Scouts: I don’t have a lot for you today, as I’m running a bit behind and have a lot of work to catch up on. There were a lot of good games, and a pretty special performance. Why don’t we jump right in huh?
Mets 9, Phillies 4 – Scouts: Boy those Phillies sure are trying real hard not to make the playoffs aren’t they? Michael Conforto picked up 3 hits and 6 RBI’s, and Zach Wheeler pitched 7 innings of 4 run ball.
Nationals 5, Marlins 8 – Scouts: The Nationals bullpen strikes again, giving up runs in each of the last 4 innings. Starlin Castro put the final nail in the coffin with a 423 foot homer in the 8th.
Cardinals 11, Braves 6 – Scouts: Atlanta has been struggling through a little rough patch lately. Both starters and relievers failed Atlanta in this one, allowing homers to Harrison Bader, Kolten Wong, Paul Dejong, and Yadier Molina. The win allowed the Cardinals to reclaim sole posession of the final Wild Card spot.
Reds 0, Brewers 8 – Scouts: Christian Yelich singled in the first, doubled in the third, homered in the 5th, and tripled in the 6th to record his second cycle of the season, and the first player ever to record two cycles in one season against the same team.
Seattle 4, Houston 1 – Scouts: Sometimes all it takes is one pitch. And the 20 or so pitchs that lead to that moment, but really it was just the one pitch. This time the one pitch was to Daniel Vogelbach who stepped up to pinch-hit in the 8th and smacked a grand slam to win the game.
Cubs 5, D-Backs 1 – Scouts: The Cubs continue on their recent tear, getting hot at just the right time. This time it was Javier Baez and Kris Bryant each hitting two-run homers and Kyle Hendricks holding Arizona to three hits and one run over 8.2 innings.
Rockies 2, Dodgers 8 – Scouts: In another good match-up of playoff contending teams, the Dodgers stepped up big. Joc Pederson hit a pair of homers and Max Muncy followed up with one of his own.
Royals 6, Pirates 7 – Scouts: Jacob Stallings completed a three-run comeback for the Pirates with a walk-off single in the 9th.
Blue Jays 5, Orioles 0 – Scouts: The Orioles lost their 107th game of the season, a team record, which is sure to fall in the next few days.
Twins 6, Tigers 1 – Scouts: The Twins tried something a little different, pitching Gabriel Moya in the first, and then going to Kohl Stewart for the next 6 innings. It seemed to have worked as the Tigers were held to 5 total hits.
Rays 3, Rangers 0 – Scouts: Tyler Glasnow threw a gem for the Rays, picking up his first win after holding the Rangers to two hits across 6 shutout innings.
Giants 4, Padres 2 – Scouts: Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria (remember him) both went deep for the Giants. Rookie Andrew Suarez held the Padres to two runs across 7.2 strong innings.
Fan Interference 
I’m outta town meself until Wednesday but I must note the Gnats pitching staph just allowed the team with the worst negative run differential in all of baseball to put up eight agin’ ’em. I understand why Beep Beep is sticking with Bloody Mike Hill – why be on the hook for three huge ones plus a replacement’s salary when all you need is a hatchet man anyway? – but just for curiosity’s sake, Someguy, is Rizzo really untouchable?
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Rizzo signed an extension early this year that pays him through 2020, and the Lerners don’t like to waste money, so I’d say he’s untouchable, yeah.
The Nats are playing hard, but they’re not necessarily playing to win right now so much as give the younger set an opportunity to prove they belong in the majors. The bullpen meltdown last night involved, in order:
with Cordero and Glover doing most of the damage. It was Glover’s first time giving up runs in ten appearances, and Suero’s been good enough that I expect him to be part of the pen next spring, but Cordero and Williams probably aren’t ready yet, but they’re getting meaningful chances in meaningless games. As for Collins, he’s been decent in his first time pitching in the bigs in four years, but he’s not a linchpin of any future Nats pen.
Speaking of run differential, the Nats’ Pythagorean record is 83-68, vice their real record of 76-75, which has them 7 1/2 games out of first; Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics, eh?
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The Tiggers next 9 games are against the Twins & Royals, thus meaningless to all humanity other than the players & their families. If Happy or Historio don’t object, feel free to skip Tigger recaps to lighten the workload unless something significant happens. The last 3 vs Harvey’s Wallbangers may have an impact on the playoffs so those may justify coverage.
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Well the Tigers may not have good hitting or good pitching but they do have a good time zone. tonight’s game starts about six instead of seven cst doubling the chances I’ll be awake for the whole thing.
BTW yesterday was the third time this month that the Twins tried the ‘opener’ approach. It’s a thing.
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Yeah, and it sucks. Open the game, kid. You can only be charged with a loss.
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Oh be quiet you old goat. The stat heads say it be cool and what do you or I know.
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On last night’s broadcast, there was a conversation in the booth about Johnny Kane’ s fishing trip, which prompted a discussion between me and paper about the prevalence of fishing as an activity. I remember my dad and uncles fishing when I was a kid, but it doesn’t seem like people go fishing as much anymore. Paper says not many people fished even when we were young and once you get a house and get married, you don’t have time to go fishing anymore. And, yeah, there was a game on and everyone was talking fishing. Can this season be mercifully over?
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