For the second time in a week, Steve Pearce has hit a walk-off grand slam. This one on Canada Day.
Then: Matt Davidson homers to walk off his White Sox against Bryan Shaw and the Indians.
Toothpick sighting!
Dusty is doing the vertical, as a replay is underway. There appeared to be a game-ending double play 4-6-3, Kendrick out at first. But Story has already swept his foot over and off the bag before he had caught the ball. "Oh my goodness, they're going to call him out," says a surprised Bob Carpenter. I agree: that was a miserable replay effort. The game should not be over but it is. "So long for just a while," he says. That was the first half of a soft day-night doubleheader.
But let's back up. I write in here more often if I can make a routine of it. I like for the first words I write to concern the 'Cut—and how I find out about it every day. A couple games had started before Word came down. Then I took a snooZe. As I opened this notebook, imbued with intent to recreate the routine, Steve Pearce hit that home run and I wanted to record that moment in media res. Backing up then. Starting again from the top. And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a—
At 12:23 central daylight Pony Express left a message at my door:
CradsCut. Lynn's last stand.
I had the game on the radio, for a couple of innings. It was Mike Shannon and Mike Claiborne. They were hobnobbing and bad. They were talking about their mutual friend, Fast Eddie—who has nothing to do with Baseball. Not even the Kevin Bacon game can light a path from Fast Eddie to today's Cardinals game. Then for some reason they started talking about Pablo Sandoval. Shannon said something about how he was glad that San Francisco had traded him. But San Francisco didn't trade him. He left as a free-agent. Claiborne then felt the need to inform the clueless Mr Shannon that, in any event, Sandoval was in fact back with the Giants. I know Mike Shannon has been on the air for a long time and for some of that time, if I had been writing here then, I would have sung his praises. Announcers make mistakes. Vin Scully made mistakes, especially those last couple of years. But I never felt like Vin was tuned out. I never felt like the broadcast was some sort of inconvenience to him, the game was never an after-thought. When I listen to Shannon I hear that: he is going through the motions, he is ambivalent about his job. I wish he would walk away.
But as Vin would say, "And now, back to the game." Lynn had walked four batters in the second inning. I was preparing a headline, attributable to the long-defunct St Louis Globe Democrat. It was something like, "Strike Zone Proves Lynn's Bighorn as Cards Fall in 'Cut". But then Lynn stabilised, finished six, and won. The Crads move to 52-53, still not .500 but they're gettin' there.
Just a little later. Andrew McCutchen has hit his 20th home run of the season. It's Pirates 1-0 Padres, in San Diego, top of the sixth, 15:17 Pacific daylight. Check that. Freese singled, Jose Osuna tripled, Pirates 3-0 Padres, top six, no one out. Clayton Richard is still pitching for San Diego. Jordy Mercer now.
Looking around the league, at only those games still in progress, Orioles 10 - 4 Rangers in Arlington, bottom 8; Twins 5 - 3 Athletics, mid 7 in Oakland; Mariners 6 - Mets, mid 7 in Seattle. That's it. Now the Rockies at Nats Part Deux is listed with an 18:40 central daylight start. Earlier that start had been listed at 18:05 cdt. The :05 start gave me great confidence in a Sunday bridge. Now I'm not so sure! This Rats-Pads contest is our best bet. Mid 6. Twenty-one outs to go. It's 17:24, or 76 minutes until first pitch in Washington D.C. That's 3.619 minutes per out. A standard game is 54 outs, say 3 hours and 15 minutes in duration, or 195 minutes. 195/54 = 3.6111, uncanny! It's possible we'll get the bridge but I wouldn't call it probable. Someone's gonna have to score some runs and it would be best if both teams did. Here's the Man Who Would Be ScuZzer, it's Matt SzcZur. He's got all of the letters of ScuZzer except one, though they are a little out of order.
I did not see Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit. Earlier today, he became the 31st player with 3000 hits. I texted you about him:
"I can remember him struggling early in his career. With the Dodgers I never gave him much thought. Then he had the testicle injury with Seattle but he started being consistently good with them. I really don't remember him much in Boston. He's been good every year he's been in Texas, which has been...I don't know, ten years?"
I was only a few lines into transcribing that text into my HotCuts and Bridges notebook when you dropped this enfilade a la Beltre:
He was spectacular in '04 with the Dodgers
I wanna say 8 years in Texas
I think he was in Seattle for 5 years
That would've been '05-'09
Boston 2010
Then Texas?
Unless it was only four years in Seattle
I'll look it up later
*
Home run, Dusty Coleman. Coleman gets Cole. It's better with the 'man, man. Dead center. Then Franchy gets one in the bicep. Ouch. Now Manuel Margot. Slider in the dirt, away. Margot, 5-3.
It's 5-1 Rats, top 9. But there's good news. The A's have tied it in Oakland, 5-5, bottom nine. Hildenberger works to the original Jed-head, Jed Lowrie. Joyce is on second, one out, Lowrie 8 SF. Joyce to third. K-hris Davis, known audibly as Not that Chris Davis. He is shorter than I realized. Hildenberger, 12 letters. I believe Salty had 13. Saltalamacchia, that's 14.
AdrianZa with a bag. Then a pop foul, in Oakland, with its craZy amount of foul territory. The third baseman, Matt Chapman, running all out, gets it deep in foul territory but then runs out of room. He's about to run straight into the A's dugout but then goes into jump mode, hops a pair of Gatorade coolers, lands on both feet, teammates scrambling on both sides to brace his fall but he doesn't even need the help because he's stuck the landing. Foul out, 5. And the best part is that it was the third out of the inning and there is, back in his team's dugout. That play only happens in Oakland.
Bridge check. The Padres went final. Twins at Oakland is still going, 5-5, bottom ten. Bridging! It's a Draw Bridge in Oakland. Rockies at Nats, game 2, is not yet begun. It's 18:34. A's batting. Healy, K. Hildenberger is a side-armer. Strike one to Lavarnway. Josh Smith warms. 18:36. Bridge in the balance, 18:37. Chapman now bats. Sidearm delivery a little wide, Gimenez misjudges the side-to-side carry. It's 18:40. Rox at Nats is begun. Edwin Jackson to Charlie Blackmon, strike one. The eleventh inning begins in Oakland. The Sunday Drawbridge in Oakland is complete.
A shot of Dusty, no confirmation on the toothpick. Jon Gray gets Adam Lind 5-3, Arenado continues to wheel and deal. Wieters stands in. Curve in the dirt. Wieters, 7.
I am Obi When, I am the esoteric sendness of America.
Then: Matt Davidson homers to walk off his White Sox against Bryan Shaw and the Indians.
Toothpick sighting!
Dusty is doing the vertical, as a replay is underway. There appeared to be a game-ending double play 4-6-3, Kendrick out at first. But Story has already swept his foot over and off the bag before he had caught the ball. "Oh my goodness, they're going to call him out," says a surprised Bob Carpenter. I agree: that was a miserable replay effort. The game should not be over but it is. "So long for just a while," he says. That was the first half of a soft day-night doubleheader.
But let's back up. I write in here more often if I can make a routine of it. I like for the first words I write to concern the 'Cut—and how I find out about it every day. A couple games had started before Word came down. Then I took a snooZe. As I opened this notebook, imbued with intent to recreate the routine, Steve Pearce hit that home run and I wanted to record that moment in media res. Backing up then. Starting again from the top. And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a—
At 12:23 central daylight Pony Express left a message at my door:
CradsCut. Lynn's last stand.
I had the game on the radio, for a couple of innings. It was Mike Shannon and Mike Claiborne. They were hobnobbing and bad. They were talking about their mutual friend, Fast Eddie—who has nothing to do with Baseball. Not even the Kevin Bacon game can light a path from Fast Eddie to today's Cardinals game. Then for some reason they started talking about Pablo Sandoval. Shannon said something about how he was glad that San Francisco had traded him. But San Francisco didn't trade him. He left as a free-agent. Claiborne then felt the need to inform the clueless Mr Shannon that, in any event, Sandoval was in fact back with the Giants. I know Mike Shannon has been on the air for a long time and for some of that time, if I had been writing here then, I would have sung his praises. Announcers make mistakes. Vin Scully made mistakes, especially those last couple of years. But I never felt like Vin was tuned out. I never felt like the broadcast was some sort of inconvenience to him, the game was never an after-thought. When I listen to Shannon I hear that: he is going through the motions, he is ambivalent about his job. I wish he would walk away.
But as Vin would say, "And now, back to the game." Lynn had walked four batters in the second inning. I was preparing a headline, attributable to the long-defunct St Louis Globe Democrat. It was something like, "Strike Zone Proves Lynn's Bighorn as Cards Fall in 'Cut". But then Lynn stabilised, finished six, and won. The Crads move to 52-53, still not .500 but they're gettin' there.
Just a little later. Andrew McCutchen has hit his 20th home run of the season. It's Pirates 1-0 Padres, in San Diego, top of the sixth, 15:17 Pacific daylight. Check that. Freese singled, Jose Osuna tripled, Pirates 3-0 Padres, top six, no one out. Clayton Richard is still pitching for San Diego. Jordy Mercer now.
Looking around the league, at only those games still in progress, Orioles 10 - 4 Rangers in Arlington, bottom 8; Twins 5 - 3 Athletics, mid 7 in Oakland; Mariners 6 - Mets, mid 7 in Seattle. That's it. Now the Rockies at Nats Part Deux is listed with an 18:40 central daylight start. Earlier that start had been listed at 18:05 cdt. The :05 start gave me great confidence in a Sunday bridge. Now I'm not so sure! This Rats-Pads contest is our best bet. Mid 6. Twenty-one outs to go. It's 17:24, or 76 minutes until first pitch in Washington D.C. That's 3.619 minutes per out. A standard game is 54 outs, say 3 hours and 15 minutes in duration, or 195 minutes. 195/54 = 3.6111, uncanny! It's possible we'll get the bridge but I wouldn't call it probable. Someone's gonna have to score some runs and it would be best if both teams did. Here's the Man Who Would Be ScuZzer, it's Matt SzcZur. He's got all of the letters of ScuZzer except one, though they are a little out of order.
I did not see Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit. Earlier today, he became the 31st player with 3000 hits. I texted you about him:
"I can remember him struggling early in his career. With the Dodgers I never gave him much thought. Then he had the testicle injury with Seattle but he started being consistently good with them. I really don't remember him much in Boston. He's been good every year he's been in Texas, which has been...I don't know, ten years?"
I was only a few lines into transcribing that text into my HotCuts and Bridges notebook when you dropped this enfilade a la Beltre:
He was spectacular in '04 with the Dodgers
I wanna say 8 years in Texas
I think he was in Seattle for 5 years
That would've been '05-'09
Boston 2010
Then Texas?
Unless it was only four years in Seattle
I'll look it up later
*
Home run, Dusty Coleman. Coleman gets Cole. It's better with the 'man, man. Dead center. Then Franchy gets one in the bicep. Ouch. Now Manuel Margot. Slider in the dirt, away. Margot, 5-3.
It's 5-1 Rats, top 9. But there's good news. The A's have tied it in Oakland, 5-5, bottom nine. Hildenberger works to the original Jed-head, Jed Lowrie. Joyce is on second, one out, Lowrie 8 SF. Joyce to third. K-hris Davis, known audibly as Not that Chris Davis. He is shorter than I realized. Hildenberger, 12 letters. I believe Salty had 13. Saltalamacchia, that's 14.
AdrianZa with a bag. Then a pop foul, in Oakland, with its craZy amount of foul territory. The third baseman, Matt Chapman, running all out, gets it deep in foul territory but then runs out of room. He's about to run straight into the A's dugout but then goes into jump mode, hops a pair of Gatorade coolers, lands on both feet, teammates scrambling on both sides to brace his fall but he doesn't even need the help because he's stuck the landing. Foul out, 5. And the best part is that it was the third out of the inning and there is, back in his team's dugout. That play only happens in Oakland.
Bridge check. The Padres went final. Twins at Oakland is still going, 5-5, bottom ten. Bridging! It's a Draw Bridge in Oakland. Rockies at Nats, game 2, is not yet begun. It's 18:34. A's batting. Healy, K. Hildenberger is a side-armer. Strike one to Lavarnway. Josh Smith warms. 18:36. Bridge in the balance, 18:37. Chapman now bats. Sidearm delivery a little wide, Gimenez misjudges the side-to-side carry. It's 18:40. Rox at Nats is begun. Edwin Jackson to Charlie Blackmon, strike one. The eleventh inning begins in Oakland. The Sunday Drawbridge in Oakland is complete.
A shot of Dusty, no confirmation on the toothpick. Jon Gray gets Adam Lind 5-3, Arenado continues to wheel and deal. Wieters stands in. Curve in the dirt. Wieters, 7.
I am Obi When, I am the esoteric sendness of America.
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