OT RIP Baseball - You deserve ZERO fans

[freescooter]

Ryan would have 14 walks, so I really can't imagine it.

Can you imagine trying to pull Bob Gibson? The manager would be trying to pry the ball out of his butt! That guy pitched to 3 batters after shattering his leg on a Clemente line drive. The game has a couple of drawbacks. For one, it requires an attention span of more than 30 seconds. #2 it is built on tension that builds slowly. But the squints have made it about home runs without considering that build up. And it doesn’t help that they don’t market their stars. And they’ve priced themselves out of the everyday fan’s price range.

Funny thing about baseball is the minor leagues are drawing really well.

 

[cohenzone]

“That perfect game was an epic way to cap off his HOF career”?

Of course everyone was sure he had plenty left in his arm so that it would be ok if he threw 25 more pitches and gave up a hit with 2 out in the 9th.

 

[cohenzone]

They stopped drinking beer and started eating kale.

Oh... and they started making tens of millions.

“That perfect game was an epic way to cap off his HOF career”?

Exactly what his manager was thinking.

 

[cohenzone]

Can you imagine trying to pull Bob Gibson? The manager would be trying to pry the ball out of his butt! That guy pitched to 3 batters after shattering his leg on a Clemente line drive. The game has a couple of drawbacks. For one, it requires an attention span of more than 30 seconds. #2 it is built on tension that builds slowly. But the squints have made it about home runs without considering that build up. And it doesn’t help that they don’t market their stars. And they’ve priced themselves out of the everyday fan’s price range.

Funny thing about baseball is the minor leagues are drawing really well.

It’s affordable.

 

[Scoe]

And Dave Roberts would lose his job as manager of the Dodgers. Remember, Bauer joining the rotation is nowhere in sight. Roberts has the keys to the Rolls Royce of baseball franchises right now. The have superstars. They have great young talent. But they didn't win last year with their payroll. Even the Dodgers are an arm injury from becoming very vulnerable in the playoffs, especially witht he Bauers' situation.

Even Kershaw got hurt, do you think he would have given the Dodgers his money back? If they win another ring this year, Kershaw won't care about this at all.

Thats the problem the analytical nerds have way too much power. If injuries happen they happen, under normal circumstances I would agree but a no hitter?

 

[Madmannsucks]

38 degrees in Denver. Not a total excuse, but somewhat understandable.

Game was in Minnesota-having said that, almost everyone is on a pitch count with the short spring training. Usually around 7 or 8 weeks. Sure he was well above his count.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I love baseball and going to games but if the starter is pulled fairly early and I have to watch a bunch of no-name middle relievers grind it out for 4-5 innings, it gets incredibly boring.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I love baseball, its my favorite sport, but analytics has killed the game for me. I completely get why teams use it, but the sport is suffering because of it. Not sure what the answers are, but they better figure it out.

 

[superjohn]

I think your experience is not unique. I know a lot of people who go to games when free corporate seats come their way, but never on their own dime. (Personally, I haven’t paid for an MLB ticket in a bazillion years. I do buy HV Renegards tix though. That’s a great night out.)


It increases until it doesn’t.

At some point, the decrease in attendance and the decrease in ratings will bring a reckoning. Nothing is permanent.

If I can get over to a Cubs game, I look on stubhub in a couple of sections I know are great seats shortly before the game and season ticket holders are looking to dump their tickets for cheap because they can't come in from the burbs. I don't even bother going to weekend games in the heart of the summer anymore, the tickets are way overpriced for a crummy product.

I'll still go down for some White Sox games, better ticket prices and much better people watching.

 

[Deepster]

Lots of old boomer takes here.

The Dodgers should contend for another title and pitch well into fall. It’s a team sport and Kershaw admits he hadn’t been stretched out past that yet. He’s older. Recent health concerns. It’s a long season. LOL at the Nolan Ryan comments. He pitched 40 years ago and threw

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Why don't those of you who dislike the shift take issue with the hitters? Jackie Bradley bats about .180. Mostly Ks, but a pull hitter. Big shift on him. With his speed, a bunt down the 3rd baseline could have him hitting .250+. I blame him for not adjusting. I don't agree with banning shifts.

 

[Waquoit]

Schilling was never the same late career when he pushed himself for a no-no. He didn't get it and was never the same.

 

[The Viking]

If this happened in June I’d agree with the angry takes. But In April after a shortened spring training with a guy who has a lot of arm and back issues I don’t think it’s a bad move.

 

[The Viking]

Why don't those of you who dislike the shift take issue with the hitters? Jackie Bradley bats about .180. Mostly Ks, but a pull hitter. Big shift on him. With his speed, a bunt down the 3rd baseline could have him hitting .250+. I blame him for not adjusting. I don't agree with banning shifts.

This a million percent. Hitters used to be able to do this. Now it’s all about pull power and elevation.

 

[Scoe]

Schilling was never the same late career when he pushed himself for a no-no. He didn't get it and was never the same.

What year was that?

 

[The Viking]

All these teams are analytics now. It’s not like 20 years ago when billy beane and Theo Epstein and maybe a couple other teams were doing it.

If I’m a GM my next move is spending a so so amount - let’s say 40% of the budget- on a hitting and fielding group that makes contact, has speed and defends. And then put the majority of the money into the pitching staff.

These teams pitchers heads will spin with balls constantly put in play, hit and runs, and stolen bases.
Then you use your staff and defense to lock it down.

 

[superjohn]

Why don't those of you who dislike the shift take issue with the hitters? Jackie Bradley bats about .180. Mostly Ks, but a pull hitter. Big shift on him. With his speed, a bunt down the 3rd baseline could have him hitting .250+. I blame him for not adjusting. I don't agree with banning shifts.

It's not the hitters fault there's no such thing as bunting anymore in baseball.

 

[The Viking]

What year was that?

I know he was close in Oakland toward the end of his Sox career I think.

 

[Scoe]

I know he was close in Oakland toward the end of his Sox career I think.

Still ended up finishing his career with a world series, so it was worth it.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

is this a poll on baseball?
if so, put me down as a fan.
if this is a poll on clayton,
also put me down as a fan.
if it's a poll on the dodgers,
put me down as a no.

u ain't lived til some crazy, Africa hot, and sweltering day in the summer, where ur just lazin along at the place where ur lazin along at, u got the team on the radio, and the announcer sez 'there's the pitch. he swings, and lifts a high pop fly into the stands, 2 and 2. nice grab by the guy with his beercup... you know partner, i wonder if those little fans some folks wear on their hat really work.. sure is hot... they say tomorrow it might hit 95, yep, sure is hot...'
time to turn over, or mebbe scratch ur backside, or turn ur hat around,
'there's the pitch...'
later, around the seventh (7th inning stretch) or so, mebbe u yell out to no one in particular 'hey! what are we having for dinner! im working up an appetite here!'
'there's the pitch...'

let's play two.

 

[cohenzone]

Why don't those of you who dislike the shift take issue with the hitters? Jackie Bradley bats about .180. Mostly Ks, but a pull hitter. Big shift on him. With his speed, a bunt down the 3rd baseline could have him hitting .250+. I blame him for not adjusting. I don't agree with banning shifts.

The shift is great as a defensive move. But it takes away offense because pull hitters, especially sluggers are paid to hit homers: or so the modern game says. Obviously the way to beat the shift is twofold. Go the other way until small ball scores runs often enough to force the shift to become marginal, or bunt 4 times an inning against the shift and score 9-12 nickel-dime runs a game. Only a slight exaggeration.

Meanwhile, the reference to Bob Gibson resonates tonight as I watch Vlad Guerrero munch on the Yankees with 3 hrs and a double and nary a pitch threatening to soil his shirt.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

this shift stuff is bogus. just a bunch of lawyers stickin their nose into something where everyone, everywhere should be pointing at the batters and saying 'what's ur problem? why can't you hit, or learn to hit it where they ain't? no, seriously dudes, what's ur problem?'

 

[Scoe]

The shift is great as a defensive move. But it takes away offense because pull hitters, especially sluggers are paid to hit homers: or so the modern game says. Obviously the way to beat the shift is twofold. Go the other way until small ball scores runs often enough to force the shift to become marginal, or bunt 4 times an inning against the shift and score 9-12 nickel-dime runs a game. Only a slight exaggeration.

Meanwhile, the reference to Bob Gibson resonates tonight as I watch Vlad Guerrero munch on the Yankees with 3 hrs and a double and nary a pitch threatening to soil his shirt.

Too bad they didn’t sit him. The Jays actually wanted to win this game unlike the Yankees sitting Stanton who nearly tied the game as a PH. Vlad jr might be better then his father a more patient hitter saw him play a couple years ago against the yard goats, he hit 2 hrs out of Hartford.

 

[HooperScooper]

Too bad they didn’t sit him. The Jays actually wanted to win this game unlike the Yankees sitting Stanton who nearly tied the game as a PH. Vlad jr might be better then his father a more patient hitter saw him play a couple years ago against the yard goats, he hit 2 hrs out of Hartford.

He hit West Hartford? On the fly? Now that's power.

 

[Pawsox]

I belong to a facebook group of current and former MiLB and MLB players that has over 12,000 members. Conservatively, I would say 95% of the guys hate the current path that baseball is on. The Manfredization of the game drives most of us nuts. Outlawing the shift, bigger bases, can't touch anyone on a slide, guys who won't take what the defense is giving you, etc shows how much the non-baseball guys in the game are radically changing it.

Don't get me wrong, even though I was a pitcher, I can see the rationale for taking out Kershaw today. Here is a guy that was hurt a lot last year pitching in the 5th game of the season. Since spring training was shortened, it makes even more sense. Any starter with a full spring, can easily go the distance in their 1st or 2nd start of the year. The short spring is the X factor.

I still love the game, but damn, it's getting harder and harder to watch the modern game.

 

[cohenzone]

Too bad they didn’t sit him. The Jays actually wanted to win this game unlike the Yankees sitting Stanton who nearly tied the game as a PH. Vlad jr might be better then his father a more patient hitter saw him play a couple years ago against the yard goats, he hit 2 hrs out of Hartford.

Less reason to sit Stanton than yank Ker Shaw (my IPad isn’t letting me type the name correctly for sum unnown reesin). of course there is the chance he could strain an oblique with too many swings.

 

[cohenzone]

I belong to a facebook group of current and former MiLB and MLB players that has over 12,000 members. Conservatively, I would say 95% of the guys hate the current path that baseball is on. The Manfredization of the game drives most of us nuts. Outlawing the shift, bigger bases, can't touch anyone on a slide, guys who won't take what the defense is giving you, etc shows how much the non-baseball guys in the game are radically changing it.

Don't get me wrong, even I though I was a pitcher, I can see the rationale for taking out Kershaw today. Here is a guy that was hurt a lot last year pitching in the 5th game of the season. Since spring training was shortened, it makes even more sense. Any starter with a full spring, can easily go the distance in their 1st or 2nd start of the year. The short spring is the X factor.

I still love the game, but damn, it's getting harder and harder to watch the modern game.

Complete games these days are as rare as inside the park hrs. Just isn’t done. Even 7 innings is becoming a thing of the past . All these fireballing one inning relief specialists stacking every roster. Relatively few late inning comebacks. It’s become a science and not a game. I love baseball, but it is not the fun it used to be. On top of that, the reason why pitchers are babied and hitting stars go on the IL or DL with hangnails is because they are paid so much they are investments to be protected. Mickey Mantle wouldn’t have played in half the games he played in on his terrible legs In today’s game. It’s counter intuitive. You’d think the more a player is paid the more demands on the body would be expected, but that’s not the way it is now.

 

[willie99]

Don't think twice about it, doesn’t bother me at all.

It's more important to win, the season is more important, health is more important, and I don’t care much about individual accolades

Just win baby

Now when a professional team trades away their best players year after year after year, that bothers me. (Except for Bill Belichick, because he keeps WINNING)

 

[sun]

Since the WS suffers due to pitchers like Kershaw not playing in it then what's good for helping Kershaw pitch in the post season is good for the Dodgers and for baseball.
Verlander has always been a workhorse of an ace but look at how the Astros and the WS suffered last year due to him needing TJ surgery.
A fan would need to live in a cave to complain about Kershaw being pulled with a 6-0 lead after 7 1/2.
If he ends up getting hit in the face by a line drive then Dodger fans would howl why is Kershaw still pitching in the 8th inning?
With his mile long injury history the Dodgers need a MASH unit just to keep him off the IL.

 

[sun]