0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/23/2014
Has a St. Louis Cardinals team that’s played below expectations all season now taken its biggest blow? The Cards learned on Sunday that two of their starting pitchers, Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia, are going to be sidelined for the near-future, and possibly further down the line. Of greater concern for this season is the […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/19/2014
Most baseball fans woke up Thursday morning to the news that Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw threw a no-hitter versus the Rockies on Wednesday night. But to only say that Kershaw threw a no-hitter doesn’t give the feat nearly enough credit. Many analysts — the Los Angeles Times‘ Steve Dilbeck, ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield and FanGraphs’ Dave […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Travis Snider’s MLB pitching debut will probably be overshadowed by a controversial call at home plate (and Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter will rightly get most of the national attention), but the Pirates outfielder struck out one of the best hitters in MLB Wednesday night.
In the ninth inning of an eventual 11-4 loss to the Reds, Snider took the mound to give the bullpen a break in a blowout game that had been rain-delayed for more than an hour. He walked two batters, allowed a double to Billy Hamilton and gave up two runs. But he also struck out Joey Votto.
Snider got ahead of the Reds’ on-base machine with a one-ball, two-strike count. Then he put away the former NL MVP by getting him to whiff on a 77 mph changeup high and inside in the strike zone. After losing his right field job to phenom Gregory Polanco, maybe Snider just found a new role with the Pirates.
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/16/2014
Baseball lost one of its all-time greats on Monday with the passing of San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn. Gwynn was only 54, finally succumbing to a four-year struggle with cancer of the salivary gland. There have already been plenty of tributes written to Gwynn’s talent and character, and there will surely be many, many […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/13/2014
Is there such a thing as an accident in MLB anymore? If a hitter’s bat happens to strike a catcher on the backswing, is it now automatically assumed that it was done intentionally? Does the incident call for swift retaliation by the hitter getting plunked by a pitch immediately thereafter? I get baseball’s method of […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/12/2014
Really? He did it again? Yes, Yoenis Cespedes made a spectacular throw from the outfield for the second consecutive game, nailing another Angels runner on the basepaths Wednesday night. (Maybe he was upset that he didn’t have two plays on our list of 10 best outfield throws.)
You might think the Angels would know better than to test Cespedes’ arm after he gunned down Howie Kendrick at home plate on Tuesday, but that lesson apparently didn’t take. At least not with Albert Pujols (and maybe third base coach Gary DiSarcina), who was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple.
But Cespedes might also have a talent for getting the Angels to run into outs by initially bungling plays in the outfield before erasing his mistake with his rocket arm. What? The ball kicked away from me? No one remembers because I just threw you out, sir.
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/11/2014
Baseball fans woke up Wednesday morning to see one of the best outfield throws in recent memory, with Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes gunning down the Angels’ Howie Kendrick at home plate. (Of course, some of you were likely fortunate enough to watch the play as it happened, or shortly thereafter, on Tuesday night.) How many times […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/10/2014
Pirates fans, the charade is finally over. Gregory Polanco is on his way to the majors. The team announced the decision late Monday, after its 6-2 win over the Cubs. Second baseman Neil Walker was placed on the 15-day disabled list following an appendectomy. That precipitated the roster move that will bring Polanco to Pittsburgh. […]
“They took me out as a precaution. I didn’t want to come out. It’s pretty bogus I have to go on another rehab assignment. But it it is what it is. I don’t make the decisions around here. I’m a puppet on a string. I get told to do what I need to do and I do it.
“I can tell you I’m about as healthy as I’ve been. I could pitch in a game if I needed to. Like I said, I can’t do anything about it. If the cramp is the reason why I’m going on another rehab assignment… It is what it is.”
— Reds pitcher Mat Latos to the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s John Fay, after being pulled from his rehab start for Triple-A Louisville on Wednesday because of a cramp in his calf.
0 comments
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/4/2014
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked on the radio if I thought any team could challenge the Oakland Athletics for the AL pennant. According to the AL standings at the time, I should’ve named the Tigers as a rightful challenger. Detroit had the second best record in the league at 27-15, a five-game […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/3/2014
Just how did 50 Cent throw that awful ceremonial first pitch before last week’s (May 27) Pirates-Mets game so damn badly? Our culture needed an answer. Fortunately for us, the rapper provided an explanation during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post on Reddit Tuesday afternoon promoting the release of his new album, “Animal Ambition,” and […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 6/2/2014
Eventually, a top minor league prospect was going to accept a long-term contract — especially if it meant the player would get called up to the majors upon signing the deal — right? We don’t yet know if Jon Singleton and the Astros are starting a trend toward locking up young talent before they even […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 5/30/2014
Maybe there were other reasons — non-baseball reasons — that Andre Ethier took the Dodgers’ starting center fielder job away from Matt Kemp recently. Presumably, Kemp’s defensive gaffes in center against the Mets were the reason for his five-game benching. But it may have been another performance while the Dodgers were in New York that […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 5/28/2014
If the Dodgers didn’t want to play Matt Kemp, circumstances have now dictated that they’ll have to. Kemp has been benched for the Dodgers’ past five games, making only two pinch-hit appearances during that span. Sitting Kemp down was especially curious on Monday, when the Reds’ Johnny Cueto was the opposing pitcher. Against Cueto, Kemp […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 5/27/2014
Ladies and gentlemen, friends and fellow baseball fans, we have a new champion for worst first pitch of all time. Carly Rae Jepsen and John Wall are among the many errant hurlers who can now relax after what 50 Cent’s performance on the mound before Tuesday’s Pirates-Mets game at Citi Field. Maybe we should give […]
