GDT 4/28/21 Philadelphia Phillies (Velasquez) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Oviedo)

[Patchmk88]

Big time win. Hope we hit someone tomorrow.

[zambonir]

Cabrera, through a translator

https://twitter.com/katiejwoo/status/1387616638967717888/photo/1

[Jeff05]

A decent response from the young man!

[andyb]

I am kind of happy they did not retaliate. No reason to cost yourself a game trying to be macho. The game has evolved and this could easily have been Alvarado or Coonrod having a pitch get away. Like it or not, we now have relievers trained to throw in the high 90s with so-so command. And batters who wear armor at the plate hoping to get hit sometimes (i would bet HBPs are way up the last 5 years).

Meanwhile, we might get to see a Kingery start if Bryce can't go today. Quinn probably plays CF against the LH starter. But who plays RF. Choice would likely be Joyce or Kingery.

[DurhamBull]

I'm glad to see the apology.

[bkeich]

I am glad to see the apology, but never really thought there was intent. There rarely is intent to hit a guy and frankly there was no reason to at that point.

The issue is more that a guy has lost control and cannot avoid hitting people (or at least has some likelihood to do so). That is a manager, not pitcher issue, and that is what upset me, that the manager didn’t act. As was pointed out, he could not because of the new rule, and to me it points out a flaw in that new rule that should be taken care of this next offseason. Simplest way is to add a caveat that if the other teams manager agrees that a pitcher can be removed early.

Classy move to apologize, but I doubt anyone thought it was intentional.

[bkox]

(i would bet HBPs are way up the last 5 years).

Interesting. I looked this up on baseball ref. Up to 1994, HBPs per game were about 0.20 or less. (1 in every 5 games). Starting in 1995 it jumped to 0.30-0.40 per game. Then in the last 3 years:

2019: 0.43
2020: 0.50
2021: 0.56

Those are NL stats, which for some reason, are higher than AL stats

[Florida_Sunshine]

Also, winning the games comes first. Keep an eye on the next time this pitcher pitches against the Phils.

That is when he gets drilled. And he knows it.

[julio]

Keep an eye on the next time this pitcher pitches against the Phils.

That is when he gets drilled. And he knows it.

Cabrera has appeared in 43 games in his major league career. He has four plate appearances - and those were in 2019, when they used him as a starter in two games.

So, if the Phillies decide to allow testosterone to get the better of common sense, they're presumably going to have to target somebody else for pain and potential injury.

Alternatively, they could opt to behave like adults.

[andyb]

I think drawing HBPs is part of hitting strategy these days like drawing walks. It was a significant part of Chase Utley's OBP because he was good at crowding the plate and still quick enough to get around on inside stuff. For power hitters it gives them coverage on the outside of the plate.

Add in the armor and the goal is usually to have it hit something padded (though of course not the face). If there are analytics about everything in the game this year, I bet there are analytics about how various combinations of stances and body armor improve OBP in part because of HBPs. Why wouldn't people try to optimize that?

[andyb]

And it looks like we are going with the "hope Nola pitches a shutout" lineup.

Bryce and Didi both out after the HBP though also because it is a LHP in a day game after a night game. Kingery gets to play 2B. Herrera and Quinn both in the OF. Bohm up to 2nd in the order.

Miller and Joyce will almost certainly play the back half of the game once St. Louis gets into the bullpen. Hopefully Bryce and Didi too for pinch hitting at least.

[zambonir]

Those are NL stats, which for some reason, are higher than AL stats

I assume you are being droll here.

Also, winning the games comes first. Keep an eye on the next time this pitcher pitches against the Phils.

That is when he gets drilled. And he knows it.

By the time this pitcher gets an AB against the Phillies we might not even have the same manager. But if you're playing the retaliation game, that's not how you should do it anyway. They hit Harper, you hit Goldschmidt.

Hard to know for sure if the days off are because of the HBPs, planned off-days, or "well, an off day couldn't hurt given they're banged up." Didi is probably a bigger concern than Harper because of his condition, but he'll also be less missed.

[andyb]

Nice to have Maton be able to play SS off the bench and think we are not losing too much. If that spot were Torreyes we'd lose lots of offense. Maybe today is the return of Scotty JetPax. Remember most of us are old enough to have seen Steve Jeltz hit home runs from both sides of the plate in a game.

[bkox]

I assume you are being droll here.

no.. its a big enough difference that I actually am wondering why.

201 vs 153 in 2021
448 vs 373 in 2020.
1038 vs 946 in 2019

Is there something obvious im missing?

[andyb]

The "conventional" logic might imply the NL should be less because pitchers are less likely to throw at hitters if they have to bat. Of course the opposite being true is interesting. No idea why.

[donaldorc]

Seems like the bot doesn't like afternoon games.

[zambonir]

I was sort of joking because if the idea was that you retaliate by throwing at the actual pitcher, that can only ever happen in the NL

I would have thought the real reason might be that there are simply more ABs by hitters in the AL. Pitchers at the the plate are not going to lean into pitches, or be armored up. But obviously 2021 doesn't suggest that. It might still be true that DHs are far more likely to contribute to the stat than the combination of pitchers/PHs.