MLB 2016: Win for Vin

[Guest]

Great comeback win for the Cards.  If Kershaw can beat the Gigantes it will be a tie going into the final.

 

[MercenaryChef]

Absolutely totally a gigantic fuck you to the Allstar game counting for shit.

[Myshkin]

Let's be clear about 2 things:

1) The DH is half a player. David Ortiz is only a viable ball player because he only has to play half the game.

2) My hatred of David Ortiz has nothing to do with him being a DH, and everything to do with him being a prick.

[Tyrion Lannister]

2 hours ago, Triskan said:

Great comeback win for the Cards.  If Kershaw can beat the Gigantes it will be a tie going into the final.

 

So much for that.

The Nationals should just throw nothing but left handed pitchers at the Dodgers in the postseason.  Watching the Dodgers lineup against a southpaw is like watching Pedro Cerrano try to hit a curveball.

[James Arryn]

The DH just makes for better baseball. Watching pitchers flail at eased-up fastballs and/or that wonderfully nostalgic automatic bunt option is fun for like 10 minutes in April, then gets boring as fuck.

[Argonath Diver]

Yep, you vote blue, I vote red. There's no need to argue one way or another. I love the late-game strategy of switches.

I think Kershaw blew the game just hoping to help eliminate the Cardinals from the post-season, which he can't do while he's on the mound. (Sorry, pot-shots at him are my only way to not be grouchy that the Giants and Mets refuse to lose when it counts. Bastards).

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 This is only the 2nd time in the 2nd half of the season that the Giants have won 3 in a row. Absolutely horrific post All-Star game meltdown.

[Tyrion Lannister]

3 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 This is only the 2nd time in the 2nd half of the season that the Giants have won 3 in a row. Absolutely horrific post All-Star game meltdown.

And all of it goes out the window if they win tomorrow.  As horrible as they've been for the last several months, that's the absolute last team I want to see in the first round if I'm a Cubs fan.

 

40 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

Yep, you vote blue, I vote red. There's no need to argue one way or another. I love the late-game strategy of switches.

I think Kershaw blew the game just hoping to help eliminate the Cardinals from the post-season, which he can't do while he's on the mound. (Sorry, pot-shots at him are my only way to not be grouchy that the Giants and Mets refuse to lose when it counts. Bastards).

He could've been throwing a perfect game until they yanked him for pitch count and it wouldn't have mattered.  This one's 100% on the offense, who turned in their usual hideous performance against a lefty starter.

[Argonath Diver]

I cannot argue that. I didn't follow much Dodgers stuff this season, but everywhere baseball-related I post or lurk at are mentioning the lefty thing as a total non-surprise. What a bummer for my odds, anyway. Those filthy Giants have knocked us out the last two even years.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Tigers so frustrating tonight, they had a chance to control their own destiny in the WC race. Instead they chased dirt sliders all night, allowed a 8.00 ERA guy to strike out 10. Miggy strikes out with bases loaded and as the winning run at the plate late in the contest. Just a woeful evening for Tigers fans. 

So now we will be dependant on the other games to go our way and get a little luck as well. Verlander starts next and has been excellent so noone will quit till the last out.

[Jaxom 1974]

3 hours ago, James Arryn said:

The DH just makes for better baseball. Watching pitchers flail at eased-up fastballs and/or that wonderfully nostalgic automatic bunt option is fun for like 10 minutes in April, then gets boring as fuck.

Good Christ, no.  The DH makes for more offense and less strategy.  It's awful.  Always been awful.  Always will be awful.

And the idea that the DH is going to help the AL this year? Ha. The Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, Giants..any of those teams aren't going to be distracted by having that extra battery in the lineup. And they're all at a significant advantage in the NL parks because so many of their pitchers are also offensive threats.  

The DH sucks, but this year it plays to the strengths of virtually every NL playoff team.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

29 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

And the idea that the DH is going to help the AL this year? Ha. The Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, Giants..any of those teams aren't going to be distracted by having that extra battery in the lineup. And they're all at a significant advantage in the NL parks because so many of their pitchers are also offensive threats.  

The DH sucks, but this year it plays to the strengths of virtually every NL playoff team.

 I wouldn't go that far. I think it's a bit of a psychological drain for the NL hurlers to have to face 9 legit hitters. The AL guys are obviously more accustomed to that. That said, I think the NL playoff picture is the stronger field this season.

[Ramsay B.]

4 hours ago, James Arryn said:

The DH just makes for better baseball. Watching pitchers flail at eased-up fastballs and/or that wonderfully nostalgic automatic bunt option is fun for like 10 minutes in April, then gets boring as fuck.

Basically how I feel. I get all the strategy arguments, but it's just better to watch actual hitters hit, for me.

 

49 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

So now we will be dependant on the other games to go our way and get a little luck as well. Verlander starts next and has been excellent so noone will quit till the last out.

I need your boy to pitch a gem with lots of K's tomorrow for fantasy reasons. 

[James Arryn]

3 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Good Christ, no.  The DH makes for more offense and less strategy.  It's awful.  Always been awful.  Always will be awful.

And the idea that the DH is going to help the AL this year? Ha. The Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, Giants..any of those teams aren't going to be distracted by having that extra battery in the lineup. And they're all at a significant advantage in the NL parks because so many of their pitchers are also offensive threats.  

The DH sucks, but this year it plays to the strengths of virtually every NL playoff team.

I'm not arguin that the DH leads to more strategy, just that the supposed strategy it causes in the NL is automatic, formulaic. Runner on 1st, none out, sac. Two out, strikeout/pop-up/ground-out, etc. If 1 out of every 9 at bats you had to run the shortstop out to pitch, it might lead to more 'strategy', but I'd find it less enjoyable once the novelty wore off.

 

So I'll take that loss of 'strategy' for more actual baseball...professional pitchers vs. professional hitters, rather than 1/9 times vs. ~enthusiastic semi-pros + bunting. It also gives the pitchers a break about 1/12 at bats, when I prefer the tension of constantly meaningful at bats. 

[Argonath Diver]

You're also discounting the fun we die-hard NL types have when a pitcher has a good bat. Zambrano was a force. For awhile, he should have been the Cubs 5th hitter in the lineup when he pitched. I hated them so much, but damn that was a thrill. No one is arguing against the fact that the DH shit makes the game more exciting. It just makes it a whole lot stupider. I can't repeat it enough, this is like talking politics or religion. I think AL fans are invertebrate morons. AL fans who like the DH think we NL fans are delusional fossils.

Let's move past it and invest our sports vitriol toward recent rivalries or social media drama.

[James Arryn]

2 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

You're also discounting the fun we die-hard NL types have when a pitcher has a good bat. Zambrano was a force. For awhile, he should have been the Cubs 5th hitter in the lineup when he pitched. I hated them so much, but damn that was a thrill. No one is arguing against the fact that the DH shit makes the game more exciting. It just makes it a whole lot stupider. I can't repeat it enough, this is like talking politics or religion. I think AL fans are invertebrate morons. AL fans who like the DH think we NL fans are delusional fossils.

Let's move past it and invest our sports vitriol toward recent rivalries or social media drama.

Yeah, fair enough. I think it's w/e ou were born into, I guess. But the quirk of 2 different rules is cool in its own way, plus the debates about which league that favours. 

[kairparavel]

It's asinine that two conferences in the same league play under different rules sets. AFC teams don't play with 5 downs. Eastern conference teams don't play with six skaters. If the DH is so frigging wonderful it should be fully adopted into the MLB. Otherwise, it should be dropped. 

[James Arryn]

19 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

It's asinine that two conferences in the same league play under different rules sets. AFC teams don't play with 5 downs. Eastern conference teams don't play with six skaters. If the DH is so frigging wonderful it should be fully adopted into the MLB. Otherwise, it should be dropped. 

But it does kinda fit with the whole 'baseball's different' aesthetic.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

Sometimes pitchers get hits, and it's fucking awesome. 

Here's a relief pitcher who doubled and ended up scoring the winning run in extra innings:

Here's Ollie Perez with a 2-out, game tying bunt in extra innings. He had to bat, there was no one left:

Needs no introduction:

 

None of these moments are as exciting (and the second wouldn't exist) with "real hitters" at the plate. I dislike the DH for a few reasons, but the most important is that I think baseball thrives on the weird and unexpected. I've watched Cespedes hit dozens of HRs this year but never literally jumped off my couch and cheered, as I did with Colon's. The joy comes from the unlikeliness of it. 

[James Arryn]

If the world was full of Bartolo Colons, I might convert.