BBTF ANNUAL CENTRAL PARK SOFTBALL GAME 2018

Date: August 11
Time: TBA
Field: TBA
Post-game meetup: TBA

I will update the above as we get more details. I don’t know who JE is booking the field, nor when we’ll know. But let’s start talking softball.

Ronald Acuna hits first homer | MLB.com

He showed off his power. Two ABs later he showed off his wheels beating out an infield hit.

Tampa Bay Rays promote LHP Jonny Venters

The greatest story of perseverance in baseball history has added another chapter.

The Tampa Bay Rays have called up left-handed pitcher Jonny Venters from Triple-A Durham.

Jonny Venters last pitched in a major league game on October 5th, 2012 while he was still a member of the Atlanta Braves.

Brewers first baseman Eric Thames goes on DL with torn thumb ligament

Thames was injured Tuesday night in the eighth inning of the Brewers’ game against Kansas City, when he dived to his right to snag a grounder from Mike Moustakas, flipping to reliever Dan Jennings covering the bag for the out. Thames jammed his glove hand hard into the ground making the play and exited the game after that inning.

Before the season, they seemed to have a logjam of capable position players.  That logjam is now defunct, with the primary playing time beneficiaries likely to be ...

The Greatest Season That Never Was

A man is granted three wishes, but there’s a catch: He has to use them to create the perfect baseball player. It almost worked.

That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always OMNICHATTER, for April 26, 2018

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-26-2018

New York Tribune, April 26, 1918:

A decision as to whether Christopher Mathewson will be released from the management of the Cincinnati National League club in order to go to France to promote baseball among the American troops may be reached at a conference in Pittsburgh to-day between Mathewson and August Herrmann, president of the Cincinnati club.
...
In the event that Matty goes to France it is said that Hal Chase will manage the Reds during the absence of the old master.

Avoid France, ...

Today’s Phillies-Diamondbacks game available only on Facebook

The league’s first Facebook game, a rain-delayed April 4th matchup between the Phillies and the New York Mets, earned mixed reviews from viewers and sports media observers due to the interface’s laughably-large graphics, a comments bar that often obscured the action on the field and issues relating to the livestream.

But MLB has been tinkering with its Facebook broadcast in recent weeks, reducing the size of the score bug and shifting it to the right side of the screen, which has improved ...

There are lies, damn lies, and OMNICHATTER! for April 25, 2018.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-25-2018

Albuquerque Morning Journal, April 25, 1918:

Just fifty years ago they had a great ball club in Cincinnati. It was the Cincinnati Reds and the roster included the great players of the late sixties.

Forty-nine years ago this club went through an entire season without meeting defeat. During the season they won eighty-one games.

In memory of this great team of half a century ago Cincinnati is going to unfurl a baseball flag this year, a flag which was presented to those Reds of 1868 and which has ...

Kyle Schwarber hits 2 homers in Cubs’ win

He’s been crushing it.

Ronald Acuna being called up by Braves | MLB.com

The Acuna Era will begin in Atlanta.

Raissman: Mike Francesa returning to WFAN in the 3 pm - 7 pm time slot, sources tell News

Al Alburquerque was unavailable for comment.

Unless there is a last-minute snag in the negotiations, Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa will soon return to WFAN, the Daily News has learned.

Francesa will be back in the 3 p.m.-7 p.m. slot, according to well-embedded Hudson Street (FAN Headquarters) rats. The sources said the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. slot will be divided between Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, currently FAN’s 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. team, and CMB, aka Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott, who ...

The unwritten rules of using a position player to pitch ... when you’re winning big

The last time a position player entered as a reliever when his team was well ahead — at least, as far as I can tell, no refunds — was October 3, 1920. With the St. Louis Browns leading the Chicago White Sox, 16-7, the Browns sent George Sisler in to pitch. The Hall of Famer, who hit .340 for his career, was apparently keen on giving the crowd at Sportsman’s Park a laugh on the last day of the season, and I would guess the White Sox were fine with it. Sisler had just set the all-time ...

Pujols’ Age Revisted

An old subject with a little bit of new information.

Brandon Belt sets MLB record, sees 21 pitches in AB before lining out

The sequence was Foul-Ball-Swinging Strike-Foul-Foul-Ball-Foul-Foul-Ball-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Foul-Lineout.

There were also 4 pickoff throws to first during the plate appearance.

VIDEO: Rockies Announcers Sound Like Complete Idiots Talking About Javier Baez

The Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 9-7 to win the weekend series on the road and it was quite an interesting finale on Sunday afternoon. Several weird events transpired, including Javier Baez trying to block DJ LeMahieu’s view at second base that drew the ire of the Rockies broadcast team.

Javy is fun.

Long-Term Battery Combiniations

As of the end of the 2017 season 132 battery combinations had logged at least 3000 outs (1000 innings) since the establishment of the modern pitching distance of 60 feet 6 inches…...

Nine pitchers are listed twice:
Steve Carlton (Bob Boone, Tim McCarver), Hooks Dauss (Oscar Stanage, Johnny Bassler), Whitey Ford (Yogi Berra, Elston Howard), Bob Gibson (Tim McCarver, Ted Simmons), Carl Hubbell (Gus Mancuso, Harry Danning – whose careers were nearly coincident), Walter Johnson (Eddie Ainsmith, ...

She’s got legs that go all the way up to her OMNICHATTER! for April 24, 2018

It’s quittin time - the tale of an umpire

I have no idea the quality of the data but it’s interesting. I think it common knowledge that zones expand when the result of the game is no longer in question. This is deeper.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-24-2018

Toledo News-Bee, April 24, 1918:

A new swatting crown—the timely hitting championship—will be awarded in the American League this year.

Two new columns—“runners scored” and “chances offered”—have been added to official box scores.

In the first column the batter is to be credited with all runs scored as direct result of his hits, bases on balls, sacrifices, infield outs and being hit by pitched balls.

In the “chances offered” column, he is to be charged with the number of men on bases when he ...

Didn’t come up here to read. Came up here to OMNICHATTER, for April 23, 2018.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-23-2018

Toledo News-Bee, April 23, 1918:

Eddie Collins was shooting for a record today. If he completes the White Sox-Tiger game he will hold the record for consecutive games. Yesterday he equaled the mark set by Sam Crawford, former Tiger, with 472.

Meanwhile, a high school student named Lou sits at a Manhattan soda fountain, utterly unimpressed.

OTP 2018 Apr 23: The Dominant-Sport Theory of American Politics

All true, and I have joined in the tut-tutting. Yet I can’t help noticing that the people making these criticisms are mostly a bunch of white guys born in the 1960s. I came along near the start of that decade, so I’ve seen a few cultural shifts in my day, and the first one came via early-1970s headlines proclaiming “Baseball No Longer the National Pastime,” after polls showed that football had become America’s most popular sport. Pundits lamented football’s rise (“violence ...

AT&T Park, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field top list of Rockies’ favorite ballparks

This is a fun story based on a simple idea: Ask the Rockies what ballparks they like or dislike.

“I’m not a big Wrigley guy,” Blackmon said. “I mean, yeah, it’s cool. But I don’t like being cramped, with no (batting) cages, no weight room, none of that stuff. The dugout is small and I hit my head on the top of the dugout — every time.

“And in the bathroom, near the dugout, I can make eye contact with the people in the stands while I’m using the bathroom. So that’s never ...

Forget that one call; Sean Manaea deserves our full attention

Rule 5.09(b)(1): Any runner is out when he runs more than three feet away from his base path to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely.

The play: In the top of the sixth, Benintendi hit a slow chopper up the line that was fielded by Oakland first baseman Matt Olson coming in on the ball. ...

‘Family’ and sense of ‘brotherhood’ has Diamondbacks picking up right where they left off

Ever since Lovullo came aboard, the former bench coach for the Red Sox made it a point to establish core principles with the Diamondbacks revolving around trust, unity and an unbreakable bond of team-wide belief. That’s what carried them through their 93-69 season a year ago, and it’s what helped put them in position to try and become the first NL club since the 2003 Giants to win their first seven series to open a season.
They couldn’t do it without talent, and the Diamondbacks have ...

White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar in critical condition after suffering ruptured aneurysm

The commotion in the White Sox dugout was the first sign something was wrong Friday night.

Sox relief pitcher Danny Farquhar collapsed just minutes after he threw 15 pitches against the Astros in the sixth inning of an eventual 10-0 Sox loss. As the game carried on at Guaranteed Rate Field, Sox trainers and emergency medical technicians quickly surrounded him, carried him into the clubhouse and eventually loaded him in an ambulance.

After performing tests at Rush University Medical Center, ...

NYTimes: Now Batting in Class AA: Biggio, Bichette and Guerrero

Each player has a striking difference or two from his father. Dante Bichette was a muscular outfielder; Bo is a wiry shortstop. Craig Biggio hit right-handed and came up as a catcher; Cavan hits left-handed and has played five positions as a pro, but never catcher. Guerrero is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, shorter and stockier than his father at the same age. He played the outfield when he signed, like his father, but switched to third base for the Blue Jays.

I didn’t realize the Jays’ AA ...

Callaway says Harvey might not make his next start after performance in 12-4 loss to Braves

Four games is a small sample size, but the early signs are not positive for Harvey as he attempts to rebound in the final year of his contract. The results are all too familiar to the previous two seasons when he struggled while dealing with injuries.