Of all the words of baseball history I’ve come across, I think the most beautiful are these attributed to then-NL President Ford Frick, responding to rumors of a boycott against Jackie Robinson:

I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do it will encounter quick retribution. All will be suspended and I don’t care if it wrecks the National League for five years. This is the United States of America and one citizen has as much right to play as another.

The National League will go down the line with Robinson whatever the consequences. You will find if you go through with your intention that you have been guilty of complete madness.

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Matt Kemp smacked 2-run HRs in the 1st and 2nd innings as the Dodgers improved baseball’s best record to 8-1, their best start since 1981. Of course, they’ve only played San Diego and Pittsburgh so far. Kemp leads the majors with 5 HRs & 15 RBI and has a 1.458 OPS.

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Giants 5, Pirates 0: Now, that’s more like a $100-million man. Matt Cain retired the first 17 batters, gave up a clean single to opposing pitcher James McDonald (an .079 career hitter), then put away the last 10 Pirates, for his third career 1-hitter. He finished with 11 Ks, 1 off his career high, and a personal-best 96 Game Score. Pittsburgh, now hitting .178 with 7 walks, suffered their second shutout this year; they’ve scored 11 runs in 7 games.

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Couldn’t get around on the High Heat yesterday, so let’s play a little catch-up.

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As shown in the graph below, over the past 20 years, walk and strikeout rates (as a percentage of plate appearances) have usually gone in the same direction from year to year, and have usually been within 5 percentage points of each other. A couple of notable exceptions: Continue reading →

The Tribe dropped another extended contest to Toronto by 7-4 in 12 innings Saturday, after losing their opener in 16 frames.

But take heart, Indians fans: The last team to start its season with two losses of 12+ innings wound up winning 97 games and easily capturing its division.

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As it was in the end, so it shall be in the beginning: The Rays walked off winners against the Yankees today, putting themselves six games ahead of last year’s pace. Carlos Pena celebrated his return to the Trop by bookending the pinstripe aces, with a “take-that!” slam off Sabathia in the 1st and a sacks-full bingle in the 9th off Mariano Rivera.

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– The Mets had a nice pre-game tribute to the late Gary Carter. The video included his game-winning HR in his Mets debut back in ’85. It was a moving moment, then and now, but tell me this: Have you ever seen worse footwork on a home-run swing? Watch his back foot step away from the plate as his body lurches forward to jerk the slow curve over the LF fence. (And is there a term for such back foot movement? Every source I’ve found says that “stepping in the bucket” refers to the front foot only.)

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In 2011, Jose Valverde converted all 49 save tries in the regular season (allowing just 3 runs in the process), and added 3 more without fail in the postseason.

But in his first outing of the new campaign, he blew Justin Verlander‘s 2-0 lead in the 9th, allowing Ryan Sweeney‘s 2-out tying triple.

And this: The number of times during his magical march to the Cy Young & MVP Awards that Verlander left with a lead but didn’t cash a win? Yep, that would be zero.

Still, the Tigers and their fans walked off happy in the 9th on Austin Jackson‘s 3rd hit.

The Cardinals opened their championship defense Wednesday night, along with the New World portion of the 2012 MLB schedule, landing the “Marlins 2.0” by a score of 4-1. While everyone was gaping at the kaleidoscopic new ballpark (and maybe wondering if there’d ever be another game with the roof open), here’s what I found in the box score:

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