HotCuts & Bridges

At 4:41 central time—2:41 your time!—you delivered word:  It's a NY HotCut today.  You told me you have been getting up early to open your branch.  At the same time I think about having something I cared enough about to wake up at 2:41 I also realize it's not simply a matter of caring, it's also about actually getting up and doing it, getting it done, not being a flake.  Could I do it, would I do it, if I didn't love it?  Do you love it?  All I'm doing is patching the holes of this house and watching baseball and cleaning and cooking and drinking.  Speaking of baseball— Bad Cards I listened to the Cardinal bats do a Swiss cheese routine facing Scott Feldman and the Cincinnati Reds.  I heard Votto hit and I heard Scooter hit.  The Cardinals lost their seventh game in a row.  They have gone from bad to pretty good to quite bad all over again. Uecker I migrated to Giants at Brewers, streaming the Brewers radio feed.  That means...

This morning at 7:31 you announced your excitement this way:  "Ooooh boy!  A real humdinger of a 'Cut today". Preview I began parsing your thinking.  Was there some special event slated for the day?  Did it have something to do with Scooter Gennett's four homers last night?  Were you being sarcastic?  How long has it been since Kershaw pitched?  Then I thought...Are the Dodgers still playing the Nationals?  Maybe, but ScherZer has already thrown....  And then it hit me:  Strasburg. That's right, the matchup that was supposed to happen last year but didn't because Strasburg came down with some ailment or malady, a problem with his neck if I recall correctly.  Checking the internet, I find that it was an upper back strain that scratched Strasburg from a showdown with Kershaw in June of 2016. Strasburg enters the game at 7-1 with a 2.91 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and 81 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings.  Kershaw brings a season line ...

At 10:59 central daylight you texted, "It could be his last start...GutCut." Preview That means Bartolo Colón, at age 44, starting at home for Atlanta, opposing Philadelphia, who have rookie Nick Pivetta on the mound.  Colón is 2-6 with a 6.99 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP.  Atlanta has Sean Newcomb among a host of young pitchers in the minors who would be options to replace Big Bart if he cannot keep the other team away from the scoreboard soon. Colón Custered If this GutCut was in fact Bart's Last Stand he has gone out in the way of Custer.  It is 9-0 Phillies after a two-run homer from Odubel Herrera, who is all of a sudden swinging well.  Herrera, the home run aside, already had achieved a feat tonight as he became the first Phillies player ever with three straight games with two doubles.  Is the Gut Busted?  Will this be known as the GutBustCut?