Look, that aside, the Dodgers didn't let Zac Gallen shut the door on them after Urias surrendered an early 2-0 lead, and they ended up blowing out the D-backs 8-2.
That kid James Outman is good, despite being an unheralded prospect who appeared out of nowhere late last year (and hit a HR on his first AB).
Will Smith had 3 hits, and almost 4, and I think will have a career year in 2023.
Lots of lost players this year, so the Dodgers are going to need to count on youth to fill in the gaps.
Will Smith and Max Muncy were the only 2019 position players in yesterday's starting lineup.
Well San, that opening night game against the Mariners made me wonder about our boy JK and that pitch clock. He got kind of a bad call on a pitch that the ump ruled a ball when it appeared to me it hit the bat, and he’s so tightly wound and got pissed off, and the clock fucked with his routine of stepping off and doing his whole on the spectrum hair thing. Would have been strike 3, but ended up walking him. It was all downhill from there.
I hadn’t caught any spring training games, so I hadn’t really thought about how the clock would impact a guy like him, but the first look wasn’t pretty.
This is much ado about nothing, but it tickled my fancy. Mainly Strahm calling out the owners hypocrisy:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/phillie...151609673.html
Personally I always hated the cutoff times at sporting events, especially in baseball, where prior to the zombie-runner, games could regularly go 12 innings+. Been at a couple where I was tempted to just leave and head to a sports bar to finish the game.
Twins pitching staff looking great so far, when a 80% of his previous best Maeda is your 5th starter, that aint bad. Loved the trade for Lopez and he might be becoming a legit ace.
Hitters continuing like 2022 and can't stay healthy. Some horrible luck with that as well, as Farmer got a fastball to the jaw yesterday.
The race with the Tribe should be close again BCR. Love that team also, just running all over the place. Perfect roster to take advantage of more stealing.
Don't look now, but the Pirates are 13-7, and have scored the most runs in the NL (103).
The Pirates and Cubs (11-6) are both overperforming, as are the Rangers (12-6), Rays (16-3), and Diamondbacks (11-8).
In the meantime, the Dodgers, Padres, and Astros are all under .500.
The Rays aren't over performing pal, they are meeting expectations. I told you during their series in Washington at the start of the year they are the World Series Champions.Originally Posted by Dan Druff
Don't look now, but the Pirates are 13-7, and have scored the most runs in the NL (103).
The Pirates and Cubs (11-6) are both overperforming, as are the Rangers (12-6), Rays (16-3), and Diamondbacks (11-8).
In the meantime, the Dodgers, Padres, and Astros are all under .500.
I predicted a Tampa Bay Rays vs Atlanta Braves World Series, which almost happened during the COVID year.
Do you understand the Rays do not even have a healthy pitching staff? It is a shame what happened to Jeff Springs. Glasnow should be back soon enough. If all 5 of their tier 1 starters are healthy its the best rotation in baseball.
I rate the Toronto Blue Jays as the 2nd toughest AL team at the moment. Let's see if they can put anything together in the post season.
I had a nice run betting the Pirates as dogs at the start of the year, was punished brutally when I faded them in Coors field this week in a blowout loss. Interesting to see that team has not suffered much at all the loss of O Neill Cruz. Not sure they will maintain this pace but would nice to be some new post season blood. I feel the same way about Diamondbacks. I see less of their games as they are West Coast.
Rangers might be for real this year pal, would like to see this team in the post season, have watched some of their games pretty exciting ball club. Didn't he use to be Nate Lowe? Now I hear them always say Nathaniel, what's the deal with that?
Dodgers aren't looking good pal, not overly impressed by the line up or rotation. Would add Cardinals, Mariners and Phillies to teams that have been very underwhelming to start the season.
Look pal I personally hope we see a bunch of new faces in the post season. I love post season baseball and find it thrilling to bet on, there is a lot of tension, but the same teams tend to be around every year.
Max Muncy just hit a walkoff grand slam off of.... you guessed it... Craig Kimbrel.
Boy it's nice to have Kimbrel on the other side again. He's so bad.
The Phillies, by the way, are pretty bad as a whole. They just got swept by the Dodgers, allowing 10-13 runs each game. Today they blew a 5-0 lead which they built off a bad Dodgers rookie starter. They actually came from behind 6-5 to tie it in the top of the 9th, only to have Kimbrel blow it.
Max Muncy was thought to possibly benefit from the ban of the shift more than most players, as he frequently hit into the shift. Instead, his batting average remains low, but he is leading the majors with 12 HR. Weird. Anyway, he seems to be back, which is great for the Dodgers and their inconsistent offense. Note that he even missed a few games on paternity leave, and yet he still has 12 HR.
On a side note, condolences to the Phillies +1.5 bettors. That's a super tilting way to lose. Once you make the bottom of the 9th, your visiting team +1.5 is almost a lock.
Listen up pal, I recently read Dan Druff make negative remarks about the Tampa Bay Rays with a pessimistic outlook on their future.
Brothers this is an unacceptable act that reveals Druffs damaged mindset
Druff saw a blown lead that could lead to a teams downfall and the end of their hot start. This reveals his negative outlook and how routinely he considers the worst possible outcomes.
The thought of a downfall never crossed my mind pal.
The Nicky Pipe Mindset was grateful for the bump in the road. I was thankful to lose my bet on the game pal.
Look pal you don’t understand. Understood?
It’s not a hot start, this is the new normal.
It’s not a hot start for the Orioles either, that team is very legitimate this year. Last year I enjoyed watching them play the Rays a lot. Very talented. The American East is a stacked division, I also think many people exaggerate how bad Boston is. They are a decent club that can win any game. I consider Toronto to still be the Rays biggest test. The Yankees seem like they will be lucky to play for the wild card at this point
The Guardians were heavily overrated going into the season. The AL Central is a bad division. What made the white sox comeback last Sunday most shocking was that they did it. The team has no heart. Major disappointment for a team I didn’t even figure would be that great.
There’s some real awful teams this year. Royals and As legitimately suck. Numerous other teams right on the edge of being on that level of bad. I thought St Louis would most likely win their division, what’s the deal with that pal?
Maybe Miami can stick around and compete for a wild card. Whatever happened to Sixto Sanchez? Is he going to pitch this year? Does the guy still play baseball?
Nobody is curious what happened to Sandy Alcontra? Not the same as last year perhaps they worked him too hard in a worthless season? At least he won the cy young, the only award he will win in Miami.
Sanlmar:
The best pitcher on the Dodgers so far has been.....
Clayton Kershaw. Now 6-2, 2.36 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 56/10 K-BB ratio in 49 innings.
Dustin May has similar numbers but has some issues with issuing walks. But he's been looking good, too.
Kershaw is 35. He's been pitching full seasons since 2008, at age 20. He's logged over 2600 innings, and appeared in 406 regular season games -- and that doesn't count his frequent playoff appearances (I know, I know).
He's had recurring back issues, which will end his career soon enough. Given the wear on his body and the back problems, his performance this year is impressive.
You also have to admire his dedication to being a Dodger. He could have gone the greedy route and taken a multi-year deal with Texas for way too much money. Instead, he keeps taking moderate 1-year deals with the Dodgers, to where he neither saddles them nor himself with a long, bloated contract after he can't pitch effectively anymore. Kershaw always has one foot into retirement, staying just until he feels like the major decline (or unbearable back pain) is about to occur.
And while none of this matters on the field, he's a good citizen. Never gets into trouble. Runs a charity. He's married to the only girlfriend he's ever had, and is the MLB player I'm most certain doesn't cheat while on the road. Imagine being a rich, famous athlete in your 30s, and knowing you only touched one woman your entire life. Tough, but I'd be shocked if he screwed around on her.
I am and always will be a Kershaw fan, even acknowledging that his playoff performances have been less than stellar (though not as bad as the numbers show).
That is all.
On a separate note, there's a weird mystery known as Hunter Greene. I only pay attention to him because I grabbed him for my fantasy team while he was in the minors.
Let's ignore his 2022 where he was still learning the ropes, and at age 22 was probably up a bit too early on a sparse Reds squad.
He's an elite talent who throws super hard, and strikes out a ton of batters. This year, not only is he killing it with the Ks (47 in 33 IP), but he has kept the ball in the park -- just 3 HR allowed. In fact, prior to his last start against the White Sox, he had only allowed 1 HR over his first 6 starts. He's walked 12 batters, which isn't particularly good, but it's not horrible.
Aside from the moderate walks issue, this is exactly the profile you look for in a 2023 pitcher -- a guy who throws hard, misses bats, and doesn't allow bombs. Yet here he came into today with a 3.74 ERA and 1.426 WHIP.
This is because he's given up more than 1 hit per IP, and just can't seem to keep runs off the board -- even in games where he looks unhittable at times and strikes out 10 in 5 innings.
Very weird pitcher.
I bet on him today to beat Verlander, of all people. But that was more of a value bet, given Verlander's recent return from injury and the good dog line I got at home.
3 best teams in AL in the east, and maybe 5 of the best 7.
Weird
I saw last night in the standings the the Yankees, last place in the AL East, would have been 1st place in the AL Central.
Crazy to see in early-mid May.
Kershaw has more strikeouts than Hunter Greene.
Didn’t expect that
Greene missed a little time. He has a much better K/BB ratio, even after today's low strikeout outing (which otherwise wasn't bad).
I’m definitely with the Hunter Greene program. Thought it worth a sprinkle preseason.Greene missed a little time. He has a much better K/BB ratio, even after today's low strikeout outing (which otherwise wasn't bad).
I still can't get enough of Bauer. I love how he (half tongue-in-cheek) says in this video "I am a youtuber who also plays baseball"
Its a different world.
Rays and Yankeee have played some crazy games this year. Entertaining baseball. I look forward to watching some wild AL East games this summer. It will be quite the battle.
Carlos Correa is back with the Twins, for significantly less money than he was going to sign, before his physical revealed problems.
Now he's hitting .201.
Ouch.
https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1658669149055496195
At about 2pm, I abruptly decided to fire on the night's Dodgers game. Not fire a bet, but fire on tickets.
I brought up Stubhub, and immediately spied front row loge (2nd level) seats between home and 1B for $58 each (after fees). Obviously insane value there, so I grabbed it. They did get me for $51 for preferred parking, because the general parking can stick you in an awful lot which can take hours to get out of.
Took Benjamin, and we were all set to see Kershaw dominate again, and for the Twins to lose to the Dodgers for the 12th time in a row (not kidding).
Except Kershaw's mom just died, his head wasn't in the game, and from the first pitch, he was just off. Dodgers bats were dead, and they went down 5-1.
It was only 3-1 in the 8th when they loaded the bases with 2 outs, so that was exciting, but Chris Taylor flew out as a pinch hitter to end it.
Will Smith was resting. Lineup looked REALLY thin, with Heyward batting 3rd (what??), and the 6th-9th spots of Outman (now slumping badly), Peralta, Rojas, and Barnes. Ouch. And we were facing Bailey Ober, who is having a huge year.
No idea why they didn't pinch hit with Smith instead of Taylor in the 8th.
They really need Smith in the lineup every day. They can't sit him. Let him DH if he needs a break from catching, and sit Martinez on those days. Smith is having a career year with the bat so far.
Oh well.. was fun anyway, and Ben enjoyed it. He always gets so excited when I surprise him with tickets I bought.
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