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Meg Rowley looks at each of the 197 ejections that occurred last year, and writes them up using a Listverse-caliber sense of color and inventiveness. Probably the most sheer fun we've had reading baseball since the Royals lifted the cup ... wait, who won last year? The Astros pulled it out, right? And is it a crsytal bowl or a real "pennant" or what do you get...
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There was a sequence in the middle of the game, about the 5th, that captivated Dr. D's feeble attention. The game had the starters in, and it was tied 2-2.
Blake Parker was on the mound, ferocious and hectic and max-effort the way Parker always is, and the Angels' announcers were on and on about what a find. Will close, probably. Ferociously Parker mowed down ... two deep minor leaguers.
With 2 out and 0 on, Parker ferociously came after Dee Gordon. Gordon took a swing back, an arm swing, but one with acceleration and intent. He got the bat head out, and the ball sizzled down the 1B line.
Gordon accelerated into 2B, feet barely touching the ground it seemed like, and careened around it to take 3B as if the bases were Little League distance. It was absolutely unsurpassable speed, Ichiro speed, you wonder who would win a race HP-3B between Ichiro as a rookie and Dee Gordon right now. Who'd win? It's worth a ticket price, watching Dee Gordon jet-ski out a triple.
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During the Angels' broadcast yesterday, Robinson Cano posted an attention-grabbing public service announcement. An Angels' caster asked him when he was going to be ready to move over to 1B or DH. I signed a 10-year contract TO PLAY SECOND BASE, Cano informed us all.
At SSI we had been wondering whether the transition would begin this year in spots, and that was before Dee Gordon came over from the NL. Cano has six (6) more years on his Seattle deal, and he's 35 now. The thought of Cano playing 2B next year was already rather alarming, and here we are talking about Cano at second six more years.
Justin Verlander, no doubt annoyed that his home run rate has increased along with the rest of baseball, tweeted a fascinating graph. It shows that, given the same exit velocity and launch angle, the probability of hitting a home run increased significantly in 2017 compared to 2014, and it did so for every conceivable vector (except low line drive homers).
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Keeping up with the Mariners is hard. Especially if they televise the games during ... lessee, what did they used to call it ... oh! yeah, "Work Hours." And at this point, the performances and technique changes are ---- > not nothing. Dr. D works hard so you don't have to.
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MIKE LEAKE
Take a Japanese baseball star on the video, hit 2x fast forward, and you've got the idea.
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TWIN .50-CAL LEADOFF HITTERS. EITHER/OR DEPT
Growing up with the Big Red Machine, it wasn't like you thought Pete Rose and Ken Griffey Sr. were going to get on base 1-2 to start the game ... well, not every time. The feeling you had was that ONE of them was on, and then you had the 3-4-5 with a man on base.
First inning, Dee Gordon pushed a bunt for a hit down the 3B line... whoop, juuuuuust foul. They wound up getting him out. But then Jean Segura drew a walk on 4 pitches and there y'go, amig-O, a rally started. Either/or, just like Rose and Griffey. I think I'm going to cry.
The bunt looks like quite the deadly threat. There is nothing you can do about a base hit if Gordon wants to push a bunt ... you can put the third baseman on the grass, but Dee Gordon hits jillions of slashing grounders at the left side, and if you give me the 3B on the grass, we will GUARANTEE you Gordon's a .320+ hitter there.
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(1) Thanks for setting up that site, amigos.
(2) KLAT continues to prioritize SSI for the coming season and forwards all of your suggestions to the top for review.
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James Paxton took his first start in the style of the men who already have their three Cy Youngs on the shelf. He sat a few MPH below norm, put up a few zeroes incident-free, and sounded like Anatoly Karpov as a technician:
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Quite the deluge of comments on Marc-O, every one of which was erudite and interesting. The 'Frame gets stuck, makes strange sounds, and smokes slightly trying to process them all at once...
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(1) Robinson Cano believes that he's going to get better with age. Times link here. Cool quote excerpt, perhaps a bit ambitious, but the spirit is clear:
“I don’t want to hit .280 with 23 home runs,” said Cano, citing his numbers from last season. “I want to be the best in the game. I want to be the best player.”
Cano's idea is that he understands the game better, and feels as young as ever. Dr's Diagnosis: it's obviously not unusual for a Hall of Famer to play well through age 37, and Cano's "only" 35. Edgar Martinez was a somewhat similar hitter, and easily ripped enemy pitching to the tune of a 160 OPS+ through age 38.
Good read though, worth yer time.
