Rangers welcome the Pale Hose from the South Side for a weekend set: 9/17-19

[True Rangers Fan]

The White Sox are in town to hopefully help the Rangers overtake the Pirates for 3rd place in the 2022 Draft Race. Catching BAL and ARI is a virtual impossibility now, and the Buccos hold the tiebreaker, so the Rangers will have to win 3rd place outright. On the mound for them will be staff ace Hearn tonight at 7:05, staff whatever-the-opposite-of-ace-is Howard tomorrow at 6:05, and staff member-by-default Lyles on Sunday afternoon at 1:35.

On the batter side of the ball, Leody continues to improve, Calhoun tries to display a reason to keep him, and Adolis returns from his day off to give me a reason to give a shit.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

If I'm not mistaken, should Hearn give us a quality start with no walks tonight, that will be his 4th in a row - and a new franchise record.

 

[DT LUNA]

The White Sox are in town to hopefully help the Rangers overtake the Pirates for 3rd place in the 2022 Draft Race. Catching BAL and ARI is a virtual impossibility now, and the Buccos hold the tiebreaker, so the Rangers will have to win 3rd place outright. On the mound for them will be staff ace Hearn tonight at 7:05, staff whatever-the-opposite-of-ace-is Howard tomorrow at 6:05, and staff member-by-default Lyles on Sunday afternoon at 1:35.

On the batter side of the ball, Leody continues to improve, Calhoun tries to display a reason to keep him, and Adolis returns from his day off to give me a reason to give a shit.

Nice thread. I find it amusing that only a short time ago Leody was thought to be history by some including me. Just goes to show how little we know. He may not make it but he deserves credit for making the effort.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Nice thread. I find it amusing that only a short time ago Leody was thought to be history by some including me. Just goes to show how little we know. He may not make it but he deserves credit for making the effort.

He looks absolutely overwhelmed earlier this year, and he deserves credit 100% for the improvements.

Just another example of why being an armchair GM is easy, and being an actual GM is hard. You never know if/when it will come together for a player.

 

[saddles]

In one of the Low A leagues they used a pitch clock this year. It shortened games by an average of 20 minutes.

 

[saddles]

I learned a lesson with Martin Perez. I always thought he was overrated coming up through the system. Then he came up and started his career with a bang and I thought, "I guess I was wrong about him." Then when given more time he proved to have been overrated.

I have often had the same view of Taveras, that he was overrated. I am going to give him some more time before deciding if I was wrong about him. I am not going to make the same double mistake twice. Lol

 

[saddles]

I am so glad our young pitchers got a chance to experience the assault of the Astros offense. It is an invaluable learning experience for them.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

In one of the Low A leagues they used a pitch clock this year. It shortened games by an average of 20 minutes.

Have to say, I'm against the inclusion of the clock, one reason being that a goal should not be to have less baseball.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I am so glad our young pitchers got a chance to experience the assault of the Astros offense. It is an invaluable learning experience for them.

Hopefully a positive one.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I learned a lesson with Martin Perez. I always thought he was overrated coming up through the system. Then he came up and started his career with a bang and I thought, "I guess I was wrong about him." Then when given more time he proved to have been overrated.

I have often had the same view of Taveras, that he was overrated. I am going to give him some more time before deciding if I was wrong about him. I am not going to make the same double mistake twice. Lol

I can say that I saw Martin Perez throw a complete game shutout, in person.

 

[DT LUNA]

I can say that I saw Martin Perez throw a complete game shutout, in person.

Likely I did too on TV. Never did put much stock in him although he had his games both good and bad.

 

[Kelleyman]

I am so glad our young pitchers got a chance to experience the assault of the Astros offense. It is an invaluable learning experience for them.

That is so true. Hard to judge a pitcher until they see real good hitting

 

[Kelleyman]

I can say that I saw Martin Perez throw a complete game shutout, in person.

I remember seeing him at his best when his change was deadly. Seem like and a DL he never regained his form.
He got too flustered in a bad way as opposed to a guy like Scherzer who takes his frustration out on the batter. Water under the bridge

 

[Kelleyman]

Btw pale hose. lol. Had not heard that for a minute

 

[saddles]

Here are some excerpts from the article by Jayson Stark about the minor league pitch clock experiment.

But zippier game times aren’t the only reason this rule has people rethinking that whole Only Game without a Clock mantra. It’s turned out that playing games with better rhythm and almost no dead time has had an impact on much more than the time of the postgame fist-bump line. Since the arrival of the clock, this league has also seen:

• More runs
• More action
• More homers
• Fewer walks
• Fewer strikeouts

What else pitch clocks change​

More runs … higher batting averages … more homers … fewer strikeouts … fewer pitchers throwing ball four. All of that has happened since the pitch clocks began to tick. Here’s the data. See for yourself.

	RUNS/G	AVG	SLG	HR%	BB%	HBP%
WITHOUT CLOCK	5.5	0.244	0.379	1.80%	11.70%	2.00%
WITH CLOCK	6	0.269	0.429	2.40%	10.00%	1.80%

Maybe all those shifts toward more action were some kind of coincidence. We won’t know for sure until we see this clock in more leagues, in future seasons. But it’s safe to say it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to those who have paid attention. What’s harder to pinpoint is why the clock’s effect on the games has been this dramatic. Is it…

RHYTHM? Is it possible that it actually helps hitters to spend less time fidgeting with their batting gloves, marching around the dirt, messing with pitchers’ timing? Maybe it does.


I watched a Sept. 7 game between the Stockton Ports and San Jose Giants. It started a little after 6:30 p.m. It was over at 8:47. You know how many nine-inning major-league games have been over in 2 hours and 13 minutes this year? That would be two — out of more than 2,000!

I could tell you in writing why that is, but it’s so much easier to show you through the magic of video. So I found a big-league game with a comparable first inning that also went down last week: Blue Jays at Orioles, Game 1 of their Saturday doubleheader.

Both the minor-league game and major-league game featured a scoreless top of the first inning and a two-run homer, for all the scoring, in the bottom of the first. Both games saw 24 pitches thrown in the inning. That’s where the similarities end.

Time of Low-A West League inning*: 8 minutes, 22 seconds
Time of Orioles-Blue Jays inning*: 13 minutes, 48 seconds
(*not including between-innings breaks)

So why would that big-league inning last nearly 5 ½ minutes longer than that minor-league inning? I had our high-tech guru, Eno Sarris, take a look. Then he produced this side-by-side video of the elapsed time between pitches in each of those games. See if you notice any difference (ho-ho-ho).

Two words: Dead time. With a 15-second pitch clock, every ounce of dead time was suctioned totally out of that minor-league game. Gone. And not missed. Like at all.

 

[Kelleyman]

The advent of commercials first slowed down games. That ain’t gonna change
My beef which is a non issue this year seemed to be the roster influx of relief pitchers and the endless parade. Did not like the 3 batter rule. The time for checking replays In NY is way too long
Let the umps manage mound visits
I don’t mind umps managing too long between pitches but a hard and fast rule seems anti baseball. Stark is an ok writer like him better than Heyman. But. Meh

 

[True Rangers Fan]

The advent of commercials first slowed down games. That ain’t gonna change
My beef which is a non issue this year seemed to be the roster influx of relief pitchers and the endless parade. Did not like the 3 batter rule. The time for checking replays In NY is way too long
Let the umps manage mound visits
I don’t mind umps managing too long between pitches but a hard and fast rule seems anti baseball. Stark is an ok writer like him better than Heyman. But. Meh

Now they're showing commercials DURING the game.

Tell you what - if I have to choose between clocks and on-uniform advertisements, give me the clock.

 

[Kelleyman]

They don’t sing take me out to the ballgame unless there is something sacred about the great game

Yes corruption is alive and still lurking. And the writers are quick to complain about the length of the game. Just change your profession.
I am becoming an old codger. Not seeing the love of the game and respect by some of the newbie writers. It is alll about the marketing and. I thing about the game
It burns my hide a bit

 

[True Rangers Fan]

They don’t sing take me out to the ballgame unless there is something sacred about the great game

Yes corruption is alive and still lurking. And the writers are quick to complain about the length of the game. Just change your profession.
I am becoming an old codger. Not seeing the love of the game and respect by some of the newbie writers. It is alll about the marketing and. I thing about the game
It burns my hide a bit

Too much "the game is dying and needs to appeal to the younger generation."

cry me a river, leave my game alone, and save me a recliner at the old folks home.

 

[Kelleyman]

Too much "the game is dying and needs to appeal to the younger generation."

cry me a river, leave my game alone, and save me a recliner at the old folks home.

Save me a spot