It's That Old-School Prestigious Way of Baseball [BASEBALL]

[El_Josharino]

None that I know of.

This is the best thing I've ever seen:

[Thermofusion]

Damn, he gave 'im the voodoo death stare. I like how obediently Andrus scurries off when Beltré shoos him.

[Thermofusion]

Bucs win 4-3 on account of two 2-run dingers from McCutchen. At this point, the Pirates basically consist of Andrew McCutchen + a bunch of pitchers.

[El_Josharino]

Dang. Isn't that like his third 2-homer game this week or something? Dude is en fuego. I almost took him in Pick 6 today, but went with Adam Jones instead, who is already 2 for 2 with a homer.

[Thermofusion]

He had two homers against the Nats on Thursday, yeah! He's up to .346. In theory, opposing pitchers could probably start intentionally walking him and all but guarantee a Pittsburgh loss. Cutch is a threatening baserunner but that only counts for so much when the Pirates are batting a collective .217 (last in the majors - how the Bucs are 3.5 games out of 1st in the NL Central is almost unexplainable)

Man yeah don't get me started on Adam Jones, I think I'm in love with that dude. Baltimore absolutely whipping Washington right now, in front of an orange-heavy DC crowd on national television. 

[El_Josharino]

What the fuck Max Scherzer had 15 Ks? And Strasburg hit a donger.

[Thermofusion]

Yeah, Maxwell Scherzer looked like an ace yesterday up against the anemic Pirates offense. He even had Cutch mystified. And he dropped McLouth down to .143, which coincidentally is what I was batting my last year of baseball in 8th grade, when my sportless IB magnet school allowed me to play for the redneck middle school ten miles out in the country, where I fared horribly in the batter's box but it didn't matter 'cause my purpose was to lift the team's grade point average. I hope McLouth is bringing the Bucs' GPA up.

[El_Josharino]

Here's some fun trivia I stumbled upon tonight. So I was playing with the Fangraphs leaderboards because I was curious about whose single-season home run record was broken by Babe Ruth when he hit 29 in 1919:

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=1919&month=0&season1=1871&ind=1&team=0&rost=0&age=0&players=0&sort=6,d

And I found my answer, and I noticed that 2nd and 3rd place behind Babe were both on the 1884 White Stockings. And then I noticed that 6th and 8th place were on the same squad. So I googled the 1884 White Stockings and found the Wikipedia page for the Union Base-Ball Grounds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Base-Ball_Grounds

The outfield area was especially close in right field. The right field fence was less than 200 feet away, so anyone hitting the ball over that fence was awarded only a ground rule double. Batters would aim for the fence, and during their years at the park the Chicago club regularly led the league in doubles.

In what would be their final season on the lakefront, the White Stockings decided to make the entire outfield fence home run territory. Thus the team slumped in number of doubles while boosting their home runs from typically a dozen or two to 142, easily outdistancing second place Buffalo, which had 39 for the season. The entire league's home run totals were up, thanks to the change to the Chicago ground rules.

However, a legacy had been established. The home runs, while ridiculed, counted in the league statistics nonetheless. The top four home run hitters in the National League of 1884 were all White Stockings; Ned Williamson happened to come out on top with 27, all but two in Chicago. It would be decades before a player approached that number again. Williamson's long-forgotten record was rediscovered in 1919 when Babe Ruth, then with the Red Sox, hit 29 and broke the major league season record for home runs.

One of the wildest things about it, to me, is referring to the single season home run record as "long-forgotten" as though it wasn't even a thing.

Sure was a solid squad, those 84 Stockings. Cap Anson player/manager, King Kelly, Larry Corcoran anchoring the rotation... http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1884.shtml

[FreddyKnuckles]

So what's with the nats being all fun to watch?

[Thermofusion]

Fun to watch, and an increasingly nasty rivalry with the Phillies to spice things up.

[Thermofusion]

The outfield area was especially close in right field. The right field fence was less than 200 feet away, so anyone hitting the ball over that fence was awarded only a ground rule double. Batters would aim for the fence, and during their years at the park the Chicago club regularly led the league in doubles.

In what would be their final season on the lakefront, the White Stockings decided to make the entire outfield fence home run territory. Thus the team slumped in number of doubles while boosting their home runs from typically a dozen or two to 142, easily outdistancing second place Buffalo, which had 39 for the season. The entire league's home run totals were up, thanks to the change to the Chicago ground rules.

However, a legacy had been established. The home runs, while ridiculed, counted in the league statistics nonetheless. The top four home run hitters in the National League of 1884 were all White Stockings; Ned Williamson happened to come out on top with 27, all but two in Chicago. It would be decades before a player approached that number again. Williamson's long-forgotten record was rediscovered in 1919 when Babe Ruth, then with the Red Sox, hit 29 and broke the major league season record for home runs.

Oh dang, that's crazy. Never heard that particular piece of trivia before. That White Stockings team later became the Cubs (the later White Stockings became the Sox), so you have to fantasize a little about what if the Chicago Fire hadn't happened and the Union Base-Ball Grounds had stuck around, insanely short left field fence all grandfathered in to the modern era.

[Thermofusion]

Holy crap I just saw how tight the NL East is right now. Atlanta's got their work cut out for them. Where the hell did the Marlins come from?

[El_Josharino]

So what's with the nats being all fun to watch?

They're young and they're talented and primed to be that way for awhile. And yeah, the Phillies rivalry doesn't hurt.

[El_Josharino]

Holy crap I just saw how tight the NL East is right now. Atlanta's got their work cut out for them. Where the hell did the Marlins come from?

Yeah, they had a pretty huge May out of nowhere. I don't think they're gonna hang in there all year, but yeah, the division is crazy.

[El_Josharino]

Fun thing: The 4 highest payrolls are all in last place in their respective divisions. The 5th highest payroll, Detroit, is below .500.

[Thermofusion]

Man, I love it. Just looked up the 2012 payrolls and was surprised to see the Marlins are spending more than the Cardinals and Giants. Last year they were 24th, this year they're 7th. Fish management be GAMBLIN'.

R.A. Dickey vs James McDonald right now. Emotional dissonance!

[El_Josharino]

Well I grabbed McDonald in 2 of my 3 leagues, so I know which side I'm on.

[Thermofusion]

He's really been impressive this year. More refined and mature. Already got 7 Ks tonight, 4th inning.

[davy]

Well I grabbed McDonald in 2 of my 3 leagues, so I know which side I'm on.

I had him too!

[davy]

Wooo, Braves be slumpin'!

[El_Josharino]

Yeah, what the hell, we go to one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the league and the only guy who finds his power stroke is Michael Bourn? Weird. It doesn't help matters that Chipper and Mac were out the entire series as well.

[El_Josharino]

I went 50 cent Friday in Pick Six today: Jason Hammel/AJ Pierzynski/Edwin Encarnacion/Michael Cuddyer/Corey Hart/Tony Sipp

[Thermofusion]

Wooo, Braves be slumpin'!

Everything's relative my man, you could be a Bucs fan:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-pittsburgh-pirates-offensive-catastrophe/

Also I need to get back on the Pick 6, ain't done it in a couple weeks.

[El_Josharino]

Whoa, Thermo, the O's just locked up Adam Jones for 6yrs/85mil. Very nice.

[Thermofusion]

Oh fuck yes! I was getting worried I'd be seeing him in a Yankees uniform...