umop apisdn wrote: ↑April 1st, 2023, 8:10 pm
Yes, this is it exactly. Theo Epstein, Cubs former team president, now works for MLB addressing pace of play issues he helped usher in with the usage of analytics.
"The executives, like me, who have spent a lot of time using analytics and other measures to try to optimize individual and team performance have unwittingly had a negative impact on the aesthetic value of the game and the entertainment value of the game in some respects," Epstein said when he resigned.
If a game is long because there is a lot of action, I don't think any baseball fan would mind.
I'm ambivalent on the new rules. Two and a half hours seems like a good amount of time for a game, but I hate to see a game
that hasn't had a time clock like other sports get one now. And it was fun to see some of those crazy looking shifts. Guess we'll
see how things work out this season. I too don't think fans mind a long high scoring game, but these three hour affairs often don't
have a lot of runs scored.
Today the MLB Channel announced that Albert Pujols was coming out of retirement in order to pass Babe Ruth in lifetime homers. Then they revealed that was not true. It was an April Fool's joke. Then they realized that Albert might take it seriously. We all know that the worst thing that has ever happened to baseball is the DH. It's preposterous that someone gets to bat and not play in the field. Now a DH can come out retirement for the sole purpose of surpassing, let's face it, the most honored home run hitter ever and sit on his a s s while getting to take a turn at the plate. Dont do it, Al. You will disgrace yourself and disgrace baseball as well : Don't cheapen yourself.
(...and I say this as one whose favorite player of all time was Hank Aaron. He never DHed either.)
laffite wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2023, 1:14 am
Today the MLB Channel announced that Albert Pujols was coming out of retirement in order to pass Babe Ruth in lifetime homers. Then they revealed that was not true. It was an April Fool's joke. Then they realized that Albert might take it seriously. We all know that the worst thing that has ever happened to baseball is the DH. It's preposterous that someone gets to bat and not play in the field. Now a DH can come out retirement for the sole purpose of surpassing, let's face it, the most honored home run hitter ever and sit on his a s s while getting to take a turn at the plate. Dont do it, Al. You will disgrace yourself and disgrace baseball as well : Don't cheapen yourself.
(...and I say this as one whose favorite player of all time was Hank Aaron. He never DHed either.)
The universal DH has always been an inevitability. I’m surprised it took so long for the NL to adopt it. Pitcher’s batting averages dropped year after year and it reached a point where it was almost painful to watch a pitcher feebly try to hit (unless MadBum was up). The National League was the only professional league left that had pitchers batting meaning that you had guys at the plate trying to hit major league pitching when they haven’t batted since college or high school. Plus, all sports are looking for more offense. The American League out scored the National League every year since 1974 (the year after the AL adopted the DH). I also don’t buy the argument that DH takes managers strategy out of the game. The double switch is not rocket science. The best argument against the DH is that headhunter pitchers don’t have to answer for their actions by digging in against the other team’s pitcher. I guess the players have to police that themselves.
Caitlin Clark of Iowa is sometimes called the Larry BIrd of women's basketball. Game today for the NCAA National Women's Basketball Championship. Iowa 3.5 pt. favorite.
G.C.
Last edited by GaryCooper on April 2nd, 2023, 8:35 am, edited 2 times in total.
Movies are written in sand: applauded today, forgotten tomorrow.
D. W. Griffith
Thompson wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2023, 3:10 pm
The shift rule seemed odd to me at first, if a batter can't hit it where they ain't, then they ain't that good a batter. I think the reason for the shift rule is the problem the shift makes scoring the game ambiguous. Your 3rd baseman is playing in shallow right center field and makes an out. How do you score it? Well you have to score it a 5 something, but the play ain't anywhere near 3rd base. Lots of new stat problems will have to be addressed - pitch count for one - you can't call the time delay ball a pitch, can you since he never pitched it. What about the runner at first who's awarded second because of the pick off rule? How do you score that?
Seems that a ball or strike due to a clock rule violation is a ball or strike. The only question appears to be how to notate it...
Thompson wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2023, 3:53 pm
Right! How do you notate it? Box scores are big with lots of fans
MLB doesn't have rules on scorekeeping notation, though I know a "standard" has been developed unofficially over the years. My mom used to keep score when watching a MLB game in person. She also did that for Little League games.
Thompson wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2023, 3:53 pm
Right! How do you notate it? Box scores are big with lots of fans
MLB doesn't have rules on scorekeeping notation, though I know a "standard" has been developed unofficially over the years. My mom used to keep score when watching a MLB game in person. She also did that for Little League games.
MLB does have rules on scorekeeping notation, don't they? You can't just jot down any old thing you make up and make it part of a scorecard you make up as well, can you?
Basically you can. The official scorekeeper simply has to understand their own chicken scratch on their scorecard when they provide the official info to MLB. I suppose there is some transfer of information from the scorekeepers card to some MLB form or such, but it's not clear to me how that happens. Per the article I linked above:
MLB does not ask scorers to follow any standardized practices for keeping score. The only requirement is that they be able to read and easily understand their own notations. The scorer has to decide whether a given play is a hit or an error, a passed ball or a wild pitch, but they do not have to finish the night with a perfectly regulation scorecard. (Exact play-by-play data is recorded and entered by a data stringer.)
The data stringer is the person feeding all the instantaneous data into the up-to-the-second on-line databases that show up on MLB websites. So you have an official scorer, plus these other folks entering data simultaneously. The same thing happens at major tennis tournaments. The chair umpire has an electronic device keeping the official score, and there are data stringers in the stands typing in additional information about things like number of winners, rally lengths and other stats.
Thompson wrote: ↑April 9th, 2023, 5:31 pm
So watching the Rangers at Cubs today there was no seventh inning stretch, no Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Is that part of the new rules too?
Which team's feed were you watching? If it was the Marquee feed, they would feature it. The Rangers feed probably would not, especially if it's the taped Harry Caray or taped Ernie Banks version.
Enjoyed the final round of the Masters. How about Lefty, wow! Rahm was as steady as steel. In 1986 I attended a game at Yankee Stadium on an April Sunday and walked a few blocks after the game and happened upon a bar full of old cronies who talked about old Yankee stuff, especially in the 50s. We all watched Jack win his final Masters. I was able to take a small part in those conversations as I was a kid in the 50s and knew all the players. So fun that was, the guys were great and I got drunk. I hit the sauce pretty hard in those days but not every day (just almost every day). Way to go Lefty, you almost did it. You are practically the only name I remember as I have not kept track. But always the Masters and the course in Augusta. Oh those hilly greens, love them.
Thompson wrote: ↑April 9th, 2023, 11:24 pm
The song is long, even if it’s just done on the organ . I don’t think they are doing it anymore.
Yep, that's right, Thompson! They're not. And in fact, they've now banned the song being played at any and all MLB games anymore, and this because the word "shame" is in the song's lyrics.
And, I assume you know how promoting the idea of "shame" is now viewed as being insensitive and extremely un-PC!
