World Series Game 4 Chat

by
October 26, 2019
8:05
Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from Tempe, everyone. Hope your weekend started off well.
8:06
Meg Rowley: And hello from Seattle. I similarly hope you’ve all enjoyed your Saturday.
8:07
Eric A Longenhagen:

8:08
Meg Rowley: Who gets to write the World Series montage intros?
8:08
Meg Rowley: I feel like we’d be good at that. They should let us do it.
8:09
Eric A Longenhagen: Does the FCC have a pun cap?

8:09
Eric A Longenhagen:

Who ya got tonight?
Houston (32.3% | 11 votes)
 
Washington (67.6% | 23 votes)
 
Total Votes: 34
8:10
Adam: Why no home whites?
8:10
5 Run Homer: I see the Nats are wearing their Corbin Bleus again tonight
8:10
Eric A Longenhagen: They’re something like 9-1 this postseason in the blues, right?
8:11
Meg Rowley: I tend to like the white pants with a colorful jersey combo better than the all white unis anyhow.
8:12
Nick from Jersey: I feel like a fangraphs entire broadcast would be a much better way to enjoy a game. Can that happen at somepoint?
8:13
Meg Rowley: You’ll have to settle (not that it is really “settling”) for Petriello on the nerd cast for now.
8:14
Dennis: were can we listen to mike petriello? he is doing tonights game??
8:14
Meg Rowley: No, sorry, just meant, when they do do them.
8:15
Eric A Longenhagen: Corbin has been a two-pitch guy for a while now, not sure that’s gonna cut it against Houston.
8:16
kershaws the GOAT: wow that was fast
8:17
kdl: Lots of Houston fans in the park apparently…is this weird, or am I overthinking?
8:17
Meg Rowley: Would think in a place like DC, with a lot of transplants, not especially?
8:18
5 Run Homer: I just realized that this is an incredibly humid World Series, city-wise
8:18
Meg Rowley: My nightmare!
8:19
Byron Buxton : Is Marlins Man there? I hope he’s okay
8:19
Meg Rowley: Haven’t noticed him — maybe he’s back a few rows?
8:20
Nick from Jersey: Is the weather much better there in Seattle?
8:20
Meg Rowley: We don’t do humidity, just rain, and crushing, terrible gloominess in the winter.
8:22
Crushing, Terrible Gloominess: In my humble opinion, mound visits in the first inning are generally not a good sign
8:22
Eric A Longenhagen: I concur, doctor.
8:24
Adam: Having Corbin pitch in game 1 probably led to this, right?
8:24
Eric A Longenhagen: I just think Corbin’s ill-equipped to deal with this lineup more than one, slider-heavy jaunt through. Sacks loaded, one out is not a great time to see if you have feel for that changeup you’ve only thrown 6% of the time this year.
8:25
Eel Ffilc: I’m gonna pour some coffee out for my East Coast homies.
8:25
Eric A Longenhagen: Coffee sounds great
8:26
Meg Rowley: (extreme I work from home and this is my job anyway voice) start the games at 3 pm PT, it’s fine
8:26
TrentC: Over or under 3 innings for Urquidy?
8:27
Eric A Longenhagen: Over, I think he’s going to pitch really well. Lots of 93-94 with ride (due to hand position), plus change, slider works if he executes it
8:27
Eric A Longenhagen: the location, i mean. it’ll get hammered if he leaves it in the zone. He’s a sneaky offseason top 100 candidate.
8:29
Meg Rowley: Lance Barksdale sure does have a bald head
8:30
Guest: I am at a Halloween party; Meg, I am given to understand you have experience sneaking away from friend events to watch baseball. Tips?
8:31
Tinker to Taylor to SoldiertoSpy: Wait, Urquidy’s still a prospect?
8:31
Dennis: It is interesting how the Astros use Urquidy. He uses his changup 25.5% of the time. I think that is high for an astros pitcher
8:31
Eric A Longenhagen: Was changeup/command guy coming into the year. Velo spiked, ‘stros tweaked his breaking balls, now he’s a dude.
8:32
Meg Rowley: I only do that if I am at friend events where there are other baseball people. Trying to decide now if just not seeing my friends for a month is less rude than that?
8:34
Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: “Can’t hit it any harder.”
EV: 102.8
I assure you, Juan Soto can hit the ball much better than that.
8:35
Meg Rowley: Max this year was 112.8 per Savant, average 91.3
8:37
Meg Rowley: “Four consecutive singles in the first inning of a world series game” is such a bad, unfun fun fact
8:37
Eric A Longenhagen: (notes Urquidy is a bucket-strider)
8:37
Dennis: c’mon 102.8 is pretty high. u dont expect john buck to see the difference in real time
8:37
Meg Rowley: Nah, I wouldn’t expect him to.
8:41
Howie in KS: Kendrick’s stripes are always delightful
8:42
Meg Rowley: Agreed — they’re good.
8:44
Tinker to Taylor to SoldiertoSpy: Eric, at minor league games, do you take notes on pitchers’ batting? What about their fielding, which would be relevant in both leagues?
8:44
Eric A Longenhagen: Watching pitchers field is a good way to assess athleticism. I barely ever see pitchers hit in the minors. It’s a universal DH until Double-A, and even then it’s rare.
8:45
Albert: What is a bucket-strider?
8:45
Eric A Longenhagen: What Urquidy was doing, watch how he strides when he hits again.
8:45
kevinthecomic: nasty break on that pitch
8:47
stever20: Amazing to think next year this slot would have been Lance McCullers Jr.
8:48
Eric A Longenhagen:

8:50
Eric A Longenhagen: Eephus curveball from Corbin is a sign he’s gonna smoke &mirrors his way through the lineup one more time? Rendon is incredible, btw. Not like you don’t already know.
8:50
Meg Rowley: He was chewing seeds while he did that.
8:50
Meg Rowley: One time, I just fell out of a chair. Was sitting, and shifted my feet, and fell out of the chair.
8:51
sucramrenrut: This is definitely Rendon’s coming out party for the more casual baseball viewer right?
8:52
Eric A Longenhagen: yeah, a Bumgrarnery ascent in the zeitgeist.
8:53
Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Is 32 old to have never changed a tire?
8:54
Meg Rowley: I learned how, but have never had to do it in a real game as it were, so I’d probably google it
8:54
Train Noises: Rendon is hitting like .215 with a couple doubles in the WS. Not the biggest coming out thus far.
8:55
Meg Rowley: The fielding has been noticeably good.
8:56
Dennis: what type of contract do u guess Rendon will get this offseason?
8:57
Eric A Longenhagen: hmmm, 8/250?
8:57
Eric A Longenhagen: Boras is gonna be so busy.
8:58
stever20: Going to be a really interesting inning here.  Urquidy at 24 pitches(both his playoff outings were mid 40’s).  His spot is due up 4th next inning.
8:59
Meg Rowley: Boras must be excited to get to choreograph the whole deal, instead of only having half of it like last year.
9:01
Joe Maddon’s Bunts: Is today’s game (and I guess this series at large) pivotal in determining whether the Astros are a dynasty or not? Especially with Cole leaving
9:02
Meg Rowley: Two championships in three years is the beginning of a solid case. I think (or hope) that the events of this week away from the field will have as much to do with how we view their “dynasty” but I’ve been disappointed before! (gestures at the everything of the last week)
9:03
Fire Ken Tremendous : I’m watching the movement on some of these pitches and asking myself “urquidding me?”
9:03
Meg Rowley: Good grief.
9:03
Eric A Longenhagen: Backdoor, right-on-right changeups are my favorite pitch.
9:05
stever20: this umpire seems like he’s had the best strike zone of the series so far.
9:06
Meg Rowley: It seems more consistent than any of the others at least
9:06
Eric A Longenhagen:

Would you pick up Adam Eaton’s $9.5 million player option?
Yes (83.1% | 69 votes)
 
No (16.8% | 14 votes)
 
Total Votes: 83
9:07
kevinthecomic: Since Eric is on the chat: what do we think of Jose Suarez’s season?  No longer deserving of a 50 FV or just a 21 year old over matched in MLB?
9:07
Eric A Longenhagen: Stuff just wasn’t as crisp as he came back from the injury. I’d still 50 him now but if his stuff still isn’t totally back in the spring, that’s when he’d start falling.
9:09
3B2K: Same question I asked previously, how much of an upset would it be if Washington wins? thanks.
9:09
Eric A Longenhagen: WSH was a 56% favorite to win this game
9:10
Meg Rowley: Their WE at this moment is 28%.
9:12
3B2K: sorry I meant the series.
9:13
Meg Rowley: Coming into the night, the Nats were favored by the ZiPS Postseason Game-By-Game Odds, 62%…
9:13
Meg Rowley: would imagine it is uh, now a little lower!
9:13
Eric A Longenhagen: Chirinos hit a cambio
9:13
Train Noises: TRAIN NOISES!!!!!!!
9:14
Meg Rowley: I’ve really enjoyed how many of the zoomed in, slow-mo replays this postseason have shown really clear shots of pitchers’ grips
9:15
kevinthecomic: Thoughts on Chapman winning Reliever of the Year over Hendricks?
9:15
Meg Rowley: I think Hendricks was better, and the gap was not-small, and also the optics were bad, so double bad bummer
9:17
3B2K: Eric, anyone in the minors even come close to pitching like Greg  Maddux? Or Meg.
9:17
Meg Rowley: Lots of dudes close to pitching like I would, which sure is a bummer for them.
9:19
Dreamer Bob: Is that the worst attempt to bunt you’ve ever seen?
9:19
Meg Rowley: Please, sometimes guys bunt the ball full into their faces!
9:19
Ryan: Is calling that homerun a “moonshot” an intentional reference to the Astros’ space-program-themed name?
9:20
Eric A Longenhagen: If the question is “Who in the minors has the best command projection?” it’s probably Tyler Phillips.
9:21
Meg Rowley: Would imagine the moonshot stuff is classic baseball term + Apollo 11 more than it is Astros specific.
9:22
Adam2: But does Tyler Phillips look like a total nerd while pitching?
9:22
Eric A Longenhagen: No, then we’re talking Devin Smeltzer as the heir apparent.
9:23
Roger: Meg, have you ever made a mistake in your life?  Do you hope people forgive you and continue to consider you for, say, continued employment or honors despite that mistake?
9:24
Meg Rowley: Even if you set aside the optics of giving Chapman that award this week, he… wasn’t the best reliever in the American League, Roger.
9:25
Ligma: Nats gotta gets some runs
9:25
Meg Rowley: If they want to win, it would help.
9:26
Eric A Longenhagen: Hell yes, Panthers Niners tomorrow
9:27
Nick: Is Springer really as good of a Fielder as Buck just implied?
9:27
Meg Rowley: I would like to make the following political statement as a Seahawks fan: Go Panthers
9:27
Eric A Longenhagen: Not in CF
9:28
Another Adam: Nick he is better than Cecil, and close to Prince
9:29
Meg Rowley: this made me chuckle
9:29
Sharp: Does Urquidy have a bunch of movement on his FB or are the Nats just missing that badly.
9:29
Eric A Longenhagen: It’s got good vertical movement.
9:30
Jordan: Long term, Soto or Acuna?
9:32
Meg Rowley: Acuña for me — Soto’s bat may be better but Acuña does more things really well
9:34
Meg Rowley: Another upshot of the white pants — the grass stains pop
9:37
Nick: “Most in control starter.”  That Joe Buck has a way with words.  What is a better phrase to convey the point he is trying to make?
9:38
Adam2: No improvement. He nailed it.
9:38
Eric A Longenhagen: lol
9:38
Meg Rowley: I probably would have talked about base runners allowed, or said something like “it’s Urquidy who’s cruised”
9:40
3B2K: Either of you ever imagine you would be doing this kind of work ?
9:41
Meg Rowley: Dreamed I’d get to, didn’t expect I would. It’s incredible, and I’m grateful for it every day, even when I’m very tired.
9:42
matt: how concerned should we be that it costs over $1,000 for standing room only tickets to a world series? i guess it’s a good thing that demand is that high but it prices out a lot of the fan base.
9:42
Eric A Longenhagen: I had SRO tix for 2008 game 4 (Blanton went deep, ‘member?) and they were like $100.
9:43
Sharp: The regular tickets weren’t that expensive when they initially went on sale
9:43
Eric A Longenhagen: oh Buck was talking secondary market?
9:43
Meg Rowley: That seems unsurprising then?
9:46
Greg: Were there any big surprises to you in the Gold Glove finalists?
9:47
Eric A Longenhagen: Five shutout for Urquidy, which is pretty rad.
9:47
Meg Rowley: Weird not to have Grandal on there for catcher.
9:47
Appelman: Ugh, Teddy won?
9:47
Eric A Longenhagen: Hey, easy.
9:47
3B2K: Things at all feel differently with Jeff, Dave, Eno and Carson moving on? I dont mean in any negative way, just different feel.
9:47
Meg Rowley: We all say rad now, and it’s my fault.
9:48
Meg Rowley: Yeah, it feels different — we miss them, but we also have new folks we like. It’s nice to see your pals doing well, even if I wish very badly that Carson was still here to fix my hyphens.
9:51
WhoIsZorbist?: Natural Light Seltzer would sell a lot better if they didn’t call it Natural Light Seltzer
9:51
Meg Rowley: We can only ever be ourselves
9:52
kevinthecomic: Last night’s game was in the middle of the 2nd at this time
9:52
Eric A Longenhagen: I was knee-deep in the ASU/Team USA scrimmage
9:53
Trevor: So Kyler Murray is already in nationally televised commercials, despite having accumulated half a season of NFL experience and having played . . . unevenly, to say the least.  Think he regrets his decision at all?
9:53
Eric A Longenhagen: Nope!
9:53
Eric A Longenhagen: Unless he’d have liked to be sweating on the Mesa backfields and fending off autograph hounds by the dozen at every turn
9:53
Nate: How long do you think Urquidy can go for here? Hasn’t thrown a lot of innings in a while, but did start all summer. But then again…wise to let him go through the lineup a 3rd time?
9:54
Eric A Longenhagen: I think they make a move as soon as there’s traffic, or if he hits this half
9:54
Greene: Re Murray: He *has* been sacked 23 times already, including 8 times in a single game.  He might take Mesa over that . . . .
9:55
Meg Rowley: The only one he really minded was from his own lineman though
9:56
Eric A Longenhagen: Glad Robles has been less frantic-looking tonight.
9:57
kevinthecomic: Chirinos early candidate for World Series MVP?
9:58
Meg Rowley: Would imagine Soto
9:58
Wire Fan: Smoltz is just never going to drop the ball in play narrative, is he?
9:59
stever20: gutsy call sending Corbin back out there for the 6th and looks to have paid off….
9:59
Meg Rowley: His approach to the convo is a bummer because I think the “what does baseball look like” discussion is important and worthwhile and we shouldn’t let grumps dictate its course.
10:01
Sharp: Urquidy out. James in
10:04
BABY SHARK: Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo
10:04
Eric A Longenhagen: Between Parra, watching Sterling Sharp, watching D.J. Chark, and owning a bottle of Maker’s Mark, I have now gone from barely hearing ‘Baby Shark’ to feeling as though I’ve seared it into my own brain.
10:05
Olson: Can Howie Kendrick still play the infield at all?  Could he be a Rendon replacement, at least or a year or two?
10:05
Eric A Longenhagen: More likely Kieboom.
10:05
Adam2: Sharks walk?
10:05
Meg Rowley: yes
10:06
Sharp: I know people laugh at the baby shark thing, but it is awesome sitting in the crowd with it
10:06
Meg Rowley: they do a very nice job with it — it seems genuinely fun
10:07
Lunar verLander: “When he finds a shark that can travel on land residing in his home, an ex-cop enlists the help of a grizzled former real estate agent, and an eccentric “house shark” expert to kill the beast.”
…grizzled former real estate agent…
10:07
Meg Rowley: it’s magical
10:07
Eric A Longenhagen: Did you know sometimes sharks eat their own young?
10:07
A ekspert: The epaulette shark can in fact walk on land
10:08
Adam2: What is the Makers Mark / baby shark connection? They shouldn’t be allowed to market to young children.
10:08
Eric A Longenhagen: the syllables fit the song and my brain does the rest
10:08
kevinthecomic: sometimes you just gotta eat
10:08
BABY SHARK: I’m rooting for a Nationals rally this inning simply for the chance of hearing Baby Shark in a Ken Burns documentary
10:09
Jason: and “house shark” expert – like there are lots of these around in this universe??
10:09
Meg Rowley: Per Amazon’s extended description, he is: “the world’s only “House Shark” Expert”
10:09
Meg Rowley: the “e” in expert is capitalized, which is how you know he is serious
10:09
Eric A Longenhagen: Does the character have a ponytail?
10:10
Meg Rowley: EVEN BETTER
10:10
Meg Rowley:

10:10
Meg Rowley: to be fair, that might be the grizzled real estate agent
10:11
A ekspert: Looks like a member of the Schrute family
10:11
Eric A Longenhagen: Doug Stanhope did costuming on this movie?
10:12
Meg Rowley: I think they made this movie hoping it would be on Mystery Science Theatre 3000
10:13
Eric A Longenhagen: I don’t think Harris had a play on that ball even if he’d have seen it ricochet
10:13
Meg Rowley:

10:13
Meg Rowley: HOLY SHIT WHO IS THIS GUY?
10:13
Meg Rowley: well if this game starts to drag, I vote we just watch this
10:14
CJ: This might be the series
10:16
Lynn: Is there a live Championship Probability tracker online anywhere?  I’d love to see what that groundout did.
10:16
Meg Rowley: https://www.thebaseballgauge.com/post.php?tab=game&GAME_ID=WAS20191026…
10:16
Meg Rowley: To the Baseball Gauge!
10:16
Meg Rowley: oh maybe this is just regular win expectancy
10:18
Lynn: The WinExp column is labelled “Series Win Expectancy” in the mouseover text, so it’s not just for this game.
10:18
Meg Rowley: Reading is very cool.
10:19
Dude: Sharks can swim up river in fresh water for miles. In 1916 a bull shark swam 30 miles inland in a New Jersey creek and killed two people.
10:19
Eric A Longenhagen: Are we sure the Matawan Creek stuff is a bull shark? They’re more common southern waters. I still think it was something that got lost upriver.
10:20
Meg Rowley: wow there really just a giant shark in the house
10:20
Nate: I feel like Will Harris is quietly making himself a lot of money this winter now. He’s been money throughout the postseason
10:21
Meg Rowley: been good to very good for a long time, just not often used in the highest leverage spots because they used other dudes
10:21
Lynn: Could there be a *worse* decision than giving a reliever a big contract on the basis of a tiny sample of performance in the post season?
10:22
Eric A Longenhagen: Doing it with a starter? (Jeff Suppan, baby)
10:24
BABY SHARK: Tanner Rainey scares me
10:24
Meg Rowley: the facial hair *is* bad
10:26
Ellis: I would 100% support extending the Yankees’ facial hair policy to the entire majors.  Especially during the post-season.  Few things are more grotesque than the playoff beards some players trot out.
10:27
Meg Rowley: I like guessing if there is a family of mice who wear little hats living in dudes’ beards though
10:27
Eric A Longenhagen: I think it should be mandatory to have Daniel Mengden’s facial hair
10:28
Eric A Longenhagen: For everyone, not just in baseball.
10:29
Meg Rowley: at least everyone who works at the craft cocktail factory
10:31
Jason: I think that the losing pitcher should be forced to undergo a full-body shave after the end of every game, and that pitchers should be otherwise forbidden from grooming during the season.  That way, we can tell at a glance how effective any given pitcher has been.
10:31
Fire Ken Tremendous : What’s the thinking behind this change?
10:31
Meg Rowley: that’s what the close ups on their eyes are for
10:32
Eric A Longenhagen: Rodney’s changeup is best shot at neutralizing the lefty?
10:32
Eric A Longenhagen: Doolittle is the only other lefty in WSH ‘pen
10:33
Ellis: Do teams sell more or fewer concessions during a playoff game compared to a crowd of the same size during the regular season?  Or put different: are more people nervous eaters or too nervous to eat?
10:34
Meg Rowley: I bet it evens out and it ends up being about the same (scaled for higher attendance of course)
10:35
Adam2: I’d think teams sell less in Eastern time zone when games start after 8pm.
10:35
Meg Rowley: Oh sure, brag about having snacking self control.
10:35
Meg Rowley: Oh dear.
10:36
Fire Ken Tremendous : Back breaker
10:36
Train Noises: CHOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOO
10:36
Nick: If you were a Nats fan, would you consider leaving early at this point?
10:36
Eric A Longenhagen: Nah, you gotta hang just in case
10:36
BABY SHARK: <cries in shark>
10:37
Howie in KS: It’s still World Series baseball
10:38
Train Noises: If I’m spending $500 for a ticket im riding it out
10:38
Meg Rowley: Think about what happens if they come back and you’ve left. You either: get made fun of for the rest of your life or lie to literally everyone you know forever.
10:41
Nick: Train Noises:  That attitude is why Albert Pujols is still a first baseman.
10:41
Meg Rowley: Look, the game isn’t going to go *that* long.
10:43
Eric A Longenhagen: I’ll try to pepper chat with interesting stuff from the video collection as long as the game is out of hand.
10:43
Sharp: Bob Carpenter, Nats tv guy, is in our section keeping score and trying to keep people’s spirits up.
10:44
stever20: Rodney is the worst pitcher Bregman has hit a homer off of in the postseason….
10:44
stever20: Rodney, Strasburg, Sale(2),Kershaw, Snell, Bauer, Jansen, Kluber
10:44
Meg Rowley: oh dear
10:45
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369083353
10:45
Meg Rowley: this is from the ASU scrimmage yesterday?
10:46
Dude: Great white sharks have been observed up to 20 feet long. Measure 20 feet and imagine a shark that big. It’s insane
10:46
Meg Rowley: the thing about sharks is that they scare me very much and I am totally fascinated by them
10:47
Eric A Longenhagen: yep
10:47
Guest: Rodney just does his thing.
10:48
BABY SHARK: If the Nats are going to have a bullpen meltdown, doing it in a game where they’re already down by three is actually kind of ideal, isn’t it?
10:48
Meg Rowley: think we might still ask questions of the decisions made here though
10:49
Meg Rowley: He was not trying for history. He does not know about that unfun fun fact.
10:49
Meg Rowley: He was just trying to hit the baseball.
10:49
Meg Rowley: Didn’t do it though.
10:49
Trent: Clearly Martinez should have brought in Corbin in relief.
10:51
Meg Rowley: Eric, who else did you see at the scrimmage?
10:53
Eric A Longenhagen: It was a mix.
10:53
Eric A Longenhagen: from Erik Kratz to Xavier Edwards
10:57
Vroom Vroom Guy: What kind of devilry is a knuckle slider
10:57
Eric A Longenhagen: i’ll show you…
10:58
Eric A Longenhagen:

Royals lefty Daniel Lynch varying the shape of his knuckle slider.
14 Oct 2019
10:58
BABY SHARK: How much of a blow is the Suzuki injury?
10:59
Eric A Longenhagen: I think it’s significant. Gomes has a much better arm and Houston was taking advantage of Suzuki in that way, but Suzuki is superior in every other facet. And Gomes was mishandling pitches late in the year, kinda harrowing.
11:00
Meg Rowley: is the crowd misjudging these fly outs, or do they sound loud because of the microphone levels?
11:01
Sharp: We are misjudging them. Cold wind blowing in from the outfield is killing them all
11:01
Sharp: Plus we are desparate
11:01
Meg Rowley: Sorry, buddy — hope we’re a good distraction
11:02
Sharp: My wife is an Astros fan, so she’s happy at least
11:02
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369085009
11:03
Meg Rowley: Devastated Marsh doesn’t wear his shortish shorts in games.
11:06
BABY SHARK: Are catchers more likely to be bilingual than players at other positions?
11:06
Eric A Longenhagen: Yes, I was actually talking about this with Kiley a few days ago. It’s part of what helps qualify them to be managers later on.
11:06
Karma: Who is winning NL East next year?
11:08
Eric A Longenhagen: I think Atlanta. I think that young pitching settles into long term roles with some of Touki, Wright, Ynoa, Weigel, Folty really thriving and giving them a deep staff
11:10
Meg Rowley: Yeah, I’ll take Atlanta, too, especially with the Nationals likely having a Rendon-sized hole to fill
11:10
3B2K: Thoughts on Manfred? Any positives?
11:10
Meg Rowley: Often seems to tie his tie straight. Just really good knots.
11:12
Homie: Have the Phillies squandered their rebuild by not building up their pitching? Feels like I wouldn’t pick them over anyone in that division except the fish and maybe the mets
11:12
Eric A Longenhagen: I think they’ve lacked creativity with how they deploy pitching. They also had injuries that weren’t there fault. Bullpen looks different late in the year with Seranthony and Morgan.
11:13
Eric A Longenhagen: Yuli has been better than I thought when he first left Cuba.
11:14
Meg Rowley: feel like we’re in a golden age for having to revisit our understanding of what body types can be and are athletic
11:15
Derek: Hi Eric, with the AFL season now over, any standouts or thoughts to share from this season?
11:16
Eric A Longenhagen: I’ve made changes to this throughout the AFL:https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-arizona-fall-league…
11:16
Eric A Longenhagen: The guy I’d point to are all guys who came into AFL unranked (they’re at the bottom, have no org rank)
11:17
Eric A Longenhagen: Oliva had a great fall
11:17
Nate: Did you get to see Yuli at all when he was younger? Or when he was first working out for teams after he defected?
11:17
Eric A Longenhagen: nope
11:18
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369086089
11:21
Sharp: Guerra giving up some hard contact…Robles keeps bailing out the staff.
11:22
Eric A Longenhagen: He’s been really great out there tonight.
11:22
Fire Ken Tremendous : Remember in Game One when we thought Robles didn’t know how to play OF?
11:22
Eric A Longenhagen: It was so bizarre.
11:23
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369086587
11:26
Meg Rowley: I wonder how many people are truly “just checking out” the baseball game
11:26
Lunar verLander: Well, some college football games just ended…so I guess it’s possible?
11:26
Meg Rowley: Ah this is a good point
11:29
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369086881
11:30
Meg Rowley: the little pitcher head nod of “yup, did go out” is good
11:32
Meg Rowley: it raining in DC seems mean
11:32
Eric A Longenhagen:

Who ya got (macro)?
Nationals in 6 (7.3% | 5 votes)
 
Nationals in 7 (27.9% | 19 votes)
 
Astros in 6 (23.5% | 16 votes)
 
Astros in 7 (41.1% | 28 votes)
 
Total Votes: 68
11:33
Sharp: Now that I have taught my wife about fangraphs, how long after the game will it take for the Series probabilities to be updated so she can float?
11:34
Meg Rowley: By first thing in the morning for sure, though I think Dan has been getting them up sooner, though I also know he is on the recap tonight.
11:35
BABY SHARK: It’s truly impressive how loud this crowd is down 7 in the 8th
11:35
Meg Rowley: And how many folks are there.
11:36
Geoff: Do the classic “filter down from nosebleeds to vacated better seats” rules apply in World Series games?
11:36
Meg Rowley: Oh this is a great question
11:37
Meg Rowley: I am a Mariners fan, so I am unfamiliar with this problem. Eric?
11:37
Eric A Longenhagen: There are rules? If the usher is looking the other way, they’re fair game.
11:39
Meg Rowley: I thought I had one more ice cream sandwich and instead, I have none, and I am very upset
11:40
Eric A Longenhagen: What brand?
11:40
Meg Rowley: https://www.tillamook.com/ice-cream/sandwiches/vanilla-bean.html
11:42
Meg Rowley: Oh what the hell, they have chocolate mudslide ones of these!? Safeway, you’ve let me down.
11:43
Eric A Longenhagen: Those are sneaky, i always end up having two
11:43
Eric A Longenhagen: they’re small
11:43
Adam2: How did our hosts vote in the poll?
11:43
Eric A Longenhagen: HOU in 7
11:44
Meg Rowley: yeah, same — I think when we did the ALCS livestream I said Houston in 6, but now I think it takes 7
11:46
Eric A Longenhagen: https://vimeo.com/369088403
11:47
Meg Rowley: robozone called strike three!
11:48
Meg Rowley: seems like a waste of the “closing time” music cue
11:49
Eric A Longenhagen: Agreed
11:51
Eric A Longenhagen: Here’s that slider up close. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. https://vimeo.com/369089159
11:53
Meg Rowley: Man, the high-speed stuff is so cool.
11:53
Train Noises: Well, it’s not over yet, but I wanted to thank y’all for hosting another fine chat.
11:54
Eric A Longenhagen: You’re welcome. Thanks for coming.
11:54
Meg Rowley: Yeah, appreciate everyone tolerating the House Shark
11:54
Meg Rowley: leaves such a mess
11:55
Lunar verLander: Just make sure the next person FanGraphs hires is a grizzled former real estate agent
11:55
Meg Rowley: On it.
11:56
BABY SHARK: Yes I think we need a special House Shark correspondent for their unique perspective on baseball
11:57
Meg Rowley: Just saying, must have good deception if he can sneak around the house and not get caught for a whole movie.
11:57
Fire Ken Tremendous : Watching Devenski walk around I’m convinced he’d be the worst cat burglar ever
11:57
Meg Rowley: ha!
11:58
Meg Rowley: Ok pals, we’ll call it there. There will be another chat tomorrow, though it will not feature the two of us. Thanks for hanging out, and for reading all of our postseason coverage!
11:59
Meg Rowley: Hope you had fun.
11:59
Meg Rowley: Now go to sleep!





 

Meg is the managing editor of FanGraphs and the co-host of Effectively Wild. Prior to joining FanGraphs, her work appeared at Baseball Prospectus, Lookout Landing, and Just A Bit Outside. You can follow her on twitter @megrowler.

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