Prof: Happy Friday. My trip to Syracuse for a business meeting was actually organized by the Devil. I’ve had maybe 8 hours of sleep since Wednesday. I’m exhausted, so thank god that there weren’t very many games last night.
Orioles 7, Spiders 14 – Scouts: Not much pitching going on in this one. Trevor Bauer was smacked around by the Orioles offense, allowing 7 runs in 5 innings. Thankfully the O’s threw out Dan Straily who couldn’t make it out of the 4th, and then tossed in one of the worst bullpens in the league. Every single O’s pitcher gave up at least one run. Jason Kipnis homered twice, and picked up 6 RBI’s.
Cubs 2, Reds 4 – Prof: After a lengthy rain delay, the Reds come out on top, thanks to hit machine Eugenio Suarez’s two RBI night.
Cardinals 2, Braves 10 – Prof: Austin Riley is the truth. Just as when Mike Soroka and Ronnie Acuna came out, guns blazing, the phenom third baseman was hot from the get-go. Riley’s first MLB hit from a few days ago was a home run. That’s The Natural. Surely it can’t last, right? Wrong. Riley went 3-4 and had an RBI against veteran Adam Wainwright. Not to be outdone, Julio Theran went five innings and had an RBI single, as well.
Blue Jays 2, White Sox 4 – Scouts: A very interesting conclusion on this one. With the game tied 2-2 in the 8th and two men on, Ryan Cordell received the call to bunt. The play was executed and held up on review. The Sox added an additional run on a sac fly on the next batter.
Mets 6, Nationals 7 – Prof: Give Sean Doolittle all the money. The Washington reliever/closer did the Lord’s work, getting out of a bases-loaded gum up to help the Nats defeat division rival New York. Gerardo Parra hit a two run homer in the win.
Brewers 11, Phillies 3 – Prof: Fun fact – Christian Yelich leads the majors in homers, but he has hit the majority of them at Miller Park. But folks, this ain’t Miller Park, and Yelich banged two of them last night at Citizens Bank Park in this rout of Philadelphia. Young Zach Davies, who looks like a child but I promise is a grown man, is now 5-0 on the season.
Athletics 17, Tigers 3 – Prof: Jurickson Profar hit a grand slam – his first one ever – and the A’s hit five homers total, as they completely slaughtered Detroit.
Rangers 16, Royals 1 – Prof: Texas hit five home runs in this absolute destruction of Kansas City. It wasn’t all the homers that did the Royals in, though, although two from Rougned Odor and a moonshot from Hunter Pence didn’t help. No, it was the throwing errors and wild pitches that sealed KC’s fate.
Twins 11, Mariners 6 – Scouts: Who likes homers? The Twins went yard 4 times in this one, asserting their dominance against the Mariners. Jason castro, Max Kepler, C.J. Cron, and Bryon Buxton all went deep for the Twins. The Mariners attempted to keep up hitting 4 of their own, but they were almost all of the solo variety.
Pirates 3, Padres 4 – Scouts: With one mighty swing of the bat, Ian Kinsler excised a ton of frustration. His frustration towards the team’s recent losing streak, and especially his frustration towards his own recent slump, and inability to come up with the big hit.
Fan Interference 
Doolittle’s high-wire act in the 9th was reminiscent of past closers here in DC; he entered with a three run lead, pitched himself into a bit of a pickle, then got out of it. In his defense, he hadn’t been used much lately, but yesterday was his second day in a row after uneventfully closing Wednesday night (with a four run lead), and at 30+ pitches on Thursday, he’s definitely not available tonight.
Nats also lost the services of Anibal Sanchez yesterday; he left in the 2nd with a hamstring issue, and is headed for the IL. He’s not been very good this season, but the Nats don’t really have an obvious guy to plug in here. Erick Fedde might be it; he’s been working as a reliever lately, and entered the game when Sanchez left, so he’d be on turn, but the prospect of his starting every fifth day does not spark joy.
Nats won a series for the first time in a month yesterday, Trea Turner is almost certain to return tonight in time for the first of three with the Cubs, and Cubs/Nats are the Sunday Night Baseball offering this weekend, but I’ll be watching Game of Thrones.
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I’m starting to wonder about this Game of Thrones Thing. What is it about, kings and such? What channel is it on?
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Ian McShane (who guested on one episode) called it a show about “tits and dragons”.
It was based on a series of books by George R.R. Martin, and at its core, it was basically a show about a medieval society and lots of families aspiring to rule the land, with houses allying with each other and breaking alliances as it suited their needs.
But there were also dragons, and magic, and zombies, and it was all a hot mess by the end, mostly because the TV show went further than the source material, as Martin has been writing the next book in the series for pretty much the entire run of the TV series. The producers claim that their stories were driven by what Martin told them about how the books would end, but the story-telling was definitely different than it had been.
It was on HBO; last episode was last night, but will be available on HBO on demand in perpetuity.
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Scout: you forgot to mention the Orioles’ defensive suicide when down 9-7. Bases loaded infield grounder to second (the proverbial “double play ball”) INEXPLICABLY held, then 2B runs toward first, and Brain farts without tagging runner or throwing to second or first for force. Our old friend Chris Davis takes the ball, now too late for force at first and throws to plate too late to prevent score.
I begin to understand why Chris Davis got so much support from fans and teammates early this season. Even during his record setting failure, Davis was NOT the worst excuse for a baseball player in the Orioles clubhouse.
I am again forced to criticize the current “rebuild” strategy in baseball. “Spend as little money as possible on current player. Trade everything that can get you draft picks. Tell the fans to watch the rally monkey or sausage race or your local equivalent. Draft well, and in five years your replacement GM will have a decent team.” The problem with the tear down/rebuild process is, it takes too long. In the NBA one draft cycle can make you a contender. It takes a bit longer in the NFL but well considered draft picks arrive as starting players and good potential. In MLB, however, a ready-to-play draft pick is rare. Most spend time in the minors, and failure rate is higher. How many #1 draft picks in the last 10 years have won MVP, CY, or RoY awards?
The MLB system includes a mix of draft, trade, and free agent signings to reach success. The teams that dispose of everything good, like the O’s and the Feesh, risk creating such disgust among fans they may not recover. They may well draw good crowds during up cycles. But such bandwagon fans don’t stick during the bad days, and why should they when ownership says “eat this crap (at full price) for the next few years to get a slim chance at the championship.”
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Yeah, I missed that one. I typically go by the videos on MLB’s site, and they aren’t always super great about putting up horrible performances at the top.
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