MLB - NEWS & NOTES

...and the Damn Yankees have made the Post Season again. I didn't think they were going to make it.

 

^^ yeah - quite a run. the emergence of aaron judge helped a lot. still a lot of baseball left before the playoffs start. my favorite time of the year. fall is coming. hockey is coming. college and pro football are here and cooler temps and the holidays are coming as well!

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...inals-fans-nachos-heroically-replaces-nachos/

Addison Russell's leg flips over a Cardinals fans nachos. What does he do....he brings him more nachos and takes a picture with the fan! Awesome!

 

A weird scene unfolded in Yankee Stadium last night during the Rays-Yankees game. Home plate umpire Dan Bellino had a fan who was sitting behind home plate ejected for tipping pitch locations.

On two straight pitches to Gary Sanchez, after the fan yelled “outside! outside!” in Spanish, in an effort to tip Sanchez as to where Rays catcher Wilson Ramos was setting up. Bellino had an usher eject the fan after the second instance. For what it’s worth, Ramos said after the game that, yeah, he was setting up for an outside pitch. Also for what it’s worth, Sanchez hit an RBI single after the incident was over.

Everyone involved said afterward that it was bizarre but that the umpires handled the situation properly. As for the ejection, Joe Girardi said, “Rightfully so. That shouldn’t happen.” Rays manager Kevin Cash said “The Yankees handled it really well and got him out of there.”

Girardi said he’s heard fans do that on the road before, but not often. It’s a totally new one to me.

 

The Detroit Tigers are planning to extend the netting at Comerica Park... should be ready by the start of the 2018 season.

 

Another bat went flying into the stands at Fenway last night. Luckily nobody was hurt this time. Unfortunately the jackass who picked it up started clowning around taking pretend swings with it and they plastered it all over the local news so haha sure it's no big deal when equipment goes flying into the stands let's all laugh about how funny it is. Then all those same people will stroke out when someone finally gets killed wondering why nothing was done before then.

 

Maybe a hefty fine to ball players who launch bats into the crowd... I hate when they do that. It scares the shit out of me.

 

Matt Cain announces his retirement...

Giants pitcher Matt Cain announced his retirement this afternoon. He’ll make one last start for the Giants, this Saturday against the Padres, but then he’ll call it a career.

Cain, 32, was already expected to separate from the Giants after this season given that his contract is up, but he has decided not to try to latch on elsewhere. It’s probably the right decision, as Cain is now but a shadow of what he once was, having posted a 5.66 ERA and the lowest strikeout rate and highest WHIP of his career in 2017. That, however, will soon be forgotten as his many wonderful years are remembered when he is given his sendoff this Saturday.

Cain pitched thirteen seasons, all with the Giants. At his peak he was one of the best in all of baseball. Between 2007 and 2012 he went 70-65 with a 3.18 ERA (126 ERA+) and a K/BB ratio of 1,069/418 in 1,299.2 innings. He should’ve won a lot more games than he did, but he was frequently plagues with low run support during his prime.

Cain won three World Series rings with the Giants and posted a 2.10 ERA in eight postseason starts. He made three All-Star teams and had two top-10 finishes in the Cy Young voting (2011, 2012). On June 13, 2012 Cain threw the 22nd perfect game in baseball history, striking out 14 Houston Astros batters in the process, tying Sandy Koufax’s record for the most Ks in a perfecto.

Cain, who averaged 213 innings pitched a season between 2006 and 2012, began to experience injury problems in 2013. Some of the injuries were freak injuries — he was hit by a comebacker, sending him to the DL in early 2013 — others chronic. He’d need elbow surgery and ankle surgery in 2014. His numbers and his durability began to decline after 2013. This is the first season he’s pitched over 100 innings in the past four seasons.

But no matter how his career has ended, he was a critical part of the Giants mid-2000s rebuild and the mini-dynasty that won three World Series between 2010 and 2014. For that, he will always be a big part of Giants history. The fans will cheer him wildly and loudly at AT&T Park on Saturday.

 

Cubs with back to back division titles and going to the playoffs for the third year in a row....something the franchise hasn't done since 1906-08.

Lovable losers...no more.

 

Congrats to the Cubs!

And how about those Minnesota Twins... first team in history to make the playoffs after losing 100 games the previous season.

 

Tigers Andrew Romine to play all 9 positions on Sunday...

I say its a gimmick!

 

LOL well of course it's a gimmick! Nothing wrong with having a gimmick on the last day of the season in a game with no playoff implications. Tigers are 37 games out ffs gotta give the fans some reason to come out to the ballpark (though I kinda wish they'd done it on the 8th as a nod to Bert Campaneris)

 

I mean, it's not like they're doing it on purpose. I don't think many if any players will start swinging less hard to try and avoid a fine.

 

Protective netting that goes past the dugouts and down the line should be mandatory.

 

I don't either. I just think if a batter launches anything into the crowd other than a baseball maybe he should be fined. Hell, I played for decades and never once lost a bat on a swing and cant imagine how they can do that. Of course I was no big leaguer, just big, lol. but damn, get a grip on the bat.
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I agree with BWW, I just don't know whats taking so long for this to happen. MLB needs to wake up... pronto.

 

Phillies fire manager Pete Mackanin...

 

Do or die!

 

don't know why? and they gave him a job with the team still??

the gm is next!

and the phils do not finish with the worst record in baseball. the tigers went 6-20 or something like that in sept and they finished worst and SF bc of a Panda HR to win their last game finished 2nd!! these 3 are the worst 3 teams in baseball and are the top 3 in the 2018 MLB Draft.

 

Too funny, even when Sandoval does something good it's wrong these days.

At least Mackanin won't be working with FO people that have actively tried to get him fired for the last several years. Unlike Terry Collins. That's gonna be an awkward Christmas party lol.

 

^^ i don't see how the front office wanted him fired when they hired him and gave him nothing to work with until the rookie call ups this year. he was given the shittiest team to work with the last 3 yrs. what else could he do with them?? not his fault the team was cheap and didn't want to win!