MLB 2022

[The Buscher]

Roki Sasaki of the Chiba Lotte Marines threw a perfect game with 19 strikeouts today.

He is only 20 years old.

[gunnar hendershow]

Hopefully his arm doesn't implode and we can see him in the majors soon enough. Preferably in Baltimore since the timeline from when he likely gets posted to when the O's try to compete lines up absolutely perfectly.

[Maxx]

I like ESPN+ using local broadcasts.  Just caught the Braves CEO delivering World Series rings to the broadcast team between innings, pretty cool moment

[The Buscher]

Alonso commits 2 throwing errors in the 8th inning to cost the Mets the game.  He’s publicly stated he does not want to be a full-time DH but showings like this make it seem tough to avoid.

Anyway, I file this one under “can’t win em all” but losing any games to what projects to be a godawful Nats team hurts a bit more.

[gunnar hendershow]

Well I'll be at the Orioles home opener tomorrow. We'll see for how long and if that's my only game of this year. What an absolute dumpster fire.

[GhostMachine]

6 hours ago, CM Busch said:

Alonso commits 2 throwing errors in the 8th inning to cost the Mets the game.  He’s publicly stated he does not want to be a full-time DH but showings like this make it seem tough to avoid.

Anyway, I file this one under “can’t win em all” but losing any games to what projects to be a godawful Nats team hurts a bit more.

I think the Curse moved to the wrong NY team!

[Toe]

The Jays opener was a crazy comeback win for Toronto on Friday, and then Sunday saw the Rangers get their revenge. Still, I'm happy to see the Blue Jays open the season 2-1. The starting pitching has not been very good, but the offence has been stellar and everyone seems to be starting the season strong. 

[The Buscher]

[Lowerdeck]

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Was at the O's home opener today. Neat tidbit is our starting pitcher for the game is a local kid, went to high school in Towson and initially played college baseball at Towson University. Some pretty cool stuff, he went 4 scoreless which is about all you can ask.

Was nice to actually see a win. My seat was right next to the new wall, which has created a massive dead zone in the outfield. Didn't get to see it in action as no balls were hit there.

Complaints abound about the stadium infrastructure though, The Chicken Shack ran out of chicken by the 4th inning! Guess they weren't expecting so many people at a game this year.

[The Buscher]

Starting off 3-0 was nice but back to back 8th inning implosions from a terrible bullpen they failed to improve bring things back to reality.

Gonna be a long, likely disappointing season.

[Gabriel]

Jays are off to a 3-1 start, and our 4th starter just dominated the Yankees.

Sure, that fourth starter is Alek Manoah, Yankee Killer... but still... it's been ages since Toronto fans could look at a rotation with this much hope. It's a far cry from the days of the 3,4,5 starters being guys who would have been AAA starters or miscellaneous bullpen arms for most other teams.

[The Buscher]

Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken made history last night.  First base coach Antoan Richardson got ejected, Nakken replaced him and in the process became the first woman to coach on-field during a big league game.

[GhostMachine]

And last week a woman became the first female minor league manager, AND won her debut game.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Of course that good story is the result of an ugly story. Antoan Richardson's ejection was caused by a comment from Padres coach (and ex-Cardinals manager) Mike Shildt that had some serious racial undertones. 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33729248/san-francisco-giants-coach-antoan-richardson-accuses-mike-shildt-yelling-expletive-reeked-undertones-racism

[The Buscher]

OK I know it's April and teams are concerned with protecting the multi-million dollar investments that are pitchers arms.  But Dave Roberts just yanked Clayton Kershaw in the middle of a perfect game.  7 perfect innings, 80 pitches, out he comes.

It is almost certainly not actually Roberts' call.  Managers are largely taking arrows for the front offices' decision when it comes to stuff like this.

But I'm sorry.  No amount of "long season, too much at stake" etc makes it OK that a legend and eventual HOFer had the chance to finish off the rarest achievement in the sport and he wasn't allowed to do it.  Modern baseball really fucking sucks sometimes.

[gunnar hendershow]

That's not going to bring fans back 

[Maxx]

51 minutes ago, CM Busch said:

OK I know it's April and teams are concerned with protecting the multi-million dollar investments that are pitchers arms.  But Dave Roberts just yanked Clayton Kershaw in the middle of a perfect game.  7 perfect innings, 80 pitches, out he comes.

It is almost certainly not actually Roberts' call.  Managers are largely taking arrows for the front offices' decision when it comes to stuff like this.

But I'm sorry.  No amount of "long season, too much at stake" etc makes it OK that a legend and eventual HOFer had the chance to finish off the rarest achievement in the sport and he wasn't allowed to do it.  Modern baseball really fucking sucks sometimes.

He also had a great chance to at least tie, if not break the record for strikeouts in a perfect game.  
 

So they ended what could have quite possibly been the greatest regular season pitching performance of all time.

[Twist]

Not even the first time he’s pulled a pitcher with seven perfect innings. Did it to Rich Hill in 2015 as well.

Yikes.

[gunnar hendershow]

In fairness, most pitchers aren't going super deep thanks to the short spring training. Kershaw seemed to agree with the decision, which after coming off an injury-plagued season makes sense.