jung

Miggy should be gone. He is going to float away like a big Miggy balloon full of helium.

No swing and miss on pitches in the strike zone for either of these two pitchers so far. Pitching in MLB is simply hideous now. Amazing in Rick's case since the Tigers can't hit at all.

Slider....Is Chavis's Agent paying opposing pitchers to throw him all these Sliders?

That is where Beni's stride has to stay. No longer than that.

It looks like its raining pretty hard right now. But I bet they try to get this in so they don't set themselves up for more rain issues trying to do something like get in s day night job on Sunday.

Porcello v Zimmerman. Rick finally gets to pitch again.

Actually the issue is intensity and focus more than pressure and a pitcher in the 9th inning is trying to maintain intensity and focus for an entire half inning. A hitter is trying to maintain it for a single AB in the 9th inning. Yes the need for a pitcher to maintain intensity and focus across an inning full of guys that are trying to optimize intensity and focus over single AB's is a "pressure" on the pitcher. But the genesis of that pressure is the intensity and focus of individual hitters in AB's vs the intensity and focus the closer has to maintain over the entire inning.

Read post #246 in this very thread.

They typified the pitching style of that era which was to be able to throw swing and miss in the strike zone and to induce weak contact which is how they went deep into games and pitched complete games. Do you want to make the case that Koufax and Gibson were the only guys pitching deep into games and pitching complete games? Good luck with that one. Unless you have a performance explanation based in the game itself for the lack of complete games, the lack of ability for starters to go deep into games the onset of the sheer idiocy of the "opener", the white flag of pitching coaches surrendering to the trend and deciding to ask pitchers to "just give me all you got for as long as you can" you are simply avoiding the obvious. You are just mad because you want sooooooo badly to buy into Manfred's idiocy that these are the best hitters EVER so by default these must be the best pitchers EVER and you don't like having the grand piano of reality fall on your heads. The nominal quality of pitching in MLB has gone straight into the tank. Are you guys actually watching the games or are you picking up MLBGameDay and the running box score? These are all trends that began ahead of the rocket shop baseball which has simply exacerbated the situation to an absurd level. So NOOOOOOO.....I won't accept the rocket ship as a rational for it EITHER! Some of you folks want to make the case that the pitching is "better than ever" which is a more laughably absurd, blind contention than Manfred's contention that he "knows nothing" about the rocket ship baseball.

I suspect that might even out some given there are number of home games left, particularly since MLB pitchers are now incapable of doing what any even middling MLB pitcher would have done with Rafi all the way up through the 1990's and even early 2,000's. They would have prevented him from setting up with his back foot almost on home plate and diving across with his front side as his first move to the ball. As Pedro said years and years ago, MLB pitchers no longer have the talent or the skill set or even the understanding of pitching to pitch inside with a purpose and keep a hitter like Rafi from owning the whole plate and then some. The mean average pitcher pitching in MLB now is simply not good enough. Often they are not even AAA quality. Rafi would be getting dumped on his butt at least once a game and in some cases with some pitchers more than once an AB! Want to dive across like that...fine. Maybe I will buzz you again and maybe I won't. Hitter's natural reaction to that is to resist it but you automatically flinch at stuff inside when you are getting dumped on your butt. There is no real way to avoid it and its not about courage or toughness.

One was a really nice play. The one where he landed on his keister, that ball actually spun back in his direction when it bounced or he would not have reached it. More or less found his glove. Not the other way around.

Welcome back to the Wheel of gutless bums Heath.

f***ing Joe West....Here kid, let me just stay right here. You don't mind do you.

So Barnes went 3 days off and now 2 days in a row which I believe is about all that Cora can expect of him. In fact, I would avoid back to backs with him for the rest of the year if possible.

Well at least this guy Adams has an actual Slider. So many of them are throwing what is actually a Slurve and calling it a Slider. A real Slider should be late breaking. I don't care if its a get me over Slider or a hard Slider, it should be late breaking. If it isn't late breaking, its a Slurve...sort of a Curve that does not break as much as a true Curve and if the pitcher just rolls that pile of crap up to the plate, its a CHAVIS!

Brasier's 95 is better than Soto's 98

Looks like the KittyCats are not going to give us another shot at Soto...a shame...should cream that guy.

Threw one good pitch and got out of the inning.

Soto is obviously another guy with a flat, doing nothing FB. 98 and doing nothing.

Dummy....above the belt...not below the belt.

We are either getting creamed by the Yankmees or struggling to beat teams like the Jays and the KittyCats. I don't know which is more disconcerting. Neither is particularly encouraging.

Joe West probably screwed this up. The guy could mess up a wet dream.

Other than Rafi reaching all the way across the plate, as usual we cannot hit breaking stuff except for Chavis who can't miss sliders over the middle of the plate. Hope it doesn't rain. Want to see if Carpenter decides to challenge himself again with Chavis.

Cora offers the ump some sunflower seeds

Geezus....Miggy looks like a fatter slower version of Babe Ruth when Ruth could barely move at all.