Corey Kluber throws a no-hitter against Texas Rangers

[Drum]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31474453/new-york-yankees-corey-kluber-throws-6th-no-hitter-mlb-season-stopping-texas-rangers

First Yankees no-hitter road-game since the 1951.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Hate the Yanks, But you have to love the effort. nt

[MontanaMama]

2. Hahaha!

+1

[True Dough]

3. Man, oh man

The no-hitters are coming out of the woodwork this season!

[Auggie]

4. Gee, can't have that -- no scoring is boring! I know ...

let's increase the distance between the mound and home plate, ban defensive shifts, move the fences in 50 feet, and increase the number of strikes to five!

We'll call it, ManfredBall!

[True Dough]

5. It doesn't help with the changes they made to the actual baseballs this season

That's taken away quite a few homeruns.

Overall batting averages are at a historic low. Runs scored are waaaaay down.

Just since you created this thread, we can add Spencer Turnbull of the god-awful Tigers as yet another no-hitter pitcher this season.

It's hardly special anymore.

[Auggie]

7. Maybe the ball is part of it

But there's so much emphasis on the long ball that it's possible there's too much over-swinging and bad at-bats.

Why are the San Francisco Giants hitting so many home runs this year? That hasn't happened in a while. Something else is up.

I'll admit the shift is likely responsible for taking away a lot hits. But batters can aim for where the defense isn't playing. Yeah, I know its difficult. But its not impossible.

[True Dough]

8. I would like to see a return to "small ball"

"Launch angle" is definitely all the rage. The players are focused on the wrong metrics.

And, yes, I'd like to see some limits on defensive shifts too.

While the game generally isn't exciting this season, Shohei Ohtani is a blast to watch, whenever I get a chance to see him on the tube.

[Auggie]

9. I don't want to limit shifts ...

they're just part of an evolution of the game. And they can be defeated with help from ... small ball.

Yeah, you think all those metrics and analytics are screwing with these guys heads? I think it's possible.

BTW, one more thing I hear (from Cleveland) about batting: the cold weather in April and half of May is brutal on their hitters. Maybe we see a change as we enter into June ...

[Auggie]

10. Meanwhile, S.F. just scored 9 runs against Cincinnati in the 3rd inning ...

two home runs contributed.

"Baseball's weird" -- Buster Posey

[True Dough]

11. Buster Posey

is having himself a pretty fine season.

[Auggie]

12. Yep

New hip, old swing

[True Dough]

6. I'll defer to the great Clayton Kershaw on this topic, seeing as he's a pitcher himself

"Well, its not good. I'll tell you that. I think whatever the intention was with the new ball or whatever it may be, it really hasn't done anything. There might be less home runs, which I guess they want, but I don't know the slats on all that. But I do know that strikeouts are the same. I think I saw some stats for April that it was the worst hitting month in the history of something. No-hitters are cool. I have all the respect in the world for Corey Kluber and Bum and all those guys that have thrown no-hitters. But to have one happen every night, it seems like it's probably not good for the game. Fans want to see some hits, I get that and some action, and not many people striking out. I appreciate the attempt that MLB has tried to do but I think it seems like they missed the mark so far. We'll see. I don't know."

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/clayton-kershaw-is-no-fan-of-mlb-no-hitter-surge-says-league-missed-the-mark-with-new-deadened-baseball/