24 Comments

Kurtz hit another HR and double, Burns another good start and King hit a HR and triple for Wake today.

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Skenes and Jones are gonna be fun when they both are in the rotation together. Both have that alpha mentality and will only make each other better. Could be a dominant one two punch with Keller being a great number 3.

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Hopefully it works out that way in health and skill for both…and simultaneously

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Still early, and haven't played a full series at home, but the Hoppers rotation so far is electric

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Craziest Jared Jones stat: 67%(!) first pitch strike rate.

They all won't be solo homers but absolutely wild how quickly he's been able to flip the switch and limit baserunners.

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I don’t know if it has been mentioned, but….

Here’s a crazy JJ stat - most swing and misses through 3 starts since they started keeping track of such a thing.

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and that's after striking out less than a batter per inning against half-minor league spring training lineups while just fuckin winging fastballs and sliders at max effort.

I love when baseball surprises.

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Fun watching a full alpha dog on the mound. I can’t remember one since AJB

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STFD baby!

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If he starts throwing complete games, he may have to undo another button. That’s alpha dog behavior!

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As a dude, I admire his on-field attire.

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Lotta mea culpas owed to Shohei Ohtani this morning...

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Those same people who bashed Ohtani are probably the same mouth breathers who believe the pathological liar who claimed he only bet on his team to win.

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Hopefully we can rebound in a big way tonight!

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An incomplete game at A+ but a high quality start from LHSP Hunter Barco is a major step forward for him and the Pirates. Lonnie White, Jr continues hitting well with his 4th HR, 2 RBI and Sammy Siani with his first HR and 3 RBI.

The A League game was called after 7? Thankfully, BRD scored 3 or 4 runs without benefit of hits. Some serious issues with hitting on that ballclub.

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Commented on the "live line" regarding allowing Jared Jones to pitch into the 7th last night. The pitch count after 6 was low, but this is an asset that does not need to be pushed at this extremely early point in his career. Sure, he probably wanted to go further, but that's when the Manager has to take that heat from him and assure he gets out of the game physically and emotionally intact.

A Quality Start with 6 IP and down only 1-0 to a Playoff Team from 2023 should have been more than enough for a 22 year old in the 3rd Start of his MLB Career!

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He looked sharp in the 6th, got 3 outs in under 10 pitches. The HR he gave up in 7th was a wind-aided wall scraper on a good pitch down in the zone.

In this instance you sound like a Monday morning QB. He was certainly pitching well enough to start the 7th.

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After that 6th it was hard not to bring him back out for the 7th and you don't want to start using your bullpen to open a road trip if you have to. As a manager I bring him back out every time mainly to try and save my bullpen but as a fan I had a bad feeling about bringing him back out this particular time. Might be because the Phillies have been making my baseball life miserable for years since being a Pirate fan in the Harrisburg area has been tough the past 25 years or so, lol.

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Not Monday morning, I was ready for him to walk away from an extremely positive 6 inning outing after striking out one of the best players in the game to end the 6th - Bryce Harper. 6 innings, 72 pitches and down only 1-0 - we got greedy plain and simple. That's just my opinion. It is not the number of pitches as much as it is the "walkaway" effect. For a 22 year old phenom in his 3rd MLB Start, 6 innings 72 pitches would have been enough for me. We start each game hoping for 5 out of the SP and are thrilled when we get 6 - why push it?

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He ended his night pitching into the 7nth with 85 pitches thrown. If he had thrown 85 pitches 2 outs into the fifth, would anyone have suggested he be pulled?

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The counterfactual of Jones getting pulled and Holderman pitching as shitty as he did means every single one of these guys and more would be self-immolating over Shelton's "robotic" managing.

Yes armchair managing is part of being a fan but I'm still gonna jag people for it.

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I might be more likely to pull a pitcher with 85 pitches in the 5th than 85 in the 7th because it would seem that as many pitches in fewer innings would be more stressful. But then I'd like to know more about what experts (pitchers and biomechanics analysts) think about the stress attached to having your body/arm cool down between innings and then warming back up. I seem to recall guys like Walk commenting that that can be difficult as a reason why so few relievers are given a second inning.

With a young pitcher like Jones who has never started 30+ games like we hope he will this season, I would put stricter limits on his outings than for the other pitchers in our rotation but I don't know enough to know what those limits should be.

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Correction for this article - Jared Jones allowed THREE runs, not six ...minor point, but the most important aspect of the game ...

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Good Catch!

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