Tag: mlb

Immaculate Grid Superstar: Joe Morgan

When playing Immaculate Grid, there are a number of “go to guys” I use whenever I am stuck on a particular box. Guys that have bounced around like Edwin Jackson, J.D. Martinez and any left-handed reliver with a pulse are good options when trying to go Immaculate. One surprising player that I have used frequently over this past year is in the Hall of Fame, and arguably the best player ever to have played second base: Joe Morgan.

Joe Morgan checks many boxes for Immaculate Grid. Photo from CBS News.

The two-time Most Valuable Player winner started his career with the then Houston Colt 45’s in 1963 before shockingly getting dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in 1972 where he had his best seasons. After his time with the Reds was complete, he went back to Houston for the 1980 season before hopping to the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s to close out his legendry career after the 1984 campaign. Not only does Morgan check a number of team boxes, he also fills out categories such as MVP, played one game at second base and All-Star. You don’t think of Hall of Famers as options from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s when playing Immaculate Grid. However, I seem to use Morgan to fill out my grid at least once every ten days.

If there was an Immaculate Grid for baseball announcers, Morgan would fill in nicely there as well. He has worked with broadcasting icons John Miller and Bob Costas on ESPN and NBC. He’s a Hall of Fame player and one of the great Immaculate Grid superstars. He’s Joe Morgan.

A Beautiful Day at Yankee Stadium

The Lynch family ventured out for our first baseball game of the year on Sunday, May 19. We saw the New York Yankees take on the Chicago White Sox with the Bronx Bombers looking for the sweep. I would describe the game as a ho hum affair as the Yanks are really good and the White Sox, not so much. New York would win 7-2 thanks to home runs by Aaron Judge and Jon Berti and six solid innings pitched by Carlos Rodon.

It was a picture perfect day at Yankee Stadium. After what seemed to be an endless array of cool and rainy weather, we were treated to a gorgeous, sunny 72 degree day. We sat in Section 331, first row, near the left field foul pole, pretty high up but able to see all the action on the diamond. It really is my happy place: my family with me watching the great game of baseball. Even transportation, long the bane of a sports fan’s existence, was a good time. Taking the train to the Stadium is super quick and convenient and for entertainment, we were treated to a drunk fan passing out on the ride home. The one odd sight, though common in the new Yankee Stadium, is the scores of empty seats as many fans opted to indulge in the restaurants and bars on the lower level. I understand wanting to shelter on a cold day in April but a picturesque Sunday afternoon? No place better than outdoors.

We have two other games to go to on our calendar: Philadelphia at the end of June and Citi Field in mid-July. We hope that, just like the Yankees, the home teams win both of those contests. No matter the result, going to a ballpark with the family is always a beautiful day.

The Week Ahead in Major League Baseball (May 20-May 26)

This is the start of a weekly feature looking at the following week’s activities in Major League Baseball. I will look at the series I feel you should pay attention to as well as focusing one one specific player. Beyond those two items, the rest of the post will feature anything that pops into my scattered but fertile baseball mind. Like this blog, I am sure it will be ever changing and, over time, will be improved with each entry. Enjoy the maiden voyage of this new feature!

Catch Shota Imanaga this weekend against the Cardinals. Photo from the Chicago Sun Times.

Series to Watch: Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

The Cubs are two games out of first place in the National League Central while the Cardinals are six games under .500. Fans of both teams will tell you this is the best rivalry in baseball. We’ve never had a true two team pennant race between the clubs since the switch to three divisions thirty years ago. They will have tough early week matchups prior to their clash over the weekend with the Cubs visiting the Atlanta Braves and the Cards hosing the Baltimore Orioles. The first series matchup of the season between them features a national audience on Sunday Night Baseball.

Player to Watch: Shota Imanaga

Paul Skenes is getting all the hype and Ranger Suarez has been the best pitcher on the best team in baseball. Somehow, the Cubs’ Imanaga has been slightly overlooked despite an ERA of less than 1 through nine starts. He is due to start on Friday, getting his first taste of the storied Cubs-Cardinals history. The St. Louis offense has been terrible in 2024 so it will be interesting to see how the rookie deals with them.

Ugly Alert:

It could get nasty in Chicago this weekend. The American League worst White Sox host the Orioles, led by home run leader Gunnar Henderson. Chicago’s pitchers have allowed a Majors-worst 63 homers not exactly a good recipe when facing a team that has hit the most round-trippers. The White Sox would prefer to see a different AL East team, the Tampa Bay Rays as they took four of six from them earlier in the year. After getting swept by the New York Yankees this weekend and then traveling to Toronto for a series against the Blue Jays before hosting the O’s, the Sox could fall further into the abyss by this time next week.

Underachiever Series: Miami Marlins at Arizona Diamondbacks

These two playoff teams from 2023 are a combined 21 games under .500. The Marlins have already punted on 2024 with their trade of Luis Arraez. Arizona has a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers starting on Monday, who would love to inflict more damage on the team who eliminated them last postseason. Though Miami is too far gone to dream of October baseball, this series may represent the start of the last chance for the D-backs to defend their National League crown. After the Marlins depart, Arizona has a stretch until June 21 of playing teams .500 and under.



The Yo Yo Known as the Arizona Diamondbacks

Once upon a time, I was the editor of Venom Strikes, a blog dedicated to the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s true. Just Google, “Tom Lynch Venom Strikes” and you can link to one of my articles like this. When I tell people that I am a huge baseball fan and that I once blogged about the Diamondbacks, inevitably they want to know how a Yankees fan in New York became a writer for the Snakes. The answer is I was asked and so I obliged. That makes me one of the only people in the tristate area that has a rooting interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Corbin Carroll has lately been showing off his All Star form. Photo from NBC News

But that’s not what this entry is about.

The D’backs are the defending National League champions yet have had an uneven start to this season, to say the least. They sit at 20-22, too early to panic but fair to wonder if they can make the playoffs. It has been one of the those seasons where pieces have been missing or underperforming. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. started off on fire while Corbin Carroll was in a major slump. Now, Carroll has seemingly turned the corner and Gurriel is batting .235. Jordan Montgomery arrived just as Merrill Kelly got hurt. Eduardo Rodriguez hasn’t pitched yet. Paul Sewald recently returned and Kevin Ginkel has not been the playoff Kevin Ginkel. On the bright side, Joc Pederson has been a solid addition and Ketel Marte is looking like Top 5 MVP Ketel Marte.

Remember, Arizona finished the 2023 season with an 84-78 record. It won’t take much effort to reach that number this season but it may not be good enough for the playoffs in 2024. In order to reach their full potential of being a 90 win, postseason team, the yo-yoing needs to stop and the killer instinct that was on display during that October series in Philadelphia needs to return by the end of the month.

Dave Stieb, Pitching Master

I was watching the Yankees-Astros game Tuesday night when Michael Kay and David Cone were talking about pitchers. I wasn’t hearing the exact background but I did perk up when I heard the name Dave Stieb. For those who are unaware, Stieb was one of the great pitchers of the 1980’s, totaling 176 victories over his 16 year career, mostly with the Toronto Blue Jays. Perhaps more memorable was the fact that it seemed like once per season, he would lose a no hitter in the ninth inning.

Dave Stieb was a great pitcher in the 1980’s. Photo from the Toronto Sun

Dave Stieb twirled five one hitters over the course of his career, three of them coming with two outs in the ninth inning. Finally, on September 2, 1990, “Sir David” completed the elusive no-hitter, beating the Cleveland Indians 3-0. This string of brilliant outings came as no surprise. Stieb is a seven time All Star and finished in the top ten of the Cy Young voting four times. In 1982, he was named the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year as he led the American League in shutouts with five and complete games with 19. When the Blue Jays made their first playoff appearance in 1985, Stieb led the American League with a 2.48 ERA as Toronto finished one game short of the World Series. After four appearances with the Chicago White Sox in 1993, he didn’t pitch for four years and made a comeback with the Blue Jays at age 40. After 19 appearances in 1998, Stieb called it a career; he still holds the most victories by a pitcher in Jays’ history.

Stieb was one of the best pitchers of his era. He gets overshadowed by names like Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan and Jack Morris. However, if I had to win one game against any one of those great pitchers, I wouldn’t hesitate to give the ball to Dave Stieb.

Immaculate Grid Superstar: Paul Lindblad

Earlier this year, I wrote about my daily activity of playing Immaculate Grid. With my oldest son coming home from college in a couple of days, our playing family will be complete. From time to time, I will be featuring players whom I consider Immaculate Grid Superstars. This can be someone who has bounced around from team to team, thereby making certain grid boxes easy. Or, it is a player whom I know will get a low percentage of respondents. Today’s post features the latter option: former pitcher Paul Lindblad.

It is amazing that I even would think of Paul Lindblad. After all, he retired after the 1978 season when I was five years old. Yet, he sticks out because back when I first started collecting baseball cards, I needed two players to complete my Topps 1979 New York Yankees: Lindblad and Gary Thomasson, two players who saw extremely limited time with the Yanks. Lindblad was the proud owner of three World Series rings, two with the Oakland A’s in 1973 and 1974 and one with the Yankees in 1978. He also pitched for the Washington Senators who later became the Texas Ranges. Three teams may not seem like a lot for Immaculate Grid but if you get stuck in a grid, Lindblad will provide a nice low score as my picture above demonstrates.

Besides the three championships, other notable career accomplishments for Paul Lindblad include a combined no hitter for the A’s on September 28, 1975. While with the Rangers in 1972, he led the American League in appearances with 66. The lefty was a valuable member of the Oakland bullpen in 1974 sporting a 2.04 ERA in over 100 innings pitched. Paul Lindblad enjoyed a successful 14 year career in the Majors and is now your first Immaculate Grid Superstar.

Saluting Ranger Suarez

This has been a rough first month for Major League Baseball starting pitchers. A rash of season ending injuries to multiple starters, including All Stars Shane Bieber and Spencer Strider, has left fans, players and media alike wondering what is the culprit. I come here not with any definitive answers (though I have ideas) and instead propose acknowledging someone who doesn’t light up radar guns. He doesn’t wow you with spin rates and knee buckling curves. He’s what you call an artist and right now he is painting a masterpiece of a season.

Give it up for Ranger Suarez, please.

Ranger Suarez can hopefully change a lot of minds on pitching. Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer

The 28-year old left hander is coming off a streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings, tied for fifth best in Philadelphia Phillies’ history. To call this a breakout season so far is an understatement. His ERA is a miniscule 1.32 and he has thrown one of the Majors’ only complete game shutouts. He gives the Phillies a formidable 1-2-3 combination with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. Yet, outside of Philadelphia, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of fanfare about Suarez’s work. The easy and correct answer is that he is not a strikeout pitcher. He has 40 K’s in 41 innings pitched. He doesn’t throw 98 miles an hour. He doesn’t scream after a big out.

I’d rather focus on the fact he has only issued six walks and 20 hits. That translates to a phenomenal .0634 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched.) All the big pitching talk revolves around strikeouts per nine innings, an obsession that is killing the pitching profession. Suarez’s success is a credit to both his physical ability and his acumen in knowing HOW to get batters out. That to me is much more impressive than someone looking to hit triple digits on the radar gun on nearly every pitch. Large amounts of strikeouts leads to shorter outings by your starting pitching and more use of the bullpen. Suarez’s pitching saves the bullpen, keeps his fielders active and goes deep into games, a combination all starting pitchers should be emulating. Would we be overlooking Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine if they were pitching today?

I have no idea if Ranger Suarez’s ERA will remain below 1.50 for the rest of the season. Chances are, the laws of baseball will catch up and he will be closer to 2.00 or higher by the end of the season. However, what I do know is that the only way for the baseball establishment to become less reliant on velocity and spin rates is for Ranger Suarez to out together a string of Cy Young worthy seasons. Maybe then we will focus on the art of pitching. I’ll be rooting for him.

Dwight Gooden, Pitching Coach

It was a special day at Citi Field on April 14th. The New York Mets saluted one of the great pitchers in franchise history, Dwight Gooden. Doctor K, as he is called, had his number 16 retired forever. After well documented substance and other off the field issues, it was a great day in New York to see Gooden, seemingly in great spirits, allowing all of us to reminisce about a period in time in which he owned the Big Apple. Despite a fitting conclusion to Doc’s public baseball life, I can’t help but think he has more to offer.

Dwight Gooden needs to be a pitching coach. Phot from Sports Illustrated.

In my opinion, Dwight Gooden would make a heck of a pitching coach.

I love listening to Gooden talk about pitching. You can tell that he has a reverence for the craft. He has had some tremendous teachers beginning with his father. It is fascinating to hear Gooden talk about his dad drilling him about how to become a pitcher. Mowing down Major League hitters at age 19 takes not only great talent, but a very high acumen. Gooden’s dad had a lot to do with his success in getting to the Majors at a young age but once there, Mel Stottlemyre tutored him on the art of a professional pitcher. Stottlemyre was one of the best pitching coaches of his era, first with the Mets and then with the New York Yankees. With those two great instructors, it’s no wonder Doc enjoyed a great deal of success early in his career. Combine that with his already high pitching brain and you can see why Gooden was the perfect pitcher for five years.

I don’t know what Dwight Gooden’s future holds. I would love to see him back in uniform imparting some knowledge on today’s young pitchers. Most hurlers today are power arms and do not know how to pace themselves. Gooden would be able to teach these youngsters how to throw hard AND throw smart. For Dwight Gooden’s final act, a stint as a Major League pitching coach would be jolt for the game.

No Hitting With the Forsch Brothers

April 15th is the most important date in baseball history. Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in a Major League game on that date in 1947. It is also one of the most monumental dates in American history, paving the way for the Civil Rights movement. It got me thinking as to what important things happened in baseball on April 16th. One of the items mentioned was that Bob Forsch threw a no hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978. Then, as so often happens in my brain, I had a random thought.

Bob Forsch, author of two no hitters. Photo from St. Lous Post-Dispatch

Self: Aren’t Bob and Ken Forsch the only brothers to throw a no hitter?

Self: Yes they are.

Ken Forsch threw his no hitter for the Houston Astros on April 7, 1979. This was the earliest date for a no hitter in baseball history. Bob Feller threw a no hitter on Opening Day but the date for that was, ironically, April 16, 1940. Though the Brothers Forsch may not have had the careers of ,say the Dean Brothers, they were solid pitchers outside of their no hitters. Bob pitched in three World Series with the Cardinals, becoming a champion on the 1982 squad. He won 168 games over his 16 year career with the Cardinals and Astros, including 20 during the 1977 season. He threw a second no hitter for the Cardinals on September 26, 1983. Back when pitchers actually hit in the National League, Bob won two Silver Slugger awards, in 1980 and 1987. Ken was an All Star in 1976 in Houston and 1981 with the California Angels. He won 114 games over 16 seasons as both a starter and a reliever. In his All Star season in Houston, he had 19 saves and with the Angels, he led the American League in shutouts with four in the strike shortened 1981 campaign.

The Forsch Brothers combined 282 victories ranks eighth on the list of brother pitching duos. While that’s miles from Phil and Joe Niekro’s”s 539 wins, their total is higher than the aforementioned Deans as well as Livan and Orlando Hernandez. Let’s give Bob and Ken Forsch their due as quality pitchers and to me for another random thought turned into an effective blog post.



Fernando Tatis, Jr Needs to Stay in Right Field

When Fernando Tatis, Jr burst onto the Major League scene in 2019, he was looked at as the game’s next great shortstop. 22 home runs at age 20 and playing highlight reel defense will put saddle you with enormous expectations. However, some quirky factors have placed the now 25-year old Tatis in right field. The largest of of these factors was Tatis missing the entire 20222 season because of a combination of a PED suspension and a shoulder injury. When 2023 began, the San Diego Padres committed Ha-seong Kim to shortstop, newly acquired Xander Bogaerts went to second base with Tatis moving to right field.

Fernando Tatis, Jr. belongs in right field. Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune

Tatis in right field has a chance to be really special.

He needs to stay there.

Once upon a time, and maybe the thought is still there today, shortstop was looked at as THE glamour position in Major League Baseball. Shortstops (and center fielders) were considered the best defensive players on the diamond and once Robin Yount and Cal Ripken, Jr. arrived, it grew into an offensive position as well. In the mid to late 1990’s, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra took shortstop to another level. Those three combined great offense and stellar defense at one time, akin to Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider playing center field during an earlier era. Shortstop does indeed possess a number of legendary players that have called the area home.

In my humble opinion, the real glamour position is right field. I’ll give you three reasons: Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Reggie Jackson. These players are among the greatest in baseball history and combined the best of what is needed as a corner outfielder: power, speed and perhaps most of a all, a cannon of an arm. They also had a certain flair for the dramatic whether it was Aaron becoming the Home Run King, Clemente putting on a show in the 1971 World Series or Jackson becoming Mr. October. I am not comparing to Tatis to the three Hall of Famers. However, he does have the same attributes of these legends, namely the ability to hit the ball a long way and cut down runners with that laser of a right arm. His giant contract will keep him with the Padres for the next decade. Can San Diego build a team around him that will allow him to reach Hall of Fame status?

The Padres did the right thing in moving Tatis to right field. He has the ability to continue the long line of superstars in the corner whom you have to keep an eye on every time he is on the field.