Update: Chris Davis Still Not Blinking (And Still Amazing)

by Jordan Shusterman

In late April, I explored Chris Davis’ ridiculous start to the season and what might have caused it. Nearly three months later, my hypothesis has been all but scientifically proven.

Chris Davis has yet to blink once this entire season.

He is too focused on breaking every possible non-Barry Bonds record ever set. Davis is currently second only to Miguel Cabrera in FanGraphs WAR at 4.8. He’s slugging .731. THAT IS RIDICULOUS. He has a commanding lead in the home run department at 32 on the year. To be nice, Chris Davis has yet to steal a base this year. He feels that would be unfair. Anyway, let’s just get to the overwhelming evidence.

Here is Chris Davis not blinking moments before getting slapped by a friendly teammate:

Here is Chris Davis not blinking while avoiding looking at Justin Morneau’s questionable moustache: 

morneau stache

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Pitching Backwards: The New Normal

by Jordan Shusterman

We thought that we had seen the last of it.

Garrett Richards showed us what it meant to stretch the limits of pitching mechanics.

Earlier this week, Marlins phenom Jose Fernandez did it again.

What happened today is completely unprecedented. Two pitchers on two different teams performed their personal rendition of what seems to be baseball’s newest trend. The Chicago Cubs were in Oakland facing the A’s. Cubs starter Travis Wood had held the Cubbies scoreless through 3.2 innings when Nate Freiman…approached the plate.

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Trip Preview: Day 4

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday, July 10th

Start Point: Chicago, Illinois

End Point: Chicago, Illinois

Approximate Milage: 0 Miles

Driving Time: 0 Hours and 0 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago Cubs

Notes: Gonna be a chill one. We’ll wake up in Chicago at our friends house and spend all day touring Chicago. Hopefully we will go down to Lake Michigan and do some Jetskiing. Then we’ll take a trip down to Milt’s Barbecue For The Perplexed where the Head Chef is a fellow .9er. The day concludes with another trip to Wrigley.

Trip Preview: Day 3

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Tuesday, July 9th

Start Point: Somewhere near Clinton, Iowa

End Point: Wrigley Field, Chicago

Approximate Milage: 293 Miles

Driving Time: 5 Hours and 27 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago Cubs

Notes: We will wake up early in Iowa (Or is it heaven? No, it’s Iowa) and drive about an hour north to Dyersville, Iowa; home of The Field of Dreams. We aren’t Shoeless Joe or James Earl Jones, but like every baseball fan we too have a rightful claim to the cornfield. The one regret about the planning of the entire trip was that we didn’t figure out how to bring a dad with us to the Field of Dreams to play catch with. We plan on bringing “dad-hats” instead. After the Iowa magic has completely rejuvenated our bones, we will hop back in the car and head east towards Chicago. Our general admission bleacher seats will put us in the perfect spot to catch some Mark Trumbo BP home runs. Any day that has The Field Of Dreams and Mike Trout sounds good to me.

Jose Fernandez Continues Backwards Pitching Revolution

by jakemintz

A couple months ago we looked at Angels pitcher Garrett Richards and his new unorthodox approach to pitching. It’s been a quiet time for this new strategy, but last night it struck again thanks to Marlins rookie phenom Jose Fernandez. No, it wasn’t the eight innings of scoreless pitching that got our attention. It wasn’t the 10 strikeouts either. It wasn’t even this absurdly nasty slider that caused Carlos Quentin to quit baseball.

What made Jose Fernandez’s outing Monday night so special was this one pitch to Chase Headley in the seventh inning…

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Trip Preview: Day 2

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Monday, July 8th

Start Point: Somewhere near Toledo

End Point: Somewhere near Clinton, Iowa

Approximate Milage: 386 Miles

Driving Time: 6 Hours and 2 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: Cedar Rapids Kernels @ Clinton Lumberkings

  • Prospects: Gaby Guerrero, Tyler Pike, Victor Sanchez, Guillermo Pimentel, Niko Goodrum, Jose Berrios, Adam Brett Walker, Max Kepler.

Notes: We missed Buxton by 2 weeks. It was the reason we were driving all the way to Iowa. We were downtrodden and heartbroken. It was the end of the world. There are still a mess of prospects to catch in Clinton however, our favorite of whom being the Twins’ German outfielder Kepler. Born and raised in the motherland, Kepler is a crazy athlete who has a chance to be the first German born outfielder to make the major leagues. The Lumberkings boast Gaby Guerrero, Vlads just-as-free-swinging nephew. After the game we will drive an hour north towards our next day’s destination: The Field Of Dreams.

These Cleats Are Made For Walking: Hey Adam Jones

by Jordan Shusterman

So basically, Orioles outfielder Adam Jones hasn’t drawn a walk since May 18th.

That’s 174 consecutive plate appearances without drawing a walk.

He’s now got a 66-8 K/BB ratio through 359 plate appearances.

COME ON ADAM. YOU’RE GOOD AT BASEBALL. DO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SORTA SHOWS THAT YOU’RE GOOD AT BASEBALL. LIKE ONCE. PLEASE. kthxbye.

In other news…

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Trip Preview: Day 1

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Sunday, July 7th

Start Point: Nationals Park

End Point: Somewhere near Toledo

Approximate Milage: 470 Miles

Driving Time: 7 Hours and 33 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: San Diego Padres @ Washington Nationals

Notes: The beginning of the trip might also be what we are most looking forward to; the Baseball Prospectus Nats Park event. We are looking forward to meeting some of the writers and personalities that we look up to and follow. Guys like Jason Parks, Ben Lindbergh, Mark Ferrin, and Andrew Meyer will all be in attendance. Following the event, the Narts tark arn thar Pardrars. Instead of paying for gas we plan on using #natitude to keep my car running for the entire week. After the game, we pull a Joe and head West, with Clinton, Iowa as our next destination. We hope to stop somewhere around Toledo for the night and finish the driving the next morning.

9 Things We Learned at Nationals Park On A Tuesday In June

by Jordan Shusterman

This past Tuesday, Jake and I attended our first major league baseball game of the 2013 season. We watched the Arizona Diamondbacks lose to the Washington Natitudes 7-5 after nine innings of surprisingly mediocre baseball.

Boring game recaps be damned; here are the nine things we learned from this night of based ballz.

1. Wade Miley Is Almost Definitely Related To Miley Cyrus

During batting practice, we were kindly heckling some Diamondbacks players in right field as they shagged fly balls and probably talked about dirty things. At one point, Ian Kennedy and Wade Miley simultaneously drifted back for a fly ball. Kennedy grabbed it, but it was a near collision. After criticizing for their lack of communication, we finally had Wade’s attention. We had to ask.

“WADE ! ARE YOU RELATED TO MILEY ?!”

“What ?”

“You know…Miley…”

“Oh yeah…she’s my sister.”

Case closed.

2. Trevor Cahill Is Large

20130628-142408.jpg

When the D-backs starter for the night emerged from the dugout, we were surprised by the sheer size of him. He’s listed at 6″4 220 lbs but he looked to be the biggest player on the team. Just a big dude.

3. There Is No Minimum Height To Be On the Washington Nationals Grounds Crew

20130628-142250.jpg

We were sure this was Jose Altuve just doing some adorable charity work, but it seems to just be some lucky kid tasked with carrying a hose around. Sidenote: The Fox Sports West reporter at the bottom of the picture looked remarkably unhappy for the entire game.

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