Prof: Hey fam, sorry for dropping the ball yesterday. I had work all weekend, including a ridiculous stint on Sunday that left me absolutely physically exhausted. I fell asleep at around 8:45pm last night, which is usually when I start prepping for the next day’s post.
I know a lot of you guys are getting close to retiring, or have already gotten there. Things work-wise have been disheartening lately; when you put in max effort and get minimal results it can really sour you on things. I know a lot of our readers were blessed to be able to do things that you really love as a career. You’re all really fortunate. And we’re all fortunate to live in a day and age when we can watch baseball. It’s a beautiful thing. Let’s get started.
Dodgers 16, Phillies 2 – Prof: Oh, my friends, this was just tragic. Here’s a thing – every LA position player got a hit. Cody Bellinger went 4-6 with two RBI. Enrique Hernandez went 2-4 with 3 RBI. Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, and several other Dodgers also had multiple RBI. Clayton Kershaw went six innings per usual and struck out seven, but he didn’t even need to go that far; the boys in Blue couldn’t stop hitting.
Rays 5, Yankees 4 – Prof: Travis d’Arnaud hit three home runs in this game. Yes, you read that right, and he saved his best for last with a three run dinger in the ninth off of Aroldis Chapman. Two strikes, two outs, and then BOOM. Fun fact – every run in this game was scored off a home run. Don’t believe me? Look it up.
Tigers 6, Spiders 8 – Prof: After a lengthy delay of game, the Spiders and El Tigres came back onto the field having burned through Adam Plutko and Daniel Norris. It was up to the relief to get the job done, and on this day the Magical Bullpen of Cleve was the winner. On the offensive side, Cleveland center fielder Oscar Mercado went 3-5 with two home runs.
Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 10 – Prof: Look who it is, our old pal, the luckiest pitcher in baseball! No, not Homer Bailey. It’s Rick Porcello! He gets the win and improves to 7-7 on the season with a six inning, two strike out, four earned run performance. Basically he won because Toronto coughed up five runs in the first inning, including a grand slam, so it was gravy for Porcello from there.
Giants 19, Rockies 2 (Game 1) – Prof: Well, this was a stomping. Brandon Crawford alone was a team’s worth of offense, not to mention countless other Giants. Crawford went 5-6, had two homers, and eight RBI. (See? A whole team’s worth of hits.) San Francisco scored seven runs in the third inning alone, and two homers in the first inning. It wasn’t until the sixth that the Rockies even sniffed the board, and both runs scored were because of solo homers.
Giants 2, Rockies 1 (Game 2) – Scouts: The Giants pulled off the rare double-header sweep, and although the second game didn’t feature as many fireworks, it did feature some pretty quality pitching. Dereck Rodriguez was able to hold the Rockies to just a single run, and his bullpen came in and slammed the door shut as Colorado had a day they’d rather forget.
Reds 6, Cubs 3 – Scouts: Sometimes you just need a little help, and after falling behind early to the Cubs, the Reds needed a little help. Thankfully the Cubs were there to oblige, allowing two critical errors, including a bobble by David Bote that allowed the Reds to take a the lead for good, and a failure to catch a pop fly that allowed the Reds to put the final nail into the coffin.
Braves 4, Brewers 2 – Prof: Another bad outing for the slumping Brewers. Max Fried was nasty for five innings and Freddie Freeman’s tater hit the scoreboard. In the spirit of seeing Atlanta in Milwaukee I offer my favorite story from Chipper Jones’ last year. I went to every game, of course, at Miller Park, and the last at-bat for ol’ Chip the Brewers were trying to walk him. A fellow several rows behind me yells out, “Pitch to him! We wanna see him go yard!” Makes me wonder if that guy was there and yelled the same thing about FF5.
White Sox 2, Royals 5 – Scouts: The Royals have been having a hell of a time trying to figure out Lucas Giolito, and finally got the better of him. Giolito, entered the game sporting a 6-0 record with 2.13 ERA against the Royals, but was unable to continue the trend allowing 3 runs in 6 innings, while Royals starter Jakob Junis held the Sox to just a solo homer while racking up 10 strikeouts.
Pirates 0, Cardinals 7 – Scouts: The Cards really needed a win, and all it took was a complete game shutout on just 100 pitches for Miles Mikolas, and a pair of homers by Tyler O’Neill.
Astros 6, Angels 9 – Scouts: Houston blew another good opportunity, allowing the Angels to come back after a rough opening by rookie pitcher Griffin Canning and a Mike Trout day off. Albert Pujols reminded everyone he can still hit, adding three hits and three RBI’s in the comeback.
Fan Interference 
The Twins took two out of three on the home field of their only plausible division rival this last weekend and stretched their lead by a game. Tonight, unless the rains fall, they commence hostilities here against the Muddy Mutts from the Rotten Appel. It’s an hour before scheduled first pitch and I am already…optimistic.
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