I remember people raving about Wally Joyner's swing too.

But yeah, nobody ever raves about any right handers swings, the whole thing is so lol

I mean, that was straight meat to the wrong guy.

For such a tall guy, there was a surprising amount of fluidity to everything Straw did. He was a surprising graceful runner.

But there is no disputing that his swing was very unusual. He started with his feet closer together than almost anyone. I can't think of a single tall player with as narrow a stance. He kept his hands very low and never brought them up. And he started with his bat pointing somewhat toward the pitcher (not that unusual) but also somewhat to the third base side, which is very unusual and reminiscent of Ted Williams.

Everything about Straw's swing points to trouble with high FBs, but I don't remember whether he struggled with velocity up in the zone.

I hate this trend. Get someone in there who is excited to get a spot on the mound.

Dude swung 3-0 up 11 with 2 outs in the 9th? What a prick.

Imagine if Astudillo had gotten really pissed and had thrown at the next hitter with his best fastball.

You gotta be joking. You have a guy nicknamed Turtle on the mound pitching at 47 MPH.

So just swing at one of the other 3? Not really that bothered.

Don't really know who is serious. I'm pissed off at guys 47mph, instead of backup catchers and outfielders greasing it as hard as they could or working on their curveball.

Well the other weren't near the strike zone.

If you're throwing some guy out there making non-competitive pitches, who gives a **** what the score or count is?

So what, you swing and miss up 11 runs with 2 outs in the 9th?

The whole point of the unwritten rule is this guy is out there struggling, taking one for the team, let's just get this game over with. Our team is gonna be on the other side of this some day and that's what we would want them to do to us.

You do that by swinging at everything, not waiting for a 3-0 count and unloading. You and I could have hit pitches 1 and 3 with ease.

First off it is utter bullshit the guy isn't putting in the smallest bit of effort, but rather tossing little league BP. It used to be fun seeing non-pitchers show their stuff on the mound. So **** him and good for Yerrmin. Taking a walk would be 10x worse then taking a big cut.

Good on him for the home run. He actually made the game entertaining for a few seconds by crushing that ball.

I agree, that guy on the mound isn't even trying. Put a guy out there that wants to have fun pitching.

This is why baseball games should be six innings long and every inning should start from the top of the order. There's so much ****ing filler in baseball. The season probably shouldn't be 162 games either. In theory baseball is my favourite sport, but in practice I've watched about 2 actual games in the last 5 years.

Don't disagree with this

Yeah, he's not out there struggling. He's lofting one towards the vicinity of the catcher every 6-7 seconds.

The whole idea that a hitter should ever have to give an at bat away is bad. Take specifically Mercedes. Dude is a 28 year old rookie, on the heater of his life. And he's supposed to not try and put up numbers? Why, because the other team is out there bush leagueing it?

**** baseballs unwritten rules. There's probably still unwritten rules about what colour your skin has to be to play.

I always forget you are Canadian Carnivore, until you start dropppin in those "u"'s in back-to-back posts. I really don't think race is an issue in MLB, nor has it been for a while.

In short, yes; that is the logic. in a 162 game season you are going to be on both sides. Out of empathy you have a few bad ABs so others do the same when your team is on the other end.

Astudillo pitching the way he did certainly complicates it. But I think the overall logic makes sense. Again, not super bothered.

Do you guys hate these rules in other sports too? Like kneeling at the end of a football game or dribbling out time in basketball? Genuinely curious.

And the unwritten rules shouldnt be an issue either.

Mercedes took an inning of garbage baseball, and created a highlight out of it. I just became a fan of his.

Lol at the skipper. No surprise.


I'm of the mind that there is no room for competitive empathy between the lines in the top league of a sport.

Those games have timers that run down, so if a game is effective.over, you can pretty much stop playing.

Baseball has no timer. You have to make the outs. Its ridiculous to expect a batter to go up there a d not try. If anything, teams should exercise the option to just call the game if they want to stop playing baseball.