My Thoughts on No-Hitters

Just to be clear, a combined no- hitter is a no-hitter but not a real No- Hitter. A No-Hitter is a measure of a pitcher's dominance, certifying that for 27 outs he was literally untouchable. It's a personal accomplishment more than it is a statistical milestone. 

To me, a combined no hitter - esp ones where 3 or 4 pitchers were used - is on the batters. It means that for 27 outs the opposing team couldn't piece together a decent swing even when facing arms of differing quality. That's on them, not the pitcher.

Just my opinion. 

Bruce Sutter

HOF reliever Bruce Sutter, who threw the final pitch of the 1982 World Series as a member of the Cardinals team that defeated my Brewers, died today at age 69.

RIP

40 Years Ago Today

40 years ago today, seated on the living room floor, I watched Robin Yount pick up a weak grounder and throw to Cecil Cooper for the final out of the 1982 ALCS. 

I will always remember Coop leaping off the bag with joy.

And I'll always remember my Grandpa clapping his hands together, leaning forward on his chair, and saying "Hot damn!"

I'm sick of celebrating these guys at every turn - give us another Brewers team to lionize already! - but today I say, sincerely: thanks for the memories. 

700 Home Runs!

I have never been much of a Pujols fan, in part because he spent much of his career as a Cardinal.

Yet there is no denying the magnitude of what he's accomplished with a bat. To hit 700 home runs - becoming only the 4th man in 150 years of baseball to cross that threshold - is truly an awesome accomplishment. 

Congratulations!

New Rules

Good. Adios shift, you sucked.

30 Years Ago Today

Thirty years ago today Robin Yount notched his 3000th hit with a seventh inning single off Jose Mesa. The game, believe it or not, wasn't even televised! Small market baseball, ladies and gentlemen, was a different breed. 

I was at the game with my sister Katie and I remember jumping to my feet, just like everyone else in County Stadium, and applauding until my hands ached. What a moment!

Later, I picked up a Yount t-shirt for my friend Tre.  He'd asked me to grab one for him in class that morning, and I took it as a sign that our newly reconnected friendship was growing. 

A few weeks later my Dad and I attended a game where Robin was honored by the team with a hardcover book about the accomplishment. Scalpers had bought up the tickets and we had to give away our books to them in exchange for admittance. Why the Brewers allowed this nonsense right in front of their staff still boggles the mind. 

One more fact: unbeknownst to me, my future wife was in attendance at the 3000th hit game too.

The 2022 MLB Draft

Tonight I watched the 1st Round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

For Father's Day Junie bought me Baseball America's annual draft issue.  I have fond memories of dissecting those issues in years past,  highlighting the bio of prospects I thought were future big leaguers. On the day of the draft I would track the event in notes scribbled on the pages,  identifying where reality differed from the predictions of the writers.

Today I did much the same thing,  this time with Junie watching most of it with me - not by intention, she just wandered in - and asking some good questions.  She even offered to watch the next rounds with me,  although that might have been just a polite social lie. 

The Brewers, with the 28th pick, chose Eric Brown, a shortstop out of Coastal Carolina. BA ranked him the 53rd best prospect in the draft. 

Here's hoping he succeeds.

56 Pitches of Shame

 

Now normally, I'd love to see a score like this, so long as we're on the winning end of it. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game .  . . until the 8th inning. 

In that inning, this happened:

Now, it's fine, when the game is long past rescue, to leave a pitcher on the mound, even when he's getting rung up, and spare the rest of the bullpen. Except . . 

56 pitches in a single inning. 

Vieaux didn't just "not have it" tonight, he was woefully lost at sea. And yet he was kept out there. 56 pitches on a reliever's arm in a single inning. 

Oh, I know he was well rested. I know he *used* to be a starting pitcher. And I know Fletcher, the Pirates manager, was trying to save his bullpen. 

But F' Vieaux I guess. Risk his arm, and while you're at it risk his head, as a new big leaguer, by humiliating him. 

I know what you're going to say: "Back in the day, they threw that many pitches EVERY inning."

Eh, back in the day they smoked between innings and wore wool uniforms all summer. 

Times change. 

This was, at least in my opinion, ridiculous. 

Congrats to Ole Miss!

Congratulations to Ole Miss on their first ever College World Series title!! National Champions in Oxford!

A Comeback Win!

THAT was a fantastic end to the Brewers game tonight!  

I'd all but conceded the loss and was ready to go to bed - down by 3 at home, and facing the second best reliever in the game, Taylor Rogers, it was a safe bet  -but bam! A bases loaded triple by Jace Peterson ties it, and an improbable single by the 0 for his last 31 Andrew McCutchen brings the win! 

That W, btw, went to 27 year old undrafted Peter Strzelecki, who worked two innings in his major league debut. 

Nicely done gentlemen!

The Brewers are now 33-20 and sit atop the NL Central. 

My suggestion for MLB: Offensive Assists

 I might have said this before, and if I have - good. It's worth repeating, because I think it's a good idea. I've done a cursory Google search and come up dry, so it might even be a unique idea. I doubt that - I don't see how - but who knows?

Baseball is a game rife with statistics, where every action, even bat angle and launch speed, is measured. If you get on base and score, you are given a run scored. If you knock in a run, you're awarded a RBI. So why no metric that awards a batter for moving a runner (that subsequently scores) into scoring position? 

Case in point: last week Yelich singled Rowdy doubled, moving him to third. McCutchen waked to fill the bases, and the next batter brought Yelich and Rowdy home. 

Ok. So they both get a Run, and the batter a RBI. But other than adding to his batting average and slugging percentage, Rowdy got no recognition (formal that is) of his moving Yelich into a position that then made it possible for him to score on the subsequent hit. 

There should be such a statistic. And it should be called an Offensive Assist. If you move a runner from first to either second or third, be it by a walk, hit, or fly out, and they score during a subsequent at-bat, you get credit. 

Period pooh. 

 

HOF Baseball Writer Roger Angell, age 101, has passed away

Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young." 

Goodnight Roger Angell. RIP

Points to Ponder about David Ortiz the "Hall of Famer"- and I'm no Bonds Fan

#DavidOrtiz career OBP: .380.

#BarryBonds career OBP if you turned all 762 of his home runs into outs: .384.

Annnnnd this is why baseball journalists have no reason being the voting bloc of the HOF. i don't mind Ortiz getting in (ok, I do, a little) as much as I think it's BONKERS that he gets in while Clemens and Bonds sit out "because of steroids" when Ortiz was confirmed to have tested positive!!!! At least the shunning of Arod is ethically consistent, if a bag of horses$$t.

Cy Young Baby!!

Congrats to Corbin Burnes on the well deserved accolade! Boom!!!

A Brewers No-Hitter!

Two days ago I randomly spent far too much time thinking that 34 years was too long between no-hitters, and that with our current pitching staff, we should've gotten one this year. . . .

You're welcome.

A No-Hitter for the Brewers!

Two days ago I randomly spent far too much time thinking that 34 years was too long between no-hitters, and that with our current pitching staff, we should've gotten one this year. . . . 

You're welcome.

5 HOF

With Ted Simmons's induction next week, 5 Hall of Famer's will have played for the 1982 Brewers: Yount, Molitor, Fingers, Sutton, and Simmons.

Congrats!

With his Dad looking on in the stands, Arizona's Tyler Gilbert pitched a no-hitter in his first MLB start. Incredible!

A Centennial of MLB Radio

Today marks the100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast of a major league baseball game.

LOL

I watched this live!