Random Baseball Observations

[AmScray 355]

That's pretty much what I've always felt. Even before there was a whiff of steroid scandal about him, A-Rod was never beloved. I remember reading and hearing about how hamstrung the Rangers were by his contract, how it was a terrible idea to give anybody that much money, how selfish he was, and the reality was, he was worth every penny. People were just mad that he was making so much money. And that's around the time he really turned into the A-Rod we all know and loathe, the trying-way-too-hard, please-love-me, hey-I-am-a-centaur! guy that can't turn in a circle without running into somebody that wants to crucify him.

 

Everyone who hated him was pretending to be unhappy he got caught using PEDs, when in reality they were ecstatic. All of a sudden, that envy and jealous could be explained instead as righteous indignation. "See? I was right all along. He's a cheat and a liar and he never deserved it and HE'S NOT A TRUE YANKEE

 

Of course this is the reason.

Ex post facto Confirmation Bias is a classic dumb**** behavior.

Since 90% of the world is made up of dumb****s, we see it all the time.

 

Bob hates Chester because of (some X variable related to jealousy or some other human failing.)

Bob claims his hatred for Chester is really based on (Y, some pretext or narrative that appears to address something credible)

Chester makes a mistake, is caught in some embarassing situation or unfortunate event.

Bob claims that these events intellectually validate his premise of (Y) when in reality, its just targeted Schadenfreude towards someone he really disliked for (X)

 

Nothing new here.

Personally speaking, I'm in that tiny group who has no problem speaking precisely why I feel as I do without couching it with the 'expected' pleasantries' , even if I know it will reflect negatively on peoples opinion of me. For example, the reason I (and most everyone) laughed so hard at Chapelles Show was definitely because I am totally racist and he played to that using a comedians talent for acknowledging uncomfortagle shit, but you'll find essentially nobody will admit this.... but this degree of objectivity has completely alientated me from society and is so socially unpalatable that I literally have no friends. Its easy to understand peoples motivations for giving the 'easier' answer rather than just saying they're glad to see arod fail because they're jealous of his contract.

 

People are trained from their first moments of social awareness that honesty has a negative social consequence and that its always best to hedge their answers, their opinions, their beliefs. It's the impetus behind the phenomenon of political correctness.

 

So, ya know, maybe. It may be that deep down people hate arod because he's an overpaid darkie and what's more satasfying than seeing someone like that fail, or demonstrate that their status as 'superior' was really based on cheating YOU ROTTEN SHITSKIN!!!

 

All I can say is that I do not care about any of that. In baseball, to me, race doesn't matter (except I must admit that I'm not entirely comfortable with this recent introduction of Orientals to the game)

[Cha! Cha! 628]

Don't think this is a true eephus, but Werth's reaction to it is pretty great.

 

http://deadspin.com/jayson-werth-reacts-to-super-slow-pitch-as-if-he-saw-a-1183456633

[AmScray 355]

That was a brilliantly executed pitch.

You couldn't tell from his windup that a (majorly) offspeed pitch was coming.

[timwakefield 68]

[NickCave 194]

ANDRELTON 3000

 

 

 

The greatest baseball thing I have ever seen.

[NickCave 194]

Hit Tracker Online: one of my very favorite baseball websites. You can watch every home run hit this year, and also run into nuggets like this:

 

Ted Williams, Fenway Park, June 9, 1946

On June 9, 1946, Ted Williams hit a Fred Hutchinson pitch further than anyone has ever seen one hit at Fenway Park. The ball flew off his bat to right field, and flew, and flew, finally landing on the straw hat of a startled fan in the 37th row of the right field bleachers, which was painted red some years later to commemorate the event. For some time, this home run has been quoted as having traveled 502 feet, but Hit Tracker analysis indicates that this is a significant underestimate. Examination of satellite and ground-based digital photos suggests that the 502 foot figure is an accurate measurement of the horizontal distance to the "Red Seat", but the impact point is approximately 30 feet above field level, meaning the ball would have covered a lot more distance before landing at field level, had its flight not been interrupted. To reconstruct the trajectory, wind and temperature assumptions must be made, as well as a time in flight. Contemporary meteorological record the afternoon high temperature as 76 degrees, and the wind at 19-24 mph from the west, so values of 76 degrees and 21 mph out to RF were selected. For time in flight, a variety of values were tested, with 5.8 seconds yielding a speed-off-bat of 118.9 mph and an angle of 38.3 degrees, which fits well with Williams' recollection that he hit the ball at a nearly perfect trajectory. With these values, the Red Seat homer is estimated to have traveled 527 feet. These assumptions are debatable, of course, but any reasonable combination of figures leads to a true distance of 520 to 535 feet, well above the 502 figure. No wonder the Red Seat has never been even closely approached, much less equalled, in the 60 years since Williams' historic homer...

 

 

 

Also of note is the entry on Glenallen Hill, mostly because, hey, check it out, remember Glenallen Hill?

[Cha! Cha! 628]

That video is great.

 

These are also great:

 

 

 

[brvheart 1,750]

Did the behind the back transfer guy make the out?

[FCP Bob 1,311]

That is a Dave Stieb like Slider

[Cha! Cha! 628]

[Dubey 1,035]

hahahaha. That is one of my new favourite gifs. The look on Tulo's face when the camera cuts back to him is amazing.

[FCP Bob 1,311]

missed it by that much

 

[AmScray 355]

That is a Dave Stieb like Slider

 

Stieb and Joe Carter are to Canadians what Rocky Marciano is to white guys.

[CaneBrain 95]

missed it by that much

 

 

Me and bizzle were at this game. Great stadium, Darvish is insanely entertaining. We sat behind home plate about 20 rows up and had a perfect view of the awesomeness.

[AmScray 355]

Was that just a very slow and loopy change-up or were there eephus elements to it?

 

I cannot tell for sure- and it's definitely not pure Aryan Eephus like the one Niekro is throwing in my sig- but given the way that ball moved, the speed it was going, that pitch may be somewhere within the larger eephus race.

 

Those are my favorite pitchers.

The ones who go out there and throw unhittable, 75-85 mph, impeccably planned nonsense.

[NickCave 194]

Not me. I like the mutants that can throw an easy 97, and complement that with toxic sliders and bugs bunny changeups.

 

And Mariano Rivera.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

 

 

Those are my favorite pitchers.

The ones who go out there and throw unhittable, 75-85 mph, impeccably planned nonsense.

 

So you must have a Jamie Moyer Poster then.

[Cha! Cha! 628]

Those are my favorite pitchers.

The ones who go out there and throw unhittable, 75-85 mph, impeccably planned nonsense.

Not me. I like the mutants that can throw an easy 97, and complement that with toxic sliders and bugs bunny changeups.

 

I threw a lot of junk back in my day, but nothing was ever more satisfying than throwing a fastball by someone.

 

Greg Maddux is my all-time favorite pitcher, but I love the power guys.

[CaneBrain 95]

Was that just a very slow and loopy change-up or were there eephus elements to it?

 

I cannot tell for sure- and it's definitely not pure Aryan Eephus like the one Niekro is throwing in my sig- but given the way that ball moved, the speed it was going, that pitch may be somewhere within the larger eephus race.

 

Those are my favorite pitchers.

The ones who go out there and throw unhittable, 75-85 mph, impeccably planned nonsense.

 

If you are referring to the Darvish pitch, it was actually a 61mph curveball (of all things). It was not the only curveball in that speed range that he embarrassed someone with that night either.

[NickCave 194]

I threw a lot of junk back in my day, but nothing was ever more satisfying than throwing a fastball by someone.

 

Greg Maddux is my all-time favorite pitcher, but I love the power guys.

 

I threw pretty hard in high school, so I blew a few guys away when I was on. But there was a guy who played in our conference who topped out at, I don't know, 70? Maybe 75 if he really reared back? And he threw so much crap that he made me look straight retarded on a few fastballs that I would have sworn were 85+. He'd throw me a BP fastball off the plate, come back with a show-me curveball I would take 1-0, toss up some kind of change up, maybe another, sharper breaking ball, and maybe I foul a good pitch off and I'm down 1-2.

 

Then he throws me a 68 MPH four seamer high and away, and I'd barely get my bat off my shoulder before it was in the catcher's glove. I hit .500 my senior year, played Legion ball against guys who got D1 scholarship offers as sophomores, and this smirking faggot made me look silly with a fastball that 12 year olds would tee off on.

 

****ing junk ballers.

[Cha! Cha! 628]

[Cha! Cha! 628]

This is my favorite kind of article from fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-worst-of-the-best-the-weekss-wildest-pitches-3/

 

Jeff Sullivan is a funny man.

 

 

 

Arencibia: All right, cool it now.

Arencibia: Let’s not keep hitting me in the face.

 

 

If you’re a pitcher, you don’t want your catcher to show you the baseball. If a catcher shows you the baseball, it’s because he felt like he ought to show you the baseball. If a catcher feels like he ought to show you the baseball, there previously existed some doubt that the baseball could be retrieved. If there existed some doubt that the baseball could be retrieved, you, as the pitcher, probably just uncorked a really terrible pitch. If you’re a pitcher, and you’re actively pitching, you don’t want any of your pitches to be followed by “look what I found.”

[NickCave 194]

As a man who appreciates both (1) baseball writing and (2) funny dialog, I enjoy Jeff Sullivan. There's been a few of his pieces that just kill me. How about I spend the rest of the night fumbling around blindly for my favorites?

[NickCave 194]

Nate Jones pitching to Trevor Crowe:

 

 

 

Crowe: Dang

Crowe: But wait!

Crowe: I can run to first!

Crowe: I can make something out of this!

Crowe: Sure, maybe it’s a long shot

Crowe: But first base is only 90 feet away

Crowe:

Crowe: as the Crowe flies.

Crowe: /puts on sunglasses

Umpire: Maybe you would’ve made it if you didn’t put on those sunglasses.

[NickCave 194]

David Hernandez pitching to Kevin PIlar:

 

The interesting thing is that Pillar’s timing wasn’t bad. He had the curveball timed, and he swung appropriately, in that regard. It seemed like he identified this as a breaking ball out of the hand. If he identified it as a breaking ball, that means he wasn’t necessarily fooled. And that means this swing came from a batter who wasn’t necessarily fooled by a breaking ball. He saw a breaking ball, topping out in the lower part of the zone, and he thought, “yeah”. A lot of times, batters fail to break through because they don’t know how to hit a breaking ball. Less often, batters apparently just don’t know what breaking balls do, as if there’s no “breaking” part.

Pillar: fastball or not-fastball?

Pillar: not-fastball

Pillar: so, slow fastball

Pillar: fast or slow

Pillar: those are all the options

Pillar: hitting