Prof: A plea to the Gods – STOP HURTING BASEBALL PLAYERS! First, we have Javy Baez and Christian Yelich going down. A freak accident puts the Braves’ best bench player, Charlie Culberson, out for the season. Then on Sunday, Mike Trout is shut down and Anthony Rizzo’s ankle does things that ankles aren’t supposed to do. Dear God, what’s next? The bad thing is that each one of these players are great people off the field, and important to their teams on the field. It’s just not fair.
Marlins 1, Giants 2 – Prof: Tied up going into the eighth, Baby Yaz scored on a Ryne Stanek wild pitch. Will Smith gets his 33rd save of the season.
Athletics 6, Rangers 1 – Scouts: Sean Manaea has pitched in three games since returning from last year’s shoulder surgery, and the results so far have been nothing less than spectacular. Manaea has pitched to a .5 ERA across 18 innings with 21 strikeouts and just 6 walks. If he can keep this up, it’ll be a major boost for the A’s come October.
Padres 5, Rockies 10 – Scouts: Colorado flashed that potent offense they have once again, completing the sweep of the Padres. The win came thanks in no small part to a pair of homers by Ryan McMahon who finished the game with 4 RBI’s.
Rays 4, Angels 6 – Prof: No Mike Trout? No problem! Father Time would bestow some life into The Machine. Albert Pujols had an RBI double in the first, and then this a three run homer in the fifth.
Reds 3, Diamondbacks 1 – Prof: The Noted Drone Enthusiast gets the win, and had a very fine performance – eight innings, nine strikeouts. Eugenio Suarez hit two homers. This dude does nothing but mash, why isn’t he getting major love from the national press? Oh, I forgot: he’s in Cincinnati!
White Sox 10, Mariners 11 – Scouts: Not a great pitching performance for either team, but then again there’s a reason they are a collective 45 games below .500. The two teams combined for 21 runs, despite also combining for 24 strikeouts. Such is the way of MLB life in 2019. Oddly enough, only 3 homers were hit.
Red Sox 6, Phillies 3 – Boston’s Christian Vazquez hit two home runs, one of them a grand slam, and the Phillies crap the bed once again. How can a team that spent so much money fail so often? Their bajillion dollar man, Bryce Harper, didn’t even get a hit. Rhys Hoskins hit a solo dinger and was driven in by Jean Segura, but that’s about it.
Yankees 4, Blue Jays 6 – Scouts: The Yankees pretty much have all this wrapped up, so they can afford to coast a little and get a little healthy. Toronto clearly has little to play for this season, but they are still showing off they can be a real threat next year. Randal Grichuk may be a big part of that, going 2-4 with 4 RBI’s and a pair of homers.
Orioles 8, Tigers 2 – Scouts: Ugh. When the two worst teams in MLB play, everyone loses. The two teams have combined for a whopping 204 losses this year, and the Tigers have pretty much ensured they will pick first in next year’s draft. Hanser Alberto was actually in contention for the AL batting title for a while there, but he’s now fallen to 4th at .317 behind Tim Anderson’s .332, so there’s that.
Twins 5, Spiders 7 – Prof: The AL Central is pretty much a fight between these two teams. Minnesota is up 91-58 and will surely win the title, but the Magical Land of Cleve is watching the throne and at the very least, aiming for an AL wild card berth. So it was vital that the Spiders win this game. Even with the win, the Twins did some cool stuff – they tied a major league home run record thanks to Eddie Rosario (who actually hit two yesterday). They are the first team since the 2009 Phillies to have four players reach 30 dingers in the same season. And Miguel Sano is right on the cusp, which means the Twins will hold the record outright when he crosses the threshold.
Braves 0, Nationals 7 – Prof: My GQ Coverboy Pitcher Child did not have a great day. It’s ok, Max Fried, we all have crappy times at our job. It definitely wasn’t the optimal time to have that crappy outing, though; the Curly Dubs prevented the series sweep and the Braves did not avenge the loss of Charlie Culberson. Howie Kendrick Lamar homered and had a two run single.
Astros 12, Royals 3 – Scouts: Wade Miley’s had a bit of a rough go of it recently, allowing 7 and 5 runs in his previous two starts, pitching to a 7.88 ERA in his last 7. But a team like Kansas City is always good to help with a bounce back performance. Miley did give up 7 hits over 6 innings, but he was able to hold KC to just a pair of runs.
Brewers 7, Cardinals 6 – Prof: The NL Central is heating up again. Not that it wasn’t ever NOT hot, but this added some fuel to the fire. Those of us who are actively rooting against the Cardinals’ Devil Magic have Ryan Braun, of all people, to thank for this victory. Two outs, ninth inning, pretty much down to his last swing, and Braun crushes a grand slam, an absolute no-doubt bomb to push Milwaukee over the top. This is also great news for Chicago, because both the Cubs and the Crew are only ~3 games away from St. Louis and that number one spot. And speaking of Chicago…
Pirates 6, Cubs 16 – Prof: This was a butt kicking. Two homers from Kris Bryant, one a piece from Baby Babe Ruth, Jonathan Lucroy, and Ian Happ. Anthony Rizzo sprained his ankle during the game and had to be helped off the field in late innings. I don’t want to put the video here, but it’s easy to find. It just makes me queasy to look at it. Fun fact – KB has surpassed the great Ernie Banks for most home runs by a Cub in the first five years of his career. KB has 137 now, and he still has more to go – you can’t tell me that K-Boom won’t mash more this year.
Dodgers 3, Mets 2 – Scouts: The Dodgers rallied for a run in the 8th and on in the 9th, because well thats’ what they do. They either blow you out in the first three, or they come back in the end. Is there a single team in the NL that even looks like they are in the same league as LA?
Fan Interference 
The Nats’ September Semi-Swoon continued over the weekend, as they’re now at 6-8 for the month after dropping two of three to the superior Braves. Two weeks left in the regular season, and right now they’re not looking like a team that could make a deep run if they happen to get to October.
Still hanging on to WC1, with a 1 1/2 game lead over the Cubs and 2 1/2 over the Brewers, teams I’m told have experienced devastating injuries recently but who don’t seem to have had their results negatively impacted as of yet. The Mets, Phillies, and Diamondbacks are still technically in the race, too, but there’s quite a bit of distance between them and the Brewers, relatively speaking.
Nats start a three game series in St. Louis tonight, and they’ve got Strasburg, Corbin, and Scherzer lined up to pitch, so maybe they can get the ship pointed in the right direction again.
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Viz. mangled ballplayers:
Right through the wing of his eagle tattoo
Jake pointed out where the bullet passed through
Pete said, “That ain’t nothin,” as he pulled off his hat
“It took fifty-seven stitches to put my hairline back”
Red rolled up his shirt and laughed, said, “Boy’s, I’ll
top that”
Showed them where a bucking brama bull nearly stomped
him right in half
Scars, everyone’s got a story
A tall tale of glory
A flesh and blood reminder
Of how fragile we are
You ain’t lived till you’ve got scars
– Ray Kennedy
Viz: mangled franchises:
Jints deux, Feesh une. Pffftttt.
Ninety seven zetzes. Three to go to reach Terrapin Station.
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Not baseball related, but teenage me is in mourning. A couple of my high school daze favorites have passed on to the great gig in the sky the last few days, and I wanted to take a moment to say thanks. RIP Eddie Money & Ric Ocasek.
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Legends, man. Eddie Money is like the ultimate Saturday night bar band guy, everyone loved him, just good time Rock n roll. And Ric Ocasek and the Cars, that was cool, weird, but melodic. I think if you honestly don’t like “Let’s Go” there’s something wrong.
RiP gents
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I’ve heard it said that the second album is the true measure of a band. Their first album is full of songs that they’ve been playing/perfecting for years, but the second one is stuff that they wrote after they made it, perhaps even during the tour they did in support of the first album.
For me (and for that era) Foreigner always epitomized this idea; their first album was a classic, while of their second it could be said that “The musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.” (h/t This Is Spinal Tap)
Not The Cars, though. While the Vargas cover may symbolize a different era, Candy-O was every bit the album that their eponymous debut was, and I’m not ashamed to say that I wore out both albums.
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I have never heard that about the second album. In that case, I feel even better about Oasis being one of my favorite bands ever. Morning Glory is a flipping masterpiece!
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Ah – but yesterday I invited yew owl to join me as I conjured up my brisket with caramelized onion sauce, no?
Here we go: earlier this afternoon I took a beautiful grass-fed, grass-finished two pound flat cut brisket from the good folks at Crowd Cow, seasoned it well with coarsely ground black pepper and sea salt, floured it on both sides and then seared it in a large ceramic casserole on both sides in four tablespoons of melted butter and a tablespoon of very robust Moroccan olive oil. After browning well I moved the flat to dry pan and loaded the casserole with eight thinly sliced onions (six sweet, two yellow), a half dozen very large smashed garlic cloves, and four more tablespoons of butter. I covered the casserole and partly caramelized the onions over a low flame for a half hour.
Meanwhile, I thinly coated the top of the flat with imported Italian organic tomato paste. When the onions looked slightly reduced I gave them a good stir, added 1/4 cup of beef stock, 1/4 cup robust red wine, a tablepoon of Worcestershire sauce and then placed the flat on top of the heap of caramelized onions in the casserole, distributed a dozen or so carrots around it, covered it, and placed it in a 350-degree oven. There it shall remain for a couple of hours (brisket needs to be cooked long and s-l-o-w to give up its hoarded olfactory and gustatory secrets) while I take my nap and the swarming electrons in the foodstuffs work their transmogrifying wonders.
At two hours the brisket ought to be just about fork-tender. It is thereupon removed from the casserole just long enough to slice it crosswise with an electric knife into 1/4″ slices. Thence the entire flat will be placed back in the casserole, each slice leaning just a tiny bit higher than the one before it, and the juices will be spooned over it periodically for the next hour and a half. At between 3-1/2 and four hours, it should be ready to serve. Ohboy.
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