I remember the Cubs pulling Sammy Sosa before his final at-bat the first time he hit 3 homers in a game and thinking they did not understand what makes baseball great. Sammy didn't complain either.
Hey, Joe: you are probably done with Shohei for now but he appears to be inked in to pitch at Fenway Monday, the Patriot’s Day game which starts at 11:10 am in your time zone.
Deadline friendly, and maybe Ted Sox games can get seen in your market?
If not, there will be, as you believe, many chances ahead to scrutinize his uniqueness.
Joe any chance Franchy Cordero is the next David Ortiz? Needed a change of scenery to put it all together? This Yankees fan looks forward to your thoughts.
“People my age, well, our grandparents saw the Babe and Josh. Our parents saw Mays and Yaz and Koufax. We saw Reggie and Dr. K and Junior and Mad Dog and Pujols.”
Will people really tell their grandchildren that the saw Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock? Or was this meant to be a reference to “Mad Bum”?
The regional sports networks problem is awful—a Koppelman to the 10th power—and a real MLB commissioner would've focused on it a long time ago. It basically makes the cable companies the true customers of Major League Baseball rather than us. They matter, we don't. Worse, they're dying. MLB has put all its money on dying companies. Not smart.
You may be holding off, but I'm looking forward to Michael's Poscast rant about Franchy. I'm a longtime Yankees hater but a piker compared to Michael.
Ordered my Rainy Day book a while back. (Grateful for your mea culpa over the Harmon Killebrew exclusion.) And if you do Seattle, Elliot Bay Books.
First, yesterday, I ordered five copies of the book, four of them as gifts for friends. I'm happy to contribute to the Posnanski College Fund.
To other things ....
Thomas Boswell (all rise) had a rule: Judge slowly. Even more slowly than that.
So, don't judge the Dodgers yet. But I can say this. I have rooted for them for half a century. And almost always, and by that I mean almost all the time, they have not been a clutch team. They win big or don't win. Yes, we have Kirk Gibson, and like Paris, we'll always have Kirk Gibson. But I saw this problem as a kid, and it has never changed, and I wish I knew why.
As for joking about Dave Roberts, my brief sermon. The best post-season manager I ever saw, in terms of doing anything and everything to win a game, was Tommy Lasorda. He's not to be confused with the worst regular-season strategist I ever saw: Tommy Lasorda. He found ways to blow games that I can hardly believe. But all along, I knew that he was the best at getting them in the right frame of mind to play. And I suspect that is Roberts's secret sauce.
As for the Angels Spanish language broadcast, remember that Moreno let go their main guy, keeps another guy part-time, doesn't do all the games (and doesn't send his English language team on the road). Here's how bad the Spanish language broadcast situation is: Jaime Jarrín was critical. This is the classiest of class acts, who won't knock anybody if he can help it. Moreno was too easy.
Ok, not really a true Koppelmans in San Francisco last night, Gabe Kapler pulling Alex Wood with *two outs in the 5th* after he threw just 75 pitches - I mean, it was not a complete shock: while the Giants led 2-0 at that point, the Dodgers had two guys on base and had totally destroyed them 9-1 on Monday night, and Wood has had issues with his former team (the Dodgers definitely owned him in 2022 - actually. with his 5.10 ERA almost every team kind of owned him) as well as injuries (elbow, back, shoulder) but these were a few years back now, and although he went but three long innings (only 1 run, but 6 hits and several walks) in his first start this season he did make a decent 26 starts for the Giants in both 2021 and 22.
I provide all this detail as context for Kapler’s decision to pull his starter when he was but one out away from meeting the ‘starting pitcher must complete 5 innings to earn credit for a win’ requirement. This used to be a controversial move, where the starter would be visibly upset at both losing his chance for a win *and* by the manager showing (very publicly!) no faith in him, in his ability to get one more out, even if it meant working out of a jam. In fact, showing no faith in your pitcher - a starter in particular - when he’s in a jam also used to be a controversial thing, something that would (supposedly) erode his confidence and in this way jeopardize his capacity to work out of jams in the future. Note in this regard that Wood had retired the last guy he faced with two on, so you could make a case that he was in no danger of collapse, even if the guy coming up was a righty so going to the right handed Jakob Junis to pitch to righty Smith in that situation did give the Giants that small edge.
But here’s the thing - no one seemed to care about this last night. It passed essentially unnoticed; well, Mike Krukow noted it during the broadcast, when Wood came out, but certainly did not dwell in it - yet the fact he is a former pitcher shows how that at least for guys like him, it actually does matter. None of the local media game stories (the two top sportswriters, Susan Slusser in the Chronicle, Andrew Baggarly in the Athletic, both wrote their usual excellent account about the Giants eventual 5-0 victory but neither made any note of the ‘but Wood was just one out away, and certainly looked capable of getting out of the jam!’ move by Kapler, let alone interviewed Wood about his feelings in this regard; if they did, did not even mention this is their game story, which is is just more evidence for how they figured it was of zero significance - again, except for pitchers like Krukow from back in the day, when being given the chance to at least get the 5 innings and thus a chance for the win to their record was really important. Nope, the ‘special’ moments like complete games and then too a manager caring whether pulling a guy at the 4 2/3 mark when you’ve got the lead and - for God’s sake, man1 - he’s pitching a shutout are in the past. ‘Starters’ are now just the guy who pitches first, to be followed by the mid-game/early reliever, the set-up guy, and then the closer. It’s all just a series of role players.
And anyway, Kapler’s bullpen strategy (when he made moves, his focus on same-handed matchups) did work out well for the Giants. Junis, the guy who replaced Wood, got out of the mini-jam (again, it was two on, with lead run at the plate) by getting Will Smith to fly out to right, but it was a very hard out, with Smith smashing the ball and Conforto racing to grab it just a step or two away from the wall. So Junis and Kapler got lucky there, thanks to Mr Conforto. And when the Dodgers loaded the bases against Junis in the 6th, with Junis then get a big K on Chris Taylor, Kapler then brought in lefty Scott Alexander to face lefty batting James Outman on a tapper and force out at the plate and struck out Miguel Rohas to end the inning. John Brebbia, Tyler Rodgers, and Camilo Doval then completed the shutout.
Kapler’s now a bullpen management genius, right? Who needs starters anymore like Wood to complain or even worry about their W-L record (with starters being pulled so early now, W-L plainly means a lot less) or the manager showing (lest us not forget: publicly!) confidence in them?
Man, I love your writing and I'm looking forward to your next book, but I'm saddened that you keep parroting that Paige-Gibson-two-Intentional-Walks-in-the-Negro-Leagues-World-Series story. Paige may very well have done something like that in one of the undoubtedly many, many times their teams faced each other, maybe while barnstorming, over the years - it's certainly consistent with the character he cultivated for himself in later years - but there was no record of it at the time.
The 1942 Negro Leagues World Series was essentially an exhibition, but it was important enough to record box scores or at least write game stories on it, copies of which are available, and none of which mention any walks by Paige, nor trash talking by him. If he never walked anyone, then he certainly didn't walk *two* batters to get to Gibson, which means the conversation with O'Neil and the manager never happened. How could it? In reality, he gave up three singles in the inning and then fanned Gibson with two outs and the bases loaded to end the threat, which is already a pretty good story.
Paige first recorded his, embellished version of the story in a book, six years after the alleged incident and two years after Gibson had died, rendering him unable to defend himself. Buck O'Neil told and re-told the story lots of times, and I know you (Joe) spent a lot of time with him so you must have heard it dozens of times, but then it was basically Buck O'Neil's job to drum up as much support and good PR for the Negro Leagues as he possibly could for the last 40 years or so of his life. I wouldn't begrudge him the chance to tell a good story just because of, you know, facts, but that's not the same thing here.
No matter how much we like the ideas behind classic baseball legends like, say, its invention by Abner Doubleday, or Rickey Henderson failing to remember that the Mariners firstbaseman who wore a helmet to play first base on his team in 2000 was the same guy he used to play with on the 1999 Mets, or John Smoltz trying to iron a shirt while wearing it, they're simply not true, and neither is this one.
I feel the same way. It seems so obviously like a legend; it's like Joe saying his favorite moment in American history is John Henry beating the steam drill.
The other thing is—it's not a good story! It's contrary to the whole idea of sports competition, which is that each side will try its hardest to win, not risk losing in order to provide amazing exhibition moments like pro wrestling. Now that principle isn't unlimited, and I agree with Joe that we should want teams to keep an eye on things like magical performances on the mound or at the plate (though honestly I think it's up to the sport, not the manager, to tie managers' hands here). But loading the bases to face the team's best hitter is so far beyond that that it's honestly disrespectful to the Negro Leagues, making them seem like one big Harlem Globetrotters-type exhibition.
It makes absolutely zero sense to black out Nationals games in Charlotte. I mean, it’s a 6-ish hour drive each way, or about a $300 round-trip flight. Does anyone realistically think having the games on TV is gonna be the reason fans in Charlotte don’t go to the games? And I have my own axe to grind with this nonsense. I’m a Tigers fan, and since I refuse to give Comca- oops, sorry - I meant “Xfinity” money, and my streaming service is not gonna pay them what they seem to be demanding, Bally Sports Detroit does not exist for me. And if it even did, I doubt I'd be able to afford it on an a-la-carte basis. I would be thrilled to buy an MLB Network subscription, but all that is is an aggregation of the RSNs, and the Tigers games end up blacked out where I live.
And I am sure Arte Moreno thinks he owns a Los Angeles team because - well, for him it is, since he can just hop in a helicopter and be there in 15 minutes or so.
Get a VPN. It's cheap (I pay $3.95 a month during baseball season), easy, and MLB.TV doesn't care because they don't lose anything. They just need to demonstrate to the RSNs that they are trying to block out the local games. I'm just a guy in Sydney, Australia or London, England watching a Red Sox game.
In regards to the Angels, every LA team is poorly named when you think about it. The have no lakes (Lakers), they don't have trolley cars (Dodgers), they don't have clipper ships (Clippers), they don't have royalty (Kings), and the baseball team with a name that would make sense -- the Angels -- are not even in the City of Angels.
Neither, I don't believe, were there ever any Rams there at least not since the last ice age, nor Raiders, or for that matter, Bruins (UCLA). Man, that town doesn't know *what* it's about!
I dunno - I have seen a lot of writers discussing how their jobs feel like stealing, and that it is the best of all possible jobs. I don't think anyone enjoys it MORE, though.
The blackout rule on MLB is one of the reasons I don't subscribe. This ends up with me only watching the Dodgers if they play the Giants or the A's but so be it. If I cannot get 100% of MLB then what is the use of the MLB channel?
Agree. I live in Oregon, 300 miles from the nearest MLB city, and the Mariners, Giants, and A's are all blacked out. Most people I know aren't even fans of any of those teams. It's not like anyone ever says to the kids, "Hey, lets go see a game this weekend." So when the teams I do want to watch are in Seattle or the Bay Area, I can't watch them.
I'm a Dodgers fan, and never understand the calls to fire Dave Roberts. He has the best winning percentage of any manager since WW2. How many wins could he possibly be leaving on the table by making bad decisions? I just don't buy it. I also assume (but have no evidence) that a lot of his decisions are analytics-driven and/or guided by the front office.
It's not Roberts' fault that Chris Taylor is the best option they have left at SS. Or that Noah Syndergaard is the best option for a 4th starter (he had one good start and one bad start, so probably too early to label him a failed acquisition).
I'm sure somebody will say that Roberts has made bad post-season decisions and that's why they have won fewer than expected World Series. Maybe... but with so many playoff teams now, we are just going to get more and more random results in the playoffs. So far the Dodgers are victim to that. Is it Roberts' fault that Trea Turner only batted .246 in the postseason while with the Dodgers?
I remember the Cubs pulling Sammy Sosa before his final at-bat the first time he hit 3 homers in a game and thinking they did not understand what makes baseball great. Sammy didn't complain either.
"You want me to say that the intentional walk is actually a good thing?
No. I won’t do that. There are limits."
I would do anything for presales...but I won't do that.
Hey, Joe: you are probably done with Shohei for now but he appears to be inked in to pitch at Fenway Monday, the Patriot’s Day game which starts at 11:10 am in your time zone.
Deadline friendly, and maybe Ted Sox games can get seen in your market?
If not, there will be, as you believe, many chances ahead to scrutinize his uniqueness.
Joe, Already bought a copy of your next book entitled, WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL from that Rainy place; write about Franchy...and I'll by another copy....
Sincerely,
Celerino Sanchez-stan
Joe any chance Franchy Cordero is the next David Ortiz? Needed a change of scenery to put it all together? This Yankees fan looks forward to your thoughts.
Just one question Joe,
You wrote:
“People my age, well, our grandparents saw the Babe and Josh. Our parents saw Mays and Yaz and Koufax. We saw Reggie and Dr. K and Junior and Mad Dog and Pujols.”
Will people really tell their grandchildren that the saw Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock? Or was this meant to be a reference to “Mad Bum”?
Greg Maddux, I would imagine. Though I do love me some Bill Madlock.
I have [incredibly] recently tried to figure out where Madlock ranks in all-time great 3b. Sadly not as high as I would've thought.
The regional sports networks problem is awful—a Koppelman to the 10th power—and a real MLB commissioner would've focused on it a long time ago. It basically makes the cable companies the true customers of Major League Baseball rather than us. They matter, we don't. Worse, they're dying. MLB has put all its money on dying companies. Not smart.
You may be holding off, but I'm looking forward to Michael's Poscast rant about Franchy. I'm a longtime Yankees hater but a piker compared to Michael.
Ordered my Rainy Day book a while back. (Grateful for your mea culpa over the Harmon Killebrew exclusion.) And if you do Seattle, Elliot Bay Books.
First, yesterday, I ordered five copies of the book, four of them as gifts for friends. I'm happy to contribute to the Posnanski College Fund.
To other things ....
Thomas Boswell (all rise) had a rule: Judge slowly. Even more slowly than that.
So, don't judge the Dodgers yet. But I can say this. I have rooted for them for half a century. And almost always, and by that I mean almost all the time, they have not been a clutch team. They win big or don't win. Yes, we have Kirk Gibson, and like Paris, we'll always have Kirk Gibson. But I saw this problem as a kid, and it has never changed, and I wish I knew why.
As for joking about Dave Roberts, my brief sermon. The best post-season manager I ever saw, in terms of doing anything and everything to win a game, was Tommy Lasorda. He's not to be confused with the worst regular-season strategist I ever saw: Tommy Lasorda. He found ways to blow games that I can hardly believe. But all along, I knew that he was the best at getting them in the right frame of mind to play. And I suspect that is Roberts's secret sauce.
As for the Angels Spanish language broadcast, remember that Moreno let go their main guy, keeps another guy part-time, doesn't do all the games (and doesn't send his English language team on the road). Here's how bad the Spanish language broadcast situation is: Jaime Jarrín was critical. This is the classiest of class acts, who won't knock anybody if he can help it. Moreno was too easy.
Ok, not really a true Koppelmans in San Francisco last night, Gabe Kapler pulling Alex Wood with *two outs in the 5th* after he threw just 75 pitches - I mean, it was not a complete shock: while the Giants led 2-0 at that point, the Dodgers had two guys on base and had totally destroyed them 9-1 on Monday night, and Wood has had issues with his former team (the Dodgers definitely owned him in 2022 - actually. with his 5.10 ERA almost every team kind of owned him) as well as injuries (elbow, back, shoulder) but these were a few years back now, and although he went but three long innings (only 1 run, but 6 hits and several walks) in his first start this season he did make a decent 26 starts for the Giants in both 2021 and 22.
I provide all this detail as context for Kapler’s decision to pull his starter when he was but one out away from meeting the ‘starting pitcher must complete 5 innings to earn credit for a win’ requirement. This used to be a controversial move, where the starter would be visibly upset at both losing his chance for a win *and* by the manager showing (very publicly!) no faith in him, in his ability to get one more out, even if it meant working out of a jam. In fact, showing no faith in your pitcher - a starter in particular - when he’s in a jam also used to be a controversial thing, something that would (supposedly) erode his confidence and in this way jeopardize his capacity to work out of jams in the future. Note in this regard that Wood had retired the last guy he faced with two on, so you could make a case that he was in no danger of collapse, even if the guy coming up was a righty so going to the right handed Jakob Junis to pitch to righty Smith in that situation did give the Giants that small edge.
But here’s the thing - no one seemed to care about this last night. It passed essentially unnoticed; well, Mike Krukow noted it during the broadcast, when Wood came out, but certainly did not dwell in it - yet the fact he is a former pitcher shows how that at least for guys like him, it actually does matter. None of the local media game stories (the two top sportswriters, Susan Slusser in the Chronicle, Andrew Baggarly in the Athletic, both wrote their usual excellent account about the Giants eventual 5-0 victory but neither made any note of the ‘but Wood was just one out away, and certainly looked capable of getting out of the jam!’ move by Kapler, let alone interviewed Wood about his feelings in this regard; if they did, did not even mention this is their game story, which is is just more evidence for how they figured it was of zero significance - again, except for pitchers like Krukow from back in the day, when being given the chance to at least get the 5 innings and thus a chance for the win to their record was really important. Nope, the ‘special’ moments like complete games and then too a manager caring whether pulling a guy at the 4 2/3 mark when you’ve got the lead and - for God’s sake, man1 - he’s pitching a shutout are in the past. ‘Starters’ are now just the guy who pitches first, to be followed by the mid-game/early reliever, the set-up guy, and then the closer. It’s all just a series of role players.
And anyway, Kapler’s bullpen strategy (when he made moves, his focus on same-handed matchups) did work out well for the Giants. Junis, the guy who replaced Wood, got out of the mini-jam (again, it was two on, with lead run at the plate) by getting Will Smith to fly out to right, but it was a very hard out, with Smith smashing the ball and Conforto racing to grab it just a step or two away from the wall. So Junis and Kapler got lucky there, thanks to Mr Conforto. And when the Dodgers loaded the bases against Junis in the 6th, with Junis then get a big K on Chris Taylor, Kapler then brought in lefty Scott Alexander to face lefty batting James Outman on a tapper and force out at the plate and struck out Miguel Rohas to end the inning. John Brebbia, Tyler Rodgers, and Camilo Doval then completed the shutout.
Kapler’s now a bullpen management genius, right? Who needs starters anymore like Wood to complain or even worry about their W-L record (with starters being pulled so early now, W-L plainly means a lot less) or the manager showing (lest us not forget: publicly!) confidence in them?
Man, I love your writing and I'm looking forward to your next book, but I'm saddened that you keep parroting that Paige-Gibson-two-Intentional-Walks-in-the-Negro-Leagues-World-Series story. Paige may very well have done something like that in one of the undoubtedly many, many times their teams faced each other, maybe while barnstorming, over the years - it's certainly consistent with the character he cultivated for himself in later years - but there was no record of it at the time.
The 1942 Negro Leagues World Series was essentially an exhibition, but it was important enough to record box scores or at least write game stories on it, copies of which are available, and none of which mention any walks by Paige, nor trash talking by him. If he never walked anyone, then he certainly didn't walk *two* batters to get to Gibson, which means the conversation with O'Neil and the manager never happened. How could it? In reality, he gave up three singles in the inning and then fanned Gibson with two outs and the bases loaded to end the threat, which is already a pretty good story.
Paige first recorded his, embellished version of the story in a book, six years after the alleged incident and two years after Gibson had died, rendering him unable to defend himself. Buck O'Neil told and re-told the story lots of times, and I know you (Joe) spent a lot of time with him so you must have heard it dozens of times, but then it was basically Buck O'Neil's job to drum up as much support and good PR for the Negro Leagues as he possibly could for the last 40 years or so of his life. I wouldn't begrudge him the chance to tell a good story just because of, you know, facts, but that's not the same thing here.
No matter how much we like the ideas behind classic baseball legends like, say, its invention by Abner Doubleday, or Rickey Henderson failing to remember that the Mariners firstbaseman who wore a helmet to play first base on his team in 2000 was the same guy he used to play with on the 1999 Mets, or John Smoltz trying to iron a shirt while wearing it, they're simply not true, and neither is this one.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2012/02/1942-negro-world-series-two-legends-face-off.html
I feel the same way. It seems so obviously like a legend; it's like Joe saying his favorite moment in American history is John Henry beating the steam drill.
The other thing is—it's not a good story! It's contrary to the whole idea of sports competition, which is that each side will try its hardest to win, not risk losing in order to provide amazing exhibition moments like pro wrestling. Now that principle isn't unlimited, and I agree with Joe that we should want teams to keep an eye on things like magical performances on the mound or at the plate (though honestly I think it's up to the sport, not the manager, to tie managers' hands here). But loading the bases to face the team's best hitter is so far beyond that that it's honestly disrespectful to the Negro Leagues, making them seem like one big Harlem Globetrotters-type exhibition.
It makes absolutely zero sense to black out Nationals games in Charlotte. I mean, it’s a 6-ish hour drive each way, or about a $300 round-trip flight. Does anyone realistically think having the games on TV is gonna be the reason fans in Charlotte don’t go to the games? And I have my own axe to grind with this nonsense. I’m a Tigers fan, and since I refuse to give Comca- oops, sorry - I meant “Xfinity” money, and my streaming service is not gonna pay them what they seem to be demanding, Bally Sports Detroit does not exist for me. And if it even did, I doubt I'd be able to afford it on an a-la-carte basis. I would be thrilled to buy an MLB Network subscription, but all that is is an aggregation of the RSNs, and the Tigers games end up blacked out where I live.
And I am sure Arte Moreno thinks he owns a Los Angeles team because - well, for him it is, since he can just hop in a helicopter and be there in 15 minutes or so.
Get a VPN. It's cheap (I pay $3.95 a month during baseball season), easy, and MLB.TV doesn't care because they don't lose anything. They just need to demonstrate to the RSNs that they are trying to block out the local games. I'm just a guy in Sydney, Australia or London, England watching a Red Sox game.
In regards to the Angels, every LA team is poorly named when you think about it. The have no lakes (Lakers), they don't have trolley cars (Dodgers), they don't have clipper ships (Clippers), they don't have royalty (Kings), and the baseball team with a name that would make sense -- the Angels -- are not even in the City of Angels.
Neither, I don't believe, were there ever any Rams there at least not since the last ice age, nor Raiders, or for that matter, Bruins (UCLA). Man, that town doesn't know *what* it's about!
Lots of bears(bruins) and bighorn sheep(rams) around here but you're right about the town. Come to think of it, we have too many raiders too.
Has any writer in the history of sportswriting ENJOYED his job so much than Mr Posnanski? I think not.
I dunno - I have seen a lot of writers discussing how their jobs feel like stealing, and that it is the best of all possible jobs. I don't think anyone enjoys it MORE, though.
I wonder if Joe’s Franchy comment was in response to my tweet? In any event, I glad to see that HE spelled the name correctly.
The blackout rule on MLB is one of the reasons I don't subscribe. This ends up with me only watching the Dodgers if they play the Giants or the A's but so be it. If I cannot get 100% of MLB then what is the use of the MLB channel?
Agree. I live in Oregon, 300 miles from the nearest MLB city, and the Mariners, Giants, and A's are all blacked out. Most people I know aren't even fans of any of those teams. It's not like anyone ever says to the kids, "Hey, lets go see a game this weekend." So when the teams I do want to watch are in Seattle or the Bay Area, I can't watch them.
They black out the Bay Area Teams? Insane. Seattle is insane also but the Bay Area is so far away.
I'm a Dodgers fan, and never understand the calls to fire Dave Roberts. He has the best winning percentage of any manager since WW2. How many wins could he possibly be leaving on the table by making bad decisions? I just don't buy it. I also assume (but have no evidence) that a lot of his decisions are analytics-driven and/or guided by the front office.
It's not Roberts' fault that Chris Taylor is the best option they have left at SS. Or that Noah Syndergaard is the best option for a 4th starter (he had one good start and one bad start, so probably too early to label him a failed acquisition).
I'm sure somebody will say that Roberts has made bad post-season decisions and that's why they have won fewer than expected World Series. Maybe... but with so many playoff teams now, we are just going to get more and more random results in the playoffs. So far the Dodgers are victim to that. Is it Roberts' fault that Trea Turner only batted .246 in the postseason while with the Dodgers?