Fan Interference

Scouts:  School’s almost out, and Summer has almost officially begun.  Vacations are planned, and the office starts to look like a ghost town at 3pm on Fridays.  Of course Mondays are even more difficult to suffer through, but that’s how it goes I suppose.  So who’s got a great vacation planned this year?  Give me some good ideas!

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Cardinals 1, Cubs 5 – Scouts: Kyle Hendricks stepped on the bump with a chance to give his team the second sweep of the hated Cards on the season, and he delivered, holding the Cards to just a single run over 7 innings.  Adam Wainwright didn’t do much to help his club, unable to make it out of the 5th, after giving up three runs and 7 hits.

Rays 6, Red Sox 1 – Scouts: Blake Snell hasn’t gotten much run support on the season, part of why he’s 4-5 and a perfect example of the win stat being just a terrible measurement of performance.  Snell got support today as the Rays racked up 4 homers.

Reds 4, Phillies 3 – Prof: We haven’t been talking about Joey Votto a lot lately, and he felt left out. So he tied up the game in the seventh inning to set up a Eugenio Suarez game winning RBI. Way to go, World’s Sassiest Canadian!

 

Diamondbacks 8, Blue Jays 2 – Scouts: Arizona’s had a bit of an up and down season.  They seem like they should be better than they are, and we occasionally get a good look at what they can be.  Robbie Ray held Toronto to a pair of runs across 6.2 innings, the bullpen pitched lights out and the offense exploded for a 8 run third inning that featured two homers and a triple.

Rockies 1, Mets 6 – Prof: Big win in the Big Apple. Thor went seven innings, striking out seven and allowing only one hit, while Todd Frazier homered and drove in four runs.

Twins 12, Tigers 2 – Prof: Wow, this was a crush-a-thon. Four Minnesota homers and a good run from Jake Odorizzi were the highlights of this game. Oh, and Nelson Cruz has mashed one in four straight games. Fire emoji.

 

Yankees 7, Spiders 6 F/10 – Scouts: New York just refused to lose this one.  After blowing a early 5 run lead, they took and blew a lead in the 9th, only to retake it for good in the 10th thanks to Aaron Hick’s go-ahead RBI double.

Braves 7, Marlins 6 F/12 – Prof: Lord, this was rough. Both teams trotted out about a dozen pitchers, give or take, or at least it felt like it. The Feesh were well on their way to victory, but then the ninth inning happened. A balk led to a Tyler Flowers run and Matt Joyce getting to second, then a couple of players later, Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a three run homer to tie it up. Then a little back and forth in the tenth, and finally a Matt Joyce RBI single broke the tie for good.

Orioles 0, Astros 4 – Scouts:  I mean, who better for the MiLB’s home run leader to make his debut against, other than the team that’s giving up homers in bunches?  Yordan Alvarez, MLB’s number 3 prospect, crushed a two-run homer in just his second MLB at-bat.  Meanwhile, Dylan Bundy’s career trajectory makes me incredibly sad.

 

Pirates 2, Brewers 5 – Prof: It’s a good time to be a Brewers fan, friends. It makes me a little bit sad that I’m missing it all now that I don’t live in the Frozen Tundra anymore. Miller Park was always more fun when the team was fun, too; even if they weren’t winning. But they are winning, and it’s glorious. Not only is the team winning, but fans are winning, too! In fact, the Moose – Mike Moustakas – crushed a Francisco Liriano pitcher into the Tundra Territory, and when the home run bounced off the roof of the SUV parked above right center field, a lucky Brewers fan won the car! It was also Yelich Bobblehead day – and he hit a homer, too – so I’d say that everyone was blessed.

White Sox 5, Royals 2 – Scouts: Some games, you have to cover, despite having absolutely nothing interesting to talk about.  I’ve found that seems to happen a lot to me with Royals games.  The O’s are bad, but at least they are comically bad.  The Rays are not only bad, they are boring.  Can anyone here even name 2 Royals players without looking it up?

Athletics 9, Rangers 8 – Scouts: I feel like the Athletics are one of those teams that if they can hang around long enough, can cause some serious damage come playoff time.  Getting Khris Davis back in 100% working order will be a large part of that, and he took a pretty good step yesterday, racking up 3 RBIs on a pair of hits, including a 3rd inning homer to center.

 

Mariners 9, Angels 3 – Prof: Guys, Edwin Encarnacion hit two home runs yesterday, and is now at 400 for his career. That’s quite the accomplishment! Congrats, Edwin! You know who else hit home runs for Seattle yesterday? Tom Murphy (twice), Dan Vogelbach, and Kyle Seager. Yeah, it was a full on air show in Angels Stadium.

Dodgers 1, Giants 0 – Prof: Longtime readers of this blog know there’s one player in baseball that I truly loathe, and that’s Madison Bumgarner. So that’s why I am pleased to inform you that Max Muncy crushed an absolute no doubt dinger off this cranky old man (who is like ten years younger than me, riddle me that) in the first inning, and Walker Buehler and the Dodger bullpen combined to shut out San Francisco. MadBum whined and pouted and got sand in his britches about Muncy, but that’s ok. Keep being a toddler, Madison. I hope that the next time Muncy rips one into the Bay off MadBum, he moonwalks the bases and then nae-naes in front of the mound.

“I told him if you don’t want to watch me watch the ball,” said Muncy, “you can go in the ocean and get it.

 

Nationals 5, Padres 2 – Scouts: The Nats were shut down hard facing the Padres bullpen day.  That is until the 8th inning where Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, and Anthony Rendon his consecutive homers.  Wanna see?