Diary of Games watched, 2024--MARCH-APRIL

LINK TO THE INTRODUCTION

March-April (34 games viewed, 18 blogged); May

NOTE: MLB Daily and cumulative statististics (Daily Cumulative figures are copied out every day from BR 2024 MLB summary page.

NOTE: For all MLB.com "free game of the day" full game videos, you will need to download the MLB app if you are reading this on a mobile phone. Then simply open the app to the day of the game and find the MLB "game wrap, which will link directly to the game.

====================

MLB.COM SPECIAL VIDEO: TOP 25 PLAYS OF THE MONTH: MARCH-APRIL 2024 (14:48--MLB YOUTUBE)

Game 34: 4/30/24 LAD at AZ

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--10:45)

Short highlights of all games played 4/30/24 (MLB Youtube--9:36). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

AZ (14-17 4TH NLW) 4

LAD (19-13 1ST NLW)3

10 INNINGS

Associated Press Game Story

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant

 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Junior Valentine (160 pitches called, 15 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard) 

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 167 (2:47) (including a 1:55 minute delay at the start to remove a bee colony)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 73 (1:13)

Pitches: 292

Balls in Play: 60

% BIP of all Pitches: 20.5

Pitches per BIP: 4.87

Walks: 8

Strikeouts: 14

Home Runs: 2

Hit by Pitch: 2 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 81

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 29.6

Strikeout as % of All Outs (14/57): 24.6 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 2

Sacrifice Bunts: 1

Stolen Bases: 1

Stolen Base attempts: 1   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

AZ: Christian Walker (1B) makes a very nice "pick" of a short hop throw from Eugenio Suarez (3B) to retire Will Smith for the 2nd out of the LAD 4th inning. Freddie Freeman had previously doubled and had Walker not made the play, Freeman would have at least advanced to 3rd and possibly scored on the play.The score was 0-0 at the time.

AZ: Eugenio Suarez (3b) makes and excellent play, reaching across his body while keeping his foot 3rd base to force Max Muncy at 3rd on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Miguel Rojas, with 2 on and nobody out in the LAD 5th. The throw by Justin Martinez (P) was in time but off line, and Suarez not only got the out, but saved at least 1 run by not letting the ball get by. Joe Mantiply then came into the game... (see below under "Not so excellent plays") 

Not so excellent plays:

AZ: After Martinez walked Mookie Betts to load the bases, he was replaced by Joe Mantiply (P). On his 2nd pitch to Shohei Otani, he unleashed a wild pitch that tied the game at 1. To his credit, Mantiply struck out Otani and got Freddie Freeman to fly out to end the inning. But Mantiply wasn't done.

AZ: The LAD 6th opened with a double by Will Smith that, arguably, based on the comments of AZ commentator Bob Brenly, a World Series winning Manager, should have been caught by Corbin Carroll. Had it been caught, the Dodgers would have never scored their 2nd run. However the way it scored was "not so excellent". With Smith on 3rd and Enrique Hernandez on 1st, Mantiply committed an obvious balk, for seemingly no reason at all, scoring Smith with the lead run. Mantiply then struck out Max Muncy and got Andy Pages on a ground ball to short, to end the inning.   

Smith's double.

The balk

Of bees, balks, and walk offs.

Firstly, Christian Walker had a great game, with 2 home runs, including a walk off in the 10th inning. He also made a defensive play (see above) that possibly saved a run.

Secondly, the game was nearly cancelled by a swarm of bees enmeshed in the screen. It was delayed almost 2 hours. The specialist who came to save and relocate the bees was given a standing ovation and the honor of throwing out the first pitch.

Thirdly, Mookie Wilson, who hadn't struck out in about 2 weeks, struck out his first two times up in this game.

Fourthly, Walkers's offensive heroics would have still won the game, but without the drama, had Carroll made a catch he should have made, and Joe Mantiply not wild pitched in the tying run on his 2nd pitch in the 5th and then had an absolute brain freeze, balking in what was then the lead run in the 6th.

 

MLB: 4/30/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 16/452; PA:1199/34079; At Bats: 1072/30351; Runs: 143/3962; Hits: 256/7294; 2b: 43/1396; 3b: 4/123; HR: 36/921; RBI:137/3739; SB: 30/672; CS: 9/188; W: 90/2968; SO: 283/7656; Total Bases: 415/11699  Hit by Pitch: 22/393; Sac-b 4/83; Left on Base: 213/6130 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04

Games: 16/452; Innings:283.0/8035.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 1/57; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 9/240; Runs conceded: 143/3962; Earned Runs: 130/3561; Balks: 1/49; Wild Pitches: 5/304 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.60      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 452: Chances: 32487; Put Outs: 24107; Assists: 7881; Errors: 499; All DPs: 714

Avg errors per game: 1.10

Avg. DPs per game: 1.58 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 33: 4/29/24 PHI AT LAA

MLB.com (wrap)

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:27)

Short highlights of all games played 4/29/24 (MLB Youtube--7:40). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

LAA (11-18 4TH ALW) 6

PHI (19-11 2ND NLE) 5

Associated Press Game Story

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant

 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Malachi Moore (180 pitches called, 9 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard) 

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 163 (2:43)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 114 (1:54)

Pitches: 296

Balls in Play: 59

% BIP of all Pitches: 19.9

Pitches per BIP: 5.01

Walks: 12

Strikeouts: 7

Home Runs: 1

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 77

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 26.0

Strikeout as % of All Outs (7/51): 13.7 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 0

Sacrifice Bunts: 1

Stolen Bases: 4

Stolen Base attempts: 5   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

LAA: Jo Adell (RF) makes an excellent running catch of a drive by Nick Castellanos,robbing him of extra bases, for the 1st out in the PHI 4th inning.

LAA: Ehire Adrianza (3B) makes a nifty pickup on a hard ground ball to 3rd for the 2nd out in the PHI 6th inning.

Not so excellent plays:

LAA: With 1 out in the LAA 2nd inning and the Angels trailing 3-1, Luis Rengifo on 2nd and Cole Tucker on first, they pull off a double steal. Ehire Adrianza then singles to right, scoring Rengifo and sending Tucker to 3rd. Nick Castellanos (RF) fires in a perfect throw that is cut off by Bryce Harper (1B). Adreianza, guessing that the throw will go through, starts off for 2nd, and is immediately hung out to dry, Castellanos (9) to Harper (3) to Bryson Stott (2B--4, who ran over to cover 1st Base). In a perfect 1 throw run down that got the runner out going back to the base he came from. Through it all, Tucker remained on 3rd base. PHI then gets the 3rd out of the inning, limiting the damage to 1 run. This is actually a picture perfect fundamental play by the Phillies that emphasizes that each player has responsibilities as to where to be in every situation. But it was a naive base running error by a 34 year old, 12 year veteran journeyman who should really have known better.

Watch the play.

LAA: In the top of the 5th inning, with 1 out and Trea Turner on 1st--Kyle Schwarber on 3rd,  LAA starter Griffin Canning committed the cardinal sin of forgetting that he had already thrown over to 1st base twice trying to hold Turner close. He threw over again, a third "disengagement" (balk), allowing Schwarber to stroll home and Turner to stroll to second. At the time, it increased the PHI lead to 4-2. Thowing over a 3rd time to try to pick a runner off is a calculated risk, but with a man on third, it is, well, a mental error. One wonders what Mr. Canning was thinking about at the time.

Here is the play. Note the expression on Angel Mgr. Ron Washington's face.

PHI: The LAA 7th inning was a disastrous one for PHI. The Angels began the inning with 2 singles. Mike Trout the grounded into a force out and stole 2nd, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Then came the moment that lost the game for PHI. Seranthony Dominguez threw a wild pitch that allowed the first run to score. Then a terrible throw by catcher Garrett Stubbs went over Dominguez' head allowing Trout to score from second. Dominguez then gave up a double and threw another wild pitch, but redeemed himself somewhat with a leaping stop of a grounder that might have scored the runner he just put on third. 1 wild pitch allowing 2 runs in a 1 run victory for the Angels.

Here is the key play of the inning.

Small ball:

LAA have had a poor start to the season, losing 9 of their last 10 games, and 12 of their last 16 going into this one. New Manager Ron Washington, a man who has always stressed fundamentals, recently called a team meeting to discuss the poor play. In the 6th inning tonight, with the Angels down 4-2, the first two batters singled, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Then Washington asked Luis Rengifo to put down a sacrifice bunt. He failed on his first 3 attempts (2 fouls and 1 called ball). Yet Washington still insisted on the bunt. I think he was trying to make a point about the importance of fundamentals, and was challenging his hitter to execute a simple play. I thought "Why is Washington doing this?" Not only did it defy all "metrics" logic going back as far as 1964, when Earnshaw Cook, in his seminal _Percentage Baseball_ first said that sacrifice bunts were a poor way to give away an out, but it was pretty clear that Rengifo was out of his element. But the bunt sign stayed and Rengifo got the bunt down successfully, with 2 strikes. Logan O'Hoppe then grounded out to the right side to score one run, and Cole Tucker got a clutch 2 out single up the middle, to tie the score. 

I think Washington was insisting that the Angels play better fundamental baseball, even if it cost a game to instill the concept. On this occasion, the decision worked, hopefully giving not only Rengifo, but the entire team a bit of belief that they can play better fundamental ball.  

---  

MLB: 4/29/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 11/436; PA:779/32880; At Bats: 682/29279; Runs: 71/3819; Hits: 136/7038; 2b: 33/1353; 3b: 0/119; HR: 17/885; RBI:61/3602; SB: 18/642; CS: 6/179; W: 75/2878; SO: 160/7373; Total Bases: 220/11284  Hit by Pitch: 9/371; Sac-b 3/79; Left on Base: 129/5917 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.03

Games: 11/436; Innings:193.0/7752.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 2/56; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 6/231; Runs conceded: 71/3819; Earned Runs: 65/3431; Balks: 2/48; Wild Pitches: 9/299 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.60      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 436: Chances: 31373; Put Outs: 23258; Assists: 7629; Errors: 486; All DPs 696

Avg errors per game: 1.11

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 32: 4/28/24 OAK at BAL

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:18)

Short highlights of all games played 4/28/24 (MLB Youtube--9:30). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score:

OAK (12-17 3RD ALW) 7

BAL (17-10 2ND ALE) 6

Associated Press Game Story

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant

 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Rob Drake (169 pitches called, 10 incorrect)(Umpire Scorecard) 

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 173 (2:53)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 78 (1:18)

Pitches: 336

Balls in Play: 50

% BIP of all Pitches: 14.9

Pitches per BIP: 6.72

Walks: 4

Strikeouts: 23

Home Runs: 6

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 77

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 42.9

Strikeout as % of All Outs (23/54): 42.6 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 6

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 2

Stolen Base attempts: 2   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

BAL: Ryan Mountcastle (1B), playing in, makes a great diving stop of a hard ground ball by Ryan Noda, and then runs over and steps on 1st base for an unassisted putout to end the OAK 8th inning. The play preserved BAL's 6-5 lead.

Not so excellent plays:

OAK: Ryan Noda (1B) has to improvise on a comebacker from Adley Rutchman that hits Kyle Muller (P) in the backside to open the BAL 7th. Muller recovered the ball with plenty of time to throw to Noda for the putout but rushed a poorly planned underhand throw that Noda could only barehand in order to finish the putout. That he did. Not pretty, but effective.

As good as yesterday's game was, that's how bad today's was.

Yesterday's CLE at ATL game (see below) was the best quality game I have seen so far this year. Today's was one of the worst. Yesterday there were 0 Home Runs in a 2:47 minute 11 inning game. Today there were 6 Home Runs (that accounted for 8 of the 13 runs scored) in a 9 inning game that lasted 2:53. From a competitive standard today's game was great, with 3 lead changes, the final coming on a 2 run Home Run in the 9th inning. That is, for those who were still awake to see it. Yesterday's True Outcomes (outcomes that did not involve fielders) were 30.5% of plate appearances. Today's TOs were 42.9% of 5 less plate appearances over 2 less innings. Yesterday's strike outs as a % of all outs (19/66) was 28.8. Today's (23/54) was 42.6.

This was probably not surprising as yesterday's starters (Tanner Bibee and Charlie Morton) were top of rotation pitchers. Today's (Paul Blackburn and Albert Suarez) were not, although both have pretty glittering numbers so far this season. 

But mostly, yesterday's game consisted of 291 pitches and 57 balls in play in 11 innings. Today's consisted of 336 and 50 in 9 innings. That is a BIP% of all pitches of 14.9% today as opposed to 19.6% yesterday. A ball was put into play every 6.72 pitches today as opposed to every 5.11 yesterday. You will notice this problem of lack of action in the 1st inning, where 27 pitches were thrown and 3 of them were put into fair play.

But if you like HRs (6 to 0) and strike outs (23 to 19), and if you like relief pitcher innings (10 of 18 today, as opposed to 8 of 22 yesterday, and if you don't like starting pitching (8 innings, 10 earned runs as opposed to 14 innings of shut out ball yesterday), then today's game is your "cup of tea." 

---

MLB: 4/28/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/425; PA:1132/32101; At Bats: 1029/28597; Runs: 148/3748; Hits: 264/6902; 2b: 56/1320; 3b: 5/119; HR: 37/868; RBI:142/3541; SB: 24/624; CS: 10/173; W: 76/2803; SO: 266/7213; Total Bases: 441/11064  Hit by Pitch: 16/362; Sac-b 3/76; Left on Base: 183/5788 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04

Games: 15/425; Innings: 269.0/7559.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 0/54; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 9/225; Runs conceded:148/3748; Earned Runs: 137/3366; Balks: 0/46; Wild Pitches: 12/290 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.0

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.60      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 425: Chances: 30581; Put Outs: 22679; Assists: 7423; Errors: 479; All DPs: 681

Avg errors per game: 1.13

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 31: 4/27/24 CLE at ATL

MLB.com (wrap)

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:34)

Short highlights of all games played 4/27/24 (MLB Youtube--9:56). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

CLE (19-8 1ST ALC) 4

ATL (18-7 1ST NLE) 2

(11 innings)

Associated Press Game Story

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant

 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Brian Knight (133 pitches called, 8 incorrect)(Umpire Scorecard) (compare Knight's estimated strike zone diagram--link to the X version--v Doug Eddings, from yesterday's game between AZ and SEA)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 167 (2:47)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 113 (1:53)

Pitches: 291

Balls in Play: 57

% BIP of all Pitches: 19.6

Pitches per BIP: 5.11

Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 19

Home Runs: 0

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 82

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 30.5

Strikeout as % of All Outs (19/66): 28.8 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 2

Stolen Base attempts: 3   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

CLE: Watch as Guardians' infield turns this run down play into a double play to end the ATL 5th inning, following the time honored run down principles

1. Always tag the runner while he is going back to the base he was coming from.

2. As few throws as possible. 

3. If the batter running to first is silly enough to think the runner will stay in the rundown long enough to allow him to advance to second, throw him out too. This the Guardians did with clinical precision on a grounder to Tanner Bibee (P).

1(Bibee) to 6(Gabriel Arias--SS) to 5(Jose Ramirez--3B who tagged out Albies going back 2nd) to 3(Josh Naylor--1B) to double the hapless batter, Matt Olson, trying to get back to first. 

The double play ended a promising start to the inning by a Texas League double to left field off the bat of  Albies.

CLE: Steven Kwan (LF) makes an excellent catch after a long run on a ball hit to the opposite field by Michael Harris II to end the ATL 5th inning.

CLE: Tyler Freeman (CF) to Bo Naylor (C) retires pinch runner Luke Williams trying to score from 2nd on a Jarred Kalenic single in the ATL 8th. A run had already scored on the play, tying the game at 2. This was the 2nd out of the inning.

ATL: Ozzie Albies (2B) makes a leaping catch of a Gabriel Arias liner to end the CLE 5th inning.

ATL: Ronald Acuna Jr. (9--RF) to Matt Olson (3--1B) to Travis d'Arnaud (2--C) to retire Jose Ramirez trying to score from 1st on a double by Josh Naylor. This play ended the CLE 6th inning and kept the score tied 0-0.

A great game between two very good teams.

This 11 inning game was played in 2 hours and 47 minutes. Both starters pitched shutout ball through 7 innings. The umpiring was crisp and almost exclusively "within the box". Tanner Bibee and Charlie Morton walked 1 batter between them (Morton) and struck out 15. Of the 5 walks in the game, 3 were were intentional. About 2/3 of each starter's  deliveries were strikes (Bibee 60 of 91, Morton 63 of 91). Barely a pitch above 95mph was thrown until the relievers came into the game. 

If you want a perfect example of the difference between a starter and reliever, this is the game to watch. Starters, for the most part, pitch. They have repertoires with more than 2 pitches. Relievers, well, 100 is a nice number, isn't it?

In the top of the 8th, CLE broke through for 2 runs without hitting a ball out of the infield (2 infield singles sandwiched around a bunt single, a force out that scored the first run and a double steal with 2 outs, on which Steven Kwan-- he of the bunt single--scored on the front end. ATL came right back (2 doubles 2 singles) to tie the score in the bottom half. CLE broke through in the 11th on a run scoring double by Josh Naylor and sacrifice fly by Ramon Laureano. ATL had no answer.

A great game, very well played. Wonderful to watch.

---

MLB: 4/27/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/410; PA:1187/30969; At Bats: 1069/27568; Runs: 172/3600; Hits: 276/6638; 2b: 50/1264; 3b: 6/114; HR: 38/831; RBI:165/3399; SB: 20/600; CS: 3/163; W: 87/2727; SO: 254/6947; Total Bases: 452/10623  Hit by Pitch: 15/346; Sac-b 4/73; Left on Base: 203/5605 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.02

Pitching:

Games: 15/410; Innings:273.1/7290.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 2/54; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 7/216; Runs conceded: 172/3600; Earned Runs: 157/3229; Balks: 1/46; Wild Pitches: 9/278 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.65      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 410: Chances: 29492; Put Outs: 21872; Assists: 7155; Errors: 465; All DPs 655

Avg errors per game: 1.13

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 30: 4/26/24 AZ at SEA

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:02)

Short highlights of all games played 4/26/24 (MLB Youtube--10:00). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

SEA (14-12 1st ALW) 6

AZ (12-15 4TH NLW) 1

Associated Press Game Story

MLB.com (wrap)

 

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant

 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Doug Eddings (134 pitches called, 9 incorrect) Note:= Between 1 and 5 pitches missing location data--according to the website, 1 pitch missing according to USC X site (which has all details, including the size of umpire's strike zone compared to "actual" strike zon).(Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 129 (2:09)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 52

Pitches: 242

Balls in Play: 43

% BIP of all Pitches: 17.8

Pitches per BIP: 5.63

Walks: 7

Strikeouts: 13

Home Runs: 4

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 63

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 21.1

Strikeout as % of All Outs (13/51): 25.5 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 0   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

AZ: Christian Walker (1B) makes a fine play on a hard hit ball from Ty France for the 2nd out in the SEA 2nd inning.

SEA: Josh Rojas (3B) to Ty France (1B). An excellent play on both ends to retire Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for the 1st out in AZ 7th inning.

A game that is an example of "efficiency" in the modern game. 

All 7 runs came as a result of 4 hits. 3 Home Runs by SEA (including the biggest blow of the game, a grand slam Home Run by Mitch Haniger in the 6th inning, after 2 walks sandwiched around a single to begin the inning set it up). The game was pretty much all or nothing, as there were no steal attempts or  bunts. All the other hits in the game were singles. The other 3 Home Runs were all solo shots.  

Controversial umpiring. 

Doug Eddings was today's Home Plate Umpire (See above for Umpire Scorecard's rating of his performance). Eddings has been severely criticized over the years for his liberal strike zone (see the link above to the X version of Eddings' analysis to see just how big his strike zone is relative to "the box" you see on TV). The SEA commentators (I always use the home broadcast) were constantly harping on Eddings' missed calls. But it seemed to me that he was pretty consistent on this occasion (though his consistency has also been questioned in the past). 

In my opinion, players (or at least coaches) should have a "book" on all umpires' tendencies. Players should know ahead of time that when Eddings is behind the plate, they need to go up there swinging. Especially when a "soft tosser" like Zac Gallen (who threw mostly in the high 80s and low 90s, and who unfortunately suffered a leg injury in this game and had to be removed) is on the mound. If the umpire is consistent, and calls the same pitches strikes and balls for both teams (which it seemed to me Eddings did today), then it is up to the hitters to know this ahead of time, and even if they don't, it is up to them to adjust. 

But, if you are interested, take a look at some of the called strikes that are available in the full video play by play linked to above at the MLB Film Room. At very least, Eddings' strike zone helped the game fly by in 2:05, and that included delays when Gallen was injured, when Julio Rodriguez fouled a ball off his foot, and when AZ Manager Torey Lovullo got into an argument with Eddings over whether his pitcher had been warned about fingers to mouth. He had. The second time, Eddings added a "ball" to the batter's count.

---

MLB: 4/26/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 14/395; PA:1049/29782; At Bats: 941/26499; Runs: 112/3428; Hits: 216/6362; 2b: 41/1214; 3b: 1/108; HR: 33/793; RBI:108/3234; SB: 18/580; CS: 4/160; W: 89/2640; SO: 231/6693; Total Bases: 358/10171  Hit by Pitch: 9/331; Sac-b 2/69; Left on Base: 186/5402 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.1% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.0

Pitching:

Games: 14/395; Innings:252.1/7017.1; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 2/52; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 5/209; Runs conceded: 112/3428; Earned Runs: 103/3072; Balks: 2/45; Wild Pitches: 4/269 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.68      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 395: Chances: 28388; Put Outs: 21052; Assists: 6891; Errors: 445; All DPs 632

Avg errors per game: 1.13

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 29: 4/25/24 MIL AT PIT

MLB.com (wrap)

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:45)

Short highlights of all games played 4/25/24 (MLB Youtube--9:05). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

MIL (16-8 1st NLC) 7

PIT (13-13 4th NLC) 5

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

 

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Tom Hanahan (198 pitches called, 13 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 185 (3:05)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 141 (2:21)

Pitches: 347

Balls in Play: 54

% BIP of all Pitches: 15.6

Pitches per BIP: 6.43

Walks: 12

Strikeouts: 19

Home Runs: 3

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 85

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 32.0

Strikeout as % of All Outs (19/54): 35.2 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 5

Sacrifice Bunts: 1

Stolen Bases:3

Stolen Base attempts: 3   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

PIT: Jared Triolo (3B) makes an excellent play to get the first out of the MIL 8th inning.

PIT: Bryan Reynolds (RF) to Joey Bart (C) for a 9-2 double play that ends the MIL 9th inning. Perhaps a questionable decision on the part of Jake Bowers to try to score on a fly ball so shallow, but MIL had a two run lead at the time, and so, as they say, "make them make a play".

They did, especially Bart, who had to dive back to make the tag.

MIL: William Contreras (C) is off to a great start this season, batting over .350 with an On Base + Slug 1.000 percentage. But he is also excellent at blocking balls in the dirt, as he showed on this sequence of Andrew McCutchen's at bat in the PIT 4th inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd in a 3-3 tie, McCutchen engaged in an 8 pitch struggle with MIL starter Freddy Peralta. Pitches 3, 5, and 6 

were all in the dirt, and all handled flawlessly by Contreras. What was most impressive to me was the ease with which Contreras handled the pitches. All were breaking pitches, and all were called by Contreras. The sequence was 

1: slider (0-1), 

2: Slider (0-2), 

3: Slider (in dirt) (1-2), 

4: Fastball (foul--1-2), 

5: Curve (in dirt) (2-2), 

6: Slider (in dirt) (3-2), 

7: Slider (foul--3-2). 

8: Fastball (grounds back to the pitcher, ending the inning). 

Peralta was struggling throughout his start, lasting only 4.2 innings, and throwing 41 balls and 51 strikes. Yet Contreras kept calling for breaking pitches in this at bat, confident that he could handle anything coming his way. Which he did. 

Here is the entire sequence: 

PIT FANS: Some may argue that the fans made more great plays than the team. Judge for yourself. 

Not so excellent plays:

PIT: The Pirates had a bit of a train wreck 3rd inning that allowed MIL to score 2 runs (which proved to be crucial later). After MIL opened the 3rd inning with 2 walks (PIT starter Mitch Keller also had a difficult day, throwing 68 pitches in the first 3 innings), Jake Bowers singled to right and Brian Reynolds' throw was correctly cut off by Rowdy Tellez (1B). Sal Frelick scored on the play but William Contreras was hung up between 2nd and 3rd. Tellez, instead of throwing to 3rd to start the run down, inexplicably held the ball too long. When he finally did throw, Contreras slid in safely. Watch Tellez closely at the bottom of the screen. The condensed game (and MIL commentators) are edited to make it look like a great base running play by Contreras. In fact, as two orthree replays during the live game clearly showed, it was very poor and unaware running by Contreras.

The misplay was compounded by another one when the next batter Rhys Hoskins doubled on a line drive to right that should have been caught by Reynolds. It was not an easy catch but it should have been made, in spite of the fact that Reynolds was not charged with an error. The 2 walks and two misplays allowed MIL to get back into the game, setting up Gary Sanchez' later heroics. 

Tellez miscue 

Reynolds miscue

PIT: Rowdy Tellez (1B), with 2 outs in the MIL 7th,  cannot find the base on a regulation ground ball by Rhys Hoskins to Jerod Triolo (3B) This was noted by PIT commentators during the game, and was shown on replay multiple times. Hoskins, for the second time in the game, was credited with a single when he was gifted it by a defensive misplay. Hoskins then stole second, but with second and third and two outs, Oliver Dunn was called out on strikes. Setting the stage for Sanchez' magic in the eighth.

A difficult game to watch, but a conclusion that was epic. 

This game was a textbook example of a game from 2022. Even with a stringent pitch clock, the game took 3:05 to play. It felt even longer until the conclusion, which was fantastic. 347 pitches! The two starters labored through the first 3 innings, clocking in at a total 120 pitches to get 18 outs. The game contained 16 plate appearances with full counts (over 20 % of all plate appearances). 15.6% of the pitches were put in fair play.6 of the 12 runs scored on home runs. What should have been an excellent match up of top tier pitchers turned into anything but. They both struggled palpably. The game seemed to drag on and on, even though it was close throughout.  

And yet...the end was pure magic! Pinch hitter Gary Sanchez' battle with veteran reliever and one of the earliest 100mphers, Aroldis Chapman, was short but epic. 2 outs and 1 on in the top of the 8th. 

1. 100.1 mph Sinker--called strike (0-1)

2. 99.7 mph Sinker--foul tip (0-2)  

3. 103 mph four seam fast ball--foul (0-2)

4. 101.9 mph Sinker--blasted for an opposite field HR. 4-5 to 6-5. Sanchez hit a high and outside Sinker. It was the type of epic battle that, had it occurred in a World Series, would have been talked about like the Mazeroski shot in 1960 or the Gibson shot in 1988. Power v Power, KABOOM! 

The hit itself is available via the highlights and condensed game videos above. 

However, you may be interested in the entire video sequence.

---

MLB: 4/25/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 10/381; PA:714/28733; At Bats: 632/25558; Runs: 76/3316; Hits: 160/6146; 2b: 19/1173; 3b: 3/107; HR: 25/760; RBI:71/3126; SB: 21/562; CS: 3/156; W: 64/2551; SO: 158/6462; Total Bases: 260/9813  Hit by Pitch: 8/322; Sac-b 4/67; Left on Base: 134/5216 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.1% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.99

Pitching:

Games: 10/381; Innings:168/6765.0; Complete games: 2/6; Team Shutouts: 1/50; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 8/204; Runs conceded: 76/3316; Earned Runs: 74/2969; Balks: 0/43; Wild Pitches: 7/265 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.0 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.70      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 381: Chances: 27371; Put Outs: 20295; Assists: 6644; Errors: 432; All DPs 610

Avg errors per game: 1.13

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 28: 4/24/24 TOR at KC

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:27)

Short highlights of all games played 4/24/24 (MLB Youtube--9:22). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season). 

Score:

KC (15-10 2nd ALC) 3

TOR (13-12 4th ALE) 2

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Alex MacKay (152 pitches called, 8 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 158 (2:38)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 70 (1:10)

Pitches: 279

Balls in Play: 56

% BIP of all Pitches: 20.1

Pitches per BIP: 4.98

Walks: 6

Strikeouts: 10

Home Runs: 1

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 72

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 23.6

Strikeout as % of All Outs (10/51): 19.6 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 2

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases:4

Stolen Base attempts: 4   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

TOR: Addison Barger (LF), in his MLB debut (called up because of an injury to regular CF Kevin Kiermaier, which moved Daulton Varsho to CF--see below), makes a breath taking catch of a drive by Vinnie Pasquantino int the KC 3rd inning.

TOR: Daulton Varsho (CF) makes a diving catch for the 1st out in KC 7th inning.Varsho was in CF because Kevin Kiermaier was put on the IL. This necessitated the promotion of Addison to the team. Barger, in his MLB debut, played LF (above and below, under excellent plays and not so excellent plays).

KC: Hunter Renfroe (RF) makes a very nice catch of a drive by Daniel Vogelbach in the TOR 2nd inning.

KC: Vinnie Pasquantino (1B) makes an excellent catch of a foul pop by Vladimir Guerro Jr. to end the TOR 3rd inning.

KC: MJ Melendez (LF) makes a fine catch, robbing Daniel Vogelbach of another extra base hit in the TOR 4th inning.

KC: Alex Marsh (P) makes an excellent play after being hit on the forearm by a line drive off the bat of Addison Barger, recovering to throw him out, in the TOR 5th inning. Marsh was forced to leave the game after this play.

Not so excellent plays:

TOR: Addison Barger (LF). Before his great catch above, Barger made an awful play on his first test in MLB. He turned the wrong way on a fly ball by Kyle Isbel in the KC 2nd and lost the play. It was generously ruled a double. But Barger wasn't finished. He booted the ball around when he finally got to it, allowing Isbel to take 3rd. This was ruled an error. Isbel later scored on a single to left (Barger) by Maikel Garcia. He may not have scored without Barger's error, and certainly wouldn't have had Barger played the fly ball correctly. A tough way to make a debut in MLB (he also went 0-4 with a strike out). Especially in what turned out to be a one run game. But he also did make the excellent catch linked above.  

KC: MJ Melendez (LF). This is one of those small details that drive me a bit crazy. Melendez has just made the Vogelbach catch linked above, but watch closely at what happens on the next play. With runners 2nd and 3rd (who advanced from 1st and 2nd on that great catch) and 2 outs, Melendez makes the catch on a routine fly ball by Ernie Clement that ends the inning. Only Melendez thinks there are only 2 outs and rifles a throw to the infield, to pick off one of those runners who was on the move...! Note the body language of his team mates (especially pitcher Alex Marsh) as the rest of the team trots to the dugout. Where the ball ended up is anybody's guess.   

A beautiful game.

This game was what we might call "old timey baseball", meaning baseball as it was played "back in the day" (1980's, with parts of the game going back to the dead ball era). 

Here is a comparison of this game to yesterday's Diary entry statistics

4/23--BAL at LAA / 4/24--TOR at KC                                   

Pitches: 296/279

Balls in Play: 45/56

% BIP of all Pitches: 15.2/20.1

Pitches per BIP: 6.58/4.98

Walks: 5/6

Strikeouts: 23/10

Home Runs: 2/1

Hit by Pitch: 1/0 

Catcher Interference: 0/0

Plate Appearances: 74/72

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 41.9/23.6

Strikeout as % of All Outs: 45.1/19.6 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 7/2

Sacrifice Bunts: 0/0

Stolen Bases: 0/4

Stolen Base attempts: 1/4

As can be easily seen, when more balls are put in play, more interesting things happen. Yesterday's game was a bit of an outlier from last year, but typical of the top heavy True Outcomes that dominated MLB in 2023. T.O as % of all Plate Appearances  in 2023 (2,430 games) was 35.8%. Strikeouts as % of all outs was 32.1%.

Here is a historical table of T.O as % of all Plate Appearances and Strikeouts as a % of all outs for the last 120 years (1 per decade). (Source: Baseball Reference).

Note that many of the same variables are not the same for the batting and pitching ledgers. I used batting figures for all T.O. calculations. I used batting figures for strikeouts and pitching figures for all outs for the strikeout as % of all outs figures.

*=includes known data from Negro Leagues 

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP) as a % of all PA                  

(Walks + Strikeouts + Home Runs + Hit by Pitches divided by Plate Appearances--I.E. the % of outcomes in which a ball is not put into fair play).   

                                               

Year     T.O as % of PA   Strikeouts % of all outs

2023:         35.8             32.1

2013          31.1             28.0

2003:         28.7             23.7

1993:         26.7             21.7

1983:         24.4             19.2

1973:         25.1             19.5

1963:         26.0             21.5

1953:         22.5             15.5

*1943:        17.4             10.6

*1933:        16.2             10.2

*1923:        14.9              8.0

1913:         19.3             14.0

1903:         17.1             13.4

As inexact as these calculations may be, they show a very definite trend over time. Last night's game was more out of 1984 than 2024. The BAL at LAA game on 4/23 was much more 2023ish. More batted balls in fair play=more action.

More on Youth. KC has a core of very talented youn players (6 under 25) sprinkled in with a corps of veterans (4 over 30) in this game. 

Last night's KC lineup:

Maikel Garcia 24

Bobby Witt Jr. 23

Vinnie Pasquantino 26

Salvador Perez 33 (and he was catcher).

MJ Melendez 25

Nelson Velazquez 25

Adam Frazier 32

Hunter Renfroe 32

Kyle Isbel 27 

Pitcher:

Alec Marsh 25

Subs:  

Garrett Hampson 29

Relief Pitchers

Angel Zerpa 24

John Schreiber 30

Chris Stratton 33

James McArthur (closer) 27

---

MLB: 4/24/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/371; PA:1128/28019; At Bats: 1005/24926; Runs: 127/3240; Hits: 254/5986; 2b: 48/1154; 3b: 4/104; HR: 32/735; RBI:118/3055; SB: 30/541; CS: 7/153; W: 95/2487; SO: 258/6304; Total Bases: 406/9553  Hit by Pitch: 19/314; Sac-b 1/63; Left on Base: 214/5082 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.1% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.9% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.98

Pitching:

Games: 15/371; Innings:263/6597.0; Complete games: 0/4; Team Shutouts: 1/49; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 8/196; Runs conceded: 127/3240; Earned Runs: 116/2895; Balks: 4/43; Wild Pitches: 10/258 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.0 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.70      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 371: Chances: 26711; Put Outs: 19791; Assists: 6495; Errors: 425; All DPs: 590

Avg errors per game: 1.15 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.59 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 27: 4/23/24 BAL at LAA

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:02)

Short highlights of all games played 4/23/24 (MLB Youtube--10:00). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score:

LAA (10-14 3rd ALW) 4

BAL (15-8 2nd ALE) 7

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Emil Jimenez (144 pitches called, 9 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics: 

Time of the Game (Minutes): 165 (2:45)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 78 (1:18)

Pitches: 296

Balls in Play: 45

% BIP of all Pitches: 15.2

Pitches per BIP: 6.58

Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 23

Home Runs: 2

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 74

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 41.9

Strikeout as % of All Outs (23/51): 45.1 

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 7

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 1   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

BAL: Jackson Holliday (2nd Base)--great throw to double the runner at 1st, ending LAA 5th inning.

BAL: Ryan O'Hearn (1st Base): Watch the great footwork as O'Hearn gathers in an errant high throw in the LAA 6th inning.

LAA: Miguel Sano (3rd Base): Nice catch to end BAL 2nd inning.

LAA: Jo Adell (RF) makes a very nice running catch and a hard hit ball by Anthony Santander with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out in the BAL 7th. BAL had already scored 1 run to close the gap to 7-4. BAL did not score.

These young Birds are ready to fly. BAL lost tonight but they are off to a very good start. Of the 14 players in tonight's game 13 were under 30, and 6 were 25 or younger. 

Gunner Henderson 22

Adley Rutchman 26

Ryan O'Hearn 30

Anthony Santander 29

Cedric Mullins 29

Colton Cowser 24

Jordan Westberg 25

Heston Kjerstad 25

Jackson Holliday 20

Starting Pitcher: Grayson Rodriguez 24

Other players for BAL today:

Ryan Mountcastle 27

and Pitchers:

Dylan Tate 29

Keegan Akin 29

Yohan Ramirez 28

---

MLB: 4/23/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/356; PA:1083/26891; At Bats: 975/23921; Runs: 112/3113; Hits: 229/5732; 2b: 54/1106; 3b: 1/100; HR: 31/703; RBI:109/2937; SB: 17/511; CS: 11/146; W: 89/2392; SO: 240/6046; Total Bases: 378/9147; Hit by Pitch: 13/295; Sac-b 2/62; Left on Base: 192/4868 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.1% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.97

Pitching:

Games: 15/356; Innings:259.2/6334.0; Complete games: 1/4; Team Shutouts: 2/48; Shutouts: 1/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 11/188; Runs conceded: 112/3113; Earned Runs: 100/2779; Balks: 1/39; Wild Pitches: 8/248 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.0 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.72      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 356: Chances: 25642; Put Outs: 19002; Assists: 6233; Errors: 407; All DPs 562

Avg errors per game: 1.14 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.58 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 26: 4/22/24 NYM at SF

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:15)

Short highlights of all games played 4/22/24 (MLB Youtube--10:00). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score:

SF (11-13 4th NLW) 5

NYM (12-10 3rd NLE) 2

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Alfonso Marquez (155 pitches called, 9 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics: 

Time of the Game (Minutes): 145 (2:25)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 72 (1:12)

Pitches: 272

Balls in Play: 47

% BIP of all Pitches: 17.3

Pitches per BIP: 5.79

Walks: 8

Strikeouts: 14

Home Runs: 2

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 69

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 34.8

Strikeout as % of All Outs (14/51): 27.5

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 1

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 2

Stolen Base attempts: 2   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

NYM: Francisco Lindor (SS) excellent play to end the SF 2nd inning.

NYM: Francisco Lindor (SS) another excellent play to end the SF 5th inning.

SF: Wilmer Flores (1B) makes the stop and tosses to pitcher Keaton Winn to end the NYM 2nd inning.

SF: Wilmer Flores (1B) makes a nifty scoop to save an error on an uncharacteristic bad throw from Matt Chapman (3B), to save SF from an even more difficult 9th inning.

The not so excellent.

Starling Marte on the bases. Here Marte turns on the burners after his excellent and surprising 1st inning bunt single is thrown past the 1st baseman. But he failed to calculate that SF right fielder Austin Slater is backing up the play (excellent play by Slater). Slater throws Marte out by miles at 2nd base. 

Here's Don Stanhouse when you really don't need him. Don Stanhouse (SABR Biography), an All Star reliever on Baltimore's 1979 American League Championship team, was affectionately known as "full pack" by his manager Earl Weaver (because that's how many cigarettes Weaver smoked whenever Stanhouse pitched). Stanhouse was known to come into games that might not be save opportunities, but figure out a way to create his own save. The most famous example of this was when he was brought into the 2nd game of the 1979 AL Championship series in the 8th inning with the Orioles leading 9-4. By the time he was done, the Orioles won 9-8. Here is the top of the 9th Inning of that game.

Camilo Doval, SF closer, a 2023 All Star, and one of a large army of closers with 100mph velocity, was brought into this game in the 9th inning with SF leading 5-1. But he turned this into a save situation before working his way out of it. He was brought in to a spotlighted (stadium lights turned off) entrance

Doval's Entrance (X--formerly Twitter)

but then proceeded to do his own Stanhouse impersonation, an ugly, 27 pitch exhibition that included 2 walks, an error dropping a throw at 1st base, and a wild pitch allowing a run to score. This turned a 5-1 lark into a 5-2 nail biter with the tying run at the plate, before he bailed himself out of the jam. 

Here is the whole performance, pitch by pitch. (MLB Film Room)

---

MLB: 4/22/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 11/341; PA:781/25808; At Bats: 703/22946; Runs: 66/3001; Hits: 154/5503; 2b: 30/1052; 3b: 4/99; HR: 19/672; RBI:62/2828; SB: 13/494; CS: 3/135; W: 61/2307; SO: 179/5806; Total Bases: 249/8769; Hit by Pitch: 9/282; Sac-b 4/60; Left on Base: 136/4676 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.1% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.9% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.97

Pitching. 

Games: 11/341; Innings: 193/6074.1; Complete games: 0/3; Team Shutouts: 4/46; Shutouts: 0/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 6/177; Runs conceded: 66/3001; Earned Runs: 62/2679; Balks: 0/38; Wild Pitches: 4/240 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.0 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.77      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 341: Chances: 24562; Put Outs: 18223; Assists: 5948; Errors: 391; All DPs 540

Avg errors per game: 1.15 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.58 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

==========   

==========

==========

Game 25: 4/21/24 OAK at CLE

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:17)

Short highlights of all games played 4/21/24 (MLB Youtube--9:55). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score:

CLE (16-6, 1st ALC) 6

OAK (8-14, 4th ALW)2

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Tripp Gibson (153 pitches called, 6 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)

USC methodology

Statistics: 

Time of the Game (Minutes): 159 (2:39)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 67 (1:07)

Pitches: 274

Balls in Play: 48

% BIP of all Pitches: 17.5

Pitches per BIP: 5.71

Walks: 6

Strikeouts: 20

Home Runs: 2

Hit by Pitch: 3 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 74

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 41.9

Strikeout as % of All Outs (20/51): 39.2

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 6

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 1

Stolen Base attempts: 1   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

Source for all: MLB Film Room or MLB wrap

OAK: Ryan Noda (1B) in the CLE 3rd inning

CLE: Will Brennan (RF) makes a diving catch in the OAK 5th inning. Brennan also hit a home run for the first run of the game and and had a double, scoring 2 runs and driving in one.

What is a bad team? A bad team allows 5 or the 6 runs it gives up in the game on 2 out hits. A bad team also turns a 3-2 nail biter into a 6-2 easy win by using two pitchers in the 7th inning, who hit three batters to set the inning up. Josh Naylor's then said thank you very much with a crushing bases loaded double (with 2 outs). What is a bad team? The Oakland Athletics is a bad team.

What is a good team? A good team hits in the clutch. Whether or not the other team gives it opportunities. A good team gets run scoring hits with 2 outs in 3 different innings. What is a good team? The Cleveland Guardians is a good team.

---

MLB: 4/21/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 16/330; PA:1190/25027; At Bats: 1050/22243; Runs: 118/2935; Hits: 235/5349; 2b: 42/1022; 3b: 5/95; HR: 21/653; RBI:112/2766; SB: 25/481; CS: 10/132; W: 110/2246; SO: 257/5627; Total Bases: 350/8520; Hit by Pitch: 16/272; Sac-b 1/56; Left on Base: 228/4540 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.2% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.9% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.98

Pitching. 

Games: 16/330; Innings: 282/5881.1; Complete games: 0/3; Team Shutouts: 5/42; Shutouts: 0/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 7/171; Runs conceded: 118/2935; Earned Runs: 102/2617; Balks: 6/38; Wild Pitches: 10/236 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.1 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.81      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 330: Chances: 23775; Put Outs: 17644; Assists: 5744; Errors: 387; All DPs 521

Avg errors per game: 1.17 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.58 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0

==========   

==========

==========

Game 24: 4/20/24 TB at NYY

MLB.com (wrap) 

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--12:14)

Short highlights of all games played 4/20/24 (MLB Youtube--9:59). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score:

TB (12-9, 3rd ALE) 2

NYY (14-7, 1st ALE) 0

(10 innings)

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Jonathan Parra (147 pitches called, 11 incorrect)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 145 (2:25)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 102 (1:42)

Pitches: 286

Balls in Play: 48

% BIP of all Pitches: 16.8

Pitches per BIP: 5.96

Walks: 1

Strikeouts: 23

Home Runs: 0

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 72

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 33.3

Strikeout as % of All Outs (23/60): 38.3

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 6

Sacrifice Bunts: 1

Stolen Bases: 1

Stolen Base attempts: 2   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

Source for all: MLB Film Room or MLB wrap

NYY: Trent Grisham (CF) throws out Rays catcher Rene Pinto trying to advance from 1st to 3rd on a bloop single with 2 outs in the TB 3rd inning. An excellent play, but what about the old saying, "never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base?"

NYY: Nestor Cortez (P) on a beautifully placed sacrifice bunt by Jose Caballerro, to get the out. An excellent play by all involved.

TB: Jose Caballero (SS), moving to his left across 2nd base, robs Oswaldo Cabrera of a hit in the NY 8th inning.

Anatomy of a slump:

NYY: Aaron Judge  produced a "golden sombrero" (4 times at bat, 4 strike outs) in this game, and has been in a slump for some time. If you watch his final strikeout, in the 9th inning, pitch by pitch, you will see that he gets one pitch which he normally would demolish, but misses it, and then is done in by a pitch (low and outside breaking ball) which had vexed him all game.

And how was this not a HR? 

NYY: Anthony Rizzo followed Judge and won the game with a majestic towering home run to deep right field. Only it wasn't. Not even close. Judging by the crack of the bat, the trajectory of the ball, the reaction of the fans and Rizzo, and the TV camera work, everyone in Yankee Stadium was sure this was a game winning home run. It wasn't until it was about to settle into the glove of Amed Rosario short of the short porch right field at the stadium, that everyone realized that this was a home run that wasn't. I have seen this on more than one occasion this season (including a couple in yesterday's diary entry game played at Great American Ballpark, a well known bandbox). So far, home runs are way down in the early part of the season compared to last year's average (2.4 per game). A trend? No way to tell this early in the season. But if it remains at its present 2.01 per game, it would project to less than 4,900 for the season, Last year, 5,868 HRs were launched.

---

MLB: 4/20/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 16/314; PA:1242/23834; At Bats: 1088/21193; Runs: 146/2817; Hits: 276/5114; 2b: 57/980; 3b: 5/90; HR: 23/632; RBI:138/2654; SB: 24/456; CS: 5/122; W: 119/2136; SO: 274/5370; Total Bases: 412/8170; Hit by Pitch: 17/257; Sac Bunts: 4/55; Left on Base: 248/4312 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.2% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.0% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.01

Pitching. 

Games: 16/314; Innings: 284/5599.1; Complete games: 0/3; Team Shutouts: 2/37; Shutouts: 0/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 12/164; Runs conceded: 146/2817; Earned Runs: 134/2515; Balks: 3/32; Wild Pitches: 18/226 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.1 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.80      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 314: Chances: 22638; Put Outs: 16798; Assists: 5471; Errors: 369; All DPs 503

Avg errors per game: 1.18 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.60 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0

==========   

==========

==========

Game 23: 4/19/24 LAA at CIN

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:26)

Short highlights of all games played 4/19/24 (MLB Youtube--10:00). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).

Score: 

CIN (10-9, 4th NLC) 7

LAA (9-11, 3rd ALW) 1

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard 

Home Plate Umpire: Larry Vanover (136 pitches called, 15 incorrect)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 132 (2:12)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 64 (1:04)

Pitches: 248

Balls in Play: 51

% BIP of all Pitches: 20.6

Pitches per BIP: 4.86

Walks: 7

Strikeouts: 12

Home Runs: 2

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 70

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 31.4

Strikeout as % of All Outs (14/54): 22.2

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 2

Sacrifice Bunts: 1

Stolen Bases: 6

Stolen Base attempts: 6   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

Source for all: MLB Film Room or MLB wrap

CIN: Spencer Steer (1st Base), throws out Jo Adell at home plate to end 3rd inning. It is quite problematic whether Adell, with Mike Trout in the on deck circle, should have taken such a risk. However, that controversy does not change the fact that Steer made a perfect throw from an awkward position, retiring Adell by miles.

CIN: Jonathan India (2B) makes a spectacular shovel to Elly De La Cruz (SS) for a force play and De La Cruz gets off a rocket for the possible double play, but is unable to pull it off. The force was a magnificent effort by both.(LAA 7th).

From the sublime to the ridiculous. The LAA bull pen train crash 8th inning turned this from a 2-1 nail biter into a 7-1 blow out. The inning began with submariner Adam Cimber replacing starter Tyler Anderson, who pitched 7 innings of great ball but took 95 pitches to do it. And of course present day baseball demands a pitcher who has thrown that many pitches to come out of the game.

 

Cimber walked Jonathan India and gave up a single to Spencer Steer. Stuart Fairchild laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Cimber then walked Tyler Stevenson and hit Nick Martini with a pitch to score a run, leading to a pitching change. 

Jose Cisnero then wild pitched in a run while pitching  Elly De La Cruz and then gave up a 3 run homer to the star of the night (3 stolen bases, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored). The LAA bull pen set fire to the game and then poured gasoline on the fire, destroying the good work of Tyler Anderson in the span of 1 inning and 36 rubbish pitches. And as LAA Manager Ron Washington said after the game "It just didn't work out."

All but Cisneros' wild pitch (which happened on De La Cruz' at bat).

Steer scores on Cisnero wild pitch.

---

MLB: 4/19/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 14/298; PA:1047/22595; At Bats: 947/20105; Runs: 136/2671; Hits: 226/4838; 2b: 47/923; 3b: 4/85; HR: 32/609; RBI:131/2516; SB: 30/432; CS: 2/117; W: 83/2017; SO: 228/5096; Total Bases: 377/7758; Hit by Pitch: 10/240; Sac Bunts: 3/51; Left on Base: 172/4064 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.2% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.0% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04

Pitching. 

Games: 14/298; Innings: 247/5315.1; Complete games: 0/3; Team Shutouts: 1/35; Shutouts: 0/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 4/152; Runs conceded: 136/2671; Earned Runs: 118/2381; Balks: 0/29; Wild Pitches: 3/208 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.1 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.77      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 298: Chances: 21495; Put Outs: 15946; Assists: 5198; Errors: 351; All DPs 480

Avg errors per game: 1.18 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.61 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0

==========   

==========

==========

Game 22: 4/18/24 TEX at DET

MLB.com (wrap) 

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

Score:

TEX (11-9, 1st ALW) 9

DET (10-9, 3rd ALC) 7

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard 

Home Plate Umpire: Todd Tichenor (178 pitches called, 11 incorrect)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 184 (3:04)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 141 (2:21)

Pitches: 328

Balls in Play: 67

% BIP of all Pitches: 20.4

Pitches per BIP: 4.90

Walks: 9

Strikeouts: 14

Home Runs: 3

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Apperances: 90

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 30.0 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (14/54): 25.9

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 0   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

Source for all: MLB Film Room

TEX: Ezequiel Duran (1st Base) (DET 3rd inning)

TEX: Ezequiel Duran (1st Base) (DET 6th inning)

And some not so great plays:

TEX: Leody Taveras (CF) (DET 4th inning), a ball that was not charged as an error, but certainly should  have been caught. There were two outs when the misplay happened. Cost TEX 2 runs.

DET: Spencer Torkelson-Javier Baez-Kenta Maeda (3-6-1) DP that ends TEX 1st inning

And a terrible play, with both teams making basic mistakes

DET--TEX: With 1 out in the 8th of a 7-7 game, TEX Leody Taveras, on 2nd, moves toward 3rd on a ground ball to short, a high school error. But DET completely botches the run down, not driving him back to the base he came from, but allowing him to move toward the next base, another high school error. Then DET 3rd baseman Geo Urshela, again attempting to run Taveras back to the base he came from, misses the tag, allowing Taveras to slide safely into 3rd. He later scored the winning run. One of the uglier plays you will see at this level.

---

MLB: 4/18/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 4/284; PA:295/21548; At Bats: 256/19158; Runs: 33/2535; Hits: 59/4612; 2b: 12/876; 3b: 4/81; HR: 3/577; RBI: 31/2385; SB: 4/402; CS: 1/115; W: 22/1934; SO: 60/4868; Total Bases: 88/7381; Hit by Pitch: 3/230; Sac Bunts: 0/48; Left on Base: 52/3892 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.3% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.0% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.03

Pitching. 

Games: 4/284; Innings: 70/5068.1; Complete games: 0/3; Team Shutouts: 1/34; Shutouts: 0/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 3/148; Runs conceded: 33/2535; Earned Runs: 22/2263; Balks: 1/29; Wild Pitches: 2/205 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.1 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.81      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 284: Chances: 20494; Put Outs: 15205; Assists: 4954; Errors: 335; All DPs 466

Avg errors per game: 1.18 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.64 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0

   

==========   

==========

==========

Game 22: 4/17/24 SD at MIL

MLB.com (wrap) 

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

Score:

SD (11-10, 2nd NLW) 0

MIL (11-6, 1st NLC) 1

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard 

Home Plate Umpire: Quinn Wolcott (131 pitches called, 11 incorrect)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 124 (2:04)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 93 (1:33)

Pitches: 238

Balls in Play: 43

% BIP of all Pitches:18.1

Pitches per BIP: 5.53

Walks: 4

Strikeouts: 14

Home Runs: 0

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Apperances: 60

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 30.0 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (14/51): 27.5

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 1

Stolen Base attempts: 1   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

Source for all: MLB Film Room

SD: Matthew Batten (1st Base) (preserved the no-hitter and helped save the shutout in the 7th inning)

MIL: Willy Adames (SS) (1st inning) (had 3 putouts and 6 assists for the game, involved in 1/3 of SD's outs.

MIL: Jake Bauers (1st Base) (5th inning)

MIL: Abner Uribe (P) (8th inning). Saved a sure run.

MIL: Brice Turang (2nd Base) (9th inning)

---

MLB: 4/17/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 16/280; PA:1140/21253; At Bats: 1034/18893; Runs: 107/2502; Hits: 227/4553; 2b: 39/864; 3b: 3/77; HR: 35/574; RBI: 103/2354; SB: 26/398; CS: 4/114; W: 90/1912; SO: 276/4808; Total Bases: 377/7293; Hit by Pitch: 5/227; Sac Bunts: 3/48; Left on Base: 199/3840 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.4% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.1% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.05

Pitching. 

Games: 16/280; Innings: 282.1/4998.1; Complete games: 1/3; Team Shutouts: 3/33; Shutouts: 1/3, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 9/145; Runs conceded: 107/2502; Earned Runs: 97/2241; Balks: 3/28; Wild Pitches: 10/203 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.2 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.83      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 280: Chances: 20196; Put Outs: 14995; Assists: 4876; Errors: 325; All DPs 461

Avg errors per game: 1.16 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.65 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9

   

==========   

==========

==========

Game 21: 4/16/24 TEX at DET

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+



Score:

DET (10-7, 3rd ALC) 4

TEX (9-9, 1st ALW) 2

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories 

Baseball Savant Box Score

Baseball Savant Scoreboard

cHome Plate Umpire: Manny Gonzalez (148 pitches called, 8 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 154 (2:34)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 118 (1:58)

Pitches: 272

Balls in Play: 43

% BIP of all Pitches:15.8

Pitches per BIP: 6.32

Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 20

Home Runs: 0

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 67

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 37.3 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (20/51): 39.2

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 5

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 0   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

DET: Javier Baez (SS) (TEX 4th) (MLB Film Room)

---

MLB: 4/16/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 14/264; PA:1092/20113; At Bats: 954/17859; Runs: 134/2395; Hits: 225/4326; 2b: 50/825; 3b: 6/74; HR: 22/539; RBI: 123/2251; SB: 29/372; CS: 11/110; W: 112/1822; SO: 251/4532; Total Bases: 353/6916; Hit by Pitch: 7/222; Sac Bunts: 7/45; Left on Base: 202/3652 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.4% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.0% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04

Pitching. 

Games: 14/264; Innings: 256.2/4716; Complete games: 1/2; Team Shutouts: 1/30; Shutouts: 1/2, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 8/136; Runs conceded: 134/2395; Earned Runs: 119/2144; Balks: 2/25; Wild Pitches: 13/193 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.2 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.90      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 264: Chances: 19054; Put Outs: 14148; Assists: 4597; Errors: 309; All DPs 429: 

Avg errors per game: 1.17; 

Avg. DPs per game: 1.63; 

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0   

==========   

==========

==========

Game 20: 4/15/24 MIN at BAL

MLB.com

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

Score:

BAL (10-6, 2nd ALE) 7 

MIN (6-9, 4th  ALC) 4

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com (wrap)

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories. 

Baseball Savant Box Score

Baseball Savant Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Brian Walsh (143 pitches called, 11 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 154 (2:34)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 118 (1:58)

Pitches: 292

Balls in Play: 57

% BIP of all Pitches:19.5

Pitches per BIP: 5.12

Walks: 1

Strikeouts: 17

Home Runs: 4

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Apperances: 75

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 30.7 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (17/51): 33.3

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 2

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 4   

Note: Colton Cowser produced the 1st "Golden Sombrero" that I have seen. 4 plate appearances. 4 Strike outs.

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

BAL: Cedric Mullins (CF) (Min 1st) One of the finest plays you will see, this or any other year

MIN: Austin Martin (LF) (Bal 8th)

---

MLB: 4/15/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/250; PA:1107/19021; At Bats: 996/16905; Runs: 101/2261; Hits: 221/4101; 2b: 47/775; 3b: 2/68; HR: 20/517; RBI: 93/2108; SB: 20/343; CS: 10/99; W: 90/1710; SO: 234/4281; Total Bases: 332/6563; Hit by Pitch: 7/215; Sac Bunts: 5/38; Left on Base: 197/3450 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.3%; 

Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.0% 

Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.06

Pitching. 

Games: 15/250; Innings: 271.2/4459.1; Complete games: 0/1; Team Shutouts: 3/29; Shutouts: 0/1, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 9/128; Runs conceded: 101/2261; Earned Runs: 95/2025; Balks: 0/23; Wild Pitches: 10/180 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.1 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.84      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 250: Chances: 18020; Put Outs: 13378; Assists: 4350; Errors: 292; All DPs 411: 

Avg errors per game: 1.17

Avg. DPs per game: 1.64

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9   

==========   

==========

==========

Game 19: 4/14/24 MIL AT BAL 

MLB.com

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

Score:

BAL (9-6, 2nd ALE) 6 

MIL (10-4, T1st  NLC) 4

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com

Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and away game stories.

Baseball Savant 

Box Score

Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Alex MacKay (163 pitches called, 11 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 163 (2:43)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 123 (2:03)

Pitches: 290

Balls in Play: 55

% BIP of all Pitches:19.0

Pitches per BIP: 5.27

Walks: 4

Strikeouts: 17

Home Runs: 5

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Apperances: 76

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 35.5 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (17/51): 33.3

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 3

Stolen Base attempts: 5   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

MIL: Colin Rea (Pitcher) (BAL 6th)

---

MLB: 4/14/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 15/235; PA:1128/17914; At Bats: 997/15909; Runs: 149/2160; Hits: 258/3880; 2b: 45/728; 3b: 3/66; HR: 41/497; RBI: 13/2035; SB: 25/323; CS: 13/89; W: 109/1620; SO: 253/4047; Total Bases: 432/6231; Hit by Pitch: 13/208; Sac Bunts: 3/33; Left on Base: 193/3253 

Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.6% 

Cumulative SO % of all outs: 32.2% 

Cumulative Avg. HR per Game: 2.11

Pitching. 

Games: 15/235; Innings: 262.2/4187.2; Complete games: 0/1; Team Shutouts: 2/26; Shutouts: 0/1, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 8/119; Runs conceded: 149/2160; Earned Runs: 138/1930; Balks: 2/23; Wild Pitches: 9/170 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.2 

Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.89      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 235: Chances: 16934; Put Outs: 12563; Assists: 4090; Errors: 281; All DPs 390 

Avg errors per game: 1.20

Avg. DPs per game: 1.66

Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9   

==========   

==========

==========

4/13/24

CHC (8-6, 3rd NLC) 4 

SEA (6-9, T3rd ALW) 1

Game 18: 4/13/24 CHC at SEA 

MLB.com

Free registration required

Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time,.

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

Score: 

CHC (8-6, 3rd NLC) 4 

SEA (6-9, T3rd ALW) 1

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB.com: Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, CHC Game Story.

SEA Game Story

Baseball Savant Box Score

Baseball Savant Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Malachi Moore (139 pitches called, 7 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 144 (2:24)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 102 (1:42)

Pitches: 264

Balls in Play: 51

% BIP of all Pitches:19.3

Pitches per BIP: 5.18

Walks: 3

Strikeouts: 16

Home Runs: 3

Hit by Pitch: 0 

Catcher Interference:0

Plate Apperances: 70

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA: 

T. O.% of PA: 31.4 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (16/54): 29.6

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 0   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

CHC: Christopher Morrell--Third Baseman (SEA 6TH, no outs)

CHC: Christopher Morrell--Third Baseman (SEA 6TH, 1 out)

 ---

MLB: 4/13/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 17/220; PA:1296/16786; At Bats: 1155/14912; Runs: 151/2011; Hits: 281/3622; 2b: 53/683; 3b: 4/63; HR: 34/456; RBI: 144/1898; SB: 21/98; CS: 4/76; W: 114/1511; SO: 311/3794; Total Bases: 444/5799; Hit by Pitch: 12/195; Sac Bunts: 2/30; Left on Base: 235/3060 

Cumulative True Outcomes: 35.5%; Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.2%; Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.07

Pitching. 

Games: 17/220; Innings: 305.1/3925; Complete games: 0/1; Team Shutouts: 1/24; Shutouts: 0/1, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 7/111; Runs conceded: 151/2011; Earned Runs: 129/1792; Balks: 2/21; Wild Pitches: 14/161; 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.24 Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.87      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 220: Chances: 15873; Put Outs: 11775; Assists: 3833; Errors: 265; All DPs 360: 

Avg errors per game: 1.20; Avg. DPs per game: 1.64; Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 1.0

==========   

==========

==========

4/12/24

 

Game 17: 4/12/24 LAA at BOS

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)

Score: 

LAA (7-6, 2nd, ALW) 7 

BOS (7-7, 4th ALE) 0

Home Plate Umpire: Chad Fairchild (140 pitches called, 12 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards)

USC methodology

Game Information:

MLB.com

MLB Wrap: Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, LAA Game Story.

BOS Game Story 

Baseball Savant Box Score

Baseball Savant Scoreboard

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 140 (2:20)

Time it Took to Watch the Game: 68 (1:08)

Pitches: 264

Balls in Play: 53

% BIP of all Pitches:20.1

Pitches per BIP: 4.98

Walks: 8

Strikeouts: 16

Home Runs: 1

Hit by Pitch: 1 

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Apperances: 71

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA 

T. O.% of PA: 28.2 

Strikeout as % of All Outs (16/54): 29.6

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 0

Stolen Base attempts: 0   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

LAA: Taylor Ward, Left Field (2 outs, Bottom of 2nd)

BOS: Ceddanne Rafaela, Center Field, (2 outs, Top of the 1st)

Reid Detmers twirled his way to 6.1 innings of shutout ball, allowing 3 hits, with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts, leading the Angels to 7-0 win. The Red Sox helped in their own demise, giving up 3 unearned runs, making 3 errors, an failing to turn 2 double plays in the 1st Inning, which gifted the Angels a 3-0 head start. In their last 3 games, the Red Sox have committed 6 errors and allowed 6 unearned runs.

---

MLB Daily and cumulative statististics (Daily Cumulative figures are copied out every day from BR 2024 MLB summary page.

MLB: 4/12/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 14/203; PA:1094/15490; At Bats: 983/13757; Runs: 142/1860 Hits: 248/3341; 2b: 48/630; 3b: 5/59; HR: 32/422; RBI: 136/1754; SB: 17/277; CS: 3/72; W: 93/1397; SO: 242/3483; Total Bases: 402/5355; Hit by Pitch: 11/183; Sac Bunts: 0/28; Left on Base: 198/2825 

Cumulative True Outcomes: 35.4%; Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.1%; Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.08

Pitching. 

Games: 14/203; Innings: 253.1/3619.2; Complete games: 0/1; Team Shutouts: 1/23; Shutouts: 0/1, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 4/104; Runs conceded: 142/1860; Earned Runs: 126/1663; Balks: 01/19; Wild Pitches: 10/147; 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.16 Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.88      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 203: Chances: 14669; Put Outs: 10859; Assists: 3562; Errors: 248; All DPs 330: 

Avg errors per game: 1.22; Avg. DPs per game: 1.63; Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.97   

==========   

==========

========== 

4/11/24

 

Game 16: 4/11/24 HOU at KC

ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month. 

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/

For Full Game Video 

Schedule

Replay

Baseball

ESPN+

Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room) 

Score: 

KC (9-4, 2nd ALC) 13 

HOUS (4-10, 5th ALW) 3

Associated Press Game Story

Game Information:

MLB Wrap: Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, game stories.

Baseball Savant Box Score

Baseball Savant Scoreboard

Home Plate Umpire: Andy Fletcher (174 pitches called, 13 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecards)

USC methodology

Statistics:

Time of the Game (Minutes): 161 (2:41)

Time it Took to Watch the Game:(Minutes 77 (1:17) 

Pitches: 331

Balls in Play: 63

% BIP of all Pitches:19.0

Pitches per BIP: 5.25

Walks: 7

Strikeouts: 10

Home Runs: 3

Hit by Pitch: 1

Catcher Interference: 0

Plate Appearances: 85

True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA 

T. O.% of PA: 24.7

Strikeout as % of All Outs (10/51): 18.5

Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 1

Sacrifice Bunts: 0

Stolen Bases: 1

Stolen Base attempts: 1   

**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com. 

However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.

HOU: Jon Singleton, 1st Base, (5th Inning, 2 out)

KC: Freddy Fermin, Catcher  (7th inning, 1 out)

---

MLB: 4/11/24 / Cumulative (per game)

Batting:

Games: 5/189; PA:387/14396; At Bats: 356/12774; Runs: 56/1718. Hits: 91/3093;2b: 17/582; 3b: 2/54; HR: 14/390; RBI: 53/1618; SB: 6/260; CS: 0/69; W: 29/1304; SO: 81/3241; Total Bases: 194/4953; Hit by Pitch: 2/172; Sac Bunts: 0/28; Left on Base: 63/2627 

Cumulative True Outcomes: 35.5%; Cumulative SO % of all outs:32.1%; Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.06

Pitching. 

Games: 5/189; Innings: 90/3366.1; Complete games: 0/1; Team Shutouts: 1/22; Shutouts: 0/1, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 1/100; Runs conceded: 56/1718; Earned Runs: 51/1537; Balks: 1/19; Wild Pitches: 4/137; 

Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 17.15; Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.90      

Fielding: Cumulative only:

Games: 189: Chances: 13644; Put Outs: 10099; Assists: 3319; Errors: 226; All DPs 303: Avg errors per game: 1.20; Avg. DPs per game: 1.60; Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.96   

==========   

==========

========== 

2023

Nowthat MLB games are shorter, I'm wondering if they are different. I am looking at the season from the perspective view of a bird's eye. I have no "skin" in the game. There are 2,430 MLB games per season. There are 1,215 wins and 1,215 losses. So MLB's winning % is always going to be .500.

I am looking at the game through the lens of the brief 7-9 minute highlights that MLB produces for each game. So far, I have watched all of them (over 430 at this point). Before you think "that's nuts", let me answer, "sure it is." However, a full slate of highlights (15 games) can be watched in about 2 hours, maybe 2:15 at most, which is still shorter than the average time a single "pitch clocked" game consumes. 

And without a rooting interest, I find I can look at these snippets with a cool, more objective eye. 

The positives (in my opinion).

Base stealing is way up. And while nowhere near the pace set by the speedsters of the 1980s, it is a welcome site. Miami's John Berti led MLB with 41 Stolen Bases in 2022. He was the only player to steal more than 40 bases. The last year only one player stole 40 or more bases was 1962, when Maury Wills of the Dodgers stole 102 and the player with the 2nd most steals (Tommie Davis, also of the Dodgers) stole 32. A little speed to leaven the power.

Bunting is up (there were 390 sacrifice bunts in 2022, the first year of the National League DH). in April of 2023 there were 73.  

The not so positives.

The first thing I noticed was that balls were flying out of the yard in copious quantities. And a whole lot of opposite field home runs. This could be an indicator of a juiced ball. Since MLB now owns the ball maker, it would be easy to do. The sample size is too small as of now, so we will have to wait and see. 

The second thing I noticed was the even more copious amount of strike outs. And the number of swinging strike three's on balls miles out of the strike zone. And also the amount of called third strikes on pitches right down main street. An indicator that the batter is guessing with two strikes. 

The third thing I noticed was the amazing amount of catcher's interference in the first month. Which goes along with the fourth thing I noticed. Every catcher I've seen in MLB (and that would be more than 30 catchers) shamelessly "frames" pitches, in order to influence the Home Plate Umpire into calling many "balls" (according to the electronic box on the screen) "strikes." If you watch the highlights closely, you can see how the catchers do this. PF is not against the rules of baseball, sort of (an attorney's view). But it does come into conflict with the rules about what determines a ball and a strike. In my view PF is unethical. Not that MLB has had many issues with ethics, but this is the heartbeat of the game. The topaca topaca of each pitch. And the idea is to fool the Umpire. Umpires put up with it. And, of course, with metrics running the game, MLB Baseball Savant has a statistic for it. Texas Catcher Jonah Heim leads MLB through April, having already saved 3 runs by his slight of hand. I wonder if there is a connection between the explosion of CI and pitch framing. This article hints at it. (Note the graph of CI that goes back to 1973). This one also. According to this article there were a record 62 CI in 2021, a record which lasted one season. In 2022 there were 74. In April 2023 there were 29, which, extrapolated over the course of the entire season, would be 165. 

The fifth thing I noticed was the number of base runners thrown out at third on ground balls to the left side of the infield when not forced to run. Especially with less than 2 outs, along with the number of runners caught in rundowns trying to score from 3rd base (again with less than two outs) on ground balls to the left side, some even with the infield playing in. This is due to the tendency to "run on contact" with less than two outs. Perhaps there are metrics to show that this is the correct choice, but all I see is the replacing of a runner on second with a runner on first and one more out than there was before. Or a runner out at home replaced by one at first base. Or Oneil Cruz, with his ankle shattered and season ruined (his sliding technique did not help, either). 

The sixth thing I noticed was the amazing amount of run down plays there have been. And how many of them have been botched. Most of these plays end with the runner being tagged out, but far too many after excess throws (more than one is too many), and with the runner on his way to the next base instead of the last one. 

The seventh thing I noticed was that many outfielders, while terrific athletes who often outrun their mistakes, turn the wrong way on fly balls, and get much too close to walls when they are trying to take caroms off those walls. Balls clang off walls, turning doubles into triples.   

Again, these observations are based on a snippet of the actual baseball played. But they are "highlights."

And this brought me to the main question, i.e. how are the "three true outcomes" (walks, strike outs, and home runs) doing this season? (True outcomes are basically outcomes where the ball is not put into fair play--home runs are fair balls, but they are not in play). 

A little sleuthing at Baseball Reference allowed me to put a small table together to look at this once per decade (each year ending in 3) from 1903-2023.

Key:

Year; Number of Games Played; Number of Plate Appearances; HR as % of Total Plate Appearances; Strike Outs as % of Total Plate Appearances, Walks as % of Total Plate Appearances.

Note these numbers are cumulative for all of MLB and include data from the Negro Leagues (1923-1953)

1903; 1,114;  83,899; 0.4;  9.4; 6.4

1913; 1,234;  92,005; 0.5; 10.1; 7.9

1923; 1,650; 128,234; 1.1,  5.5, 7.7

1933; 1,367; 105,251; 1.1,  7.1, 7.6

1943; 1,486; 114,432; 0.9;  7.5; 8.7

1953; 1,240;  95,454; 2.2; 10.7; 9.1

1963; 1,619; 122,377; 2.2; 15.3; 7.8

1973; 1,943; 148,795; 2.1; 13.7; 8.8

1983; 2,109; 160,615; 2.1; 13.5; 8.4

1993; 2,269; 174,564; 2.3; 15.1; 8.7

2003; 2,430; 187,449; 2.8; 16.4; 8.5

2013; 2,431; 184,873; 2.5; 19.9; 7.9

2022; 2,430; 182,052; 2.9; 22.4; 8.2

Through April 30, 2023

2023;   425;  32,143; 3.0; 23.0, 8.8

Total Number of Games in the Sample: 23,322

Total Number of Plate Appearances in the Sample: 1,812,143

So far, it seems that the new rules are having little effect on the 3 "true outcomes".