Blue Jays GDT: Next: vs Phi | Tue, Jun 3 | 7pm ET/4pm PT | Sanchez vs Francis

[canucksfan]

Got this from Twitter

Addison Barger's average EV and hard-hit% sitting at 95.9 MPH and 62.7% respectively in the month of May were both the best marks in the American League, ahead of Aaron Judge. Barger's also underperforming his xwOBA by .57%, suggesting he's been unlucky as well.

 

[Tw1ster]

Got this from Twitter

Addison Barger's average EV and hard-hit% sitting at 95.9 MPH and 62.7% respectively in the month of May were both the best marks in the American League, ahead of Aaron Judge. Barger's also underperforming his xwOBA by .57%, suggesting he's been unlucky as well.

What I’m getting from this and choosing to believe is that Barger >Judge

In all seriousness, he could be the team’s MVP thus far

 

[canucksfan]

On a slightly different topic, does anyone have Sportsnet+ as an App on their TV? If so, does it work well? I have seen reviews, and they aren't that positive.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

If the Yankees shit the bed again tonight vs the Dodgers, Jays will be 4.5 back

Nvm. Yarbrough with another good outing for the Yanks

 

[Discoverer]

On a slightly different topic, does anyone have Sportsnet+ as an App on their TV? If so, does it work well? I have seen reviews, and they aren't that positive.

I use it on a Fire Stick (the app isn't available for LG, so I can't get it directly on my TV) and I think it's pretty great. It's gotten a lot better over the years, unlike TSN's, which is still a disaster.

 

[GermanJay]

What I’m getting from this and choosing to believe is that Barger >Judge

In all seriousness, he could be the team’s MVP thus far

He's 5th in fwar (1.3) behind Clement (1.7) , Kirk (1.6), Vladdy (1.5) and Gausman (1.4). But he has by far the least amount of Plate appearances, so its a fair Argument to make

 

[dredeye]

I literally said "don't expect a Cinderella run." Not my fault you can't read

Well actually this is what you said in that one part of your post

"Now i'm not saying to expect a Cinderella run out of this team or nothing, but it also wouldn't surprise me in the slightest". You couldn't even quote yourself properly. You followed this up with a comparison to the Diamondbacks and there run to the world series a few years ago.

So again, easy bud we swept a garbage team on a very cold streak.

 

[dredeye]

The Jays actually are a Top 5 Offensive Team in the whole month of May.

and they were 4 games over 500. Three of those games are from this series including the runs bump from the series. You have to beat bad teams and they did which is good but removing this series they are a game over 500 for the month. We beat up bad pitching.

 

[dredeye]

A’s have the worst pitching in baseball, no doubt about it. But their offence isn’t even that bad. Like the reverse Rangers.

They have a strong offence for sure. Our pitching outside of the first game got lit up as well

 

[Suntouchable13]

and they were 4 games over 500. Three of those games are from this series including the runs bump from the series. You have to beat bad teams and they did which is good but removing this series they are a game over 500 for the month. We beat up bad pitching.

And the Yankees got lit up by the Dodgers. Every team is flawed in this division/AL

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

and they were 4 games over 500. Three of those games are from this series including the runs bump from the series. You have to beat bad teams and they did which is good but removing this series they are a game over 500 for the month. We beat up bad pitching.

Jays have the 10th easiest remaining schedule. As long as they continue to beat up on bad teams, they'll hang around in the race.

They do have 26 games vs 5 of the top 6 teams. Just can't completely shit the bed.

 

[GermanJay]

and they were 4 games over 500. Three of those games are from this series including the runs bump from the series. You have to beat bad teams and they did which is good but removing this series they are a game over 500 for the month. We beat up bad pitching.

Even if you exclude the Athletics series (which is ridiculous to do) they are top 10 for the month of May (wRC+, Homeruns, batter fwar)

 

[Discoverer]

Yeah, they just went 16-12 with a +29 for the month with one of the best offenses (right near the top in absolutely every category) and middle-of-the-pack run prevention (13th in runs against per game based on mediocre pitching supported by easily the best defensive team in the league).

We'll see if they can maintain it going forward or if the offense will revert to what it was in April, but if you're removing a series because the opponent sucks, you're just going out of your way to complain about stuff.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

The Jays will face some tough Phillies pitching, similar to the Rangers series

Cy Young candidate in Wheeler
Sanchez has elite stuff and is a budding Ace
Abel who is a stud prospect

Tomorrow's matchup is ugly with Francis on the mound, but Wheeler is coming off his worst outing of the season, so he may suck for another game.

 

[MS]

Yeah, they just went 16-12 with a +29 for the month with one of the best offenses (right near the top in absolutely every category) and middle-of-the-pack run prevention (13th in runs against per game based on mediocre pitching supported by easily the best defensive team in the league).

We'll see if they can maintain it going forward or if the offense will revert to what it was in April, but if you're removing a series because the opponent sucks, you're just going out of your way to complain about stuff.

Yeah, if you want to remove *both* the outlier Oakland series against terrible pitching and the outlier Texas series against utterly elite pitching and 3 starters with a combined ERA of 1.70 ... fair enough. But you can't just take out the good series and pretend you're then getting representative results.

 

[dredeye]

Even if you exclude the Athletics series (which is ridiculous to do) they are top 10 for the month of May (wRC+, Homeruns, batter fwar)

And the best they could muster is a 500 record. Why is that hard to understand?

 

[Discoverer]

And the best they could muster is a 500 record. Why is that hard to understand?

It's not hard to understand, it's just a dumb argument.

How do you think the other Wild Card contenders do when you take out their games against shitty teams?

 

[PanniniClaus]

Wheeler is awaiting the birth of a child so we go Sanchez, Abel and Luzardo

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Wheeler is awaiting the birth of a child so we go Sanchez, Abel and Luzardo

Big break. Luzardo is pretty good himself (last start notwithstanding), but a clear downgrade from Wheeler.

 

[The Nemesis]

I hate the redesign of the Jays website making it so much harder to find probable pitchers without googling it.

Tuesday: Sanchez vs Francis
Wednesday: Abel vs Berrios
Thursday: Luzardo vs Bassitt

Thursday is an afternoon game.

On a slightly different topic, does anyone have Sportsnet+ as an App on their TV? If so, does it work well? I have seen reviews, and they aren't that positive.

I don't have it specifically on my TV because my TV is old and has limited smart options, but I do have it through either an Amazon fire stick or my rogers/shaw cable box. Though I use it mostly for the NHL out of market package so I can watch Sharks games and not just to watch Sportsnet channels unless I'm away from the TV and want to stream on my phone or tablet.

It's kind of ass. The biggest thing is that it's unstable and prone to crashing. And it can be hard to find what you're looking for if it's not on the front page or in the primary recommendations.

If I didn't have to use it to watch the Sharks (legally) I wouldn't use it at all. I miss NHLtv. Also because Sportsnet gives you no choice of feed for hockey games. You get what they give you and they definitely prioritize certain teams' feeds, which almost never includes the Sharks. I watch like 75 Sharks games a year on there outside of ones vs the Canucks or on national HNIC broadcasts or Wednesday Night Hockey or whatever and I'm lucky to get maybe 15 games with the Shark feed if I'm lucky.

 

[The Nemesis]

Given the lack of a game today I might sift through my collection of vintage games and see if there's something worth listening too to fill the gap. If I find something, I'll post it.

 

[Discoverer]

I hate the redesign of the Jays website making it so much harder to find probable pitchers without googling it.

Tuesday: Sanchez vs Francis
Wednesday: Abel vs Berrios
Thursday: Luzardo vs Bassitt

Thursday is an afternoon game.



I don't have it specifically on my TV because my TV is old and has limited smart options, but I do have it through either an Amazon fire stick or my rogers/shaw cable box. Though I use it mostly for the NHL out of market package so I can watch Sharks games and not just to watch Sportsnet channels unless I'm away from the TV and want to stream on my phone or tablet.

It's kind of ass. The biggest thing is that it's unstable and prone to crashing. And it can be hard to find what you're looking for if it's not on the front page or in the primary recommendations.

If I didn't have to use it to watch the Sharks (legally) I wouldn't use it at all. I miss NHLtv. Also because Sportsnet gives you no choice of feed for hockey games. You get what they give you and they definitely prioritize certain teams' feeds, which almost never includes the Sharks. I watch like 75 Sharks games a year on there outside of ones vs the Canucks or on national HNIC broadcasts or Wednesday Night Hockey or whatever and I'm lucky to get maybe 15 games with the Shark feed if I'm lucky.

I was wondering what the complaints were, since it seems to run pretty well for me, and most of those make a lot of sense. I only really watch Jays/Leafs games, and they're always right at the top when I open the app and always the home feed. Any time I try to navigate for highlights or previous games, it's a mess. I haven't had many issues with it crashing, but maybe I've just been lucky.

I also don't give Rogers any of my money, so maybe I don't notice/get as frustrated when something goes wrong.

 

[The Nemesis]

I have settled on a vintage game to share the radio broadcast of. And it might be the crown jewel of what's out there: The oldest known complete MLB radio broadcast in existence, the second annual MLB All-Star Game from 1934, taking place at the Polo Grounds in New York.



The starting lineups for both leagues brought serious star power, as 17 of the 18 starters would end up in the hall of fame (the only exception was the NL's starting center fielder, Wally Berger from the Braves, who had his career cut short due to injuries) and in total 28 of the 40 players named to the rosters (which includes both player/managers) were enshrined in Cooperstown. I believe that by the end of the game almost all of the future HOFers get at least one plate appearance or inning of work. I think there's just one lone player who doesn't make it in (Red Sox catcher Rick Ferrell)

The game also features a significant all-star game record that I can't mention without spoilers.

Your lineups (* indicates a future hall-of-famer)

American League
1) Charlie Gehringer* (2B/Detroit Tigers)
2) Heinie Manush* (LF/Washington Senators)
3) Babe Ruth* (RF/New York Yankees)
4) Lou Gehrig* (1B/New York Yankees)
5) Jimmie Foxx* (3B/Philadelphia Athletics)
6) Al Simmons* (CF/Chicago White Sox)
7) Joe Cronin* (SS/Washington Senators) ^Cronin was also the team's manager
8) Bill Dickey* (C/New York Yankees)
9) Lefty Gomez* (P/New York Yankees)

Reserves
Pitchers: Tommy Bridges (Detroit), Mel Harder (Cleveland), Red Ruffing* (New York), Jack Russell (Washington)

Position Players: C Mickey Cochrane* (Detroit), C Rick Ferrell* (Boston), 3B Jimmy Dykes (Chicago), 3B Pinky Higgins (Philadelphia), OF Earl Averill (Cleveland), OF Ben Chapman (New York), OF Sam West (St. Louis Browns)

National League
1) Frankie Frisch* (2B/St Louis Cardinals)
2) Pie Traynor* (3B/Pittsburgh Pirates)
3) Joe Medwick* (LF/St. Louis Cardinals)
4) Kiki Cuyler* (RF/Chicago Cubs)
5) Wally Berger (CF/Boston Braves)
6) Bill Terry* (1B/New York Giants) ^Terry was also the manager
7) Travis Jackson* (SS/New York Giants)
8) Gabby Hartnett* (C/Chicago Cubs)
9) Carl Hubbell* (P/New York Giants*

Reserves
Pitchers: Dizzy Dean* (St. Louis), Fred Frankhouse (Boston), Van Mungo (New York), Lon Warneke (Chicago)

Position Players: C Al Lopez* (New York), 2B Billy Herman* (Chicago), 3B Pepper Martin (Cardinals), SS Arky Vaughan* (Pittsburgh), OF Chuck Klein* (Chicago), OF Jo-Jo Moore (New York), OF Mel Ott* (New York), OF Paul Warner* (Pittsburgh)

I know I've posted this game before, but it was like 7 or 8 years ago and the youtube embed I used no longer exists. And there's a reasonable chance that some of the people here now may not have listened at the time.


@Da Cool Rula, @MS, @HockeyThoughts , @the valiant effort, @td_ice, @PanniniClaus, @canucksfan, @Blitzkrug, @hockeywiz542, @kb, @torontoblood

 

[MS]

The starting lineups for both leagues brought serious star power, as 17 of the 18 starters would end up in the hall of fame (the only exception was the NL's starting center fielder, Wally Berger from the Braves, who had his career cut short due to injuries) and in total 28 of the 40 players named to the rosters (which includes both player/managers) were enshrined in Cooperstown.

As an interesting aside to this, Wally Berger had one of the single craziest seasons in MLB history in 1935 (the year following this ASG).

The 1935 Braves finished 38-115 which is the worst season in the last 100 years and the 2nd worst in the modern era dating back to 1901 (pending Colorado this season). However, despite having - by far - the worst offense in MLB and scoring 71 fewer runs than the next-worst team, Berger somehow led the NL in HR and RBI. The worst offensive team in baseball had that season's RBI leader which you'd think would be something absolutely impossible. His team hit 75 HR and he had 34 of them.

The only thing anything like it is when Steve Carlton went 27-10 for the 1972 Phillies who went 32-87 in games where he didn't get the decision.

Incidentally, Babe Ruth had 6 HR for the 1935 Braves so this means that Ruth has the record for the highest percentage of his team's HR and also was a member of the team where the highest percentage of a team's HR was hit by a player not named Babe Ruth.

Anyhow, back to boring day with no sports.

 

[The Nemesis]

As an interesting aside to this, Wally Berger had one of the single craziest seasons in MLB history in 1935 (the year following this ASG).

The 1935 Braves finished 38-115 which is the worst season in the last 100 years and the 2nd worst in the modern era dating back to 1901 (pending Colorado this season). However, despite having - by far - the worst offense in MLB and scoring 71 fewer runs than the next-worst team, Berger somehow led the NL in HR and RBI. The worst offensive team in baseball had that season's RBI leader which you'd think would be something absolutely impossible. His team hit 75 HR and he had 34 of them.

The only thing anything like it is when Steve Carlton went 27-10 for the 1972 Phillies who went 32-87 in games where he didn't get the decision.

Incidentally, Babe Ruth had 6 HR for the 1935 Braves so this means that Ruth has the record for the highest percentage of his team's HR and also was a member of the team where the highest percentage of a team's HR was hit by a player not named Babe Ruth.

Anyhow, back to boring day with no sports.

That's nuts. I knew Berger's name in passing. Or at least in a "That name is familiar for some reason" capacity, but never really looked into him. It definitely seems like he would've been on a HOF track if he hadn't gotten hurt. He had 7 outstanding seasons to start his career then it seems like he got hurt and from 1937 onward he played less and less and got passed around the league with regularity (the Braves to the Giants to Cincinnati to the Phillies) as his power waned and he was toast by his early 30s.


Meanwhile, for the people that don't want to listen to classic baseball, I do have an alternate option: the 1981 National Public Radio audio dramatization of the original Star Wars, complete with Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels returning as Luke and C-3P0 and full access to the Lucasfilm sound effects and music libraries for authenticity.

It's 13 half-hour episodes, so I can't have every episode linked here, but I do have the first 3 and the rest are on the same channel (though the person uploaded episodes 9 and 10 in the wrong order so playing through the channel without putting them in a playlist might screw things up).

Spoiler

And yes, you read that right. The whole thing runs about 6 and a half hours. It's full of new and extended scenes that were trimmed from early versions of the movie's script. The events of the movie don't even start happening until the 3rd episode, with the first two being totally new content about Luke and his friends on Tatooine and the movements of both Leia and Vader leading up to the movie's opening battle scene.

Yeah, you could just watch the movie, but this is honestly a fun and new way to experience the story if Star Wars is your kind of thing.