Prof: Whew, so many west coast or late running games yesterday. As you all know, I do my part the night before, so I’m at the mercy of the teams as to which ones I’m able to cover. After a small nap, I was able to get my part of the blog finished. So let’s go.
Rangers 1, Yankees 4 – Prof: Whew, the Yankees are sneaking up on 95 wins, and more than likely will hit 100 for the season. Aaron Judge was young and healthy last night, hitting his 20th dinger of the season which was also a two run beauty. Gleyber Torres hit one, too.
Tigers 4, Royals 5 – Scouts: Jorge Soler picked up homer number 40. Rookie Ryan McBroom who has a fantastic name picked up his first RBI. Other than that, I mean it’s the Royals vs the Tigers, what more do you want?
Padres 1, Diamondbacks 4 – Scouts: Zac Gallen was flirting with a no hitter until Manny Machado rudly singled in the 7th. He’ll settle for the 1 hit shutout. Katel Marte helped ease his pain with a Grand Slam in the bottom of the frame ensuring Gallen at least got the win for his efforts.
Phillies 5, Reds 8 – Prof: Everyone, pack it up, this is the game of the night for your friendly neighborhood Prof. Why is that? Because Michael Lorenzen played center field, then was moved into his usual relief role, hit a two run homer…and got the win. Yes sir! Michael Lorenzen was the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker! But it wasn’t just Lorenzen who got it done for the Reds. Joey Votto and Jose Iglesias mashed, too.
Marlins 5, Pirates 6 – Prof: Miami tried hard – two two-run homers – but they just couldn’t outplay Pittsburgh last night. It wasn’t even set in stone until the ninth inning, when the Pirates capped it off with a two run single.
White Sox 6, Spiders 8 – Scouts: Things got a little tense in the land of Cleve. They had just blown a 3 run lead the night before, and were looking down the barrel of a 4 run lead lost. They had already given up 2 in the 8th, and 2 in the 9th, and were cluching onto a 2 run lead with the bases loaded when Eloy Jimenez launched a laser to center that had triple written all over it. That was until Oscar Mercado made a spectacular game saving diving catch over his shoulder.
Twins 2, Red Sox 6 – Prof: Been a while since I’ve talked about the Red Sox winning, but they did, and how. Mookie Betts pretty much single-handedly destroyed the Twins by bombing the first two pitches he got, and then getting an RBI single in the sixth for good measure.
Giants 9, Cardinals 8 – Prof: The third and sixth innings were action packed on both sides – Baby Yaz and Paul DeJong both had a solo homer, then Brandon Crawford had a three run homer to put the Giants up 7-4. Suddenly, it was triples, sac flies, and a two run double that put the Cardinals up by one. Finally, Kevin Pillar’s two run homer in the eighth was all San Francisco needed to win. Will Smith gets his 31st save of the year.
Mets 8, Nationals 4 – Prof: Super Rookie Pete Alonso is at it again. This time, he leapfrogged over Belli and Yeli and now he’s in the lead for most home runs in the majors – 45. Remember, he’s a rookie, and we still have several weeks left to go. Pretty sure he’s won the Rookie of the Year award handily. The Mets’ garbage pen held their own this time around and did not embarrass themselves.
Angels 0, Athletics 4 – Scouts: It’s September, which means we are seeing a lot of Rookies make their debuts, because that’s how MLB works apparently. Sean Murphy got into his first game for Oakland and helped show his promise with a homer in the 5th. Also homering for Oakland was Jurickson Profar and Marcus Semien.
Rockies 3, Dodgers 7 – Scouts: It shouldn’t come as a big surprise when I tell you the Dodgers just set a NL record for most homers by a team in a season. And there is still a lot of time to play. LA clubbed two more homers last night, both by Joc Pederson who hit numbers 31 and 32. At this point, Colorado will be very happy to get the hell away from LA as they’ve been absolutely abused recently. It’s such a shame Nolan Arenado is hidden away on this squad, as despite getting a ton of recognition, it never seems like it’s enough. Honestly, if I had to take any player right now to help me win and his name wasn’t Mike Trout, I think Arenado would be at the top of that list.
Fan Interference 
The Mets have pretty much owned the Nats this year, winning the season series 12-7, and I’m happy to see them in the rearview mirror for the rest of the season.
Tonight begins the last gasp hope for the Nats to catch the Braves, who they trail by 7 games in the division, with seven head to head games left; four this weekend in Atlanta, three next weekend in DC.
I hold less hope that the Nats will catch the Braves than I held that the Nats would rally in the 9th against the Mets Tuesday night; I mean, it’s possible, but it’s 99 44/100% unlikely.
Similarly unlikely is the Nats missing out on the wildcard game, as they have a six game lead on the second spot, so unless they get swept this weekend, or absolutely crater over the next ten games or so, the only question left will be if they’re hosting the wild card game or playing it on the road somewhere.
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SG – the Braves traditionally play like dog poo after a day off, so you might have a good night tonight, especially if Max Fried has some jitters.
The real test is Soroka vs Scherzer, which gives me the vapors just thinking about it.
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I’ll be happy with a 2-2 split this weekend, to be honest; the Nats aren’t gonna catch the Braves, so it’s just a matter of staying out front in the wild card chase from here on in.
Cubs or Cards hold the second spot, and they play each other seven times the rest of the way, so it’ll be hard for both to overtake the Nats unless the Nats crater.
The most meaningful series for the Nats with regard to the wild card is a five game/four day series they have with the Phillies the last week of the season; that could be fun or it could be meaningless, depending on how things go between now and then.
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