Agreed. Such a dumb rule. Also, MLB had the golden opportunity to finally incorporate the DH in both leagues after implementing it last year and finding that the world didn't implode and failed to do it. Personally, I don't care either way I just want it the same in both leagues.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
The St. Louis Cardinals bumped their record back up to .500 last night with a 12-5 win on the road in the nation’s capital over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. The Cardinals are now 8-8. Jack Flaherty got the win for the Cardinals, throwing 6 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 earned runs, walking 2 batters, and striking out 5. In the process he became the first Cardinal in franchise history to reach 500 career strikeouts in less than 100 appearances. He did it in 80 career appearances. He is the fastest Cardinal in franchise history to reach 500 strikeouts.
The bats were hot last night. Paul DeJong was 2-5 with 2 HR (including a grand slam), 3 runs scored and 5 RBI, Paul Goldschmidt was 3-5 with a HR, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI, Tommy Edman was 2-5 with a HR and 2 RBI, and Justin Williams was 2-3 with a HR and an RBI.
The Cardinals go for the series win tonight with Adam Wainwright starting on the hill opposite Patrick Corbin. Game time is set for 6:05 CT.
Should be interesting, thought Wainwright’s Era was bad at 7+ until I saw Corbin at 21+. Go Cards!
“Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin (0-2, 21.32 ERA) and Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright (0-2, 7.11) have been struggling heading into their pitching matchup Tuesday night.”
The sad thing is the Cardinal starting rotation has not been good so far. Flaherty's been the beneficiary of good run support but his era is not that good. The other starters aren't so lucky. I'll try the reverse jinx post and say the Cards don't score 4 runs tonight after a 12 spot last night. It's beginning to look like team is depending on home runs for their offense this season.
Looks as if I didn't give Flaherty and Gant enough respect with their ERAs. Jack's is 3.80 and Gant's is 3.21. Here are numbers for the rest of the starters:
Kim= 9.00, Martinez= 7.80, Waino =7.11 and Ponce de Leon= 9.64. Ponce is now out of the rotation but is the long man out of the bullpen. Kim has only pitched one game since coming off IR.
GoRedbirds!
The starting pitching has been so inconsistent. Flaherty and Gant have thrown the ball well at times and overall (although it’s early) appear the most steady starters. Kim just had the one start so I think his sample size is too small to judge for a while. Waino is Waino and gets a pass, but it would really be nice to see him go deep into the game tonight and give the Cardinals a chance to win. Martinez is and has been inconsistent pretty much his entire career with St. Louis. I pull for the guy but it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna figure it out quite yet. He isn’t getting any younger in baseball age either as he is now 29 and turns 30 in September. Ponce had been inconsistent this year too and is probably better suited for a long reliever role which he flourished in at times the past couple seasons. Shildt could start Reyes but seems to like him in the closer role. A couple more bad starts from some of the usual suspects and I think Shildt will need to shake things up a bit. It’s not even May yet but I think by mid May something likely will change with the starting lineup if the usual suspects don’t start throwing the ball better as starting pitchers.
Matthew Liberatore is a LHP and is the Cardinals top prospect. He is only 21. I’d give him a shot eventually this season if the need arises. I have been eager to see him pitch in the big leagues. He was drafted 16th overall in the 2018 MLB Draft out of high school in Arizona by the Tampa Bay Rays. He came to the Cardinals organization as part of the Jose Martinez and Randy Arozorena trade in January, 2020.
You would think. I'm not naming any names but *cough Braves cough* seem to be completely inept at the concept. They have lost almost every extra inning game they have played with the new rule it seems like because they have been terrible at getting that single run in. They never bunt usually go down 1, 2, 3 and done.
With the traditionalists who usually scream about rule changes in baseball I cannot believe this one stuck. When it was introduced last year I thought it was a one time thing because of the shortened season and I couldn't believe they kept it.
While we are on the rules discussion I also really wish they hadn't brought replay into baseball. I absolutely hate it. Bad calls are a part of the game. Sometimes you get a call and sometimes one goes against you. Get over it and play on. Baseball already has a terrible length of games issue and all this does is add to it. It takes them 10 minutes every time to review and it hardly ever gets overturned. Baseball umps are traditionally very good (not including Angel Hernandez) and the calls are so close most times it's even hard to tell on replay if they were missed. Just play ball. Thanks for listening, now get off my lawn.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
Are there any special rules governing how this silly rule impacts pitcher ERAs? I understand it wouldn't affect W/L/S records, but it sure inflates runs allowed. In fact, that's the entire point. Do they just remove it? Or is the runner treated as inherited, for ERA purposes? Just curious how this is managed in a stats-conscious world (while recognizing that ERA doesn't affect roster decisions nearly as much as it used to).
But I assume the batter still gets the RBI and the runner gets the run scored as well as a stolen base if he steals third after having started on second?
It reminds me of the great quote about people who were born on third base but go through life thinking they hit a triple (which I believe is attributed to football coach Barry Switzer).
What has clearly been visible to me over the past few decades is that fewer and fewer players know how to bunt...and I understand that, (and I don't want to get into the advanced stat weeds here) since there seems to be more and more evidence that bunting isn't generally a great strategy...nonetheless, (and allowing for who happens to be at bat and his attributes) it sure would seem to be tempting to get the runner over to third with one out.
I remember when the Yanks used to bring Phil Rizzuto, one of the all-time great bunters, to spring training every year to instruct the players.
This is again a case where I think teams are too focused on analytics. If players knew how to bunt, it could be an extremely effective tool, such as in this situation but also against all of the shifts.
First game I ever saw in person was in 1954, Yanks vs Red Sox...Sox had Ted Williams (my father spent half the game telling me "remember this guy, remember this guy" since I was only five at the time).
Rizzuto played SS for the Yanks, this was before helmets, and Phil took a fast ball in the noggin...it sounded like a bat hitting a water melon, Phil was out cold, carted him off on a stretcher. This adjusted my views on the physicality and perils of baseball.
Apparently Jerry Seinfeld also doesn't like the man on second rule.
“The most valued thing in baseball is a man on base – you work for that. You’re just going to whore that out and put a guy on second in the 10th, just give that up?” he sighed. “I get the tiebreaker in tennis, but you think fans will flock to the game because it’s 10 minutes shorter? No one gives a damn. The only adjustment I’m in favor of is batters stepping out of the box. I’d be in favor of rules that change that behavior.”
https://www.audacy.com/wfan/sports/j...ptKvh4-NgPwAfI