Baseball Megathread: Ohtani to LAA, Stanton to NYY, prayers to Miami

Oh man, I was at that game. It stopped raining, but it was still 45 degrees and windy. I'm glad all of the offense was in the first two innings because I couldn't take any more and left after three.

Now here's to hoping the Nats can get these defensive lapses out of their system. Quickly.

Also, I've had a lot of fun with Super Mega Baseball.

Not a baseball game, but I was at Yankee Stadium to support the Portland Timbers vs. NYCFC Sunday night. First time I had been there for something other than a Yankee game, and after getting a look at the soccer layout, I can't imagine the Yankees' infielders are a big fan of having to share.

@shinboy630: Same thing with everything they do at Fenway, concerts, soccer, outdoor hockey in the winter (which, granted doesn't affect baseball in any way, but it's still stuff the grounds crew has to fix up). I think the stadium series by the NHL is actually a really neat idea.

Yunel Escobar with the walk-off after Drew Storen got spooked by the Ghost of Blown Saves Past

Hopefully Storen can work that out of his system, but still, it was great to see this after the Nats got robbed multiple times by the Cards last night.

Mariners lose another one in the 8th or 9th inning. Last year our bullpen was outstanding keeping close run leads, this year not so much.

Going to the M's vs. Red Sox games next month can't wait!

@patoday: Well I think the big difference is that NYCFC has Yankee Stadium as their proper home field. Most concerts are a one off thing, the Stadium Series stuff is in the winter, and I to my knowledge at least Fenway doesn't have a regular soccer team/something else that leads to grass over the infield dirt. Either way it has to be a bummer for infielders.

All these unwritten rules on baseball man, someone should just write them down.

@shinboy630: That's true, they are getting into doing one soccer match a year there since the Fenway Ownership Group also own Liverpool F.C., luckily the Revs play at Gillette where they won't wreck a football field.

I just wanna say I love Juan Lagares.

Hopefully this streak keeps going past the Subway series.

Chris Rock on how baseball is un-cool and un-hip, especially regarding young African-Americans.

Standard disclaimer, but please, do not read the comments.

The way this year is shaping up, every team in the American League is going to hate every other team in the American League. What is even going on? Do we really need stupid baseball drama every single night? Stupid baseball drama is really the worst kind of drama...

@joemotycki: I agree wholeheartedly. Every once in a while a baseball fight is pretty entertaining to watch, but players seem to be so oversensitive anymore. Then there's the Grizzled Veterans who take it upon themselves to be the baseball police, and they'll jaw at a young guy because maybe he stared at his homer for a few too many seconds, or they don't like how they ran the bases. It's a bit much.

Pleasantly surprised how the Yanks played on that road trip, but also kind of terrified they are about to get swept at home by the Mets. The Mets!

Damn man Royals games get more entertaining every series. It's like the Royals have fully embraced the underdog scrappy mentality and is gonna fight everyone to prove how good they are.

Ugh CC. Ugh.

Not nearly enough mets talk on this thread. Best record in baseball!

@shinboy630 said:

Second the Ugh. I get the feeling the old CC Sabathia is never going to return. Too many innings pitched, he's basically damaged goods.

Also while I'm here I would like to point out the Astros are in first place somehow. It's early in the season, but this rebuild might be working. I'm no 'stros fan, but it's kinda neat, especially since the Angels and Mariners are considered favorites to win the AL West.

Haha, well my optimism was at an all-time high going into Friday before I got smacked down to earth so I thought I'd refrain from putting another jinx on them in this thread. Thankfully Harvey played his role as the stopper and hopefully we can take the rubber game tomorrow.

I'll just say that I love that Harvey wanted the ball in the 9th, because that's the type of player he is, but I could not believe that Terry Collins actually let him out there. The game was well in hand, and Yankees or not, we're a sizable amount of games over .500 and it wasn't even like he was pitching for a shutout.

If it sounds like I want the world to be baby-proofed in order to protect Matt Harvey from any and all possible harm, it's because I do.

Well, Kirk Gibson has Parkinson's.

It seems the baseball gods are punishing the Nats for our hubris. Yunel Escobar and Max Scherzer are both day-to-day now and Rendon is still rehabbing his knee. Now the Nats have to rely on Dan Uggla in the 4 as he can't play anything else, Ian "E6" Desmond at short, and Espinosa at third. Unless they feel like calling up Wilmer Difo early or somehow convincing Zimmerman to play at third again, the Nats have no one else to play in the infield left of first base. At least A.J. Cole is going to get a start so hopefully he'll be worth the wait.

Anecdotal evidence, but this is true for my wife's African-American students.

Maybe it's just me being a middle-class white guy, but I like the tradition and feeling of a sport that is slow paced. I cringe when it shows the clips of the football end zone celebration. Show boating and celebrating yourself in a team sport is what can change the dynamics of an entire league.

Meanwhile, go Brewers? Or something...

Well, that went poorly.

@shinboy630: It did, and yet somehow the Nats still won and broke their own record for largest deficit overcome (8 runs!).

The funniest part? The Barves are still paying off Dan Uggla's last contract as he smacked in the game-winning home run on them.

So the last two Orioles games have been canceled due to the ongoing situation in Baltimore. Today's game will be played at 2PM as scheduled, but won't be open to the public. Not to discount what's going on in Baltimore, but I am really weirdly excited to watch a game with no fans in the stands.

Bryce Harper only grounded out in his last at-bat today. What a bum.

@shinboy630: he just has to show up Mookie Betts, doesn't he?

Also, his performance today reminded me of this article that was written in March.

@patoday: That is an interesting read with a bunch of other good players as reference. I think people forget that he is still just 22. Personally I was expecting a good year from him after he did this (and this) to Hunter Strickland in the playoffs last year.

@patoday: @shinboy630: Dude seems like a good player, but man does he have the angriest face I've ever seen. Even his name makes him seem like the antagonist of a sports film.

@patoday: @shinboy630: @natetodamax: Until he can prove otherwise, I still think Bryce Harper is the most overrated player in baseball. This year might be his breakout year if he stays healthy, but the media has made him out to be this superstar in the making and I haven't seen it yet. He does have the advantage of youth on his side so he's still got a few years until his full potential is reached.

My other problem with Harper is that he seems like kind of a douche in the way he carries himself. Just everything about him seems unlikable. Unfortunately for Harper, he's always going to be compared to Mike Trout, a squeaky-clean player with MVP numbers and side-by-side, most people would take Trout over Harper.

Oh hey there's a baseball thread. My team (the White Sox) have had an extremely interesting season but they're also like 9-14 now; though it's a bit too early to be overly concerned. Working + Youtube is taking up all my time at present so no mlb.tv subscription yet but I'll probably do a month in June or so and go back and watch all the april/may/Vin Scully games; can't wait to see that Baltimore game.

@dalai: I would post a "HATERS GONNA HATE" image macro here but couldn't find one big enough for the amount of times I've heard people say that about Bryce Harper.

@fredchuckdave: you actually seek out Vin Scully games? i follow the dodgers a little bit but i can only watch them if there's an alternate broadcast, every year i pray that this is the one, this is the year he finally retires, but no, that's never going to happen apparently.

The ESPN machine definitely didn't help Harper in my eyes. By the time he debuted I was already sick of the guy, but lately it hasn't been too bad. Or maybe I just haven't been watching ESPN as much. Probably the latter. I've come around on him a bit but he's still a division rival, so I had fun booing him while he was at CitiField last week.

I'm curious to get some other people's opinions on how hard MLB is promoting the DraftKings stuff. I know it's "legal" in the US because it's a game of "skill," but it just feels gross to me. I don't even really have a ton of reasons why other than the general feeling that they are promoting a way to bring people closer to gambling. Maybe some of you are already the sport's betting types, but I get angry enough watching my team lose that I can't even imagine what it would be like to have money on the line too.

And I agree with @redyoshi, the problem with Bryce Harper was that like most #1 prospects, ESPN fixates on them looking for the next Lebron James. Sure he does seem like he's trying to be a cool bro, but what do you expect from a 22 year old given everything in life.

Following the game where he hit 3 homers in one night, Bryce Harper hit 2 homers in this night. So did Danny Espinosa for that matter. 5 homers by three Nats players leading to a 9-2 victory over the Barves, and they didn't even need Dan Uggla this time.

I think Bryce read this thread.

Michael "King Felix Jr." Pineda coming into his own with the Yankees (boo!) now. The Mariners must really hate trading him for Jesus Montero. Not sure if it's worse than the other terrible trade they did with Adam Jones, Chris Tillman and three other prospects for Eric Bedard, but it might be close.

@dochaus: Was watching the Yanks/O's series the other day and that trade was brought up. Never realized that was how Jones ended up in Baltimore, good god that was a bad trade for Seattle looking back on it.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a 478-foot HR in that cavernous eyesore of a stadium in Miami, but even crazier was a fan who reached over and caught it barehanded.

Uh, quick question for everyone here. Did anybody expect the Yankees, Twins, or Astros to be in first place at any time during the season? Because I sure as hell didn't.

@dalai: I thought the Astros had a shot given their outhouse to the penthouse team building strategy, but definitely not the Twins or the Yankees.

I figure A-Rod may be back on the juice. I mean why not at this point right? His rep is already ruined, he's already pocketed most of his contract money and if baseball catches him again he can just retire if they catch him in time. Kinda like Ray Lewis before his final Super Bowl.

Wow. Looking at my post from before the season started, I would never have predicted to be rooting for the NUMBER 1 Houston Astros heading into June. And by a good amount of games, too!

This is a great team, no doubt - but I know that Seattle, Oakland, and LAA aren't playing up to their level. It's going to be an interesting summer.

So the Nats have at least 2 starting pitchers (Strasburg and Fister) and a third of their starting lineup (including Bryce Harper right now) currently rotating through an MRI tube. Rendon is supposedly going through rehab games in AA but I need to see him holding up a newspaper with today's date before I can say for certain the team isn't propping up his body Weekend At Bernie's style.

I've lost all faith in Jack Z. I get the feeling that he's having cold sweats cause of how poorly the Mariners are playing right now and probably knows that just firing the current manager and making him the scape goat won't work this time. The trade for Trumbo is understandable but I still feel like a reach for the M's. 7 years of Jack Z is enough for me.

@i_stay_puft: Seeing how the last couple of blockbuster trades worked out for the Mariners (very badly) I can understand your fear. Guess we'll need to wait and see.

@dochaus:

Cliff Lee for Justin Smoak

Doug Fister for Charlie Furbush & other players.

Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi.

Yep you can say they haven't panned out.

@i_stay_puft: Wait, is Justin Smoak a real person? I always thought he was the brother of that geeky woman from Arrow.

Also, don't forget the five players (including Adam Jones and Chris Tillman) to the Orioles for Eric Bedard trade. I think I posted a link about it before, but here it is.

In other news, it seemed that Bryce Harper was a dipper, but apparently he's using "herbal stuff" instead.

Also, how are the Twins and the Astros still in first place in their divisions? This shit is bizarre.

@dochaus: That was on Bavasi, a year before Zduriencik joined the ballclub. Can't blame that move on Jack. I just think it's kinda crazy that Jack Zduriencik when he was introduced as the Mariners GM was brought in as a sabermetrics guy but the guy is totally not a sabermetrics guy! He's a guy who craves guys who hit dingers but don't get onto base.

@dochaus: I figured the Astros would be an exciting young team, and they have started off real hot. As for the Twins, uhhhhh...ummmm...voodoo?

LOL