FanGraphs World Series Game 3 Chat

8:00	Ben Clemens: Hey guys, welcome!

8:00	Ben Clemens: Let’s talk some baseball

8:00	Ben Clemens: I’m joined by Dan Szymborski and Luke Hooper, and it’s gonna be a good one

8:01	Ben Clemens: I mean, maybe it will be a bad one, I don’t actually know

8:01	Ben Clemens: But if it’s close, that’s awesome, and if it’s not, well, there’s SO much baseball (and non-baseball) to talk about

8:01	Ben Clemens: It’s Ian Anderson and Luis Garcia tonight, and the Braves need length out of Anderson

8:01	Luke Hooper: Evening! Let’s get this going.

8:02	Ben Clemens: The Astros are running out an aspirational outfield of Alvarez/Tucker/Brantley

8:03	Luke Hooper: Yea that’s some outfield. Garcia isn’t exactly a groundball guy either.

8:03	Ben Clemens: I did like the move of swapping Urquidy and Garcia, though. Urquidy with that outfield sounds even worse

8:05	Luke Hooper: Yea that was clearly part of the rationale. It worked out too, although Urquidy didn’t give up too many flyballs anyway.

8:05	disgruntledmetsfan: unrelated to this game…who will the mets hire to run the team?

8:05	Ben Clemens: You could just call yourself ‘metsfan; know

8:05	Ben Clemens: You know*

8:06	Ben Clemens: either gets the point across

8:06	Ben Clemens: Um… I don’t pretend to have any special insight but I liked what Kevin Goldstein said about it on Chin Music. There’s nothing wrong with trying to hire Billy Beane and David Stearns, but they’ll probably end up with an AGM who is not a national figure

8:06	Ben Clemens: And that’s fine

8:07	Guest: Is this where you get live stats and whatnot?

8:07	Ben Clemens: It is not, but here’s our live scoreboard:

8:07	Ben Clemens: https://www.fangraphs.com/livescoreboard.aspx?date=2021-10-29

8:08	Ben Clemens: Also, sorry not to advertise the site, Meg, but I LOVE the Baseball Savant score pages

8:08	Ben Clemens: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?gamePk=660910

8:09	Ben Clemens: It has all kinds of really useful data that makes me sound smart when I do these chats

8:10	Luke Hooper: Yup, the player breakdown page is so nice. I always have that open and our win probability chart.

8:09	The Stranger: This is where we get chili and board game hot takes (sorry Luke, not sure what your non-baseball thing is)

8:12	Luke Hooper: I like board games and chili, in that order. Those are really my only non-baseball interests actually.

8:09	Dan Szymborski: It’s a’me, Szymio!

8:10	Ben Clemens: Hey Dan, welcome

8:11	Scotty: It’s spooky weekend, what is everyone’s favorite horror movie??

8:11	Dan Szymborski: Aladdin

8:11	Ben Clemens: I’m gonna need a little more than that

8:11	Luke Hooper: I’m a spook-wuss so I don’t really like things that are actually scary. Sign me up for watching The Burbs or something like that.

8:12	peanuts252: Hey guys. Do we know if Houston are actively looking to move Alvarez to being a part-time fielder? Or is this solely to get him in the lineup while in the NL park?

8:12	Dan Szymborski: I do more disturbing than straight horror

8:12	Ben Clemens: I think it’s a little bit of both. They’d like to have the ability to play him in the field, but he’ll be a primary DH still

8:13	Dan Szymborski: Looks kinda misty there

8:13	Luke Hooper: He at least played a little bit of left this year. He’s moved well this postseason. I’m excited to see him out there.

8:13	CJ: My favorite ‘horror’ movie: Requiem for a dream

8:13	Ben Clemens: Yordan “Triples” Alvarez

8:13	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, disturbing is more my cup of tea

8:13	Big Texas Butters: So Szym, did you decide to get a new car yet?

8:14	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, so long as the inspection goes well, I’ve lined up a swap for Monday!

8:14	swampymcgee: Bullpen Game for both teams by the 5th inning?

8:14	Ben Clemens: Yeah, which these days we just call ‘game’

8:14	Ben Clemens: Anderson has thrown five balls so far, that’s not a great sign!

8:14	Dan Szymborski: I think first of three consecutive games, they try to stick with starters

8:14	Ben Clemens: Six now

8:15	Ben Clemens: The Braves particularly need to lean on Anderson, they’re trying an opener/bulk combo both of the next two days as of now

8:15	Dan Szymborski: I wasn’t new car shopping, but the offers I were getting made it so that I would’ve been dumb to not consider it

8:17	Luke Hooper: Selling a car in this market sounds great. Until I realized I would need to buy a car in this market too.

8:16	peanuts252: Speaking of triples, congratulations to Owen Wilson for extending his lock on the single-season triples record to 109 years now.

8:16	Dan Szymborski: We all know that Owen Wilson has the record for most triples in a season, but what this book presupposes is, maybe he doesn’t?

8:16	99: is there any worry about putting a guy who usually DHs (with previously bad knees) in the outfield when it’s wet? or does the fact that this is the WS mean Yordan is in LF no matter what?

8:17	Ben Clemens: Yeah, it’s the World Series, he’s gonna be out there

8:17	Dan Szymborski: That’s way to clean up your ballsd

8:17	Dan Szymborski: wait, that didn’t sound right

8:17	Ben Clemens: Anderson didn’t even throw a strike to second lol

8:17	Trick or TreaTurner: Trick or Trea, of course

8:17	Ben Clemens: I’m not 100% sure what this was in reference to, but excellent username

8:17	Luke Hooper: Looks like a more than usual choke-up for Bregman?

8:18	The Stranger: It’s not the knees you have to worry about… I think I tore a hamstring just thinking about playing OF on wet grass.

8:18	Dan Szymborski: I tore a wrist tripping over a cat. I can injure myself in any way in any conditions.

8:18	The Stranger: I sprained a wrist playing with a cat ~15 years ago and it’s still not right

8:19	Dan Szymborski: As I said in another chat, my knee never got over its trip to the city museum in st. louis

8:19	swampymcgee: seems like Braves lack of righties out of the bullpen is going to hurt them these next 3 days…is Kyle Wright going to pitch in a close game?

8:19	Ben Clemens: I think Kyle Wright is going to pitch bulk innings

8:19	desertfox9139: the first time i threw out my back, it was reaching for toilet paper

8:19	Michael H.: Do we know if Houston want to transition Alvarez to being a part-time outfield piece? Or is this solely being done to keep him in the order while in the NL park?

8:19	Dan Szymborski: I think they primarily want him DH

8:20	Ben Clemens: That said, the Astros are pretty great against righties too. Three of their top seven batters are lefty, it’s reasonably balanced

8:20	Dan Szymborski: With maybe just enough OF to keep him competent.

8:20	99: i pulled my shoulder putting a christmas ornament on the tree

8:20	Elliot: Kyle Wright can go through the order once and be okay, it’s after that where things get hairy

8:21	Ben Clemens: Right. I think putting an opener in front of him so that the second time is against a slightly weaker part of the Houston lineup will work well

8:21	Dan Szymborski: I feel like I burned a perfectly good Royal Tenenbaums joke before the room filled up

8:21	Jimmy Wynn’s Toy Cannon: I think the Astros trotting out Yordan in left this season was mostly a way to get Brantley’s old knees some rest (especially in the second half of the year)

8:21	Dan Szymborski: Yeah. The DH spot is too useful to rest sore players over 162 games

8:22	Dan Szymborski: so you want to keep Alvarez at least capable of faking a corner OF position from time to time

8:22	The Stranger: I threw out my back and couldn’t walk for three days lifting my daughter out of her crib. The lesson of all this – don’t get old, kids.

8:22	Dan Szymborski: Or have kids!

8:22	Dan Szymborski: Or keep babies in a large cardboard box on top of boxes of beer

8:22	bosoxforlife: Do I have to speak Korean to apply for the Lotte Giants Data Analyst position?

8:22	Ben Clemens: I don’t believe so, but I’ll ask as well and get back to you.

8:24	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, I imagine it would be useful at the very least

8:24	99: Garcia and Framber make it hard for me to hate the Astros now. I love Garcia’s windup so much

8:24	The Stranger: You joke, but google “finnish baby box” – cardboard boxes are great for storing infants

8:25	swampymcgee: first arm out of the Braves bullpen tonight? Minter?

8:25	Ben Clemens: Depends on context

8:25	Ben Clemens: If it’s close, Minter

8:25	Ben Clemens: So, probably Minter

8:25	Ben Clemens: Can’t decide whether that was a bad play by Yordan on that foul ball

8:25	Dan Szymborski: I would imagine English-only would be best in Seoul

8:25	Ben Clemens: or just one that no one can catch

8:26	Guest: may they save minter for a mutli inning opener duty?

8:26	Dan Szymborski: But Busan’s next biggest?

8:26	Ben Clemens: I like using Minter tonight so that you could try to squeeze in an off day tomorrow and still get him for two of three

8:26	CJ: I had a habit of breaking my falls with my front teeth when I was young

8:26	Sir Sassy S Pants: Go Braves, go Pants!

8:26	Ben Clemens: They’ll likely need an opener on Sunday as well

8:26	Luke Hooper: We’ll see lots of Minter over the next three days.

8:26	99: given how close Yordan got, I would think there are a lot of LFs who make that play

8:27	Ben Clemens: Yordan is faster than Brantley, though

8:27	Morbo: Is anyone else as disappointed by the world series match up as I am?

8:27	Ben Clemens: But I do think his routes leave something to be desired

8:27	Dan Szymborski: I wanted M’s Jays

8:27	Dan Szymborski: You know part of the reason they do the tomahawk chop is because people tell them not to

8:27

Morbo: One team was caught cheating in the world series and the participants of the cheating scheme were never punished and the other is a racist cartoon where the entire stadium has made racist gestures directly at a Native American pitcher on national tv. This series is just a perfect summation of everything that is wrong with the league

8:28	JamesD84: 1980s Brave Terry Harper separated his shoulder waving a teammate home to score. And Smoltz burned himself ironing a shirt that he was wearing.

8:28	desertfox9139: the ump should have checked that IMO

8:28	Ben Clemens: And that skips the Braves’ international signing travails!

8:28	Dan Szymborski: I did a neural network of fake baseball player injuries. I’ll have to find that

8:28	Ben Clemens: They, not the Astros, have the GM who is banned from baseball for life

8:29	Dan Szymborski:

8:29	Kyle: Defense bouta be ✨discourse✨ in the Atlanta games I feel

8:29	Dan Szymborski:

8:29	Ben Clemens: Oh yeah, whether it matters or not, it’s just such an easy talking point

8:30	Luke Hooper: Wow, that is very on-theme for our chat so far. Nice pull.

8:30	desertfox9139: was coppy’s trangressions that bad? i am asking honestly

8:30	Dan Szymborski: I liked how it kept giving me Dee Gordon injuries for some reason

8:31	Ben Clemens: Certainly they were not the worst things that MLB teams have done in the international signings market

8:31	Ben Clemens: I do think that the league made an example of him

8:31	Morbo: Madison Bumgardner – Seperated shoulder riding dirt bike (Dirt bike was the name of the bull in the rodeo)

8:31	CJ: Sorry catching up – As for Lotte’s analyst position, I’d think English should be fine for your job. Living in Busan might be a little challenging, especially if you have a family

8:31	CJ: On the other hand, Busan is traditionally a HUGE baseball city

8:32	Morbo: Can I add a real injury to the list Dan

8:32	Dan Szymborski: But real ones aren’t quite as much fun!

8:32	peanuts252: “Broke his finger while rooting around in the ground for squirrels” – gonna be honest, I would have 100% believed this if it happened to Bumgarner

8:32	The Stranger: Apropos of Jayson Werth, one of the stranger things I learned in law school was that there was apparently an epidemic of banana peel injuries (and lawsuits) in the early 1900s

8:32	Dan Szymborski: I’ve slipped on a banana peel before

8:32	josh: Roy Oswalt cleared up scar tissue in his shoulder by electrocuting himself on a truck battery

8:32	Ben Clemens: Just to follow up, I checked with someone on the team and indeed, you do not need to speak Korean. It would be helpful, but not a prerequisite. The team has interpreters and two of the analysts are bilingual

8:32	Dan Szymborski: I’m sure most of the front office speaks better English than we do

8:33	Ben Clemens: I don’t know, I’ve heard Josh talk 🙂

8:33	Dan Szymborski: I bet nobody in Korea or Japan writes “should of”

8:33	egm: Home umpires shouldn’t even be able to make check swing calls. If it’s obvious the line judge will see it anyway. There should always be an appeal

8:33	Ben Clemens: Yeah, I think this is a good call

8:33	Ben Clemens: I guess the trick is what’s a check swing vs. what’s a swing, and that’s tough

8:34	Ben Clemens: But if it’s at all close

8:34	josh: Ben I talk very good thank you

8:34	Geebs: The stolen base that got America free “tacos” is going to the Hall Of Fame, mean while Bonds has to buy a ticket

8:34	Ben Clemens: Yeah, but Bonds can afford it

8:34	Luke Hooper: This postseason has done a great job of highlighting how badly MLB needs to figure out something to do with check swings.

8:35	Luke Hooper: 3-2 paint!

8:35	always confused: can y’all do a poll? did Rosario swing or not?

8:35	Ben Clemens: I don’t think we need to

8:35	Ben Clemens: He didn’t swing

8:36	Ben Clemens: If you’re defining it as the bat going parallel

8:36	Dan Szymborski: A swing is whatever the hell the umpire feels like

8:36	Guest: Morbo how can you say that this is a summation of everything wrong with the league, you didn’t even mention the mistreatment of minor leaguers, salary suppression, or conning of taxpayers for stadium dollars. There’s plenty more to be angry at!

8:36	The Stranger: Saw in an article or comments or chat here (my memory is shit) that college baseball has a real rule about how far the bat head goes. Any idea if it’s working for them?

8:36	Dan Szymborski: No idea, but the ncaa has a rule

8:37	Floyd: 8 batters, three balls in play?

8:37	Dan Szymborski: if the barrel head of the bat crosses the front edge of home plate or the batter’s front hip

8:37	Luke Hooper: I’m generally a parallel kind of guy myself. But that college wording seems to be pretty solid.

8:37	desertfox9139: how much does the cold weather effect how far the ball is hit?

8:38	Ben Clemens: I used this handy Alan Nathan trajectory calculator to check

8:38	Ben Clemens: http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/trajectory-calculator-new.html

8:38	Ben Clemens: A ball hit at 30 degree launch angle at 100 mph at 78 degrees will travel 385 feet

8:38	Ben Clemens: At 58 degrees, that’s 378.7 feet

8:39	Ben Clemens: I hope you were looking for an absurdly specific answer

8:39	Kevin Z.: Szander!

8:39

JamesD84: Would Ron LeFlore be given an opportunity to play in the minors today? I can see teams sayings something like, “Armed robbery and drug crimes don’t reflect our values” or saying, like football coaches would, “He’s been punished, let’s give him a second chance.” That said, I don’t think any team would have on its payroll today someone like Billy Martin with close friends who were in a position to hear about which prisoners had potential.

8:40	Ben Clemens: Interesting fact: if the game was played at -200 degrees F, the ball would only travel 260 feet. Also, everyone would be dead from the cold

8:40	desertfox9139: appx 2 percent difference i see

8:40	desertfox9139: also, i should have went to Illinois rather than DePaul

8:40	always confused: Re: rosario poll – that’s what I thought, didn’t know if I was just a biased home fan!

8:41	Gamer: I am at the game now. What pitch was Anderson hitting the dirt with? Horrible English. I am aBraves fan but not chopping.

8:41	Dan Szymborski: I wouldn’t Chop even if it was awful. I had participating in crowd participation things

8:41	Dan Szymborski: hate

8:41	Ben Clemens: To be clear I think Dan means even if it weren’t awful

8:41	Ben Clemens: And uh, curveball I think?

8:41	Dan Szymborski: Err yeah

8:42	Luke Hooper: Those were curveballs. Enjoy the game!

8:42	Dan Szymborski: I didn’t have enough negatives in the sentence

8:42	Ben Clemens: Anderson is really struggling with location tonight

8:43	Ben Clemens: That changeup was the first secondary pitch he’s thrown in the zone all night

8:43	Ben Clemens: That’s, uh, not gonna work long term

8:43	Luke Hooper: Finally got a curve in now too.

8:44	Tim: was that flyout to riley the furthest play from third base ever made by a third basemen?

8:44	Dan Szymborski: I swear Anderson’s still getting taller

8:44	Luke Hooper: Machado did that a lot this year. He nearly caught one on the warning track.

8:44	Ben Clemens: This sounds like an interesting offseason research project. Manny Machado has made some incredibly wide-ranging plays

8:45	bosoxforlife: Just like baseball when I grew up. The 3rd baseman makes a catch in foul terrirtory down the RF line.

8:45	Dan Szymborski: Have the Astros participated in any games this postseason that were scoreless after two?

8:45	Dan: Does it seem like the Astros are seeing Anderson’s changeup well thus far (aside from the strikeout there)?

8:46	Mateo: How much worse would Ian Anderson be if he was actually trapped in a 65 year-old’s body?

8:47	Luke Hooper: There’s no way he could handle his hyper-extended knee landing at that age. Among many other things.

8:47	The Stranger: This Serena Williams/Wonder Woman commercial just makes me miss American Gladiators. Assault was the greatest sport known to man

8:48	Luke Hooper: I’m pretty sure there is a near-constant flow of new versions of American Gladiator coming out.

8:47	Hugh Duffy: Part of Ian Anderson’s first inning troubles is not always having the feel for the changeup and curveball. You could tell that he was trying to find the release point on the curveball in the first inning. I think he’s found the feel for all three pitches now, but we’ll see in the third.

8:47	desertfox9139: Ian at only 30 pitches, would you let him go deeper than you normally would in a postseason game? i would

8:48	Ben Clemens: You just KNOW Smoltz had a soliloquy ready on how you have to get Anderson early and how he’s vulnerable in the first

8:48	Dan Szymborski: I would too. The Braves probably have two bullpenish games and this is the first of three games with no off day

8:48	Geebs: Lets say the Braves win, dose that make Ozuna a WS champion, in terms of the record books?

8:48	Dan Szymborski: I believe so if he’s still on the roster

8:48	Lars Nootbaar: I hit for the cycle today

8:48	Luke Hooper: He definitely gets a ring.

8:49	Ben Clemens: Nootbaar is mashing in Arizona

8:49	Ben Clemens: That’s your nightly Cardinals content

8:49	Geebs: Re: Ozuna, that’s kinda icky

8:49	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but the question is whether he was on the team or not, right?

8:50	Ben Clemens: The count of my least favorite cliche in announcing is up to one

8:50	Ben Clemens: “If the pitcher makes a mistake, the Braves will hit it out of the park”

8:50	Ben Clemens: No, calm down, that’s not true

8:50	Luke Hooper: Let’s count how many mistakes aren’t hit out of the park.

8:51	swampymcgee: Ozuna is not on the Braves 40-man roster https://www.mlb.com/braves/roster/40-man

8:51	Dan Szymborski: He might be an ends-type person. If it DOESN”T go out of the park, it wasn’t TRULY a mistake

8:51	always confused: When garcia does his dance on the mound before pitching (which is fantastic) is that a balk? There’s just so much feet movement

8:51	Dan Szymborski: He’s not on the 40-man, but he’s still paid and accrues service time on administrative leave

8:51	Ben Clemens: I actually don’t know if it would be if he did it with a man on base

8:51	Ben Clemens: But also, they would steal before he delivered the ball

8:52	Luke Hooper: As long as he’s consistent with it and not stopping and starting. I think it’s fine.

8:52	Luke Hooper: Whoa, drone shot in the stadium?

8:53	Dan: We need more windups like Garcia’s

8:53	always confused: also, Luis Garcia has a real late 80s/early 90s Ice Cube vibe going and I am 100% for it

8:54	Floyd: Joe Buck would like the squeaky-clean suburban ballpark. Probably complains about how there’s no parking around Wrigley or Fenway.

8:54	Ben Clemens: In fairness to Buck, he can’t say if he doesn’t like it

8:54	Russ: Was wondering the same thing with Kenley Jansen’s hip thrust thing he does with no one on.

8:54	egm: The Hard Knocks Cowboys season on HBO had a pretty rad drone shot that went through the whole stadium and offices and everything. Pretty cool

8:54	Dan: I feel like watching a game at a watch party with that many people in the cold can’t be that much fun…

8:54	99: it’s hard not to think Kenny Powers too with Garcia’s hair in the back. He pulls it off though

8:54	Ben Clemens: The national announcer definitely can’t say ‘yeah this park sucks’

8:54	Luke Hooper: Tucker was all over that backup. Nice play.

8:55	Ben Clemens: not a mistake pitch, didn’t leave the park

8:55	Dan Szymborski: D’amnaud!

8:55	Ben Clemens: Also, wasn’t a mistake pitch

8:55	Dan Szymborski: A double is a foible pitch

8:55	Dan Szymborski: A single is an agreement to disagree pitch

8:55	Dan Szymborski: A third is a quibble pitch

8:55	Dan Szymborski: err triple

8:55	Ben Clemens: Brantley just said ‘wow that’s a wall!’

8:56	always confused: A double is a foible pitchA single is an agreement to disagree pitchA third is a quibble pitch

8:56	Dan Szymborski: Makes sense to me

8:56	always confused: these need to be in our lexicon forever

8:56	Ben Clemens: I love this IBB b/c it’s a good way to try to bait Snitker into pinch hitting, but also good move by Snitker not pinch hitting

8:56	Russ: Looking forward to universal DH. Will be happy when a two out double out of the 7 spot results in more than, hey at least we rolled the lineup over.

8:56	Ben Clemens: Totally

8:56	Luke Hooper: Hey now, Anderson looks ready to drive in a run!

8:56	Dan Szymborski: I don’t have anything against complete nonsense.

8:57	desertfox9139: i like the pitchers hitting rule. am i exiled?

8:57	Ben Clemens: I like it when pitcher get hits, it’s cool. I dislike how often it just destroys an inning

8:57	Belowreplacementaccountname: Ian Anderson is Dansby Swanson’s less attractive twin brother

8:57	Dan Szymborski: People get mad at me, but I like both DH and non-DH and don’t really care

8:57	Ben Clemens: Triplet, you mean. Don’t forget about Charlie Culberson

8:57	desertfox9139: ive been a braves fan since 1990, so i am used to NL ball

8:58	Belowreplacementaccountname: And don’t forget Randal Grichuk!

8:58	Dan Szymborski: In Baltimore, we got TBS (Braves), WGN (Cubs), WWOR (Mets), and subscribed to Home Team Sports for the O’s. SO I got a healthy dose of DH and non DH growing up

8:58	Quarantino Martinez: I’m also agnostic on pitchers hitting. The idea that you lose the DH if you take the starter out is interesting, though.

8:58	Gamer: Organist had Aqualung playing for Anderson. It did not help.

8:58	Ben Clemens: This is a great excuse to post my favorite Randal Grichuk-related content of all time

8:58	Ben Clemens: A parody AMA

8:58	Ben Clemens: https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2016/8/26/12658308/i-am-randal-ask-me-any…

8:59	Floyd: that watch party area didn’t even seem to have a large screen and didn’t look like they could see into the park. How are they watching?

8:59	Quarantino Martinez: HTS4Life

8:59	Luke Hooper: I’ve yet to see the screen in those shots, but there has to be a screen. A big one even!

9:00	Russ: I was always a NL no DH purist until the forbidden fruit was tasted last year. Completely changed my mind.

9:01	Luke Hooper: https://community.fangraphs.com/pitchers-had-another-bad-year-hitting-…

9:01	Ben Clemens: Yeah, I always thought I liked no DH because I’d remember particular pitcher hitting moments

9:01	Luke Hooper: Probably a good time to throw up that article from Marcus Kellis about how bad 9 hitters are in the AL.

9:01	Dan: All the discussion around the Braves chop made me realize that I haven’t read anything from a Native American sports writer. Can you direct me to any Native American sports writers?

9:02	Dan Szymborski: I’m not familiar with anything, honestly

9:02	Dan Szymborski: I’ve seen people write about the Braves and stuff, but not other stuff.

9:02	Jordan: Losing your DH for pulling your starter sounds like something thought of by the anti-opener and anti-dh crowd

9:03	Ben Clemens: Garcia was booking it down the line there

9:03	Gamer: Organist with rock a bye baby for Garcia. He is a treasure.

9:03	Luke Hooper: Now “little teapot” for Altuve

9:04	Ben Clemens: Yeah the Braves organist is awesome. He did an interview on Effectively Wild once, actually

9:04	Ben Clemens: A long time ago, I think

9:04	FannyGraphy: It seems like I was reading a few years ago that the sinker wasn’t that valuable a pitcher anymore, while also reading that the two seamer was on the rise. I also read that the 2 are very similar pitches…. Was I mistaken?

9:05	Ben Clemens: There’s a big classification problem, and I’m not sure where I come down. MLB now classifies everything as a sinker, they don’t register two-seamers

9:05	Dan Szymborski: They’re similar, but two seamer’s classification in a lot of systems is with more horizontal movement tailing

9:05	Ben Clemens: That said…. sinkers/2s declined by quite a bit from their peak (the Pirates sinker era, let’s call it)

9:06	Ben Clemens: But they’ve become more effective, because the pitchers with the worst sinkers just stopped throwing them

9:06	Ben Clemens: Anderson looking good!

9:06	Klubot3000: Pretty good interview out of McCullers. Can he replace Smoltz?

9:07	Dan Szymborski: Wait, why is there another Home Alone?

9:07	Quarantino Martinez: Lance is a good first name for a broadcaster

9:07	99: it’s a bummer we didn’t get BA/Frenchy/Ron Darling for the WS, feels like a much more dynamic booth

9:07	Dan Szymborski: BENETTI/PETRIELLO/SMOLTZ/UECKER/HAWK

9:08	Ben Clemens: I like Darling a lot more when he’s in the Mets booth, I think he’s more comfortable when he’s done a ton of research on the players

9:08	Ben Clemens: I think Frenchy is great!

9:08	Ben Clemens: underrated for sure

9:08	Ben Clemens: The best of the postseason has been AJ Pierzynski though

9:08	Ben Clemens: (well, and the statcast booth)

9:09	Floyd: you joke but Bennetti should really be a national broadcaster for the postseason (not just the nerd cast). He’s excellent.

9:09	Dan Szymborski: I’m just going to get tacos I like

9:09	The Stranger: If you’re going to reboot Home Alone, at least go for the “gritty realism” version and have Kevin straight up kill a man

9:09	Ben Clemens: I still think he’ll end up doing Sunday Night Baseball

9:09	egm: As a deadhead, I should probably be keeping track of which songs are used during which inning as bumper music, and then post the set list online

9:09	Ben Clemens: Benetti, not Kevin!

9:09	Luke Hooper: I’ve been a hater of the Buck/Smoltz booth but I have to say, Smoltz has been on his best behavior so far this world series. Minimal grump.

9:09	Ben Clemens: Yeah. I was not enjoying him at all in the ALCS but I totally agree with you

9:09	Dan Szymborski: They should do A-Rod/Smoltz becuase Smoltz will seem really analytical

9:09	Floyd: Minimal grump cause it’s the braves maybe

9:10	Luke Hooper: I think Dave Flemming and Joe Davis are also in consideration for Sunday Night baseball next year.

9:10	FannyGraphy: Small follow up to the sinker question: do you “have” to throw a sinker down in the zone to be effective?

9:10	Ben Clemens: You don’t HAVE to, but it really helps

9:11	Ben Clemens: The movement on a four-seamer helps it get “above” bats

9:11	Ben Clemens: Batters swing under it, essentially

9:11	Ben Clemens: Given that high pitches will tend to create balls hit in the air, you really want batters to swing under

9:11	Donnel: I wonder if maybe Fox told Smoltz to chill considering the occasion

9:12	Luke Hooper: At some point something needed to be done. He’s been far too negative for far too long. He’s not an ambassador for the sport at all.

9:12	The Stranger: My perception is that sinkers left up the zone leave the park often. Any evidence on higher HR/FB on sinkerballers?

9:12	Ben Clemens: Marginally

9:12	Ben Clemens: I haven’t done a location-based look yet though

9:12	Russ: Rosario instantly looked back at the ump probably half-expecting him to ring him up again.

9:12	always confused: OMG rosario almost got it again lol

9:12	FannyGraphy: Thanks for the analysis!

9:13	Ben Clemens: You’re welcome; thanks for the excellent question

9:13	Finnegan’s SSW: Cubs are throwing a lot of 2-seamers up in the zone, still trying to figure out exactly why

9:13	Ben Clemens: How’s that working out for them?

9:13	Russ: Give me a simulcast of Maddux and Glavine chatting like the Manning brothers do for Monday night football.

9:13	Klubot3000: Professional hitterTM

9:13	Ben Clemens: I’d totally watch that simulcast

9:14	desertfox9139: why dont pitchers throw inside changeups to samehanded batters?

9:14	Dan Szymborski: You get too close to wheelhouse

9:14	Ben Clemens: Yeah, I think there’s also a problem of any miss being bad

9:14	Ben Clemens: Too inside, whatever

9:14	Ben Clemens: Too middle, yikes

9:15	Ben Clemens: I think that’s generally the problem with changeups to same-handed hitters; location matters a lot, so unless you have good command of it, it’s dangerous

9:15	Luke Hooper: that type of changeup is so pretty when it’s executed.

9:15	Luke Hooper: Urquidy threw a number of changeups to Soler the other night.

9:16	FannyGraphy: Also how responsible are the Pirates for the sinkers’ decline

9:16	Ben Clemens: I don’t think they are at all. THey were more victims than anything else

9:16	Ben Clemens: When the ball got livelier and homers started going up, the cost of missing with your sinker went WAY up and they were slow to adjust

9:16	Dan Szymborski: There were 2471 changeups from righties to righties in the strike zone on the inside half in 2021

9:17	Dan Szymborski: The BA on those pitches was .292. The SLG was .596.

9:17	Ben Clemens: Yeeeeesh

9:17	Ben Clemens: 2,471 is not many in the grand scheme of things

9:17	Ben Clemens: But it’s not many because those pitches are often mistakes

9:17	Luke Hooper: Ahh, but the whiffs! The whiffs were beautiful

9:18	desertfox9139: that is definitely suboptimal pitching strategy. ill stick to wine rather than pitching

9:18	Ben Clemens: I will as well

9:18	Dicklington: because of its demoralizing effect on beloved home run sluggers the “curved-ball” is one of the most despised plays in all of baseball

9:19	FannyGraphy: If a traditional batting order mindset were used, what would the Braves top of the order even look like? It seems like Ozzie is a prototype of the old school 2 hitter, but who would lead off?

9:19	Ben Clemens: Strangely, the fastest player on the Braves (not counting Acuna) this year is…. Adam Duvall

9:19	Luke Hooper: wow that was a great changeup!

9:20	Dan Szymborski: If you just look at right vs. right inside middle changeups

9:20	Dan Szymborski: .349 BA with a .702 SLG

9:20	Ben Clemens: Did Smoltz know the count there?

9:20	Dan Szymborski: Riley had 17 inside changeups from righties this year. He hit 3 homers on them

9:20	Ben Clemens: He said that if Garcia missed with that pitch, the bases would be loaded

9:20	Dan Szymborski: And that’s for high ones and low ones too inside

9:21	Luke Hooper: Yea he definitely thought it was 3-2

9:21	GracieCat: Duvall is faster than Dansby?

9:22	Ben Clemens: Here’s that leaderboard: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed?year=2021&posi…

9:21	Ben Clemens: Shocking, right?

9:22	Ben Clemens: Nice cut by Riley there

9:22	egm: Why do players often wrap their pinky around the bottom of the knob? It seems like you wouldn’t get as full of a grip on the bat…

9:22	Dan Szymborski: In my experience, hitters sometimes feel more comfortable by having their dominant hand being move dominant

9:22	Dan Szymborski: I never did that. Maybe that’s why I sucked?

9:23	Luke Hooper: That replay made it look like Bregman got a pretty bad first jump on that.

9:23	Ben Clemens: Yeah, Bregman has not looked good on defense this postseason at all

9:23	Russ: But the TBS crew loved talking about how Rosario was one of the fastest players in the bigs, despite no evidence of that.

9:23	Ben Clemens: Yeah that was very strange

9:23	Ben Clemens: It made me look it up more than once

9:23	Ben Clemens: He’s not slow or anything

9:23	always confused: Dansby’s glorious head of hair is slowing him down

9:24	Luke Hooper: Uh oh, smoltz is grumpy that Soler shot for the moon on a 2-0 pitch.

9:24	Ben Clemens: Someone is going to have to explain to me why a different approach is optimal in the regular season and World Series

9:24	Ben Clemens: I think what he means is that in the WS you should make contact

9:25	Luke Hooper: It’s built on top of the extremely shaky foundation that swinging hard is selfish.

9:24	Kevin Z.: Catching up on chat…neural network fake injuries are hilarious!

9:24	Ben Clemens: Because “THESE GAMES MATTER”

9:24	Dan Szymborski: I’m going to be disappointed when neural networks becomes TOO good because the results will be less funny

9:25	Ben Clemens: This zone is…. variable

9:25	Dan Szymborski: I was trying to complete constitutional amendments the other day with GPT-3, but since they’ve been quoted in that format so often, it usually just quoted the rest of the amendments accurately

9:25	Floyd: is Bergman’s arm okay? Looks like he’s playing fairly shallow and his throws haven’t been very solid. Maybe he keeps that ball on the infield if he’s deeper.

9:25	Russ: If someone as big as Soler yelled no at me for the check swing I wouldn’t dare call him out.

9:26	Luke Hooper: GIVE US THE CHECK SWING CAM

9:26	Floyd: LOT of checked swings tonight

9:26	GracieCat: Russ, they got Eddie Rosario mixed up with Ahmed Rosario and later admitted their error.

9:26	Ben Clemens: Wait really??

9:26	Ben Clemens: That makes a lot more sense

9:26	Ben Clemens: Amed can fly

9:27	desertfox9139: id sit offspeed if i was duvall

9:27	Ben Clemens: I’m sitting fastball, haha

9:27	Hugh Duffy: Rosario’s sprint speed was 29 feet/sec to first on an infield hit earlier in the NLCS. He was fast.

9:27	Luke Hooper: Hey, here’s your runners on base, rock the baby situation.

9:27	Ben Clemens: Garcia just doesn’t throw his secondaries in the zone, and the bases are loaded

9:28	Ben Clemens: That’s true!

9:28	Ben Clemens: Don’t even think of trying this crap on Randy Arozarena

9:28	Ben Clemens: He’d be dancing on the plate

9:29	Ben Clemens: Excellent pitch calling by Maldonado/Garcia there, I loved it

9:29	Ben Clemens: Attack until you’re ahead and then fish

9:29	Mateo: Is the absence of October Arozarena the biggest loss of the postseason?

9:29	Dan Szymborski: Gotta give someone else a chance to be a folk hero!

9:29	Russ: There is absolutely more than enough time to steal home during that windup.

9:29	Dan Szymborski: Every postseason should have its own unique band of folk heroes

9:29	Ben Clemens: I miss Dan’s “Clayton Kershaw and the Infinite Sadness” meme

9:29	Ben Clemens: personally

9:29	Dan Szymborski: I have such a collection of Dodgers ones now

9:30	Ben Clemens: Remember when Enrique Hernandez was the best hitter in baseball for 16 seconds earlier this month?

9:30	Dan Szymborski:

9:30	Ben Clemens: And then went like 0-20 as soon as A-Rod said analytics couldn’t explain how hot he was

9:31	Dan Szymborski:

9:31	Tony Snell: #WhenYoureHotYoureHot

9:31	Dan Szymborski: THat was some of my better photoshop work, I think

9:31	egm: Agree with Smoltz. Freeman should be messing around on third more

9:31	Ben Clemens: 100%

9:31	Dan Szymborski: I nailed that font and hot to fill out the star

9:31	Ben Clemens: Smoltz has some bad takes, but this is not one of them

9:31	Quarantino Martinez: Like pantsing the 3B coach?

9:32	Ben Clemens: or doing his own dance to create a dance-off

9:32	Mateo: “Agree with Smotz” is a dangerous take to toss out there. You’re made of sterner stuff than I.

9:32	Dan Szymborski: I did need to curve the font though, which was a mistake, but I was trying to finish quickly!

9:32	Tony Snell: If he wasn’t so crochety Smoltz would realize he has more takes that are sabermetrically-aligned than he thinks

9:32	Luke Hooper: Just another check swing.

9:33	desertfox9139: is an odd-numbered lead good or bad?

9:33	Ben Clemens: If you want to know how bad A-Rod’s even leads take was

9:33	Dan Szymborski: Even leads are better

9:33	Ben Clemens: THE OFFICIAL MLB WEBSITE MADE FUN OF IT

9:33	Ben Clemens: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/alex-rodriguez-said-even-number-leads-were-be…

9:34	Luke Hooper: Haha I totally missed that.

9:34	Dan Szymborski: The solo homer doesn’t tie it if it’s two and the grand slam doesn’t beat you if it’s four

9:34	Dan Szymborski: And, I assume, a six run lead is more than five

9:34	Ben Clemens: Their job is to promote baseball… and they decided the best way to do it was to make fun of one of its biggest stars/former players

9:34	Ben Clemens: Strictly because his take was so obviously ridiculous

9:34	Dan Szymborski: And sure, a seven run lead is more than a six run lead, smart guy, but an eight run lead is more than a seven run lead!

9:35	Floyd: I’m sure they have a play for when Garcia is in the windup with a runner on third but wet/rainy/Freeman isn’t the time to call it. Maybe they figure saving something for game 7? Still not a reason to not at least mess with him a bit tho.

9:35	Dan Szymborski: There’s only so much forbearance you can have with something so funny

9:35	Quarantino Martinez: Enrique is a tree in the woods: he’s still the best hitter in baseball, but no one’s there to see it/pitch to him.

9:35	always confused: also: NOBLETIGER

9:35	Ben Clemens: There was indeed a NOBLETIGER

9:35	Ben Clemens: let’s see if we can get a TOOTBLAN and FARTSLAM for the trifecta

9:36	Ben Clemens: actually whoops

9:36	Ben Clemens: Not a nobletiger, there was one out right?

9:37	Ben Clemens: (No Outs Bases Loaded Ending with Team Incapable of Getting Easy Run)

9:37	Ben Clemens: to go with Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop

9:37	Ben Clemens: and of course Fielder Allows Runner To Score Like A Moron

9:37	always confused: OOBLETIGER?

9:37	Dan Szymborski: This has been a surprisingly low scoring game

9:37	Tony Snell: Oobletiger?

9:38	Ben Clemens: Yeah, the Braves must be loving this

9:38	Ben Clemens: I think a low-scoring game benefits them more

9:38	Ben Clemens: Do you guys think Bregman is hurt? He really hasn’t looked right to me

9:39	Ben Clemens: Jake wrote about it today, but ‘is he injured’ is slightly diff

9:39	Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/alex-bregmans-struggles-have-continued-int…

9:39	desertfox9139: as a braves fan, i love the offensive attrition. i am used to it

9:39	desertfox9139: stalingrad games favor the braves

9:39	Quarantino Martinez: Is that why they decided to score fewer times last inning?

9:39	Dan Szymborski: There’s an offseason project

9:39	Ben Clemens: No no no, you have to get to an even lead first

9:39	Dan Szymborski: Match every game of the postseason with a WWII battle

9:39	CJ: I’m slow today – your photoshop reminded me how much I HATED what Roberts and Co. has done over the years

9:40	Dan Szymborski:

9:40	Luke Hooper: I tend to assume that at this point in the year if someone is really struggling, there’s probably an injury there.

9:40	desertfox9139: kursk would be a fun one

9:40	Hugh Duffy: Is Bregman injured? 🤷‍♂️ May not be 100%, don’t know if that’s injured.

9:40	Floyd: houston seems to be taking all the way first pitch but lotta bad swings late in counts.

9:40	Ben Clemens: Really good take

9:40	Ben Clemens: I totally agree with this

9:41	Ben Clemens: Do you guys actually think that Brian Snitker is managing like there’s no tomorrow?

9:41	Ben Clemens: There… there is going to be a tomorrow, I hope

9:41	egm: 2017 WS game 5 Dan! Which battle? Maybe some aerial/naval battle in the pacific?

9:41	Dan Szymborski: Hey, I can’t think of all these now!

9:41	Luke Hooper: Sure looks like the rain is heating back up

9:42	Finnegan’s SSW: If there’s no tomorrow I’d hope he wouldn’t be managing at all

9:42	Dan Szymborski: You need to match the flow of a battle with win expectancy graphs

9:42	always confused: I will always appreciate the internet creating beautiful acronyms such as NOBLETIGER, TOOTBLAN, and FARTSLAM among others

9:42	Ben Clemens: So uh, Smoltz is saying he didn’t throw strikes in 3-1 counts in the postseason?

9:42	Ben Clemens: I don’t think that tracks….

9:42	Ben Clemens: I guess it’s easy to feel that way, though

9:42	Dan Szymborski: Doesn’t mean Eric Gregg didn’t call them strikes!

9:43	Ben Clemens: One of the hardest people to evaluate is always yourself

9:44	Morbo: Not me. I’m easy to evaluate. I’m a gurmpy news monster who is very good a yelling

9:44	CJ: Wow Eric Gregg reference – THAT strike zone sure did leave an impression on many people

9:44	Dan Szymborski: Glavine was probably the larger beneficiary

9:44	Ben Clemens: Oh, this is Morbo of the “the Annihilator” Morbos?

9:44	Ben Clemens: Welcome!

9:44	Luke Hooper: Ahh I hadn’t even thought about a Greinke pinch hit at-bat. That’s what I’m rooting for.

9:45	Ben Clemens: oooh

9:45	Ben Clemens: he still does need that tenth steal

9:45	always confused: re Weather: the rain ain’t gonna get heavy but it’s been cloudy and drizzly all day and i don’t think that will change

9:45	Mateo: “That put a smile on Zack Greinke’s face!” [cut to Greinke doing the absolute opposite of smiling as usual]

9:46	desertfox9139: wow, yordan can run

9:46	Ben Clemens: He’s roughly average when he’s going

9:46	Ben Clemens: haha now the zone is HUGE

9:46	Luke Hooper: That pitch is going to be on the ump scorecard twitter page tomorrow.

9:46	Ben Clemens: I mean, that was just atrocious

9:46	Ben Clemens: This zone has been quite bad tonight

9:47	Floyd: The thing is the 0-0 red light has kinda worked for Houston. Anderson’s all over the place and it benefits Houston immensely to get into the Atlanta pen early. Take till you get a strike and dare Anderson to adjust by throwing first pitch heaters over the plate.

9:47	Luke Hooper: He went with the barehand!

9:47	Ben Clemens: I’m very in favor of the 0-0 red light in this situation

9:47	Ben Clemens: Anderson is the kind of pitcher you want to use it with

9:48	Ben Clemens: Walk-prone, before you get into the Braves’ bullpen situation

9:48	Hugh Duffy: The zone is bad? Welcome to the World Series, Ben.

9:48	egm: You guys chatting through the rain delay viewing of Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball?

9:48	Hugh Duffy: I think Brian Snitker has to get a win today. Leave tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow. If the Braves get a win tonight, worst case scenario is they see a Game 6.

9:48	Floyd: Yeah, Anderson hasn’t been beating them, they’ve been beating themselves with bad swings/weak contact at balls out of the zone.

9:49	desertfox9139: every ian inning is gold now

9:49	Ben Clemens: I don’t think he HAS to, because you know, teams win from 2-1 down

9:49	Ben Clemens: but it would definitely help

9:50	Rion: Where do you draw the line between hitters having bad swings/weak contact and pitchers inducing them

9:50	Ben Clemens: Great question that I don’t have a good answer to

9:51	Ben Clemens: I think it’s something that accumulates over time. It’s hard to tell the difference in a single game

9:51	Ben Clemens: To paraphrase Mookie Betts, both the pitchers and hitters drive Benzes

9:51	Luke Hooper: It must be so annoying pitching as, or facing, Garcia in MLB the Show.

9:52	Morbo: legit question how are post season stats counted or not counted for career stats? They aren’t counted right? Is the reasoning because it gives players who make the post season more often an unfair advantage over a player who plays for the Orioles? This has always confused me a bit

9:52	Luke Hooper: They are not counted.

9:52	Mateo: Joe Buck smoothly transitioning from saying “No score, 4th inning” to “with Atlanta up one” shows why he’s a pro lol

9:52	Ben Clemens: Look, say what you want about Joe Buck, he truly is a pro

9:53	desertfox9139: is this high leverage enough to use your best lefty?

9:53	desertfox9139: assuming blake is their best lefty

9:53	Ben Clemens: Sure

9:53	Luke Hooper: Honestly, Buck is so good at weird stuff like that. He does such a good job of setting up his next sentences.

9:53	Ben Clemens: Then, you just leave them in afterwards

9:53	Ben Clemens: Wait, hm, where are they in the lineup?

9:54	Ben Clemens: Oof yeah

9:54	Ben Clemens: TOugh situation here

9:54	Russ: Top of the order.

9:54	Ben Clemens: Oh no I meant in the Astros lineup

9:54	Ben Clemens: Pitcher’s spot is due up this inning

9:54	Ben Clemens: I don’t like this pull given that

9:54	Ben Clemens: Give him a batter

9:54	Luke Hooper: This feels like a Ben article.

9:55	Russ: Years ago in The Show I did Hideo Nomo’s windup for my pitcher and it got old after about two batters.

9:55	egm: I think Buck puts his jock colleagues in the booth at ease too. He’s quite loquacious

9:55	Ben Clemens: Agreed

9:56	Luke Hooper: I was binging some old world series highlights recently. Joe Buck has gotten miles more engaging and enthusiastic over the last 5+ years. I feel like pre-2013 or so he was completely bored out of his mind.

9:56	Ben Clemens: I liked the 2011 WS calls

9:56	Ben Clemens: But I, and he, may have been biased

9:56	Ben Clemens: I mean, just lol Eddie Rosario

9:56	Ben Clemens: When you’re hot you’re hot

9:57	Luke Hooper: Really!? Haha I was just about to reference Game 6 as peak bored buck.

9:57	Ben Clemens: you didn’t like ‘and we will see you tomorrow night’?

9:57	Ben Clemens: It’s very funny that Dusty is now peak sabermetric with his bullpen decisions, by the way

9:58	Ben Clemens: Third time through? Get him!

9:58	Luke Hooper: I mean that’s a classic call sure. But he uses that a lot. He did that as far back as the Boston comeback.

9:58	Tony Snell: Buck should be the bulk broadcaster and then you bring in someone who’s more animated to finish off the big moments

9:59	Lily: “And we will see you tomorrow night” just reminds everyone that he only has his job because his last name is Buck.

9:59	Ben Clemens: Now that’s fair, lol

9:59	Ben Clemens: I did partially like it b/c it reminded me of Jack Buck