a700hitter

If today's starting pitcher lets Devers beat him, he should be sent down to the instructional league tomorrow.

That's right. I am surprised that Cora isn't sitting Devers too.

Ridiculous Lineup today: 1. Betts RF 2. Devers 3B 3. Vasquez DH 4. Heavy Legs Benintendi LF 5. Chavis 1B 6. Bradley CF 7. Holt SS 8. Hernandez 2B 9. Leon C JD and XB our 2 best hitters are sitting out.

Eck said something interesting about the proliferation of arm injuries. He says that he thinks it is from the obsession with velocity --balls to the wall high velo from pitch 1. OB asked him about Nolan Ryan throwing hard for so many years and Eck attributed to the use of Ryan's legs -- thus taking the strain off his arm. Today, with the advanced mechanics, kids are incorporating a tremendous amount of torque and extension in their deliveries, putting all the strain on the arm and elbow. My Great Nephew who is committed to UConn in 2020 and likely to get drafted that year is getting this instruction now. At 17, he can sit around 89-90, and he has been told that when they make a few adjustments, he will kick up 5 mph. It's all about torque today. When he was 15, he strained his lat. I didn't see it, but his Dad told me that it really swelled up. Eck also mentioned that Ryan short-armed the ball as compared to the throwers of today. I found that interesting, because my Great Nephew told me recently that a coach has been trying to get him to be shorter instead of so-extended. IDK about any of this because I could never throw harder than 75 mph so instructors weren't giving me tips or coaching. I have no doubt that the advanced bio-mechanics while increasing the velocity also increases the wear and tear on the arm, causing more injuries and surgeries. Last year Sale was throwing 92-94/95 when in May he made an adjustment and he was hitting 100 mph from his first pitch. I can remember wondering if his slight frame could stand up to throwing so consistently hard. After the All Star break, his arm was a noodle.

He is. We've squeezed all the juice out of that lemon.

And the bullpen strikes again.

This bullpen is at it again. We can’t even beat crappy teams like the Tigers and the Blue Jays without really struggling, because of this bullpen.

I can’t see being able to go on a sustained good run with this bullpen.

If the delay went more than an hour they used to call the game. What they do today --wait hours to get the game in to preserve revenue etc. is really very unfair to the fans.

Wow! You have been blind in 1 eye since you were 7 years old?

Kay is on the IL and so is John Sterling.

Does it look like they will resume the game?

Gibson had one of the scariest game faces of any athlete that I have seen.

I thought he had MS. Either one is very tough.

No politics. We had a President who visited 57 states and had a few more to go. Let’s just stop it there.

Vargas? The Mets would jump at a bag of balls for Vargas.

If it is about fun, then they should have greeted him at the on deck circle and jumped up and down together as a team. As an aside, I was listening to an old Brooklyn Dodger broadcast by Vin Scully. He mentioned that you cannot tell a ballplayer or his family that baseball is just a game. That made them bristle. Scully said that baseball is a cutthroat business.

Even the Syndegard trade was not as great as you think. Dickey lived up to his reasonable contract extension with the Jays. His won-loss record wasn't great, but he was a consistent innings eater for them and he earned his check. The big piece in that trade for the Mets wasn't Syndergard. It was d'Arnaud, who has been a complete flop. Syndergard was a pleasant surprise for the mets, and now he is turning out to be a disappointment, putting up late career Dickey-like numbers.

What about Dalbec?

Like I said, you are a good guy. There are many who wouldn’t see the distinction. Those are the people that are worrisome.

But if a great player has his emotions under control and his opponent is losing his battle with emotion thus negatively affecting his performance the results for the player with his emotions under control will look other worldly.

I found out that NCAA rules have just recently become more strict about the contact that they can make with HS kids to recruit them. In the meantime, professional teams and scouts have almost no limitations on the ways that they can woo a HS kid. This could hurt college recruiting and result in deeper drafts of HS talent as kids drafted in later rounds might be more likely to sign than go to college. Also, the pro teams will put tuition money in 529 plans for them so that they can get an education if they wash out of baseball. I am not too concerned about emptying more talent from the farm as I think there will be more coming in.

Can people have an opinion today without being accused of having a negative character attribute? Many here strongly disliked Hawk Harrelson. I happened to enjoy that he was a unique character. Did you ever call the people who didn’t like Hawk “haters”. You may have been among them so it was okay. I don’t like Speier on broadcasts. Different strokes for different folks. In today’s “tolerant “ society, tolerance is afforded only to like minded people. Such hypocrisy. Not aiming this directly at you. You are a good thoughtful guy. I am making a larger point about society today and that many of us act in this obnoxious fashion on occasion.

I don’t have a problem with his writing. He just adds nothing to the broadcasts. On the rare occasion that he says something that I don’t already know, it adds nothing to the game or the broadcast. Couple that with his whiny tone and I find him extremely annoying. He should stick to print journalism. The voice in my head as I read his articles is far more pleasant.

They are reportedly interested in Boyd, Wheeler and Roark. MLB Trade Rumors and Signings WWW.MLB.COM The 2024 MLB Trade Deadline was July 30 at 6 p.m. ET. - Tracking every Trade Deadline deal