Fan Interference

Prof: It’s Monday. Another weekend done, another day stepping back into the grind. I have a new job at a new company and financially, it’s a huge upgrade. Some people ask me why I don’t try to strike out and make a living writing about sports. I work with numbers in my everyday life; I know that the averages are against me, and I like knowing that I can write for fun and the fam here. I don’t know if I could ever really be a true sportswriter because I’m not a big fan of Springsteen, but then I remember that the ones around my age all love Ryan Adams and I do, too; so here we are.

Spiders 5, White Sox 4 F/10 – Scouts: Starter Zach Plesac was sent home after violating team rules by leaving the hotel to go out and party in Chicago.  Good to see the team from the land of Cleve is not playing around with the Covid protocols.

Orioles, Nationals – SUSPENDED – will resume on 8/14 – Prof: I was listening to this game on the radio whilst driving around (I have been escaping having to hear my roommate and his girlfriend talk so loudly because voice moderation does not exist) and a sudden rainstorm hit DC. The grounds crew had an epic fight with the tarp, and although the storm itself was brief, the failure of the tarp and the trampling of the basepath in the ensuing chaos led to the postponement of the game. It’s too bad, because the Orioles were killing it, and they were so close to an official game.

 

Braves 5, Phillies 2 F/7 (Game 1) – Scouts: Ronald Acouna with the bomb in the 5th and Adam Duball followed up with a base clearing 3 RBI double and the Braves got all the damage they needed to take the first in the 7 inning scheduled double header.

Braves 8, Phillies 0 F/2 (Game 2) – Prof: MAX FRIED. I mean, I could just leave it at that, and that’s all I’d need to say. But I’ll elaborate. MAXIMUM FRIED!!!!!! No, seriously, y’all. Young Master Fried is now 3-0, and is carrying the mantle of Staff Ace since Mike Soroka went down. And Max makes it look easy. Six Ks in five innings and he was just embarrasing folks with that sexy curveball of his. My god, it’s so beautiful. I could cry. Ronald Acuna Jr. hit two home runs and Freddie Freeman had a dinger and a double.

 

Rockies 3, Mariners 5 – Scouts: Justus Sheffield, whom the Mariners acquired from the Yankees for James Paxton in 2019 hadn’t quite lived up to the hype so far.  However, last night he showed everyone the reason Seattle was so hot for him.  Sheffield picked up his first win on the season, through 6 innings of 4 hit shut out baseball, all while striking out 7.

Diamondbacks 5, Padres 9 – Prof: A tale of two NL West teams. It was the best of times (Six Home Runs in three innings for San Diego), it was the worst of times (six of those runs came off of Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner, who was pulled in the second inning). Please excuse me for a moment; long time readers of this blog know that I’m wiping away the tears from laughing so hard. MadBum is winless on the season thus far and currently is rocking an ERA of 9.35. And when I tell you that the Friars tattooed those homers… Manny Machado’s solo dinger went 417 feet, while Wil Myers’ two run bomb went 401 feet, causing MadBum to yell at him like the cranky old man he is. Anyway, my crops are watered and my skin is clear, I thrive off of my hate.

 

Yankees 3, Rays 4 – Scouts: The two teams got into a little verbal back and forth in the 7th, and maybe that was what inspired the Rays to step up their game.  They scored 3 in the 7th to tie it before Michael Perez walked it off in the 9th with a single to right.

Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 5 – Scouts: Mitch Moreland has been carrying the team while the rest of the bads are slumping.  He went 2-4 on a pair of homers and picked up 3 of the teams 5 RBI’s.

Tigers 2, Pirates 1 – Prof: A fine outing from Spencer Turnbull (seven innings, one earned run, four strikeouts) and a tiebreaking run from Miggy Cabrera lifted Detroit over Pittsburgh. El Tigres are 8-5.

Twins 2, Royals 4 – Scouts: Brady Singer, the Royal’s number 3 prospect has been learning as he goes in his rookie season.  After surviving an attempt at fielding a 100 mph grounder with his bare hand, he gave up 2 runs shortly after.  However, he was able to recover and hold back the now 10-6 Twins and pick up his first career win.

Reds 3, Brewers 9 – Prof: One of my favorite goofy relievers, Brent Suter, got the W for Milwaukee, but let’s be real here. The true victor was Christian Yelich, who tripled, drew a bases loaded walk, and hit one monster of a home run in this much needed win at Miller Park. Yeli’s dinger hit the scoreboard, and what a glorious sound that bonk! was.

Angels 3, Rangers 7 – Scouts: Lance Lynn picked up win number 100 as the Tigers completed the sweep of the Angels.

 

Giants 2, Dodgers 6 – Scouts: AJ Pollock and Mookie Betts homered as Walker Buehler threw 5.2 pretty good innings.  Kevin Gausman actually pitched pretty well for San Francisco, before the bullpen completely fell apart on him.

Astros 2, A’s 7 – Prof: I’m an old school gal. I like a good bench clearing brawl, and boy did we have one in this game. Here’s hoping that Scout will provide a video of this dust up, because it was stupid as heck. What sucks is that the A’s player who was HIT BY AN ASTRO and PRODDED INTO AN ALTERCATION will probably face a Joe Kelly type punishment while Houston will probably be treated to ice cream. Oh, and Robbie Grossman, Matt Olson, and Matt Chapman all homered for Oakland.

 

Marlins 2, Mets 4 – Scouts: Jacob deGrom shut down the Marlins over 5 innings, striking out 6 and allowing just a pair of runs.  Meanwhile Andres is standing out early for potential Rookie of The year after going 3-4 and making a heck of a play in the 6th.

Cubs, Cardinals – PPD (Covid-19) – Prof: The Cardinals haven’t played a game since July. Can they even make them up at this point, especially when players and coaches continue to show symptoms and test positive? I heard on the radio yesterday that at least two St. Louis players went to the emergency room because of their symptoms. Doesn’t sound like it’s getting any better at all.