Let's Go Amerks!

WE won't be talking baseball much more after next week so for us diehard Wings fans here, here are some of my random thoughts....which were triggered by Tom's comments about the juiced baseball this year:

MLB is kind of in trouble. Attendance is down considerably and the powers that be IMO are tinkering too much with a game that has prospered OK for over a century. Why?

HR's are ruling the day in 2019. But so are strikeouts. The former is exciting. The latter is one of the most useless outs in the game. Watching our Wings hitters waving helplessly at pitches totally out of the zone this year has been exasperating to say the least. Sluggers like Wiel, Barnes, Rooker (when he played) and Rosario have had some of the ugliest AB's I've ever seen.

Is the ball juiced this year? Undoubtedly it is. Denials will pop up everywhere as Pinocchio's nose grows longer and longer.
Rule changes? Some seem reasonable; others horrible.
Horrible: proposed automated balls and strikes. Come on, this will make the actual game a computer game on grass. Terrible idea. Just get rid of the handful of Umps (Angel Hernandez...) who call balls and strikes wrongly. Extra inning gimmick. They have tried it here and I pray it dies here. Its not baseball and I hate it with a passion. Its the shootout on the diamond. Enough already. And clearly the Red Wings have not adapted to it at all. But pleasse never let it get past the minor leagues.

Good: I love the pitch clock. It does help the pace of the game. I wish they would limit the warmup pitches to 4. Why 8? And I like the idea of making a relief pitcher face at least 3 batters before removing him. I know that could be an issue, but I'd like to see it. The game slows to a halt when too many pitchers come in during one inning. I like the reduced time between innings too. And the reduced trips to the mound by catcher and manager. I'm glad they got rid of the 'area play' at second base. that was completely stupid to begin with.

I'd like to see replay in AAA. During the season, so many calls were wrong. Some don't like it but it does help. I think the time spent per review should be limited. If it takes 'that' long, the call on the field must stand. simple.

Pitch counts...ruining baseball. Isn't it ridiculous that a pitcher who is throwing a no-hitter gets removed because he is on a mandatory pitch count? Complete games are nearly extinct.

Technology...way too much. Who really gives a rats a$* about launch angle or exit velocity? Pitch, hit, and watch. Whats wrong with that? And quit inventing new stats. We now have OPS, sluggling, OBP, WAR, WHIP..M O U S E..and a host of other stats that boggle the mind of normal baseball fans . analytics can choke the joy right out of the game. Should we introduce a new stat to chronicle the number of times Zander Wiel grabs his crotch before every pitch? And correlate that with whether he hits the ball or swings and misses?

could we bring back the stolen base? The sacrifice bunt? the hit and run? Does everyone have to go up swinging for the fences? Is there still room for scoring runs in the conventional way? Look at how many games the Wings have lost in extra innings because they don't know how to get a runner at second with no outs...home, without trying to hit the ball 450 feet?

the DH--either have it both leagues or get rid of it.

Guess thats it. Hockey season is right around the corner, but I will still miss sweatin and swattin and enjoying a dog and brew at Froniter.

Oh yeah, one more huge pet peeve. Let the Wings wear 'Plates' jerseys on thursdays if you must....but PLEASE, still call them the Red Wings, not some food promotion. tonite I'm going to see the Rochester Red Wings, not the Plates. That just totally bothers me.

Should we get off your lawn too?

Just kidding. I could go on a similar tirade about how much they've changed the rules in Nascar over the past 10-20 years. You have no idea how good we have it in most other sports compared to how much they've ruined stock car racing.

Certainly can't speak for that, but I believe you!

And to your first point...when I was stationed in Norfolk, VA in the 70's, me and a few shipmates had an apartment on 'the beach' as they say, so we could get off the ship. And the prevailing joke (possibly true) was that most the residents of Norfolk had signs on their lawns which read: 'Dogs and Sailors, keep off the grass'.

So I come by it honestly!!!

So 3 days after the Wings got no hit, they score 20 on that exact same team.

Go figure.

Pitching..one day you get it, the next you don't. Wings hit everything hard tonite. There were no cheap hits.
Only strange thing was the 4 hit batters. And a catchers interference. O'Rourke was particularly wild. He had zero command. Other than that, we were awesome.

baseball is unwatchable because it takes too long. every batter has to go through his plate regimen before and after every pitch. every manager has sabremetric data so each pitch is a situation where they simply must go to the binders. then amazingly MLB added replay which itself is a huge time sync. and I don't think MLB has a problem with it. the teams have been able to monetize just about every pitch. don't believe me? try watching a Yankees game on YES or listening to it on the radio. unbearable.

I haven't reached the tipping point yet...but it could come. The pitch clock in AAA has taken away a lot of the stepping out of the box after every pitch crap.It has helped keep things going.(though I am still surprised some camera crews haven't stopped focusing on Zander Wiel grabbing his crotch after every pitch) the over-analytics I despise. MLB loves it but beware....the crowds are getting thinner. I'm fine with replays but would like there also to be a time limit on them too. If you can't decide after lets say 2 minutes of review, the call on the field stands. with so much on the line, I think its still important in post season. In recent years both the Twins and Orioles got hosed bigtime in postseason against, who else, the Yankees.

While last nights game took 3 hours...the good guys getting 20 runs and hitting the living crap out of the ball was quite a good time.

Ex-Wing (and Oriole) Tom Phoebus has died. he pitched here 1966-70 and racked up 50 wins. He was a good competitor. the old guard is slowly dying off.

The Bulls appear to be the patriots of the IL. Another Gov. cup appearance. They’ve won 6 since 2002. The pats have 6 since 2001. Bulls are down 1-0 to Columbus, but if they comeback,that will be 7 titles in 17 years. 3 in a row

Since the Governors Cup (It was called by other names for awhile) was awarded in 1933, only Columbus has won it 3 years in a row...1979,80,81. Both Columbus and Rochester have won the most (10) Columbus is 10-8 and the Wings are 10-11 in the Finals. so if Durham wins this year, it will tie a league record.