So, What Did I Miss? (4/25/16)

Author by indaburgPosted in Baseball, Daily Recap

Well, it’s just another Manic Monday. There was so much good baseball yesterday, it’s hard to know where to start.

Yes, you and every other red blooded American male had a crush on Susanna Hoffs in the 80s. Even girls crushed on her–she’s gorgeous. I always felt bad for the other girls in the group though. Handsome women.

Alright, we’re here to talk baseball on this Manic Monday, and yesterday was manic indeed. This is going to take awhile.

Want to talk manic? It was a real wild one out in Washington. The Nationals won 6-5 in 16 manic innings.

I only managed to catch the last 4 innings because I was at the beach, but that was enough. The game had everything: mimes, street carnies, Dusty being Dusty, chimps, the Stay Puff Man, She-Ra, the Commodores, pot bellied pigs, and pitchers as position players. I really have to stop doing ‘shrooms and watching baseball.

So, Bryce Harper had the day off, and Dusty was sticking to his guns. He used Royce as a pinch hitter, than sat his ass back down. It’s yer day off, I said. Siddown! What did Bryce Harper do with his one at bat? You really have to ask? The only thing Bryce Harper does when he bats. This was a source of mild controversy among my Skypers. Should Bryce have remained in the game? It seems that Dusty was determined to give Royce a day off. I don’t have a problem with Bryce sitting back down although, yes, I understand completely why you would want the 2015 and soon to be 2016 MVP to stay in the game. He is arguably the best player in baseball right now. You want him in the line-up all the time, every day, every minute, every second. However, that’s not possible. It’s a long season, and the guys need breaks. This was Bryce’s first day off. I can see Dusty’s side too. So far, I can find little fault with the way Dusty is managing this team and I am a huge Dusty critic. Either way, it all worked out for the Nats.

I love the call on Harper’s homer: “If you left early, you blew it!” Yeah. You did. That swing, Bryce Harper’s swing. It is so pure.

I don’t know if I can even begin to recap this game. It was that insane.

“This is the craziest. Yeah, this is the craziest,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said when asked where this game ranked among the wildest he’d been a part of. “We always say: Go to the ballpark, you always see something you’ve never seen before. Well, I certainly hadn’t seen anything like this. This was crazy.”

Read about it here. Some dude in Virginia would probably do a better job than me in summarizing all the shenanigans. Next person who says shenanigans.

The Rays have only scored 4 or more runs in game 4 times this season. I’m so glad they worked on those offense issues of theirs this winter at the expense of their defense. It seems to be working out well so far–cough, Hank Conger, cough.

fielding2016

The Rays have a fever caused by no-offensitis and the only cure was Michael Pineda.

More cowbell, baby. 

Actual footage from the pregame team meeting. Pretty intense, that Souza guy:

They did indeed unleash hell with a total of 5 home runs against the Yankees, two coming from birthday boy Steven Souza, Jr. Happy Birthday to you, good man. Smyly with the win.

If you will indulge me for a moment, lots of people, including a couple who visit this blog, said that that Price for Smyly was a terrible trade for the Rays.

“Smyly currently sports a 2.51 ERA and a microscopic 0.73 WHIP with a 33:5 K:BB ratio over 28.2 innings. He’s done this while pitching against tough competition and never throwing more than 105 pitches while going deep into games. Smyly has a .200 BABIP, but his FIP (2.75) suggests he’s the real deal, and he also sports a ridiculous 15.3 SwStr%. It’s not easy to sport such a strong ERA with a relatively normal HR/FB% (9.4) and LOB% (73.0). He had a 1.17 WHIP last year, and this season’s fastball velocity (and cutter) has never been higher since his rookie campaign.”

Price currently sports a 7.06 ERA. Of course, Price is going to be better than this–his FIP is 3.29, his K/9 ratio is over 13, BABIP .419. He has run into a rough spell. It’s just interesting to compare them at this point.

Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs continued their assault on the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0.

I see what you did there, Cubs. You just toyed with the Reds on Saturday a little, let them feel good about themselves, just so you could should shut the door on them again on Sunday. The Reds could only muster 3 hits yesterday with Hammel striking out 7 in 6 innings. Rizzo, for that little performance you put on yesterday with your two-timing homers, you deserve a little kiss.

You just leave it all up to me. I’m gonna show you what it’s all about, yeah…

Houston, you broke my heart. You gave me hope, and then you crushed it. I fell asleep watching this game, because Beach + Beer = Sleep Squared (mathematical fact), only to wake up in time to see this:

Colby, hitting one for his daddy! Woooooooo! Off of the invincible Kimbrel, no less. It doesn’t get more thrilling than this. Two out, 2 strikes, bottom of the 9th, and you are the tying run at the plate.

Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?

This is one of the reasons we watch the game, right? For moments like this? I thought for certain Houston was destined to win this game after that home run, but baseball, cruel mistress who gives and takes, said no. The Red Sox battled back and won in 12 innings, 7-5. C’est la vie. La vie en rose.

Okay, gotta wrap this up.

Blue Jays 6 – Athletics 3 D-Hutch lookin’ good.

Cleveland 6 – Tigers 3 Tigers swept for first time since 2008 by Cleveland. Bad news for Cleveland, Carrasco hurt with left hamstring.

Mets 3 – Braves 2 deGromination. Mets sweep.

Brewers 8 – Phillies 5 Braun homers and steals a base. He lives! He lives!

White Sox 4 – Rangers 1 Latos continues to dominate, Sox sweep.

Royals 6 – Orioles 1 Ventura strong against Orioles, holding them t 4 hits. MLB.com called them “super-subs”: Drew Butera and Christian Colon. I love super-subs.

Mariners 9 – Angels 4 Pujols broke his 0 for 26 streak with 563rd HR, tying Reggie Jackson.

Marlins 5 – Giants 4 We had a correspondent at the game. Perhaps he will share his story.

Dodgers 12 – Rockies 10 Another wild affair with lead changes, and McGee blowin’ in the wind.

Pirates 12 – D’backs 10 (13) Yet ANOTHER crazy game. What was in the air? Same fan catches Goldy’s 2 HRs. Nuts, I tell ya.

Cardinals 8 – Padres 5 Melvin Upton Jr. drove in two runs and then got his dumb ass ejected.

So, what did I miss? Have a great Monday!

The only Iggy your kids should know.

 

 

 

 

 

22 thoughts on “So, What Did I Miss? (4/25/16)”

  1. You think the Astros toyed with you? Down 8-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Diamondbacks chipped away with two runs. In the ninth, Goldschmidt ties it up with a two-run blast. In the tenth, they get a runner on third with one out, only to see him cut down on an infield grounder. In the eleventh, they got two on with one out and couldn’t convert.

    Heading into the bottom of the twelfth, the Arizona Gritmeisters again found themselves trailing by two. This inning had all the cray-cray. With a depleted bench, Chip Hale was forced to turn to one Donald Zachary Greinke to pinch hit. Did you know his first name was actually Donald? I did not until I looked up his full name for the sake of this comment just now. Anyway, while I’ve made my disdain for pitchers hitting well known, pitchers pinch hitting is awesome, on the order of position players pitching. Anyhoo, Donald comes through with an infield single to keep the rally alive. Not wanting to overtax his next day’s starter, Hale inserts a pinch-runner, Shelby Miller. If there’s one thing cooler than a pitcher pinch hitting and succeeding, it’s a pitcher pinch-running and scoring the tying run in extra innings, as young Shelby came around to do. The snakes had yet again come back from the precipice down to their last turn, although yet again they missed an opportunity to finish things off, squandering second and third with one out. This would come back to bite them.

    Did I mention that the only thing more exciting than a pitcher pinch-hitting was a pitcher pinch-running? Well the only thing more exciting than a pitcher pinch-running is said pitcher staying in the game to take the field. Alas, Arizona’s run of pitchers doing non-pitcher things well came to an end, as Shelby Miller struggled to play a double over his head, although the go-ahead run likely would have scored anyway. Not to be outdone by the desert denizens, Jon Niese came to the plate in a pinch-hitting capacity, ripping a single to left and re-establishing Pittsburgh’s ill-fated two run lead. Did Arizona have one last rally in them? Alas, they did not, ending their multi-inning tease of knocking out all who had selected the Buccos in my elimination pool this week and finishing off one of the most entertaining games I’ve ever followed, even if I did not have the opportunity to watch while stranded in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

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    1. I knew ZG’s name was Donald, but alas, I know all sorts of nutty stuff like that, because I am a weirdo.

      Oh, if only David Ross played for one of these teams, and they brought Grandpa out to pitch again. Then this would have been the Best Game Ever.

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      1. “I knew ZG’s name was Donald, but alas, I know all sorts of nutty stuff like that, because I am a superfan.”

        There, FTFY. 🙂

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  2. “The game had everything: mimes, street carnies, Dusty being Dusty, chimps, the Stay Puff Man, She-Ra, the Commodores, pot bellied pigs, and pitchers as position players.” I read that in the voice of Stefon (Bill Hader’s SNL Weekend Update character), so I’ve got my morning crack-up.

    Sorry for my absence from this site over the weekend; it’s the busy time for AAU basketball, and as an assistant coach for the team SomeDaughterInVA (The Sequel) plays for, I spent most of my weekend in a gym. What this meant for yesterday’s game is that I was only able to catch the last six innings or so.

    Regarding Harper’s day off, Dusty told him pre-game that he was only going to use him to pinch it in a hero situation, and while I’m sure he had pangs of regret at not having Harper available later in the game, Dusty had precedent for it. Per the game story, it seems that back when Dusty was managing the Giants, he gave Barry Bonds the day off, and then double-switched him in late in regulation, in a game that ultimately went 18 innings, so Bonds basically didn’t get the day off that day; Dusty wasn’t going to do that to Harper.

    The bullpen was a little short to start the game, and so Dusty let Strasburg start the 8th in a game that was 1-1 at the time; unfortunately Strasburg ran out of gas, and his 114th and last pitch was hit for a three run homer. The Nats got two in the 8th, and Harper in the 9th, and everyone settled in for bonus cantos.

    Yusmeiro Petit, pitching on four days’ rest, carried the load from the 11th into the 15th, but ultimately yielded a run that looked like it would be the game-winner for the Twins. Indy didn’t mention it in her summary, but the Perez you see bunting in that video above? That’s Oliver Perez, who’d relieved Petit, and hadn’t had a plate appearance since 2010. That was no sacrifice attempt either; there were two outs when he bunted, so if John Ryan Murphy makes a good throw, the game’s over there.

    Moving on to the 16th, Chris Heisey hits the walk-off home run, having entered the game in the 10th, batting in the same spot where Harper pinch hit. On a day when Matt den Dekker lead off the game for the Nats with a home run, the two hundred or so fans still left in the park got to see a walk off homer to boot, and the Nats end up with the sweep.

    Day off today, then the Phillies are in town for three, and then The Reckoning(tm) comes for the Nats, with a ten game road trip to St. Louis, Kansas City, and the Cubs, where we might get an early clue as to just how good this team really is. Myself, I’ll be happy with 5-5 on that trip.

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  3. With his home run yesterday, my boy Scooter Gennett now has more dingers by himself than the entire Atlanta Braves squad.

    Go ahead and laugh. I’ll join you.

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  4. Sorry, ‘Burgie, but my 80s Bangles crush wasn’t Susanna Hoffs. I had the hots for bassist Michael Steele… maybe it was the auburn mane and sultry eyes, maybe it was the legs that went on for miles, or maybe it was simply because she played a kick-ass bass.

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    1. Now that I think of it, I’m sure it was the hair, eyes and legs… because I didn’t have a crush on Geddy Lee, or John Paul Jones or John Entwhistle or Flea.

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        2. Mr. Ron Darling. I love how formal you are.

          My twitter bio says it best, in my case. 😉

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  5. The Astros are breaking many hearts, Indy. Unfortunately, no bats. Except for the ones Gomez is breaking over his knee when he strikes out.

    Right now they are Altuve and Rasmus (Rasmus, of all people) and otherwise a bunch of guys who barely hit, intermittently field, and certainly don’t pitch.

    I’m going to have to try to get Zen about this. Their talent is such that they should start winning at some point. Just hope it is not too late.

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      1. Indeed. Doing something about the number of those runs that is unearned would help, too.

        I see Blake Snell tantalized us over the week end at TB. I’m betting on him with a minor league slot on my team. Hope he is up soon. He still is throwing too many pitches, but that usually irons itself out over the first three months for the good ones.

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  6. the giants game was remarkable un notable. I mean, nothing particularly stood out. It was a day out at the park for one of the youth baseball leagues. SO my boys and I go there early for what was advertised as “a Q & A with GIant players and coaches.” Messrs, Ron Wotus, Trevor Brown, and Corey Gearrin. that is some star power, way to give the the community. (also seriously, $35 tickets for a special baseball event like this? I mean, I know it takes a lot of teenager staff to hold the kids in a pen for an hour, but come on.) The eldest mustered up a question and asked it. very cute. But I wish I could have watched it instead of filming. but whatever.

    The Q A was staged on top of the marlins dugout. so while it was going on, the marlins came out to take batting practice. There was Barry Bonds, coming and going as he pleased. in front of the only fans that won’t think he is evil. I think he waved after one of the million “BARRY!” calls. Also, the Iron Giant, yes indeed. He is giant.

    Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run. Roberto Kelly, the giants third base coach, sent angel Pagan on a single to left with one out and posey coming up next, with predictable results. Angel pagan lost a ball in the clouds, i was behind him and elevated, and saw it perfectly fine. the Center fielder Gregor Blanco seemed to know where it was. Turned into a couple runs.

    All in all it was pretty fun, but I missed all the games today.

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  7. Dozier’s three run homer didn’t in the end help the Twins but it did instantly push the Cellar Dwellers up a notch in the standings.

    Fantasy > reality and Bryce Harper is a bad man.

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