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Beau Vine

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Posts posted by Beau Vine

  1. 28 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

    that's 89% less runs created than the average player.  i've never seen a lower number this many games in.

    Tony Pena had a -8 in 235 PA in 2008.

  2. 23 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

     

     

    11 is fucking impressive. 

    I know one dude who's not impressed.

    Casper Wells had a -10 wRC+ in 2013.

    He was somehow on 4 different ML rosters that season.  I guess because he was gritty and gutty.

  3. 1 hour ago, Viper said:

    University auditors, managers and executives all accused Shoumaker of submitting time sheets that said he was clocking in at the law school even as his personal credit cards were being swiped in such far-flung destinations as Miami, Florida and California, the document says. 

    Wait, this dumbass handed over his personal credit card receipts???

  4. 1 hour ago, Viper said:

    As early as the spring of 2016, a supervisor said Shoumaker had "started to not be around" and "didn't seem to be doing his job anymore," according to the affidavit. 

    One of my rules of thumb is that if someone doesn't "seem to be doing his job anymore," but you're not absolutely sure that he's not doing his job, then his job is probably  unnecessary.  

    But what do I know?  I'm not an administrative supervisor at UT.

    • Like 2
  5. On ‎5‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 10:22 PM, gsoda3 said:

    i'm loving this thread. 

     

    i wash out ziploc bags and reuse them. 

    My wife does that.  I throw them away when they dry.

    They spring leaks easily, which ends up spoiling the food you put in them, which costs you more than using a new Ziploc bag.

    • Like 2
  6. 8 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

    Meanwhile on the Astros thread, you’d think most posters feel the 2018 Astros squad is worse than that ‘88 O’s squuad 

    I haven't visited lately, and will probably even stay away during the AZ series, but I assume that utgrad97 still wants to fire Hinch like he did DURING the playoffs last season?

  7. 5 hours ago, Longhorn94 said:

    Cleveland is actually pretty nice this time of year. Great museums, nice downtown, lots of history, good pubs/clubs.... if you could just avoid being there from November until March, it would be really nice.

    There's nothing wrong with Ohio
    Except the snow and the rain
    I really like Drew Carey
    And I'd love to see the rock 'n' roll hall of fame

  8. I don't know what happened, but we seriously have more of these little buggers in my yard right now than I've ever seen anywhere in my life.  

    I went outside for a couple of minutes to watch, and had several of them land on me.  

  9. Stark:

    Quote

    Yeah, not much happened in baseball this week. Only the greatest save of all time. And a man stealing his first base in nine years. And a guy who thinks a normal day at the office involves hitting three home runs.

    So never fear. Our Useless Information Department investigators are on all those cases – and much more, of course!

    CRAZY EIGHTS OF THE WEEK

    It was the save of the week, the save of the year, the save of the century. It’s a box-score line that comes with its very own breeze, at no extra charge.

    It was perpetrated by Brewers whiff machine Josh Hader, Monday against the Reds. And we’ve never seen anything like it:

    Eight outs, eight strikeouts. Drive home safely.

    “He’s more like a guy in a video game,” Brewers catcher Jett Bandy told Useless Info. “It’s like you created this guy. He’s left-handed. He’s got the long hair. He’s throwing across his body, so it looks like the ball’s coming out of the first-base dugout. And he’s running it up there at 97 (mph) sometimes. And every time you look up, somebody is swinging and missing.”

    Yeah, that about covers it, all right. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. That was Josh Hader’s night: 37 pitches, 17 swings, zero balls put in play. In an actual major league baseball game.

    Asked what it looked like to his teammates, Bandy (who actually didn’t catch Hader that night) let out a chuckle as he searched for the right words.

    “Dominance,” he said. “Not fair. Supernatural. Just complete domination, really. Just Josh being Hader.”

    Josh being Hader. Now that’s a scouting report with a ring to it. And if you’ve watched this 6-foot-3 left-hander unleash his untouchable fastball/slider combo on the defenseless earth, as his shoulder-length locks rustle in the breeze, you know just what Jett Bandy is talking about.

    Let’s take a look at Hader’s historic save and his astonishing season. You’ll get the idea!

    THE SEASON

     How unhittable has this man been this year? How about this: He has thrown 287 pitches – and given up four hits. Then again, it’s hard to give up a hit when the bat never meets the ball. Of those 287 pitches, only 19 have even been put in play (and one of those was a bunt).

    When we relayed those numbers to Bandy, he literally shouted: “Oh…my…God. He’s got to be pitching from like 46 feet, right?”

     All right, try to digest this: 18 innings, 39 strikeouts, 4 hits. That’s Hader’s stat line for the year. Got it? Now take another look so it really hits you. There’s an argument that this is the most dominant 18 innings of pitching anyone has ever had. Ever. Starter. Reliever. Johnny Vander Meer. Ever.

    Here’s Hader, compared with the closest stretches I could find:

    PITCHER IP H K BALLS IN PLAY
    Josh Hader (3/39-4/30/18) 18 4 39 19
    Aroldis Chapman (8/13-9/28/14) 17.2 4 35 19
    Craig Kimbrel (5/20-7/13/12) 18 4 34 25
    Pedro Martínez (9/4-10/99) 17 3 32 20
    Eric Gagne (7/9-8/14/03) 18 2 29 33

     Oh. And there’s also this: Guess which pitcher leads the Brewers’ team in strikeouts, here in the first week of May? Right you are. It’s Josh Hader, relief pitcher.

    The Elias Sports Bureau tells us he’s the seventh reliever since 2010 to strike out more hitters in a calendar month than anyone on his team. But to actually lead his team in K’s heading into May? Just two other relievers could say that: A.J. Ramos of the 2015 Marlins and Tyler Clippard – who somehow led the 2010 (pre-Strasburg-ian) Nationals in K’s in April and May (with 40 in 34 2/3 innings).

     More fun with Hader’s single-season numbers: His strikeout rate (19.5 per 9 innings) was the highest by any pitcher in any month in the history of baseball…He has faced the opposing No. 3 hitter nine times this year – and not one has put a ball in play (0 for 9, with 9 K’s)….He has reached a two-strike count on 53 hitters. Those 53 have gone 0-for-49, with 39 strikeouts and four walks….And when he’s pitched with a one-run lead, opponents have gone 1-for-18 with 16 strikeouts. The hit was a Freddy Galvis bunt single. Of course.

    So imagine life as a man with a bat, standing 60 feet away from that guy. Asked what the hitters say to him when Hader is pitching, Bandy said: “They don’t say anything. They’re just baffled.”

    THE SAVE

     Has there ever been an 8-out, 8-K save – or an 8-out, 8-K appearance of any kind – before Josh Hader arrived on the mound Monday? Of course not!

     In fact, this was the longest outing by any pitcher in history in which every out was a strikeout. The previous record was seven – shared by the eclectic trio of Dylan Bundy (July 6, 2016), Tom Niedenfuer (May 18, 1985) and Tim Stoddard (April 30, 1979).

     Now consider how hard it is to strike out eight hitters and only throw 37 pitches. It’s so tough that no one, in the three decades in which we have pitch-count data, has ever done it. The old record in an outing with that few pitches: 7 whiffs, by (who else?) Shawn Camp, on June 5, 2007.

     And then there’s the best tidbit of them all from that night: No Brewers starter has struck out eight in a game in almost three weeks (23 straight games – since Zach Davies K’d 8 on April 7).

    Just so you know, Elias reports that in the last 20 years, only one relief pitcher has had the biggest strikeout game for his team in a season. That was Liam Hendricks of the 2013 Twins. He also did that by punching out eight – but had to face 24 hitters to do it!

    Meanwhile, no Brewers starter has struck out more than eight in their last 50 games. Last to do that was Jimmy Nelson, last Sept. 1. But their closer struck out eight Reds on Monday – in a game in which he only got eight outs. Unreal.

    There is actually an incredible GIF out there from that performance that shows Hader blowing away Alex Blandino with a 95-mph inferno-ball – and then shaking his head in disgust because he missed his spot. Now that’s dominance. Or is it?

    THE TWEET

    “I don’t know,” Bandy quipped. “He was probably just shaking his head to get his hair out of his eyes.”

    Well, whatever he was up to, he spun off the most overpowering relief outing of all time. So we asked Jett Bandy what he would tell his friends and loved ones someday about the night Josh Hader struck out pretty much everybody.

    “I’d tell them, ‘Go to YouTube,’” Bandy replied, “‘and type in ‘Josh Hader.’”

    MOOKIE OF THE YEAR WATCH

    Does it feel like Mookie Betts hits three home runs in a game once a week, just for his own amusement? Hey, pretty close. A few of our favorite Useless Mookie Info tidbits, after his latest trifecta Wednesday:

    THE FENWAY FACTOR

    3-HR games by Mookie in the last 1,478 regular-season games at Fenway: 2.

    3-HR homer games by everyone else in that same span: 2 – by Hanley Ramirez (Aug. 14, 2016) and Mark Teixeira (May 8, 2010).

    TWICE IN 15 DAYS

    All right, this guy doesn’t really hit three in a game once a week. But he did just pull that off twice in 15 days. Only four other hitters in history could say that:

    DAYS HITTERS DATES
    5 Doug DeCinces Aug. 3-8, 1982
    7 Johnny Mize  July 13-20, 1938
    11 Willie Stargell  April 10-21, 1971
    13 Sammy Sosa Aug. 9-22, 2001

    THE LEADOFF FACTOR

    Two 3-HR games in a season out of the leadoff hole:

    Mookie Betts (2018).

    End of list.

    THE LITTLE PAPI FACTOR

    Career 3-HR games by Mookie – 4
    Career 3-HR games by David Ortiz – 0

    THE ONE-MAN TEAM FACTOR

    3-HR games this season:

    Mookie – 2
    Royals – 1
    Padres – 1
    Marlins – 1

    THE SUNSHINE FACTOR

    Bonus note! Betts and Edwin Encarnación hit three on the same day Wednesday – both while playing in the afternoon sun. How ‘bout this fun list of times that has happened in day games in the last 75 years (a.k.a, the post-light-bulb era):

    May 2, 2018 – Mookie Betts, Edwin Encarnación
    Sept. 3, 2006 – Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard
    July 20, 2004 – Albert Pujols, Travis Hafner
    July 26, 1970 – Johnny Bench, Orlando Cepeda
    June 6, 1965 – Johnny Callison, Tom Tresh


    THE OHTANI WATCH

    Due to twisted ankles beyond our control, it was a slow week on the Shohei Ohtani beat. But there was this!

    Last Friday, he launched a 410-foot home run off a Luis Severino heater that was clocked by Statcast at 97.2 miles per hour.

    So perhaps you’re wondering how many men have both thrown a pitch at 97 mph or faster and homered off a pitch at 97 mph or faster? Well, thanks for wondering. In the pitch-tracking era (2008-18), just two other guys have done that. Shockingly, neither of them was named Noah Syndergaard:

    Jake Arrieta, June 27, 2016 – HR off 99.3 mph pitch from Michael Lorenzen.
    Michael Lorenzen, Aug. 19, 2016 – HR off 97.2 mph pitch from Pedro Báez.

    And now there are three, thanks to the one, the only Shohei Ohtani.

    ROYAL VISITOR OF THE WEEK

    In his first game in Kansas City this season (Opening Day), Matt Davidson hit three home runs. In his third game in Kansas City (last Thursday), he hit two home runs. In his fourth game in KC (last Friday), he hit two more home runs. Which is already pretty flippin’ cool.

    But what makes it cooler, of course, is that Matt Davidson doesn’t play for the Royals. He plays for the White Sox.

    Kauffman Stadium opened 45 years ago. And in those 45 years, a total of 405 different men have made it to home plate wearing a Royals uniform.

    George Brett never had three multi-homer games in a season at Kauffman Stadium. Bo Jackson never did. John Mayberry never did. Mike Sweeney never did. Just Steve Balboni (1985) and Billy Butler (2009) ever did that.

    So the Royals’ record for multi-homer games in any season in Kansas City is three. Over 81 games. And a guy who plays for the White Sox just tied that record – in four games. Baseball!

    STRANGE BUT TRUE FEATS OF THE WEEK

    — Things I never saw coming: Kendrys Morales has as many stolen bases this season as José Altuve. By that we mean: One. Really.

    Altuve led the league in stolen bases in 2014 and 2015. Morales, on the other hand, just swiped his first base in nine years on Tuesday.

    According to Baseball-Reference.com’s awesome Play Index, he’d gone 919 consecutive games without a steal at the time – the longest streak by any Rickey Henderson Not Wannabe since Tony Clark (yes, that Tony Clark) went 1,010 games without an SB from 1999-2009.

     Don’t try this at home: Tuesday night in Houston, the Yankees struck out 14 times (and scored zero runs) against Justin Verlander. And their own starting pitcher (Jordan Montgomery) had to exit after one inning. And they still won.

    So when was the last time a team did that? That would be never. Naturally. According to Elias, there hasn’t been a single other game since 1893 in which any winning team had its starter go no more than one inning while its lineup was fanning 14 times or more against the other team’s starter.

     Don’t try this on the road: Here’s a little rarity for you, pointed out by our friends at @BrewerNation. On their last road trip, the Brewers got swept in a four-game series (at Wrigley) – and still had a winning record on the trip! (They went 5-0 in Kansas City and Cincinnati.) Must be the ivy.

     Definitely try this on the road: The Rockies won a 1-0 game in Miami last Friday. What made that kind of notable was that the only run was doubled in by Antonio Senzatela. Who is a relief pitcher. Well, you don’t see that much.

    Last reliever to get a win and drive in the only run in a 1-0 game for any team: Joe Niekro for the Astros, on Aug. 23, 1980, according to Stats LLC.

    The only other reliever since 1920 to get a win and drive in the only run with an extra-base hit: Johnny Klippstein for the Reds, on a 13th-inning homer off Don McMahon, on Aug. 6, 1962.

     Walk this way: Buck Showalter intentionally walked Mike Trout three times in four trips to the plate Tuesday. Meanwhile, his own hitters walked zero times, intentionally or otherwise – in 33 trips to the plate. It isn’t quite up there with Showalter intentionally walking Barry Bonds with the bases loaded – but speaking of that…

    The last player, according to Elias, to get that many intentional walks from a team that never drew any walks itself was – yessir – Barry Bonds, courtesy of Bob Melvin’s Diamondbacks on April 27, 2007.

    Last to do it in the American League? That would be George Brett, on July 27, 1985, with Pat Corrales ordering all that intentional walking.

    USELESS INFO OF THE WEEK

     According to Baseball-reference.com, there have been 13 men who played in the big leagues and were known as “A.J.” There have also been five B.J.s, six C.J.s, five D.J.s, 8 J.J.s, two P.J.s and three R.J.s. That three-homer game by A.J. Pollock on Monday was the first by any of them. You’re welcome.

     They have been playing baseball at Wrigley Field since 1914. So when something happens there that had (gulp) never happened before, it kind of gets our attention. Well, Tuesday was one of those days, according to Elias.

    Charlie Blackmon led off the top of the first inning with a homer for the Rockies. Then Anthony Rizzo led off the bottom of the first with a home run for the Cubs. So if you’re paying attention, you know what’s next. No other game, in a century of baseball at Wrigley, had started with both teams’ leadoff hitters bopping a home run.

    That same day, the Rockies’ first two hitters (Blackmon and David Dahl) homered to kick off the game. Not to suggest it had been a while since that happened at Wrigley. But the only other time the visiting team’s first two hitters went deep at The Confines, it was during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration – when Roy Johnson and Rabbit Warstler did the honors for the Boston Bees on Aug. 6, 1937.

     Every time the Yankees rip off a nine-game winning streak (or more), we think about this: Since their last nine-game losing streak (36 years ago), the Yankees have had 15 winning streaks of nine or more.

      Dee Gordon got five hits for the Mariners on Tuesday. Which was one more than the team the Mariners were playing – the A’s (who got four). Last time a player got five hits and the other team got fewer hits than that, according to Elias: Yunel Escobar outhit the Royals, 5-3, on July 26, 2016.

      Here’s a box-score line that ought to be impossible, courtesy of Doug (Kernels) Kern. Sergio Romo, last Friday against the Red Sox: 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts… and one blown save.

    Imagine our shock when we dialed up the Play Index and discovered it’s the 21st time since the dawn of the modern save rule that a pitcher has blown a save in an outing of no hits, no runs, no walks and at least three whiffs. Last to do it: Tyler Thornburg on Sept. 11, 2016.

      Finally, it’s Buster Posey’s 10th season as a Giant. He’s one of the most accomplished offensive catchers of his generation. So how about this list of all the four-hit, four-run, three-XBH games by a Giants catcher since Posey arrived in 2009:

    Nick Hundley: One (on Wednesday).
    Buster Posey: Zero.

    Repeat after us: BASEBALL!

     

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