SB Nation - Eric Hosmer

Roto Roundup: Jose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig, Adam Lind and Others

Ray Guilfoyle — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:00:07 -0000

Do you have some trade offers you are consider, but need to bounce them off of someone? Are you pondering a roster move and want a second opinion? Feel free to post your questions in the Fantasy Baseball Questions thread.

Fake Teams Podcast; Episode 10: Let's Make a Deal

Zack and Andrew hosted episode 10 of the Fake Teams podcast on Sunday night, where they discussed the Wil Myerspromotion, Rick Porcello, Corey Kluber, Carlos Beltran and also discussed how to make a trade in keeper and redraft leagues. Make sure you listen to the podcast

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Jose Fernandez: Marlins young ace

I have written about Marlins starter Jose Fernandez quite a bit this season, mostly because I never expected him to pitch this well this season. Fernandez held the Diamondbacks to 2 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in 7.1 innings yesterday afternoon. Reliever Michael Dunn served up a 3 run home run to Cody Ross, and failing to strand the two runners Fernandez allowed on base. Fernandez is now 4-4 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a 81-29 strikeout to walk rate in 79.2 innings this season. The Marlins will more than likely limit his innings at some point this season. Over his last four starts, Fernandez has given up just 5 runs on 15 hits, 8 walks and 29 strikeouts in 27.1 innings. He is an ace already, in my opinion, and I just hope the Marlins don't ruin him for calling him up at such a young age.

Adam Lind: Breaking out again?

Way back in 2009, Adam Lind came out of nowhere to hit 35 home runs and drive in 114 runs. Big things were expected of Lind, but he never came close to repeating that breakout season, seeing time in AAA as a result. This season, he was probably a very late round pick in mixed leagues and a mid round pick in AL only leagues, but no one expected him to have another breakout season in 2013. Last night, Lind went 1-4 with a 3-run home run in the Blue Jays 5-2 win over the Rockies. Lind is now hitting .340-.406-.555 with 9 HRs, 32 runs and 28 RBI in 191 at bats this season. He is on pace for 21 HRs and 64 RBI, but I can see him exceeding those projections this season.

Round'em Up

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig just continues to hit and hit. I am amazed at how well he is hitting, and keep expecting him to go in a long slump, but that has not happened just yet. In yesterday's double header vs the Yankees, Puig went a combined 4-9 with a HR, 4 runs and a stolen base. He is now hitting .474-.500-.789 with 5 HRs, 11 runs, 11 RBI and 2 stolen bases in just 57 at bat, hitting in 13 of his 15 games thus far. He won't continue to hit like this, but enjoy it while it lasts. He is exciting to watch, and is starting to be mentioned in the same breath as Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Manny Machado.

Many words have been written about Orioles first baseman Chris Davis this season, and he just continues to impress fantasy owners. Yesterday, he went 3-5 with 2 HRs, 2 runs and 5 RBI and is now hitting .337-.413-.720 with a major league leading 26 HRs, 51 runs and 66 RBI thus far. He will play in this year's All Star game and hopefully competes in the Home Run derby as well.

Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been a huge disappointment this season, as he has struggled at the plate for awhile, but has failed to hit for any power whatsoever. His lack of power will move him down the first base rankings for fantasy purposes. Last night, he went 3-4 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases, raising his triple slash line to .274-.332-.357 with 2 HRs, 32 runs, 26 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 10 attempts.

Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez had a huge doubleheader vs the Yankees yesterday, going 6-8 with a HR, 3 runs and 4 RBI and is now hitting .359-.381-.615 with 2 HRs, 7 runs and 7 RBI in just 39 at bats. Along with Yasiel Puig, he could carry the Dodgers in the second half if he can stay healthy.

Closer Roundup

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke went with Francisco Rodriguez to close out a 3-1 win over the Astros last night, and KRod did not disappoint, as he earned his 5th save of the season, but not without giving up 2 hits and striking out 2. Jim Henderson pitched the eighth inning, and I assume he will get the closer job back once KRod earns his 300th save. Then again, the Brewers are probably building KRod's trade value, as the market for relievers is always good leading into July 31st, so he could earn a few more saves.

I ranked Pirates closer Jason Grilli as my #1 closer in my last Closer Report, as he has been the most dominant closer in baseball this season. Well, last night, he proved he was human and blew his first save of the season, after giving up a game-tying home run to Jay Bruce in the bottom of the ninth inning. Even with the blown save, Grilli is still my top closer for now.

More from Fake Teams

Fantasy Football 2013: Top 100 Standard Rankings

Prospect Preview: Niko Goodrum

Head-to-Head Risers and Fallers for Week 12

Week 12 Waiver Report

Coming Soon to A Stadium Near You: Brad Miller, SS/2B, Seattle Mariners

Has anything changed? Nick Castellanos

Injury Report: Arms, legs, heads, they're all hurt

The Royals New Lineup

Trading Partners: Suddenly-hot Padres don't want a belly itcher

MLB Final Score/Recap: Cleveland Indians 4, Kansas City Royals 3

Ryan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:00:04 -0000

June 18, 2013

Indians 4, Royals 3

The pitching matchup featured Ervin Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez. Santana dominated the Indians the first time he faced them this season (7 IP, 0 ER), and the way he started the game, it looked like he would at the very least match his first outing. Through five innings, the Indians had managed just one hit off Santana, and didn't get more than one runner in an inning. But in the sixth, the Indians not only made Santana work, but actually got on the board. Drew Stubbs, who has struggled all season against right-handed pitchers, got on via a broken-bat single, and quickly stole second. That put him in position to score on Mike Aviles' single to left, and cut the deficit to 2-1.

How did the Royals score those two runs? Well, it wasn't on a base hit. The Royals scored two runs in the third inning without a base hit, stolen base, or error. Ubaldo Jimenez walked the first two batters of the inning, he uncorked a wild pitch, the two runners move up to second and third, Eric Hosmer hit an RBI groundout, then Ubaldo threw another wild pitch to bring home run #2. On the second one, Carlos Santana let the ball get under his glove in a play very much like the play in the ninth inning on Monday.

For much of the game, it seemed like those two tainted runs would be an insurmountable deficit. But, as mentioned above, the Indians actually scored a run off Santana in the sixth, and with Santana out of the game, one run over three innings didn't seem that difficult a deficit to overcome. But then the Indians gave a key run back, and that run was handed to the Royals on a silver platter. Eric Hosmer led off the top of the eighth with an easy grounder back to Cody Allen. But Allen's throw to first was wild, and Mark Reynolds wasn't in position to keep the ball from going down the line. Hosmer alertly ran all the way to the third, and scored when Salvador Perez singled through the drawn-in infield.

It was at this point that you not only lost all hope, but became completely disgusted with the team. They had blown the first game on a wild pitch, and they were about to lose a game in which all three runs were scored without the benefit of a hit. The Indians had six outs to go, but it was against one of the American League's best bullpens.

If you've followed a baseball team for any length of time, you've been humbled multiple times. For example, the Indians were up three runs in the ninth in Boston, and you were thinking that the Indians would get out of town with a split. Even though you've seen the worst happen, it still doesn't prevent you from making those assumptions again and again. But it works the other way, too. Tonight, for instance, I thought that there was not way this team could make up two runs against the Royals, and that they'd fall two game under .500, and 1.5 games behind the Royals, and perhaps 6.5 games behind the Tigers. But in the span of ten minutes, that disgust and despair turned to unexpected happiness.

Kelvin Herrera, he of the 100 mph fastball, started off the bottom of the eighth by walking Ryan Raburn, who went to second on a Drew Stubbs groundout. It was at this point that I got even more disgusted, because the Indians had given away a run the inning before, making Raburn's run unimportant. But then Herrera threw a "slow" curve to Michael Bourn, who flipped the ball down the left field line, scoring Raburn from second. Then Mike Aviles singled , moving Bourn to second. OK, now it's getting somewhat interesting, but here comes Tim Collins, who has owned left-handers all season (.163/.234/.186), to pitch to Jason Kipnis. But Kipnis doubled down the left field, bringing home the tying run and pushing the go-ahead run to third base with one out. Carlos Santana was then walked, setting up another lefty-lefty matchup, this time Michael Brantley, who has been awful over the past month (.229/.289/.265). But after falling behind 0-2, he got the ball to the outfield, and thanks to a poor throw, Aviles tagged up and scored the go-ahead run.

So then, all of sudden, the Indians were in a position to win, and Vinnie Pestano hurriedly got ready to come in to pitch the ninth. And he was really bad, allowing three hits and walk, but you know what? He didn't allow a run, and here's how it happened. Pestano allowed singles to David Lough and Mike Moustakas to start the inning, but then struck out Chris Getz for the first out. Then Alcides Escobar hit a sharp single to right field. With Lough, a speedy runner, at second, I thought there'd be no way he'd be held at third, and apparently Lough did, too. For although the Kansas City third base coach put up the stop sign, Lough ended up in no-man's land, and got caught in a rundown. Pestano ran him back to third, where Mike Moustakas was now standing. Moustakas was out on the play, and if Pestano had been a bit quicker, he might have tagged both runners out to end the game. So now there were runners at second and third with two outs. Pestano pitched around Alex Gordon, and then got Eric Hosmer to ground out to end the game.

So despite essentially giving the Royals three runs, despite giving up three hits in the ninth, the Indians escaped with the victory. And with that victory, they took back second place, and got back to .500.

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call (27 Commenters)

Game Thread (238 Comments)

#	Commenter	# Comments
1	PaduaDSP	28
2	PyroKinesis	27
3	emily522	26
4	LosIndios	25
5	westbrook	21
6	BuenosAires_Dawg	14
7	Mr. Bad Example	11
8	Zaza Braggins	11
9	themadlibs	9
10	cleveland teamer	9
11	APV	9
12	Gophermike	8
13	Josh Duggan	7
14	roar888	5
15	ahowie	4
16	Brad D	3
17	Gradyforpresident	3
18	ramblinwreckcle	3
19	JulioBernazard	2
20	pdxtribefan	2
21	woodsmeister	2
22	Fundamentals	2
23	Cols714	2
24	emd2k3	2
25	27ftBaja	1
26	YoDaddyWags	1
27	valhallas_own28	1

MLB Final Score/Recap: Kansas City Royals 2, Cleveland Indians 1

Ryan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:14:32 -0000

June 17, 2013

Royals 2, Indians 1

OK, let's get the annoying [stuff] over with first.

It's the ninth inning. There are runners on first and second with nobody out. Left-handed hitter David Lough steps up the plate. He's probably bunting. So why bring in Rich Hill, who has been as bad as any reliever still in the majors for that type of situation. And you know that after that bunt, Ned Yost isn't going to let Mike Moustakas, who has been as bad as hitter still in the majors, to hit in that situation. I think you either have to leave Bryan Shaw in, or bring in another right-handed reliever. Now Rich Hill's presence didn't really affect the outcome of that inning, because a run would have scored whether the bases loaded or just runners on second and third, but the use of Rich Hill in that high-leverage situation still rankles me. This is the middle of June, and the Indians obviously are flailing around for other options with the signings of Clay Rapada and J.C. Romero (who just went on the DL in Columbus). If the Indians had another left-handed option, Hill probably wouldn't be here, but just because he's on the roster doesn't mean to have to use him in that situation.

That rant aside, the real reason the Indians lost this game wasn't because of Rich Hill, but because Carlos Santana couldn't block a pitch in front of him. The go-ahead run score with nobody out, but as it turned out, if that ball didn't go through Santana's legs, the Royals wouldn't have scored that inning, and the Indians would have gone to the bottom of the ninth against a different reliever.

That leads to my second point, or rather, a pointed rhetorical question. Why was John McDonald batting in the ninth inning with the team down a run? John McDonald, who in his 15-year major-league career, has career OPS+ of 60? Yan Gomes, who could have tied the game with one swing of the bat, was on the bench. To me, the fact that Francona was "forced" to use both Hill and McDonald in that situation should be a sign for Chris Antonetti to make a call to Columbus. Even if the organization feels that Lonnie Chisenhall needs to spend more time in Columbus, you could call up Cord Phelps, who has played first base and the outfield. You may say that Swisher is only going to down for a couple more games. Well, having a functional hitter on the bench might have help the Indians win tonight. I've never liked the eight-man bullpen to begin with, but now that the Indians are down to a two-man bench, I like it even less, if possible.

Now to the good stuff. Carlos Carrasco, whose 2013 has been chaotic to say the least, came off his suspension and pitched the best game of his major-league career. All that potential you saw in him in 2010 and 2011 became reality for at least one night. OK, it was the Royals, who this season has been one of baseball most inept offenses, and Carrasco was greatly helped by his outfield defense, but (a) the Royals have been hitting much better of late and (b) Carrasco was dealing with a very small strike zone. The Indians chased James Shields after six innings largely because Shields wasn't getting the corners, but Carrasco was going strong into the eighth inning, and would have gone longer if not for the 1-0 score. But because Eric Hosmer hit a dying quail that fell in no-man's land, he not only a run tacked on to his pitching line, but also lost the potential of getting the win.

The Indians walked eight times and collected five hits (one of them a solo homer), but could manage just the one run. They loaded the bases with one out in the third and couldn't score, and had runners on base almost every inning between the third and the end of the game. Now you feel like the Nationals fans felt yesterday.

So it wasn't just the offense, and it wasn't just the top of the ninth inning, but both mixed together that led to this galling defeat.

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call (33 Commenters)

Game Thread (553 Comments)

#	Commenter	# Comments
1	Mr. Bad Example	55
2	PyroKinesis	50
3	JulioBernazard	47
4	westbrook	42
5	USSChoo	41
6	BuenosAires_Dawg	35
7	troyflowers	31
8	tabler84	29
9	LosIndios	24
10	Gradyforpresident	20
11	barsham	18
12	emily522	18
13	notthatnoise	17
14	johnf34	17
15	world dictator	14
16	woodsmeister	14
17	supermarioelia	13
18	Zaza Braggins	11
19	Chief Wahoo	11
20	The Guys Get Shirts!	10
21	ramblinwreckcle	9
22	cleveland teamer	7
23	mauichuck	5
24	PaduaDSP	3
25	palcal	2
26	valhallas_own28	2
27	Gophermike	2
28	Benedict Arnold	1
29	Cols714	1
30	MooneysRebellion	1
31	Nat	1
32	emd2k3	1
33	tribefan62812	1

Royals lull Indians to sleep, then strike

Craig Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:50:26 -0000

This was setting up to be a brutal loss.

Carlos Carrasco was dominating the Royals. Granted, we know the Royal bats and all the issues. They haven't gone away. Yet when facing a pitcher of Carrasco's ilk, you expect something. Anything.

And the Royals were held without a baserunner through the first 4.1 innings of the game. It was Lorenzo Cain to open the Royals hitting account. (After several jinx-worthy Tweets from yours truly.) You would think that maybe things would start happening. Especially as they saw Carrasco for the second or third time of the night. Except they managed just three more hits.

It was ugly.

Meanwhile, James Shields was scuffling through six innings. Don't take scuffling as a pejorative. Shields didn't have his best command, walking four, but he was able to get the key outs when needed. The only damage was on a Carlos Santana home run to lead off the sixth.

Then it all happened.

A single, a sacrifice and a lineout and it looked like the Royals would squander another opportunity. Then a little Eric Hosmer bloop to no man's land in shallow center and the game was tied.

That just set the stage for a bizarre ninth.

A Billy Butler double and a Lorenzo Cain walk had runners on with no outs. David Lough bunted. It was a good bunt, but the Indian pitcher couldn't keep his footing and Lough was on first without a throw. Bases loaded with no outs. This is always an uncomfortable time for us as Royals fans. How many times have we seen this situation and failed to score a single run.

Thankfully, Matt Albers was keeping the ball in the dirt and it skipped between the legs of Santana. Wild pitch and a run.

Ballgame.

Yet there was still time for things to descend into the bizarre. Like a Chris Getz intentional walk. And Alcides Escobar laying down a bases loaded bunt. I speculated Escobar did this on his own. In his postgame, Ned Yost said that it was a called play. Third base coach Eddie Rodriguez gave Lorenzo Cain a "verbal" call and Cain apparently missed the cue. Forget all the missed signs. Why bunt in that situation? All we need is a flyball. Granted, Escobar isn't swinging the bat with any kind of confidence, but still. Just put the bat on the ball and see what happens. That's Yostball for ya.

A couple other notes:

-- Here's how this game looked if you played it on a computer:

Source: FanGraphs

-- Escobar laid down a sac bunt attempt in the eighth but didn't really bother to run out the play. Terrible lack of hustle.

-- Same for Moustakas in the fifth.

-- Speaking of Mike Moustakas, it may be all about confidence, but if the manager doesn't have confidence to hit him with the game on the line, what exactly is he doing here? Time to farm him out and replace him with the first person who can get to Kansas City.

-- Greg Holland hit 100 mph in the ninth. The radar gun was a little hot.

-- I particularly liked the progression Holland had on Mike Aviles. Low, low and low before uncorking a 99 mph* fastball up. Swing and a miss.

- Oh, .500.

This team is so bizarre. There's just no way they're this good. They're averaging four runs per game during this stretch, which is right in line with their seasonal average. Yet, they're allowing 2.1 runs per game in June. Yes, 2.1 runs per game over their last 16. There's no way this is sustainable. But I can't remember seeing a team go through stretches like the Royals. I can only hope the forthcoming correction is gentle.

The Royals New Lineup

FantasyNinja8 — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:00:08 -0000

Ned Yost, manager of the Kansas City Royals, did something two weeks ago that very few big league managers (or even men) ever do. He admitted he needed some help. After dropping 13 of 15 games to close May and 2 of the team’s first 3 games in June, Yost recognized that his lineup wasn’t getting the job done. So, he went to the team’s stats department and asked them to create a lineup constructed for optimal run production. After one minor tweak, the Royals trotted out a new, sabermetric-influenced lineup that looked like this:

Batting
Alex Gordon LF
Eric Hosmer 1B
Salvador Perez C
Billy Butler DH
Mike Moustakas 3B
Lorenzo Cain CF
David Lough RF
Jeff Francoeur RF
Chris Getz 2B
Alcides Escobar SS

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/16/2013.

The Royals scored 4 runs that night en route to a 4-1 win over the Twins. While four runs isn’t exactly an enormous offense surge, it seems to be enough for the Royals on most nights. Since the lineup change, the Royals have scored four or more runs in seven of twelve games and have one each of them which puts them at 24-5 on the season. Yost has continued using his "optimized" lineup and the Royals have gone 10-2 since June 4^th. This new lineup is a sign of progress in the attempt to merge statistics with the "old school" and it’s resulted in numerous wins for the Royals, but it may not have such a positive effect on fantasy baseball.

There are two sides to every coin and the "optimum" lineup situation is not exempt. I believe that this lineup can mean two different things to two different kinds of owners. The operative aspect of the new lineup is the idea that optimization includes platoons and matchup plays. This idea means that there are several players who will lose at bats in the new system. A lot of fantasy value stems from opportunity so the loss of at bats is generally viewed as a detriment to a player’s value. In most cases, I agree but I don’t think that platoon players are completely useless.

In standard 5x5 leagues, counting stats account for four out of five offensive categories. One of the most determining variables in the valuation of these stats is opportunity. The more at bats a player receives; the more chances he has to hit a home run, drive in a runner or get on base to score a run or steal a base. The players who stand to lose the most in their current situations are Mike Moustakas, Jeff Francoeur and Chris Getz. These players saw the lion’s share of playing time at third base, right field and second base, respectively. Now, they are relegated to playing mainly against pitchers of a certain handedness, thus seeing fewer at bats.

All of these players have had their struggles this season, but Moustakas has been particularly frustrating to his owners. After a season in which he hit 20 home runs and 34 doubles, he’s on pace for only 10 home runs and 17 doubles this season. He may not score or drive in more than 50 runs and the recent developments in Kansas City seem to be making those numbers even less of a probability. Many owners have asked whether or not it is time to drop Moustakas. For anyone holding onto him in a mixed league of less than 20 teams, I think the time has come. He his hitting only .203 against right handers and that’s .080 higher than he’s hitting against lefties. Only 13% of his batted balls have been line drives and Moustakas has always hit a lot of fly balls, 17% of which haven’t made it out of the infield this year. It’s looking more and more like Moustakas is just not a good hitter. A poor hitter with fewer opportunities is not a guy worth owning in anything but the absolute deepest of leagues.

Francoeur wasn’t really fantasy relevant in mixed leagues before the change and he continues to be Al-Only plays afterward. However, I think he might stand to gain a little bit of value with the new lineup. Francoeur will play the majority of games against left-handed pitching as he is a career .288 hitter against southpaws. That should set him up to succeed and boost his rate stats, albeit over a smaller sample size. If you own Francoeur in an AL Only league, I assume it is a fairly deep league and some spots require little more than a warm body. I think Frenchy can be an asset in such a league if you are looking for someone to fill in one of the last spots on your roster. David Lough, Francoeur’s counterpart, will play against righties but has little value. He hit just under .300 over parts of seven seasons in the minors but will not get enough at bats for his small power and speed potential to be significant.

The only move I don’t really understand is the idea to play Chris Getz against right handed pitchers. He’s hit lefties better throughout his career and actually has a better career average than Elliot Johnson. Elliot Johnson seems to be the guy against lefthanders but the second base job may come down to riding the hot bat, rather than a true platoon. This makes it extremely difficult for fantasy owners to gage the value of these two players. Should Getz win the full time job, I would have a little bit of interest. He has the potential to steal 20+ bases with a .270 average. Johnson is a better real life ball player and I can’t imagine a scenario in which he should be owned by a fantasy team.

There’s been discussion about whether or not this new lineup is a win for the sabermetric community. I, for one think it is, but there are always different ways to look at any situation. The same holds true for the effects of the new lineup on the players’ fantasy value. The change may mean one thing for a certain player and something entirely different for another. It’s important to always fully assess the circumstances and decide how they affect your position.

Alex Cobb injury: Rays starter released from hospital, won't travel with team

Connor Moylan — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:01:39 -0000

Tampa Bay Rays starter Alex Cobb was released from Bayfront Medical Center on Sunday afternoon and returned home to begin his recovery, Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times is reporting.

A line drive off the bat of Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer hit Cobb on the head Saturday, and the starter left the game on a stretcher. Fortunately, Cobb was only treated for a "mild concussion" and cauliflower ear, and all of his tests came back normal.

Cobb will not travel with the Rays on their upcoming seven-game road trip, and will need to pass concussion tests before he can resume throwing.

The right-handed pitcher had started the season strong for Tampa Bay, posting a 3.01 ERA in his first 13 starts of the season. The team recalled Josh Lueke to take Cobb's roster spot, but will need to recall a starting pitcher to replace Cobb in the rotation later in the week.

Alex Colome is the likely candidate to replace Cobb in the rotation. The 24-year-old made one start for the Rays earlier this season, allowing one run on five hits over 5 2/3 innings against the Miami Marlins.

More from SB Nation:

• Is Yasiel Puig's MLB start the best ever?

• Neyer: Rays summon Wil Myers ... just in time

• Kershaw, Dodgers 'making progress' on extension

• Rays’ Cobb hit in head, suffers "mild concussion"

• Succeeding without "stuff": Learning from plodding pitchers

• Longform: The prospect who lied to play ball

MLB Bullets Is Ready For The Show

Josh Timmers — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:13 -0000

And a happy belated Father's Day to all you fathers out there. My daughter is at the age where she wants to give you all kinds of homemade presents. So there's that.

Oh, where to start. It's all so depressing and I'm not even mentioning Carlos Marmol.

Alex Cobb was hit in the head with a line drive off the bat of Eric Hosmer on Saturday. However, he was released from the hospital on Sunday, so that's good news.
Jerry Crasnick says that MLB needs to do something to protect pitchers before it's too late. He doesn't exactly offer a solution, however. Just put the bell on the cat, I guess.
Getting back to the Diamondbacks/Dodgers brawl, it sounds like the feud isn't over yet. Miguel Montero took to twitter to blast what Arizona thinks is the unfair disparity in how the two teams were punished, especially that Eric Hinske was suspended and Yasiel Puig was not. What I'm surprised about is that few, if any, seem to mention that former Dodgers manager Joe Torre is part of the commissioner's office that hands out discipline. And of course, this isn't the first time this season that there's been a fight involving the Dodgers.
Oh, and the Dodgers Triple-A team in Albuquerque got into a bench-clearing brawl with the Memphis Redbirds on Saturday.
Tom Verducci doesn't think the brawl will "inspire" the Dodgers to turn their season around. He also doesn't think baseball can ban players leaving the bench, like they do in other sports, for the simple reason that there are usually nine of one team and one of the other on the field at one time. Also, the situation might have been avoided had a fill-in minor league umpire not been behind the plate.
Jay Jaffe thinks MLB needs to do something about these beanball wars and by something he means "harsher punishments." He also got an interesting fact from MLB historian John Thorn who says these bench clearing brawls really only date back to the famous Pete Rose/Bud Harrelson fight of 1973, which just happens to be one of my oldest baseball memories.
Last time we wondered why Wil Myers was still in the minor leagues. Wonder no longer, because he's not there anymore.
The Dodgers are nearing completing a seven-year contract extension with Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is not happy that you know about this.
Seriously, last Dodgers story. A scout takes a look at Yasiel Puig and makes suggestions about how to get him out.
The Baltimore Sun has a long feature on Chris Davis and his long journey to baseball stardom.
Cardinals closer Edward Mujica is back in Miami for the first time since being traded, but he's happy in St. Louis.
The Yankees had a good day on Sunday. They needed it.
Scott Miller is writing another one of those "End of the Yankees Era" stories that various baseball writers ran all last off-season. Miller might even be right this time.
More on Mariano Rivera's farewell tour. He's going around meeting the "unsung heroes" in every city he plays in. But he says that it's as much a thrill for him as it is for them. As I said last time, Mo is a cool dude.
Rob Neyer does not feel sorry for Cliff Lee.
As the Phillies fall out of contention, Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com looks at five trades that worked for teams trading away an ace like Lee and several more that backfired. Note: three of the backfiring trades involved Cliff Lee.
A sewage backup in Oakland Coliseum forced the Athletics and Mariners to share the Raiders locker room. Dionne Warwick just has one question for the A's.
The Rockies had four consecutive batters hit for the cycle.
MLB is on pace for a record number of extra-inning games this season. No kidding.
The Tigers are in the market for a closer. One guy who might be available, Steve Cishek, is bouncing back nicely in Miami.
Jeff Baker has a sprained thumb after a teammate high-fived him. That's what knocked Javier Baez out of the Arizona Fall League last year.
Just the Pirates luck. The one year they manage to be good is the year the NL Central decides to be the best division in baseball and they're stuck in third behind St. Louis and Cincinnati.
The Blue Jays have a problem when Josh Johnson returns. If he pitches well, they can trade him away before losing him to free agency. But if he pitches well, he might just pitch the Blue Jays back into contention.
Cracks are starting to show in the Red Sox rotation.
After stinking for two months, B.J. Upton is finally starting to play like what the Braves expected.
"College" is one word you never want to misspell.
Finally, a British comedian tries to explain baseball. It's OK, but it's no Andy Griffith trying to explain football.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.

Around the Bases: Sunday scores & highlights

Connor Moylan — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:08 -0000

Indians 2, Nationals 0: Cory Kluber pitched a dominant eight innings, scattering seven hits while striking out eight and walking none. Stephen Strasburg allowed one run over five innings in his first start since returning from the 15-day DL.

Reds 5, Brewers 1: Jonny Cueto pitched well in his first start since returning from a shoulder injury, allowing one run and five hits over six innings. Zack Cozart and Joey Votto both had multi-hit games for Cincinnati.

Mets 4, Cubs 3: Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a walk-off three-run home run against Carlos Marmol in the bottom of the ninth inning. Marmol now has more blown saves in 2013 than successful saves.

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Marlins 7, Cardinals 2: Marlins hitters tagged Cardinals starter Tyler Lyons for six runs on eight hits over 5 ⅓ innings. Ricky Nolasco only allowed one run on three hits over seven innings to earn his fourth win of the season.

Orioles 6, Red Sox 3: Chris Davis hit home run No. 23 of the season off Jon Lester, while Nick Markakis went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles. Adam Jones chipped in with two doubles, while Manny Machado hit his league-leading 32nd double of the season.

Royals 5, Rays 3: Wade Davis pitched pretty well against his former team, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings. Alcides Escobar finished the day 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI, while Eric Hosmer and Billy Buter both had multi-hit games. But Tampa was able to shrug off the loss with the post-game announcement that top prospect Wil Myers was recalled from Triple-A and will join the team on Tuesday in Boston:

.@wilmyers takes one last moment in the @DurhamBulls dugout before heading to the Big Leagues. @MLB @RaysBaseball pic.twitter.com/gYIsqmu9s5
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) June 17, 2013

Tigers 5, Twins 2: Torii Hunter hit his 300th career home run against the team he broke into the league with. Doug Fister carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and ended up allowing two runs in 7 ⅔ innings.

Astros 5, White Sox 4: Jason Castro hit a two-run home run off Matt Thornton in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Astros the insurance runs they needed to hold on to the victory.

Blue Jays 7, Rangers 2: Chien-Ming Wang tossed seven shutout innings against the Rangers, earning his first victory as a member of the Blue Jays. J.P. Arencibia, Colby Rasmus and Adam Lind all hit home runs for Toronto.

Yankees 6, Angels 5: C.C. Sabathia threw eight strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six Angels. Travis Hafner hit a three-run homer off Jared Weaver, his 11th of the season.

Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1: Clayton Richard only surrendered one run on seven hits in eight innings against the Diamondbacks. Kyle Blanks hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a 1-1 tie.

Rockies 5, Phillies 2: Jhouyls Chacin held the Phillies scoreless for eight innings, and finished one out away from a complete game. Carlos Gonzalez mashed a two-run homer, his 20th of the year, while Wilin Rosario added a solo home run.

Pirates 6, Dodgers 3: Gerrit Cole won his second major league start, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5 ⅔ innings, thanks to a three-run home run by Pedro Alvarez off Zack Greinke in the fifth inning. Jason Grilli pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his league-leading 25th save of the year:

Celebrating some #ElToroPower pic.twitter.com/NxO2eqNdun
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 16, 2013

Athletics 10, Mariners 2: Josh Reddick went 4-for-5 and finished a double shy of the cycle, leading Oakland to a blowout win at home. But the post-game story was the flood in both clubhouses that forced players from both teams upstairs to shower in the Raiders locker room.

Braves 3, Giants 0: Julio Teheran and three relievers combined to shutout the Giants, giving the Braves the weekend series at home. Tim Lincecum took the loss for San Francisco and walked five in defeat, the most he has had since walking seven on April 3. The win for Atlanta gave manager Fredi Gonzalez his 500th career win.

Home run issues for Jeremy Guthrie in Royals loss to Rays

Connor Moylan — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:30:17 -0000

The Kansas City Royals did not reach the .500 mark today, losing 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

The Rays put a run on the board in the first inning. Ben Zobrist and Luke Scott hit one-out singles, then Evan Longoria hit a sacrifice fly. If the home plate umpire had been calling a low-strike in the first, however, Jeremy Guthrie may have escaped the first inning without allowing any runs.

Kansas City responded with two runs in the top of the second. Mike Moustakas and Elliot Johnson both hit one-out singles, then Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon both drew one-out walks. Escobar and Gordon both had two strike counts, and both battled back to earn their base against Alex Cobb. Eric Hosmer followed with a line drive to centerfield, right at Desmond Jennings, but deep enough to drive Johnson in from third to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.

Tampa Bay regained the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning. Zobrist hit a two out single, then Scott cracked a two-run homer. The pitch was down and in to the left-handed hitter, which traditionally is not great location.

Hosmer led off the fifth inning by hitting a line drive off Cobb's head. The ball bounced back to Jose Lobaton, who threw Hosmer out at first, but all of the attention went to Cobb. SB Nation has a .GIF of the play if you want to see it, but I won't include the .GIF in the post since I hate seeing line drives ricochet off a pitcher's head.

Cobb left the game on a stretcher, and went straight to a hospital. Cobb has been diagnosed with a mild concussion and his tests came back normal, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, so hopefully the injury is not too serious.

Alex Torres replaced Cobb, and struck out four of the five Royals he faced. Jake McGee relieved Torres, and pitched a scoreless top of the seventh.

Guthrie surrendered two more runs on solo homers to Matt Joyce and Longoria. Both pitches were thrown down the middle, and both pitches were promptly crushed. The veteran starter ended up allowing five runs in seven innings, but it could have been worse, as the Rays loaded the bases against Guthrie in the seventh inning. Guthrie looked gassed and had thrown over 100 pitches, but Ned Yost left the starter in to face Longoria with the bases loaded and two outs. Longoria fouled out to Hosmer, ending the threat.

Salvador Perez smashed a solo homer off Joel Peralta in the eighth inning, but it was too little, too late. Gordon hit a two-out single against closer Fernando Rodney in the ninth inning, and Hosmer worked a walk, but Perez grounded out to end the game.

Perez and David Lough both had multi-hit games, while Gordon reached base twice. Royals hitters struggled to make contact against Rays pitching, striking out 11 times as a team.

The loss was disappointing, but the Royals weren't going to win out. Kansas City gets a chance to win the series tomorrow; Wade Davis will start for the Royals against Roberto Hernandez.

Alex Cobb injury: Rays RHP hit in head, leaves on stretcher

Adam Stites — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:50:13 -0000

Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb was struck in the head by a line drive and left Tropicana Field on a stretcher Saturday during a game against the Kansas City Royals. Cobb never lost consciousness and was taken to Bayfront Medical Center for further examination, according to the Rays' Twitter feed.

UPDATE: The Rays say Cobb suffered a mild concussion and that all test came back normal.

More on the Rays: DRaysBay

The incident occurred in the fifth inning of the game, when Eric Hosmer hit a line drive back up the middle. It hit just above Cobb's right ear, the Rays say, causing him to fall to the ground holding his head. The game was delayed for several minutes as trainers tended to Cobb with several of his Rays teammates gathered nearby.

After Cobb was removed on a stretcher through the home plate tunnel with arms crossed across his chest, he was replaced in the game by Alex Torres.

#Rays players, medical staff gathered around mound as Cobb attended to pic.twitter.com/kuUNI7i9hS
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) June 15, 2013

In 13 starts with the Rays, Cobb has compiled a 6-2 record with a 3.01 earned run average and 76 strikeouts.

UPDATE: More good news from the hospital, as Cobb was in good spirits and visited by both teammates like Chris Archer and Hosmer, who hit the line drive.

Can't thank everyone enough for the prayers. Was the only way for me to make it out of there ok. Look forward to getting back out there.
— Alex Cobb (@Acobb53) June 16, 2013

Saw Cobb briefly. He was in good spirits, lots of smiles. Big thanks to @TheRealHos35 for coming to check on him as well.
— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher42) June 16, 2013

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