Prof: I can guarantee you that when you read this, this will still be the case – I am super tired. But I’m going to keep on blogging ’til I pass out. Let’s get hype for your Thursday morning.
“I’m born famous/I’m sorta known. And if your son doesn’t, I bet your daughter knows”. I love that line, and I always think of giant home runs. Did we have any giant home runs today? Let’s see…
Scouts: Did you ever have one of those days where you just really need a hug? I’ve never really had one of those days, because I’m too much of a manly man, but there seems to be a lot of people in need of a hug lately.
I don’t usually post two highlights from one game, but this is play of the year material, so….
Indians 6, Rays 1 – If you happen across a Rays fan today, give them a hug. They are suffering through a miserable 7 game losing streak. Someone call Crash Davis. You need a rain out. Things won’t get much easier with a 4 game set against the O’s followed by the Red Sox.
Marlins 3, Braves 0 – Prof: Fresh Feesh swim away for another day on an Adam Conley outing. I’m interested to see what O.G. says about this one.
Yankees 9, Rockies 8 – The Yankees scored 4 runs in the 7th and one in the 9th to walk off on the Rockies. Lots of hugs at home plate.
Tigers 5, Mariners 1 – Miggy go boom. Mariners drop their 5th consecutive game. Feeling the pressure with Houston surging.
Astros 3, Angels 2 – Houston has won 8 of their last 10. You know who else has won 8 of their last 10? Texas. Maybe we should build the Astros a new stadium. Theirs is getting pretty old by now.
Mets 4, Royals 3 – Prof: Scary moment when Noah Syndergaard left the game with elbow discomfort. However, we have since learned that there is no structural damage. Praise be to Odin. Yoenis Céspedes also left the game with injury.
Blue Jays 5, D’Backs 2 – 5 runs on 5 hits for Toronto. That’s the model of efficiency there. Edwin Encarnacion hit his 19th home run and is very quietly among league leaders.
Orioles 7, Padres 2 – The Orioles decided to play a game. How many runs could they score before Ubaldo blew the lead? Ubaldo didn’t like that game and only gave up 2. Apparently we have finally found the team he can pitch well against. Too bad we only play San Diego every 37 years or so.
White Sox 8, Red Sox 6 – Prof: I watched a little of this. There was a clear instance of fan interference in this game resulting in a badly blown call for the Red Sox, one that might have turned the tide against the visiting Chicago team. I have to give John Farrell props for not going nuts on the umpires, who initially did not even want to review the play!
Nationals 3, Dodgers 4 – Nat’s rookie Michael Taylor went 0-5 with 5 strikeouts and lost the game on an error. Dude needs a hug. Like a Barney sized hug. There is always tomorrow. Except when tomorrow is a scheduled day off.
Cardinals 7, Cubs 2 – The overrated Cubs get swept by America’s Greatest Team. Who cares if you at .671 and 9.5 games in first place. EVERYONE PANIC!
Brewers 4, A’s 2 – Prof: Scooter Gennett and Kirk Nieuwenhuis each with big home runs to power the Brew Crew to a win over Oakland.
Phillies 5, Twins 6 – Minnesota is .324 after sweeping the Phillies who have now lost 9 consecutive games. I really want to write something positive here, but I’m afraid I’m just not that talented of a writer. I feel bad for the people who have to cover these teams for a living. Hug your favorite blogger today.
Giants 7, Pirates 6 – Can’t stop won’t stop. Pittsburgh is having a rough year. They are now 13-25 against teams that have a winning record. (It took me a long time to find that stat, so everyone better be very impressed.) Hug a Pirate Day.
Rangers 6, Reds 4 – Prof: Cole Hamels gets the job done against the Reds. The Rangers are now tied with the Cubs as having the best record in baseball. This is important, as Texas also placed Colby Lewis and Derek Holland on the disabled list. With a pitching staff suddenly down two arms, plus the on-again/off-again status of Yu Darvish, they will need more quality starts from Hamels.
Fan Interference 
“Puig singled to center, Kendrick to second, Puig and Kendrick scored on error by center fielder Taylor.”
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the understatement found in those scoring summary bits that are part of the box scores on ESPN’s website, but the above is how they described that disaster. I still haven’t fully processed it; to go from “might be a game-ending double play” to “okay, hold Kendrick at second” to “what the fuck just happened?” in the space of a few seconds was something. Nats now on a season-long five game losing streak, but still have a working margin in the NL East.
Lost in Taylor’s terrible horrible no good very bad night was another night where the Nats couldn’t get runners home; 2-9 with RISP, 9 LOB. Daniel Murphy’s looking human right now, Bryce Harper’s OPS is under .900 for the year, Ryan Zimmerman’s been dropped to sixth in the order, and the Nats just can’t score runs.
They won’t lose tonight, as they have the day off to travel to Milwaukee for three with the Brewers this weekend. Maybe the day off will do them good, and they’ll be able to pull out of this funk.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Twins are on a 3 game winning streak. The only positive things being written about this team are about Max Kepler’s development in right field. He’s still making some potentially game losing mistakes but he seems to be learning each time. He’s also batting .326 since June 10th with 6 RBI on the homestand. It looks as thought Max is making a strong case to be the right fielder of the future for the Twins. The dilemma in that is in the return of Miguel Sano. It is becoming somewhat apparent that the right field experiment with Sano is over and the braintrust (if you can call it that) will need to work Sano into a 3B/DH rotation in order to get his bat in the lineup.
Trevor Plouffe will most likely become the odd man out and be traded at the deadline this year.
That .324 It’s not going to get any better this year as it’s going to be all about the continued development of the young core.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Astros are on a 20-8 run. Too bad they dug themselves such a deep hole at the start of the season. Unfortunately now they are going to require other people to help them with the heavy lifting to catch the Rangers. Texas is having real problems with pitcher health, but they are a talented and deep team.
And no, Houston does not need to get into the new stadium lunacy. Say what you will about Astros’ mismanagement back in those days, but at least they had the sense to build a stadium with a retractable roof. How the Rangers failed to take into account that Dallas has the worst summer weather this side of the Planet Venus is a mystery to me.
In a way I don’t care, because I live in the adjacent county (Fort Bend) and I would not be taxed for a new stadium. But Minute Maid is a pleasant little park to watch baseball in, and replacing it now would be a titanic waste of money for a city/county that has huge municipal pension fund problems looming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The real shame is the Rangers keep friggen winning, so they are having a damn near impossible time catching up.
LikeLike
If the Rangers keep their pace, the Astros are realistically playing for a Wild card spot. They dug themselves a deep enough hole that 90+ wins would be an amazing turnaround (not impossible, but amazing).
But Rangers injuries may change the equation a bit. We will see as the season plays out.
LikeLike
Per your comment on pitching against the Padres, Scout. Anyone in Fantasy Baseball right now knows that you seek out those Pardres matchups. They are pure fantasy gold for almost any pitcher.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Twins pitchers could make the Padres hitters look like the Bronx Bombers!
LikeLike
My recap – LOLKnicks.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My comments on the Conley game aforetime and in those days. Click the “previous thread” link below.
LikeLike
No Jays recap as I had more important things to attend to last night — namely my son’s graduation from high school (with honors). As family gatherings go, this was one of the better ones.
LikeLiked by 6 people
No one got drunk and abusive? Bravo. Never seen that at a family gathering.
Congratulations to your son and the proud papa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahem, @professormaddog31
LikeLike
Hey! The hug thing was mine!
LikeLike