Baseball 2016

Biggest individual 'story' is the Colorado Rockies' Trevor Story, the rookie has 7 homers in 6 games thus far. The two biggest surprises as far as teams; The O's off to a great start (6-0) w/a lineup that is loaded with power. On the flip side (sorry Encore) the Twins, who are off to a shockingly bad 0-7 start. The Twinkies were coming off a strong year and are loaded with young talent. Plenty of time, but they need to start digging themselves out.

 

Always difficult to tell who's gonna be where on Labor Day at the beginning, but I'm always happy when the first pitch gets thrown. The Cardinals didn't do much to improve the roster during the off season while the Cubs went bonkers. And Pittsburgh kicked our butts opening up. But somehow, some way, we always seem to get it done. Haven't figured out which games we're going to for our annual pilgrimage but it will happen. Wonder how long it'll take the league to catch up to young Story, but it will happen. The question is how long will it take him to catch back up to the league. The tools are there, no doubt. Don't see the Royals repeating, so I really think it's wide open this season. Glad it's back. I miss the daily dose of how'd my boys do today that only comes with this game.

 

Ugh, young is right. The Twins, as a team, have struck out 79 times at the plate so far this year. If my monkey math is correct, that's over 10k's per game. If you only get 27 outs per game and you swing and miss on at least 10 of those outs, well, that's not a winning formula.

 

Ah man, the Giants look tough and I'm an annual skeptic re baseball - let's see...adding Span, Cueto and SeeMarJah was great (at least for the first 9 games)

 

Well the Astros aren't living up to the hype thus far. The pitching is failing them - 27th in ERA, 24th in WHIP, and 25th in BAA. It's still very early but most teams are doing what's expected. We'll see what happens the rest of the way.

Douchiest quote by a Yankee this season (so far):
"This is the whole package. The Yankees are the whole package," Mark Teixeira said. "I mean once you play for the Yankees, you've kind of reached the pinnacle of Major League Baseball."

 

I thought it was April 18th this year

 

Still part of the season Don. Are you suggesting we not discuss anything until August? September?

 

Getting out of the snow here in Colorado tonight for a long weekend visiting friends in Houston. I know... trading snow for floods is a bit of a wash. But, I went ahead and splurged on some row 1 Crawford Box seats for Monday night's game vs. @encorespanish's Twins. Even though it'll be a battle of the two worst records in the AL, I'm very much looking forward to it. Looks like I might see Keuchel pitching!

 

Enjoy the game Evan. Still expecting the Rangers & Astros to be battling it out in Sept. for the West.

For years Peyton Manning had to deal with the 'Best regular season QB, but Playoff failure' label. Baseball's version is Clayton Kershaw, but how's this for a line: Complete game 3 hits, 14Ks. AND had the RBI in a 1-0 win.

 

Have a great time at the game @astroevan ...although, I wouldn't expect much out of the Twins bats with Dallas pitching. Actually, with anyone pitching. That being said, neither team should be this bad right now...the Astros will be in the hunt by the end. I'm just hoping the Twins can win more games than the absurdly bad Braves.

 

"...production after the count reaches no balls and two strikes.

While major league hitters in that predicament reached base at just a .200 clip last season, Mauer is hitting .600 with a 1.392 combined on-base/slugging percentage through his first 13 plate appearances after falling behind 0-2. On the 0-2 pitch itself, he is hitting a ridiculous .833 (5 for 6)."

That's insane.

Nice to see Joe swatting the ball around the field again, because last year was just sad to watch.

 

O's, Stroh's & Natty Boh's!!!

That's all I've got.

 

HD, tell HatterMom it's doom and gloom out here for Halo fans. The team is anchored by horrible contracts to Pujols & Hamilton, the unwillingness to go over the tax threshold, and no help coming from the minors.

Now this; Their best pitcher Garrett Richards appears to have torn a elbow ligament which will require Tommy John surgery...ugh

 

Well, I had a good time at Minute Maid on Monday. The weather was great, we had no issues parking, and the lines for vending and toilets were short.

The bad news is that the home team was not good. Keuchel walked five - including a four pitch walk with the bases loaded - gave up five runs, only struck out three, didn't last five full innings, and lost for the first time at home in 18 starts. The offense mustered two solo home runs, a bunt single, a single, and a double while striking out 11 times.

The Astros won the next two (for their first consecutive victories all season) but are still struggling mightily. I know it's a long season, but at some point the hole gets too deep to dig out of. Like Fulham, I'm not (yet) seeing the consistency necessary to make a solid run.