Oh No, Oh No! Another No-Hitter!! The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling!!!
The baseball world is up in arms about the accomplishments of the armed; pitchers, that is.
Welp, it seems that no-hitters are a bad thing now. Because the baseball world is up in arms about the accomplishments of the armed; pitchers, that is.
Google no-hitters. I dare you. See if you can stand the angst, the hand-wringing and the fear that baseball is ruined and needs to change right now, today. Or else. Or else the sky is falling! Oh no! What are we to do with ourselves?! How are we to carry on?!
Even Clayton Kershaw has gotten into the act, chiming in when asked about the epidemic of no-nos after his outing Wednesday night at Chavez Ravine: “Well, it’s not good. I’ll tell you that. I think whatever the intention was with the new ball or whatever it may be, it really hasn’t done anything. There might be less home runs, which I guess they want, but I don’t know the stats on all that. But I do know that strikeouts are the same. I think I saw some stats for April that it was the worst hitting month in the history of something. No-hitters are cool. I have all the respect in the world for Corey Kluber and Bum an all these guys that have thrown no-hitters. But to have it happen every night, it seems like it’s probably not good for the game. Fans want to see some hits, I get that, and some action, and not may people striking out. I appreciate the attempt that MLB has tried to do, but I think it seems like they missed the mark so far. We’ll see. I don’t know.”
Say what? That’s a few too many I-don’t-knows for my taste, especially coming from a guy like Kershaw, who’s more thoughtful than most. The takeaway for me is, he doesn’t know. Nobody knows. And it’s not “every night,” okay? It’s six no-hitters in seven weeks, two no-hitters versus three teams — Cleveland, Texas and Seattle — and six in some 750 games played. It’s a lot, obviously, but we can’t predict the future. We can’t say that because there have been six no-nos to this point that the pace will continue as is and that we’re going to see in another 12 or 13 in the 1650 or so contests that remain on the 2021 schedule. And even if we do, there’s nothing to be done about it now, which is why everybody ought to just chill.
Major League Baseball had the chance to go to a universal DH during the winter, something that both the owners and player say they want, and didn’t. That would’ve created more offense. There’s talk about eliminating or limiting the shift, which I find problematic generally. But fine; let’s talk about it. A three-batter minimum for relievers is already in place.
As for the baseball, who the hell knows? Certainly not Clayton Kershaw. And probably not even the commish who nobody likes, Rob Manfred. But hey, if you want to get a group of scientists to drop what they’re doing to study the innards of the damn ball — what with COVID, cancer, climate change and all — be my guest. Or, maybe you could try to breathe. Because without breathing, you’ll die.
I happen to like no-hitters. I love no-hitters, actually. I find them to be exciting, and imagine that they amount to what is the highlight of pretty much every guy’s career who’s had the good fortune to throw one. Nolan Ryan? Love him. Sandy Koufax? Love him. Johnny Vander Meer? Love him. Don Larsen? Don’t love him. But you get the idea. A Dodger will probably throw a no-hitter this season. Maybe against the rival Padres, or at San Francisco over the weekend. And you can’t tell me you won’t love him.
Note:
This is a free issue, but the idea is to get you to subscribe. It’s five bucks a month and you can cancel anytime. I’d love it if you gave me 30 days to win you over. I’ve made a one-year commitment to my readers. If the interest is there, I’ll re-up for another year. If not, I’ll go do something else, like cover the Padres:)
ICYMI:
The Dodgers have won seven of eight on the current homestand and I think it’s safe to say they have righted their ship. They’ve done it with great pitching from the starters and the relievers, timely hitting and fine defense. In other words, they’re playing good baseball. With the finale of the four-game Arizona series to be played tonight (Merritt Kelly vs. David Price), L.A. is 2 1/2 games behind the division-leading Giants and 1 1/2 back of San Diego.
With San Francisco starter Logan Webb being placed on the injured list today with shoulder soreness, the matchups for the weekend series at Oracle Park are as follows: Trevor Bauer vs. Alex Wood Friday at 6:45 p.m., Walker Buehler vs. undecided Saturday at 4:15 p.m. and Julio Urias vs. Anthony DeSclafani
Sunday at 1:05 p.m. The NoCals look really good this year Mark me down as impressed.Los Angeles is 3-0 in the Albert Pujols / Yoshi Tsutsugo era. The new Dodgers are 3-14 with three runs batted in so far, but both men have contributed to club’s victories since Monday. The L.A. braintrust is confident that they can fix whatever swing issues Tsutsugo has picked up since hitting the majors with the Rays in 2020. And if they can, watch out. Tsutsugo was rookie star in Japan in 2010, putting up a .287/.334/.504 slash line, with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs at 18 years of age. He took a step back in his 19, 20 and 21-year-old seasons, but went apewire after that, hitting .305/.376/.540 with 23 HR and 81 in 2014, .309/.395/.506 with 24 and 95 in 2015, .322/.432/.684 with 45 homers and 111 RBIs in 2016, .284/.396/.513, 28 and 94 in 2017, .295/.393/.596 with 38 HR and 89 RBIs in 2018 and .272/.388/.511, 29 and 79 in 2019. And it’s 144-game season in Japan, remember.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa continues to be an ass, as was generally the case in his earlier Hall-of-Fame career. I didn’t like the hiring when it happened, I don’t like it now and I don’t know why the Chicago teams find it necessary to treat Rick Renteria like crap. Matt Snyder has a good primer on La Russa’s most recent controversy here at CBSSports.com. Here’s a more strongly-worded piece, with the word “revolt” in the headline, by Jeremy Layton at the the New York Post. Of lesser concern, perhaps, here is a story about about La Russa admitting to “not knowing extra-inning rule that may have cost White Sox a game,” by Joe Rivera at the Sporting News two weeks ago.
With his eight strikeouts last night at the Cubs, Max Scherzer pass HOFer Jim Bunning for 19th place on the career strikeout list, with 2856.
“Former Dodger Zack Greinke sells Studio City Craftsman for $4.75 million” at the Los Angeles Times.
And a sad note about former-Pirates second baseman, Rennie Stennett, who has passed away at 72. A game of word association with the name Rennie Stennett prompts most savvy baseball fans of a certain age to recall his 7-7 performance (four singles, two doubles and a triple) on September 16, 1975. Here’s the box score.
Media Savvy:
“MLB’s offensive woes are complicated, and they don’t appear to be going away” was written by Chelsea James at the Washington Post prior to the two-no-hitters-in-two nights by Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull and and the Yanks’ Corey Kluber Tuesday and Wednesday, but is an example of the mood going around baseball about the lack of hitting. What I find funny about the whole thing is that Manfred’s made a big push for faster, shorter ballgames. He’s staring at his watch rather than the diamond, essentially. And if he goes ahead and institutes a bunch of new rules to increase offense, he’s going to increase game times too. It’s fine by me either way because I love pitching, I love hitting and I love baseball. I’m in no hurry to leave the ballpark or to switch on Netflix. I went to college; I can multitask and do both during a given 24-hour period.
Here is “Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is on track after three years on shaky ground,” by Mike DiGiovanna at the LAT. Yes, I’ve noticed. Jansen has turned my head. If he can throw 95 and 96 mile per hour high heaters like he did last night, even with less command than he had in his prime, he’s going to rack up the saves. Credit to Kenley, who credits L.A. strength and condition coach Brandon McDaniel. The two Dodgers are making me a believer.
Here is the latest from the series of stories called “MLB Tiers, part of an ongoing rankings series at The Athletic, where we’ll judge everything from playoff teams to uniforms — heck maybe even concessions — during the season.” About the free agent shortstop class of 2021, by Jake Kaplan and Nick Groke.
And “What's Behind Baseball's Hit-by-Pitch Epidemic?” by Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated.
Baseball Photos of the Day:
Mike Norris.
Kingdome, Seattle, Washington.
Colin Kaepernick, who tossed two no-hitters at Pitman High School in Turlock, California, in either 2004 or 2005.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the Internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter. Follow OBHC on Twitter here. Be friends with Howard on Facebook.
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Especially Cancer, and also the integrity of the ball at very least are NOT political hoaxes.