Matt Williams: No problem with Harper’s two-strike bunting

NATITUDE FLEX PACKS NO PUNCH!

A strange play occurred in the sixth inning during the Nationals’ 5-4 victory over the Angels on Wednesday night. After Adam LaRoche singled off right-hander Jared Weaver to lead off, Bryce Harper tried to bunt for a hit on a 2-2 count, but he fouled out to catcher Chris Iannetta.

Manager Matt Williams defended Harper, saying the Angels gave him the opportunity to bunt.

“I’m not opposed to him laying a bunt down with two strikes. We’ve seen guys do it before,” ...

BU: Take Me Out to the MOOC Game

Now if they could only get Joe Moock to do the intro…

Baseball’s opening day is behind us, but if you can’t get enough of this spring ritual, you can savor another opening day of sorts May 29, when a baseball-centered class debuts as BU’s first MOOC.

Sabermetrics 101: Introduction to Baseball Analytics kicks off what ultimately will be five MOOCs (massive open online courses) BU will offer via edX, the online platform spearheaded by Harvard and MIT. MOOCs allow students around the world ...

Pelicans’ patient Gallo hits three homers | MiLB.com News

This guy could be scary good.

A year ago, Gallo became the first teenager to hit 40 home runs in the Minors in over 50 years. His raw power—touted highly before he arrived in Class A Hickory—was on full display throughout the summer, but his plate approach was also often questioned. Gallo struck out in 37 percent of his plate appearances and batted just .245.

He’s hitting .359 right now in large part because he’s drastically cut down on the strikeouts. His strikeout rate is 25.3 percent and his ...

Full Count » Red Sox to call up right-hander Alex Wilson, option Daniel Nava

Nava had a great year in 2013. This year he has looked just awful on both sides of the ball. Still, I’m surprised they sent him down. Having options left is not good.

OMNICHATTER for 4-24-2014

The OMNICHATTER has never been ejected for having a foreign substance on it’s neck.

Jonah Keri Extended Interview | Video | Late Night with Seth Meyers | NBC

Primates are everywhere!

Keri: Slump City: Why Does the 2014 MLB Season Suddenly Feel Like 1968?

The first culprit is rising strikeout totals, as hitters have been whiffing more often than ever over the past few seasons. Through this many games in 2006, batters were striking out 18.7 percent of the time while netting a .265 batting average. That first figure has soared to 23.3 percent in 2014, an all-time high for this point in the season.

In an attempt to figure out why hitters are striking out more than ever, Grantland contributor Ben Lindbergh hosted a panel discussion on Baseball ...

Michael Pineda ejected from Red Sox game after pine tar discovered on neck

No pine tar barren episode here.

Yankee pitcher Michael Pineda was ejected from his start against the Red Sox Wednesday night after umpires checked him for a foreign substance at the request of Boston manager John Farrell.

Pineda could face a suspension from Major League Baseball, especially since Joe Torre, MLB’s VP of baseball operations, talked to Yankee GM Brian Cashman after Pineda was spotted with a similar substance on his palm during his last start against the Red Sox on April 10.

...

Coliseum Authority accuses Athletics of not paying rent

Here’s A’s president Mike Crowley response to the Coliseum Authority’s accustaions below:

“First, we owe no back rent or any other amounts. We did deduct rent payments in the past for items that we are allowed under our lease, but that was our negotiated right.

Second, there is absolutely nothing in either our lease offer to them or their counter proposal to us that mentions any kind of subsidy. In fact, under our final offer we would immediately invest no less than $10 million in the ...

Doyel: How was Gerrit Cole not suspended? He basically started the brawl

Doy-El…still trying to convince his colleagues that doom awaits!

Let me get this straight. Baseball has suspended four people because of the brawl on Sunday between the Brewers and Pirates—but didn’t suspend the guy who started the damn thing?

That would be Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole, and don’t look at me like that. If you’re here to argue with me, I know both your issues already: One, you say Gerrit Cole never threw a punch, never fought with anyone, therefore he can’t be suspended for his ...

Matt Harvey of New York Mets deletes Twitter account after controversial tweet

Please report to the Amway office for personality removal. #davidwright

Matt Harvey’s Twitter account is outta here.

Harvey’s final tweet Tuesday created a stir. On the six-month anniversary of his Tommy John procedure, the rehabbing New York Mets ace tweeted “I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already.#tommyjohn” and attached a photo of himself from his hospital bed in October, with his middle finger raised.

Shortly thereafter, the tweet disappeared. Then Harvey’s entire Twitter account was ...

The Five “Acts” of Ike Davis’s Career, and Why Trading Ike Was a Mistake

Let’s recap Acts 1 through V:

Act I, 2010 and 2011: .271/.357/.460 over 750 plate appearances, 26 HR, 123 OPS+
Act II, early 2012: .202/.276/.404 in 344 plate appearances
Act III, late 2012: .256/.354/.551 in 240 plate appearances
Act IV, early 2013: .161/.242/.258 in 207 plate appearances
Act V, late 2013: .267/.429/.443 in 170 plate appearances

When I look at the various ups and downs in Ike’s career, I don’t see a player who cratered without explanation from a potential wunderkind in ...

4 balls, you’re out!

I have an idea: steroids for the replay guys.

Morosi: Diamondbacks’ growing gloom might mean doom for manager or GM

Grit ain’t grocery
Eggs ain’t poultry
And Kirk Gibson ain’t the man

The Arizona Diamondbacks were supposed to lead the league in grit. Purportedly, that was the rationale behind the Justin Upton trade two offseasons ago. The swashbuckling leadership team of Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson wanted their guys to play hard, drill opposing hitters when necessary and teach Yasiel Puig a few lessons in major league decorum.

Now they have the worst record in baseball, 5-18. With a 9-2 loss to the ...

MLB takes a swing at the video game business

MLB Advanced Media, the league’s digital arm, has released a baseball video game for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Apple mobile devices. The game itself, RBI Baseball ‘14, is fairly conventional, but its release is not: It marks the first time a major professional sports league has developed its own console game.

“MLBAM has done some games before, but online mobile games,” said Samit Sarkar, reporter for the video game news site Polygon. “It’s something new for a league to do a ...

The rise and fall of Ike Davis’ New York Mets | Capital New York

I like Ike. I’ve been sitting on him for a few years in various fantasy leagues. At this point, I’m just happy he’s out of New York, so I can finally find out if my belief in him is misguided or not.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-23-2014

[Keokuk, Iowa] Daily Gate City, April 23, 1914:

Chilly atmosphere that threatened to cut the bleacher attendance, was dished up today for the opening of the new Chicago Federal park, when the Kansas City Packers meet [sic] the Chifeds. Despite interference by the weather man, Owner Weeghman predicted a crowd of 20,000, the reserve seat section having been sold out three weeks ago. Corporation Counsel Sexton was to hurl the first ball.

Weeghman Park firsts:
First batter: Chet Chadbourne
First ...

OMNICHATTER for 4/23/2014

In which baseball players continue to play baseball…

Royals G.M. Dayton Moore believes hitting will come around

It’s pronounced ‘Gor-Don’.

Among the heart of the team’s order, only Alex Gordon is performing up to expectations, with a reasonable .294/.329/.441 slash line and a 114 OPS+. Billy Butler has one extra-base hit, Eric Hosmer has four, and neither has hit a home run. Salvador Perez is batting .095 in his last 10 games. Mike Moustakas has a .492 OPS.

The picture is not pretty. The power outage is the reason behind the team’s 9-9 start, general manager Dayton Moore believes. But it also ...

Josh Lueke Is A Rapist, You Say? Keep Saying It.

But during that Saturday night game, DRaysBay.com editor Erik Hahmann suggested that enough was enough. “It gets brought up every game by some ####### on twitter,” he tweeted. What ensued was a discussion, largely made up of male writers and fans, about the etiquette of reminding people that Lueke raped a woman.

Mike Trout And Bryce Harper Are Baseball’s Best Young Position-Player Duo Ever

With all the (deserved) hype surrounding Trout and Harper, I was wondering how the duo compares to other concurrent 22-or-under pairs of position players in the history of baseball. To answer that question, I looked at the most productive two non-pitchers age 22 or below in a given season, based on the combined number of wins above replacement they’d generated in the previous two seasons.
...
By that standard, Trout and Harper are the most productive young duo in baseball history.
...
If ...

Twitter / msimonespn: Who is hitting the ball hard ...

This is a list you don’t want to top. Run Segura, run!

The Baseball Equivalent of Hitting on 16 | FanGraphs Baseball

With his history in Seattle, it’s tough not to view Tony Blengino’s criticisms of the Mariners as axe grinding.

This article is not meant to pick on Lloyd McClendon or the Mariners in general. It could have been any number of managers or clubs – it just happened to be this one that did all of these things repeatedly in a single weekend, and lost more than one game as a direct result. Managers have the hardest job in baseball, in my opinion, and game strategy comprises a very small percentage ...

Two Brewers, two Pirates suspended for fracas | MLB.com: News

“Maldonado gets five games, Gomez three, Snider two, Martin one for Sunday’s fight.”

Crashburn Alley – Cliff Lee Is Still Very Awesome

Cliff Lee, the ace nobody seems to notice.

Baseball games still take too long. Blame the Red Sox.

With beer going for $9.00 a pop, every extra minute increases concession sales. But more money can’t be the cause. Right?

Baseball games still take too long. Blame the Red Sox.

With beer going for $9.00 a pop, every extra minute increases concession sales. But more money can’t be the cause. Right?

Martin Maldonado suspended

Milwaukee Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado has been suspended five games by Major League Baseball for his role in Sunday’s benches-clearing incident with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney.

Maldonado also was fined $2,500, according to the source.

The scuffle began when Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez and Pittsburgh pitcher Gerrit Cole yelled at each other following the Brewers outfielder’s triple in Sunday’s contest.

...The benches then emptied, and as the teams converged, ...

Forbes: Valuing Derek Jeter: NYC v. Middle America

4193, not Jeter’s final hit total but a map reference.

Yet, the view of Jeter outside NYC and baseball’s high profile announcers and analysts, while ranging from appreciative to resentful, sees Jeter as overhyped. I’ve long lived in the intersection of Braves, Cardinals, and Reds territory and followed the Rangers and Astros based on childhood geography. To these fans and others in middle America, Jeter’s a very good hitting, limited-fielding shortstop with great durability and longevity ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-22-2014

Milwaukee Journal, April 22, 1914:

Most of Bill Steen’s tough luck has come since he rubbed a negro hunchback bootblack’s head, trying to get lucky.
...
Among ball players there’s a superstition that the scratching of the head of a [racial slur] hunch back will bring luck. Bill and Vean Gregg were believers in that “hunch” at Pensacola in 1913, so both hunted up a crippled bootblack and rubbed his kinky head.

Instead of acquiring luck nothing has come Bill’s way since but bad fortune…Bill wants ...