HotCuts & Bridges

I am at my parents' place in Illinois.  I don't have the Roku here so I am not watching MLB.TV but there has been some game or another somewhere on the cable ever since I arrived, starting with Cardinals at Giants.  Lance Lynn allowed one hit through eight innings and struck out the side in the eighth.  But Tyler Lyons allowed a Hunter Pence single to begin the bottom of the ninth.  Joe Panik then bunted Pence over.  Matheny yanked Lyons.  Buster Posey poked a Seung Hwan Oh pitch just over Wong's head and into right field.  The game was tied. Fowler singled off Sam Dyson to lead off the ninth but Fowler was gimpy by the time he got to third.  Bader pinch-ran for him, inexplicably breaking for home on a Piscotty grounder to third.  Cardinal threat over. Then a guy I had never heard of—Ryan Sherriff—allowed a home run to Nick Hundley in the bottom of the tenth.  Ballgame. Who Are Those Guys? C J Cron ties this game at four, top 9, someone named Ricardo Rodriguez on th

I heard the sound at 7:44 central daylight:  Awww snap!  KerCut.  The man, the lefty, the return:  Clayton Kershaw, tonight at 21:10 central daylight opposing Dinelson Lamet and the San Diego Padres.  Kershaw, 15-2 with a 2.04 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP, has not pitched since July 23rd.  This will be his 12th HotCut of 2017. HotCut Debuts No doubt it is Lamet's first HotCut of the year—and maybe I've buried the lede—because this is the first HotCut of 2017 for the San Diego Padres!  I'm further remiss because when Giancarlo Stanton carried Miami into a HotCut on his bat two days ago it was Miami's first appearance in the 'Cut this year as well. The Day Action I Caught Not much.  The first half of an Indians at Tigers doubleheader led it all off.  I was listening to the Tigers radio feed as I drove to the park and then as Hugo and I walked.  Dan and Jim talked about Matthew Boyd looking good (he ended up throwing 98 pitches over five innings).  They talked moreso

It's a GutCut Jr in the Bronx, Eduardo Rodriguez for Boston and CC Sabathia for the Yankees.  That game begins in 82 minutes.  There was day baseball today—the Astros won, the Twins won, the Reds won. Baseball Bridge There is still one game going, Dodgers at Diamondbacks.  It's 8-1 Diamondbacks, mid 6.  Let's look at the specs for this Bridge.  We need now 79 more minutes of baseball over 18 outs, meaning 4.38 minutes per out.  If that pace pertained over the course of a full game the game would last 3 hours and 45 minutes—that's a pretty long game.  I don't think this bridge is going to take us all the way to the Bronx for the 18:05 first pitch there but we shall see.  It doesn't help that the home team is leading—by seven runs.  That's three fewer outs.  I've been listening casually to this game.  Greinke has pitched six innings: one run, two walks, six Ks.  This could be Greinke's 16th win. Bridge Fail, Dodgers Fail A little later—17:43

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? 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 Philadelphi

I was sitting at the dealership waiting to hear if I needed new tires when the HotCut rolled on, as good as new:  HotCut in the desert! Area 51 Nine hours later I was washing dishes after cooking pasta, squash and garlic bread when I heard Bob Carpenter call Stanton's 51st home run.  That was three innings ago.  Stanton has since faced Nationals starter Edwin Jackson again, whiffing on a slider low and away. The Nationals put up two runs in the last half of the third when Daniel Murphy punched his way out of an 0-2 hole by fighting a high Vance Worley fastball back up the middle, scoring Wilmer Difo and Jackson. Toothpick Sighting Dee Gordon singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and now will score on a Stanton flyout to deep left center.  It's 3-2 Nats. Astros at Home on the Other Side of the Gulf Displaced by the ravages of Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Astros are playing host to the Rangers tonight in Tampa, FL.  I don't have it on TV but on t

I missed only one full day in this baseball journal but it feels like I stepped away for longer than that.  Yesterday's entry was small and perfunctory.  I'm jonesing for day baseball but it's a Monday.  As of 13:35, there is not yet word of today's HotCut. Cutless, Supreme As of 15:54 there is no word yet of today's HotCut.  There are at least a couple of 'Cut-worthy matchups.  Old Blue Eye, Max Scherzer returns from the DL tonight against Giancarlo L Stanton and the Miami Marlins—that's HotStuff.  Or, for those looking for an AL playoff preview how about a KluberCut: Corey and Company got to the Bronx to match up against Luis Severino and the Yankees—Hot and Heavy! The 'Cut Has Landed, Long Live the 'Cut At 16:02 central daylight, we had touch-down:  KluberCut. The 'Cut Was On, The 'Cut Was Gone I was doing dishes after dinner but B had turned on the Indians at the Yankees.  When I checked in again a few minutes later, though, M

It was Tuesday the night of August 15th and I wanted to watch the HotCut, Mets at Yankees.  As I noted in my log entry for that night , I encountered significant difficulty trying to stream the game. Streaming Problems My internet provider is Charter.  From time to time I would experience drops in our WiFi that I tended to blame on Charter.  The first big fail I pinned on Charter was back in the spring, when I wanted to stream the World Baseball Classic.  I am subscribed to MLB.TV and I use a Roku 3 to use the MLB.TV streaming app. It was the game where Andrew Miller gave up a couple of big home runs, one to Manny Machado and one to Nelson Cruz.  The game was in Miami (I think).  The crowd was going nuts and my internet was apparently on the fritz.  It was especially vexing because I had a few friends over and we were all sitting there watching the game.  I called Charter out the next day.  The Charter guy said that some water had gotten into whatever device is on the utility pol

It has been two days since my last entry.  I went camping last night.  As I drove to an old farmhouse in the Ozarks I listened to Twins at Blue Jays on LTE until the connection dissipated somewhere past Cuba, MO on Interstate 44.  Then we heard Tommy Pham walk the Cardinals off against Brad Boxberger and the Tampa Bay Rays. Driving back today I had MLB audio on LTE for a surprising stretch of rural Missouri, starting north of St James, even before I made it to the interstate.  I started with the Indians, who were crushing Kansas City.  Lindor homered, Santana homered.  Eric Skoglund didn't last long for the Royals.  Then I went to Twins at Blue Jays for a second day in a row.  I heard a Buxton home run.  Kyle Gibson was pitching for the Twins, Joe Biagini for the Blue Jays.  I heard Josh Donaldson get picked off of first base. I got a bunch of baseball texts over the course of this weekend.  I'll list them below as an addendum to this post. Right now I've got Sunday N