Prof: Boy, am I glad it’s an off day for a lot of teams, since Scout is out of service today. It’s Friday, and you guys know what that means. GIRL POWER! Today I’m going with Canadian songstress extraordinaire, Feist. Guess which song I love the most?
Mariners 8, Astros 6 – You win some, and you lose some, and no matter how great Justin Verlander is on any given night, even the best among us can have a bad night. And boy howdy, was it a bad night for Mr. Verlander. James Paxton, on the other hand, did just enough to keep the ship steady for the Mariners. Denard Span and Jean Segura was Seattle’s Dynamic Duo on offense.
Dodgers 8, Rockies 5 – It was the seventh inning when the Dodgers really found their bats. Colorado had four runs in the seventh inning, but LA took over, including two home runs in the ninth inning off embattled closer Wade Davis. The Dodgers had five home runs in all – Dinger might be the Rockies’ mascot but the Dodgers were his daddy.
Pirates 10, Giants 5 – I’m sorry, friends, I don’t have time for a proper recap except that the seventh inning was a nightmare for San Francisco.
Braves 3, Nationals 6 – Congrats to game winner Gio Gonzalez, who earned his first victory since Memorial Day. The NL East rivals split the series, in a game that was never really close at all. Anibal Sanchez left the game with an injury after trying to avoid a comebacker, much like Max Fried the other day (who ended up straining his groin. Yeeeouch!). The Treat Urner and Anthony Rendon both went 2-3 with an RBI.
Rangers 3, Yankees 7 – So, um. Giancarlo Stanton can mash. Statcast measured his 449 foot blast as being the hardest hit home run in the history of the system. According to Statcast, Stanton’s slam was clocked at 121.7 MPH. Holy cats! Not to be outdone, Neil Walker hit two homers of his own and secured the win for recent New York acquisition J.A. Happ.
Twins 4, Spiders 5 – It was Michael Brantley’s walk-off single that won the game over Happy’s Boys last night. An error committed by the Designated Creep didn’t help matters any. (Did I do it right, Happy?) How good is the Cleveland pitching staff, though, that your staff ace gives up four earned runs and STILL has an ERA under 2.74 for the evening? Man, that Klubot is good even when he’s bad.
Padres 8, Brewers 4 – Rough night for the Brew Crew unless your name was Jonathan Schoop, who was involved in every Brewers scoring situation. For San Diego, Hunter Renfroe hit a three run homer in the ninth inning off of the usually decent Corey Knebel, whose ERA is now way over 4.00.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 8 – OK, so I know that Rick Porcello is currently 14-5 and he’s a former Cy Young Award winner but I will go to my grave thinking that he is the luckiest guy in baseball. I will never accept his CY victory and you could throw a Teddy Ruxpin out there on the mound with that Red Sox offense and get a W. But Porcello was given the loss last night, with good reason, as he allowed seven earned runs in only four innings. But it wasn’t all bad for Boston; Mookie Betts hit for the cycle last night!
Orioles 4, Rays 5 – Pop quiz, hot shot! Name a pitcher for either of these teams who isn’t Sergio Romo! YOU CAN’T! Only the most die-hard among us would be able to identify any members of the pitching staff that came out to the mound last night. I literally only know one of the Orioles pitchers, Mike Wright, Jr., because I heard his name on the radio the other day. That’s it! The molasses slow season for Baltimore keeps on oozing along, and Chris Davis – he of the $161 million dollar contract – is currently hitting a disgusting .159. We’re going to have to rename the Mendoza Line soon, guys. Oh, and for Tampa, it was Jake Bauers’ night, with three runs, including the go-ahead in the seventh.
Fan Interference 
Rick Porcello is to pitching what Ringo Starr was to drumming, the final result raised higher than his talent due to the talent of those surrounding him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t underrate Ringo, though. (Probably a lesson for us about Porcello, too). He wasn’t Ginger Baker by any means, but he was good.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So you’re saying Porcello is Meg White. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not saying Ringo was bad but compared to the rest he was a cut below. Still, he can claim to be better than the (Pete) Best.
LikeLiked by 2 people
If I may be so bold, I thought GB’s tom heads were always way too loose. A quibble, to be sure, but it raises my OCD hackles some.
LikeLike
I’m popping in to say that my favorite drummer of all time is Keith Moon because he was Mod Animal playing surf drums in a blues band and that’s dope.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pleasantly surprised to see the Nats win yesterday. I wasn’t confident with Gio starting, and when they announced that Bryce (who’s been showing since the ASB that he’s still pretty good at baseball) had been scratched from the lineup due to his leg being sore (two HBPs to the same leg in four days will do that to a man), well, let’s just say the outlook wasn’t brilliant.
Nats are in Chicago this weekend for three, and up is down, as they’re playing day games on Friday and Saturday and a night game Sunday (as opposed to what one might normally expect), and I can’t wait for ARod to let loose with the only Bryce Harper fact he knows, namely that Harper has never driven in 100 runs in a season; expect to hear it during his second at-bat, at the latest.
5 1/2 back with 47 to go…
LikeLike
Prof dilemma alert: When your favorite team’s main division competition acquires one of your favorite players….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sparty, bring flowers to my funeral; I prefer daisies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oddly enough, I was booking my traditional Christmas trip to Cincinnati for Over the Rhine’s annual holiday concerts when Prof’s valedictory request went up and, as it turns out, here’s OTR’s perfect musical salutation to it:
The lyrics are:
If I die in the winter send roses
In the spring, magnolias
If I’m called in the summer or in the fall
Best of all – bring me a wildflower bouquet
In the dirt and clay don’t lay me down
And stare at a cold lonely hole in the ground
When I go to my Maker in smoke and ash
It won’t be your grief I crave
Your tears will not be necessary
Build a blazing fire, drink something merry
When the sparks fly off into the wind
That will be me blowing away
Bury my ashes with the dogs I’ve loved
My faithful companions from God above
And ‘neath a sycamore we’ll grow strong
And the roots will bear us away
If my one true Love should join me there
Mother nature soon will be aware
That sycamore will thrum and sing
And we’ll have left it that way
So I don’t want you to feel sorry
God knows how I despise your pity
And I’ll no longer bear the weight of worry
Those angry robes all fall away
….and that’s why I endure 2.5 hours on an ERJ and the vicissitudes of the midwestern weenter every year to go see and listen to this wonderful band. Them, and Cincinnati chili and eggs at Camp Washington chili (urrrrppp)…’scuse me….
LikeLiked by 1 person
And the Feesh continue to give the wreckage of the local fan base nothing in particular to come to games for except bad habit. Bour was their only power threat. Even if this feijoada of rookies and over-the-hill vets which is all that’s left of the team were to win a few more games, they’d be winning dull. There’s no one left with any personality, verve or fire.
And except for Realmuto, or talent. And one can only imagine what he was thinking this morning when he found out he’d be living like Hyaaken Uchida in Kurosawa’s Madadayo for the rest of the season.
I think I want to go vomit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s Miguel Sano (DSA), Designated Sexual Assailant / aka Designated Strikeout Artist.
His career strikeout rate is 42% and has climbed to 45% this year. I read somewhere that going back to 1900 he has the highest strikeout percentage of any position player with as many or more career at bats as him, and there is only one qualifying pitcher with a higher strikeout rate. In a few hundred more at bats, if his career lasts that long, he’ll be the greatest ever.
The Twins start a series with the Tigers tonight, which leads me to one of the questions I will try to answer tomorrow, do the Tigers exist?
LikeLike
In re SF-Pit recap, that’s all you really need to know anyway. Thanks prof.
LikeLiked by 1 person
lolol it went too late last night for me to do a proper recap and I am always groggy in the morning 😛
LikeLike