2019 Rolling "Hey Chatter Chatter" chatterthread

trevor rosenthal: not just INF but 7 x INF

3 G, 0 IP, 7 BF, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 R

even worse if you consider last year

Trevor Rosenthal has made 4 consecutive appearances in which he did not get an out and allowed at least 1 run (active streak extended today).

That's the longest streak of outings allowing at least a run without recording an out since at least 1908.

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 3, 2019

I don’t mind Braden’s commenting for the A’s but they don’t need to cut to a closeup of his face every other out.

wtf was up with this umpire...

https://streamable.com/9pylv

https://streamable.com/0zzf4

that is wild!

chris davis is 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts

...is that better than last year?

he does have four walks, so . . . maybe

since the O's have no win goals this year, do they let him duplicate 2018?

will the O's play above replacement level this year?

Davis vs. Rosenthal would be a battle for the ages

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/trevor-rosenthal-reaches-for-infinity

Ned on the fateful seventh inning: and his frustrations with the bullpen: "In a tie ballgame, you really try to refrain from walking the first four guys."

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) April 4, 2019

hahaha

Carl Edwards Jr. was told recently by the league office that his new hesitation delivery was an illegal move and he won't utilize it moving forward, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

...and he gets absolutely rocked.

Is that similar to the pause thing Stroman has been doing randomly?

tim beckham: three errors in the first inning; still nobody out

tommy pham's 40-game on-base streak is a rays franchise record

I enjoyed my first live baseball game today. It makes a fella proud to be an Astro.

wow, congrats mostly

any observations that you didn't expect beforehand?

If I am going to pay $11 a beer, there are worse ones than Hopadill. The food options are also hella better than UK stadia.

I enjoyed the national anthem more than I thought I would - a bit magical even (the first time at least) - along with the seventh inning singalongs.

I enjoyed the nervous anticipation in a bases loaded situation for the home team and the anxiety in the reverse situation more than watching on TV. Makes you realise how important some pitches are with say a 3-2 count.

I thought I would struggle to make out whether the pitch was a strike or a ball in the flesh but I generally seemed to agree with the umpire (and when I didn’t everyone else was aggrieved likewise). On that point it’s a lot more family friendly than football in Edinburgh in that I didn’t hear any swearing towards the umpire (though I did half expect that).

How many games a season would your average baseball fan go to?

Hopadillo*

Oh and thank you for whoever recommended Ball Four and I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally ( I’m on mobile and can’t easily check). Made studying the relief pitchers and guys in the bullpen a lot more interesting.

Stassi and Marisnick were dull as dishwater in the street party Q&A though and just pandered to the crowd (probably to be expected but I don’t think I learned a single thing of interest in fifteen minutes).

How many games a season would your average baseball fan go to?

This is totally anecdotal but I would guess "fewer and fewer." The increased cost of games, even bleacher seats, prevents me from going to nearly as many as I'd like—and in this regard the game is decidedly *not* family friendly.

Like I can't take my two kids to the ballpark—assuming food and drink—more than twice a year. Which blows.

Anyway I'm curious what your experience of pace-of-play was like, whether you felt the live experience felt like a slog compared to watching on tv?

depending on the year's income and the kindness of friends, i'd say I go to 7-12 MLB games a year (I have no spouse or kids)

One of the great things about ILX is something like fionnland's sharing their cross-Atlantic observations on what is normally such a radically insular board... Cheers!

Once upon a time I shared season tickets with a group of 10 friends. So 162 games in a season, half of those at home = 81 games / 10 = 8 games (2 seats). This was many moons ago when I was single and free time in abundance. Compared to last season we went to 2 games as a family (wife is a fan of the game, too soon to tell with the sprouts).

The paced, drawn-out in-game drama is indeed one of the subtle magical things about baseball that doesn't occur in other major American sport.

The last 30+ years of American foreign policy have cast the national anthem & God Bless America into some shitty greeting card pro-religious/pro-military dreck (sometimes coordinated with a military jet flyover as a reminder to our impotent baby boomers of this country's former military prowess) that I can honestly do without. Probably says more about me than anything haha.

Ball Four is an absolute classic, especially on this board (Bouton has his own thread, as does Bill Lee iirc).

ha... "Dull as dishwater" is how players are coached by their agents/PR teams to be. There's a classic film set in the baseball world currently on American Netflix named Bull Durham that in one scene addresses how being unique and individual in the game is discouraged and the ability to spout out 30 seconds of cliches strung together is the epiphany of the modern game player.

The Houston Astros are an interesting study... a team that had a recent renaissance after years of toiling in the basement of the National League's arguably weakest division, they switched to the American League and built a soon-to-be dynasty through analytics and cutting-edge information feeding their drafting/development.

Yeah, the whole national anthem thing is fucking weird, the God Bless America thing is really fucking weird, and the whole alliance with the Pentagon thing is really really fucking weird. Take me out to the ballgame is good

I think banning god bless america would be my first act as commissioner

The pace of the game - the time just flew by! I was absolutely soaking it in though and was trying not to miss a pitch in between dashes for hotdogs and beer. I like to dig in a little before holidays, so I’d watched the whole 2017 World Series before coming over and it seemed to go a lot faster than those did (not that I was expecting a Game 5 marathon). I guess I have little experience of watching regular season games to compare it to (though that will change!).

Also, if I’m suffering watching a bases loaded count with the home pitcher behind, I can only imagine how excruciating it must be for a real fan to watch some situations when the game really matters in the big games and your club hasn’t won the pennant in, well, forever.

Re: God Bless America and the military shout outs, yes they’re verging on jingoistic, but the scary thing is I could feel that there was real power there for people around me.

What I was wondering is that how much do individuals get behind the AA and AAA teams? Like do any of them consider them “their team” or is that reserved for MLB (or possibly college/ high school teams)? As magic as the Minute Maid ballpark was, I can’t help think that on a smaller scale without the advertising, the sound system, and inflated prices the live game would still be as enjoyable and perhaps more so? Much in the same way that I enjoy spending £10 a game on going to see a semi professional football team in the UK, win or lose, rather than going to see Manchester United week in week out and really wondering what I’m getting for my £70+.

I would guess maybe 10% of mlb fans know their AAA affiliate team, and maybe 2% can name a player on the AAA team

Minor league baseball, despite that, is a lot of fun!

Plenty of non-casual fans know their team's top prospects, and will often check up on those players rather than their affiliate teams.

College baseball has some following in certain areas of the country (the south). A few of those clubs fill up pretty good sized stadiums, similar size to minor leagues.

Minor league baseball does have some amenities that are long gone from the majors. Many stadiums have areas where you can picnic and bring in your own food.

Both are still fairly affordable for families I would say, but as soon as someone thinks there is a buck to make that will change.

minor league baseball teams have to sell the ~experience~ because the roster makeup is out of their control and actually winning the games is secondary to player development. (this is unusual, but for instance every once in a while a pitcher will be told 'you can only use your fastball and changeup; no other breaking balls')

that said, round rock (the astros' triple-a club) currently features starter forrest whitley and outfielder kyle tucker, both of whom are like top-10 prospects, so it's a particularly good time to visit them

Minor league teams often play in secondary markets which can still be very large American cities (Portland OR, Las Vegas, San Jose CA, Charlotte NC to name a few) so the draw can rival or even surpass the low-drawing MLB clubs.

One of the most exciting prospects on ILBaseball is Vladimir Guerrero Jr and he plays for a single-A team in Florida when he is not on the Injured Reserve list, though some around here thinks his developmental stall is part of a larger conspiracy *wiggles fingers in front of face*

But you can catch some legit proven superstars making their way off the IR list via minor league stints before going back up to the big leagues... Clayton Kershaw pitching in Oklahoma City this week is an instance of that.

I don’t know if I would call Epicenter/LoanMart Field affordable for “all” families.

Though the Quakes can draw in a big crowd. And it’s located in a small town about 50 miles east of downtown LA. California is kind of different and weird that way, I guess.

It’s hard to gauge how common it is for middle class families to attend minor league games, but my family frequently attends games at the minor and major levels. Season passes, friends play in the minor league, and of course parents are always busy with little league.

Chris Davis is that much closer to history. Fly out in the fifth makes him 0-for-his-last-42. The Orioles still don't have a hit this afternoon.

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) April 7, 2019

Counsell putting in his closer in the 7th, I like it

good lord rosenthal

HBP, two wild pitches, four-pitch walk, done. still hasn't gotten anyone out, though at least neither of these guys scored

he needs to face Davis

Benches clear in today’s Reds-Pirates game. Nothing like a little Sunday afternoon brawl. 🥊 pic.twitter.com/2Nc5Dr9iOW

— Around Da Diamond (@AroundDaDiamond) April 7, 2019

p boring until Votto let go of Puig

tbf dietrich really did watch his homer for quite a while

tb even more f, hard to blame him because it was a fucking bomb

Apparently Puig grabbed Prince in a headlock. But it’s either hard to see in that video clip or it’s not in the video?

If that’s true...man, Puig is out of control.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3mXhaLWsAIcEKK.jpg:large

My goodness.