Baseball is Back! - the 2018 Season.

[John_8581]

The Mets, Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, and the Nationals all have new managers.

Some of the games today:

The World Champion Houston Astros open the season in Arlington taking on the Rangers. Justin Verlander verses Cole Hamels.
The Giants take on their nemesis Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Ty Blach verses Clayton Kershaw.
The Diamondbacks take on the Rockies in a rematch of the 2017 NL Wild Card Play-In game. This time it's Patrick Corbin (instead of Zack Greinke) verses Jon Gray.
The Red Sox take on the Rays in Tampa Bay. Chris Sale verses Chris Archer.

Locally, the Mets take on the Cardinals at Citifield. Noah Syndergaard verses Carlos Martinez. The Yankees take on the Blue Jays in Toronto. Luis Severino verses J.A. Happ.

 

[barebeaverlover]

Opening Day!!

Will Judge, Stanton & Sanchez hit 120 HR's combined? What kind of seasons will Harper & Machado have right before they hit free agency?

I have Yanks, Indians & Astros winning their divisions Boston & Toronto as Wild Card teams

In the NL, I have Washington, LA & Cubs winning their divisions with Milwaukee & Arizona winning the Wild Cards.

Should be an interesting season.

 

[John_8581]

Two home runs for Giancarlo Stanton. Second one was to deep center. And Joe Panik hits a home run off of Clayton Kershaw to propel the Giants over the Dodgers. That breaks up a seven opening day win streak for the LAD.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

Damn straight baseball season is back! Pretty much the only sport I watch, well unless you count pro wrestling. Let's Go Mets!!!!!!

 

[barebeaverlover]

So, The Giants beat the Dodgers twice. Both games are 1-0. Joe Panik hits a solo HR in each game for the wins. :dunno:

 

[bobjustbob]

So, The Giants beat the Dodgers twice. Both games are 1-0. Joe Panik hits a solo HR in each game for the wins. :dunno:

Hell yea. I hate those shitty Dodgers. My Mets, they may not score another run for 2 weeks but I'll take the wins.

How about Ichiro. 1 year at 750k. Is that a fucking bargain? Inspiration in the clubhouse and hustle in the field. Seattle should retire his number while he is still playing.

 

[Jack Davenport]

I used to like baseball. I played baseball as a kid and in high school. I haven’t watched a game in 10 years.

 

[bobjustbob]

Sad to see Miami not sell out on opening day. Today on day 3. so many empty seats in Cincy and other towns. Yea, it's Easter but still, it's a ball game. Ugh, I guess I'm old fashion. I love baseball.

 

[pool_hustler]

So, The Giants beat the Dodgers twice. Both games are 1-0. Joe Panik hits a solo HR in each game for the wins. :dunno:

That was an oddity, for sure.
AND they turned out to be the only 2 runs the Giants scored in a 4 game series. That does not bode well for the hated ones

 

[John_8581]

That was an oddity, for sure.
AND they turned out to be the only 2 runs the Giants scored in a four game series. That does not bode well for the hated ones

Well if Evan Longoria could possibly hit, then maybe just maybe we would have knocked Maeda or Hill out of the game. Instead he went 0-15 with five strikeouts in the four game series. Once teams get to your bullpen, you'll be in trouble. It's not as good as it was in 2015, 2016 and last year. Sure you have Kenley Jansen, but getting to him will prove difficult. Baez and Fields are always good for giving up the house. You need to get Adam Liberatore back healthy. At least, Brandon League and Chris Perez are off the roster.

 

[bobjustbob]

I am surprised that my Mets took 2 of 3 from the Cards. The Phillies come into town to get beat up on. Then we go to he fucking Nats. Then we go to Miami for some fun in the sun. Can I see .500 coming back home?

 

[pool_hustler]

Well if Evan Longoria could possibly hit, then maybe just maybe we would have knocked Maeda or Hill out of the game. Instead he went 0-15 with five strikeouts in the four game series.

McCutcheon must not have done much either.

Once teams get to your bullpen, you'll be in trouble. It's not as good as it was in 2015, 2016 and last year. Sure you have Kenley Jansen, but getting to him will prove difficult. Baez and Fields are always good for giving up the house. You need to get Adam Liberatore back healthy. At least, Brandon League and Chris Perez are off the roster.

I agree the pen isn't as good. And the starting rotation lacks depth.

There was some real concern expressed over Jansen after his first outing when his fastball wasn't breaking 90.

 

[John_8581]

McCutcheon must not have done much either.

I agree the pen isn't as good. And the starting rotation lacks depth.

There was some real concern expressed over Jansen after his first outing when his fastball wasn't breaking 90.

Yeah, Andrew McCutchen was 1-16 with a double. His batting average is .063. That double was right after Joe Panik's first home run in the fifth inning. Both were hit off of Clayton Kershaw.

I think Hyun-Jin Ryu is toast. Two many sliders. Better to use Ross Stripling. Another big pitcher, Julio Urias, is still hurt. He's missed a lot.

Yes that is a concern. Although, Dave Roberts is saying it is a mechanical issue. His velocity is down 5 miles an hour from spring training to this first series against the Giants. Kenley Jansen will be fine once he can get his cutter to the mid nineties. Yes, most times, it's his cutter that is so wickedly effective and he can modify the velocity of it. High eighties to mid nineties. Plus he can throw anywhere in the strike zone. On average it comes in between 93 and 94. Then his slider comes in at 84 on average. A big break in velocity. Throwing sliders does put a lot of strain on his right elbow. Though the weak pitch in his arsenal, is his sinker. He does get in trouble with it. His sinker doesn't sink lot's of times. It doesn't rotate and the spin doesn't cause it to drop. And that, a sinker, is what Joe Panik hit out in the ninth inning of game two.

 

[pool_hustler]

Gotta think Longoria and McCutchen will pick it up. I liked both those trades for the Gigantes.

I prefer Ryu to Stripling. Ryu is more erratic but when he's on he's got excellent stuff, whereas Stripling's is pretty underwhelming most of the time.

Yes that is a concern. Although, Dave Robertson is saying it is a mechanical issue.

Well that "mechanical issue" jumped up again last night. Two walks followed by a three run homer on a fastball that even I could have hit out of the park.
Two blown saves already, an ERA of 24.00. hmmm...

Give the D backs credit. The Dodgers appeared to have that game won three times but wound up losing.
Weird start to the season for the Dodgers.

 

[John_8581]

Strange ...

I know there is an interleague game somewhere because the NL and AL, who used to have 16 and 14 teams respectively, now have 15 teams in each league each.

... The Giants open up at AT & T Park against the Mariners for two games.

Ty Blach vs. Marco Gonzalez
Then Cinco vs. King Felix aka Johnny Cueto vs. Felix Hernandez

Then the LAD come up north for the weekend. Let's hope the Dodgers have all sorts of problems in Phoenix.

Like putting "L's" on the right side of the ledger with no "Ws" on the left side of the ledger. Ha!

 

[barebeaverlover]

I fucking hate interleague play. I'd like to see MLB go back to 16 & 14.

 

[John_8581]

I fucking hate interleague play. I'd like to see MLB go back to 16 & 14.

A big "L" for the Gigantes. -- A 4-6 defeat to the Mariners.

Ty Blach had really bad numbers: 4.1 inngs, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Joe Panik hit his third home run. Watch out Giancarlo and Aaron. Ha! .. Panik is batting .421
Andrew McCutchen is now batting .100 (he went 1-4), Buster Posey is batting .294 (he went 1-4)
Evan Longoria homered a 2 run shot. His first hit of the season. He's batting .053.

Meanwhile, the Mariners did this:

Marco Gonzalez was impressive for the Mariners: 6.1 inngs, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2 HR allowed.
Edwin Diaz earned his 3rd save. He's 3 for 3 in save opportunities.
First 6 hitters in the M's lineup: (Dee Gordon, Jean Segura, Robinson Cano, Mitch Haniger, Kyle Seager and Ryon Healy) went a combined 11-25 (.440 BA), 2 doubles, 6 R scored, and 5 RBI

Impressive all around.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

This is going to be Roy Halladay's year!

 

[darkwarrior3007]

I hope the game is rained out today. Whose idea was it to put the Mets/Phillies game, correction, Mets/Phillies game with Noah Syndergaard on the mound exclusively on Facebook Live? I tried to watch the WWE Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Live and all I got was buffering and that was the end of that.

 

[John_8581]

I hope the game is rained out today. Whose idea was it to put the Mets/Phillies game, correction, Mets/Phillies game with Noah Syndergaard on the mound exclusively on Facebook Live? I tried to watch the WWE Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Live and all I got was buffering and that was the end of that.

Anyone who is a registered user at MLB.com can log in regularly and can comment with his/her username on any of the beat writer's articles at the MLB team websites. Most times, they will stay on their favorite team's website and board and they will make comments accordingly. For example, NYM fans on NYM website, LAD fans on LAD website, SFG fans on SFG website, NYY fans on NYY website etc. A registered user can also watch games on MLB.TV. (provided that the game is not blacked out in the local area. For me, that would be the Mets and the Yankees, and ESPN games)

Facebook? .... they allow FB users to come in and make comments on the stories that the team's beat writers write. These people become "commenters" on the teams' boards. For example, they (FB users) will be Red Sox fans and they'll go onto the Yankee boards and stir up trouble.

These are the trolls you see at MLB.com because they post stuff that is out of context and lots of times, irrelevant.

Therefore, FB user = :troll: