Moose Milligan

I'm still not wrong.

Clearly he wasn't because all a 30 pack of Keystone Light is gonna do is make you have to take a giant leak. It's practically water. He should have spent the same amount or a few bucks more for something that actually tastes good with a higher alcohol content...that way you can get drunk quicker, not drink AS much and not have to run to the bathroom every 10 minutes after you've taken your first squirt of the afternoon.

Your dad should have been jailed for child abuse. Not for giving you beer, but for giving you Keystone Light. Wtf.

Those numbers, especially the avg exit velocity and hard hit % are up from last year's percentiles, a year which a lot of people think he was running into bad luck consistently.

I think it picks up steam until it's being recognized on a national level (ESPN, Fox Sports) and it's being discussed outside of twitter, message boards like this, etc. Despite the fact that I think it's juvenile and that I like it, I think at some point, the Dong Bong is gonna be put to bed due to the optics and I don't 100% disagree with it...I mean, I wouldn't give my 12 year old kid a beer bong to take to an Orioles game, but some parent out there was clearly fine with it. But I'd also have a conversation with my kid about that and why binge drinking isn't good. I mean, that's part of the conversation that's starting to bubble up here...I know what's good for my kid and how I want to parent, but I'm not about to tell other parents what they should and shouldn't do. Plenty of people out there feel the need to tell others what to do. But the overriding conversation that will be had is "Are the Orioles responsible for promoting beer bongs to kids?" The Orioles players, smartly, will use plausible deniability to wiggle out of the issue, with a wink wink because they never SAID it was a Dong Bong. Fans came up with that nickname, and hey, if the fans want to call it that, that's fine...but we really thought it was an homage to drinking from a hose and WE call it the Homer Hose. If you see a beer bong, well, that's your problem. That excuse will only get them so far. Won't be long until someone quietly steps in and asks them to figure out another home run celebration. I can't imagine that the Orioles front office is thrilled that a 12 year old showed up to the game yesterday with a beer bong and was rewarded for it by one of their players.

K.

I see what you're insinuating here.

You're forgetting Arenado (who might be a tick better than Manny). Mookie Betts. Freddie Freeman. Votto (although he's started to slip). Altuve. Note, I'm not arguing these guys are BETTER than Manny, but I am saying they are all really good and have been consistent for the past decade. Manny plays, he produces. He's never really put up that one WOW season. He's steady, he's consistent. And I wish he'd spent his entire career here. I just don't think he's the best third baseman of his generation (again Arenado probably is) and a guy that's on a Ripken level status for a franchise. Had he stayed here, MAYBE he's viewed in a Ripken-way. But the equivalent of a Ripken in San Diego would be Tony Gwynn and I don't believe he's viewed as a Tony Gwynn-esque kind of guy by fans in San Diego. To SG's point, I think this fanbase has romanced Adley Rutschman already in a way that they never did for Manny.

I don't think Manny was that guy, in hindsight. He was close, but not that guy.

You're a bit over the top. In regards to his underachieving team, it's not Trout's fault that the Angels have failed miserably at building a good team around him. You should know that baseball isn't like football or basketball where a star player can carry an otherwise average-ish team to the playoffs. Mike Trout is an all-time great, might be a top 10 player of all time. If you think he's overrated, you're doing your 12-year-old-who-hacked-the-family-computer bit. And Ohtani is deserving of MVP consideration practically every year he stays healthy and does what he does. He's not overrated, either.

Okay, that's completely unfounded.

I liked what I saw last night, mostly. You can see the talent is there and that he's not exactly far from being where he needs to be in order to become a great pitcher. It is a bit concerning, however, that the injury last year seems to have wreaked havoc on his command. I'm not sure what an oblique injury would do to his command. Everyone likes to point to Dwight Gooden's cocaine use as a reason for his downfall and it certainly played a part of it. But he also had arm issues, particularly because he had so many innings on his arm so early. As far as I know, cocaine doesn't have anything to do with arm injuries, which he suffered from. All told between minors and majors, he had 1,792 innings on his arm by the time his age 26 season rolled around. That's a lot. I do believe that the baseball thought pendulum has gone too far in the other direction in regards to pitch counting. I remember when Mussina and McDonald were pitching, 120 was their limit. Now, anything over 100 is cause for outrage. IMO, it doesn't matter what you do, how many times a guy is pulled from a start before he hits 100 pitches, whatever...an arm only has so many bullets in it before it gives out. Sometimes you get lucky with a Nolan Ryan, a Max Scherzer, a Justin Verlander...guys who can throw hard and do it for a long time (yes, I know Verlander had Tommy John but he bounced back phenomenally). Or you get a guy like Dwight Gooden who ran out of ammo by the time he was 30 or so.

I don't expect them to. I don't think he's ever going to be a high walk guy. He will always be swinging at low and outside sliders. If he ever has an OBP north of .345-.360 it'll be propped up by a high batting average. IMO, that'll be what separates him from being a truly great hitter...I think he'll have some fantastic seasons, but since he's whiff prone, pitchers will get him to chase and I don't see that changing. That said, I do believe he's looked slightly more patient at the plate this year. Not enough to make a huge difference but I wouldn't be surprised if his pitches per plate appearance is a little higher this year.

It'll be here before we know it.

Love that he hits to all fields. Great approach.

This thread doesn't get started if they don't score 12 runs last night. In other words, too early to tell if this is a "playoff caliber offense." That said, I don't disagree about the pitching.

Love the patience at the plate. It's easily the best on the team, even better than Rutschman which is saying a lot. I'm sure he'll come around but I agree that a demotion could be in the works (brace yourself, @Sports Guy) if he's not turned things around by the end of May.

I was looking to find video of it. Found the WaPo writeup. Pretty cool stuff, August of ‘85. 3 homers for Eddie that day. Like Mountcastle, got the 9th RBI on a grand slam. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1985/08/27/murray-has-3-homers-9-rbi-orioles-hit-out-seven-beat-california-17-3/0be37cb0-e982-491e-943a-9b6c6522181f/

That’s right. And he’s not humble in a way that just makes me like him even more. I dunno how someone pulls that off but it’s awesome.

It totally is. He should be proud of it, but he’s not always humble about it. As he should be. It’s great.

The only thing, the ONLY thing that could have made that Mountcastle grand slam any better would have been Palmer reminding everyone that he never gave one up. That kills me every time.

That’s absolutely right.

Column B has been a pleasant surprise so far.

What an amazing night