MLB Bullets Wants To Watch Baseball

Let's see what other "classic rock" bands I can insult today. I'll let you decide. The music of __________ is soulless, overproduced, self-indulgent corporate crap designed to be intentionally bland so as not to offend anyone who might potentially change the radio station in their Corolla. Advertisers love them because of this.

Hey Nationals. It could be worse. You could be Chelsea.

• The good news for the Nationals just keeps coming. Reliever Drew Storen is out for the season after breaking his thumb when he slammed it in a locker after giving up a go-ahead home run.
• Joe Posnanski has a thoughtful piece about how the Nationals have handled Storen through the years and he compares Storen to tennis player Roberta Vinci. He concludes that maybe it is better sometimes not to believe in yourself so much.
• As long as we're on closers, Rob Neyer wonders at the season the Francisco Rodriguez is having and how good he's been after having been written off so many times.
• Sticking in Milwaukee, Jonathan Lucroy has a "mild" concussion. As always with a concussion, the timetable for return is uncertain and with the Brewers out of it, it might be best to just shut him down for the season.
• Someone who won't be shut down for the season is the Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (and that is still weird to type) but he will miss at least two weeks because of a cracked left shoulder blade.
• Christina Kahrl writes the Blue Jays will just have to carry on without Tulo for a while and they should be used to injured shortstops by now.
• So the Blue Jays traded for Darwin Barney to help fill in for Tulowitzki temporarily. Mike Wilner catches you up on Barney and what he offers the Blue Jays. As if you didn't already know. But you aren't Blue Jays fans either.
• Marcus Stroman went five innings on Saturday in his first major league start since being ruled "out for the season" after tearing his ACL in spring training.
• The Blue Jays are trying to stay ahead of the Yankees, who have injury problems of their own. First baseman Mark Teixeira is out for the season with a fractured leg.
• Wallace Matthews says that if the Yankees end up in the Wild Card game, Masahiro Tanaka is the only choice to start that game.
• Yesterday Rich Hill made his first major league start since 2009 and he was brilliant for the Red Sox. He gave up only one hit and he struck out ten over seven scoreless innings. Gordon Edes recaps Hill's performance and traces his return to the majors from independent ball.
• The Mets will give Matt Harvey short, two- or three-inning starts to limit his innings and keep him sharp for the playoffs.
• There will be no innings limits on fellow Mets hurler Noah Syndergaard.
• Zack Greinke lowered his ERA to 1.61, which would be the 5th lowest since 1920 if the season ended now.
• Add Corey Seager's name to the incredible NL rookie class of 2015. Here's a Statcast breakdown of Seager's big game on Saturday.
• Mark Saxon writes that Seager is making a big impression in his short time in LA so far.
• But the Dodgers insist that when Jimmy Rollins returns from injuries, Rollins will be the starting shortstop. I would listen to Journey for an hour if it meant Mattingly would play Rollins over Seager in an NLCS against the Cubs. Ehh, 45 minutes. Or however long it takes until insanity sets in.
• The Rangers gave Mike Napoli his first start at any level in the outfield. He didn't play the whole game in left, however.
• Mike Axisa writes that the Indians are finally playing like we thought they would play this past offseason when they were a trendy pick to make the World Series. He does say it's likely too late for this year, however.
• Ben Lindbergh shows how an improved defense has been the key to the Indians turnaround.
• Tony Blengino puts lineup consistency near the top of the reasons for the success of the Royals and explains how they've achieved that. Hit songs by New Zealand teenagers are somewhat lower.
• One of the secrets to the Cardinals success has been their exceptionally "clutch" pitching this season.
• Jeff Sullivan tries to explain why J.A. Happ has been so good since his trade to the Pirates.
• David Schoenfield lists five star players who could be traded this offseason.
• Jeff Passan looks at the free agent market for ten top free agents this winter. It's going to be a lot of money.
• Ken Rosenthal reports that contrary to popular opinion, the Diamondbacks extensively use analytics.
• Michael Bamberger thinks the firing of Ruben Amaro Jr. ends the days of the Phillies being run like a family business.
• The Reds have starter a record number of straight starts by rookie pitchers. No veteran has started a game for the Porkopolis Nine since Johnny Cueto got traded.
• Jonah Keri examines what an incredible season Joey Votto is having this year.
• Ian Frazier looks at the art of calling pitches from the dugout in college ball.
• In case you missed it, HBO debuted "Ferrell Takes The Field" on Saturday night. There are plenty of other chances to watch it later, of course. And it's only slightly-ruined by the inclusion of a Journey song.
• Here's a deleted scene of Will Ferrell talking to commissioner Rob Manfred before his big day in spring training. Question: If the Cubs win the World Series, does Ferrell get a ring? And would they have to let him play for the team every year in spring training now?
• And finally, if you're a little upset by the attention a different sport got on Sunday instead of baseball, you're not alone. Juan Uribe made it very clear to his Mets teammates that he wants to watch baseball, not football.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Why? Ask Juan Uribe.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here’s what Juan Uribe thinks about the start of football season. <a href="http://t.co/rhlaaAbxee">pic.twitter.com/rhlaaAbxee</a></p>&mdash; Eric Simon (@AmazinAvenue) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmazinAvenue/status/643230320767184896">September 14, 2015</a></blockquote>

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