Prof: As the flip side to my high school Cool Britannia days, I offer today’s musical selections, decidedly uncool Britannia. Yes, Britpop. If there’s anything I like more than folks from the UK playing grungy guitars and ripping off the Beatles, it’s lads singing in the time honored tradition of a boy band. My favorite is the British stalwart, Take That. Still going strong well after twenty years, Take That had a minor hit when I was in high school and I have been a fan ever since. Come with me and Gary, Mark, Howard, Jason, and Robbie on a musical journey! Bonus fun: guess which one I’ve had a long term terrible crush on!
Astros 5, Tigers 4 – Prof: The fourth inning was the exciting one in this matchup if you’re a Tigers fan. However, all around, it was homer-palooza for Houston’s finest. So many home runs.
Nationals 3, Phillies 1 (Game 1) – Prof: Game one of the doubleheader due to weather and the Nats were ready to play. Spencer Kieboom was ready to play, too; having hit his first Show bomb in the fifth inning after allegedly spitting out a tooth! That’s hard core, you guys. The Phillies, who just a few days ago seemed to be the masters of their own destiny, keep sliding more and more every day, allowing the NL East crown to slip from their grasp. With this win, the Nats get back to .500. However, there’s another game to play…
Nationals 7, Phillies 6 F/10 (Game 2) – Prof: And now the Nats are over .500 because they’ve swept the Phils in this doubleheader. I guess I have to say thanks to the Curly Dubs (and SomeGuy!) for helping my guys retain the lead in the NL East. Anyway, about this game: Juan Soto is making his case for Rookie of the Year with an RBI double, an RBI homer and a solo game winning dinger in the tenth inning.
Blue Jays 2, Red Sox 7 – Scouts: Big shock, the Sox win again. All 7 runs came in the 7th and 8th innings, clinching a postseason berth off a Brock Holt pinch-hit three-run homerun.
Yankees 5, Twins 10 – Scouts: New York could not overcome Joe Mauer’s grand-slam in the 5th, and does not appear to be ready to overcome anyone in the playoffs. There’s still time to get things together, but they gotta start playing better soon or they won’t last very long.
Brewers 0, Cubs 3 – Scouts: Jose Quintana did what he does best. Shut down the Brewers. Quintana allowed just 3 hits over 6.2 innings and the Cubbies are on a roll.
White Sox 3, Royals 6 – Scouts: KC wins again, playing some old school ball. A little bit of speed, some quality defense, and some solid starting pitching. Brad Keller went 7 strong giving up just 1 run on 4 hits.
Pirates 5, Cardinals 11 – Scouts: A big win helps keep the Cards 3 games up for the final Wild Card spot as the Dodgers and D-Backs look at them from above.
Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 3 – Scouts: We are starting to get into no can lose terratory for Arizona, who takes a pretty key win against Colorado. The Colorado/Arizona/LA fight looks like it will come down to the finish and it’s entirely possible only one team will make it in.
Dodgers 1, Reds 3 – Prof: Why can’t the Dodgers beat the Reds? Because they can’t. Los Angeles is 0-6 against Cincinnati. This is wild. The insurance run was delivered by my small, tiny, adorable child. They didn’t even have to play Joey Votto to get this result. Get your minds right, LA. How can you wear the crown if you get beaten by clowns?
Athletics 3, Orioles 2 – Prof: I was supposed to have gone to this game (I had a gratis ticket). But I was tired, it was gloomy, I left my ticket at home, and I knew that this game was probably going to stink. Yeah. I didn’t miss anything. Mike Fiers racks up another win. Alex Cobb started strong but he aggravated a blister and had to leave the game in the second inning. Would things be different if Cobb had stayed in? Who knows. I think so; it was Mike Wright Jr. who coughed up all three runs in the third inning, but you never know.
Marlins 5, Mets 3 – Prof: Jacob deGrom pitched an absolutely beautiful game and still got that L hung on him. The Mets ace went 7 innings, rung up nine, only allowed two runs, and still lost. I know, I know… the Mets had only hit one and therefore they were losing when deGrom left the bump but what more can this dude do? He has to pitch a perfect game every time he takes the field, PLUS get an RBI? Do better for your man, New York. He currently has a 1.71 ERA for the year. THE YEAR. That’s the lowest earned run average in the entire league at the moment, and he’s still probably going to be rooked come awards season because he’s playing for the Mets. Garbage. Complete and utter garbage. Oh, and the only person not named Jacob deGrom who is worth a solid dollar is Michael Conforto, who once again hit a homer and attempted to give a damn. Please save both of these men.
Spiders 2, Rays 0 – Prof: Baby, baby, baby, ohhhhh! Shane Bieber is really making his name known as a pitcher of record. 6 2/3 innings, zero earned runs, eleven strikeouts. That’s pretty dang good. Yan Gomes and Edwin Encarnacion both hit solo homers.
Rangers 0, Angels 1 – Scouts: LA went to the pen early and often in this one. Eight, count them 8 relievers combined to shutout the Rangers, and even had a no-hitter going until Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled off Blake Parker in the 8th.
Padres 2, Mariners 1 – Scouts: Yea, the Mariners are pretty much done this season, but it was still a pretty good season for them. They are now 8.5 back of Oakland for the last WC spot. In the end, they just didn’t have quite enough to get them over the hump.
Braves 4, Giants 1 – Scouts: Mike Foltynewicz (That’s still an incredibly difficult name to type) pitched himself a gem lastnight. He played around with a shutout before finally allowing one through in the 9th. He did end up with a complete game however and allowed just 6 total hits.
Fan Interference 
It wasn’t that many home runs. And there were some abysmal calls. The strike zone was mobile, and outs at first were by umpire prerogative.
Where’s stex? Something is wrong with Correa. He’s played like crud this series.
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Correa has not been good since June. Back problems at first. Now he is so tentative at the plate he either takes called strikes or rolls over on the ball. I have relegated him to the bench on my Fantasy team. I hope he locates some mojo before the playoffs, because you are right, he looks awful.
Look on the bright side, philiac. If it wasn’t for the freak bounce to shortstop by Lugo the game probably would have ended 5-0 Astros. Baseball is weird that way.
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That’s why we love it 🙂
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It is our joy and our misery.
BTW, I know this is painful, but I will go ahead and say it. When the Astros obtained Verlander’s services for the stretch run last year, I knew it was a good move. But I think he has exceeded any reasonable expectations in Houston. He has turned out to be a bargain.
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Sorry, prof. I thought I was still talking to philiac. I should have looked more closely. Thanks for the “like” anyway,
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It would’ve been cool if Spencer Kieboom actually did spit out a tooth on the way to the plate before hitting his first major league home run, but sadly, that wasn’t quite the case. What actually happened was he lost a veneer biting into a baguette at breakfast, but no one noticed the gap in his teeth till after he hit the home run, and since the cameras caught him spitting in the batter’s box, it looked like he’d gone all hockey player on us, but no.
Nats beat writers are pushy the gritty angle this morning about this team, between Kieboom and his tooth, and Adam Eaton scraping his face when he dove head first into second (the CPB infield is still not fully back to MLB standards), and Juan Soto doing Juan Soto things, and the Nats generally not giving off the aura of a team that has given up, even if they have.
First four game winning streak since May, though, and both were doubleheader sweeps (albeit with two days off between them); back above .500, but a tragic number of 10, so it’s really just a matter of time.
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Looks like MLB is mucking around with their highlights, adding adds before and after videos play. As a result, it broke the method I used to link the replays as it interacted with my adblocker. It’s since been fixed. Hopefully going forward this won’t be a big issue.
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Similar scenario for our MLB app on Roku. We can’t listen to alternate audio for most games anymore because the newly injected ads throw a wrench into the sync, rendering the game unwatchable under any conditions except default telecast audio. Maybe it’s just me?
Seriously considering not renewing for next year.
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We don’t even have audio options on the fire tv app. You have to listen to what you watch.
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If we renew for next year, might just stick with the desktop and buy a bigger monitor.
* Ponders how to convince wife we’re suffering with a 24″ *
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You need a wall mounted monitor!
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As I reported the other day, the MLB.com comments feature seems either to have crashed or been eliminated. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s gone south (and we must ask if a truly gone south comments feature needs to have a dead mule in it for authenticity’s sake) – it was a maggot’s breakfast at the beginning of the season, remember? – but you have to wonder at the lethargy of the MLB.com artifical stupidities for sixing this feature just when we’re coming down to the wire, fans most want to talk/commiserate/deride each other about where their teams stand, and the Lords of Baseball are gagging on their diminishing collective gate this season.
At the moment, the Feesh stand ankle deep in mud at Citifield where they’re either about to experience the splendor of a rained-out make-up doubleheader or play at least one game until the sun comes up.
Also comes word, courtesy of the New York Pestilence, that the less-offal-than-the-Feesh Mutts ownersheep is at odds among itself about what kind of GM they want to hire. Yep, as if things weren’t bad enough in Flushing the Wilpoons can’t make up their minds if they want a wily old go-with-the-gut guy or a statman.
Euthanize the Mutts!
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HA HA mourning baseball fans. My grandson took me to Dairy Queen today and the hug was even better than the chocolate sundae!!!
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You’re a mere child. My grandson takes me out for a beer.
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