Thursday, February 6, 2020

Did Astros time machine rob 2016 Cleveland and 1951 Brooklyn? There's no crying in baseball.


Aroldis Chapman, Yankee relief ace, must think there's both an Astros time machine and crying. And he seems to have support from his Yankee teammates.

For the Yankees, Astros’ Punishment Brought Anger and Vindication
Many Yankees were bitter over the idea of losing two playoff series to a team exposed as cheaters. But M.L.B.’s investigation also confirmed suspicions they’d held for years about the Astros.
By James Wagner Feb. 5, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/

Aroldis Chapman, who gave up key runs to Astros hitters during both A.L.C.S.’s, posted a meme of Michael Jackson eating popcorn and smiling with the caption “ME WATCHING ALL THE ASTROS CHEATING DRAMA GO DOWN.” His teammates Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Luis Severino all piled on with laughter emojis...

The Yankees had also been particularly wary of the Astros, at least since their World Series victory in 2017...

The Astros’ behavior worried the Yankees enough to prompt extra caution on the diamond. The Yankees instructed their pitchers to frequently change their signs, and gave them cards to place under their caps as reminders of the many variations to cycle through during games. For example: Even with no one on base against the Astros in the 2019 A.L.C.S., Yankees pitchers and catcher Gary Sanchez cycled through different sets of signs.

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I'm a Yankee fan and it pains me to admit that Yankee fans, except for me as documented in this blog, are as big a bunch of whining cry babies as fans of other teams ... OK, maybe not Mets and Red Sox fans. But, still, it's a disconcerting fact.

Much of the "evidence" of sign stealing (really they just peaked at the signs) in the two most infamous scandal/crisis shows that both the 1951 New York Giants and 2017-2019 Houston Astros got little, if any, advantage by cheating.

Say what? What about the two bottom of the 9th pennant winning home runs?
1951 Giant Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodger Ralph Branca.
2019 Astro Jose Altuve off Aroldis Chapman.

In both cases the cheating teams did their cheating only at home as far as we know. The cheating Boston Red Sox supposedly cheated both home and road in 2017 and 2018; 2019? But even the Yankees are only mad at the Astros, not their long time arch rival Red Sox. This despite the Red Sox eliminating the Yankees in the 2018 tournament. Astros doubled that by beating the Yankees in the ALCS in both 2017 and 2019.

The cheating teams did not score extraordinary numbers of runs at home in the crucial games. In fact in the final two 1951 games, both played in their home Polo Grounds ballpark, the Giants were shutout in the first 15 innings.

Both pitching victims had previously failed when only an Astros time machine could explain their failures. Maybe the Astros used a forgotten NASA time machine to go back to 1951, before the Astros were born, and 2016 to cause Branca and Chapman to fail by giving up big home runs. Maybe just to make themselves even bigger villains than they seem to be to most people.

1951 New York Giants sign stealing: a peak at coach Herman Franks and more. Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Herman Franks died March 30, 2009 at age 95.

Bobby Thomson died August 16, 2010 at age 86.

Ralph Branca died November 23, 2016 at age 90.

Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca, who had just relieved starter Don Newcombe, to win the pennant in the third of three extra games played in 1951 between the Giants and Dodgers after they finished in a tie.
 Roy Campanella caught for the Dodgers in the first game but Rube Walker caught games 2 and 3.

Oct. 1, 1951 in Ebbets Field: Giants 3, Dodgers 1
Oct, 2, 1951 in the Polo Grounds: Dodgers 10, Giants 0

Note the low attendance, as the Polo Grounds could fit 51,000:


Wednesday, October 3, 1951
Attendance: 34,320
Venue: Polo Grounds V
Game Duration: 2:28
Day Game, on grass
Giants 5, Dodgers 4

So it was Dodgers 4, Giants 2 with Giants on second and third with one out. Branca relieved Newcombe to face Thomson. Did Dodger catcher Rube Walker use complex signs with Lockman on second base?


In terms of the sign stealing, the Giants had a runner on second base, so they didn't really need the extra help from center field.

Branca somehow sneaked a fastball down the middle for strike one. “A ball I should have swung at,” Thomson, a fastball hitter, admitted later...

If Thomson knew what was coming, it makes you wonder why he didn't swing at the first pitch.

Bobby Thomson hit three home runs in 1951 off Ralph Branca. In that final game Thomson already had a single and double off Newcombe. Thomson hit 32 home runs in 1951, the last two off Branca. Number 31 was in the first of the three extra games Oct. 1, 1951: in Ebbets Field Thomson homered off Branca in the 4th with a runner on first to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. Monte Irvin homered off Branca in the 8th to finish the scoring: Giants 3, Dodgers 1...

How much did Thomson really need to know the pitch or was his success because he knew?

Maybe it was because the cheating became known much later but Bobby Thomson was not vilified like some of the Astros are today, including Jose Altuve.
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Thomson had homered off Branca two days before ... in Brooklyn. Documented in another post, the pitch that Thomson hit for the pennant winning home run was supposed to be a brushback according to Dodger catcher Rube Walker.


Finally, our Yankee pitching victim was no stranger to blowing big games. Yankee general manager Brian Cashman decided to have the Yankees tank the 2016 season and traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for prospects, including Gleyber Torres. Cashman stated that he really wanted Torres but "swung and missed" in trying to sign Torres as a young international free agent. Cashman let the Cubs outbid the Yankees. Then in 2016 Cashman had to trade his ace relief pitcher to get Torres. No, not better late than never. Cashman could have traded for ANOTHER star prospect.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon overworked Chapman in the 2016 tournament (using Chapman in 13 games), knowing that Chapman would be a free agent after the season. Chapman pitched in 2016 World Series games 2,3,5,6,7 against Cleveland. Game 7:
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Start Time: 8:02 p.m. Local
Attendance: 38,104
Venue: Progressive Field
Game Duration: 4:28
Night Game, on grass
Cubs 8, Indians 7 in 10 innings

Aroldis Chapman, BS (3), W (2-0)

Bottom 8, Cubs 6, Indians 3. Jon Lester pitching in relief:
Ground out.
Strike Out looking.
Single to SS.
Chapman replaces Lester.
Brandon Guyer line drive double, RBI.
Rajai Davis line drive home run, 2 RBI.
CoCo Crisp ground ball single.
Yan Gomes Strike Out swinging.

John Smoltz's great analysis leading up to Rajai Davis' game-tying HR

Chapman blew the save in game 7 of the World Series allowing THREE runs before getting the one and only out that he needed to end the inning.

To his credit Chapman retired all three batters he faced in the 9th giving his team a chance to come back and hold on to win in the 10th inning.

But what happened to Chapman? Did the evil Astros climb into their time machine and give the Cubs signs to the Indians? Or did Chapman fail on his own as he appeared to have done three years later in Houston?

One final point: how long are you allowed to claim to be a victim? The Yankees now say that they knew in 2017 that the Astros were cheating back then. And the Yankees were still victimized three years later?

Protect yourself at all times.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But thrice?

Boone and/or Rothschild appear to give signs when Altuve homers to win 2019 pennant. Tuesday, November 19, 2019

With two out in the bottom of the 9th, tie game, and leadoff hitter George Springer batting, Hall of Fame pitcher and announcer John Smoltz says the batters are looking for a fastball to end the game. Springer walks with two out.

Two fastballs to Jose Altuve. 2-0. Chapman then throws 87 MPH slider, inside corner. Strike call. Why didn't Springer steal if they knew the pitches? Then with Springer on second a single wins the game ... and pennant.

84 MPH up and away hit for home run. Two slow pitches in a row, the second not so good. Altuve may have been informed but it still looked like a bad pitch.

I also looked at an amateur video, which stayed on Altuve ... and Sanchez. FOX TV wanders to fans, etc. however the video below shows Sanchez was looking into the Yankee dugout for each pitch to Altuve.


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Playing the victim is not appealing for athletes who are supposed to be heroic. There's no crying in baseball.

Showing posts with label Signs.

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