CanI just say how much I hate MLB umpires? Wearing white wrist bands to"protest" that coaches and players are saying mean words to them. There's a worthwhile cause, Fuck you. These poor guys have to work over six months a year, sometimes five times a week for up to four hours a day. Outside. And they only get paid up to $300,000 a year. You signed up to be an umpire, and get a paid a shitload of money. Stand there, get yelled at, and thank God you made it past the bus leagues.
The biggest thing I hate about that "protest" is that everybody knows that Angel Hernandez is a terrible umpire. This has been a complaint for YEARS. And, Kinsler is right: if he sucks and makes a mistake, his team can lose the game; or, if he complains about the umps sucking he can get fined or suspended. But, if a certain ump sucks, he will be right back out there the next game. When the umpires went on strike in the late 90's, it was a total failure. They gained nothing and lost the NL-AL designations. Eric Gregg sucked so bad in the 1997 NLCS that the strike did him in. He never got hired back, but if they hadn't struck, he'd have worked until he had a stroke on the field. (Didn't somebody leave a cheeseburger on first base for him one time?) These protesters should learn from that mistake. I don't think it's going to work out as well. If they start getting even a hint of leverage, MLB will suddenly think accelerating the automated umpiring is a great idea. ETA: I wish I could find better quality video of this, but if you've never seen it, it is high comedy. As a Braves fan, I'd like to claim that's why they lost - it wasn't. But, it was a ridiculous example of Gregg getting caught up and realizing he was being cheered for calling strikes. What a joke.
Angel Hernandez is the WORST umpire, ever. Remember the actual, visible home run that he called back regardless of the evidence? He's fucking garbage and always has been. The late 90's strike was hilarious. I think I remember a bunch of them signed a mass resignation because they thought they had lots of power and clout, the league accepted the resignation and hired willing AAA umps for half the salary. Did somebody say "sandlot ball"? You have THE easiest officiating job in sports. So shut up and do your goddamn jobs.
Apparently until last night no team in MLB history had ever hit a home run in each of the first six innings until the Twins hit one in each of the first seven. It's a pretty arbitrary stat but I'm still surprised no team has ever done that before.
Giancarlo Stanton hit # 56 today with 10 games left. Maybe we'll see a non-steroid 60 season this year.
We don't. Which is one of the (many) reasons the moral absolutists* who screech about steroids aren't worth listening to. Putting aside the fact that people have been cheating/"looking for an edge" in baseball(and in every sport really) since it was invented, There will always be a swath of people who claim that anyone who hits an inordinate amount of home runs is "juiced" no matter what. *not saying that Toytoy is this at all.
The way I look at it is that almost everyone in the "Steroid Era" was juiced, so who cares? It leveled the playing field for everyone, so no harm, no foul. Hell, Aaron, Mays, just about everyone in the 50's-70's. used speed to get them through the grind of the schedule.
Is this the part where we all get to hand-pick which ones piss us off and which ones bring joy to our hearts even though they did the same thing?
No hand picking on my part. I'm fully capable of pointing out that arod is a douchebag(to use one example) while acknowledging that hitting 660+ home runs is unreal. It's not mutually exclusive.
There is a bias however, for going after Juicers more ferociously with shittier personalities. Jeff Bagwell and Mac do not get strung up the way Canseco (who thanks to twitter I now know is actually insane), A-Rod and Bonds do because those guys are assholes. Clemens got out because he was very convincing at having a mental handicap during his roast. There will always be the drug argument: All in, or none at all. There's no in-between where you only sometimes do drugs. Perhaps two leagues: One where players have to be completely clean, and the other where everyone is Ken Caminiti-sized construction equipment who need to use yard sticks to scratch an itch on their back. Cock-diesel motherfuckers who the fences will be moved IN for because it's about dingers, baby. Change-ups, curveballs and knucklers are banned.
This is an astounding stat line. Oakland rookie Matt Olson has 24 HR's in 189 AB's over 59 games. That's 'roided up Barry Bonds like numbers. But the astounding thing is not the 24 HR's, it's the fact that along with those 24 HR's he two doubles. Two. How do you even manage that?