Prof: Hi, fam. The other day, Mike Trout hit his 250th career home run. Think about that. He’s been in the league for roughly six years, give or take some time on the injured list. That’s roughly 40 homers a year. He’s 27 years old, keeps getting better. It’s hard to believe that this unassuming young man is so epically great, but he is. People who don’t see it or make excuses for his greatness are just willfully blind at this point.
Another milestone happened this last weekend – the Braves’ Freddie Freeman hit his 200th home run. While he’s been in the league longer than Trout, FF5 has been injured far more often, and it does my heart good to see that the heart and soul of the modern Braves has reached this goal (and keeps going).
Athletics 6, Spiders 4 – Prof: Ouch! Brett Anderson left the game with a cervical strain, but before he went down he was effective enough to get the win against the Magical Land of Cleve. Oakland hit three homers, two of them against starter Cookie Carrasco.
Yankees 10, Orioles 7 – Scouts: When you have the second worst record in the league and have lost 8 of your last 10, the opportunity to win doesn’t come very often. And the Orioles blew a nearly sure fire win last night. Up 6-1 after 5, the Yankees scored 2,2,1,4 to storm back. Both Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez homered in the comeback.
Nationals 3, Mets 5 – Prof: This is a confusing time for those of us who closely follow the NL East. Washington, as always, was supposed to be in the running for the divisional crown. They were supposed to be neck and neck with Philadelphia and Atlanta all season long. That was on paper. In real life, they have a record worse than the Mets, whose team is a running joke and whose manager is constantly on the verge of losing his job. Part of what’s pulling the Curly Dubs down is the atrocious bullpen. Part of what’s helping New York is rookie slugger Pete Alonso. Alonso helped again last night, with a solo homer.
Phillies 5, Cubs 4 F/10 – Scouts: Jake Arrieta hasn’t looked like Jake Arrieta in a while, but last night, we were given a good reminder at the pitcher he used to be. Jake wasn’t able to pull out the win, but he did throw 6 solid innings of 1 run ball, putting the Cubs into a position to hold off long enough for J. T. Realmuto to homer in the winning run in the top of the 10th.
Red Sox 12, Blue Jays 2 – Prof: Boston piled on, hitting five home runs and also scoring on a throwing error. David Price came back from his stint on the injured list with five innings and four strikeouts.
Mariners 9, Rangers 10 – Prof: Former Braves great Mike Minor has found a home in Texas, and as someone who always liked the guy, I couldn’t be happier for him. Minor struck out eleven in six innings and gets the win. The Rangers bullpen nearly blew it for him, but Asdrubal Cabrera’s two homers, as well as Hunter Pence’s two-run dinger and Joey Gallo’s blast, helped rise Texas to victory.
White Sox 0, Astros 3 – Prof: Jake from State Farm goes yard on Jace Fry’s very first pitch of the night, while Tyler White also had a solo shot as the streaking Astros shut out Chicago. Houston is now 32-16 and has the best record in baseball.
Braves 4, Giants 1 – Scouts: The Braves picked up a much needed win after Ronald Acuna hit a pair of dingers and Austin Riley smoked his third on the year. Mike Soroka shut it down against the Giants, allowing just two hits and 7 strikeouts over 8 fantastic innings. Soroka is now 5-1 with a 1.01 ERA. It’s pretty nice when it all comes together isn’t it?
Twins 3, Angels 1 – Scouts: Despite playing without the help of Nelson Cruz, Mitch Garver, C.J. Cron, or Jonathan Schoop, the Twins keep it on rolling. Miguel Sano broke open a 1-1 tie in the 8th with a two-run dinger to center. The Twins are now on a 11-15 roll.
Diamondbacks 1, Padres 2 – Scouts: Paddack and Reyes is all the Padres needed to take this one. Paddack shut it down for 6 innings, while Reyes launched a two-run homer in the 6th. The Padres are now 24-24 and have a decision to make on Paddack soon as he’s rapidly approaching the most innings he’s ever thrown. Looks like Scott Boras is already having conversations with Padres management over the issue.
Fan Interference 
Nats’ bullpen wasn’t terrible last night, to be fair. Patrick Corbin wasn’t sharp, and gave up four runs in five innings in his third start against the Mets this year, which is a lot for mid-late May; the ‘pen only gave up one unearned run.
We fans got out first look at Tanner Rainey last night, the guy the Nats got this past winter when they traded Tanner Roark to the Reds. His fastball was sitting at 98, and he was throwing strikes, unlike that other T.R. that’s been banished to the hinterlands for a rehab assignment. If Rainey can continue to command his pitches, the Nats might have something here.
Of course, they’re now 2-14 in the first game of a series this season (17-14 in other games), so none of it is likely to matter much, anyway.
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So far in 2019, Detroit ranks 25th in game attendance. Last year we were 22nd. It was 2003 the last time we had attendance that bad. This century, the Tigers have been comfortably in the top 10 or 15 mostly. Fans are not into this team and this dragging rebuild. Illitch Jr may be better at the business part, but he certainly hasn’t been appealing to fans like his dad.
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