Oscar Taveras: RIP

Sad news broke tonight as the world found out that 22 year old St. Louis Cardinals top prospect Oscar Taveras died in a car accident at his home in the Dominican Republic Sunday night. His girlfriend also died in the crash.

These are the kind of stories that you never want to hear about, but sadly they do happen. Athletes as well as fans all across the nation shared their condolences to the Taveras family via Twitter. More news regarding the story will be available over the next few days

Oscar Taveras
photo cred:  USAtoday.com

Big Game James and the Kidney Stone

A bizarre story popped up during this long five days without baseball layoff. Apparently Kansas City Royals ace pitcher James Shields passed a kidney stone during the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles, but he is ready to roll for the World Series begining on Tuesday.

Kansas City Royals Game 1 Starter:  James Shields
photo cred:  espn.com

Shields has now had a total of 11 days off since he last pitched, so the extra rest definitely could not hurt, considering his condition. Shields told reporters at media day for the World Series that he was in "excruciating pain" on Monday during a workout, so it will be something to watch during Game 1 when Shields is slated to pitch to see if he is 100%. He squares off against San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner in Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night in Kansas City. First pitch is set for 8:07 p.m. Eastern Standerd Time.

Why The San Francisco Giants Will Win The World Series

San Francisco Giants ace pitcher Madison Bumgarner takes celebrating postseason series victories in the clubhouse to a whole new level. After defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Wild Card game, he drank 4 beers at once. Next was the 5 beers at once after defeating the Washington Nationals. Can you guess what he did after the Giants eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals to advance to the World Series? Yes, 6 beers at once. So if being world champions was not enough motivation for the Giants to go out and knock off the Kansas City Roylas to win the World Series, seeing what Madison Bumgarner will do to celebrate should be that exra little kick.

 

I would guess he's going to try 7 beers at once, but who knows, its the postseason and anything can happen.


Madison Bumgarner and his postseason series victory celebration tradition
photo cred:  deadpsin

The Cardinals 'Threw' Away Game 3

The San Francisco Giants are now up 2 games to 1 on the St. Louis Cardinals thanks to Cardinals' pitcher, Randy Choate, who threw the ball into right field on a bunt from Gregor Blanco, allowing Brandon Crawford to score the winning run.

That inning looked bad from the beginning for Choate, who walked Crawford, the first batter of the he faced. He then got two strikes on the next hitter, who was attempting to bunt, the bunt was then taken off and Juan Perez smacked a base hit into left field. Next to the plate was Blanco, and that was the icing on the bad inning cake for Choate. He threw a simple bunt play away and the Giants celebrated.

The Giants celebrate their Game 3 victory
photo cred:  USA Today Sports

Game 4 will be played in San Francisco before the series heads back to St. Louis. Unlike the previous round, the Championship series is a best-of-seven, so it will take the Giants 2 more wins, or the Cardinals 3 to make it to the World Series. I still believe that the Cardinals will find a way to advance, as they are the better team on paper, but the beauty of the postseason is that anything can happen.

Who do you think will come out on top?

From Division 2 to Postseason Hero: Matt Adams

A few years ago most of you probably had no idea who former Slippery Rock University, current St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman, Matt Adams was, but I bet that is no longer the case.

On October 7th, Adams became the first left-handed hitter to hit the game's current best pitcher, Clayton Kershaw's curve ball out of the park. He did just that in Game 4 of the National League Division Series to give his team a 3-2 lead over the Dodgers and send himself and his teammates into the next round.

Adams was selected by the Cardinals in the 23rd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball first-year player draft, and is now one of the best up-and-coming power hitters in the game. You can catch Adams in action as he and the Cardinals look to advance to the World Series. Game 2 against the San Francisco Giants takes place Sunday evening. The Giants lead the series 1-0.

ALCS Preview

Kansas City Royals game 1 starter,
James Shields

The American League Championship series opens tonight in Baltimore, with the Baltimore Orioles hosting the Kansas City Royals in a 7 game series to decide who will advance to the World Series. First pitch is at 8:07 p.m. The Royals will be sending their ace, James Shields to the mound to face a still to be decided pitcher for the Orioles. Although all indications point towards Chris Tillman getting the ball for the O's.

Both teams should be plenty rested, as they each team swept their opponenet 3 games to none in the division series. The Royals took care of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers.


Nelson Cruz of the Baltimore Orioles


You should expect a very tough-nosed, gritty, close series. Kansas City took the regualr season series over Baltimore 4 games to 3, but that can be all thrown out the window when it comes to the postseason. The key for Baltimore will definitely be their ability to hit the long ball. They led the 2014 regular season with a whopping 211 home runs, the next closest American League team was the Toronto Blue Jays with 177. For the Roylas, their bullpen will be they key. It will be interesting to see if the flamethrowers in the Kansas City bullepn can shut down Baltimore's high powered offense when they get a lead.


***Prediction
Kansas City Roylas in 7

Bizarre Mistake

Michael Morse, a current San Francisco Giant, located
next to Jason Werth #28, in a picture from 2 years  ago that
 ran on the front page of the Washington Post Saturday morning.

The Washington Post, a very highly regarded newspaper, made a mistake with their front page paper in Saturday's edition that you do not see everyday.

The Washington Nationals are currently battling the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series of the baseball postseason, and Michael Morse, a first baseman/outfielder on the Giants, played for the Nationals last year, but you wouldn't know that from the picture that the editor of the Washington Post let slide.

Morse saw the picture and sent out a tweet at 1:07 p.m. earlier today with the caption, "Wait.... whaaaaa?!?!?

It is pretty bizarre that a picture like this makes it all the way through the editing process and onto the news stands for people to then catch the mistake, Also, it is pretty hard to believe that there was not a more current
picture available for use. If everything else was not a dead
giveaway, along the top of the dugout, it reads, "Postseason 2012."

For the record, Michael Morse is on the San Francisco Giants and does not play for the Washington National any longer. Hopefully the Washington Post learns from their slip up  here.

Speeding Up The Game

When it comes to wathcing baseball, there is probably one complaint that we hear more than any other, and that is, "the game takes too long." Well, Major League Baseball is now putting an effort towards fixing this complaint.

The 'Pace of Game Committee,' which consists of MLB, Major League Baseball Players Association, and team executives, have come up with a total of six tweaks to the game that on paper, should speed it up. These tweaks will be tested out during the upcoming Arizona Fall League, which runs from October 7th to November 15th.

The changes that will be tested are:

1. The batter must keep one foot inside the batter's box at all times - except during foul balls, wild pitches, and when the umpire grants the batter 'time-out.'
2. Pitchers must throw each pitch within 20 seconds of recieving the ball - there will be clocks that count down from 20 in each dugout.
3. The maximum break for inbetween innings will be 2:05 - the batter must be in the box by 1:45, and if the hitter is not ready, he will be penalized a strike. If the pitcher does not throw a pitch before the 2:05 expires, he will be penalized a ball.
4. Teams wil be allowed a maximum of 2:30 to change pitchers - the clock for this will begin as soon as the new pitcher enters from the bullpen.
5. Teams will be allowed a maximum of three mound visits a game - this does not include pitching changes, it applies to catcher, manager, and coach visits.
6. Four balls no are no longer needed to be thrown for an intentional walk - the manager will just tell the umpire, and the batter will then go to first base.

Some of these changes will be very tough to enforce. Sticking to a strict clock will be a tough thing for baseball to do, and batters will need to get used to staying inside the batter's box at most times. Just becuase these changes have been proposed and are going to be tested does not mean that they will be applied to the MLB anytime soon, but it is a good start to begin to address the problem that baseball is undoubtley facing.