But a lot more pitchers could be effective "starters" if they only had to pitch three innings at a time. Pitchers get converted to closers or eighth inning specialists because they have really good stuff but can't go six-plus innings. They all, however, could go three if they trained properly. Imagine if the Yankees had gotten 150-200 innings a year out of Mariano Rivera rather than 70 by having him pitch two or three innings every other day. He might not have been quite as effective on average as he was in a mostly one inning relief role, but he'd have been miles better than most of the starters they had throwing those innings.
part of the equation is that there are many more research tools available now. I'm not sure that any trend you see it's a result of such refined metrics. If a pitcher only has to go once through the order, more or less, then you bring in a fresh guy to face the other team's best hitters - if you have the arms to do it then it would have to be appealing. On a baseball forum I frequented for a while, the subject of tandem starters would regularly come up. Most often during 2011 (or was it '12) when Syndergaard, Sanchez, Nicolino, and DeSclafini were all in the Lansing rotation along with some other guys who were quite good for Lo-A - and they spent the first 2/3 of the season tandem starting in order to not give the younger guys too many innings. The leading proponent once wrote up an essay on it. In his scenario the staff of the future would have 4 sets of paired starters, ideally sharply contrasting with each other, and four short relievers. It hasn't been that long since pitchers regularly through a lot of innings and did it on 3 days rest. So putting guys on 3 days for only 4 innings at a time wouldn't be impossible. Though it might take some adjusting of minor league development. It's certainly not a crazy idea - though it would rob us of performances like the one David Price gave the Jays today.
Thoughts on Ichiro? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/143238738/ichiro-suzuki-ties-ty-cobb-with-4191-hits I don't consider it legitimate to compare him to Ty Cobb or Pete Rose. Ichiro is a great hitter, and he is going to be in the 3,000 hit club, but there is no reason whatsoever to count his 1,278 hits in JPL. We don't count anybody else's minor league stats, why should we count his? I realize JPL is one of the better professional baseball programs, but it is not on a par with MLB. It's better than AAA, but at most is half way between there and the National or American League for overall player quality.
the AL East race may be the major story in MLB for the next (almost) 2 months. Blue Jays need to come out tomorrow and keep NY from doing to them what they did to NY
I'm really pulling for Toronto. As for my own team, well, there is some joy in watching talented young players get their feet wet. I feel they could be on the verge of a really solid and stable core of players, but obviously too late to do much good this season. Still hoping they can catch the Rays, but that's about it for my end of season Redsox goals.
I'm just hoping - beyond wanting to see rings of course - that for once Rogers will pony-up the cash to re-sign Price. Most of the big-bucks 7 year deals carry a ton of risk (Sabathia anyone?) but he looks like as good a bet as you are going to find, and since we thinned out the pitching prospects that were close, it comes down to Price at $28m or so per year (if not more) or some Mike Leake type for $15 or so then I'll gamble on Price. Maybe I'm just drunk off the reports that keep coming out about how taken he is with the team and the suddenly electrified fan base. I'm dreaming that all of that will seduce him into staying as long as he gets a competitive offer.
Wow! Easily the most spectacular defensive play I can remember. The dive, the barehand, and the staying on the bag all on the same play, with the latter two being particularly great examples of their respective genres.
Well, apparently it's been twenty years since Cal Ripken, Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. Pitcher's duel in St. Louis. 1-0 Pirates after five.
of course I MIGHT be wrong, lol, I'm pretty sure we can take the Dodgers Actually, I'm certain at the point the Dodgers won't be the NL rep. But that would kill my little joke. Here's something not yet discussed - has there ever been a manager more skilled at losing hard with a very good team than Matt Williams? Do a twitter search for #smrtbaseball (wherein Kieth Law and followers take note of incredibly stupid managing choices) and seemingly over half the observations are above moves made by Williams.
Lots of good news for L.A. baseball fans. The Dodgers clinch by crushing the hated Giants, and the Angels have taken the lead on the second wild card spot! Meanwhile, I'm loving watching the Redsox play like a team in contention. No post season for them, but they've moved from 5th to 3rd, and are looking at a very real possibility of ending the season at .500. If they can win their final two against the Yankees, that's a successful season right there!
Hearty Mozel Tov to the Red Sox for advancing the Blue Jays cause - looks like a clinch today with Stroman on the mound. Taking a look back, the Red Sox over the last 54-ish games are on a pace that would have led to 100 wins over a full season (something like 33-20 or some such (still not as good as the Jays, who are over .700 in the second half) meanwhile, the Jankees are 29-29 in their last 58 (IIRC) In fact, all the potential wild card teams in the AL have been mediocre in the second half, and KC has only been just okay. No one can say what will happen in a short series, but IF the playoffs went the say the second half has gone, the Blue Jays should bulldoze through to the World Series without a tough challenge. That said, the Series itself could be magnificent given the way some of the NL teams are playing. I'm kinda thinking Pirates over there.
Gonna be interesting in the NL...Cardinals own the best record in the bigs, but are limping into the postseason with a slew of injuries. Meanwhile, the next two best teams in terms of record are the Pirates and Cubs, one of whom will be gone after the one-game WC play-in game. The Mets have been good most of the season and have solid young pitching. And the Dodgers have a high-powered rotation that can potentially shut down anyone's bats....
Not too many people were making that pick in April. Did you put down any money on it? Odds have to be much tighter at this point.
No I didn't But then again if I did my luck would change. I don't gamble on sports, I just make picks for fun.
I put a few hundred down on the Jays to win the World Series when I was in Vegas last month. The sports book I was at was giving 4 to 1 odds at the time.
that bet is looking sweet but just imagine if you'd made that bet in July I watched Game 5 yesterday and from EE's tying homer on I literally had massive goosebumps of the sort I haven't had since Carter's shot, and it lasted at least an hour after it was over and came back every time I saw something on Twitter or wherever about the game or the celebration. It felt like the deciding game of the World Series instead of the first round. I was embarrassed for the city when the upper-deck-drunk-brigade started littering the field, but Bautista's bat-flippin' homer was epic on every level. There's a real magic about this team that makes it impossible for me to fathom they aren't going to win it all but...that is going to make it one helluva bitter pill if they don't.
The hated Dodgers are in the longest World Series drought in their history (27 years). The Giants had a similar gap in World Series appearances (no appearances between 1962 and 1989) but they have taken care of things in recent years.
The Dodgers lost on a Little League mistake. How the hell does nobody cover third on that walk? I knew they were done for after the follow-up sac-fly. Stupid mistake!
Well it's the Mets and the Royals.. I am picking the Royals.. But honestly I really don't care who wins..
It's been 30 years for the Royals, 29 for the Mets, so I can't root based on which team has gone the longest without winning a World Series. The Mets are my wife's favorite NL team, but I have trouble rooting for them since they beat the Dodgers to get to this point. Guess I'll just root for excellent baseball.
The Royals were definitely a strong team. It's just too bad their victory is completely tarnished by one of their fans catching a non-home run ball that the officials called a home run. We're clearly in an alternate timeline. In the real timeline, the Jays and Royals are going to Game 7 of the ALCS.
Well if you want to go that route, in the "real timeline," the Dodgers are playing the Redsox, and I have tickets for games in both cities. Oh, and I'm filthy rich, too.
