There is so much going on in Major League Baseball... to not make a post about the latest would be a shame, it's been an interesting season (as always) to say the least.
MR. PAPELBON LOSES IT IN WASHINGTON
Before the season began most predictors, including most major sports magazines had the Washington Nationals winning the 2015 World Series, if not at least going to the fall classic; the latest incident that involved the dugout scuffle between Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper just shows how much of an opposite direction that the Washington Nats' season has gone.
Bryce had a huge breakout year, the star has finally blossomed into his capabilities.. blasting 41 HR & 96 RBI (1.125 OPS) while batting .336 & drawing 123 walks as of the time I started this post. Meanwhile, Ian Desmond, Wilson Ramos, Michael Taylor, and Danny Espinosa had sub-par seasons in which those four, all batting .240 or lower, with an OPS .719 or lower. Ryan Zimmerman can't stay on the field & has had better seasons (16 HR & .773 OPS), while Jayson Werth has also had health issues, but no one seemed to notice he was even there... when he was healthy; Werth batted .223 and had a low .313 on-base percentage (considering his career OBP is .366).
I had Anthony Rendon for my fantasy baseball team, so no need to repeat the frustrating, injurious season of his to National fans. What could go wrong, all went wrong in the Capital. I also had Scherzer and Gio as well on my team.
The rotation was being called the best in baseball entering the season, it definitely didn't live up to the billing. Max Scherzer, overall, had a good season, but it really was the tale of two halves... Superb in first half, shaky second. Stephen Strasburg pitched much better in second half, after a 5.16 ERA in first half. Gio Gonzalez was wildly inconsistent all season. Doug Fister was hurt most of the time, and has not looked like the pitcher that the Detroit Tigers have witnessed from 2011-2013.
Now onto the Papelbon/Harper scuffle -- Overall, I am not surprised at Papelbon acting like the hot-head punk that he is. He's only been on the team for two months, who is he to call out Bryce for not running out a pop-up? How often have we seen him blow some leads while trying to close out the game?
Which by the way, I am so tired of these closers or former closer-types that at one time was as good as closers could get -- but have long lost their skill at doing so... I have this bad feeling if Joe Nathan did not get hurt, that the Tigers would have been still sending Nathan out in the 9th, even if it meant him having a 6.00+ ERA! These closers are not royalty, heck! They are not even quarterbacks, so why do they keep getting that quarterback treatment?! Even though they lost their luster seasons ago. I honestly think baseball should go more with the closer by committee approach, Go with who's been hot, we live in a "What have you done for me, lately?" world -- Why should Baseball be any different? If they really don't have that legit guy, than go with best guy for that situation, there is only 3, maybe.. maybe 5 legit guys in all of baseball.
Okay, I got a tad off subject there, back to Jonathan -- This is a guy when he closed out games, or even if it was just a out, made more facial expressions & done more muscle flexes than half of the WWF (or WWE) Wrestlers.... combined! I have seen him go all Ultimate Warrior over fly balls -- seriously, this guy is a complete jack-ass!
Overall, I don't see anything wrong with what Bryce did (I think the only people that had a huge beef with him not running it out -- are just simply not fans of the guy). If I was the owner, I would have a beef with my washed up closer slamming my multi-million MVP franchise player up against a cement wall in the dugout.
Oh.. and I have a beef with their joke of a manager in Matt Williams. The manager once benched Bryce Harper for fundamental reasons ("playing the game right") when this former player cheated the game with steroid use. Also this joke of a manager, Williams, was apparently oblivious to what was going on in his own dugout (didn't see the fight) and sent Papelbon out another inning -- Say what?! Yeah, exactly! Say goodbye to your job, Matty -- you should have lost it after your poor managing in last season's post-season was put on full display [Think Zimmermann taken out against Giants].
What the Nats need to do is not only suspend Papelbon for the remainder of the season (which they did), but they need to make sure that both Williams & Papelbon don't return next season. Trade Paps & fire Matty -- simple as that, and hope that the players come back fired up to put 2015 behind them.
By the way, believe it or not, I was actually taking it easy on Papelbon.
To add further insult with Washington's woes, the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs will be moving on to the post-season -- Two teams that were on the playoff edges for some people's preseason picks at best, many still thought both franchises were a season away...
which goes to show, what do we know?
JAYS IN RARE COMPANY
My brother Chris brought this to my attention -- Although, we all know they have one heck of an offensive lineup....
What I did not know was that their run differential is so damn good, that it is the best run differential between the league's #1 offense & #2 offense -- biggest since, get this, the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers!
According to New York Post:
The last team to outscore the majors by 100-plus runs was the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, who had a margin of 154 runs with Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider each driving in at least 120. (An aside: That was Vin Scully’s fourth year doing Dodgers games – what a blessing for the sport he has decided to come back for his 67th year in 2016.)
I read a couple more stats that were fascinating, from the Blue Jays Baseball Blog that mentioned the Jays have had a 2.83 ERA since David Price joined rotation and LaTroy Hawkins and Mark Lowe joined the team's bullpen; The team had a 4.18 ERA at the All-Star Break. In August, the team also matched the winning pct of .778 matched the 1938 New York Yankees, by going 21-6! Those 1938 Yankees still own the record of 28 wins in a single month, out of 36 games.
LAST, but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST
A few of his great career numbers, involves being selected 18 times for the All-Star Game. He also has 10 World Championship Rings as a player, and was in 14 World Series in 19 years; in which he also owns the record of 71 career World Series hits!
The card to the left is a custom-made card by this wonderful site, you should check it out (with other cards) at Cards that Never Were
We'll miss you, Yogi.
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