Sheffield in the box was intimidating. That waggle, all that nervous energy that he just uncorked into every swing, at his peak it was scary.

Also, before they had nets all the way down the foul lines, Gary Sheffield never hit bloop foul balls, he hit LASERS. It was downright unsafe sometimes.

Wish we had exit velocity shown every swing when Shef played

He must have led the league

Dude could hit a ground ball that would make it to the outfield wall in a couple seconds

Wouldn't have guessed the record holder for most homers in a season by a catcher while actually catching. Javi Lopez 42. But I think we need more like a "most homers in a season while being the full-time catcher for your team," say a min of 100 or 120 games. So we have Bench with that record of 45. Berra and Piazza also all over the "next" list.

Perez has this Bench record tied and set to break it. Also Perez has apparently homered 15 times in 33 games non-catching, I think all DH. Thats a lot and worth looking at. Not sure about his defensive value since the injury year. But Piazza comes to mind. They had a 600 homer guy there but turned him into 400 by catching him.

Yup slamming Gary Sheffield hit rockets. I saw some third basemen back up into the left field corner on him. LOL. Reminded me of McEnroe once having been aced the first three points in a game, backed up into the stands down 40-love. The other guy wouldn't serve didn't know what tod do. Anyway, having played 3rd little league thru college there are plays there that happen so fast you don't even realize or remember what happened. Other players tell you what happened. Crazy. And that's probably 80% of Sheffield rocket speed, maybe 90% at the higher levels.

I'm convinced this exaggerated wrist cock is a part of it with some of these hitters. Why I notice is has to do with a golf swing lesson I got once from a pro, me being a hacker taking a baseball swing out on the course. It's a bit involved I don't know whether to post it here or in golf.

Its kinda hard to believe Mike Piazza played catcher.

Inb4....

I'm sure he pitched occasionally.

Rays won't have enough offense in the postseason again, unless Franco goes nuts

Bent over today by Willy Peralta

Dave Winfield was an exit velocity beast as well..

If they hadn’t knocked out the Tigazzzz closer for the season via line drive to the pitching hand on Friday night (while down 3 in the 9th) the Rays likely would have dropped 3 of 4. After losing two of three to the Tigazzz last week.

Hopefully they are just saving it for the postseason.

Baseball is hard

imagine if sheffield was a lefty and poor bastards had to hold runners on at first while he was batting

The Indians called up Anthony Gose. The Phils drafted him as a CFer, but he threw 95+ in high school. He was drafted in 2008 and traded for Oswalt. He played OF for Toronto and Detroit, but was converted to a pitcher. He's still just 31, which seems crazy.

what odds u giving blue jays to win WS?

please dont say 0 cuz i dont want to lose money

Hadn’t seen that, very cool. I remember him in the low minors after the conversion. Easy guy to root for.

Might make it in to this game. Game 2 of a DH and Cleveland is throwing a bullpen game.

Out of contract in a month. Will be curious if we re-sign him.

Salvador did it today.

Tigazzzz and Royals are better next year imo

Here he is. 100mph cheese

So-so debut. No command of any off speed. 99/100 is great but if MLB hitters can sit on it then it loses some effectiveness obviously.

It came to me. Pretty sure it was Matts Willander, though he wasn't known for a huge serve I don't think.

Tigazzzz

I know they aren't going to go 8-3 the rest of the way (especially with five more against the White Sox) but it sure would be sweet if they did. .500, the impossible dream.

Only saw the highlights, but this seems accurate. I also thought his FB was a little straight, but if he can command it he should be fine.

Waino in a one-game playoff?

wouldn't that be something with the year he's had

Wanted to look this up in the homestretch. Seems like we'll only be swapping $20 or $40 one way or the other. glgl. Can't say I'm mad about Astros surprising me. imo


edit: Projections have me at only losing the Astros. Boom!
'

Cal Quantrill has arrived. Elite numbers since the allstar break. If they get Beebs back next year, the Tribe will be in the mix. AL Central will be a battle, unlike this year.

I say this as a giants fan. Soto will retire as the greatest hitter of all time