It was quite the celebration JD and Holt had after Holt's homer last night. And yes, I couldn't help wondering if JD gave Holt some advice before the AB. Buying into the hype, I guess...
Random thoughts of the day:
-A bit surprisingly, Manny Machado is kind of doing jacksquat for the Dodgers so far.
-Yasiel Puig - there's a fine line between being flamboyant/passionate and being a complete idiot.
-Cubs starters Lester and Quintana are really struggling lately.
Shreve's .778 OPS vs. lefties isn't very good, but Cole's .980 is out of this world bad.
Here are Cole's numbers vs. lefties this year:
78 PA's 358/436/806 for a robust OPS of 1.242
Over his career Cole has allowed a .980 OPS against LH hitters. But Boonie let him pitch to both Nimmo and Conforto, with somewhat predictable results. Not sure what he was thinking.
So let me get this straight: Boone brings A. J. Cole into a 1-run game and leaves him in there until he gives up 3 home runs. In fact he didn't even pull him right after the third home run.
Boone just might have some serious issues as a manager.
I can't remember who it was, but I heard one of the commentators suggest a change where you can shift laterally as much as you want but no infielders can be in the outfield at the start of the play - they need to be standing on the infield dirt.
There seems to be a school of thought that if you bunt and try to go the other way more, you're doing exactly what the defense wants you to do. I dunno the answer.
I'm talking about the obvious trends of increased home runs and increased strikeouts at the same time as increased shifting. Surely there is some correlation.
Offenses already have responded to the shift. Hitters focusing on launch angle, swinging for the fences, if you strike out it's no big deal. That's your response right there.
I agree with you. The relentless shifting has steered the game in a bad direction.
I believe that Manfred is definitely going to bring in some rule changes in response.