Sessh

Verlander one out in the ninth.

Toro homered for Houston; 2-0.

Runner on third, two outs. Astros need to score for Verlander to have a chance at a CG no hitter unless he pitches the 10th.

Verlander through eight innings of a no-hitter against Toronto; 13K's, 1 BB.. problem is it's a scoreless game. Top of the ninth. Astros with a runner on second and one out. Playing in Toronto.

Smith Jr is really good at making routine plays look difficult. Almost stumbled over his own feet going back for that ball.

Brooks throws a change-up center cut with two strikes to Soler Hunter: Good pitch!

Wojciechowski averages about 5.06 innings per start this season. He has gone six or more innings only three times out of 11 starts. He has failed to get through five innings in five of those 11 starts and failed to get through six in eight of 11 starts. He barely averages five innings per start and has only gone six once in August. I know those two seven inning starts he made got everyone excited, but he has been below average since then and before then. So, I disagree on that assessment. He is pitching more like he had been before coming here. He's had only three quality starts out of 11 most of which were not good. I do want to see if his velocity bounces back because what once was 93-94 during his no-hit bid has gradually slipped down to where it is now at 90-91.

Wojciechowski isn't trending up at all. July: 3.60/0.93, 37K/9BB in 30 IP, .183 BAA, 5HR August: 6.75/1.64, 24K/15BB in 28 IP, .272 BAA, 10HR Wojciechowski is trending down and not exactly sure how he could be trending up. Also seems to be losing velocity.

Frobby is correct. What you're missing is that you're looking at his oWAR and not his WAR. What you're also missing is his 2018 stats are split into two separate lines which you aren't adding together to make one number I guess because typing .9/1.4 makes your argument look better than putting 2.3, but again that's his oWAR; he had a 2.7 WAR for that season. So, his WAR over the last four seasons are 3.9, 0.1, 2.7 and 3.4 so far this season. If you didn't have such an axe to grind with Villar, you wouldn't be in such a rush to find some numbers to support your argument even if they're the wrong numbers or you have to misrepresent those numbers.

Perhaps we should call him Tricky Dick, then. As far as the topic, I don't care if these incidents happen in the dugout. Good, let them show how much they care about their performance. I want to see fire out of this team which was completely lacking before. I also found it interesting that Armstrong and others quickly jumped to Bleier's defense and there were plenty of F-Yous and F-Offs being exchanged there. The clip someone posted here earlier had some of that stuff faintly caught on audio when they were coming out of the tunnel. Good. Let it out. I agree that this was probably the boiling over of some pre-established tension between Flores and some guys on the team. This team cares a hell of a lot more than they did for the last seven months of season during Buck's tenure. That team gave up on him in September of 2017 and carried that through 2018 to the worst record in baseball. No fire, no care.. I love what this team is showing now. Theatrics are fine, it's entertainment and to me it's the good kind. I like fire. It's been awhile since I've seen it out of this team and I still think Hyde is the right man right now. If Flores is a problem, he won't be here much longer

Command not there, either.

When Wojciechowski first got here, he sat in the 93-94mph range. His velocity had slipped a bit in his last two starts to 91-92. This game, he's 90-91mph. I hope it's nothing, but it slightly concerning.

I would say it wasn't a real problem before.

It's not about being in or out. It's about taking away the ability to make last minute acquisitions in the case of an injury to a major contributor on the team that had been previously available before. At least in September, there's callups even if it won't be 40. Teams still get, what was it, two callups? You can't plan for unexpected injuries before they happen. Pretty sure the Indians are in, so it's definitely not about being in or out here at all.

I'm not sure why that's so bothersome. Just extend the trade deadline to August 31st, then.

Yeah, already the downsides to this new rule are apparent. The trade deadline has also become the injury deadline. No injuries after July 31st! That really is lame, though. It leaves teams little recourse in the case of a player injury late in the season. I have a feeling we'll be saying this a lot in the coming years.

Well, at least Stewart didn't try to hit the ball with his face, too. Bat works better.

What is Thorne talking about? Batter fouls a pitch back and he's talking about a swing and miss. What is he looking at? lol.. Thorne..

I swear it's gonna start raining there any minute now.

Pham with a screamer through the hole at second base.

It's pouring where I am.

I get that the balls are different this year, but it's getting a little tiresome hearing Palmer complain about it every time someone hits a home run.

Really, really nasty line of storms headed right for Camden Yards. Probably 20-30 minutes away. Moving fast.

Certain mechanical characteristics are pretty accurate predictors for injury. It's like weight training. There's a right way and a wrong way. The wrong way WILL get you injured eventually. You're talking about max effort forces being applied in both situations. If you do squats wrong, your lower back will suffer. Any heavy weight bearing exercise done improperly and often enough will eventually cause injury. Pitching is no different especially when the way you do it puts all or most of the stress on ligaments where it shouldn't be.

Well, it's something that has to be implemented from the ground up. I agree with what you're saying, but those months or years they could be using to retool their delivery will likely be spent on the DL down the road which will eventually cost them that effectiveness and possibly their careers anyway. It took Roy Halladay about a year to reinvent himself though that wasn't due to injuries, but ineffectiveness. Pedro Martinez above touched on another aspect of it. It just seems bizarre that we generally know what's going on, but very little is being done in response. Then again, if it's giving them the results they want, why change? What pitching coach is going to step in and suggest it and how many pitchers would even go along with it? That number is probably very low and I guess pitchers are ok with injuries that are, to some degree, preventable and will likely cost them years of DL time and possibly their careers. These guys are learning to throw this way at a young age and that's where these changes need to start. As long as velocity is king, shortcuts to that goal will be taken at the expense of everything else and the injury epidemic will continue. Definitely not an easy fix, but it's probably a good idea to figure it out.