Kccitystar

6.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6Ks. Good outing from Jamo

Sanchez is on an absolute tear and I am here for it

See the big post I made about the crackdown on sticky substances.

The team would be objectively worse and it would anger the entire Yankees fanbase if the organization decided to do that

Just my hot take/rant on the sticky substances issue in the league right now as there's "crackdowns": I probably shared my thoughts on this somewhere but MLB really needs to get their heads out of the sand with the substance stuff. Checking players for substances? Seriously? I very highly doubt that a notable player will be caught with anything the rest of the season. All this is doing is undermining the confidence fans might have in a star pitcher or a pitcher who is doing well because of the suspicion that they might be using something to give them an edge rather than just putting in the work in the offseason through a performance facility like Driveline or Cressey Sports and improving their day to day conditioning during the season to be a better/effective pitcher. My understanding from what Dodgers SP Trevor Bauer explained in a video and a follow-up blog entry is that legally, rosin and sweat will give you some form of tack on the ball, or even sunscreen and rosin during hot games will give you a level of tack on the ball. You can't stop someone from sweating and you can't stop someone from putting on sunscreen when they take the field. You know how the league can easily fix this substance nonsense? It's easy and I feel like it's a no-brainer: Re-engineer the ball with better tack out of the box, full stop. No joke, that's really it. Like at this point, MLB should just take the responsibility of providing a level of tack on the ball completely off the players so the sport avoids an "arms race" to try and come up with the best form of adhesive/tacky substance. You also avoid the fanbase having to engage in stupid conversations where baseball talking heads on MLB Network, ESPN, etc. and baseball communities on social media argue until the end of time about shades of grey as far as what's considered sticky and what's not. MLB, who owns the manufacturing process of the ball from Rawlings themselves, should spend the rest of the season trying to figure out how to apply a standardized level of tack to the ball during manufacturing. Mizuno actually does this with the balls they provide for the NPB, although it's a proprietary blend of coating on the ball. The feedback players have on the NPB ball, according to Yu Darvish, indicate that they like the level of tack on the balls compared to MLB. If MLB just engineered the balls with a standard level of tack that leaves zero room for variance, the need for rubbing mud is obsolete, because you now have a default level of grip on the ball out of the box that the rubbing mud was initially meant to aid in providing to the pitcher, and it would level the playing field for everyone. In re-engineering the ball, there is a mutual benefit with the league and the players. Now that there's a level playing field with a tackier ball, in the eye of the casual fan, MLB is actually doing something to curb this and in that process you also give the possible penalties for doctoring baseballs some teeth. The players win as well, because now there is a level playing ground for all pitchers, and since this would incentivize MLB to incur heavy penalties on players who doctor the ball, players would be discouraged from trying to doctor the baseball altogether. Some players in the league are all for re-engineering the baseball to give it some additional tack already, and Rawlings tried something in 2018 that didn't really take off. Maybe they can collaborate/consult with Mizuno or have them license out the tech for the tack (ha, that sounded cool in my head), and in this collaboration it can actually lead to a standardized, certified game ball across all organized pro baseball leagues globally in an effort to grow the sport. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Obviously a joke post because I refuse to believe that you are advocating for a team to throw at a player because he had a great debut game after being called up

Just seeing this on my social media, did Scherzer get checked right after an AB? I thought he would be checked during natural breaks in the play rather than stopping the game altogether after an out?

Wander Franco's debut (vs. Red Sox) on one tab, Yankees game (Voit returns!) in the other, and the LA/SD game on standby for later. Another great day for baseball guys

I believe that's happened, but I don't think they've ever put him to pitch again after moving him to RF. The logic wouldn't make sense to do that, even though I'm sure it's possible within the framework of defensive substitutions

Yep. If you look at that game, the Tigers were still using their DH (Jonathan Schoop).

I think there's some confusion. Ohtani doesn't hit in the DH slot in games where he's both hitting and pitching because MLB treats both the P/DH as one position rather than two like in NCAA ball where you can be removed as a pitcher but still hit as the DH. Home teams in the AL can decide whether to not use a DH in their lineup in favor of having the pitcher hit, which is what Maddon is doing with Ohtani on days that he starts in AL games. If you look at Ohtani's last start, he was in the lineup as a pitcher, and they switched guys out as needed once he was out of the game.

Ah, this works in college baseball. I only know of the NCAA rule for a P/DH where if the pitcher opts to bat for himself, he is treated as two separate positions (a pitcher and a designated hitter, so a P/DH on the lineup card), but that rule doesn't exist in MLB. Yet.

Oh man, I remember "Baby Shark". I think Parra randomly started using it as his walkup song in a June game to beat a slump, and it actually ended up being the team's rally song for the rest of the 2019 season because they turned it around in June that season to win it all

This you? 🤣

It’s been a great Sunday for baseball.

Do you think Glasnow’s injury and his assertion that changing up his mechanics to adjust to the rule changes causing his injury affected team morale?

I have never seen someone who is a fan of a team both hate the team when they win and when they lose as well 🤣

I cannot co-sign this. There's enough baseball out there to watch and actually be entertained by rather than making a losing team my sole source of baseball consumption, honestly. It's bad for your mental health and wellbeing. The Yankees are a terrible team to watch daily this year, and that's fine, I accept this. I've focused on the positive in that their minor league talent is actually fairly good, so I pay attention to that stuff rather than focus on where the big league club is in the W/L column. I have gotten significant amount of value from my MLB.TV subscription by following other games/matchups every day as well if the Yankees decide to not show up. This sport is only as beautiful as you allow it to be.

It's a long season with peaks and valleys. I think it’s almost inevitable that the Rays trade for a starter than can eat innings. They could probably also make a trade to bring Morton back from Atlanta.

You know, there's another NY team worth watching as well, and the owner himself actually talks to the fanbase! What we always lose sight of as well is that trading for anybody that either is currently rehabbing for TJS or needs TJS is usually a high risk high reward trade, depending on what their upside was prior to the injury. One thing that fans keep forgetting to realize is that with the bad deals/trades that the Yankees make, the team, because of the market they are in and the ownership they have can actually absorb bad deals and still be competitive to an extent. Other teams do not have that luxury, and if you follow other franchises you'll see that there have been teams whose bad signings/awful trades set their organization's competitive window back years, if not a decade at least.

Oof, if this is the strike zone, someone call Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte. We just found two more starters.

Ohtani in the Home Run Derby. So pumped.

There it is, and now the boys head home. Meanwhile, I'll be tuned into this Tigers/Angels game.

Yankees have 3 guys who can throw over 100 which is wild to me. Also, our pitching has (for the very most part) shut Vladdy down this series and for that I am thankful

Second triple play of 2021! Woohoo!