it even harsher. Nothing more in sports represents the short, cruel part of life. One game and you're expecting it and you didn't win your division (or in prior years, didn't win it outright). You know it's just a one-game coinflip. But a five-game series, and you expect you've got some time, you're not giving up after dropping the first, things can change, but then they don't. Etc, etc.

      Now if you'll excuse me, I see some teenagers out on the street that may be loitering, and might be close to doing it while standing on my grass...

      1. Not to be the lame businessy guy, but if the higher seed gets swept, it also means that they only get one gate while the lesser team gets two. I wonder if that was part of the negotiating process.

        1. I think teams split the gate. Also, all of the ticket revenue from games beyond the minimum go to the league to prevent teams from colluding to make the series go past the minimum.

          1. I knew of what Spooky speaks, but I haven't heard any naysayers saying nay because of tickets/receipts.
            Ubes: teams still get concession revenues, right?

            1. Fangraphs broke down who got what percentage of what money from postseason games.

              Money quote for your question (emphasis added):

              First things first. What type of postseason revenue must teams share with each other, the league and the players? Ticket revenue. Under MLB Rule 26, “paid attendance receipts” is defined as the “total sum of gross receipts from tickets sold” to each postseason game, minus any admission tax, sales tax or use tax. Game-day concessions, merchandise and other non-ticket revenue are not included.

  10. Welp, Zimmerman (the fielder) just fought off that 100 nasty factor pitch to score some run(s) for the nats (edit while sacrificing into a double play?!?).

    1. Was really hoping to find stats saying that Bruce was actually the better pitcher. Not in 2012, but close in 2011
      Bruce 11: 155.0 IP, 3.77 ERA, 1.303 WHIP, 1.0 HR/9, 2.9 BB/9, 5.6 K/9, 108 ERA+, 1.8 bWAR
      Bruce 12: 191.2 IP, 5.07 ERA, 1.367 WHIP, 1.5 HR/9, 2.2 BB/9, 6.6 K/9, 81 ERA+, -0.2 bWAR
      WeiYin 12: 192.2 IP, 4.02 ERA, 1.261 WHIP, 1.4 HR/9, 2.7 BB/9, 7.2 K/9, 105 ERA+, 2.4 bWAR

  13. Two on and nobody out. On the plus side, this game is off to a better start than last night.

      1. I guess that's not a rule as far as home plate is concerned, or maybe it's just a Yankee thing.

        2. If you're gonna call that out of the baseline, are you going to call catchers for obstructing the plate?
          Seemed to me to be the typical call.
          Remember Holliday in the Rockies' game 163?

          1. In that rule(7.09) it also makes clear that a fielder can't obstruct a base without the ball. So yeah, catchers should be called for planting themselves in the baseline without the ball.

  18. Between missing the Ichiro! baseline call and his strike zone so far (a disgrace against both teams), Angel Hernandez seems to be having a perfectly normal Angel Hernandez game so far.

      1. This almost makes me wish I had cable. If there's any justice in the world, this would cost the Yanks the game.

    1. The TBS commentators tried vainly to find some sort of environmental reason for his airball.

  34. I still don't understand why Petite is allowed to blow into his glove with the ball in it.

          1. Spoiler SelectShow

  38. Announcers talking about Wieters being too tall for catcher. No mention of that other tall catcher.

      1. dunno, want to keep the interface simple enough.
        the sh button is good because when you need to type it, it needs to be typed quickly. There's no sell-by date on Jeter's abilities (and the lack thereof).

  48. Letting this Alex R guy bat with two outs and down one in the 9th? Doesn't Girardi have any PHs?

      1. Called it. K-Rod strikesout to end the game.
        I really think Girardi could have tied things up with Ibanez.

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