Malike

You bet.

We can't hit Freeland.

Can't assume they pitch Hays the same way with runners on base.

They'll get to Freeland.

Of course, it's park-adjusted.

I bet the 5 people in the game thread on the Rays Hangout were saying the same thing for the past 3 games, then the bullpen came in.

We seem to only win and lose when the Rays win or lose.

He has an OPS+ of 113, we have 6 batters that are higher.

Westburg tantalizes us with his warning track power.

WTW!

Good throw and he's out by a mile, damn.

You can't stop Blackmon.

How do you not love Gibby.

He just knows how to pitch, also. He's not overpowering, but when he's throwing strikes he can get anyone out.

I met a bunch when I was stuck in Denver while taking the train from NY to Seattle when I was young. We had a train issue in Denver and had 6 hours there so I went to a Rockies game, Hideo Nomo threw a no-hitter. What a cool stadium. It did light drizzle that game.

I think this is likely it, he made some really hard running plays in the OF and they are probably just being cautious with him and giving him the night off with a LHP, I wouldn't be shocked if he PH if needed.

Koufax was another hard thrower who retired due to "elbow arthritis" at 30 years old.

They didn't throw as hard, didn't have little league pitch counts per age brackets, and as others pointed out BP's have been much more important. Guys seem to burn a lot brighter now than longer as they did back in the day. The insane stress on the arm with the crazy velo and spin rates on breaking balls, just lots of reasons. One that likely gets overlooked a lot are the pitchers that could throw that many innings stuck around and the ones that were good, but had arm problems, ended up pumping gas in Toledo, they didn't have Dr's to surgically rebuild them.

Nice!

Oakland was 10-45 going into that series, I don't think it's any less shocking they won 2/3 in May vs what happens now.

Hard for me to fault Mussina, I know it's not popular opinion, but he gave the team a very friendly 3 year deal for 7M per, despite the players union not being happy about that, then the Yankees offered him 10.5M more in total value. Both teams were trending in different directions and I don't expect a guy to be completely loyal, when you've already given the team you are on a really friendly deal then they low-ball you for the big contract. Plus, they want to win Championships, despite him not winning one, he did get to play for some in the WS and that is what most players want, to win.

What happens with Means is going to be very important. Toronto basically added another SP in Ryu who had TJ surgery 2 months after Means in '22 and he's been really good for them, it would be a huge boon if he can be effective down the stretch for us.

A's took 2//3 from the Braves earlier this season, baseball is a weird game, and even the worst teams are still professional baseball players for the most part.

Used to laugh seeing him coaching 1B for the Royals.

Ryu just came back from TJ a bit earlier than Means and he's been highly effective in 4 starts with a 1.89 ERA.