So, What Did I Miss? (5/6/16)

Author by indaburgPosted in Baseball, Daily Recap

Ben Zobrist, a true son of a preacher man, delivered four RBIs and hit a homer last night for the Cubs in their 5-2 victory over the Nationals.

Ben Zobrist, devout Baptist, has been quoted as saying he would be a pastor himself in he were not a baseball player. Although I am likely his carnal opposite and very agnostic bordering on atheist in my spiritual views, I have a great deal of respect for Zobrist. He doesn’t impose his views on anyone. I have observed that there are couple of classes of religious people. Those that talk the talk and those that walk the walk. The “fire and brimstone, hell and damnation” people, and the “God is love” people. Zobrist appears to walk to walk. He seems to come from the God is love camp. A good man who leads by example, described as a missionary for his teammates.

Don’t mess with a missionary man. He’s got God on his side.

I don’t know if he’s Hall of Fame material–likely more like Hall of Very Good, but if was good enough, I’d like to think he’d go in as a Tampa Bay Ray.

Cardinals 4-Phillies 0. Jaime Garcia two-hits the Phils.

Cleveland 9-Tigers 4. Cleveland sweeps the Tigers. They are 6 and 0 on the season vs. Tigers. Napoli smash.

Orioles 1-Yankees 0(10). Classic pitchers duel, Tanaka v. Gausman. Yankees gave in.

Rockies 17!!!!!!-Giants 7. Unspeakable things happened during this game. Human sacrifice, goats. I don’t even know what that means. YES! Story hit his 11th homer, tying some other crazy record. Most homers in a player’s first 27 days when the player is a Scorpio.

Blue Jays 12-Rangers 2. God, I hope I remembered to start Edwin Encarnacion for my fantasy team–he had a double and a 3 run homer. I am the worst.

Marlins 4-D’backs 0. Conley pitched well again. This was the kid who almost threw a no hitter the other night. Marlins sweep.

Reds 9-Brewers 5. Good thing the Reds scored a lot of runs because their bullpen seems hellbent on given them all back. They’re givers.

Red Sox 7-White Sox 3. This game featured 16 walks? What? David Ortiz was honored before his last game at US Cellular. Awwww.

Mariners 6-Astros 3. Fun fact: Cano has 30 runs driven in. Fourteen are courtesy of Astros. He had another big night last.

Padres 5-Mets 3. Colin Rea flirted heavily with a no-hitter. deGrom not his usual self.

Well, I have to get ready for work…

I suppose I should tell you what this bitch is thinking. Forget your balls and grow a pair of tits. It’s hard out here for a bitch. 🙂

 

43 thoughts on “So, What Did I Miss? (5/6/16)”

  1. Super bummer. Tanaka was utterly brilliant, but Gausman was just as good, if not better. Are we finally seeing an O’s pitching prospect realize his potential in Baltimore? That 1.42 ERA isn’t sustainable, but he’s still off to an excellent if delayed start. Starlin with the TOOTBLAN in the top of the ninth, snuffing out a potential chance to put the Yanks ahead in regulation.

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      1. Yeah, that’s what I meant. I mean, if he’s ONLY a 3.00 pitcher, I’m sure that’d be okay with O’s fans. Right scouts?

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        1. Honestly, the thing that impressed me the MOST about last night? Was that he went 8 fucking innings. And on only 98 pitches. I don’t remember the last time an O’s starter went that deep. None of this “5 and I’m out” bullshit. Low strikeout total means he was in the zone and they still couldn’t hit his stuff. Strikeouts raise pitch totals. I like me a 1 pitch ground-out.

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        3. Call me a fascist, but I like my strikeouts. 🙂 More than one way to skin the cat though, and both starters were certainly economical with their pitches last night. I’m actually really glad Gausman looks to be turning the corner. Love to see young talent flourishing, even at the expense of my own team.

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    2. He will probably regress some, but this is what they expected from him. He was poised for a break out season, his first that they really let him loose. I expect big things from both he and Jonathan Schoop.

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    3. I was able to catch some of this game on tv last night, just in time to see Starlin’s goof. Oh, Starlin. 😦

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  2. Gausman looked like the Ace the O’s always hoped he would be. Pitched 8 strong innings giving up only 3 hits. Of course the Yankees anemic offense surely helped. Tanaka looked like Tanaka. 8 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk. Britton makes his triumphant return. O’s beat their one time teammate Andrew Miller. Girardi was tossed in the 4th inning, but no one’s really sure why. It may have had to do with a Non-Balk call that wasn’t actually a balk. Maybe Girardi was just bored watching his offense do nothing. Go yell at some clouds old man. Oakland comes to town this weekend, and I will be enjoying the game with my mother on Sunday for our annual Mother’s Day O’s game. Go do something nice for your mother you ungrateful jerks. (This post sponsored by Sherri’s Berries.)

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  3. Zobrist was the Nationals’ first choice of free agent middle infielders over the Winter, but he spurned them for the Cubs, and the Nats signed Daniel Murphy instead. I was aware of Murphy’s strong religious beliefs, but didn’t know about Zobrist’s; interesting coincidence.

    Anyway, let’s talk about the 8th inning in last night’s game, because that’s where it all went wrong for the boys from DC. Sure, they were down 2-0 entering the 8th, and only had two hits to that point, but Pedro Strop started the 8th by hitting Danny Espinosa and then walking Clint Robinson, bringing Michael Quad A Taylor to the plate. When a pitcher’s struggling, the situation calls for patience on the part of the batter, but Taylor didn’t exactly show that, and after fouling back a hanging slider, he managed to strike out. Anthony Rendon then grounded into a double play, and the threat was extinguished.

    Move to the bottom of the 8th, La Stella reaches on an infield single, and then Felipe Rivero gets two outs, and picks off La Stella; unfortunately for the Nats, Ryan Zimmerman makes a bad throw to second, and La Stella is able to get back to first just barely ahead of a tag from Rivero. The play was close enough for a review, which took four minutes (the second such lengthy review during the game; the first came on that play at third on Zobrist’s first run-scoring hit in the video) and then Zobrist homered, the Cubs tacked on another run, and it was all over.

    Only other moment of note from the game involved a bit of a faux pas on the part of the Nats’ announcers regarding the managers. They were talking early in the game about how loose both managers were in the clubhouse, listening to tunes and whatnot, and then Bob Carpenter said of Joe Maddon and Dusty Baker, “Maybe the two best managers to never manage in a World Series”. About ten seconds later he corrected himself on Maddon, but while I missed a bit of the action here and there, I never did hear him correct himself on Dusty.

    Game two of this series is an afternoon affair today; in fact all three of the remaining games are day games this weekend, which takes me back to my childhood, when day games were the only type of game at Wrigley. In honor of the past, today’s musical accompaniment will be influential blues guitarist and Chicago transplant Hound Dog Taylor (c 1915 – 1975):

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    1. It’s almost as if people forget that Dusty managed the Giants for years and that his boy almost got clobbered at home plate during the World Series that one time…

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  4. Zoby ❤

    My admiration for Zoby is well known around these parts. In fact, I like to think that my sincere wish for him to cross over to the Cubs was heard by the Almighty and the Lord threw me a bone.

    I know that super utilities are rare these days. I hope that when it comes time for Zobrist to be considered for the Hall of Fame, regardless of his numbers (which aren’t as bad as people might think), voters keep him in mind as a player who would literally do anything except work in the battery. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Zoby takes the mound one day before he retires to pitch an inning like David Ross did, just to say he did it. And I bet he’ll throw a 1-2-3 inning like Frenchy did that one time. ’cause Zoby can do it all.

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    1. Zobrist’s problem, in addition to the bias against people who don’t get big chunks of their value in one facet of the game, is that he didn’t become a regular until his age-28 season. Right now he’s got six incredible years and not a whole lot of value outside of that.

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  6. The Jays’ big bats finally woke up and put up season highs in hits (15) and runs (12). Edwin, with two doubles and a parrot-walk, drove in half the runs all by himself. J.A. Happ had himself a nice QS, going 7 innings with 5 Ks while giving up 1 run. Pitching 4 of those innings with a 10-run cushion will remove a bit of stress. He joins Marcus Stroman at 4-0 with a nice neat 2.50 ERA.

    Derek Holland continues to find that Karma is a bitch who enjoys a big helping of Schadenfreude. During the 2015 ALDS, game 2 in Toronto, a fan threw one of the Blue Jays rally towels on the field near the dugout and Holland picked it up and used it to simulate wiping his butt. To say the fans weren’t impressed would be an understatement. Fast forward to game 4 in Arlington, with the Rangers up 2 games to 1 and the Jays facing elimination for the second straight game. Who is the Texas starter? Yep, the always classy Mr. Holland, only he didn’t pitch no stinkin’ opus. The Jays wiped his butt (no simulation) to the tune of 6 runs on 5 hits (3 of which left the yard) in just 2 innings. On second thought, perhaps stinkin’ is the right word to describe his performance. Then, after the fun and frolic of game 5, which culminated in the “bat flip heard ’round the world”, the inestimable Mr. Holland went off on a rant about Bautista.

    Well, as it turned out, Jose Bautista was the least of Holland’s worries last night. He was the only Jays’ starting player who didn’t get a hit, although he did walk twice and score both times. Holland lasted just 2.2 innings, giving up 11 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. EE did most of the damage with 6 RBI, but Pillar also had a 2 RBI double in the 3rd. Jays take 3 of 4 from the Rangers and climb back to .500.

    And now for something completely different…. the inter-league matchups for 2016 have the AL East playing the NL West, which should be interesting. The Dodgers come to T.O. for a weekend series, with probable matchups being Stroman/Maeda tonight, Dickey/Kershaw on Saturday and Estrada/Stripling on Sunday. Then the Jays travel to San Francisco for 3 games to start a brief west coast road swing. It will be their first road games this season NOT played in Boston, Baltimore or Tampa. The must-see matchup in SF should be Stroman vs Madbum on May 11.

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  7. I doubt Zobrist ever gets inducted in the HoF unless he ages extraordinarily well. However, he’s still my favorite Ray.

    Also, saw a little tidbit scrolling across the bottom of the screen on the MLB channel–apparently that was the first time the O’s shut out the Yankees in extra inning since they’ve resided in Baltimore. It said the last time the franchise won a game against the Yankees in that fashion was during WW II as the St Louis Browns.

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  8. Ladies and Gentlemen, YOUR 2016 Houston Astros. What a disappointment. Enough said.

    Good news for me on the Fantasy front. My opponent for the week pitched Derek Holland. His hitters outhit mine by a ton (still carrying too many underperforming Astros) but Derek cancelled it all out. Now we’ll see what I can do with the rest of the week.

    And careful with showing too much Dusty Springfield to men of my generation. 95% of the time I don’t care for the whole pop/torch/blue-eyed soul stuff. But that was a serious teen crush for me. I saw grown men tear up at the office when she died.

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    1. I’m kind of at a loss. I was still getting used to not calling them the Lastros. What happened? I’m so perplexed. That said, it’s the beginning of May. They gots time….and space.

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      1. That is a gift not to be mocked. She put her signature on almost any song she performed. And it was a broad range of styles. Again, pretty surprising, because her choice of styles were not my favorite kinds of music.

        I read up on her recently out of curiosity. Her personal life was a train wreck. I can’t list the details without coming off a bit judgmental, but I can say it was about 180 degrees away from public image.

        But the lady could sure sing.

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  9. i am a fan of what zobrist turned into for teh A’s. I was not a fan of his a’s stint. I did admire him as a ray. as an A, his defense was suspect, but overall he was good.

    the giants fans are already clamoring for Lincicum

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  10. We know the Phillies are offensively inept, but did you know this was the FIRST time all season they were shutout? It’s true! I looked it up. And now I leave you with this little number:

    (if you don’t like Donna Summer, something is wrong with your brain and you should get a lobotomy)

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  11. Kyle Hendricks made his 50th career start last night. While his 17-11 record isn’t all that interesting….the fact that the Cubs are 33-17 in games he starts is considerably more meaningful. Not bad for a 5th starter at all.

    Cubs face Scherzer in about half an hour from now. It’s a game I expect the Cubs to lose, in the same way I expect the Cubs to win every game Arrieta starts.

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    1. Now that this game is through 5 innings, I no longer expect the Cubs to lose it. Ben Zobrist is a man possessed.

      Even though Scherzer is fucking over my keeper league ratios, I’m in a good mood.

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