August 17, SharkNola Cut on A Light Thursday Baseball Slate.

I have sat down with hopes of typing up some recent game logs.  By way of the MLB At Bat app I am listening to the Diamondbacks at the Astros, opting for the Houston feed on KBME.  It's the top of the third, AriZona holds a 1-0 lead.

The Jose Ramírez HBP Alarm Clock

Earlier I tried to snooze, once again attempting to sleep through Tom Hamilton calling an Indians game and once again I failed.  It wasn't due to Tom's needle-spike inflections but instead I happened to open my eyes just in time to see Jose Ramírez take a Kyle Gibson pitch off his right wrist.  Ramírez didn't make it very far down the first base line before he dropped to a knee in pain.  It struck me that he was in so much discomfort that he had become nauseous, and that in turn made me a little sick to my stomach.  Other forces chimed in to rouse me, too:  the heavy haulers chugging up and down Hanley Road to take the dirt of Clayton away; a neighbor's lawn guy using an insidious leaf blower; and, the dryer downstairs insistently beeping its completion of a drying cycle.

It Was Who I Thought it Was

I had one text ping me as a I tried to flounder down into unconsciousness.  It was who I thought it was.  It said, "Nola vs. The Shark!"  I speak HotCut so let me translate.  Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia Phillies visit Jeff Samardzija and the San Francisco Giants tonight at 21:15 central daylight.

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Alex Bregman bats in the bottom of the third with two out and runners on second and third.  Bregman, 6-3, broken bat.

José Hits

José Altuve leads the American League in hits.  He has 22 more hits than Eric Hosmer, who is second in the league with 143.

Cubs Comeback

I just tuned into the Cubs game.  I texted you earlier about this game because the visiting Cincinnati Reds had put a 9-spot on Jon Lester (seven earned) in the top of the second inning.  The Cubs got one run back in the bottom of the second.  Then they got five in the fourth and three more in the fifth to tie the game.  I joined the game in the top of the seventh just after Phil Ervin homered to put Cincy back on top, 11-9.  This is a dooZie on the north side.

Bottom seven, Anthony RiZzo strikes out and walks slowly back to the dugout.  Pat and Ron voice feat that Rizzo isn't feeling quite right.  They had mentioned him stretching before the last strike.  Ben Zobrist sends one to the wall in right field—is it the ninth home run of the day?  No, but Ervin has a problem with the sun and also with that ivy-covered brick wall, it's a triple for Zobrist.  Avila walked.  Ian Happ put one up into the outgoing wind but this fly was only a sacrifice, Zobrist scores, Reds 11 - Cubs 10.  Javier Báez strikes out to end the inning.  To the eighth.

Justin Wilson opens the eighth by throwing six straight balls.  Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio trots out to have a discussion with Wilson.  On the next pitch Votto takes "very high", ball three.  Ball four, back-to-back walks.

Severino's Changeup

He threw a changeup over the plate, at the knees, at 88 mph, to Michael Conforto, who swung over it.  Then it was 100 mph, over the plate but high.  I thought the change was a sinker, but that couldn't be the case with a guy whose regular (four-seam?) fastball is triple-digits.  Then a tight slider, inside as a ball.  Then it was back to that changeup, which would have been a strike even if Conforto hadn't swung and missed.

Slim Pickings on a Thursday Night

I have tuned in White Sox at Rangers, bottom 3, from Arlington.  This is a radio feed, KRLD.  Cardinals at Pirates is a rain delay.  The Rangers have tied this game on a Nomar MaZara two-run single.  He now has 79 RBI.  Elsewhere, the Yankees are up 7-1 on the Mets.  I saw Gary Sánchez hit a three-run homer.  I asked B if Judge had done anything.  She said, "No comment."  The Twins lead Cleveland 2-1, top 7, in the second half of a doubleheader.

Joey Gallo bats.  I haven't caught him in these pages much if at all.  He is hitting gobs of homers and has a .279 batting average over some recent span of time.  Here, he strikes out on a Reynaldo López changeup.

Meaningless Home Run Facts

You texted me last night about José Altuve.  With the above mention of Gallo in mind, I want to speak briefly about home runs in 2017.  I have heard a lot of home run factoids, especially of late.  For example, there is a "Numbers Game" segment on Buster Olney's Baseball Tonight podcast.  In the latest installment of this segment, every single factoid was about a home run feat: the first player ever at such and such an age to hit this many home runs, or the most teammates ever with double-digit homers, or the player with the most home runs from the seventh-inning on, etc.  These numbers mean nothing because home runs are easier to hit in 2017 than ever before.  All of these factoids are themselves the best support I can offer for my argument.  Ian Happ became the second Chicago Cubs player since 1913 to have something like six multi-home run games in his first 78 or so games in the majors.  The other to do it was Kyle Schwarber.  Enough—these numbers mean nothing!  It's like baseball today is being played on a planet where home runs are easier to hit, for whatever reason.  I am more impressed when I see the stat about José Altuve's road batting average this season which puts him on a short list with Heilman, Hornsby, Cobb, and Musial.  Getting hits might be harder than it used to be but hitting home runs has never been easier.

Tyson Ross is pitching.  

I have not seen or heard him work this year.  The White Sox have touched him for a run this inning, the top of the fourth.  Ross is at 63 pitches, a pace of 17 per inning.  He has walked Yoan Moncada for the second time tonight.  Nationals at Padres, later.  Phillies at Giants, later.  Blue Jays at Cubs, 13:20 central daylight tomorrow.  It'll be the only game in town—be there!

The ScuZzer Inside-the-Parker

The Rangers broadcast mentioned something that happened earlier today that I had heard though I was not at that moment armed with this pen.  Daniel Descalso, also known as The ScuZzer, has become something of a cult icon in these pages.  In today's game against the Astros he hit an inside-the-park-home-run.  Hearing an actual replay of the hit during this game was my nudge to cover the moment.  The last player to have hit an inside-the-parker against the Astros was the Texas Rangers' David Murphy.

Walking Tim Anderson

"Tyson Ross is about to the impossible," says Eric Nadel on Texas Rangers radio, KRLD.  "He's about to walk Tim Anderson."  Anderson had walked only a couple of times in his last 46 games—not his last 46 plate appearances, his last 46 games.  Rangers manager Jeff Banister has seen enough.  Tyson Ross gets the hook, and he's on the hook for the loss as he leaves with the Rangers trailing the White Sox 5-4, top five, two on, one out.  Austin Bibens-Dirx aka El Rubio will take over for Ross.  He hasn't pitched in eleven days.

HotCut in the Night

No one in the Phillies lineup has ever faced Jeff Samardzija.  He allowed a triple and then a walk but he exited the first inning unscathed.  Span, Pence, and Parker due up in the bottom half of the first in a little something we like to call the HotCut.