The Best NL Central Fans in Baseball 2020

i'm sorry but i deeply distrust players who bat right and throw left

except for rickey henderson

i 100% understand

but give john nogowksi and his mustache a chance. i want to see what he could do with consistent playing time

my (step)dad batted and threw left (and shot right in hockey). and he totally knew that batting left was an advantage, but supposedly when i first picked up a bat i did so righty and he either forgot or didn't feel like he could 'correct' me. also in minor league (8-10yos) he'd give me a quarter or something every time i pulled the ball. he was understandably trying to develop power but ultimately i was completely incapable of going the other way unless i was overpowered.

except this one single pristine time in high school when i waited on a curve and hit it to right. once.

these facts ended up featuring in his obituary because i'd have *totally* had a mark grace-like career had he coached me suitably

anyway my uncle dick hits right and throws left, and he was always an asshole when i was a kid because despite being a STEP-nephew i was better than his kids at sports

so you need to wow me, nogowski. mustache is probably a good first step

also at my (step)dad's memorial i mentioned that he was he was easily the smartest/brightest person i'd ever known and (hits right, throws left) uncle dick made a big scene of clearing his throat for joeks and i should have fucking *buried* him but wasn't prepared so i let it slide

christ what a (bats right throws left) asshole

andy k just in case you hit righty, don't tell me, because i want to continue to love you

i knew this one kid from wichita. he was in the same school as me, early on. i was the shortest kid in school and bullied by aaron, the school's known kickball king. well, this kid from wichita murdered aaron. and then i was the best at kickball after that. that was 1989. he was right-handed but kicked lefty

fuck aaron

Exactly. And not only that, but Aaron was also against switch thrower/batters. It was fucked up

who in history ever more deserved to die

ooh, i'm moses's half-brother, i can make a magical asp weakly kick a ball. fuck you; sign on the mantle or no, you're the eldest son and yr fuckin weak

john nogowksi may be the lovely dust through which GOD works his purpose

yes! this is exactly what i see in nogowski. his OBP will surprise you, as will god's plan for the bucs

All John Nogowski needed was to go to a good organization.

— Sen. Lemon Gogurt (R - MS) (@Ugarles) July 7, 2021

NOGOWSKIMENTUM

John Nogowski 2021 wRC+ on July 4th: -30

John Nogowski 2021 wRC+ on July 9th: 122

— 🥇 (@SteeloCity) July 10, 2021

#nogowski

he's good! he's not exceptional, i don't thin, unless he pulls a luke voit.

but he's pretty good! will always root or nogowski

Finally gave in and have been watching and listening to the Reds a bit on radio the last month or so, including a couple of the games against the Brewers this weekend.

Got to say the Brewers catcher Omar Navarez really reminds me a bunch of John Kruk when he is batting.

not only is nogowski now hitting .452/.489/.548 with the pirates, he's also wearing the number 69. a cult hero in the making

for some reason, seven of the 15 major leaguers ever to wear 69 did so with pittsburgh

i'm telling you, this nogowski is the answer

Got to love the Reds once AGAIN showing signs of being decent then coming out of the Allstar break fumbling and stumbling.

Their bullpen is trash.

reds are suddenly only two behind the padres for the second wild card and still have nine games remaining vs the pirates

who they have done pretty well against...80 something to 20 something runs this season so far?

reds are "sneaky good"

Reds bullpen gave away a boodle of games early on (I think at least 7-10 games in the last couple innings). The additions via trade and getting Lorenzen healthy seems to have bolstered that part of the club.

They have a very deep lineup and bench. They really have to find a place for Moustakas to play since Farmer and India have played so well. Going to have to find a place for Senzel too who is starting to rehab in Louisville this week.

Their starters are also clicking right now.

jon lester OUTDUELS brandon woodruff

it's been a pretty fun game.

LARS NOOTBAAR

god, i hate jon lester

even if he was doing better...i just hate how he walks around

btw, speaking of how to walk around and be cool, if you want to window into the homerism-view of yadier molina from a cardinals fan perspective, this is what i think of as yadi walking around and being cool:

We love these guys! Good luck to our friends @yadimolina04, @UncleCharlie50 and the @Cardinals on #OpeningDaySTL! Go Cards!! #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/oSWNFgjPJB

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 5, 2019

come on, that's cute

come on, that's cute!

pirates dfa gregory polanco

sometimes he seemed on the verge of figuring it out . . . but even that was a long time ago

After his leadoff HR today, Lane Thomas is hitting .333/.411/.587 in his first 73 PA since the Cardinals traded him to the Nats.

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 5, 2021

He seems really good...what happened to him in STL?

always buried behind too many outfielders, and also mike shildt continually choosing to play infielders in the outfield over his actual outfielders.

this year, for example, the preferred OF configuration has been tyler o'neill in LF, harrison bader in CF, dylan carlson in RF. injuries messed that up for a while, but the 4th OF hierarchy went something like this:

tommy edman (a brilliant infielder, and decent outfielder given that he just wings it out there)
justin williams
austin dean
lars nootbaar (who rules)

before that, back to 2019, it was a similar situation except that dexter fowler was in RF and ozuna was in LF, and lane thomas has to battle with randy arozarena and tyler o'neill for 5th OF, as shildt bizarrely played jose martinez as the 4th OF. jose martinez is one of the most entertaining players in baseball history, both just in the dugout and on the field. but that was a hilarious disaster for martinez, who is also one of the worst outfielders i've ever seen

anyway, lane thomas - always the 4th or 5th guy, even as the cardinals found room to trade away other outfielders like arozarena and adolis garcia, both of whom are battling for ROY in the AL right now

i'll probably be wrong on this, but i don't think lane thomas is actually good. he's not quite pete kozma, but i don't think his hot streak will continue into next year. then again, that's what i thought about luke voit when they traded him away. oops!

ultimately i think thomas' best spot is still as a 4th OF. he plays an average CF, which is useful (although i don't know what the situation is with Robles and whoever's playing left), and he's kind of an average hitting/speed/tools kind of guy, someone who doesn't hurt you in any obvious way.

He might be temporarily rejuvenated being on a new team, getting regular playing time. But he is looking good with the bat. Nogowski was also briefly on fire after the cardinals traded him.

ts: jose martinez in the outfield vs matt adams in the outfield

i think it depends on your sense of fielding humor

matt adams in the outfield was kind of your classic beer-league softball slugger who is actually pretty athletic, and he just doesn't belong in the OF and it shows.

jose martinez played the OF like no person has ever played outfield before. he would take the craziest routes every time, he'd be yelling at himself and the world as he ran toward it, he would leap way too early or way too late and then do a comic book routine crash and somersault off the wall. he was 6'6" and the most awkward

this is a+ NL Central analysis

Jesse Winker got hurt and pretty much the Reds lineup has fell apart. Too many strikeouts and not enough OBP.

i don't think lane thomas is actually good.

- me, last week.

he's still been pretty good! since joining the nats, he's .293/.383/.515, wRC+ 138

i still think ultimately he's not actually good. but there is the factor of a player like thomas finally getting a chance to play every day in the big leagues and being pumped as hell to do it.

also does anyone care about this WC2 chase? could be fun

Does it mean much to a Cardinals' fan to be chasing a wild-card spot? It's such a big deal in Toronto (and I know there are franchises even worse off).

it does to me, that's for sure. the cardinals have had a long enough stretch of above .500 that there's been enough time for this topic to be debated for years - are we fans happy, satisfied, or dissatisfied with the cardinals being consistently "pretty good" instead of "the best team in baseball good", where the latter would more likely to win it all of course.

actually, here: https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2021/9/4/22656590/saturday-stream-of-consciousness-can-this-season-be-successful

a very recent take on that, and you can read through the comments. there are smart ones and dumb ones, they run the gamut.

i remember the 2006 (83-78) and 2011 (90-72) WS teams, and they were so much worse than the 2005, 2004, 2015, and 2014 teams. but none of those teams won, while the lesser teams did, and in the 2011 case did it in the most spectacularly joyful and unexpected way imaginable (at the time - there have been some very good WS since in terms of entertainment value).

anyway, even a lesser team can easily have a good 20-25 game stretch where everything comes together as planned, for once, and everyone's jumping and high-fiving all the time. for that reason, it means a lot that the cardinals are consistently in a position to make that possible nearly every year.

for example, very nice to be looking forward to the game tonight, dreading woodford's start, knowing that this is make or break time and they still have a shot

I mean that's the beauty of baseball, if you're lucky enough to make October the one month where you run hot you can make history. see also those two Royals World Series teams. as a Brewer fan I'm not really sure how to approach this postseason, this may actually be the single greatest Brewer team of my life but it's totally within the realm of possibility that they lose a 5-game series.

fwiw I find it hard to root for the Cardinals (sorry, you understand) but watching them take out that Philly team with the megastacked rotation was pretty fun

i would never root for the cardinals if i didn't grow up there, i get it. i mean, that run of braves teams in the 90s and 00s, holy shit. every fucking year. and the yankees around the same time. it's like change the channel