MLB Bullets Says This Ain't No Party

This ain't no disco. This ain't no fooling around.

• It all started with a hit by pitch. Or maybe it started with a stolen base a week earlier. But the Red Sox and the Rays played a wild series that started on Friday with three Red Sox managers getting ejected. First. regular manager John Farrell was ejected in the first inning. Acting manager Torey Lovullo was ejected in the third. Next acting manager Brian Butterfield was ejected in the sixth inning after Brandon Workman threw behind Evan Longoria after both benches had been warned. So hitting coach Greg Colbrunn had to finish managing the game. Boston won 3-2.
• David Ortiz was the batter hit in the first inning by David Price, and he wasn't happy about it. He said that he had no respect for Price and that "it's a war."
• Price shot back saying "this is not a war" and that he'd gained respect from a lot more people than he had lost respect from.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that Price needed to take the high road and not respond to Ortiz's comments. Why Ortiz doesn't need to take the high road is not clear to me. I guess because he was the one hit by a pitch.
• Adding to the Red Sox ejections, Dustin Pedroia was ejected on Sunday for arguing balls and strikes. Such drama from the bottom two teams in the AL East. By the way, Boston swept the series.
• The first place team in the AL East is the Toronto Blue Jays. They're a talented team, but they're helped by everything bouncing their way this season. Like literally, when this infield fly that Edwin Encarnacion lost in the sun took a huge bounce into foul territory.
• Remember last time when I told you that Jose Bautista threw out Billy Butler at first base on a one-hopper to right field? The very next day, he did the same thing to Omar Infante. Although Infante stood at home plate for a while thinking the ball was foul, presumably, whereas Butler was hustling all the way.
• The Blue Jays' Mark Buehrle became the first pitcher to win ten games this season. Yes, we all know wins are not a good indicator of talent, but in this case, Buehrle really is pitching well. Jon Taylor says throwing the curve a lot more might be a reason for his success. He also thinks it might be dumb luck and he's in for a big regression.
• Another team in first place is the San Francisco Giants, who have opened up a 7.5 game lead over second place Los Angeles. Chad Dotson writes that unlike the pitching-reliant Giants of 2010 and 2012, this team is winning with offense.
• Although it's not just pitching, writes Wendy Thurm. The Giants rely a lot on the contributions of Brandon Crawford to win ballgames.
• The Giants knew they were getting a good pitcher when they signed Tim Hudson as a free agent this past winter. They just didn't know Hudson was going to be this good. That goes for his off-the-field contributions as well.
• Along with Hudson, free agent signee Mike Morse has been a big contributor to the Giants success. They both are taking advantage of the opportunity given them, writes Bob Nightengale, and are driven by seeing all their teammates with World Series rings.
• The funny thing is, as good as the Giants are, they probably aren't even the best team in their own market. Tracy Ringolsby reminds us for all the talk of Yasiel Puig (PUIG!) and Jose Abreu, Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is still a remarkable talent.
• The A's tried a numerical flash card system to decide whether to challenge plays on replay. Nice idea, but it didn't work.
• Oakland honored their 1974 World Championship team this weekend. Daniel Brown thinks the "Swingin' A's" were the perfect band of misfits for the early '70s.
• Any bad blood between the team and Reggie Jackson is gone, or so says Reggie Jackson.
• Tracy Ringolsby thinks seventies A's owner Charlie O. Finley deserves a better reputation than he currently has.
• One team not in first is the Kansas City Royals. GM Dayton Moore says that The Worst Manager In Baseball™ Ned Yost's job is not in danger. Rather it's his fault that Yost doesn't have better players. Umm, Dayton? Did you just tell everyone that you ought to be fired?
• There was a trade! The Marlins got reliever Bryan Morris from the Pirates for the 39th pick in this week's draft. That's one of those new "competitive balance" picks that can be traded. You know, the ones the Cubs aren't eligible for despite being lousy the past three seasons.
• Speaking of the draft, last year's top pick, Mark Appel, has struggled. He got lit up in his first start after returning to the Lancaster JetHawks from extended spring training. I've attended games at the JetHawks stadium. The place isn't Coors Field--it's a freaking pinball machine. A combination of altitude and a strong prevailing wind from the west make for some high scoring games. This is not a reason to write Appel off as a bust. It is a reason to be concerned though. And he's not going to pitch in the majors this year and maybe not next.
• Even so, Jeff Sullivan says that the Astros (the major league team) are starting to look a whole lot better than they used to. He admits that's a low bar to cross.
• More prospect thoughts. Christina Kahrl says that Paul Goldschmidt is proof that the draft and scouting are inexact sciences. He's now a superstar after having been an 8th round draft pick and never having made a Top 100 prospects list. Heck, he never even made Baseball America's top ten Diamondbacks prospects list.
• Oscar Taveras was always considered a top prospect and he homered in his first game with the Cardinals.
• Christina Kahrl thinks Taveras's arrival in St. Louis means someone else is going to have to leave.
• Jack Moore thinks the Cardinals may have waited too long to call up Taveras to save this season.
• Bradley Woodrum wonders if we'll ever see a woman play in the major leagues.
• Time for the list of damages. Johnny Cueto hit A.J. Pollock in the hand with a pitch and now he's going to miss 6-8 weeks.
• Wil Myers landed on the DL with a sprained wrist.
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia went on the 7 day concussion DL.
• Marlins reliever Carter Capps is off to see Dr. James Andrews. That's never good.
• Johnny Damon claims he was "booted" from MLB because he wouldn't take PEDs. In the first place, Johnny, how did MLB know you didn't take PEDs? Couldn't you have just lied and said you did? Second, you had an 18 year career and played until you were 38. If they kicked you out for not taking steroids, they sure took their time about it.
• When trying to win a title, the quality of a team's fifth starter can have a major impact on their chances.
• As teams carry 12 and 13 pitchers, the job of the veteran pinch hitter has pretty much disappeared from the game.
• TCU beat Sam Houston State in a controversial 22 inning game, the second-longest in NCAA postseason history.
• The Dodgers have been warned about their "slow game pace." I'm pretty sure nothing will be done about it.
• Marlon Byrd broke his bat without hitting anything. He didn't check his swing, either.
• Besides being good at baseball, the Twins' Brian Dozier is a master at solving a Rubik's Cube.
• And finally, getting back to the draft, Dirk Hayhurst explains how he got drafted after his senior year in college after having been ignored after high school and his junior year. He just lied to the scouts. But he does make a good point about baseball valuing perceived potential over the actual ability to play.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.