hogan873

Hell of a pitch.

Leury has looked better with more consistent playing time. He looks, when playing regularly, like the guy who was a good bench guy over the past few seasons. If it weren't for the Engel and Robert injuries, he wouldn't be getting the playing time and would most likely not be very good. It makes sense to have him be the primary CFer until Engel returns. Eaton and Mendick can hold down RF, and Vaughn is solid in LF. When (hopefully) Engel returns, Mendick and Leury need to stay, and Lamb needs to hit the road.

What a catch by Vaughn!

Game threads are full of hot takes. Everyone knows that.

Our hitters are going to make Keller look like Cy Young.

Swing the damn bat.

Dammit. Looks like Pujols is being signed.

I didn't realize how quickly he went downhill after going to LA. He hasn't been very good for a while. But maybe he knows about the double switch rule...

Even the best managers will lose a game or two with bad decisions/actions/non-actions. But when you have a manger who may or may not be conscious for most games and completely out of touch with how baseball is now played, the bad managing is magnified. I keep thinking of Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own, lounging in the dugout scratching his nuts. The bad news here is TLR isn't going to have an epiphany and become an engaged, present, good manager. He'll be dozing and ball-scratching all season while his team goes out there and (hopefully) wins in spite of him.

Abreu would probably support Satan as manager. "He gets a bad rap. I think the horns on his head scare people, but he's a good guy. The pitchfork he occasionally pokes people with is just for motivation. Sure, he hates God, but to each his own."

Overall, the rotation has looked good. Giolito has been good, even great in spots, but he's been let down by his offense and manager. Lynn is a horse and has been as good as we expected. Keuchel looked great today but has been spotty. Cease and Rodon are the big surprises. Both are pitching very well, especially Cease lately. Kopech in his spot starts has been lights out and has been lights out in relief appearances, too. It will be interesting come August and beyond (playoffs?). If all six guys are still here, they have a lot to work with.

That was such a fun game to watch. Cease looked really good pitching. He has been much better with locating his pitches lately, and his off speed stuff was particularly nasty. Add three hits to his performance, and he's the easy player of the game. Moncada is starting to look like the Moncada from 2019. TA continues to be TA. Abreu came through to get things started. Madrigal looked solid in the 2-spot. Ruiz has been surprisingly good so far this season. This team is still good even without Eloy and Robert. The guys we expect to perform need to perform. There's less room for error. But, damn this team is stacked with talent.

Cease looks much more confident. He’s always had the stuff, now he’s learning how to use it.

Moncada is looking really good lately.

Cease’s sliders are nasty so far.

Considering who is available and it's in an NL park, this is about as good as it gets. Could move a guy or two around, but it wouldn't make a huge difference.

To watch it from home with the rest of us.

I suppose we all knew this was coming. I hope Hahn and company don't try to insult the fans by saying the team is okay with internal options to cover his absence.

I've seen nothing from Lamb that makes me believe he'll be any good this year.

For Robert? It was stated that he'd be further evaluated today. I'm not sure we'll get anything definitive anyway. My guess is that they'll say he's sidelined for 3-6 weeks.

Vaughn continues to look pretty good at the plate.

He has every right to be pissed.

When this team is good, they’re good. When they’re bad, they’re fucking terrible.

No...

That slider was gross.