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Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-19-2016

New York Sun, September 19, 1916:

The Giants gained another full line of trenches on the Polo Grounds yesterday and ran their September string of victories to a full dozen. Ferdie Schupp painted kalsomine over the Pirates by a score of 2 to 0 in the first tiff of a twin bill.
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A young man from Dixie named Burleigh Grimes pitched a well regarded spitter at the Giants so skilfully in the second bout that they knocked it back for only three hits…the score was 1 to 1 when Will Klem, the bald ...

OTP 2016 Sep 19 - Race for the White House: The Greatest Circus on Earth

But is the volume of inches of news space and on-air minutes that are devoted to the U.S. presidential race internationally any longer justified?

I believe it isn’t. It is but a quaint habit by now.The near-interminable, grinding race for the White House has degenerated into a self-feeding media circus. Worse, the event has largely become a severe obstacle in global affairs.

Hanley Ramirez homers twice as Sox sweep Yanks | MLB.com

Porcello has 20 wins. Hanley has put the Red Sox on his back this week. When does the Panda get activated?

Ben Zobrist lived every ‘Sandlot’ fan’s dream and biked to Wrigley in his uniform | MLB.com

OK.

Trevor Bauer labels beat writer Paul Hoynes a “coward”

Saturday afternoon Carlos Carrasco suffered a fractured finger when his second pitch of the game was lined back up the middle. The injury almost certainly means his season over, a tough break for the pitcher and for the Cleveland Indians, whose starting rotation will also be without All-Star Danny Salazar the rest of the way. Paul Hoynes, Indians beat writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (and its internet arm, Cleveland.com), tweeted “Sept. 17: Remember the date because that’s when Indians’ ...

Baseball’s First 300-Game Winner was Also the Game’s First “Juicer”

In the August 13 game, Galvin played like a man possessed. “Old Jeems once more was a youngster full of fun, power and tricks,” the Pittsburgh Dispatch reported in its story headlined: “Galvin, the Great.”

Bonds, McGwire, A-Rod, and… Pud?

OMNICHATTER 9-19-16

The OMNICHATTER did not win a Emmy.

Stephen Colbert goes incognito at Cubs game as hot dog vendor - Chicago Tribune

How much did he make in tips?

Jacob deGrom leaves, as does Mets’ best route through playoffs | New York Post

More bad news for the Mets.

Instead, the Mets’ GM said Jacob deGrom had experienced renewed pain in his right elbow. DeGrom would not start Sunday for the first time since Sept. 1, as hoped. He almost certainly is done for the season, heading for an offseason surgery to relocate his ulnar nerve away from an area in which it is being compressed, likely by scar tissue.

DeGrom said doctors informed him the ligament — on which he already has had Tommy John surgery — was sound. The procedure ...

Baseball Savant - Video | baseballsavant.com

This is a nice piece of hitting.

Xander Bogaerts homers (20) on a line drive to left field. Jackie Bradley scores.

Nick Cafardo: What the Cubs, Red Sox, and other playoff contenders need to do to stay hot

Score more runs than their opponents?

Indians walk off vs. Tigers; magic number at 7 | MLB.com

This is a tough loss.

Carrasco exits: Two pitches into Saturday’s game, Kinsler sent a sharp line drive back up the middle and off Carrasco’s right hand. The pitcher was in clear pain and was removed from the contest. The Indians announced that Carrasco sustained a non-displaced fracture of his fifth metacarpal, which is a bone in the hand located beneath the pinky finger, and is done for the season. That setback initiated an unexpected bullpen day for the Tribe.

Will the Minnesota Twins trade Brian Dozier?

Everyone is available *in the right deal*.

Jerry Weinstein’s new task: managing Israel | MLB.com

Ike Davis is not an edge.

You have a roster of guys with professional experience. Is that an edge?

Weinstein: Sure, but so do the teams from Great Britain and Brazil, and we’ve got a lot of question marks because we’ve got a lot of old guys on there who really haven’t done a whole lot baseball-wise lately, guys like Josh Satin, Ike Davis and Jason Marquis, but we’ve got some names, and it’s a short series. Anything could happen in a short series. I’m optimistic.

...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: September 18, 2016 at 07:54 AM | 1 comment(s)
  Beats: coaches, wbc

OMNICHATTER 9-18-16

The “Technically Submitted on the 17th” OMNICHATTER

Giants beat Cardinals again as Posey breaks homer drought - SFGate

Brandon Belt called Buster Posey “pretty stone-faced.” Indeed, Posey usually saves his smiles for World Series clinchings, no-hitters, all that fun stuff.

That Posey was laughing and smiling as soon as he touched home plate, to see him break every rule in the Book of Buster and flash a huge grin and a thumbs-up directly into the dugout camera, underscores how happy and relieved he was to hit his first homer in two months during Friday night’s 8-2 victory against the Cardinals at AT&T ...

Rockies’ Daniel Descalso a vital veteran bat | MLB.com

Coors Field works wonders.

Descalso is hitting a remarkable .272 with an .820 OPS after hitting .205 with a .607 OPS in 2016. He credits his turnaround to a much-improved swing after studying reigning American League Most Valuable Player Josh Donaldson, Mookie Betts, and former Cardinals teammate Matt Carpenter.

“I just found a swing that I can repeat, and that I feel confident in,” Descalso said. “It has just allowed me to simplify my at-bats and just worry about getting good pitches to hit ...

Scott Boras on Britton’s Cy campaign, Alvarez versus lefties and Jones’ comments - BaltimoreBaseball.com

Alvarez is who he is. A left-handed DH with power.

Alvarez will be a free agent at season’s end and Boras believes he’ll be an attractive free agent coveted by a number of teams. (Yes, he always says that, but more times than not his high-profile clients hit the jackpot in free agency).

Boras says he thinks the Orioles will be in the mix for Alvarez this offseason, especially if they don’t think they can keep pending free agent Mark Trumbo and don’t want to lose their surplus of power. ...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: September 17, 2016 at 08:27 AM | 23 comment(s)
  Beats: adam jones, orioles, pedro alvarez, scott boras, zach britton

Theo Epstein of Chicago Cubs sits in Wrigley Field bleachers, wears comical disguise

He’s no Bobby Valentine.

Red Sox got short end of deal in Preller suspension

The closer you look at Padres general manager A.J. Preller’s 30-day suspension by Major League Baseball for his part in the Drew Pomeranz-Anderson Espinoza deal on July 14, the more you realize the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.

The Red Sox should be upset they didn’t receive compensation. What happened, according to major league sources, is the Padres didn’t input important information about Pomeranz’s injury history — especially regarding an injury he was receiving treatment ...

OMNICHATTER 9-17-16

The “Theo Epstein in the Bleachers” OMNICHATTER

WP Kinsella, Shoeless Joe author, has died | Vancouver Sun

I enjoyed his work very much.

Twins to interview Chaim Bloom of Tampa Bay Rays

“Chaim is great,” says one longtime baseball man and former department head. “Unlike a lot of those analytics guys, he can actually carry on a conversation.”

Why Courtney Knichel’s job as a baseball GM requires her to wear Converse to work

Probably just a publicity stunt to get fans in the stands to watch the GM.

At first glance, Knichel appears part-stereotype: Her hair is perfectly curled and she wears a large, monogramed necklace. Her office is not only decorated with nine years’ worth of Blue Crabs momentos, but also with a pink base from a breast cancer awareness event and a mug scrawled with “World’s best lady boss” in pink script. On the wall behind her desk, there’s a framed picture of the Blue Crabs’ opening pitch.

If ...

Jose Berrios Is Tipping His Pitches - Minnesota Twins - Articles - Homepage - Twins Daily

Good stuff here.

With end nearing, Ryan Howard will play in final two weekend series in South Philly | PhillyVoice

When the month began, Mackanin said he planned to play Tommy Joseph more at first base in an effort to see more of the younger half of the first base timeshare. But he’s reversed course, knowing that this could be it for Howard.

“I just kept thinking about it, the whole year I’ve been thinking about it, that situation,” Mackanin said. “Especially as well as he’s handled the whole thing, he’s been so good about the whole thing, I want to give him something.”

Mackanin will start ...

State of the Phils: GM Klentak addresses several hot topics with season winding down | PhillyVoice

Interview with Matt Klentak.

The Royals, not too long ago promising, just got dominated by the rotten A’s | The Kansas City Star

Exhibit 2,157,874: Winning is hard.

“It just isn’t happening, man,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer. “I don’t really know, man. There’s no excuses. Didn’t really feel like their pitching was overpowering, or good enough to hold us, but stuff just didn’t happen.”

These are proud professional athletes, and most of them are accomplished at their sport’s highest level, so most will bristle at what is nonetheless a fairly obvious and noncontroversial observation — they tapped ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-16-2016

Some high-end snark in the New York Evening World, September 16, 1916:

Benny Kauff has improved his batting wonderfully since he stopped swinging at throws to first to catch the runner napping.
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After years of experimenting with rook shorstops they have finally decided that the best way to fill Hans Wagner’s shoes is to put ‘em out in the rain.
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The Giants’ belated rally is somewhat similar to an ice skater reaching the top of his form in June.
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Physiologists can’t figure out whether ...