Sometime someone will explain to me why RBIs are not important. Will rums just score themselves with no one driving them in? I like my players to get hits with runners in scoring position instead of useless Ks or pop ups.
Similar to wandering through box scores, I'll occasionally (daily) spend a few minutes just reviewing the basic standings (usually ESPN.com's version) and look at who has the longest winning streaks, who has played more home games than away, which teams are outperforming their run differential, etc.
On today's review (6/10/26 @ 3:30 CT), I noticed that only one out of 30 MLB teams does not have a record between 3-7 and 7-3 in their last 10 (San Diego is 2-8) and 17 of the these 29 teams are either 4-6, 5-5, or 6-4.
While it's only a moment in time, it seems representative of general parity around the league. No team is so good that they are ripping off 9 wins in 10 or so bad that they are losing 10 in a row. But it's also a reminder that the season is SO long that at any point, everyone can be in the narrow band around mediocrity for a week and a half. Are we in the dog days of the season, already?
The most interesting thing about the Phillies is the winning produced under Mattingly. Quite stunning, actually. We'll see if it continues... Stay Tuned!
Joe - Sanchez gets the all time lefty scoreless streak and you waste all the NL East space on Schwarber. If this was Skenes we'd never here the bleeping end of it.
Can so relate on the generational name game....my knowledge of 1970s and 80s ballplayers far eclipses the current batch. And I would hide the Boston Globe to box out my bro on perusing the box scores and more. The non-Sports sections were irrelevant to us.
I was at the Sanchez game last night. It was ao joyous. Us Phillies fans haven't been bought into this year's team yet, but we were there to rally around Sanchez's incredible run. What made the night so joyous was that Sanchez allowed himself to fully enjoy the game while staying locked into his game. After each scoreless inning, he'd acknowledge our standing ovation. Not just a hat tip when he was removed from the game. This guy soaked it in, commuted with us, but also managed to keep laser focused on the mound. I can't think of the last time I saw a pitcher own the moment for 7 innings. Maybe I would have to go back to the days of Pedro or Fernando. Awesome!
Even as a Mets fan, I not only hated to see his streak end, but also how it ended. 2 outs, no one on, 1 out away from his night being over and the streak intact. It had to be so disappointing to see it end in the span of 2 batters...double, RBI single.
That's really nice. The whole thing was so beautiful that I couldn't even be disappointed. The most my friend and I could regret was that the ball wasn't hit to right and we could have had the chance to see Adolis Garcia gun down the runner at the plate. It was just a beautiful night on so many levels, you might say a Why We Love Baseball moment.
Here's a sort of unique fact... Grant Holmes (Braves) pitched to Ernie Clement (Blue Jays) last night, both of whom were born on the very same day (March 22, 1996), albeit 650 miles apart.
I'm sure it's not a freak occurrence, and someone could probably look it up somehow, but one would have to figure it would have to be a pretty rare anomaly.
Here's my rough math: The chances of any two people sharing the same birthday would seem to be roughly 1-in-365, and taking into account they were both born the same year in a league in which there's a 23-year gap between the oldest and youngest players, it would seem to be a fairly unique happenstance. Certainly not 365 times 23 because there's a sliding scale on the age of each player (there are a lot more 30-year olds than 41-year olds, for example) but still I'm guessing it probably only happens a couple times a year at most.
Let's add another wrinkle...If there is a way to look this up in some baseball database, has there ever been an instance in which a pitcher faced a batter in which they both shared the exact same day of birth and that occurrence actually happened on their birthday?
Did I miss it, or has neither Joe nor Mike addressed Jo Adell's recreation of the greatest baseball blooper of all time? That is the single most important story of the season so far.
According to 6.09(h) (via baseball rules academy):
any fair fly ball is deflected by the fielder into the stands, or over the fence into foul territory, in which case the batter shall be entitled to advance to second base; but if deflected into the stands or over the fence in fair territory, the batter shall be entitled to a home run. However, should such a fair fly be deflected at a point less than 165 feet from home plate, the batter shall be entitled to two bases only.
That’s just a bit of sloppiness in the wording of the rule. There’s no question it’s a four-base award, but the scorer has discretion to score it as an error and not a homer if the play could have been made with “ordinary effort,” which IMO it could have been.
Now I really want to see an infielder deflect a fly ball over the outfield fence so the last sentence in that rule can finally have its moment to shine.
Sorry if this is a duplicate, my computer is acting wonky.
To be extremely pedantic - you can't have 1/3 or 2/3 of a scoreless inning. It's a scoreless inning streak. You either gave up a run in the inning or you didn't. You could have a "scoreless out streak" that include include partial innings, I guess.
Thank you for letting me get that nonsense off my chest, and sorry for being that guy.
I agree with you partially, but what if a starter is pulled from a shutout with two outs and no runners on base (let's say due to injury or rain delay), and the reliever retires the next batter? I'd be OK with giving the starter 2/3 of a scoreless inning for that. The inning was indeed scoreless and he pitched 2/3 of it.
Nah. We count innings by thirds if am inning. Plus, what if a guy pitched 5 1/3, then gets pulled for a reliever who allows no runs. Does he get full credit for that inning he didn't pitch all of, or does he not get credit for the 1/3 he did? You have to use the 1/3s of an inning, I think.
This line "The Astros having the top two RBI guys in the league would have been something that excited me " is much more relatable to me than hearing someone say that "Andrew Benintendi had a day — two for three with a homer and three walks. ".
I'm retired but still have my old university email address. When I first tried to sign up for that box score site, the university IT's security screening protocol went absolutely apes***, giving me multiple warnings, with "high confidence," that it was a phishing site, and quarantining the emails every day.
For the few days they've finally been letting them go through; not sure what changed.
Been reading the box scores site almost on the daily ever since you shared about it, and it's just been a delight to do morning tunes, coffee, and baseball box scores with NO ADS OR GRAPHICS more days than not.
Sometime someone will explain to me why RBIs are not important. Will rums just score themselves with no one driving them in? I like my players to get hits with runners in scoring position instead of useless Ks or pop ups.
Similar to wandering through box scores, I'll occasionally (daily) spend a few minutes just reviewing the basic standings (usually ESPN.com's version) and look at who has the longest winning streaks, who has played more home games than away, which teams are outperforming their run differential, etc.
On today's review (6/10/26 @ 3:30 CT), I noticed that only one out of 30 MLB teams does not have a record between 3-7 and 7-3 in their last 10 (San Diego is 2-8) and 17 of the these 29 teams are either 4-6, 5-5, or 6-4.
While it's only a moment in time, it seems representative of general parity around the league. No team is so good that they are ripping off 9 wins in 10 or so bad that they are losing 10 in a row. But it's also a reminder that the season is SO long that at any point, everyone can be in the narrow band around mediocrity for a week and a half. Are we in the dog days of the season, already?
The most interesting thing about the Phillies is the winning produced under Mattingly. Quite stunning, actually. We'll see if it continues... Stay Tuned!
Joe - Sanchez gets the all time lefty scoreless streak and you waste all the NL East space on Schwarber. If this was Skenes we'd never here the bleeping end of it.
Very fun!
This column is absolutely excellent
Can so relate on the generational name game....my knowledge of 1970s and 80s ballplayers far eclipses the current batch. And I would hide the Boston Globe to box out my bro on perusing the box scores and more. The non-Sports sections were irrelevant to us.
What about the funnies? Did Dondi and Mike Nomad mean nothing to you???
(I had to edit in a couple more question marks. I was way too credulous at first.)
The Boston team is, of course, the Pink Hose.
I was at the Sanchez game last night. It was ao joyous. Us Phillies fans haven't been bought into this year's team yet, but we were there to rally around Sanchez's incredible run. What made the night so joyous was that Sanchez allowed himself to fully enjoy the game while staying locked into his game. After each scoreless inning, he'd acknowledge our standing ovation. Not just a hat tip when he was removed from the game. This guy soaked it in, commuted with us, but also managed to keep laser focused on the mound. I can't think of the last time I saw a pitcher own the moment for 7 innings. Maybe I would have to go back to the days of Pedro or Fernando. Awesome!
Even as a Mets fan, I not only hated to see his streak end, but also how it ended. 2 outs, no one on, 1 out away from his night being over and the streak intact. It had to be so disappointing to see it end in the span of 2 batters...double, RBI single.
That's really nice. The whole thing was so beautiful that I couldn't even be disappointed. The most my friend and I could regret was that the ball wasn't hit to right and we could have had the chance to see Adolis Garcia gun down the runner at the plate. It was just a beautiful night on so many levels, you might say a Why We Love Baseball moment.
Here's a sort of unique fact... Grant Holmes (Braves) pitched to Ernie Clement (Blue Jays) last night, both of whom were born on the very same day (March 22, 1996), albeit 650 miles apart.
I'm sure it's not a freak occurrence, and someone could probably look it up somehow, but one would have to figure it would have to be a pretty rare anomaly.
Here's my rough math: The chances of any two people sharing the same birthday would seem to be roughly 1-in-365, and taking into account they were both born the same year in a league in which there's a 23-year gap between the oldest and youngest players, it would seem to be a fairly unique happenstance. Certainly not 365 times 23 because there's a sliding scale on the age of each player (there are a lot more 30-year olds than 41-year olds, for example) but still I'm guessing it probably only happens a couple times a year at most.
Let's add another wrinkle...If there is a way to look this up in some baseball database, has there ever been an instance in which a pitcher faced a batter in which they both shared the exact same day of birth and that occurrence actually happened on their birthday?
Did I miss it, or has neither Joe nor Mike addressed Jo Adell's recreation of the greatest baseball blooper of all time? That is the single most important story of the season so far.
After watching that SOB steal 3 HRs (and the game) from my Mariners I couldn't believe it!
A travesty that that was scored a homer and not a four-base error.
According to 6.09(h) (via baseball rules academy):
any fair fly ball is deflected by the fielder into the stands, or over the fence into foul territory, in which case the batter shall be entitled to advance to second base; but if deflected into the stands or over the fence in fair territory, the batter shall be entitled to a home run. However, should such a fair fly be deflected at a point less than 165 feet from home plate, the batter shall be entitled to two bases only.
Maybe I missed it, but has no one mentioned Jose Canseco???
That’s just a bit of sloppiness in the wording of the rule. There’s no question it’s a four-base award, but the scorer has discretion to score it as an error and not a homer if the play could have been made with “ordinary effort,” which IMO it could have been.
Now I really want to see an infielder deflect a fly ball over the outfield fence so the last sentence in that rule can finally have its moment to shine.
How far is it to the Pesky Pole?
Sorry if this is a duplicate, my computer is acting wonky.
To be extremely pedantic - you can't have 1/3 or 2/3 of a scoreless inning. It's a scoreless inning streak. You either gave up a run in the inning or you didn't. You could have a "scoreless out streak" that include include partial innings, I guess.
Thank you for letting me get that nonsense off my chest, and sorry for being that guy.
I agree with you partially, but what if a starter is pulled from a shutout with two outs and no runners on base (let's say due to injury or rain delay), and the reliever retires the next batter? I'd be OK with giving the starter 2/3 of a scoreless inning for that. The inning was indeed scoreless and he pitched 2/3 of it.
Nah. We count innings by thirds if am inning. Plus, what if a guy pitched 5 1/3, then gets pulled for a reliever who allows no runs. Does he get full credit for that inning he didn't pitch all of, or does he not get credit for the 1/3 he did? You have to use the 1/3s of an inning, I think.
This line "The Astros having the top two RBI guys in the league would have been something that excited me " is much more relatable to me than hearing someone say that "Andrew Benintendi had a day — two for three with a homer and three walks. ".
I'm retired but still have my old university email address. When I first tried to sign up for that box score site, the university IT's security screening protocol went absolutely apes***, giving me multiple warnings, with "high confidence," that it was a phishing site, and quarantining the emails every day.
For the few days they've finally been letting them go through; not sure what changed.
Been reading the box scores site almost on the daily ever since you shared about it, and it's just been a delight to do morning tunes, coffee, and baseball box scores with NO ADS OR GRAPHICS more days than not.
Love this! My morning begins with box score reviews, but nothing like this!,