Daily Notes: Morales Rides Again, Metaphorically
Fun-Loving? Check. Totally Sentient? Double-Check.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Featured Game: Atlanta at Boston, 19:15 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Featured Game: Atlanta at Boston, 19:15 ET
Regarding the Title of This Post, What It Refers To
The title of this post refers to how left-hander Franklin Morales is making his second start of the season — and over, like, the last four seasons — for the Boston Red Sox tonight.
The Title of This Post, To What Else It Refers
Apparently, the film Destry Rides Again, is what, a 1939 Western starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart.
The Title of This Post, To What the Author Thought It Referred
Herbie Rides Again, actually, a 1974 comedy film about a fun-loving and totally sentient Volkswagen Beetle.
Regarding Morales, What He Did in that Start
Here’s Morales’s line from his start on June 17th at the Cubs (box): 5.0 IP, 19 TBF, 9 K, 0 BB, 5 GB on 10 batted-balls (50.0% GB), 0.32 xFIP.
Regarding Morales, What He Threw in That Start
According to Texas Leaguers, here’s what he threw in that start (percentage thrown of total pitches and velocity in parentheses): four-seam fastball (53.8%, 94.1), changeup (18.8%, 83.9), two-seam fastball (13.8%, 93.3), curve (10.0%, 74.0), slider (3.8%, 83.5).
Regarding Morales, What He Had Been Throwing
Again according to Texas Leaguers, he’s Morales’s pitch mix over the first three-plus months of the season before that June 17th start: two-seamer (38.6%, 94.5), four-seamer (25.9%, 94.8), curve (19.9%, 74.6), change (11.4%, 83.7), slider (4.2%, 82.5).
What a Person Will Notice
A person will notice how Morales’s fastball velocity — from the data presented here, at least — did not appear greatly affected by his change in role.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Atlanta Radio (link). Although, note: this is a FOX game.
Other Notable Games
Toronto at Miami | 13:10 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Jose Bautista, June Status Update: 19 GP, 85 PA, 11 HR, 21.2% BB, 11.8% K, .277/.435/.815 (.156 BABIP), 223 wRC+, 1.5 WAR.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio. Although, note: it’s possible that any Toronto video feed might not utilize the Marlins’ excellent center-field camera angle.
Detroit at Pittsburgh | 16:05 ET
Current playoff odds for each of these teams, as of this morning, per Cool Standings: Detroit, 19.9%; Pittsburgh, higher than that.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio. Although, note: a Detroit feed might not utilize Pittsburgh’s excellent center-field camera.
Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 4,8.
Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brett Cecil* | TOR | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | MIA | Josh Johnson | 13:10 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | 8 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 1 | KC | Luis Mendoza | 14:10 |
| Josh Outman* | COL | 6 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 6 | TEX | Colby Lewis | 15:05 |
| Jeanmar Gomez | CLE | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | HOU | Dallas Keuchel* | 16:05 |
| Max Scherzer | DET | 10 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | PIT | Brad Lincoln* | 16:05 |
| James Shields | TB | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | PHI | Kyle Kendrick | 16:05 |
| Brian Duensing* | MIN | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | CIN | Johnny Cueto | 16:10 |
| Randall Delgado | ATL | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | BOS | Franklin Morales* | 19:15 |
| Chris Capuano | LAN | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | LAA | Ervin Santana | 19:15 |
| Randy Wolf | MIL | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | CHA | Dylan Axelrod* | 19:15 |
| Ivan Nova | NYA | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | NYN | Chris Young* | 19:15 |
| Madis. Bumgarner | SF | 8 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | OAK | Tyson Ross | 19:15 |
| Edwin Jackson | WAS | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | BAL | Wei-Yin Chen | 19:15 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | SD | Jason Marquis | 22:05 |
| Paul Maholm | CHN | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | AZ | Ian Kennedy | 22:10 |
To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
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