The Bad, the Worse, & the Ugly

[DOUGHBOYS]

Think your player is doing bad?
Maybe this will help....

Hopefully, nobody thinks, "He is a Major League hitter, he HAS to hit sometime!"
It's just not true.
Look at Chris Davis.
Yes, the bad Chris Davis.
Davis hasn't had a hit this year.
Worse, he hasn't had a hit since the middle of September, 2018.
He is 0-44 since then.
27 strike outs.
Like a base stealer who can't steal first base, Davis cannot get a hit unless, you know, hitting the ball.
Why does he play?
Because he is under contract for big money.
It's the only reason.
Well that, and so we can say, "Our team could be worse, we could have Chris Davis!"

Justin Bour and Chris Owings were popular drops this past FAAB.
No wonder too. They are only hitting .180
Actually, .180 is both of their averages combined.
Bour, .103 Owings, .077
Bour needed a fast start to keep his job.
Shohei Ohtani will be back next month.
Ohtani is good.
Pujols is chasing career goals.
Bour?
Bour is expendable.
Especially when hitting .103
Chris Owings will be playing different positions.
Usually, a plus for NFBC owners.
For his NFBC owners, Owings is like bedding a gymnast born without sexual equipment.
Many, many positions can be tried, but there will be no satisfaction from any of them.

Here is something that you've never seen before...
187 pitchers have more strike outs than Chris Sale.

Sale is tied with Tyler Chatwood with five strike outs.
Chatwood is throwing a party tonight in honor of having more strike outs (5) than walks (4)

Sale joins Miles Mikolas in having allowed one less home run (4) than total strike outs (5)...Woo Hoo!

That could be worse....
Matt Koch has allowed six home runs and struck out one batter.
That batter now on suicide watch.

Teammate Zack Greinke has also given up six homers.
The Dodgers fondly remember both Greinke and Koch.
They combined for eight homers off of the pair on Opening Day.
Greinke, Koch, and the Dodgers haven't stopped since.

.432/15/6/17/0
Don't you wish you had those stats from your hitters?
That is what Koch has given up in just seven innings.
I want to see Matt Koch face Chris Davis.

Joey Votto has only walked four times this year.
The same amount as Chris Davis.
Life is one big cruel irony.

He's just 22.
That sentence is both an excuse and exclamation.
Especially for baseball announcers and podcasters.
Right now, it is an excuse for Eloy Jimenez not having an extra base hit.
"He's just 22."
When finally hitting a home run...."HE'S JUST 22!!!"

There were 50 hitters leading up to 1960 that had hit 200 home runs.
Babe Ruth led baseball in both homers and strike outs.
Truly, a batter ahead of his time.
Now?
Now there are 343 players who have hit 200 home runs.
Juan Uribe hit 199 home runs fer crissakes!
The game is played much like that of 19 year olds at a poker table, impatient to go 'All-In'.
If re-named, baseball could be called 'Hit or Miss'.
Fans accuse some of putting in a juiced ball.
Why?
Are juiced balls harder to hit?
Strike outs have risen 13 straight years. This year, a worse start than the others.
While homers are struck, strike outs keep piling up.
Baseball is not about the juiced ball, it's about the Wiffle Ball.
The same game we played in our backyard.
Where a half dozen hacks and misses were forgiven for that one ball that landed in the neighbor's yard.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Doesn't really belong here, but I love this note from ESPN....

Mike Trout just had one of the best series by anyone, ever. He was 6-for-11 with five HRs and six walks -- contributing to a 2.631 OPS, the third-highest by anyone in a four-game series in MLB history (min. 15 PA).The highest ever was 3.111 by Babe Ruth in June of 1921 against the Tigers. He was 8-for-12 with six HRs and six walks in that series at the Polo Grounds. He also started and won a game on the mound in that series, striking out Ty Cobb.The second-highest OPS ever was 2.850 by Mickey Mantle in July of 1962 against the A's, as he launched five HRs and walked six times