shohei ohtani alert

That's evidently why the Cardinals traded Carlton for Rick Wise, they thought he'd pitch a no-hitter and hit two runs every start.

Angels off to a great start after going all in for a wildcard spot. Lucky to have a team like Detroit for a double header when none of their rivals are playing today, win a full game back into the race. Very easy to cheer for them when the yanks and sox are their competition

Rick Wise gets passing mention here:

https://www.mlb.com/news/facts-about-shohei-ohtani-1-hit-shutout-2-hr-day

(The aforementioned Wes Farrell, too.)

If you can stand Posnanski's relentless self-promotion:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/friday-rewind-ohtani-keeps-rewriting?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

(If we land someone on Mars tomorrow, he'll post about it and tie it in with his upcoming book.)

I’m at the game and a lot of people: cheering for Ohtani also: boo’ing Ohtani and/or the people cheering for him. I’ve never heard such a loud mixed reaction home run in my life.
Also wow did he ever connect with that.

I’m at the game and a lot of people: cheering for Ohtani also: boo’ing Ohtani and/or the people cheering for him. I’ve never heard such a loud mixed reaction home run in my life.
Also wow did he ever connect with that.

Could hear that mix from the broadcast. This’ll be a fun series

Why is there booing?

What the hell happened to Ontani?

They are pitch hitting for him with the bases loaded and down by three in the nineth

Going to see the Angels play the Braves tonight. Really looking forward to it.

Luckyyyyy tell us everything

The crowd was quite enthusiastic--many more Angels (or maybe Ohtani) fans than I would have expected. A couple of youngsters behind us were very enthusiastic, probably more enthusiastic than most of the fans are in Anaheim.

Not a spectacular night for him; hit by a pitch, intentional walk, two singles and a fly out. The last would have been a home run, if Michael Harris II hadn't made a spectacular leap to snag it. We had great seats, and it was a lot of fun, even for a very tepid Braves loss.

Ha. We were watching one of the Blue Jays games where he got intentionally walked at least once maybe twice and my better half was fuming. “People come to see Shohei at the plate!”

I’m not convinced he’s not playing through injury atm btw. He’s looked less comfortable recently and he got pulled in two successive games early for “cramps”.

Not sure about that. He looked OK, and did have five ABs last night.

I was put off last fall when teams that weren't in contention were intentionally unintentionally not pitching to Judge, or when anyone was doing it in the first inning with nobody on base, but I don't think we're quite there yet with Ohtani. Pitching to him, after all, is what caused Chapman to go off in the dugout.

The Angels did hit three homers last night, including Rengifo's leadoff homer on the third pitch of the night. Not a good outing for Charlie Morton.

I checked and he has a currently league-leading 13 intentional walks with 5 of those coming in his last three games. Do international walks count towards obp, I then wondered, and yeah of course they do. I think with a hitter with his reach you’re probably better off being upfront about it if you’re that worried about him hitting cos I’ve seen him swipe pitches outside the zone pretty easily.

xp he got knocked around by the Red Sox in his last game too

The Angels intentionally walked Matt Olson on his next AB after his lone HR (and lone run) for the Braves.

xp Yeah, he's a cause for concern. He seems to like to work under pressure, i.e., with multiple runners on base.

the angels line up was also in an especially dark place after trout injury's and before some of these trades. the guys hitting directly behind him in that blue jays series (moniak, ward, moustakas) have to be just about the least intimidating 3-4-5 in baseball

Do international walks count towards obp

Depends. If it happens in the States or in Canada, yes. In Belgium, Italy, and South Korea, no.

Does he actually cos the game I watched him pitch he walked in a bases-loaded run in the bottom of the 1st and it didn’t get better after that 😬

I didn't say it was a successful strategy lol

Just that he seems to like it, and when it works he looks brilliant.

It’s certainly interesting I guess, I’m definitely an I can’t look person when you’ve got a guy you know has control issues trying to get out of a jam. Will they pop out, will he throw wild and let in two runs? All part of the fun!

I can't look away

One thing I hadn't picked up on till something I read a few days ago was that he's within striking range of a Triple Crown--15 points behind Diaz in average, six RBI behind Garcia, HR locked up. That's a lot of BA to make up in 45 games, but could happen. Corey Seager's shortened season is in the mix too.

Matt Olson is now tied with Ohtani for HRs this season.

I think I watch a lot of baseball and then I see that and think, “wait, I didn’t even know Matt Olsen had hit more than 20 yet”

Olson's yr new HR leader. Pick it up, Shohei!

Braves are right around the pace of the Twins' team record from a couple of years ago.

Olson is up to 43 HRs, two ahead of Ohtani. He hit a 455 foot monster last night at Citi, really impressive.

44th HR, left today's game in the second inning with "arm fatigue."

He’s been playing injured and pushing himself for a while. Maybe his fourth early exit in the past month?

Could he be done pitching this year? 13 (!) days rest and gets pulled after facing 5 batters. Angels playoff adds are at 0.2%

His 4SFB was only hitting 92mph in the 2nd inning (-8%), again after 13 days rest. He normally hits 92mph with his splitter which was sitting mid-80s today.

Oh that is really fucking bad. He needs to go on the IL but…You know.

They're not even close to the WC anymore--10 games out. And if they were to just have him DH for the rest of the year, it wouldn't even cost him the MVP.

Torn UCL, he's done pitching.

Ah, that's really too bad. I don't know physiology particularly well--I hope he can stay in there as DH.

bryce harper DH’d for the phillies last year on a torn UCL and was DHing for them this year post-surgery before he was cleared to return to the field. so it can be done. the issue is that if it does require surgery ohtani is better off not wasting a month playing out the string for a terrible team

https://undertheknife.substack.com/p/utk-flash-ohtani-elbow-trout-il

Holy shit. He’s already had Tommy John as well.

He’s really been pushing this season. I love Ohtani, but I wondered how he could keep doing these things, but it turns out, he was just running himself into the ground.

tbf all sorts of players run into UCL issues, even normal human players. There is something about pitchers, though. Very hard to keep them healthy.

One month before hitting free agency as well... this injury may cost him well over $100M.

It's really strange that the Angels would let him play in the second game of a double-header after he was removed from the mound in the first. There's no diagnosis at that point--could be anything.

Yeah they have been handling the whole thing very strangely. They just announced Trout is going back on the IL. CJ Wilson was posting about the club’s historical medical issues:

there was no breakfast served at spring training until 2nd week of ST in 2012, and no weight room until 2013. Coming from Texas where fitness was 100% expected, it was shocking how lazy they expected the players to be

— C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer) August 24, 2023

It's really strange that the Angels would let him play in the second game of a double-header after he was removed from the mound in the first. There's no diagnosis at that point--could be anything.

― clemenza, Thursday, August 24, 2023 11:06 AM (twenty-one minutes ago)

i probably would've just sat him but i don't think it's that strange. we know you can hit even on a torn UCL.