MLB Bullets Asks For A Silent House

I guess the lesson I learned from last time is that if I want 200+ comments on one of my articles, just put in some talk about the National League adopting the DH.

• I've avoided talking about the situation in Baltimore because the connection to baseball was pretty tangental and any mention of it would likely bring forth people who want to debate the politics of the situation and that's a tinder keg I don't want to sit on. At least not in this forum. But now I pretty much have to because for the first time ever, a major league baseball game will be played this afternoon with no fans in the stands. Additionally, this weekend scheduled home games against the Rays will be moved to St. Petersburg. You are free to make your own jokes about how three more games will now be played with no fans in stands.
• Seriously. If any discussion of this veers away from baseball and the Orioles and on to the riots, the looting, the protests, the police or the city of Baltimore, I'll shut down comments immediately. This is your one and only warning.
• Anthony Castrovince points out that this move is unprecedented in the history of major league baseball. It's happened at least twice in minor league baseball--once as a stunt and the I-Cubs did it in 2008 because of flooding in Iowa. But games played in empty stadiums are not uncommon in international soccer, where games are sometimes closed to the public as punishment for fan behavior or to prevent possible violence between fan bases. And you are now free to make your own jokes about Italian Serie A matches if you even get that.
• The Rays are happy they don't have to travel to Baltimore in the middle of all this.
• Orioles reliever Darren O'Day thinks that MLB has made the right decision.
• Nancy Armour thinks the move is an overreaction on the part of MLB.
• CSN Baltimore's Rich Dubroff describes what it was like trying to get home after Monday night's postponement.
• Now back to the debate on the DH in the National League, which I'm sure will give you hours of fun. I didn't post this piece last time because I didn't think you needed it, but because the other articles reference it, I'll post it today. Craig Calcaterra thinks the NL not having the DH is "dumb" and that there are no rational arguments against the NL adopting the DH.
• Jon Weisman takes up the challenge and attempts to craft a rational argument against the DH. (To be fair, I found this piece because Calcaterra linked to it.)
• Michael Baumann says that even if hatred of the DH is "irrational," that doesn't mean the anti-DH arguments are invalid. Being a sports fan is pretty much by definition irrational.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that the NL is at a competitive disadvantage by not having the DH. (Weisman, in his piece that I linked to above, notes that Rosenthal is sorely lacking in any hard evidence that this is the case.)
• Rob Neyer looks at the two sides of the debate and think it mostly comes down to aesthetics, making neither position really right or wrong. He does acknowledge the injury issue, but he says that there is nothing other than anecdotal evidence there.
• David Moulton reminds us that if then-Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter hadn't been on a fishing trip in 1980, the NL might have adopted the DH 35 years ago. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• One pitcher who opposes the NL adopting the DH is Madison Bumgarner.
• You know what other NL pitcher opposes the DH? Adam Wainwright. You know, the guy whose injury started this whole thing.
• Pitchers are off to a historically-terrible month of April at the plate this season.
• So let's talk about pitcher injuries some more, only this time it will focus on ones not caused by hitting. Diamondbacks hurler Archie Bradley took a line drive off his face last night. Not any line drive, but the seventh-hardest hit ball this season. It looks like he got lucky this time, thank goodness.
• And then there's Brandon McCarthy, who will miss the entire season with a torn ulnar-collateral ligament, which almost always means Tommy John surgery. Because it's McCarthy, you know he had a quip on Twitter about this, as did his wife Amanda. The first couple of baseball Tweets.
• McCarthy's injury leaves a hole in the Dodgers rotation. They plan to fill it with internal options, for now at least.
• Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will miss at least a month with a "very mild" forearm strain. Somehow, those two things don't seem to go together.
• Reds pitcher Homer Bailey will miss significant time with a elbow problems and he may end up needing surgery too.
• Brian Kenny is upset that the Mets let Matt Harvey start the ninth inning in his last start.
• David Schoenfield writes that these pitcher injuries will start to heat up the trade market. He lists teams that could be buying and who is likely available.
• It all makes Jon Heyman wonder what the heck Cole Hamels is still doing in Philadelphia? He also looks at the possible destinations for Hamels.
• Bob Nightengale has another look at the Hamels trade market.
• Ken Rosenthal points out that the last time the Cardinals lost Adam Wainwright for the season, they won the World Series. He admits the situation is different this time, but he says that it is evidence that no one should write off the Cards.
• Former Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson has Parkinson's disease.
• The Marlins have designated Jarrod Saltalamacchia for assignment, just a little over a year after they signed him to a three-year free agent deal.
• Reportedly five teams are interested in Saltalamachia, with the Diamondbacks making the most sense.
• Angels manager Mike Scioscia is upset that Josh Hamilton didn't show more remorse for letting his teammates down.
• Jean-Jacques Taylor says that the words that Hamilton says are unimportant, it's his actions that will show what he's truly about going forward.
• Jayson Stark lists Hamilton at the very top of his list of the worst free agent acquisitions of all time. Where's Mel Rojas?
• Tim Healy isn't worried about the Nationals poor start.
• Jay Jaffe is at least concerned about the Nats poor start, although he does admit they still have time to turn things around.
• Maybe last night's big come-from-behind win against the Braves is the start of their turnaround. The Nats get special bonus points for trolling the Braves by letting Dan Uggla drive in five runs as they overcame an 8 run deficit.
• Everyone should be worried about the Brewers terrible 4-17 start, the worst start by a National League team since 1997. I'm not sure who that team who got off to a terrible start was in '97, but I sure am glad I wasn't a fan of that team!
• Grant Brisbee thinks that in order for the Royals to stay good, they just need some of their former highly-touted prospects (now players) to live up to their advance billing.
• Chris Archer: A young man and his slider.
• A Portrait Of A Mookie As A Young Red Sox, by Joon Lee.
• And finally, the Royals reputation as brawlers is getting around. So much so that Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer came prepared for their game against KC by wearing boxing gloves in the dugout.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Please don't make me shut down the comments.