Originally, I wrote this in the comments of the other thread, but it seems like a worthy topic for its own post.
I watched the game for the first five innings. It looked to me like the ball was juiced. For both sides, so this is not an excuse.
Neither starter had a good feel for the ball and it was jumping of the bats. The home run by Grisham was a fairly casual swing.
One more example. The ball that got through the infield in the 5th (6th?) bounced over Volpe's glove. He was in position and the ball bounced so high that he didn't get any leather on it. It was not a natural bounce and it didn't hit anything to make it do that.
MLB used what seemed liked juiced balls for the first Field of Dreams Game. There were I believe eight home runs in that game and it seemed like everything up in the air went out.
Same thing with the games played in London . Very exciting. Not natural.
Here are a few reasons they would do this... (Thanks AA for the question.)
1) Last night was a showcase.
Bigger audience than usual for the World Series Rematch Game. (TM)
The two biggest stars in the game go head to head like a heavyweight fight. Judge v. Othani. If you watched, there were all kinds of "Tale of the Tape" graphics and stuff like that going on...
We need to see some homers.
2) More home runs "proves" baseball isn't a boring game.
Sort of like in the above examples of the Field of Dreams game and the ones in London. New viewers and maybe a dad or two is trying to get his kid interested.
3) Apple TV's broadcasts are geared towards a younger demographic. More HRs is more videogame like.
Imagine if it was a "boring" pitchers duel.
To not deliver lot of hits, runs, and homers is to invite the comment, "This game sucks." from the non-Yankee or Dodger fans.
1) Last night was a showcase.
Bigger audience than usual for the World Series Rematch Game. (TM)
The two biggest stars in the game go head to head like a heavyweight fight. Judge v. Othani. If you watched, there were all kinds of "Tale of the Tape" graphics and stuff like that going on...
We need to see some homers.
2) More home runs "proves" baseball isn't a boring game.
Sort of like in the above examples of the Field of Dreams game and the ones in London. New viewers and maybe a dad or two is trying to get his kid interested.
3) Apple TV's broadcasts are geared towards a younger demographic. More HRs is more videogame like.
Imagine if it was a "boring" pitchers duel.
To not deliver lot of hits, runs, and homers is to invite the comment, "This game sucks." from the non-Yankee or Dodger fans.
Does anybody else think this?
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8 comments:
What is your theory behind why the ball would be juiced for last night's game/this series, Doug?
Doug, that all sounds pretty reasonable to me. MLB has proven one thing, if anything: they are greedy bastards who don't care about the integrity of the game. Just the money. Big audience demands big hits. Simple.
That is an astute observation, Doug. You're probably right. Even Judge's homer, something like 446 ft to just right of dead center. Didn't look like he hit it that hard. Maybe enough to go like 420, but almost 450 ft? And Ohtani's blasts too. Looking back at it all, it was all highly suspicious last night.
I wonder that the MLB brass assholes can't understand that something like that makes Pete Rose betting on baseball seem like child's play. Even if you use the same super wound balls for both teams, it's messing with the integrity of the game. One pitcher can be more affected than another. One team can be benefitted more than the other. And what happens when someone who knows something puts down bets on those sports gambling websites? Insider trading .. meet ... insider gambling.
It ain't the first time this has happened. It keeps happening when there's some big showcase game. That's really fucked up. It's a big turn off for me. Makes me wonder how much of this is all a fucking charade.
Doug, I think you're on to something. That sounds all too likely to me—and the results were there, in what is a pitcher's park.
Also, it DID penalize the Yankees, in that we were starting our ace, against a so-so Dodgers pitcher.
And just to get to Hammer's posts today: spot on.
This is the one thing where The Estimable Keefe goes awry, I think. Maximizing solo home runs is NOT a good strategy. I would say that quite obviously, Goldschmidt and Rice, at least, should hit in front of Judge. It would help if we had more guys who could get on base, of course, but we have to maximize it, and group them together!...
...We haven't seen this stat this year because Cantrun's been injured. But I remember there is some figure on how often the Yankees win when Judge and Cantrun hit back-to-back...which they hardly ever do, even when Cantrun manages to play!!!
This is not rocket science. Hitting your best hitters together, with high OBP guys ahead of sluggers is long-proven baseball strategy!
Also...Hammer is right about The Martian. You're going to develop a player, develop him. You can't go around saying this guy is the next Mickey Mantle, then keep him on the bench. He goes part and parcel with poor Rumfield, stranded eternally down in Scranton. The man is a .290 hitter with some pop. Promote him or trade him. Period.
And I agree about the reverse sweep. Yanks look altogether different when playing a good team.
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