Regarding that whole Jed Lowrie situation, I've never been a fan of that "unwritten rule" in a blowout. Porter should quit his whining and worry about his own team, teams can come back from huge deficits and even if you don't think you can, its still an official MLB baseball game and I expect the players to keep playing.

If it really bothers you to see a team bunting for a base hit in a blowout, if that really hurts your feelings, then ask MLB to put in some kind of little league mercy rule for your team. Or forfeit the game, I think the rules allow you to do that.

My thing is that the Astros were in the shift. If someone is playing the shift on me, I'm dropping bunts FREQUENTLY. **** 'em.

Hit it where they ain't. That's baseball.

They make millions and are supposed to be professionals. Why shouldn't a guy be able to work on their bunting in live situations? Especially a skill that has become a dying art and so many guys are horrible at getting one down properly.

This isn't the same thing as for example a top college football team facing some clearly outmatched directional school and piling on the score when it's not a fair fight.

yeah, I can kinda understand that situation in college ball where you paid off a blood donor to die on your field, but in the pros the fans are collectively paying them a lot of money.

I don't care if the Royals are losing at home 27-zip in the top of the 9th with 2 outs, if the other team drops a bunt I'm not gonna boo.

Bottom line, everyone is supposed to be at the top of their game, so you ultimately should be able to get them out and control this more than anyone else.

Nobody is stopping you from adjustments to make a play on the bunt.

Yep. Totally agree.

There was a game some years ago, I believe Schilling was carrying a no-no into the 8th, and some little pillowbiter tried to lay down a bunt. I think that set off a huge shitstorm as it should have. I'dhave drilled that little punk everytime he batted the next game.


edit: just found it. HAHAHAAHA!
10 years later, Bob Brenly still bitter about Ben Davis’ bunt
Matthew Pouliot May 27, 2011, 5:30 PM EDT

Whether our entry yesterday had anything to do with it or not, Cubs PBP man Len Kasper decided to bring up the Curt Schilling game with former Diamondbacks manager and current Cubs color guy Bob Brenly today on WGN.

And Brenly still isn’t happy about the play, saying that Davis did in fact break unwritten rules by bunting to ruin Schilling’s chance at a perfect game on May 26, 2001. Kasper pointed out that the bunt single brought the tying run to the plate, and Brenly didn’t much seem to care, saying it was never right to break up a no-hitter with a bunt.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...en-davis-bunt/

I can see it both ways- are we talking a 2 or 3 run game? Then **** you, I'm not "giving" you a nono. 5+ runs late innings different story.

Even though I'd sort of side on having some pride to not get egged as a team vs their pitcher. Old school guys wouldn't lay down and take that.

Yeah I don't think laying down a bunt late in a blowout is a big deal. Hell, laying one down in a close one isn't either. But laying one down to disrupt a no-hitter is beyond embarrassing and is deserving of a 95mph beanball into the back.

Does he bother to square up the grain of the bat with the ball? Jeter does the same thing and has a lot of broken bats too.

Butler headed back to cleanup


On Thursday night, when his low line drive buzzed through the Astros’ infield, Royals designated hitter Billy Butler felt a sense of relief. “There it is,” he thought, the sort of reward he had spent days searching for.



The single on Thursday came during his first at-bat of the season as the team’s No. 6 hitter. After four games in that role, Butler will likely shift back to the cleanup spot for Monday’s series opener in Cleveland, manager Ned Yost said.

“I went into this season as the four-hole hitter,” Butler said after going two for four in an 8-3 loss to Minnesota on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. “That’s what they want me to be. I feel like I’ve earned that. I’ve just got to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do.”

The reason is two-fold: Butler has been five for 14 in his last four games and appears to be rounding into his usual form. Meanwhile, Salvador Perez. who replaced Butler as the No. 4 hitter, has batted just .108 in his last nine games. He has one hit in his cleanup cameo.

“Billy’s almost back to being Billy,” Yost said. “He’s freed up. He’s seeing the ball much better. He’s much more comfortable. He looks much better.”

Butler has admitted his mechanics confounded him during the first few weeks. He missed fastballs he once clobbered. He flailed at pitches he normally took. He felt out of sorts.

The pattern began to change last week, as he worked through a series of tweaks with hitting coach Pedro Grifol.

“I’m staying through the ball,” Butler said. “I’m hitting balls. The last four or five games, I’ve been hitting the ball well, squaring it up. It’s the longest time I’ve went where I couldn’t find my timing.”

Meanwhile, Perez has descended into a sizable slump of his own. Yost indicated Perez was “drifting” at the plate, with his upper body and lower half not working in synchronicity.

Perez has caught every game thus far, and Yost dislikes answering questions about Perez’s playing time. But he inserted backup catcher Brett Hayes for the final two innings on Sunday.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/20...#storylink=cpy

He hit .455 in the Twins series so hopefully he's figuring it out.

He's returned to warning track power.

Still not driving the ball the way I'd like, but he is squaring it up more regularly.

Butler going first to third yesterday was impressive.