We Already Got Our 1st Solid Clubhouse Beef Just 6 Days Into The MLB Season
"That's not our style of play.... bottom line it's not his judgement... that's why we have a coach stand over there... that's an effort thing." - Oliver Marmol on Tyler O'Neil's effort on this play:
And it's happening inside the Cardinals clubhouse. You'd think this would make me happy and turns out it does very much. I like seeing them struggle and quite frankly that's because it's so rare.
The fundamentals say Keep Your Head Down
I'll be straight up. It bothers me the Cardinals have owned most of my life and never suck and are always good. I got them flanking my south and Packers fans lurking to the North. Anyone born from 1982-1997 mostly knows pain in Chicago and now I'm getting away from the point. I can simultaneously love-to-hate the Cardinals while acknowledging it comes from a deeply insecure place.
Some more acknowledgements on this:
Tyler O'Neil is crafting one hell of a message. He's going balls out… in a way that allows him go balls out 160 games a year aka stay healthy. Never in my life has anyone primarily intersected Personal Health w/ Maximum Effort. Normally you're only allowed to pick one. The fluidity in his speech pattern here makes me think he would make a decent attorney. The ones where you have to do heinous shit but tie it back to corporate goodwill. That's where his skillset plays.
Knowing the Cardinals, this will actually get Tyler O'Neil to run hard the rest of the season. And good because he should. There's a handful of dudes that can drive a Cadillac around the bases and he's definitely not one of them. Miguel Cabrera and Sal Perez come to mind. Don't you dare put Tyler O'Neil in the same sentence as those big fellas.
Some other stuff as we finish one week of games today:
11 day games today. That's an alarm. A notice. This is the first day of heavy travel and it sneaks up quick. You could get home and expect to catch a game. There's only one tonight so get the apps out early today if you want some action.
Ron Kulpa Ruined Yesterday
MY APOLOGIES
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I wrote a separate blog for this incident trying to understand Ron Kulpa. I'm bring it up again here because I just can't get over losing a bet in the 1st inning of the 1st game because some asshole MLB umpire doesn't have any feel for the moment.
Here's a fact. You don't toss Manny. He's too good and too cool and we don't need to start complicating that in support of long-term sponsorships.
The Mets Are Getting Bulldozed In Milwaukee
19-0 after two games including two separate Back to Backs yesterday. One of which off $43,000,000 pitcher Max Scherzer. The other off Brooks Raley, which I find personally notable.
We'll keep moving but real quick - Brooks Raley is in our universe right now and I want to use him as an example of what I love about the game.
Brooks Raley is a fuckin LEGEND. Dude was a big prospect out of Texas A&M.
The Cubs grabbed him in the 6th round for a large bag of money as a draft-eligible sophomore. it at the top of the order. Played centerfield. Started on Friday nights. Starred for Team USA and was good enough to generate Two Way talk long before his time. He flew through the minors and got to the big leagues in 2012. Two bad early years forced him out of the Big Leagues and by the end of 2014, he was sniffing around the Korean League. He threw almost 1,000 innings in the KBO before returning to MLB and now he's finally established himself a little more than 10 years after his Cubs' debut.
Baseball and Golf deliver those stories more than any other sports and they always feel good. Even if it comes on the heels of Brooks getting his shit rocked by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Here's A Nice Play
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Consider this more of a reminder that Luis Castillo is on the Mariners and he's very, very good. Maybe the most slept on pitcher the last 10 years, and all of that is because he's played in Cinci on bad teams. Now he's in Seattle with a small taste of the playoffs and the man is cooking. Hard: 11.2 innings, 3 hits and 12 strikeouts in 2 starts against 0 earned runs. Sure nice play. Just remember this dude is very fucking good and the Mariners have 6 games on the east coast at the end of the month. There should be some crazy good road value against the Phillies or Blue Jays.
Dodgers HR Celly
It's just so good. Dodger Stadium is like going to the Flamingo in Vegas. Like it could be a little nicer, but they've maxed it out. They try as hard as they can.
Speaking Of Max Effort, Aroldis Chapman:
Chapman and Amir Garrett on the same roster in the same bullpen, neither of them closing. That should yield a lot of draft prospects or even better headlines.
Or Even Better Last Names?
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Maybe a weak transition but I just want to say I love the way a name can fill a uniform. Some are too aggressive. Others too curt and crunchy. Personally I find Mastrobuoni to be the perfect balance. I've got to maneuver my body to read it fully. I have to try a little harder just to remember the U precedes the O in BUONI. Meanwhile nicknames like Mastro and Jabroni flow freely and with the added benefit of a blue collar Italian trying to make his family proud.
Caesar bottled up the same energy to conquer his known world.
Can Mastrobuoni use it to slash .260/.340/.380?
Nobody cares right now. It's just a good looking last name.
Nobody Cares About The A's
I'm 2-0 on the A's this year. I'm not living in Vegas moving lines, but there's a takeaway. Late night games in Oakland under atypical circumstances are good times to bet the A's. Opening Day against the WBC superstars is an example. Next game after a bad late loss. Or when a veteran opposing pitcher is a heavy favorite while having enough time to visit Napa with his family earlier in the trip.
Whether Shane Bieber did or didn't go to wine country is irrelevant. I'm just saying there's plenty of reasons to bet the A's when they're +170 and above AT HOME. I know they suck but it's Major League Baseball. It doesn't take much to lose a baseball game.
It Doesn't Take Much To Be Good For The Dodgers
I gotta turn some of these into Tik Toks and I should probably start here. The Dodgers do this shit all the time. I'm convinced they could get my to lift 10-15 homers over a full 162 with the right amount of time and patience.
And this could be interpreted as dramatic but it's not. Anyone who remembers Justin Turner as a Met knows what I'm talking about. It's a borderline magical place to play baseball and it should surprise nobody if Jason Heyward channels his mid 20's in Los Angeles.
Pick A Catch:
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VS.
I'll take #2. Jumping and catching is harder than Catching and Running into something. Difficulty scores are marginal, but I'm scoring this one in favor of 2.
While Nobody Is Scoring On Sandy
At some point I think we should study the Miami nightlife effect on complete game shutouts. The Minnesota twins never go to Miami and are loaded with veterans. Those are the guys that go out to dinner and then accidentally come back at sunrise. "I didn't know you had to pay for that" becomes the theme of the trip.
On the other side is Sandy Alcantara, humming upper 90's with polish and poise.
You're not fucked so much as you never stood a chance.
HOUSEKEEPING
I'll be in Detroit tomorrow with Wild Thing. We're gonna be crushing Pepsi and watching Tigers opening day baseball. I'll have trivia and prizes ready to go if you want to test your strength against The Dozen question bank. You really can't be any worse than the Brewers fans that tried on Monday. Then we got Cubs/Rangers in Wrigley on Friday and some college baseball over the weekend. One day at a time fellas.
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Next week we should have a new short-form panel-style show on YouTube with a mix of baseball guys. Still trying to figuring out that side of things but the general premise is representing as many divisions as possible with actual insight. Like it's fun for me to bust balls on a Tik Tok but for purposes of actual substantive conversations - we gotta go to the well of expertise.
This is a recap blog and one of many baseball blogs that will be out today. Follow Barstool Baseball so you don't miss anything from the boys.