Happy Friday.
Tonight, we have Jose Berrios (16-10, 3.38) going against Adam Oller (1-4, 5.06) and the Marlins. I’m going to miss out. I’m going to a men’s night out, scotch tasting, cigars, and everything good for you.
There isn’t much news for Jays today.
Over in the Athletic, Jim Bowden has the Jays number five on his biggest disappointments list. I figured they should be numbers 1 through 5, but he didn’t go that way.
The Blue Jays were expected by most analysts to be a contending team, but once again they disappointed their fan base. They spent their offseason chasing free agent Shohei Ohtani to no avail and allowed third baseman Matt Chapman to depart for San Francisco. They focused on building a team that emphasized pitching and defense, but not caring enough about the lineup cost them. The Blue Jays rank 25th in home runs, 27th in stolen bases and 16th in OPS. After a dismal last-place finish, the pressure is on their front office and field staff more than ever before.
He didn’t mention the bullpen, but I suppose that would have been piling on.
David Singh, at Sportsnet, has a long story on anxiety issues that Spencer Horwitz has dealt with.
Horwitz feels like he’s going to pass out, which brings a fresh wave of fear. Am I having a heart attack? he wonders. Am I going to die? The uncertainty magnifies his panic. Though he can’t figure out what’s going on, he knows he can’t just continue to stand in the outfield.
I don’t have anything to add other than to say read it.
Maybe the pitch clock is a good thing:
Regular Season Nine-Inning @MLB Games of Three Hours and Thirty Minutes or Longer:
* 2021: 391
* 2022: 232
* 2023: 9
* 2024: 7 (through 9/26)— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) September 27, 2024
The Oakland A’s played their last game in Oakland, which they have been in since 1968 (before that, they were in Kansas City and Philadelphia).
I’ve been to games in Oakland twice. One was many years ago (1985??). I remember that we bought tickets for the outfield bleachers, which were half-price, $1.40. The game went 14 innings, I paid a dime an inning to watch baseball. I remember them announcing that the last BART train would leave soon, and most of the crowd took off then. But we stayed until the end.
And I saw Steve Delabar throw an Immaculate Inning there in 2013, the second in team history. Roger Clements had one in 1997. Thomas Pannone is the other Jay to do it in 2019.
As a former Expos fan, I feel for the A’s fans. Like the Expos, the A’s have an owner who was determined to kill them.
SB Nation started with Athletic Nation. Tyler Bleszinski ran it and brought together a group of bloggers who started this all up. Tyler was at the last game.
I doubt we’ll see the A’s play in Vegas in my lifetime. And it sounds like Sacramento will be an awful place for baseball.
Did you see this line from Ron Washington when asked about next year’s Angels:
“We’re going to get some baseball players who may not be superstars, but they know how to play,” Washington said. “We forgot to bring real baseball players into the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they’re not big-league baseball players and they certainly can’t help us win a championship.”
I’m sure his players loved hearing that.
If you wanted to buy the ball that Ohtani hit his 50th home run, you can get it now for $4.5 million or hope the Auction doesn’t go that high.
I have spent money on dumb things, but I think my wife will not approve of this one.