Yep. I actually turned in after the sixth as it felt completely in hand.
Gotta love a steal of home base, one of the most exciting plays there is in baseball.
Astros / Rays should be solid, I agree.
MLB 2021
- Thread starter Turnip
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Gotta love a steal of home base, one of the most exciting plays there is in baseball.
Astros / Rays should be solid, I agree.
So who we rooting for tonight? Braves or the Brewers?
I'm usually a BrewCrew kinda guy but I've got money on the Braves and plus they're repping the NL East. Freeman's perfect teeth are also hard to dislike.
Edit - Didn't realise the 'Stros were on. Currently 2-1 up top o' the 3rd.
I'm usually a BrewCrew kinda guy but I've got money on the Braves and plus they're repping the NL East. Freeman's perfect teeth are also hard to dislike.
Edit - Didn't realise the 'Stros were on. Currently 2-1 up top o' the 3rd.
Braves. It's an old school Southeast thing.
Another great early start.
Typical Rays. Pitcher is doing fine in the top of the second inning & our bullpen is already warming up.
If it’s the old school Braves, then they’re gonna fall apart in the division series and forget how to hit.
Or it's the old old school Braves who were slow, nonathletic, but could mash (Horner, Murphy et al).
This is weird. I don't have cable, always watch matches & games on my laptop, & my go to river website has me viewing the game with Russian announcers. They seem to have a decent understanding of the game itself.
This post flashed me back to 2003 for some reason which sent me down a rabbit hole of comparing how much baseball has changed. Here are the stats that jumped out:
(2003 vs 2021)
1. OBP: .333 vs .317
2. K's: 6 per game vs. 9 per game
3. BA: .264 vs .244
4. HR: 5207 vs. 5944
5. R per gm: 4.7 vs. 4.5
6. SLG: .422 vs. .411
Also: The Red Sox TEAM batting avg. was .289 in 2003. Houston was the top avg this year at .267 Absurd.
By every metric offense in baseball as gotten worse, except for maybe an increase in HR.
2003 was after the old & the old old school Braves referenced earlier, but thanks for that trek down the rabbit hole. As I said the other day, baseball has the best stats.
It could be argued that the increase in HRs is indicative of a poorer brand of baseball. I truly miss the baseball of the 90s before the steroid era beginning in 98.
Baseball is a more specialized game revolving around power, which lends itself to fewer outcomes like strikeout, walk, or HR. Power pitching, power hitting, and spin.
And were winning 56-72 games a season
Bingo. Which is why I want this current approach to hitting to die an ignominious death.
Yep. Even the old Fulton County Stadium was poor.
You're unfortunately right.
We may not see another gem of a pitcher like Greg Maddux ever again.
I was thinking about that during the Yankees/Sox game. Every single guy to toe the rubber was a power pitcher. No finesse
Got a ball game here.
Maddux's fast ball would look like an eephus pitch to today's hitters.
slow down there gentlemen. Maddox was no slouch, he was in the low 90’s as a cub and early Brave.
also, as I was confirming this I saw that he only got 97% HOF vote. This is why the HOF vote is stupid.
I honestly did not know that about his Cub days. I just remember Leo Mazzone's influence on him & his insane ability to paint the corners with finesse.
What a rotation that was - Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Avery / can't remember who followed Avery, but I remember him being good.
There's always the idiot writer or three that maintain that no one deserves to be inducted unanimously. It's typically the most nonathletic writers of the voting bloc.
But he became great when he stopped trying to throw a 93mph 4seamer and threw 86mph 2seamers.
Kevin Millwood is the name you are looking for
Edit: Or it could have been Neagle(?)
JD fecking Martinez
Dammit, right on the tip of my fingers.Kevin Millwood is the name you are looking for
I applaud the baseball knowledge!
Well, dammit, another dinger given up.
Is that rotation the best ever in the modern era? It is easily in the argument for me.Kevin Millwood is the name you are looking for
Edit: Or it could have been Neagle(?)
I was thinking of Millwood.
The 90's were my baseball fandom glory years.
I was in HS and here was no smartphones (or hell, cell phones) so on bus rides to games we were looking at playboys and/or chatting baseball while snoop/dre played in the background.
That or that 2010-11 Phillies team. Lee/Hammels/Halladay, all in their prime. I think they got someone else (Oswalt or Peavy?? It was some short dude) in a trade.
Good shout.
Likely.
If you look at individual seasons, the various 90s Braves rotations would probably be 3 or 4 of the top 10 of all time.
Especially with your fourth starter being Avery, then Neagle, then Millwood.
1998 Braves rotation was arguably the best ever...even if the Padres beat them in the NLCS.
Braves had prime Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Neagle, and Millwood. All those guys had a plus fastball, as in consistently low 90s, but plus secondary and third pitches...with movement and control.. Glavine would hols runners on so well and pick you off at first. One of the best lefty moves to first alongside Andy Petitte.
Boston is raking tonight and getting a lot of good looks and swings against the Tampa pen.
Braves had prime Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Neagle, and Millwood. All those guys had a plus fastball, as in consistently low 90s, but plus secondary and third pitches...with movement and control.. Glavine would hols runners on so well and pick you off at first. One of the best lefty moves to first alongside Andy Petitte.
Boston is raking tonight and getting a lot of good looks and swings against the Tampa pen.
The more I think about it the more I am leaning towards that 2011 Phillies rotation by the thinnest of hairs.
The top 3 on each team cancel each other out and Worely/Oswalt was slightly better than Millwood/Neagle.
2011 Philadelphia Phillies Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com
1998 Atlanta Braves Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com
What a catch
I mean… just think. How many rotations have ever had a first ballot HOFer as their #3? Oh, and first ballot HOFers at #1 and #2 also
Halladay is the only guy in that rotation on par with Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz
Agree. It's close, but the top three for the Braves edge out the top three for the Phillies. Not much daylight between the two, though.
No outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd.
Hit and run?
- Hell nah
Bunt?
- Hell nah
Swing for the parking lot and hit into a double play?
- Oh daddy!
Hit and run?
- Hell nah
Bunt?
- Hell nah
Swing for the parking lot and hit into a double play?
- Oh daddy!
Try to hit the catwalk!
Smoltz was a dominant starter and closer. And those 3 players could handle the bat as well.I mean… just think. How many rotations have ever had a first ballot HOFer as their #3? Oh, and first ballot HOFers at #1 and #2 also
Oh… possibly also the best hitting rotation ever (modern era)
Maddux and Glavine are two of the best fielding pitchers of all time also.
Well Devers got all of that ball