Bombi really having a battle with that sun

Adolis could make tying his shoes look exciting

Out! I think.

Nice seats!!

That ball was so foul. Glad they made right call.

How is a guy with a 4.14 era an all star?

gigem1223 said:

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How is a guy with a 4.14 era an all star?

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DEI.

Who is closing if it's not Bautista?

gigem1223 said:

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Man how sweet it would be to have a Cano and a Bautista in the pen

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Too soon?

How good would the Cardinals be if they kept their players?

Selected:
Adolis Garcia signed in 2017. Traded/purchased by Texas
Randy Arozarena signed in 2016. Traded to Tampa
Sandy Alcantara signed in 2013. Traded with Gallen for Ozuna

Drafted
Zac Gallen (3rd Rd 2016) Traded to Miami for Marcell Ozuna

Those are just the AllStar participants on other teams that I noticed.

Adolis arm is better than the 3 Astro outfield arms out together.

Bochy needs to right the ship. Defense looked good, but nothing Offensively.

Fuzzy Dunlop said:

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Rangers went 0fer tonight in the AS game.

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meh. One meaningless game. As a fan it is fun when your team's representative(s) make a substantive contribution in the game but when would you rather then go 0fer, in an exhibition game or ones that mean something down the road?

Now for the next phase of MLB. The Trade Deadline.

Wtf

TMI is TMI

Matt Bush signed to a minor league deal.

Mr Gigem said:

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Wtf

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So you have that guy and the guy who refers to the Astros as "daddy", the Astros thread has their fair share of creeps.

I love when older fans get so offended when people say Shohei is one of the greatest ever. Obviously he needs to play at this level for a longer period of time but no doubt if he keeps this up he will be remembered as one of the best to ever play the game.

What Ohtani is doing is neat. However, he would never be able to do what he is doing say... 40 years ago. It is hard to compare players of different generations.

When asked at the ASG how he stays fit, he said he sleeps and works on being efficient. That was a red flag to me. Let's pretend that is what he does... he just rests and works on not wasting energy on needless movements.

Just for fodder and discussion... Compare him to Don Drysdale.

Career: 14 yrs, 465 GS, 2.95 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 167 CG, 49 SHO, 3432.0 IP.

In Drysdales two years of age 26 & 27 (the 2 full years Ohtani has pitched):
DD: 82 GS, 2.40 ERA, 38 CG, 8 SHO, 636.2 IP, 1.027 WHIP. Over 7 2/3 IP/GS
SO: 51 GS, 2.70 ERA, 00 CG, 0 SHO, 296.1 IP, 1.046 WHIP. Over 5 2/3 IP/GS

DD pitched in a 4 man rotation and averaged almost 8 IP/GS. Pitched in 25.3% of games
SH: pitched in a 5 man rotation and averaged almost 6 IP/GS. Pitch in 15.7% of games

I'm comparing those seasons because we only have 2 seasons of Ohtani pitching in 2 full seasons of MLB.

In '63 DD pitched a CG SHO to beat the NYY in the WS.

The NL did not have a DH and as such, DD would hit as a normal member of the lineup.

This goes back to Ohtani's statement. In the NL, when a P was hitting, he might be on base to end the inning, which meant he'd go from the base to the dugout and then to the mound. He couldn't spend the time between innings "being efficient" nor could he study opposing batter information that he'd face the next inning.

Just in those 2 years, DD spent twice as many innings throwing from the mound compared to Ohtani. The controversy over the DH in general comes into play. Ohtani avg 94 PC/GS. Would he be as well rested the next day having thrown 130 PC knowing he got 3 days rest as opposed to 4?

SP these days are lucky if they go 150 IP. There were 8 SP in 2022 that broke 200 IP. The top 3 were 228.2, 205.0, and 202.1.

DD pitched over 300 IP in 4 consecutive seasons. His lowest for a full season was 221.2.

I'd bet 99% of modern baseball players had never heard of Don Drysdale and most wouldn't put him in their Top 25 SPs. This list has him as the #3 Dodger. Personally, I like Hershiser more, but that's a conversation for another day.

As MLB has diminished the load on pitchers... going from a 4 man to 5 man rotation. Reducing the number of PC for SP, IMO, it makes what Ohtani is doing more and more likely. Not necessarily easier, but more likely. Those DD years were '63-64. In 1968, DD (age 31) went 31 GS, 2.15 ERA, 239.0 IP, avg over 7 2/3 IP/GS, 12 CG, 8 SHO. That year, he went 6 consecutive SHOs and 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

In 1969, to start the season, MLB reduced the size of the mound from 15" to 10". Granted, the LAD were believed to have the mound even higher than 15", so at 6'5-6'6" those pitches were barrelling in on you. In 1969, DD went 12GS, 4.45 ERA and retired from the game. He went from a career 6.5 SO9 to 3.4SO9 in 1969. Oh... he blew out his rotator cuff as the reason he retired. The point is, the game changes over generations. Does the pitch clock help or hurt the pitcher? I think it depends.

It doesn't diminish the coolness factor or the impressive nature of what Ohtani has been able to do. It makes it difficult to compare players in different generations.

Agree you can't fairly compare players in different eras but too often I see older fans claim that players back in the day were better and no matter what the newer players can't get to that level. It happens in every sport.

DallasAg 94 said:

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<snip>

In Drysdales two years of age 26 & 27 (the 2 full years Ohtani has pitched):
DD: 82 GS, 2.40 ERA, 38 CG, 8 SHO, 636.2 IP, 1.027 WHIP. Over 7 2/3 IP/GS
SO: 51 GS, 2.70 ERA, 00 CG, 0 SHO, 296.1 IP, 1.046 WHIP. Over 5 2/3 IP/GS

<snip>

DD pitched over 300 IP in 4 consecutive seasons. His lowest for a full season was 221.2.

<snip>

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It just occurred to me that Drysdale pitched more IP in a single season than Ohtani pitched in both of his full seasons. AND... Drysdale did that 4 consecutive seasons.