We talked on the phone this morning. Your people called my people. But before that the HotCut riddled us this: StrasCut...can anyone slow down Giancarlo Stanton?
Braves at Phillies begins in 73 minutes, an 11:05 central daylight start, sponsored by my French Press. It's Dickey and Eickhoff in that one. An hour later the Bauer of Power and Jaimé headline an Indians-Yankees Game 1 in the Bronx. Sixty-five minutes later CarMart and the Cardinals try to claw their way back into the NL Wild Card race against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chase Anderson, he of the 2.87 ERA.
The Cardinals shed some of Leake's salary in the deal, though it's not clear how much. They get back a minor-league shortstop named Rayder Ascanio.
Cody Allen retired one batter in the eighth, by strikeout. He will try to close this out now in the ninth. Starlin Castro pinch-hits for Frazier. Castro fans on a 94 mph fastball, up and in. Ellsbury, 5-3. This is Judge. The count runneth full as Judge couldn't help but offer at a ball in the dirt. Allen fans Judge. Ballgame over. Game two in half-an-hour.
The Astros trail the Rangers 6-1 in the 8th tonight at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg. Whistles, catcalls, nature boys and coyote howls carom about the mostly empty dome. It's almost as if The Trop has become some sort of get your ya-ya's out destination in St Pete. Go to the Trop, have some concessions, yell scream and giggle—get heard on TV shouting anything you want.
An inning later. Corey Seager is out of the Dodgers lineup again. Kiké Hernández fills in for him tonight, as he did last night. Chris Taylor is on first after buggy-whipping a two-out single to left-center. Ray throws over to first. An 84 mph slider fools Kiké, it's 2-and-2. Kiké isn't fooled on the next pitch but Adam Rosales is there at third to spear it before it gets into left field, 5-3.
Now Pollock singles. It's 6-0 Snakes. This has become a romp. Goldy walks. It's time to look elsewhere on that baseball slate.
This is Matt Olson. He loses one. Smooth swing, a three-run bomb to right-center, Oakland takes a 5-3 lead. Olson, a lefty, grabbed hold of a bit of a hanging slider, though he did have to go to the outer half of the plate and still get all the way around on it to pull it. The Angels scramble Blake Wood in their 'pen. Matt Chapman walks. This is approaching meltdown territory.
The Angels TV crew is wondering why Blake Wood is so casually warming, with no urgency. The catcher Bruce Maxwell is next. Maxwell is in the hole. A humpback slurve at 79 misses in. At 90, a fastball is fouled away. Maxwell pulls the next pitch down the right field line for a home run. What the heck is going on here? It's now 7-3 Oakland. That's all for Bridwell.
Day Baseball Bonanza
Get your day baseball here! There were already several early contests on this Wednesday slate but two rainouts yesterday have produced double-headers, the former halves of which start so early you've got to have a cup of coffee by your side.Braves at Phillies begins in 73 minutes, an 11:05 central daylight start, sponsored by my French Press. It's Dickey and Eickhoff in that one. An hour later the Bauer of Power and Jaimé headline an Indians-Yankees Game 1 in the Bronx. Sixty-five minutes later CarMart and the Cardinals try to claw their way back into the NL Wild Card race against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chase Anderson, he of the 2.87 ERA.
No Phun for Philly
Ender Inciarte is 4-for-4 in the first five innings as the Braves are pummeling Philadelphia 9-0 top five in Philadelphia. Jesen Therrien pitches now with the bases loaded, Brandon Phillips in the hole, no outs—err, Phillips lines the ball to second, César Hernández makes a quick flip to Galvis racing across the bag, Dickey is doubled off. Freddie Freeman bats. Jerad Eickhoff gave up six runs and left with apparent injury in the top of the third. This is, I remind you, the first game of a double-header. Therrien is probably going to have to eat some innings.Cardinals-Mariners Trade
The St Louis Examiner broke the story at 12:05 central daylight: Crads Fix Sieve in Season by Plugging Leake in Seattle.The Cardinals shed some of Leake's salary in the deal, though it's not clear how much. They get back a minor-league shortstop named Rayder Ascanio.
Ender Tripled Me Awake
I snoozed for about fifteen minutes, a tidy little catter. The Cardinals were up 2-0 on Milwaukee. I took my phone downstairs, queued up Uecker and listened to the Brewers score three runs as I took a shower. I went to the pharmacy with Hugo in the back of the car. Then we went to the park, John and Suzyn in my pocket telling me about Trevor Bauer and Chad Green. When I got back I did some research on the drug and its side-effects. Then I looked for information about how I could achieve my ends without taking this drug—the so-called natural route, you know: the spices Marco Polo brought back with him from China in 1295. At a loss, I turn to baseball.Some Double-Barrel Action
It's 2-1 Indians, Kahnle to Urshela—four straight balls, the last not close at 98 mph. This is the eldest game on the active slate, one of six games going—nice slate! The HotCut has started in Miami. Dee Gordon bunted his way on. Stanton popped out. Gordon was caught in the act. Guyer flies out to Hicks, 9. The Yankees need at least one run in the ninth: T FraZier, Ellsbury, Torreyes due up.Cody Allen retired one batter in the eighth, by strikeout. He will try to close this out now in the ninth. Starlin Castro pinch-hits for Frazier. Castro fans on a 94 mph fastball, up and in. Ellsbury, 5-3. This is Judge. The count runneth full as Judge couldn't help but offer at a ball in the dirt. Allen fans Judge. Ballgame over. Game two in half-an-hour.
Broxton Robs Grichuk
It's the inverse of a walk-off. Or, it's a walk-off catch. It would've been a game-tying homer. Instead it is the Cardinals' 27th out.The Astros Have a Homecoming Date (Spoiler Alert: It's Matt Harvey)
Their game Friday against the Mets will be postponed. They have an early game tomorrow at Tropicana, which will conclude their 3-game "neutral site" series with the Rangers. They will host the Mets for a split double-header Saturday, the first game starting at 13:10 central daylight. Starting that first game for the Mets—you can't make this stuff up—is Matt Harvey. I plan to be watching that one.The Astros trail the Rangers 6-1 in the 8th tonight at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg. Whistles, catcalls, nature boys and coyote howls carom about the mostly empty dome. It's almost as if The Trop has become some sort of get your ya-ya's out destination in St Pete. Go to the Trop, have some concessions, yell scream and giggle—get heard on TV shouting anything you want.
Honeycombed Hurler
Pittsburgh's Steven Brault has the most elaborate forearm tattoos of any player. They are honeycomb-like, or else something out of a chemistry text, hexagonal pieces in a grid. He just about took a Kris Bryant liner and/or bat shard off his face. He barely got his glove on the liner, which missed him by inches. The bat barrel stave wasn't but a few feet away as it shot back up the box. Iván Nova left after three innings in this game, allowing five runs (four earned). Nova is on the hook and unlikely to get off it—especially after an Ian Happ double plates Bryant, making this a 6-2 game (in which I am no longer interested).Bellinger is Back
He faces Robbie Ray in AriZona, top 2. He's been out since August 19th. He looks at 96 on the outside part of the plate, K.An inning later. Corey Seager is out of the Dodgers lineup again. Kiké Hernández fills in for him tonight, as he did last night. Chris Taylor is on first after buggy-whipping a two-out single to left-center. Ray throws over to first. An 84 mph slider fools Kiké, it's 2-and-2. Kiké isn't fooled on the next pitch but Adam Rosales is there at third to spear it before it gets into left field, 5-3.
The Dodgers Still Don't Have A Center Fielder
Brandon Drury turned around a Ryu offspeed offering, sending it to dead center where the stirruped Chris Taylor looked like an infielder trying to make a difficult play in dead center up against a stubborn wall. Are the Dodgers really going to go into the playoffs with Chris Taylor in center field? He can hit the position but he cannot field it. The Dodgers go and get Curtis Granderson but he's not a center fielder either. What's with the square peg-round hole approach by the best team in baseball to one of the most important defensive positions on the field? The Mets have been in this position and it has plagued them. The Cubs are in the same sort of spot, to a lesser extent (Jon Jay and Albert Almora are adequate, I guess). There aren't many true center fielders in baseball—players who can field the position and hit like an outfielder, too. The Dodgers have an achilles heel—we shall see if they take an arrow there in October.TACOS
Chris Herrmann, Herm the Worm, or The Herrmannator. Either way, he has gone deep off of Hyun-Jin Ryu. That's five runs for Arizona and that means tacos—three free crunchy beef tacos from Taco Bell. Robbie Ray follow up with a single to center. David Peralta bounces one into right. Ryu is at 67 pitches, no one out, bottom four. Rosales, 4-6-3.Now Pollock singles. It's 6-0 Snakes. This has become a romp. Goldy walks. It's time to look elsewhere on that baseball slate.
General Console
The Cubs are annihilating the Pirates, 17-3 at Wrigley, top 9. The Twins are wiping out the White Sox, 10-0 bottom 8 in Minnesota. It's 2-0 Padres over the Giants, bottom 6 in San Diego. The Angels are 3-0 Oakland in Anaheim, top 4. Let's go Trout Fishing.Sweat B
Despite pitching with a 3-0 lead, Parker Bridwell is sweating like an avocado fresh from the icebox. With two on, Matt Joyce doubles to left-center, his 27th of the year. The ball sounded sharp and pretty off his bat. Nobody out, runners on 2nd and 3rd, Ryon Healy bats. Bridwell starts him with a strike on the inner black. Healy flares a single to right, the LAA lead slips to 3-2. Maybe this is why Bridwell is sweating. His cap is nearly saturated but two different tones of red are still visible.This is Matt Olson. He loses one. Smooth swing, a three-run bomb to right-center, Oakland takes a 5-3 lead. Olson, a lefty, grabbed hold of a bit of a hanging slider, though he did have to go to the outer half of the plate and still get all the way around on it to pull it. The Angels scramble Blake Wood in their 'pen. Matt Chapman walks. This is approaching meltdown territory.
The Angels TV crew is wondering why Blake Wood is so casually warming, with no urgency. The catcher Bruce Maxwell is next. Maxwell is in the hole. A humpback slurve at 79 misses in. At 90, a fastball is fouled away. Maxwell pulls the next pitch down the right field line for a home run. What the heck is going on here? It's now 7-3 Oakland. That's all for Bridwell.
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