The other sports thread

[Sabel79]

As a Mets fan, Bartolo Colon is my President. 

Will Never forget this...

https://www.mlb.com/video/must-c-colons-first-home-run/c-671207583?tid=6479266

[Sabel79]

Also, moments like the above, and indeed the state of the American league in general (beer league softball) is why the designated hitter is just the worst.  Come at me. 

[Eleven]

9 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Aside from big games with playoff implications, I think tonight's Texas Rangers win was the one I enjoyed the most. A very satisfying game. Congrats to Big Sexy Bartolo Colón as the winningest Latin American born pitcher in major league history.

https://www.mlb.com/news/bartolo-colon-becomes-winningest-latin-pitcher/c-289348986

Is he also the winningest former Buffalo Bison?

[shrader]

15 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Is he also the winningest former Buffalo Bison?

The first name that came to mind was Tim Wakefield, but I see that he only got to 200.

[Doohicksie]

39 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Is he also the winningest former Buffalo Bison?

Not sure. 

I just know that he's a helluva pitcher, especially at the ripe old age of 45.  Dude is listed at 5'-11", 285 lb.  He looks like he's shot-putting the ball up there, but still pitches effectively, probably the most consistent pitcher in the Rangers rotation this year.  He's also very agile when fielding his position for such a fat guy.  Comebacker line drive?  No problem.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Doohickie

[ubkev]

1 hour ago, Sabel79 said:

Also, moments like the above, and indeed the state of the American league in general (beer league softball) is why the designated hitter is just the worst.  Come at me. 

Ah yes, the AL. Where pitchers have to get 9 outs instead of 8. Tell me again how awesome it is to watch the pitchers "bat" below .130 for the season. Instant outs are nice.

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, ubkev said:

Ah yes, the AL. Where pitchers have to get 9 outs instead of 8. Tell me again how awesome it is to watch the pitchers "bat" below .130 for the season. Instant outs are nice.

But there's strategy involved.../s

[ubkev]

5 minutes ago, WildCard said:

But there's strategy involved.../s

Yeah, once a game you have to sub for a player who sucks so bad, half the league has to do it. Oh, oh, oh the double switch! Boing!!!

[LTS]

18 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Ah yes, the AL. Where pitchers have to get 9 outs instead of 8. Tell me again how awesome it is to watch the pitchers "bat" below .130 for the season. Instant outs are nice.

Except in those circumstances where it's not an instant out and it changes the game.  So yeah, it's pretty cool.

Can't stand the DH.  I feel like if you support the DH then you should just support a game where you can field 9 players on defense and 9 players on offense and they don't have to be the same.  Honestly, I'm kind of surprised it hasn't expanded more given the propensity for Americans to value scoring over actual game play.

[Sabel79]

22 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Ah yes, the AL. Where pitchers have to get 9 outs instead of 8. Tell me again how awesome it is to watch the pitchers "bat" below .130 for the season. Instant outs are nice.

 

21 minutes ago, WildCard said:

But there's strategy involved.../s

You kids get the hell off my lawn.

[ubkev]

8 minutes ago, LTS said:

Except in those circumstances where it's not an instant out and it changes the game.  So yeah, it's pretty cool.

Yeah, that's called a fluke. 

Madison Bumgarner has 511 career at bats. He has 92 hits. That's good for a .190 avg. And he's about the best hitting pitcher in the game. It only gets worse from there. Much worse. It's awful. It's boring. It injures multi million dollar investments.

Edited August 8, 2018 by ubkev
I can't spell

[LTS]

3 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Yeah, that's called a fluke. 

Madison Bumgarner has 511 career at bats. He has 92 hits. That's good for a .190 avg. And he's about the best hitting pitcher in the game. It only gets worse from there. Much worse. It's awful. It's boring. It injures multi million dollar investments.

Meh.  It's the game.  Get better at hitting.

Also - Chris Davis makes $23M this season and is hitting .159.  He's not a pitcher.

Yep, I know, it's rare for that to happen.  A fluke even... ?

Bottom line.. I hate the DH.  The game is played by the 9 guys you put in the field.  Making exceptions for one of them leads me to question why you can't just make exceptions for all of them.  Again.. meh.  Also, it's baseball, so overall I don't even care.

[WildCard]

2 minutes ago, LTS said:

Meh.  It's the game.  Get better at hitting.

Also - Chris Davis makes $23M this season and is hitting .159.  He's not a pitcher.

Yep, I know, it's rare for that to happen.  A fluke even... ?

Bottom line.. I hate the DH.  The game is played by the 9 guys you put in the field.  Making exceptions for one of them leads me to question why you can't just make exceptions for all of them.  Again.. meh.  Also, it's baseball, so overall I don't even care.

I'd rather my pitcher focused on being a pitcher, so I can watch him be dominate at what he does best, than waste time perfecting being a hitter, only for him to suck at it, and tear a hammy running out a double play to first base

[Eleven]

3 minutes ago, LTS said:

?

Bottom line.. I hate the DH.  The game is played by the 9 guys you put in the field.  Making exceptions for one of them leads me to question why you can't just make exceptions for all of them.  Again.. meh.  Also, it's baseball, so overall I don't even care.

Same.  And there are others who are trying to further pervert the sport by doing exactly what you suggest in your third sentence--i.e., allow teams to have the DH bat in place of a fielder rather than a pitcher.

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

I'd rather my pitcher focused on being a pitcher, so I can watch him be dominate at what he does best, than waste time perfecting being a hitter, only for him to suck at it, and tear a hammy running out a double play to first base

That's because you're a heretic.

[Sabel79]

2 minutes ago, LTS said:

Meh.  It's the game.  Get better at hitting.

Also - Chris Davis makes $23M this season and is hitting .159.  He's not a pitcher.

Yep, I know, it's rare for that to happen.  A fluke even... ?

Bottom line.. I hate the DH.  The game is played by the 9 guys you put in the field.  Making exceptions for one of them leads me to question why you can't just make exceptions for all of them.  Again.. meh.  Also, it's baseball, so overall I don't even care.

This guy gets it.

Also, artificially extending the careers of guys who are no longer able or were no longer able to play the field...  Assuming five at-bats in a game, that's what, 85% of a waste of a player?

[LTS]

Just now, WildCard said:

I'd rather my pitcher focused on being a pitcher, so I can watch him be dominate at what he does best, than waste time perfecting being a hitter, only for him to suck at it, and tear a hammy running out a double play to first base

Right, so why not apply that to everyone?  Do you want your stud CF to tear his hammy running the bases?

I'm assuming you are okay if your pitcher gets drilled while on the mound because that's his job... similar to a CF tearing his hammy catching a routine fly ball...

I understand WHY people love the DH.  I just don't understand why we don't apply it everywhere then.  Not mandatory, but allow the defense and offense to be separated?

[ubkev]

Pitchers are done batting the minute they graduate high school. Colleges and all the minor leagues use the DH. So the last time pitchers got to see live pitching, before getting to the big leagues was when they were 18. And it definitely wasn't major league level pitching. So you get to the bigs around 22-24 years old and now you haven't seen live pitching in half a decade. It's a perishable skill. And by then, it's gone.

[LTS]

3 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

This guy gets it.

Also, artificially extending the careers of guys who are no longer able or were no longer able to play the field...  Assuming five at-bats in a game, that's what, 85% of a waste of a player?

Right..

Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .279, hasn't hit above .300 and makes $25M per year to be a hitter and only a hitter.  What a waste... ?

 

[WildCard]

5 minutes ago, LTS said:

Right..

Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .279, hasn't hit above .300 and makes $25M per year to be a hitter and only a hitter.  What a waste... ?

Batting average is not the end all be all of stats. It's not even the best at describing what it's meant to

9 minutes ago, LTS said:

Right, so why not apply that to everyone?  Do you want your stud CF to tear his hammy running the bases?

I'm assuming you are okay if your pitcher gets drilled while on the mound because that's his job... similar to a CF tearing his hammy catching a routine fly ball...

I understand WHY people love the DH.  I just don't understand why we don't apply it everywhere then.  Not mandatory, but allow the defense and offense to be separated?

I don't think it's the pitchers job to get drilled while he's on the mound...

[ubkev]

@LTS I forgot to address the fluke of Chris Davis. He's a Baltimore Oriole. That's all the explanation needed. But I'll go deeper. A couple years ago the O's paid Chris Davis a billion dollars to strike out and hit home runs, because they thought...I don't know what the hell they were thinking. And now they are continuing to play him while he's in the midst of the worst season a hitter has ever had because they are the Orioles. He's a sunk cost never to be recovered, but instead of DFAing him they leave him to fester in the lineup because they owe him an ungodly amount of money. 

The O's never did know how to spend money. Remember 1998 when they had the highest payroll in baseball? 

[LTS]

Just now, WildCard said:

Batting average is not the end all be all of stats. It's not even the best at describing what it's meant to

But it was just used it describe pitcher effectiveness... ?

 

 

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, LTS said:

But it was just used it describe pitcher effectiveness... ?

 

Touche ?

To be fair we can use OBP, slugging, or anything else to describe a pitcher's ineffectiveness at hitting 

Edited August 8, 2018 by WildCard

[LTS]

1 minute ago, ubkev said:

@LTS I forgot to address the fluke of Chris Davis. He's a Baltimore Oriole. That's all the explanation needed. But I'll go deeper. A couple years ago the O's paid Chris Davis a billion dollars to strike out and hit home runs, because they thought...I don't know what the hell they were thinking. And now they are continuing to play him while he's in the midst of the worst season a hitter has ever had because they are the Orioles. He's a sunk cost never to be recovered, but instead of DFAing him they leave him to fester in the lineup because they owe him an ungodly amount of money. 

The O's never did know how to spend money. Remember 1998 when they had the highest payroll in baseball? 

Nope.  Because I don't pay attention to baseball.

I was absolutely just using him as a bad example.  I've stated why I hate the DH... because it only makes sense to allow it at every position.. why stop at 1?

It's all good.. in the end.. it's baseball.  ?

[ubkev]

8 minutes ago, LTS said:

Right..

Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .279, hasn't hit above .300 and makes $25M per year to be a hitter and only a hitter.  What a waste... ?

 

Giancarlo Stanton plays both corner outfield positions and it's a pretty good right fielder. He also has an off the charts ISO and his wRC+ is Hall of Fame worthy. So, if he keeps his career on this path...yeah, dead lock for the Hall.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

For what it's worth.  I do not like the DH.

I believe that the NL is adament that they will keep it no matter what and there has been chater, from time to time, to eliminate it in the AL.