Baseball

[NewtonHawk11]

This is bad. Really bad. For his family, for the Angels and for MLB.

[Deleted User 141]

Does this mean thy are going to change their nickname to the Demons?

[jfish26]

Does this mean thy are going to change their nickname to the Demons?

Maybe? On the other hand, inaccurate names are sort of their thing.

[Deleted User 266]

Cards score 13 runs in one game and then score 2 runs in 3 games.
They picked a really shitty time for their bats to go cold. Granted, they have gone up against some very good quality pitching.
Oh well, go Nats. Hey, it's not over yet.

[Sparko]

Ova.

[Deleted User 266]

Ova indeed.
I'm wondering how people feel about Joe Maddon taking a job with a team that buried a player this season probably mostly due to a "lack of institutional control".

[noosh]

Reading that he was texting Kay for drugs when Kay was in the hospital recovering from an overdose tells me someone/many people knew Skaggs had a major problem and was in deep trouble.
The fact that someone/people affiliated with the Angles still chose to be enablers is sickening.
I have an old school Rally Monkey shirt - I'm tossing it in the garbage as soon as I end this post.

Horrible situation - yes I agree that it looks like a number of people not just knew there was a very serious problem, but enabled it.

And this is going to cost the Angels dearly.

They got Maddon and ridded themselves of a couple druggies. I think they're doing just fine!

[pdub]

Anyone but the Yankees or Cards.

Everyone wins.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Holy Shit.

Astros Staffer's Outburst at Female Reporters Illustrates MLB's Forgive-and-Forget Attitude Toward Domestic Violence


HOUSTON — More than an hour after José Altuve won the Astros the pennant, the party in the Houston clubhouse still raged. Rightfielder Josh Reddick was crushing vodka Red Bulls. Starter Gerrit Cole smoked a cigar. Shortstop Carlos Correa gazed lovingly at the American League championship trophy.

And in the center of the room, assistant general manager Brandon Taubman turned to a group of three female reporters, including one wearing a purple domestic-violence awareness bracelet, and yelled, half a dozen times, “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f------ glad we got Osuna!”

The outburst was offensive and frightening enough that another Houston staffer apologized. The Astros declined to comment. They also declined to make Taubman available for an interview.

Taubman's timing was odd.

Closer Roberto Osuna had allowed a two-run home run to tie the game in the top of the ninth. He had been, by Baseball Reference’s calculations and any intelligent observer’s assessment, the least valuable Astro that night. So why would Taubman choose that moment, to taunt that demographic? It’s not hard to figure out.

Osuna likely only pitches for Houston because he allegedly assaulted Alejandra Román Cota, the mother of his then-three-year-old child, in May 2018, as a member of the Blue Jays. Prosecutors dropped the charges after Cota returned to Mexico and declined to testify; as part of the bargain, Osuna agreed not to have contact with her for one year. MLB suspended him 75 games, a stretch that did not include the postseason. Osuna was one of the best closers in the game, and his infraction made him, in the mind of the Astros’ front office, a distressed asset. They traded for him, and in terms of traditional organizational capital, the price was low: the Astros gave up their own struggling closer and two middling pitching prospects for him.

. . .

But when the bill comes due, teams act like they, not the people their actions wounded, are the aggrieved party. How dare you keep reminding us of the past? Don’t you understand we have baseball games to play?

And that’s the irony of that interaction with Taubman. None of those women were talking to him. They weren’t even talking about Osuna. Taubman brought him up.

. . .

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/22/houst ... suspension

[Deleted User 266]

The Astros issued a statement after the story was published by SI saying, “The story posted by Sports Illustrated is misleading and completely irresponsible. An Astros player was being asked questions about a difficult outing. Our executive was supporting the player during a difficult time. His comments had everything to do about the game situation that just occurred and nothing else — they were also not directed toward any specific reporters. We are extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated’s attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”

Hunter Atkins, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle, tweeted in reaction to Houston’s statement, “The Astros called this @stephapstein report misleading. It is not. I was there. Saw it. And I should’ve said something sooner.” And Hannah Keyser, a baseball reporter for Yahoo Sports, tweeted, “Can confirm,” in response to Apstein’s tweet.

https://heavy.com/sports/2019/10/brandon-taubman/

[noosh]

I mean it's not like they were playing Smack my Bitch Up in the clubhouse. You don't have to like a guy for what he does off the field. He paid for his crime and if I were a pro sports player I'd want the best guys on my team. I can't stand half the people I work with personally but I'm thrilled to have them on my team. No different.

[CrimsonNBlue]

It’s kind of impressive to miss the point that badly.

[Deleted User 266]

David Ross is the new Flubs Skipper. That and $2.25 gets me a ride on a bus and the Cubs another 84-78 season. If they're lucky.

[NewtonHawk11]

Such a bad move for that franchise. I get he's liked and former catchers are good managers, but they should have gone after someone who has been coaching/managing for a while over someone who retired after a fairly mediocre career and then did 2 years of TV work.

[Deleted User 266]

Tough call. I agree but there are a couple of guys who have been in recent WS who were managing their first go around.



On a related note.
I was at his last game as a player.

This was his 2nd to last game.
Where's Gutter?

[Deleted User 266]

2019 Game 2 W.S. for the Stros reminded me a lot of the 2003 Game 6 NLCS for the Cubs.

[NewtonHawk11]

Still think the Astros get a game in Washington and it gets to 7 games. Cole and Verlander were off their game, they'll each get another shot to do better and I'm sure they will.

[Deleted User 266]

You very well may be right. Weather may play a factor Saturday and Sunday if necessary. Not sure who that would benefit.

[Cascadia]

I doubt this gets past 5 games.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Taubman fired. I'm not sure how that could have gone any other way.

Astros straight fumbled that.