MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Yanks win 1-0 ! Sox win Big! STAYING ALIVE!

 

bummed to miss the 1 pm game and some of the 4 pm game.

 

Houston just advanced to the ALCS... knocked off the Red Sox.

 

Final - Cubs 2, Nats 1

 

Dodgers sweep Diamondbacks! Advance to NLCS...

 

No Adrian Gonzalez on the roster and the Dodgers are back to being awesome again lol.

 

so strasburg could've pitched in game 4 but didn't want too bc he was sick. ugh.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...-pitching-options-but-they-arent-taking-them/

 

Breaking: John Farrell out as Red Sox manager...

The Boston Red Sox just announced that John Farrell will not be back as manager for the 2018 season. A manager search is underway.

The club gave no official statement about the reasons for Farrell’s dismissal. The press release simply stated that he was out and recited his record as a manager and history as a coach. General Manager Dave Dombrowski is expected to speak to the media later this morning when he will, presumably, explain the club’s reasoning. For what it’s worth, Farrell was not technically fired. His contract ended with the season and had a 2018 team option that Boston is declining.

Farrell was 432-378 as Red Sox manager. He led the team to a World Series title in 2013. After two last place finishes in 2014 and 2015, Farrell’s teams won 93 games and the AL East in each of the past two seasons. They were swept out of the Division Series by the Indians last season and lost 3-1 to the Astros this year. Before that he was the Blue Jays manager, going 154-170 in two seasons before replacing Bobby Valentine at the helm in Boston.

His last act as Red Sox manager: getting ejected after arguing balls and strikes in Game 4 of the ALDS.

 

It was assumed all day yesterday that, in the event of a rainout, the Nats would go with Strasburg on full rest for today’s game. When Dusty Baker met the press to tell them that he would not, he had to expect that people would be stunned and that they expected a dang good reason for the Nats’ best available pitcher not to pitch an elimination game.

His explanation, however, was tentative, somewhat contradictory and raised more questions than it provided answers. Specifically, he said that Strasburg had, curiously, thrown a bullpen earlier that day. That it was a matter of Strasburg being a “creature of habit.” That Tanner Roark was “slated” for the game anyway. He also said Strasburg was “under the weather.” In the wake of Baker’s press conference, Twitter was filled with Nats fans questioning Strasburg’s toughness, guts and competitive spirit. And it wasn’t just Twitter randos doing the beefing. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote a column which disparaged Strasburg as well. I presume D.C. talk radio is lighting Strasburg up for this as we speak.

The only problem is that, as it turns out, Baker’s comments were either wrong or, at the very least, misleading.

• Yes, Roark was “slated” and yes, pitchers like their “habits” but those things are irrelevant because this is the postseason and roles and habits change constantly. As such, Dusty mentioning those things suggested that Strasburg was insisting on his routine above helping his team when there is no evidence out there suggesting that he has done so;
• The stuff regarding Strasburg’s bullpen session was found later to be simply wrong: Strasburg threw his bullpen session on Monday, preparing him for either a possible Wednesday Game 4 start or a Thursday Game 5;
• Finally, it now turns out that Strasburg is not merely “under the weather,” a term which makes most people think of the sniffles, but truly sick, with the Washington Post’s Tom Boswell reporting that he was unable to even finish that Monday bullpen session due to fatigue.

That reporting aside, logic suggests Strasburg was not insisting on his routine and that he must be truly sick because if he wasn’t — if he was begging out of an elimination game due to his devotion to habits and/or a mild illness — Nats players would, without question, be anonymously grumbling to the media about a teammate quitting on them and we haven’t seen any of that. UPDATE: Well, maybe we’re starting to. See the link at the bottom of the article.

Since late last night, the actual information about all of this, apparently provided by Mike Rizzo and the Nats front office, began to supplant the misinformation from Baker’s press conference. For many I suspect that correction came too late and that, if the Nats lose today with Tanner Roark on the hill, they will disparage Strasburg for quitting on his team and blame him for a playoff loss.

If that’s the case, the Nationals, pilloried five years ago for clear communication of an unpopular decision regarding their ace, can blame their poor communication about him for the controversy.

UPDATE: More on this from the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga, who usually has a pretty good handle on the Nats clubhouse. He’s pretty sharp here, noting that, yes, the Nats bungled the communications on all of this, but going further and suggesting that Strasburg really did beg out. If so, I suspect we’ll soon hear some more specific recriminations from Nats players on it all. Maybe that comes if and when the Nats are eliminated.

 

Thank you 9 pound baby Jeebus

 

Jon Morosi of MLB Network just tweeted that Stephen Strasburg is now likely to pitch for the Nationals today in their Game 4 matchup with the Chicago Cubs. UPDATE: It’s official. Strasburg has the start.

If this holds, it’s certainly a reversal from yesterday, when Dusty Baker and the Nats said Strasburg was too sick to pitch. That led to a bunch of confusion, with some reporting that it was simply a matter of miscommunication and others suggesting that, in reality, Strasburg had begged out of his start.

Did Strasburg shrink from the spotlight in today’s Game 4? Was he really sick? If so, was he so sick that it was reasonable to rule him out for a Wednesday start on a Tuesday? If not, why did they do it anyway? Did Strasburg and/or the Nats get a sense of the heat they were taking over all of this and cave?

No idea. All I now is that this has been the most confusing 18 hours or so I can recall in the runup to a playoff game in some time.

 

Farrell now at the top of the Phillies coaching hire list among others. shocked to see joe giraldi's name on the same list.

 

1. Trea Turner (R) SS
2. Jayson Werth (R) LF
3. Bryce Harper (L) RF
4. Ryan Zimmerman (R) 1B
5. Daniel Murphy (L) 2B
6. Anthony Rendon (R) 3B
7. Matt Wieters (S) C
8. Michael A. Taylor (R) CF
9. Stephen Strasburg (R) P
@
1. Jon Jay (L) CF
2. Kris Bryant (R) 3B
3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
4. Willson Contreras (R) C
5. Ben Zobrist (S) LF
6. Addison Russell (R) SS
7. Jason Heyward (L) RF
8. Javier Baez (R) 2B
9. Jake Arrieta (R) P
__________________________________________

Nationals
Stephen Strasburg (R)
@
Cubs
Jake Arrieta (R)

 

Yankees
CC Sabathia (L)
@
Indians
Corey Kluber (R)
_____________________

1. Brett Gardner (L) LF
2. Aaron Judge (R) RF
3. Didi Gregorius (L) SS
4. Gary Sanchez (R) C
5. Greg Bird (L) 1B
6. Starlin Castro (R) 2B
7. Aaron Hicks (S) CF
8. Jacoby Ellsbury (L) DH
9. Todd Frazier (R) 3B

1. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
2. Jason Kipnis (L) CF
3. Jose Ramirez (S) 2B
4. Edwin Encarnacion (R) DH
5. Carlos Santana (S) 1B
6. Austin Jackson (R) LF
7. Jay Bruce (L) RF
8. Roberto Perez (R) C
9. Giovanny Urshela (R) 3B