Prof: Hey guys. A quick note here – tomorrow (Tuesday), Scout will be unavailable and I will not be able to fill in as much I normally would, so I am declaring a FREE FOR ALL. I’ll post as much as I can, and I will ask you, our loyal readers and friends, to write up things that you feel we all should know in the comments. We will return to our regularly scheduled posts on Wednesday. I’m manning the site by myself today, so let’s get started.
Today’s music doesn’t particularly have a theme, just me going down memory lane, remembering a period of tremendous growth and tremendous loss. Sometimes you have to do it. I hope you enjoy these songs – I still do.
Cardinals 2, Athletics 4 – Devil Magic can’t help you in Oaktown! A’s catcher Dustin Garneau (no relation to Justin Morneau, sadly) had a two run double in the 4th and scored on a wild pitch in the eighth.
Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 7 – Adam Jones drove in four runs and Ketel 20 Groovy Hits by the Original Artist Marte hit an inside-the-park dinger off old friend and former Gritty Snake Patrick Corbin.
Red Sox 4, Yankees 7 – JA Happ and David Price both returned from paternity leave. JA Happ gets the win. JA Happ is obviously the superior parent. I’m just kidding of course, I’m sure David Price is going to be a fine parent – he was a great doggie dad. The Yankees really beat up on him hard, though; Price gave up seven earned runs in less than three innings. The Red Sox have now lost eight straight and are tumbling closer and closer to .500. If they keep playing this way, there’s absolutely no way they could defend their World Series title.
White Sox 10, Phillies 5 – Leury Garcia had a grand slam. Eloy Jimenez had a three run homer. Tim Anderson said, “I want to have fun, too, guys!” and had a solo blast of his own. Bryce Harper had an error that led to a Chicago run.
Blue Jays 5, Orioles 6 – This game is what one calls “a hot mess”, but there was still fun to be had. Let’s rank some fun things. Trey Mancini had two RBI. Randal Grichuk went 4-5 with an RBI. Bo Bichette had an error, but he also had a homer. Cavan Biggio also had a solo homer. The most fun thing was that I saw a video where a bunch of kids from the UK were in Baltimore for some reason – about 4,000 strong – and they suddenly became rabid Anthony Santander fans. If I could embed the video, I would, because it’s the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Angels 2, Spiders 6 – Shane Bieber pitched yet another complete game and struck out eight. Biebs has now gone wire-to-wire three times this season, the clubhouse leader for all pitchers. The Magical Land of Cleve swept the Angels, whose only runs were thanks to a Kole Calhoun solo dinger and an APujols RBI single.
Marlins 2, Rays 7 – Battle of the Florida Sea Creatures! I love when these two teams have to play against each other because their Twitter accounts get savage. Miami roasted Tampa by telling them to log off because “you’re literally the animal that killed Steve Irwin.” They are literally the animals who killed the Feesh last night, too; it wasn’t even pod person Travis d’Arnaud who did it to ’em (although he still did). It was second baseman Michael Brosseau, who had an RBI single and a solo home run. Newly acquired Jesus Aguilar also had a multi RBI day.
Reds 6, Braves 4 F/10 – (I can’t.)
Mets 13, Pirates 2 – The Mets are knocking on the door of .500, and this game moved them further along to respectability. Good news: three Mets homered (Conforto, Davis, and McNeil). Bad news: Robinson Cano pulled a hammy. But more good news: Thor was Worthy. He went seven solid innings and even went 2-4 at the plate.
Mariners 1, Astros 3 – We are all patiently waiting for Zack Greinke to grace the AL with his presence once again, but in the meantime we still have wily veteran and one of the greatest pitchers of our generation, Justin Verlander, to tide us over. Yes, I am being ridiculous, like a JV start is just a “tide over” affair! He was brilliant, as usual, striking out ten in six innings. I mean, it’s pretty much automatic by now; JV starts, JV strikes out as many people as innings he pitches, repeat. All the Astros have to do is just put barrel to ball and the pitching staff will do the rest. What a feeling.
Brewers 2, Cubs 7 – Christian Yelich has now hit 37 home runs in the season. Holy cats. And while this has nothing to do with yesterday’s game, Ben Zobrist is BACK from his hiatus and will probably rejoin the team very, very soon. I am very glad. I love Ben, he’s one of my favorite players of all time. It will be good to see him on the diamond once again.
Giants 2, Rockies 6 – Did y’all know that Kyle Freeland hasn’t won a game since April? That’s all over now. Nolan Arenado homered twice. Oh, and my small child Scooter Gennett went 0-2 – no one cares except for me, but he liked a comment I left on his Instagram so whatever.
Fan Interference 
Interesting you went down the K-Tel road for Mr. Marte, Prof; I’ve often thought there’s a missed opportunity there for a vodka endorsement (Ketel One) but I see where you’re coming from.
Rough weekend for the Nats in Phoenix. They won the Joe Ross start on Friday night in a combined one-hitter, and some shiny new bullpen pieces shone along with some stalwarts, so things were mostly looking up. However, the win was marred by Howie Kendrick being scratched from the starting lineup with leg cramps, which led to newly-acquired Roenis Elias batting for himself in the 7th (because short bench), and despite Elias being instructed to not swing, he hit a high chopper to the shortstop, and in trying to beat it out, he tweaked his hamstring. The Nats started out calling it cramps, but by Sunday, both Kendrick and Elias were dispatched to the IL.
Saturday’s game was a Strasburg start, and it was his worst start since the last time he faced the Snakes. He said afterward that he figured out what they’re seeing, but not before he gave up nine runs in a game the Nats would lose 18-7, one in which both Gerardo Parra and Brian Dozier would pitch, long after the outcome had been decided.
Which brought us to yesterday, and still a chance to take the series, but Patrick Corbin wasn’t his best self either, and so they dropped two out of three, further tightening the NL Wild Card race.
Still no word on Max’s return, and the Nats head to San Francisco apparently armed with Erick Fedde, Anibal Sanchez, and Joe Ross to face the Giants. I’m not feeling overly optimistic….
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I always thought the ultimate missed marketing opportunity was Phil Coke not wearing number 0.
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Here’s my fill in on the Twins game. Delvin Smeltzer, who survived childhood cancer, won his first MLB game yesterday.
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