2014 Official Major League Baseball Thread

[lgna69xxx]

The funniest thing about Solarte is that scouts said his fielding might be an issue at the major league level, but he has been stellar and can pick'em at the hot corner. Of course I forgot the 2 other guys that team's scout was comparing Yangervis to but they were two tremendous fielders they had in the system at the time.

His bat I dont think has ever been an issue but honestly I never heard of him before this past February as I am pretty sure not many Yankee fans or baseball fans in general for that matter, had either. The Jury is still out on him but he is doing fine so far. :thumb:

 

[EagerBeaver]

Solarte was a career .287 hitter in the minor leagues. Nobody ever gave the kid a chance and I am not sure why. I think it was bad luck that he ended up playing for organizations that had good guys at his position, and he just got lost in the shuffle. But the Yankees scouts were all over him and yes, they questioned whether he could pick it at 3rd, but he CAN pick it! As a result he has put Kelly Johnson's ass on the bench, where it probably belongs.

Solarte is the real deal.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Out in Arlington right now, Yu Darvish is throwing a gem thru 5 against the least favorite team in MLB with the last name Sox.

5IP, no runs Zero Hits and 9K. Meanwhile clay buckholtz got "lit up" once again and is already out of the game.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I am fascinated by a stat I saw tonight that the 5 highest season strikeout totals in MLB history have all been achieved since 2009. Mark Reynolds has 2 of the 5, and in fact had 200 or more strikeouts in a row 3 straight years. Adam Dunn and Chris Carter also had 200 plus strikeout seasons.

Why is it that this has happened in the last 5 years? Are teams hungrier for power as the sun sets on the Steroid Era, such that feast or famine players like Reynolds and Dunn find homes as regular players when they really shouldn't be regular players? What do you think?

I always used to think guys like this are huge holes in a major league lineup and unless they hit 40 plus homers they have to go to the bench. I remember the Red Sox had a 2nd basemen named Bellhorn who had a 175 strikeout season while hitting 14 homers, which is just not acceptable. And the Red Sox ultimately got rid of him.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Darvish has no hitter against Red Sox through 7 innings.

 

[daydreamer41]

There was a controversial call by the official scorer on Ortiz's pop fly. No one touched the ball. I read that there was a miscommunication between the second baseman and right fielder. But Darvish is still eligible for a no-hitter.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The right fielder got the error but the 2nd baseman should have, he had 10 seconds to move under the ball and did not. The right fielder stopped because he thought the 2nd baseman had it. It was a high pop and should have been caught.

Darvish now has a no hitter through 8 innings!

 

[daydreamer41]

In the end, David Ortiz was the spoiler with a hit in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. Darvish once again goes 8 2/3 only to lose the no-hit bid.

 

[Special K]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they changed the pop up error to a hit later. 100 out 100 times a pop up like that in which no player touches it is ruled a hit, because of the circumstances and the home field scorer they gave the RF an error which was even more ridiculous.

Hahaha, funny thing is as I watch SC now, Tim Kurkjian is saying that 99 out of 100 times that play is ruled a hit. LMAO!

 

[Doc Holliday]

I also think it was a hit. However, i can't blame the official scorer. He would have got killed and is body torn to pieces all over the field had he not ruled it an error at the time.

 

[Special K]

And you're right Doc. It SHOULD be ruled an error but since the inception of baseball they have always been ruled hits if no player touches the ball. Pretty ridiculous to me.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I think that play and a few other bad plays by the Texas defense extended the last few innings and Darvish ended up throwing 126 pitches which was way too many. The ball in question clearly should have been caught and that failure to make the out caused the taxed Darvish to throw more pitches than he needed to. The hit by Ortiz was a hard clean single, but maybe if Darvish had not thrown so many pitches he would have had a little more in the tank for Ortiz.

For what it's worth, right fielder Rios said the play should have been ruled an error on him for not calling off rookie 2nd baseman Odor. Odor said that the crowd noise made the play difficult as he thought Rios had called him off.

 

[Doc Holliday]

For what it's worth, right fielder Rios said the play should have been ruled an error on him for not calling off rookie 2nd baseman Odor. Odor said that the crowd noise made the play difficult as he thought Rios had called him off.

This play happens hundreds of times over a season. 99% of the time, it's ruled a hit, even though it's an error on the part of the fielders. It's usually an error that isn't called an error because no one touched the ball & it's hard to pinpoint on which player the error should be credited to.

But as i've already mentionned, the official scorer took the easy way out like anyone else would have done in order to preserve Darvish's no-hitter, and wait for the final outcome of the game to decide whether to reverse his decision or not.

 

[daydreamer41]

A No-hitter is partially a pitcher's accomplishment, but it is also a team's accomplishment.

How many no-hitters have been preserved by a great defensive play or like last night how many no-hitters have been negated by a poor defense play that was ruled an error? Plenty on both.

Unless the pitcher struck out 27 batters, which has never happened, it's an accomplishment by the team on the field and the pitcher. Nolan Ryan holds the mlb record with 17 strikeouts while pitching a no-hitter. Sandy Koufax has the National League record with 14. Darvish had 12 strike outs last night.

 

[EagerBeaver]

But as i've already mentionned, the official scorer took the easy way out like anyone else would have done in order to preserve Darvish's no-hitter, and wait for the final outcome of the game to decide whether to reverse his decision or not.

The decision was not reversed. The play was properly ruled an error and was not changed to a hit after Ortiz broke up the no hitter. I thought it should have been an error on Odor, who stank on that play, but Rios said he should have called off the kid and accepted the error. Crowd noise was a factor but that play has to be made. It is the major leagues.

 

[Doc Holliday]

On second thought, i'm not surprised at all that the call wasn't reversed. Had the official scorer reversed his iniitial call that the play was not an error & indeed a hit, he would have made himself look dishonest since it would have now been obvious when he had initially ruled the play to be an error & indicated he had no balls.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Brewers Fan Attempts To Hug Jeter, Tackled By Security

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf...ok_out_before_security_guards_tackle_him.html

 

[Doc Holliday]

Sabathia's Yankees lost again last night, this time 5-4 to the Milwaukee Brewers. He barely lasted 5 innings & had already thrown 107 pitches. The Brewers had scored 4 runs by then.

Derek Jeter was kept out of the game. Soriano didn't play either. Not surprising since he can barely play in the field anymore due to his age. McCann had a hit & raised his average to an embarrassing .214. The bright side is that Jeter's replacement Brendan Ryan went 2-for-2.

The losing pitcher was former Red Sox Alfredo Aceves. While he was with the Red Sox, Yankee fans couldn't stop themselves from mocking him. Now he plays for their team & suddenly Yankee fans have grown silent towards him. He hasn't pitched badly, but did lose the game last night.

Jacoby Ellsbury once again went hitless. Is he in a slump? He's hitting .308, but his average has slowly been dipping lately. And Carlos Beltran had a hit and is now hitting .244. Some may say that it's not surprising considering he's old, but you have to do better than that to justify the money the Steinbrenners are paying you to play left field.

In other news, the Red Sox bats came alive again & they finally beat Texas. The Jays lost again to the team they can't seem to beat, the LA Angels. JA Happ was absolutely awful and was yanked early. The Jays bats were silent against the lefty the Angels had on the mound. They nearly came back in the 9th, but former Jays infielder John McDonald made a great play which led to an out instead of two runs in with a man on 2nd with no outs.

That's it for now.......

 

[Special K]

Looks like the Yanks are snapping back to reality. Pretty soon they will be alone in the basement. Bank on it Joe.t!

 

[daydreamer41]

Looks like the Yanks are snapping back to reality. Pretty soon they will be alone in the basement. Bank on it Joe.t!

Oh wow, the Red Sox finally have broken .500. The Red Sox fans have woken up. But I won't get to elated, K, you still have a mediocre team.