Prof: Hey, guys. Sorry this is a bit slight today; I am not feeling too well, so I can’t do my usual in-depth commentary.
Phillies 6, Giants 9 – Scouts: I watched a little of this game while at the gym last night, and man Jake Arrieta did NOT look good at all. Even with shadows running across the infield, Jake was getting smoked hard. He ended up allowing 5 runs in 3 innings and it honestly could have been a lot worse. Scooter Gennett homered and doubled in a run.
Angels 5, Red Sox 4 F/10 – Scouts: The stands in Boston were looking a little sparse at times as Anthony Bemboom was making his MLB debut for LA. Bemboom who’s got one of the alltime great last names in baseball threw out Mookie Betts who was attempting to steal second in the 8th, and then delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th to nab a win.
Astros 7, Orioles 8 – Prof: A day after the Orioles were pantsed at home, they came back to scrape a little egg off their faces with this walk-off win against AL leaders Houston. Rio Ruiz hit a two run blast with two outs in the ninth to get the win, and against known creep Roberto Osuna. Couldn’t happen to a nicer jerk, to be honest.
Yankees 1, Blue Jays 0 – Scouts: Mashairo Tanaka showed everyone the Yankees can get the job done even without blasting multiple homers in a game by shutting out the Blue Jays for 8 strong innings.
Royals 10, Tigers 2 – Scouts: Detroit loses again, this time allowing 5 homers, including a pair each by Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler. Soler ended teh game 3-3 with 5 RBI’s and raised his batting average to .259…
Nationals 7, Mets 4 – Prof: The Nats are 62-55 and are considered contenders still. The Mets are 61-57 and are thought of as a joke. I know it’s fun to ridicule New York but they had a heck of a run there, and as the Braves and Marlins series shows, any good team can have a bad outing. On any given day, ANYONE can win. Oh, and Juan Soto was injured while running the bases – this is something that the Nats don’t need right now.
Braves 5, Marlins 4 – Prof: Atlanta finally wins a game against Miami, no thanks to a freak accident involving the bullpen, a fire extinguisher, and a bracelet that reminds you to “not be a little bitch”. You read that right. I promise I’ll go in depth later on; let’s just say that some people need interesting inspiration, right, Mike Foltynewicz?
Cubs 6, Reds 3 – Prof: Kris Bryant smacked a three run homer, capping Chicago’s impressive four run rally in the seventh inning.
Athletics 2, White Sox 0 – Scouts: Chris Bassitt faced off against his old team, and absolutely delivered. Bassitt went 7 innings, allowing just 4 hits, shutting out the White Sox. Matt Olson’s two-run homer in the 4th was the full extent of all the scoring in this one.
Rangers 1, Brewers 0 – Prof:: Mike Minor struck out eleven Brewers in eight innings. He’s 11-6 right now and it’s a shame that Justin Verlander is having such a slam dunk year, because he would have been a great candidate for an AL Cy Young.
Spiders 7, Twins 3 F/10 – Scouts: The Twins let another one get away, after scoring two in the 9th to send it to extra innings, they immediately give up a Grand Slam to Carlos Santana in the 10th.
Pirates 9, Cardinals 11 – Prof: A Redbird grand slam in the seventh inning, plus a Goldy Blast and a Dexter Fowler dinger, too. This high scoring game was back and forth until St. Louis unleashed Devil Magic.
Rockies 8, Padres 3 – Scouts: The Rockies stopped a 5 game losing streak thanks to German Marquez, who allowed two runs early, but ended up recovering for a nice 8 inning performance.
Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 9 – Scouts: Hyun-Jin Ryu returned from the DL, and it was business as usual for the Dodgers. 4 homers hit while Ryu shut out the Diamondbacks across 7 lights out innings. Justin Turner picked up three RBI’s on a pair of homers on the day.
Rays 1, Mariners 0 – Prof: Ryan Yarbrough pitched his first career shutout, and went 8 and 2/3 innings doing so. He struck out eight Seattle players – all around, a good game for Tampa. The lone run scored was an Eric Sogard solo homer.
Fan Interference 
The Nats lost two of three in New York this weekend, and in 27 innings of baseball, they trailed after precisely three innings – the 9th on Friday, and the 8th and 9th on Saturday. The bullpen blew a three run lead in the 9th on Friday night, when Sean Doolittle had nothing, and a one run lead in the 8th on Saturday, when Fernando Rodney had less.
In the grander scheme of things, losing two out of three to a scalding hot team in their ballpark, with 40,000 fans making enough noise to drown out the sounds of planes taking off from LaGuardia, ain’t the worst thing in the world, and going 5-4 on a road trip through Arizona, San Fran, and New York ain’t too shabby, but man, it could’ve been better.
Regarding Juan Soto, it initially looked like his ankle exploded as he tried to stop after rounding third on a two-run double by newest Nat Asdrubal Cabrera; although he was removed from the game (and his replacement, Victor Robles, hit a two run homer in the 9th to pad the Nats’ lead), latest word is x-rays were negative and it’s just a mild sprain, although it’s the same ankle that he broke in 2017, so will bear watching. He and Anthony Rendon carried the Nats’ offense this weekend, and the Nats cannot afford to be without Childish Bambino for very long, so hopefully it’ll just be a day or two.
The Nats now embark on a 13 game stretch of games against the NL Central, hosting the Red and Brewers for three each before four in Pittsburgh and three in Chicago. (SomeDaughterInVA2.0 and I will be catching one of the games in Pittsburgh; my first trip to PNC, and I’m looking forward to it.) Max Scherzer had a bullpen session over the weekend and felt good, so maybe he’ll be back soon, and if Soto’s injury isn’t too serious, the Nats might be able to put together a good stretch of baseball here, but we’ll see.
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The 2020 schedule came out today, and I thought: how am I supposed to be excited about that? I feel like it’s a threat. Or an effort to instigate baseball crimes.
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