大谷翔平、メジャーでも二刀流大活躍!
《2018.4》
1) Shohei Ohtani delivers, wins MLB pitching debut
1) Shohei Ohtani delivers, wins MLB pitching debut
April 2, 2018
2) Japanese baseball fans thrilled with Ohtani's strong start
April 6, 2018
3) Ohtani’s power show helps lift Halos
April 5, 2018, Yomiuri
4) Ohtani hurls 7 superb innings as Angels beat A's 6-1
April 9, 2018
5) 10 Degrees: Dear Shohei: I'm sorry. I was totally wrong about you.
April 9, 2018, MLB Columnist
1と2の記事の日本語訳・解説はこちらら
ｽﾗｯｼｭﾘｰﾃﾞｨﾝｸﾞの練習もきます！
By Jill Martin, CNN April 2, 2018
この記事のｽﾗｯｼｭﾘｰﾃﾞｨﾝｸﾞと解説はこちらHe was on the road Sunday, but it didn't matter. The buzz still was palpable in Oakland, California, as 14,644 fans turned up at the ballpark to see the rookie known as the Japanese Babe Ruth.
They steadied their cell phones to get images of him, while others held up his Los Angeles Angels jersey and signs written in Japanese.
According to MLB.com, 240 members of the Japanese media were in attendance. Fans tuned in from Japan local time at 5 a.m.
For Shohei Ohtani, it was showtime.
In elite company
It's been estimated that Ohtani's value could be worth as much as $200 million, though the Angels are only paying the Japanese star the league-minimum salary of $545,000 per year due to the MLB's collective bargaining rules.
Ohtani, however, did pocket a one-time signing bonus of $2.3 million.
While the cameras clicked and mobile phones were trained on Ohtani, the 23-year-old member of the Angels, who had made his major league debut on Thursday as a designated hitter, took the pitching mound for his first major league start.
Ohtani is attempting to do what many think is impossible: play in Major League Baseball doing both.
On Thursday, Ohtani singled in his first at-bat, going 1-for-5 at the plate. He joined Hideki Matsui, Kaz Matsui, Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Kosuke Fukudome as Japanese-born players with a hit on Opening Day in their first MLB at-bat.
Then came Sunday, putting Ohtani in some elite company.
He became the first Major League player to start as a non-pitcher on Opening Day and then start as a pitcher within his team's first 10 games since Ruth -- the most famous two-way player of all -- did it with the Boston Red Sox in 1919.
And after Ruth, it's been a rare occurrence.
The last time a player started as a pitcher and a non-pitcher in the first 10 games of a season was 1920, when both Joe Bush (Red Sox) and Clarence Mitchell (Dodgers) started as pitchers and outfielders. The last player to start as a pitcher and a non-pitcher within the same season was Rick Rhoden with the Yankees in 1988 (30 starts as pitcher, one as DH).
"He was attacking the hitters"
Ohtani got off to a rough start against the Athletics, giving up three hits, including a three-run home run to Matt Chapman, in the second inning.
"After that three-run shot, (Angels manager Mike) Scioscia came up to me and said I'm doing fine," Ohtani said through his interpreter. "Don't let them score from here on out."
And Ohtani settled down. In all, he allowed three runs and three hits with one walk in six innings, striking out six. At times, his speed got up to 100 miles per hour on the radar gun.
"I knew he was going to have a good one because the way he was throwing the ball was amazing," Angels catcher Martin Maldonado said. "He was attacking the hitters."
Ohtani earned his first win as the Angels came out on top, 7-4.
"Obviously I'm very happy, satisfied with my outing," Ohtani said. "But more than that, happy the team got the victory."
On this day, at least, he lived up to the hype.
2) Japanese baseball fans thrilled with Ohtani's strong start
The Asahi Shimbun April 6, 2018 at 07:50 JST
この記事のｽﾗｯｼｭﾘｰﾃﾞｨﾝｸﾞと解説はこちらShohei Ohtani's electrifying start with the Los Angeles Angels certainly sent a jolt of excitement through his fans back home in Japan.
A slugger who can also pitch, Ohtani homered in his second straight home game Wednesday, blasting a two-run shot off AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber in the fifth inning of the series finale against the Cleveland Indians.
That followed a three-run homer in his first home at-bat on Tuesday.
Ohtani had only four hits and no home runs in 32 at-bats during spring training with the Angels. That led to reports he may start the regular season in the minors.
"I think it is amazing. That's the only word that I can think of," Japanese businessman Toru Fujimori said. "He couldn't do well during the preseason and some newspapers said he may even be sent to the minor leagues. I think the team did very well to use him in the opening game despite that fact."
The rookie sensation was big news in Japan, where political scandals and fears of U.S.-imposed trade tariffs have dominated headlines for weeks.
"I knew that he could do well in the majors, but I'm surprised that he hit two home runs in two consecutive games," office worker Shuhei Abe said.
Japanese media also got into the act.
"Sensational Home Debut: First At-Bat, First Home Run," read a front-page headline in the Sports Nippon newspaper.
After hitting his first home run, Ohtani's teammates gave him the silent treatment by initially ignoring him when he came back to the dugout.
There are no such traditions in Japanese baseball so that also made headlines across the ocean.
"Ohtani Stunned by the Silent Treatment," read a headline in the Nikkansports newspaper.
Ohtani's former manager said the strong start was just the type of performance he has come to expect from the slugger.
"He came through with a big hit when everyone wanted him to, that's just like Shohei," said Hideki Kuriyama, Ohtani's manager with the Nippon Ham Fighters. "Starting off like this should make things easier for him. It's good to see him with a smile on his face."
Most Japanese fans expected Ohtani to excel as a pitcher, so many were taken aback by his early prowess at the plate.
He hit 22 home runs for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2016 but there were concerns he couldn't handle major league pitching.
Those fears seem to have been put to rest.
"I want him to do well both at bat and as a pitcher," university student Nana Tokuizumi said.
3) Ohtani’s power show helps lift Halos
The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shinbun April 05, 2018
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani really didn’t think his long drive to center field at Angel Stadium would get out of the park, so he sprinted around first base while it soared over the fence for his second homer in two days.
Ohtani made the same sprint with the same thoughts one day earlier, when his first big league homer also surprised him by flying over the wall.
The Los Angeles Angels’ two-way sensation is doing things even he can’t believe during his dynamite first week in the majors. Ohtani homered again at home in the fifth inning and Zack Cozart hit a game-ending shot in the 13th to give the Angels a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.
One day after Ohtani hit an electrifying three-run homer in his first home plate appearance, the Japanese rookie connected for a tying two-run homer off AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in his second game at the Big A.
“There was a runner on second base, so I was just trying to get a base hit and keep my swing compact, and it ended up clearing the fence,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I think everything is going really well right now. I’m off to a good start.”
Neither team scored again after Ohtani’s drive until Cozart, the Angels’ new infielder, connected for his first career walk-off homer against Zach McAllister (0-1).
Ohtani also singled leading off the 10th to go 2-for-5, giving him six hits this season and five in his only two home games. He will make his first home pitching start Sunday against Oakland, one week after beating the Athletics on the road in his big league pitching debut.
“At the plate, he’s starting to get comfortable,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “You can see the big power he has. Corey Kluber is a guy that does not give up a lot of home runs. He’s as tough as there is. [Ohtani] made him get a ball over the plate, and Shohei got a hold of it. That’s obviously a big hit in the game.”
Noe Ramirez (1-1), the Angels’ eighth reliever, came on with two outs in the 13th and struck out Erik Gonzalez with two Indians on base. Los Angeles’ bullpen pitched 8⅓ innings of scoreless, two-hit ball.
Brandon Guyer and Jason Kipnis drove in early runs as the Indians finished a season-opening West Coast road trip at 2-4. Cleveland had no extra-base hits, and no hits at all in extra innings.
“As a club right now, we don’t have anybody hot,” manager Terry Francona said. “We certainly had chances. We had runners on base. We just couldn’t get a hit ... The last couple of hours was tough sledding for us.”
Kluber credited Ohtani for capitalizing on a misplaced fastball: “I was trying to force him away, and I ended up in the high third [of the strike zone],” Kluber said.
Stanton rebounds with blast
NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton turned on a high slider from Blake Snell, and the cracking sound in Yankee Stadium was exceptional.
The newest slugger in New York’s lineup watched the drive head deep into the left-field seats at 189.7 kph, the hardest-hit ball in the major leagues so far this young season.
Even before the ball landed about 136 meters from home plate, Stanton flipped his bat with gusto toward New York’s dugout and headed on a trot around the bases with his first Yankees home run in pinstripes.
Fans cheered, those career-high five strikeouts from the home opener a
distant memory, along with the boos.
4) Ohtani hurls 7 superb innings as Angels beat A's 6-1
Japan Today/ 08:30am, April 9, 2018
ANAHEIM, Calif - Shohei Ohtani retired the Oakland Athletics' first 19
batters and yielded one hit over seven shutout innings in his home pitching
debut, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-1 victory Sunday.
Marcus Semien's clean one-out single to left broke up Ohtani's bid for a perfect game, and the two-way Japanese sensation finished the inning for a bravura performance with 12 strikeouts.
Ohtani (2-0) struck out the side twice during the latest feat in a series of early-season superlatives by the 23-year-old Japanese prodigy.
He won his pitching debut in Oakland last weekend with six strong innings. He homered in three consecutive games in Anaheim between starts in his attempt to become the first regular two-way player in decades.
He was sharp from the beginning on a gorgeous day in Orange County, striking
out the side in the first inning on 15 pitches while mixing 99 mph heat
with 80 mph splitters and precipitous curveballs.
Ohtani struck out the side again in the fifth inning, and he fanned every Oakland batter except Jonathan Lucroy at least once.
Jed Lowrie drew a four-pitch walk after Semien's single, but Ohtani ended the threat by inducing Khris Davis' weak groundout and striking out Matt Olson. He left the mound to the last of several standing ovations from his enthralled new fans in the sellout crowd — an unheard-of gathering at Angel Stadium in April.
Mike Trout and Ryan Schimpf homered, and Albert Pujols had an RBI double
in the Angels' seventh win in nine games.
Kendall Graveman (0-2) gave up five hits and four walks while failing to get out of the fourth inning for the A's, who have lost seven of 10. Matt Joyce homered in the ninth.
Trout scored his 700th run in the first inning on Pujols' double down the
left-field line. Trout joined a club of nine players in baseball history,
including Pujols, who had 200 homers and 700 runs scored before their age-27
season.
Trout connected for 440-homer over the ficus trees in center field in the
third inning, snapping an 0-for-15 skid on Los Angeles' homestand. The
two-time AL MVP added a bloop RBI single in the fourth to chase Graveman.
5) 10 Degrees: Dear Shohei: I'm sorry. I was totally wrong about you.
Jeff Passan, MLB columnist / Yahoo Sprts / April 9, 2018 3:08 PM
Dear Shohei,
I’m sorry.
Getting something wrong is the worst part of this job, and in writing a piece during spring training about your hitting abilities, I did just that. I relayed the words of scouts with well over 100 years of combined experience who shared the same opinion: That your swing was flawed, and that the difficulty of what you were attempting – to become the first player in a century to start in a rotation and on non-pitching days take regular at-bats, and do so in a new league, speaking a new language, adjusting to a new country – would prevent you from making the necessary adjustments to hit major league stuff.
Over the course of the past week, not only have you invalidated that premise,
you have done so in such convincing fashion that during my third helping
of crow – one for each of your home runs – I realized I needed to explain
how I came to the flawed conclusion. Over the past few days, I’ve essentially
re-reported the story to better understand what the scouts may have missed,
what biases may have influenced me not challenging the certainty with which
they spoke and what I can do going forward to avoid another such a spectacular
whiff.
Let’s start with this: For all the substance and intelligence of scouts,
their craft is an inexact science. The best scouts collate a lifetime’s
worth of seeing players into their brains and make judgments based on what
they’ve witnessed lead to success and failure. Their conclusions aren’t
guesses; they are educated assessments. Their deep knowledge of baseball
and passion for it lends a deep, complementary perspective to the statistical
analysis that likewise enriches the game. The emergence of a true outlier
– and that’s what you are – doesn’t invalidate their expertise. It offers
them another data point to hone their evaluations moving forward.
The first scout to express concern with you in early March spoke with conviction
about the issues he saw – namely balance at the plate, trouble with inside
fastballs and difficulty hitting major league curveballs. I called others
and asked if they’d seen the same. They concurred. One international scout,
who had marveled watching you hit multiple times while in Japan, asked
where that guy went. Each of the scouts, sensitive to how difficult the
game is, wondered how anyone could do an on-the-fly reimagining of his
swing in such a short period of time.
And there it was, in the last exhibition game of the year against the Los
Angeles Dodgers, seemingly out of nowhere. You ditched your leg kick and
tried a new timing mechanism: a slight inward twist of your front ankle.
The balance issues disappeared. You weren’t late on fastballs anymore.
The scouts weren’t wrong. Something did need to change. You just changed
with such ease that they’re still flummoxed.
“I think it has more to do with great athletes making quick adjustments,”
the scout said this week, “and teams not knowing how to attack him yet.”
It was a good lesson for me in rendering judgment before a player even
tries to adjust. In baseball, the best athletes are often the ones most
capable of fixing themselves and finding something new that works. Giancarlo
Stanton, one of the game’s purest athletes, reinvents his swing all the
time when he slumps badly and finds a way each time to tap into his deep
power reserves. All spring, your teammates were telling anyone who would
listen: You should see Ohtani in batting practice. It’s special. And I
scoffed, having seen dozens of guys who put on a BP show only to shrink
during games.
Then you hammered a Josh Tomlin curveball for a home run in your first at-bat at Angel Stadium. And the next day you took reigning American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber deep to center field. And a day after that, it was a 450-foot shot to the opposite field. I received a text from a longtime scout with whom I didn’t speak for the original story – one who has spent more than a decade scouting baseball in Asia.
“It is safe to assume you are learning the first lesson of scouting Asians,”
he said. “Never evaluate them in spring training. They are on their own
program. Ichiro and [Akinori] Iwamura didn’t hit a ball hard or to the
right side of shortstop their first spring.”
I’d dismissed this the first time through, fearful of lumping you with
dissimilar players simply because they’re your countrymen. The scout had
a point, though: Baseball culture in Japan differs from that in the United
States, and guiding principles accompany most who try to jump to MLB.
“It’s been my experience that Asians are so drilled and regimented in their
approach they put no performance stock in spring training,” the scout said.
“They work on tracking, sequencing and other process-type stuff. Performance
is last. Unlike the vets, they do not appear to turn up the performance
side the last week of spring training and instead do so opening day.”
Now, the original story did note that this wasn’t a case of scouts looking
at your spring-training performance, though in hindsight I wonder: If you
had a couple extra hits here or there, would they have been as inclined
to doubt you? I don’t know. I do know that I tried to get a cross-section
of younger scouts and veterans, ones with experience in Asia and those
without, and that the agreement among them was universal. Maybe there was
a subconscious selection bias in those I chose to ask. Perhaps I should’ve
kept poking around until I found a contrarian, if only to see if that viewpoint
invalidated any of the others’. All good lessons to learn.
There’s also the sabermetric element, something I was loath to consider
because of the tiny sample of plate appearances when I wrote the piece.
Another scout not consulted for the original piece chimed in this week
and said: “I did happen to know his exit velos were goofy.” And, yes, in
Japan, your speed off the bat was elite.
This brings up an important part of the story, one that caused a fair bit
of consternation. One scout said you were “basically like a high school
hitter because [you’ve] never seen a good curveball.” My hope was this
would be seen for the hyperbole it was. By and large, the curveballs in
Japan do not match the quality of those in the big leagues. I should have
paraphrased it nonetheless. Because lost in its inflammatory nature was
a truly salient argument: Curveballs did perplex you all spring, and the
criticisms about the balance were on-point.
The other faux pas was the headline: “The verdict is in on Shohei Ohtani’s
bat and it’s not good.” If I replace “verdict” with “early report,” it
sounds plenty more reasonable. Still wrong, but at least more fair.
And fairness isn’t just the goal. It’s an imperative. Those exit-velocity
numbers would’ve at very least helped balance the story – and looked prescient.
All seven of your hits have left the bat traveling at least 100 mph. The
hardest-hit ball: 112.8 mph. The last home run: 112.4 mph. Only 32 players
in the big leagues this year have reached 112 mph even once.
“He still has work to do as the league catches up and is only 23,” the
scout with significant experience in Asia said, “but seen him too much
to have doubt. Power to the big field. Bat stays in zone for a long time
with strength and bat speed. Has some holes and will have his share of
Ks but has some hitterish feel to it. Was better with each view. Thought
he was just a free swinger with big bat speed in 2015. By last spring,
I was buying in.”
That makes two of us – and the rest of America that enjoys watching a guy
hit home runs in three consecutive games and then take a perfect game into
the seventh inning and punch out 12. Don’t get me wrong: I think you’re
going to struggle sooner than later. Teams are going to adjust and pitchers
are going to start respecting your power and you’re going to need to hunt
mistakes. But you’ve shown the malleability and fortitude already to thrive
in this environment, and for that …
1. Shohei Ohtani, you’ve earned the respects of plenty more doubters in front offices around
the game. Sorry to report that scouts, executives, pitching coaches, analysts
and pitchers already are workshopping a new approach to you.
“I’d go hard up and in and work away with off-speed, same way I’d approach
[Cody] Bellinger,” one official said. “These long guys usually aren’t super
strong and they are super long, so bust them in and try to limit their
path to the ball. You can’t let these guys extend because then the leverage
is in play and they can really launch. I’d also try to move his feet in
the box by throwing inside early in counts. You can’t let guys like him
find comfort because then they can lean out over the plate and cover the
outside better.”
This would be a far better strategy if more pitchers threw inside these
days. They don’t. So instead, the diet may consist of high fastballs and
those off-speed pitches away – changeups from right-handers and sliders
from lefties. Might work. Might not. At very least you’ve got the talent
to figure it out.
Because let’s not forget, a week and a half into your major league career,
you’ve got a
.389/.421/.889 slash line and 2.08 ERA. Sorry, but that’s even better than …
2. Bryce Harper’s .357/.535/1.000 line, which is saying something. Because Harper is on
one of his jags to start the season, and it’s one hell of a way to commence
the mother of all contract drives.
Publicly, Harper is not thinking that way. He will not talk about his impending
free agency. Will not acknowledge the frenzy that will be in full force
seven months from now. Will not address it in the least. Privately, this
sort of start stokes fear in the teams that know they’re going to be in
the sweepstakes. Because if this is Bryce Harper … if he has evolved into the paragon of patience we’ve
seen with 13 walks against five strikeouts … if his home run stroke, which
with six gives him more than the entire rosters of the Diamondbacks, Dodgers,
Rays, Tigers, Royals and Marlins, remains true … well, if all that happens,
the contract talks start with a 4 and feature eight more digits.
The 1.535 OPS might not last, but the fundamental evolution of Harper at
25 years old very well could. Seeing a monster turn into an uber-monster
is something, though what …
3. Patrick Corbin has done in his first two starts makes me sorry nobody seems inclined
to mention him among the top free agents this winter. Because between the
quality of his stuff, the discovery of how to deploy it and the fact that
at 29 years old he will be the youngest healthy starting pitcher on the
market, Corbin may have the most to gain of any pending free agent.
Here’s the book on Corbin: Was chosen by the Angels out of the Syracuse
area as part of what could be the best draft class in history, with Mike
Trout, Garrett Richards, Randal Grichuk, Tyler Skaggs and Corbin five of
their first six picks. Went to the Diamondbacks in the Dan Haren deal.
Among his free-agent peers, he’s younger than Dallas Keuchel, has better
stuff than Matt Harvey and throws harder than Gio Gonzalez.
He’s starting to figure things out as well, with a league-leading 20 strikeouts
in his first two starts. He is, as Jeff Sullivan put it, McCullersing – i.e. throwing his breaking stuff far more frequently.
The use of Corbin’s slider – his variations of sliders, really – has been
impeccable. It doesn’t hurt having Haren – now employed by the Diamondbacks
as a pitching strategist – helping devise the best way forward.
Because if the Diamondbacks want to make a run at the Dodgers, they need
Corbin and Zack Godley and Taijuan Walker to be as good as they’ve been.
With Zack Greinke and Robbie Ray, too, Arizona could challenge for the
title of the best rotation in baseball. Which make you feel a little sorry
for …
4. Charlie Blackmon having to play Arizona 19 times and hit one of those starters every time
out. In a division with the Dodgers, and with the Padres set to graduate
a number of phenomenal arms to the big leagues within the next two years,
and with San Francisco a perpetual pitchers’ park, it does help to have
some bats.
And so for the general praise lavished on Blackmon for his end of the six-year, $108 million contract he signed last week, the Rockies likewise deserve credit for how they played
their end of the deal. Admittedly, Coors Field has the capacity to make
average players look great, so the Rockies theoretically could have grown
another Charlie Blackmon.
It’s difficult to bank on that. And it’s even harder to imagine bringing
a marquee free agent to Colorado. It’s the sort of place that because of
Coors Field and the volatility of playing there, the best free agents rarely
consider the Rockies. So to get a talent like Blackmon is going to cost,
but at very least Colorado knows what it bought. Blackmon’s numbers. His
presence. Hopefully a better crack at re-signing superstar third baseman
Nolan Arenado after next season. And no apologies – at least now – for
signing a player into his late 30s. The St. Louis Cardinals, after all,
aren’t sorry they locked up …
5. Yadier Molina into the twilight of his career, even if the benches-clearing incident
Sunday was entirely avoidable. It’s important to clear up the context of
what happened Sunday. Molina had stolen a pair of strikes on Luke Weaver
pitches that looked outside the zone. When home-plate umpire Tim Timmons
called a low third strike on A.J. Pollock, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo
left the dugout and immediately was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
How he did so drew Molina’s ire.
“All I know, is this [expletive] here,” Lovullo said, pointing to Molina,
his words caught by a Fox Sports Arizona microphone, “he can’t make balls
strikes! He can’t make balls strikes.”
In that situation, is Lovullo calling Molina an [expletive], in an insulting
or derogatory way? Of course he isn’t. It’s almost a sign of respect –
like, this thief, how dare he steal strikes from us? This guy, who does
he think he is? This [expletive].
Molina’s temper boiled over in a hurry. As Timmons stood between him and
Lovullo, Molina pushed the ump. He was not ejected, and if the umpires’ postgame comments are any indication, they seemed to agree with Molina – that the [expletive] was a rightful trigger for contempt. That sounds like quite the sorry take, though in terms of sorry, little can match the …
6. Tampa Bay Rays these days. The Rays have lost eight straight, and their 1-8 record is
the worst in baseball. Their offense is almost unbelievably bad, hitting
.188/.254/.264 going into Sunday’s game in which they scored a season-high
seven runs … and blew a 7-2 lead to Boston in the eighth inning by surrendering
six runs with two outs.
About nothing has gone right for the Rays this year. They lost potential
starting pitchers Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon to Tommy John surgery
for the year. Nathan Eovaldi, on whom they were relying as he came back
from Tommy John, needed to be shut down. The four-man rotation experiment
is interesting, certainly, but good, worthwhile, productive? It’s a long
season.
The Rays do boast an excellent farm system, even with Honeywell and De
Leon down, so help is on the way. Just not in time for this Rays team.
They’re just sorry that they’re not more like the …
7. Pittsburgh Pirates, another team in an in-between transition pegged for a losing season. And here they are, 7-2, with the third-best run differential in baseball at +19, the pitching pretty meh but the bats putting on a show.
Six Pirates regulars are hitting over .300, and that doesn’t include Starling Marte, who may be their best player. Colin Moran and Corey Dickerson, both trade acquisitions this winter, are OPSing around .900. The breakout of Gregory Polanco may at long last be here: three home runs, a major league-leading 13 RBIs and, best of all, eight walks and six strikeouts.
The Pirates might be the best story in the National League right now if
not for something happening about 350 miles due east. Sorry, yinzers, but
the …
8. New York Mets are 7-1, just swept the Nationals in Washington, and have won four times during their five-game winning streak by two or fewer runs. In other words, the Mets are doing it with an excellent bullpen.
That’s right: With Jeurys Familia at the back, A.J. Ramos nearby for support, former starters Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo thriving, Jerry Blevins a lefty extraordinaire, Hansel Robles and Anthony Swarzak providing depth and even Jacob Rhame there for the extra-innings save Sunday night, the Mets have a lot of relief pitching, and a lot of pretty good relief pitching.
And that alone is going to win them the East. The Nationals remain a more
talented team and, with Harper’s and Daniel Murphy’s free agency upcoming,
one with the most urgency to win immediately. After ripping off four straight
wins to start the season, they’ve now lost five consecutive. And it’s giving
the Mets ample opportunity to own New York, at least for the time being,
when Yankees fans want to feel all sorry for themselves because …
9. Giancarlo Stanton hung another platinum sombrero Sunday. In the Yankees’ 10th game of the season, Stanton became the first player ever to twice in one season strike out five times in a game without recording a hit.
There is no doubt that two five-strikeout games within six days says bad things about Stanton’s current state. Or that 20 strikeouts in 42 at-bats with a .167/.271/.429 line pretty much does the same. The Yankees are 5-5 while the Mets are 7-1. The Yankees guaranteed hundreds of millions of dollars to Stanton this offseason. The Mets brought back Jay Bruce, brought in Todd Frazier, stuck Jason Vargas at the back of their rotation and signed Swarzak. It was the quietest $88 million a team could possibly spend.
The money and hype around Stanton prompted the boos that rained down during the first sombrero. What Yankees fans will learn is that this is Stanton. He slumps about as badly as anyone in baseball. He looks lost. Sometimes he is. And then, eventually, he isn’t, and at which point he starts hitting home runs in bunches, and the strikeouts winnow away some, and this memory of Stanton getting booed seems that much more egregious.
He’s a big boy physically and emotionally, and when he gets back on track,
maybe soon, maybe later, it may be …
10. Shohei Ohtani’s world and the rest of us are but servile inhabitants. Something like you – an actual phenomenon in baseball – does not come along all that often, so when it does, it’s worth enjoying.
Nobody is loving it more than the Angels, whom you chose because … well, executives around the league still aren’t sure. They’re just getting more jealous by the day. The Angels didn’t panic when you struggled. They had a plan. They stuck to it. They didn’t ditch the bat like some short-sighted people might have suggested.
And now they’re reaping the rewards. They have a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher who’s dotting 100-mph fastballs on the corners and devastating fools with a splitter. They have a 23-year-old left-handed-hitting DH with uncommon power, a decent eye and room to grow. It still boggles the mind that those are the same guy.
While a couple of the scouts still do believe that pitchers will exploit you offensively in the long run – “Anyone can have a great week in April,” one said – more than a few had a-ha moments this week. I hate to go back to the original column, but it’s important, because there’s a paragraph at the end that wasn’t a hedge but rather an acknowledgment that baseball is weird and that what’s never been seen today shows up tomorrow. Pardon the self-quoting here, but: “Ohtani’s confidence in his bat is admirable, and perhaps he is the rare sort who can adjust on the fly, whose talent is overwhelming enough to change perceptions overnight. Special players do special things.
Yes. Yes they do. And of all the ways to describe you, and what you’re doing, special about sums it up.
Sincerely,
Jeff Passan
