2014 MLB Regular Season General Thread

El Turco · Post #41 » by **El Turco** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:45 am

greenbeans wrote:
TyCobb wrote:Andrew Miller looks awful every time I watch him pitch. He has no control of his lower half. I guess he is 'effectively' wild, but it would drive me crazy if I was a teammate or fan of the Red Sox.

Hopefully it's just a matter of him refinding himself after the injury, because last year before he went out he was as good as he's ever been, it looked like it was coming together finally, now he's back to the guy from before

thanks for the scouting report.

Ado05 · Post #42 » by **Ado05** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:49 pm

Schwabby wrote:
ATL Boy wrote:
Schwabby wrote:Last I checked, Barry Bonds had more home runs than Hank Aaron.

Hank never had to juice to get his HRs though.

Okay, but 762 is more than 755.

Okay, but thats why he said "true". Bonds cheated to get his, Hank didnt.

Post #43 » by **sunshinekids99** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:57 pm

I know using pinetar happens often in MLB, but Pineda could you hide it a bit better. Guy wasn't even trying haha.

Quake Griffin · Post #44 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:28 am

Can anybody give me the education on spit balls vs. pine tar?

why theyre both banned but spit balls are viewed as worse than using pine tar.

Post #45 » by **ATL Boy** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 6:50 pm

Braves vs. Nats has become quite the rivalry. Great extra inning game last night, and another game decided by just 1 run. Also Justin Upton looks like he's broken out of his slump, 3 HRs in his last two games and he went 3-3 including a walk-off hit last night.

Post #46 » by **Da Schwab** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 5:32 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:Can anybody give me the education on spit balls vs. pine tar?

why theyre both banned but spit balls are viewed as worse than using pine tar.

Pine tar is better for grip. Spit, or Vaseline, or some other slick/oily substance is better to get more movement on the ball.

The reason why pine tar is more accepted is for that exact reason, the more grip you actually have on the ball, the less it has the chance to rotate. Which is why it's just kind of silently accepted by most of the majors.

EDIT: As I go back and read this, it's the other way around. Brain fart.

Post #47 » by **ATL Boy** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 8:38 pm

Braves sweep the Nats. Washington has 5 losses this season, all to us, and we're 23-7 in the last 30 vs. them. Gio Gonzalez is 0-6 in his last 6 starts vs. the Braves, but he's only gotten 6 runs of support in those games.

Freeman is on a 9 game hit streak and Justin Upton is 11-13 which is sizzling hot. Also, Aaron Harang has an ERA under 1 in 3 starts. We haven't even gotten our number 1 pitcher back yet. This is gonna be a fun season

Quake Griffin · Post #48 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 1:08 am

Schwabby wrote:
Quake Griffin wrote:Can anybody give me the education on spit balls vs. pine tar?

why theyre both banned but spit balls are viewed as worse than using pine tar.

Pine tar is better for grip. Spit, or Vaseline, or some other slick/oily substance is better to get more movement on the ball.

The reason why pine tar is more accepted is for that exact reason, the more grip you actually have on the ball, the less it has the chance to rotate. Which is why it's just kind of silently accepted by most of the majors.

EDIT: As I go back and read this, it's the other way around. Brain fart.

so people don't mind the pine tar giving a pitcher grip but they do mind the spit balls making the balls knuckle and trick the hell out of hitters?

think i got it.

Side note:
Adrian Gonzalez is the current MVP of the NL 8-)

hope I don't jinx him....dont want him to start hot like J-Up last year and fall from top 10 to not mentioned at all.

Post #49 » by **Da Schwab** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 1:49 am

Basically. It's just kind of a common thing.

The only ones who were really complaining the other night were the NESN broadcast crew and random people on the internet.

And like SSK said the night if the game, it was just more obvious than most pitchers make it. My feeling is that he got more on his hands than he thought he would and just had no time to get it off between application and heading to the mound. Pine tar gets everywhere.

High 5 · Post #50 » by **High 5** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 3:15 am

So Luis Avilan got the win for the Braves tonight. 1 IP and 5 ER. What a performance.

Higga · Post #51 » by **Higga** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 2:41 pm

We can't beat the Braves. We just can't. I don't know what it is, has to be mental, but it seems like whenever we play the Braves we just completely gag it up and play like crap.

But hey we're still undefeated when playing teams that are not Atlanta! Nobody beats up on scrubs like the Nats.

Looks like Harper's got his swing back too. Losing Zimmerman for 4-6 weeks will hurt, but if Espinosa can keep hitting like this it will definitely soften the blow(and we'll actually be better defensively without Zimmerman's routine errors at 3B).

Quake Griffin · Post #52 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:14 pm

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/04/yasiel- ... on-mexico/

If they didn’t receive the money, they were saying that at any moment they might give him a machetazo”—a whack with a machete—“chop off an arm, a finger, whatever, and he would never play baseball again, not for anyone.

time to continue judging him for bat flips and catching the ball by his shoulder.
he's clearly just a jack ass that wants to piss everybody off.

Post #53 » by **TyCobb** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:48 pm

“He was half-crazy,” a former schoolmate told me. “A little crazy,” said a friend of his father’s. “We called him cabeza loca”—crazy head—“crazy, crazy until the end,” said Michel Hernandez, a former bartender who would join Puig after games at El Rápido, a 24-hour, open-air joint on Cienfuegos’s boardwalk. This is less a critique than an affirmation: of the carefree, carnivalesque vigor that Cubans embrace as a cultural virtue. “He was just such a jodedor”—a screw-around—“not in a bad sense but like a joker,” said Hernandez. “Beer and girls, beer and girls, always a party!” http://www.lamag.com/features/2014/04/1 ... ers/page/1

Quake Griffin · Post #54 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:28 pm

TyCobb wrote:“He was half-crazy,” a former schoolmate told me. “A little crazy,” said a friend of his father’s. “We called him cabeza loca”—crazy head—“crazy, crazy until the end,” said Michel Hernandez, a former bartender who would join Puig after games at El Rápido, a 24-hour, open-air joint on Cienfuegos’s boardwalk. This is less a critique than an affirmation: of the carefree, carnivalesque vigor that Cubans embrace as a cultural virtue. “He was just such a jodedor”—a screw-around—“not in a bad sense but like a joker,” said Hernandez. “Beer and girls, beer and girls, always a party!” http://www.lamag.com/features/2014/04/1 ... ers/page/1

was the beer (or the girls) in the clubhouse?

8-)

i think you have your typical college kid there given that he was 21/22 while defecting....oh and then he could have lost his arm/ finger/ baseball career after that.

edit:
wow at Giancarlo punishing Strasburg. that ball didn't have a chance.

Post #55 » by **TyCobb** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:30 pm

They (MLB) really need to get this international free agency thing ironed out. It's one of the main reasons the Angels have stayed away from that scene. Too much **** that can get you thrown in jail for a long time.

Quake Griffin · Post #56 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:41 pm

you talking a drafting system? I am a fan of that.

unfair for the Dodgers to get Puig n the Cubs Solero etc. etc. while other teams don't have a chance.
also very unfair that Puig's 1st deal is for 42 Ms (or Tanaka's 155 M deal) and somebody else has that is from the states and went to college/ jc / came out of HS has to work their way up through the minors and arbitration to get a pay day.

Post #57 » by **TyCobb** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:47 pm

Well, I don't think anything like that can happen until the political relationship with Cuba and the US gets fixed. I'm also hearing there is alot of turmoil in Venezuela right now, which is scaring some teams away from the talent in that region. Outside of the DR born latin players, it's pretty much a human-trafficking business.

Higga · Post #58 » by **Higga** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 4:40 pm

I am sick of Steven Strasburg and his like first inning struggles. You wanna be an ace, stop sucking at the start of games. Dude has been a massive disappointment so far this year. Now we have to face Fernandez today, which likely means another series loss.

It's early but this team is smelling more and more like 2013.

Post #59 » by **craig01** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:54 pm

Higga wrote:I am sick of Steven Strasburg and his like first inning struggles. You wanna be an ace, stop sucking at the start of games. Dude has been a massive disappointment so far this year. Now we have to face Fernandez today, which likely means another series loss.

It's early but this team is smelling more and more like 2013.

Has he lost some velocity?

Post #60 » by **ATL Boy** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:58 am

Julio Teheran with a complete game shutout in a 1-0 win! An Evan Gattis solo HR is all the offense we needed. Cliff Lee was brilliant, going a complete game with just 1 earned run and 13 Ks but he got the loss. Stuff like this is what makes me believe that wins and losses should never even be considered by Cy Young Voters.