Apparently another Marlins player has tested positive for coronavirus, bringing their total infections to 16 players and two coaches. A friend of mine is convinced these are the end times, and the coronavirus is one of the signs. I'm not so sure that I agree with him but, if these are truly the end times, I expect when the four horsemen of the apocalypse ride in, the one representing pestilence will be wearing a Marlins cap.
The Marlins have been stuck in Philadelphia since the beginning of this story. That just seems like adding insult to injury to me, having so many players infected and being trapped in Philly. I've had nightmares that were less frightening than that scenario.
At least there's good news for the Phillies:
For the second consecutive day, all of the Philadelphia Phillies coronavirus tests for players and staff members have come back negative, a source familiar with the situation tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 29, 2020
Hopefully the tests keep coming back negative and the Phillies can resume their schedule and escape the city - at least when there are road games on the schedule.
At some point I'd assume that the Marlins players are going to be allowed to leave and return home. MLB and the Marlins are still supposedly investigating the cause of the outbreak. There have been some reports that "at least one player" went out in Atlanta while the Marlins were playing exhibition games against the Braves before the season started.
If the Phillies keep testing negative then MLB has dodged a bullet on this one. If, on the other hand, multiple Phillies start testing positive, MLB has some interesting choices. The Marlins weren't expected to compete for a playoff spot, but the Phillies were expected to be in it. If, through no fault of their own, the Phillies were to lose multiple players, would they really be penalized by playing games with a depleted roster?
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I watched David Peterson's start yesterday live and then watched it again on DVR. He really impressed me. He didn't act like a rookie making his first major league start, and he didn't look like one, either. He showed a lot of polish, and his delivery was as smooth as I've seen out of a young pitcher. His stuff was solid, if not overwhelming, and he mixed it up well.
It will interesting to see how he does going forward. Other teams will have tape of him now and an idea of what to expect. They'll make adjustments to him, and he'll need to make them back. He has a nice, calm personality that will serve him well. One thing I always like to see is how a kid like that reacts when he doesn't have his good stuff and he's getting hit around. Not that I'd like to see that any time soon, of course.
One moment of curiosity for me came in the first inning, when Peterson struck out J.D. Martinez with a 88 mph pitch high and inside that was described as a changeup, but looked an awful lot like a cutter to me. It was strange placement for a changeup, and had a lot of break. A cutter would probably be a useful pitch for him to develop at some point. A lot of left-handers have used that pitch to good effect in order to get in on right handed hitters and offset some of their platoon advantage.
Peterson seems likely to stay in the rotation until Stroman returns, whenever that may be. Then the Mets would actually have some depth in starting pitching again, just like they were supposed to at the beginning of spring training about a million years ago.
It will interesting to see how he does going forward. Other teams will have tape of him now and an idea of what to expect. They'll make adjustments to him, and he'll need to make them back. He has a nice, calm personality that will serve him well. One thing I always like to see is how a kid like that reacts when he doesn't have his good stuff and he's getting hit around. Not that I'd like to see that any time soon, of course.
One moment of curiosity for me came in the first inning, when Peterson struck out J.D. Martinez with a 88 mph pitch high and inside that was described as a changeup, but looked an awful lot like a cutter to me. It was strange placement for a changeup, and had a lot of break. A cutter would probably be a useful pitch for him to develop at some point. A lot of left-handers have used that pitch to good effect in order to get in on right handed hitters and offset some of their platoon advantage.
Peterson seems likely to stay in the rotation until Stroman returns, whenever that may be. Then the Mets would actually have some depth in starting pitching again, just like they were supposed to at the beginning of spring training about a million years ago.
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Sad news about Jose Reyes. I remember when he first came to town as a 20-year-old in 2003, when there was almost no reason to care about that Mets team. All on his own he brought the excitement to a 66-win disaster of a club.
His second time around with the Mets ended poorly, but it still felt kind of right for him to finish his career here in New York. I just wish he could have had the chance to leave baseball on his own terms, rather than "retiring" two years after anyone came calling for his services.
His second time around with the Mets ended poorly, but it still felt kind of right for him to finish his career here in New York. I just wish he could have had the chance to leave baseball on his own terms, rather than "retiring" two years after anyone came calling for his services.
3 comments:
I will give Jose this...
He really lit up the clubhouse.
I was mystified in his last year how, at such a relatively young age, he hit barely half of what he hit when he won the batting title several years earlier.
Odd that when I go out, I see a lot of signs at gase stations and stores for Corona beer.
If I see signs for Corona I'm skipping that gas station.
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