Max Muncy’s year has been about as nightmarish as one that a player of his caliber can experience. We can all speculate on the cause of it, but I’ll peg it on the severe season-ending injury from last year. That elbow dislocation injury was gruesome and as ugly as any injury I can remember.
With all the rule changes that will be incorporated into 2023, I am surprised that MLB didn’t consider instituting the two side-by-side bases at first as they have in a few leagues around the world. Perhaps it is something they need to test out on the Minor League league level first. It is a rule in place to simply stop those collisions at first base and correct a common controversial play that involved runners running inside the base paths. In the future, will it happen? Who knows? There was the Posey rule instituted to protect catchers. I guess the Muncy collision didn’t carry as much weight. Back to Max’s year…
On July 28th, Max Muncy’s batting average sat at .158. This was a full 321 plate appearances into the season. When you have so many ABs on your ledger, statistically, it is really difficult to significantly move your batting average up unless you go on an unprecedented tear. In the 46 days since Max has moved that average up 42 points.
In that stretch, he hit .286 with 11 homers and 30 RBI. Nothing earth-shattering, but consistent. His OBP since July 28th is a respectable .360. So those solid numbers over a month and a half have earned him a batting average of 15 points under the Mendoza line. (What few fans are aware of is that Mario Mendoza’s lifetime average was actually .215 and not .200.)
This was not an easy feat at that juncture of the season. With his second-inning infield hit on September 13th, Muncy reached .200. Certainly, he never imagined he would be happy hitting .200, but when you consider he was in .150 territory, that 40+ point improvement is a near miracle.
Muncy didn’t do it tearing up the league either; sure, there were some multiple hit games and some heroics in the process, but nothing that was significant enough that put him in “player of the week” contention. Max simply ground it out and now finds himself peaking at the right time. His confidence is back, and that is half the battle.
Though many called for his demotion, benching, or even outright release, Max was still able to build on his strengths. He got on base. He has always been known to have one of the best “eyes” in the game. He works the count like no other. He got his walks, and with an occasional blip, his defense did not suffer along with his slumping bat.
Dave Robert’s stuck with the man, and his loyalty is now paying dividends. A solid Max Muncy combined with the top three monsters in the lineup, Smith, JT, Lux, a surging Chris Taylor, and others that are in the process of working through subpar years, is what makes this team an offensive juggernaut going into post-season play.
Muncy’s absence in last year’s postseason played a major role in the Dodger’s exit in the NLCS. Now with 21 games to go, it is a question of keeping them all active and healthy.
Rule Change in 1954
As Major League Baseball continues to implement rule changes for the upcoming 2023 season, I remembered back to a blog piece that I wrote back in 2012 that addressed a significant rule change that took place following the 1953 season. It was long overdue and made perfect sense. In fact, it is amazing that so many years have passed without anyone taking a step forward to right this wrong. Suppose you read that article from 10 years ago, my apologies. I just thought with the recent events; it merited repeating. Just like today, with the current rule changes, in 1954, Major League Baseball adoption of this new rule, and surprisingly it wasn’t a popular move at the time.
Here it is:
Rule 3.14: “Members of the offensive team shall carry all gloves and their equipment off the field and to the dugout while their team is at bat. No equipment shall be left lying on the field, either in fair or foul territory.”
That’s it. You couldn’t leave your mitts on the field anymore. Why would anyone be against that?
“Nobody thought it would work; they thought it was a terrible thing,” said former player and manager Ralph Houk. Critics thought that it would slow up play, with players searching for their equipment between innings. Now, it is simply hard to imagine a game when such a thing would be allowed on the field. In today’s game, if a wayward ball escapes from the bullpen or an object lands on the warning track that a fan throws on the field, the game is stopped cold. Can you imagine it any other way?
In games that occurred pre-1954, once the side was retired, corner infielders tossed their gloves in foul territory near the bases, middle infielders threw their mitts in the middle of the diamond, just off the infield dirt, and outfielders left their gloves in the field near the warning track. Only catchers and pitchers returned to the dugout with their equipment.
I heard Vin Scully once say during a broadcast that he never once saw a glove on the field interrupt play or affect the outcome of a game, but there are stories out there that say otherwise. One happened in the 1944 Pacific Coast League Championship.
The San Francisco Seals were playing the Oakland Oaks when a foul ball dribbled up the first base line, hit a lying glove in foul territory, and deflected inside the field of play, where the first baseman fielded it and stepped on first base for the out. Such a rhubarb resulted in the game being played under protest by Seals Manager Lefty O’Doul. When his team lost the game in extra-innings, his protest was upheld by PCL President Clarence Rowland. The game was replayed, this time with a Seals victory.
Gloves weren’t the only things left on the field, and so were articles of clothing, such as jackets. A 1929 game at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and Reds was decided in the ninth inning on what was ruled an inside-the-park homer down the third baseline. The ball simply disappeared into thin air. Or so they thought at the time. Cincinnati’s relief pitcher, Jack Penner, was warming up in the third base line bullpen, and he had dropped his jacket on the ground before he began to throw. The liner was scooped up by the jacket, and the left fielder was unable to locate the ball until the winning run crossed the plate. The ball disappeared from everyone’s view. Umpires and players searched, trying to determine where it disappeared, and it wasn’t until Penner put on his jacket and the ball popped out of his left sleeve that the mystery was solved.
With gloves being left on the field in the old days, opposing players used the opportunity to play pranks on their counterparts. It is said that Eddie “the Brat” Stanky lived up to his nickname and was known to fill his opposing numbers’ gloves with dirt or tobacco chaw. Washington Senator Ed Yost was notorious for putting dead frogs, mice, and other critters in the glove of Phil Rizzuto. The antics were endless, it is said. It makes me wonder how they got away with it with so many witnesses simply watching the game.
Though there isn’t much record of it, Houk admits that gloves on the field affected the outcome of the game more than once. “A batted ball would hit a glove and mess up the game. I’ve also seen it where a player, especially an infielder, would be running back and step on a glove, and naturally, it would throw him off balance.”
It is recorded that Hank Greenberg, who sat on the Baseball Rules Committee in 1953, was the primary force that pushed strongly for the rule for two reasons: 1) possible hindering of play and 2) objects left on the field looked sloppy. The New York Times corroborates that story and reported on November 4, 1953, that it was “Greenberg who proposed the change.”
Reporter Whitey Martin of the Hartford Current questioned the intelligence of the baseball establishment and had interesting comments about then Giant Manager Leo Durocher (who opposed it) regarding the rule change. In his April 17, 1954 column, he said:
“If the report that several clubs intend to defy the rule requiring players to bring in their gloves from the field when the opposing side is retired is true, you begin to wonder about the intelligence of some of the men who are running major league baseball.
“Here is a sensible rule made to protect the payers and to at least help to prevent a game from being won or lost through circumstances not concerned with the merits of the two teams.
“More than once a player has tripped over a carelessly tossed glove, missing a ball or twisting an ankle, and more than once a ball has struck a glove and been deflected, the incident affecting the outcome of the game. They might as well scatter tombstones out there.
“The players naturally gripe a little at the rule, as it means they must break a lifetime habit, and ballplayers like everybody else, look upon change from an established routine with a jaundiced eye.
“It’s just too bad if an athlete left stranded at second base has to trot all the way to the dugout to pick up his glove. Why, that extra exercise could shorten a man’s career, figuring all the extra steps he might take over a season.
“If Leo Durocher were of suspicious nature, he might think the new rule was aimed at him personally. Durocher, for years, has had an established routine at the start of every Giant inning. He would walk to the third base coaching box, pick up the discarded glove of his third baseman, pound his fist into the pocket three times, walk over to the bag and kick it three times, toss down the glove and be ready to mastermind.
“If the Giants don’t win the pennant this year, he’ll blame it on the rule which prevents him from carrying out his superstitious rigamarole.”
Well, I guess the rule change was actually Durocher’s good luck charm. In 1954 his Giants won their first World Series in over twenty years under the first year of Rule 3.14.
Discussion (12)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I have zero interest in sitting around this winter talking about what a hard luck pitcher Kimberly was all season and the playoffs. And it costed the Dodgers a World Series. Do I trust Doc not to use him in a high leverage situation? He makes his own bad luck with a walk, nibbling and way too many non-competitive pitches. Folks get excited when he has a few successful performances and doesn’t shit the bed. Success is his job in high leverage situations.
I was busy yesterday and didn’t read anything from yesterday until today. BulldogsandPenguins the Dodgers pitching coaches changed Martin’s pitch selection as Bluto posted the other day and it has made Martin a better pitcher. Same thing could have happened to Robertson and Chafin. But anyways I wanted a 8 or 9 man bullpen for the playoffs to be totally solid so Doc couldn’t screw things up late in games. It looks like the final 1-4 spots depending on injuries are not going to be occupied by solid guys, in my opinion only.
Treinen (If healthy)
Phillips
Almonte (If healthy)
Vesia
Ferguson
Martin
That’s 4 healthy spots, 2 injured currently possibilities and I’m open to Kahnle depending on what I see the rest of the regular season. The rest of the options for the final spots I don’t care for, for various reasons. But if the 2 listed that are injured right now are healthy for the playoffs and if Kahnle impresses me by the end of the regular season and more importantly impresses the decision makers and makes the playoff roster that makes 7 bullpen pieces that I consider solid, my opinion only. The chance of Doc screwing up something with the final 1 or 2 spots is minimal especially if the starting pitchers do their job.
Speaking of the offense, Trayce Thompson deserves to play in every game in the playoffs against RHP. I hope Doc does that.
Hanser Alberto has again slipped under .600 OPS, he’s only drawn 2 walks and homered 2 times this year in 145 plate appearances. He’s a 1 trick pony that relies solely on getting base hits (No power) against LHP and hasn’t even done that very well this year considering he needs to over perform to make up for other shortcomings. Oh well 1 bench player can’t possibly screw up something in the playoffs.
The Astros are 5.5 games behind the Dodgers for home field advantage in the WS. With the small number of games to play I doubt they catch the Dodgers.
It’s fun to watch this Dodgers team because it’s so good.
To my dismay, the Friday night game is on appletv. I can’t stand their coverage, but May is pitching. What do do?
I don’t care how much bad luck Kimbrel has had. He has a 4.03 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. If that guy is your closer, you are screwed. Why are we even talking about this? Kimbrel has a history of this… REPEATEDLY. The Red Sox relieved him of his closer duties in 2018. This is a recurring theme, and he is getting older, so it might get better? NO WAY!
I really think the Dodgers are considering leaving him off the playoff roster.
I have always said that the Bauer situation did not pass the smell test. If that video is reliable and authentic, then there is your answer. I think you are going to see Bauer sue her and others, like Manfred. In many respects, this has cost him a career. This has the potential of getting really ugly for MLB. I think it will be kept under wraps by MLB until after the Word Series, but Bauer may have other ideas. I think it will be fun to watch!
Wow… I almost feel like defending Kimbrel.
Almost.
When do rosters expand? I want to see Outman and poor Edwin Rios, who was off to a good start before his injury and lost his roster spot. Rios had an OPS of .793 with 7 HRs in 86 ABs.
Come to think of it, Rios might be up now if AF hadn’t given up Beeter for Gallo. Or maybe Outman would. I still think the jury’s out on Gallo. But right now, I’d have been fine with either Rios or Outman up–and Beeter still in Tulsa.
Yeah, Max got his average up over .200–and then goes 0 for 5, dropping back to .199.
Current OPS of likely playoff starters:
Freddie .929
Mookie .906
Trayce .905
Trea .838
Will .814
JT .797
Lux .796
Max .721
Belli .638
Good post Evan. Seems obvious that you don’t leave all your crap all over the field, but this was when obstacles were normal in the outfield of many fields. Forbes field had light towers in play. Tigers stadium had a flagpole in play in Center Field.
I debated watching last night’s game with the Spring Training lineup, but decided to anyways because I wanted to catch a glimpse of Tommy Kahnle. I wasn’t disappointed. He is absolutely filthy. 97 MPH darts with a Buggs Bunny changeup. I think he threw 6 straight change ups that were anything but straight. I fell asleep before Kimbrel’s inning. It was absolutely the right move to walk Carroll to setup a force play for a possible double play with a one run lead. It would be a waste to overwork a bullpen in a lengthy extra innings affair. Kimbrel proceeded to strike out the next hitter on three pitches. He got the ground ball, but it was hit too softly for the double play to end the game. Then he gave up a homer at the very top of the zone on a 96 MPH 4 seamer. Only his 3rd home run allowed all year. Par for the course for Kimbrel this year.
This homer broke his streak of 9 consecutive appearances without allowing a run. 7 of those were perfect 1,2,3 innings. Now, the sky is falling again because of one pitch that was a very good pitch.
Grove pitched well in his 5 innings on 77 pitches, 52 for strikes. He looks like a solid pitcher along the lines that most teams have as their 4th or 5th starters and he’s almost an afterthought on this stacked team. He gave up 2 bombs, no one says anything about. But, Kimbrel gives up one and the entire peanut gallery shows up.
Facing facts, Kimbrel is not the lock down closer he was in the past. It’s been a really weird year for him. So many cheap hits extending innings. 3 homers all year is impressive for most, but his overall results are very mediocre. It would be awesome if this team had a lock down closer, but this isn’t the case unless they choose to pivot now. Martin, Kahnle and Vesia were all lights out last night. Phillips allowed a hit and didn’t record a K, which is out of the norm for him this season. Almonte is close to returning and Treinen is progressing. None of these folks, except for Treinen has much closing experience. What do you do at this point in the season? Do you keep rolling out Kimbrel? Do you switch to Treinen or Phillips this late in the season?
Interesting talk about Bauer yesterday. We’ve gone through this over and over again. He likes to have rough sex and there seems to be no shortage of willing participants if you’re famous and have a social media account. But, when you deal with ladies that offer up such services on social media to famous people, you should know that you’re dealing with a whack job.
I was suspicious when the lady spent the night after being “assaulted”, then drove 100 miles, passed 72 emergency rooms on the way to San Diego and then decided it was an emergency sometime the next day. This is not normal behavior and it leaves a lot of gaps for an unscrupulous person to punch herself in the face, or have a friend do so while plotting an extortion scenario. A reasonable person would question her motives. Sheep will just take and digest any narrative their trusted sources feed them. Ignore all the facts that the lady “wanted to get in Bauer’s head”, that she was an employee of the Padres at the time the incident occurred, that she had affairs with 2 Padres players, that she’s an alcoholic and an addict. But, because Bauer sends mean tweets, he’s obviously guilty.
Just go ahead and ignore the fact that a liberal, female Los Angeles judge ruled in the favor of Bauer. During the process she identified that the lady lied on court documents. The Pasadena Police department accused her of plotting a scheme and a very liberal LA DA declined to press charges on Bauer. Now, a video is released showing a smirking and uninjured lady, but somehow some people still want to continue to push a false narrative. This really bothers me. Why ignore so much evidence? Because it’s a pattern? A pattern of doing nothing illegal? One of those other women keeps reaching out to Bauer, wishing him a Happy Birthday and sending him illicit photos, several years later? Does that sound like a victim to reasonable person?
The funny part is that the “journalist” that made such a big deal about this story as it broke is now unemployed. Several other journalists that often push fake news have also lost their jobs recently like Cuomo and Stelter. A reasonable person would see these things and think, maybe lying to push a political agenda isn’t okay. But, then you have people that still ignore facts and take the side of their own political beliefs to form an opinion about the validity of a subject. This is a sickness and it’s not good for anyone. My only advice is to think with reason and question what you read. Do your own research. The last people you should believe are those that continue to divide one side against another.
Kpizzle, you’re on a short rope on this site. Get your act together. Stop being a dick. You never have anything valid to say, all you do is cause trouble. Seek help and change your stupid name for God’s sake.
I don’t think these last 20 games should be used to give experimental minor league tryouts or try to establish roster changes as this is not resting players. If resting players is in order then put a ‘B’ team on the field and not stress those of the ‘A’ team who are not being rested for that game. I want the players who are going to be the starters only on the field to win and not to take any game lightly or meaningless. It makes no sense giving one or two players a days rest and fielding the rest of the team and gives room for bad habits to develop. Just because we made it to the playoffs doesn’t make these last games spring training. The players coming off the IL need to be built up but there’s no need to fit untested talent at this point just because the opportunity arose. Kimbrel has had all the time needed to prove himself and failed. There’ll be enough resting time for top seed ahead. Now just make it there.
Lol, all of you look like some predator pack waiting for a month for a sighting of the lone sheep.
Cheers for an interesting read Evan. Having Max hitting again sure does help this lineup.
Did anyone watch the Bauer Instagram post I put up at the end of the last thread?
Any opinions or do we not discuss him and his situation anymore?
Thursday Dodger Minor League Schedule
4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Adolfo Ramirez) vs. Lake County (Tommy Mace)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Kyle Hurt) vs. Springfield (Gordan Graceffo)
5:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Ryan Pepiot) at Albuquerque (Zach Neal)
And again Kimbrel can not shut the door in a one run game.
I am already dredding the thought of him coming out of the pen in a playoff game with the game on the line.
I ´ll have my heart meds ready for sure….
Better news: Pages hits two HR at AA. Has now 26 dingers on the year.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Matt Beaty Elects Free Agency
By Anthony Franco | September 14, 2022 at 9:52pm CDT
Utilityman Matt Beaty has elected free agency after being outrighted by the Padres, the team announced. As a player with more than three years of major league service time, he had the right to refuse a minor league assignment.
The player AF received back in the trade for Beaty is River Ryan who is currently at A+ Great Lakes and helped with the 7-2 win over Lake Country in the first game of the playoffs 3.2IP 1H 0BB 7K.