2017 regular-season game chatter

On May 2, Granderson was hitting .122 and was one of the least productive players in baseball. Since then: .267/.386/.579 18 HR 46 RBI.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 19, 2017

Odd: Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion strike me as virtually the same player, yet neither appears on the other's Similarity Score list.

If Trout keeps up his present PA rate, he should qualify for year-end league leaders (I've got him finishing with 520 PA if he plays every game the rest of the way). If Altuve cools, he's got a shot at the slash Triple Crown.

trout hit 2 HR last night. now 3rd on the fWAR leaderboard, behind just judge and altuve. barring another injury, he's a great bet to finish first

and yeah, looks like if he plays all 39 games the angels have left (a good bet since they're the favorite to get the second wild card), he needs just 4 PAs per game to reach 502

the giants have been eliminated from the NL west division race

verlander is good again

ouch, a GRANDYSLAM vs Pirates' Cole

Just a coupla Boogs Powell hanging out on Eutaw Street. pic.twitter.com/nLqsqcBo3x

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) August 22, 2017

The Boogs just FaceTimed 12-year-old Boog Powell, a LLWS participant.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) August 22, 2017

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGqzRl_W0AATFDU.jpg

i bet that was an awesome conversation

Anthony Rizzo played third base for an inning last night, the first lefty to do so since 1997.

surprising that my dad did not inform me of this

I'm thinking Mike Squire's for the White Sox might be the last lefty to start at 3b and Tony LaRussa was managing them.

padres hit 5 cardinals tonight, the 9th time that's happened in MLB history. 8th time was earlier this year when the blue jays hit 5 barves

Zach Britton’s epic save streak came to an end after he converted 60 consecutive save opportunities.

your rolling Adrian Beltre vs Albert Pujols career bWAR watch:

AP - 99.3
AB - 93.6

Pujols' lead went from +6.5 to +5.7 in one week.

Andrew Marchand
ESPN Senior Writer

After the Yankees' Gary Sanchez goes deep in his previous at-bat, Tigers starter Michael Fulmer nails him with a fastball in the hip his next time up in the fifth. The Yankees did not take kindly to this occurrence. CC Sabathia, one of the team's leaders, was standing on the top step of the dugout, yelling at Fulmer.

behold, one of the most confusing headlines/stories i've ever seen, on MLB.com:

'Cruz' notches 100th RBI with 47th HR

i thought whoa, nelson cruz is having a really good season, but i didn't realize he had anywhere close to 47 HRs! but i check fangraphs and sure enough, he has 100 RBIs for the season...and 31 HRs. wait, what? finally click the headline to the article, which reads: "PHILADELPHIA -- The latest moonshot from Giancarlo Stanton (aka "Cruz" for Players Weekend) tore some ivy off the batter's eye in center field at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday and set a record for his hardest-hit homer of the year."

oh

quit fucking with my mind, i've barely slept in 2 weeks!!

miggy plunked, yankee pitcher tossed

actually not even plunked, just thrown behind

Brawl

Awkward day for the Romines.

Kevin Kiermaier show @ the Trop! The Outlaw saves multiple runs with these 2 amazing diving catches in the 5th. #SCtop10 #Rays @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/5gR5Zi6zLh

— John Sabol (@John_Sabol) August 24, 2017

kiermaier back baby

http://i.imgur.com/hFu7S4c.gif

"C'mon, man -- let's fucking go."

achoo!

achoo!

aaaachoo!!

fuck!

(xposts) I was baffled when I saw that headline too. Six hours later, I'm still baffled--how do you get "Cruz" from Giancarlo Stanton? All I can of is "cruise control," which makes 37% sense.

Full Name: Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton

I thought you were joking--"Cruz-Michael" = "Cruise Missile"--but you're not.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIGAArDXUAAQqzD.jpg

Did Brett Lawrie actually retire? According to Baseball Reference, yes--they list his "last game." The last mention of him on ILB is his release in the spring. Wikipedia says nothing about retirement.

The single-season HR record since Ruth, with a good punchline:

http://joeposnanski.com/the-curse-of-the-home-run-record/

i'll probably put this at start of a new thread in time

http://m.mlb.com/postseason-schedule

Royals have been shut out in 43 straight innings, the longest such streak since the mound was lowered after 1968. The all-time record is 48 by the 1968 Cubs/1906 A's.

tbf, they were facing austin pruitt tonight

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIZ1bD-VAAIAHOX.jpg

arizona fall league rosters announced:

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/251247904/arizona-fall-league-2017-rosters-revealed/

chris sale just set the mark for fewest innings to reach 1500 career strikeouts

Sale struck out Pillar, recording his 1,500th career strikeout. He did so in just 1,289.2 innings, making him the pitcher to reach that landmark strikeout total the fastest.

Kerry Wood had the previous record, as he recorded his 1,500th strikeout in 1,303 innings.

hopefully Sale will enjoy a longer post 1500-K career than Wood, who crossed the mark a couple years before he retired

I was at the game tonight--they didn't flash anything on the scoreboard, so I was oblivious to what he'd done. I did get what I wanted, though, now that the Jays are out of it, a great game from Sale. Heading out for the 8th at 100 pitches and with a 3-0 lead, thought there was a tiny chance of a complete game one-hitter. Even if he'd retired the side in order, I suppose they would sent out Kimbrel for the 9th anyway.

wow @ that Keon Broxton catch

IDK where that ranks in the halls of home-run robbing catches but given the situation (9th inning, up by 1, 2 outs, man on first) it's gotta be up there

yeah, also add in a division rival really needing a win, very demoralizing. that was something else

there's a pretty interesting home run crown chase in the AL this season, in that barring a big run by someone else, it looks like it's going to come down to these guys (total HR in parentheses)

Aaron Judge (37)
Joey Gallo (37)
Khris Davis (37)
Mike Moustakas (36)
Justin Smoak (36)
Logan Morrison (35)

weird bunch, i wouldn't have picked any of them other than Davis for top ten before the season.

It feels like Edwin hasn't really gotten hot yet this year, although he is coming off a 10-HR month (otherwise not very good). He hit as many as 16 in a month with the Jays. Longshot, but having great memories of what he was like on a tear, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up with 45.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/sports/baseball/boston-red-sox-stealing-signs-yankees.html

if only it had worked

(nats call up prospect)

Victor Robles will be the first MLB player who was born after The Notorious B.I.G. died.

— Paul Swydan (@Swydan) September 7, 2017

NYY-TBR series moved to Queens

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20636736/new-york-yankees-tampa-bay-rays-play-citi-field-due-potential-impact-hurricane-irma

almost coulda watched the end at breakfast

http://www.knbr.com/2017/09/12/giants-complete-whimsical-odyssey-finally-sink-dodgers-at-211-a-m/

earliest Opening Day ever (sort of) etc for 2018

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/82632/from-the-earliest-opening-day-ever-to-the-toughest-road-what-you-need-to-know-about-mlbs-2018-schedule

Worthy of Ball Four:

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/09/12/253821934/a-praying-mantis-showed-up-in-the-yankees-dugout-so-the-players-built-him-a-habitat

In all likelihood all-time record for most total HRs hit in an @MLB season (current mark is 5,694) will be broken tonight. Plan accordingly.

— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) September 19, 2017