With the first three days of the season under their belts, those swinging the sticks aren’t having much impact.
Looking at all the box scores coming across the wire, I started to yawn, because the one stat that stood out the most was the amount of soccer-like results.
Let’s take a look.
There have been a total of 38 games played in MLB, resulting in 76 box scores (one per team per game). There have already been 12 shutouts, or just under 33% of all games. I didn’t check to see how many of those were complete games by the starters, but 12 is bad enough. Of those 76 box scores, 33 had scored two runs or fewer, just shy of half.
Are you kidding me?
Is everyone starting the season in a slump?
Are they still scraping rust off their bats?
Are they being tested for PEDs?
Are Adderall ‘scrips down or something?
Seems to me the guys on the hill are doing something right. Or, are the guys holding the lumber lacking something? We’ve heard for years now that offense is down, down, down. I’d bet that this is the result of the steroid era ending, but I doubt the broadcast guys will speak to that.
It’s also obvious that pitchers don’t need help that comes in the form of a pill, injection or cream (they just wipe stuff on their hat…or neck). I have to believe that hitters work just as hard on their craft as pitchers do. There hasn’t been that dramatic of a change to what a pitcher does – fastballs aren’t 115-mph, knuckleballers are not dominating or groomed for the bigs, the strike zone has probably shrunk over the years, and you can forget about spit or snot balls coming at you.
Teams have hitting gurus, endless BP, custom made bats, film of pitchers, everything they could want or need to be somewhat successful swinging the Louisville.
Lucy! Please ‘splain this to me!
What we do hear is that to win a world championship you need pitching and defense. Sounds good, but you still have to score, period. You don’t have to score 10 every night, but you will not win anything putting up 3, 2, 1 or 0 on a regular basis.
Last night, the O’s hitters were struck out 13 times by three different pitchers. Yeah, I know we’re looking at a small sample size here, but is this a trend for all teams? I hope not. Everyone loves a slug fest.
Hopefully the hitters are just getting their timing back right now, and this offensive malaise won’t continue into yet another MLB season of pitchers’ duel after pitchers’ duel.
Watching a pitchers’ duel is like listening to the Masters on the radio or going to a James Taylor concert. Just don’t forget your pillow.
Here’s to offense.
submitted by Jeff Kief
