The velocity thing would be a bit of a concern, but the PitchFX/Trackman migration makes it impossible to tell how real the velocity dip might be. Hendricks isn't lying about being a slow starter though: 2015 ERA thru 3 starts: 5.74 ERA after: 3.78 2016 ERA thru 3 starts: 4.50 ERA after: 1.88 Ok, well that's good to see. Giving up the homers still concerns me a bit...but I'll have faith.
So this is the new Pirates thread, right? The Pirates season so far.... Swept by Boston, swept Atlanta, swept by Cincy, swept the Cubs, and then swept by the Cardinals.
The thing is, if that's all they're going to do, I don't really see the point. Signaling that the play stands already sends that message. There's no way for those in attendance to know the reason a call was or was not overturned. Signalling the play stands does not automatically mean there wasn't conclusive evidence. The weird thing to me is the crew chief has nothing to do with the decision in NY. Why not give NY a hot mic to the stadium to make his announcement? It's probably just technically simpler to have the crew chief explain the decision.
https://apnews.com/cd85ff8330c7417d9b58db988f5b6bb3/When-fans-see-red,-MLB-men-in-blue-may-soon-explain-replays Manfred's initiatives to speed up the game continue with this decision that's virtually guaranteed to add more time than he just saved with his intentional-walk change. Nah...It'll take like 5 secs for them to say "there wasn't conclusive evidence that such and such occurred".
Wow, Jose Baez, the same lawyer that got Casey Anthony acquitted, and George Zimmerman acquitted is Aaron Hernandez's lawyer and got him off on the double murder charges.
Counterpoint: The first round is a waste of time and should be eliminated. Don't think that's a valid counterpoint. 3 road underdogs won. Wouldn't be surprised if 2 underdogs win the series. At least 4 of the games were good games. Who cares? Only 1 time ever has a team 5th seeded or lower won the NBA Championship...the 1995 Rockets. The 8th seed in each conference had a .500 record. The Bulls finished 4th in their own division! Stop putting those teams in the playoffs. 3 division winners and a wildcard in each conference is more than enough.