things I learned about in baseball this week/how i learned to stop worrying and love baseball

OH YEAH HOW DID I FORGET TO POST ROMAN ANTHONY

Roman Anthony hits his second homer of the day pic.twitter.com/tF8cO17Eag

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) April 14, 2024

I blame you and your great posts for caring this early lol

You blame me but you should really blame him

Triston Casas on going for the Red Seat.

Said he's not sure if it's a myth or not, but 429 FT is all he had. pic.twitter.com/rA4UhNH0nQ

— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) April 13, 2024

oh man you will die if you hang on every pitch for six months. not even the players do that (apart from The Captain, Derek Jeter)

as earl weaver said, 'this ain't a football game; we do this every day'

I know, clearly I need to Make The Adjustment ☹️

And as everyone who’s had the ad repeatedly pumped into their brane for months on end knows, it’s “The Captain, Derek Sanderson Jeter.”

And as everyone who’s had the ad repeatedly pumped into their brane for months on end knows, it’s “The Captain, Derek Sanderson Jeter.”

My favourite players on teams I don’t follow (non exhaustive list):

- Kodai Senga (pls be healthy for London)
- Kerry Carpenter
- Mason Miller
- Tatis Jr
- Bobby Witt Jr
- Brandon Pfaadt
- Christopher Morel
- Lars Nootbaar
- Nolan Jones
- Yainer Diaz
- Francisco Lindor
- Andre Gimenez
- Nico Hoerner

Good nonfollow choices.

Wishing yinz wicked safe travels to your first MLB games on North American soil. Enjoy!

DO NOT be tempted by the Primanti Bros. sandwich at PNC park, it's a faint shadow of their off-stadium locations which I would highly recommend instead.

anyone recommending primanti bros is just recommending the pittsburgh equivalent of the cincinnati chili

i have said this before: it's a gimmick, and not actually pittsburgh lore

i'm told there's some kind of hot dog-pierogie thing though, which would be vaguely lore but nevertheless not something i can recommend

clark bar is lore but i'm not sure it even exists anymore

also my mom worked for heinz when i was born, so i support ketchup on everything

You guys are jaded rusted-out souls. Absolute madness.

#freeippeei

i had a primanti brothers sandwich in state college in high school. still remember/think about it to this day. probably because my brain was young and malleable then. i'm sure i'd find it more average now.

it's a good candidate for PASTA SANDWICH

I appreciate all the recommendations and will report back laterback!

I appreciate all the recommendations and will report back laterback!

Thanks phone/slow brain

Sox are injured/bad but Bello is pitching and I love him so much 🥺

This game ruled. Bello was missing his spots early on but still getting outs and then he settled and started striking guys out. My large adult son Wilyer Abreu hit a fucking moonshot that I honestly thought went into the Allegheny; after that Triston Casas hit a bomb with a crack of the bat that was probably audible a mile away and it was oppo. Cook!

Felt sorry for the Pirates pitcher especially cos after he gave up the home run to Abreu a fan across the aisle stood up and yelled, Welcome to the big leagues, kid! Same fan also shouted “Go Bobby D, ya finally got a hit, no more 0-21, go Bob!”

We were sitting near first base and Casas was constantly throwing balls into the crowd. I witnessed a grown man with a glove rush forward and plead for a ball, crying “Triston throw me a ball baby!”

I didn’t know that they don’t play walk up songs for the road team.

Cam Booser, who the Sox just called up from triple A, made his big league debut and struck out Cutch. He gave up a triple and a run scored but was able to get three outs to end the game. After the game his family came forward and onto the field and he embraced them and was crying. He’s got a really interesting story and he’s been shoving in triple A so hopefully he sticks.

This followed years of obstacles in Booser’s development, including Tommy John surgery, labrum surgery, a broken back following a bike accident, a 50-game suspension for testing positive for marijuana and self-admitted attitude problems. After the 2017 season, Booser decided to call it quits.

So instead of building a career as a pitcher, Booser moved home to Seattle and built something else: acoustical ceilings.

Booser joined the Northwest Carpenters Union in the area, Local 41, to work for the company that his father had worked at for many years. He admits that in terms of construction, he was a Minor Leaguer compared to his coworkers who could “do it in their sleep.”

Sweet stuff :)

Mitch Keller tomorrow and he’s a great pitcher

he absolutely is not. he's 28 years old and has a 4.70 ERA (90 ERA+) over 104 career starts

in scouting terms, he 'flashes' 'top stuff' before reality sets in. but i thank you for throwing me a bone

Ok, he’s fine. He’s got a FIP of under 4 his last three seasons though!

smdh

The scoreboard said Cutch is one single away from 1000 so hopefully we get to see that

Best game report/posts on here in years, tyvm gyac.

🫡
A no doubter home run off the bat sounds unmistakeable. You hear commentators talk about it all the time but it’s something you need to experience irl. And there were three in this game! The Abreu home run didn’t sound like this on TV but it was unmistakable irl:

Rob Refsnyder (1)
2-Run Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/MA3utJFeLZ

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 20, 2024

Wilyer Abreu (1)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/HKn1vm6tah

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 19, 2024

Ceddanne Rafaela (1)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Roansy Contreras
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/R2yR7hLAkr

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 20, 2024

Oh yeah the Refsnyder one is not a no doubter; it was only gone in 9/30. This was a no doubter.

Triston Casas (6)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/iVe2du98xU

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 19, 2024

Oh yeah, video I got of our view which I forgot about until I got back. I checked already and we’re not in view at any point, but we had a great one.

https://streamable.com/u7ea2a

Yay!

Man oh man. Casas drew a walk in the first inning, then had clutched at his side and was subbed out after the inning.

Me: 🙃

To recap, the starting infield for this team:

SS: Trevor Story - season ending injury
2B - Vaughn Grissom - groin strain in spring training, working through a rehab assignment
3B - Rafael Devers - sore shoulder, bone bruise on knee
1B - Triston Casas - “left field with left rib discomfort”

Fucking brutal. Hopefully he doesn’t miss too much time, but at least I got to see him hit a home run yesterday.

Saw Yoshida go 3-4 with a home run today and he was great. Kutter Crawford got into a jam in the sixth inning, Cora left him in and he got out of it. Joely Rodriguez came in to pitch the seventh and I was looking on my phone for Casas and when I heard Joely was coming in, I went, FUCK! I was right though.

Kenley came in for a save and was actually fine. Pirates manager got tossed for arguing an automatic strike call. Please don’t miss too much time, Casas!

gyac please stop killing my hometown baseball team

my man Mitch Keller might have injured the least healthy infielder

btw I cheered for Cutch when he came on to pinch hit

Also I talked to lots of Pirates fans

<3

Surprise win today with a patchwork lineup. Have I mentioned that on all three days that we were sitting in seats that we ended up realising were the wrong ones on two separate occasions and having to move? I have not.

Today Wilyer Abreu went 3-5 and drove in two runs; as someone who’s a nl Abreu truther based on his eye and his arm (both great), this was incredible for me. Ceddanne playing shortstop was great too; it remains to be seen if he’ll be as good there as at CF but I definitely felt good about him fielding the position and he made some plays.

Connor Wong was catching today and he was fine. He played well too.

Reese McGuire pinch hit and drove in two runs; did this prevent us from making fun of him? Reader, it did not.

Oh yeah, Aroldis Chapman came on to pitch and I booed him. I could not have told you I had that in me.

Various pictures that are mainly zoomed the fuck in or moving closer to the field when the game ended/before it started, so sorry for the mostly poor quality. I regret not being able to get a video of Bello dancing in the dugout:

https://i.postimg.cc/KcD5q11z/IMG-9511.jpg
Bello! I love him so much and I was glad I was there to see him pitch well. Today he was in the dugout wearing his hoodie up and dancing to music played between innings. He’s adorable.

https://i.postimg.cc/HsS9mF41/IMG-9518.jpg
The man himself on the right.

https://i.postimg.cc/5y48dmXt/IMG-9665.jpg
Our view before we realised we were sitting in the wrong section (!) and had to move.

https://i.postimg.cc/3JrFP3GZ/IMG-9679.jpg
Kutter Crawford after his first win of the year (his ERA over five starts is like 0.77).

https://i.postimg.cc/26FnKt8J/IMG-9704.jpg
Alex Cora today. He was out throwing batting practice earlier and will sometimes join in with the infielders as well.

https://i.postimg.cc/BnXcnNML/IMG-9711.jpg
Andrew Bailey and Jason Varitek going to the bullpen before the game.

https://i.postimg.cc/tg63hJ09/IMG-9727.jpg
Connor Wong.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmVP8Y5M/IMG-9734.jpg
Chris Martin, ???, Kenley Jansen. Possibly the middle guy is Bailey, I know all the relievers on this roster and I can see Joely Rodriguez and Bernie in the background. Everyone else was used.

Fun photos. Always love being able to see the bridge in the outfield.

Trip to Clemente museum

Went to the Clemente museum a few days back, felt like a necessary visit. Had a great time. It’s basically set across two floors with exhibits laid out across the floors and you can just walk around and explore within your time slot. They limit the number of people in there in every given hour so there’s a chance for everyone to see everything.

One of the first things we saw was this very morbid exhibit: a wing from the small plane that Clemente died in.

https://i.postimg.cc/J4Ym9mHQ/IMG-9613.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/XNQ0C3L0/IMG-9614.jpg

They had shirts and bats and other expected memorabilia:

https://i.postimg.cc/bvcXhvy1/IMG-9621.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/c4rPt36Q/IMG-9632.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/RVyy70n2/IMG-9635.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/tRmMbgD7/IMG-9636.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/ZqcwMYCb/IMG-9654.jpg

But also some less expected stuff, like his custom golf clubs, his fashion suit(!) and my favourite of all, a pot he made for his wife after he got into throwing pottery while suffering from insomnia:

https://i.postimg.cc/nz2NBYv1/IMG-9628.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/0QPLzHJQ/IMG-9630.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/SKqZdYQ1/IMG-9639.jpg


I didn’t get a picture of it, but he messed up the side of the pot and drew a little heart with his name on it there instead.

There were guides who were very helpful; they were mainly people who’d seen him play and one man told us that he and his brother overheard Clemente give his number to a reporter and they’d ring him after games. He said Clemente always answered and was kind to them.

One of the guides told us that Clemente would rent buses in his earliest days for the black and Latin players because often they couldn’t go to the same places as their white counterparts and he tried to help them out whenever he could. I’d seen a RETIRE 21 sign at PNC so I asked about it; his number is obviously retired by the Pirates but they are pushing for league wide recognition to have the number retired like Jackie Robinson’s.



Some signed shirts belonging to visiting players; the Giants one is Posey.

There’s a picture of Javy Baez wearing the Clemente suit jacket in the museum which you can see in my photo, more on this here: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/javy-baez-wore-a-jacket-from-the-roberto-clemente-museum-at-the-home-run-derby-c

I love Javy Baez. I asked my hometown Cubs friend the other day his favorite player from the 2016 Cubs team and we agreed it's Javy Baez. That suit looks perfect on him, so styling ~~

Yes! His bat is terrible now but I don’t think that man will ever need to pay for a drink in Chicago for the rest of his life. Truly a blessed team

My last few pictures didn’t load, think I messed up bb code. Player shirts:

https://i.postimg.cc/XvcP6cD0/IMG-9647.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/5yjKvc9x/IMG-9648.jpg

Other pics:
https://i.postimg.cc/PJc3Q6N1/IMG-9646.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/LsMWW0DT/IMG-9644.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/sgW8wRYx/IMG-9633.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/d3SXSsNk/IMG-9626.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/brCccHrv/IMG-9625.jpg

xp Folks in Detroit keep hoping he'll get his groove back. He's still a great fielder and base runner. He did have an RBI yesterday.

He is! I’ve been following him.