And That Happened
Phillies 7, Brewers 5: Dom Brown homered and tripled and drove in four while Cliff Lee struck out 11 in seven and two-thirds. Philly is only one game behind the Nats right now, you guys. Why? Because …
Braves 6, Nationals 3: … the Nats dropped two of three to Atlanta, with B.J. Upton of all people fueling the Braves with a walkoff single on Saturday and a homer on Sunday. It’s really amazing how many dudes on the Braves have sort of sucked — B.J. Upton, Jason Heyward, Dan Uggla and Tim Hudson — yet the Braves are enjoying the biggest lead of any team in baseball. Imagine if some of those dudes actually start contributing.
Giants 4, Cardinals 2: I didn’t think the Giants would stink on the road forever, but I didn’t think Chad Gaudin would be the one to snap them out of their road funk. But good for him. Meanwhile, Yadier Molina was ejected for throwing his helmet on the ground when he was called out at first. Except he said after the game he knew he was out and wasn’t disputing the call, he was just mad at himself. Seems like a pretty relevant distinction to me. I mean, no, tossing equipment about is not exactly a Profile in Sportsmanship, but I think it’s one thing if you’re doing it as a display of anger at an umpire — let’s call that a Lawrie — vs. just being mad. Oh well.
Twins 10, Mariners 0: Hey, it’s Jeremy Bonderman. Where has he been? [whack!][crack!][bang!][blast!]. Oh, that’s where he’s been.
Orioles 4, Tigers 2: Chris Davis went yard again, Kevin Gausman looked pretty darn sharp, the wheels fell off for Rick Porcello and the Tigers in the seventh inning and the Orioles took two of three from Detroit.
Marlins 11, Mets 6: Mets sweep Yankees. Marlins sweep Mets. Marlins better than Yankees? Isn’t that the transitive theory or something? Marcell Ozuna drove in four. Greg Dobbs drove in three. The Mets bullpen gave up seven runs in three innings. It was the Marlins’ first three-game sweep of the year.
Rays 11, Indians 3: Evan Longoria and Yunel Escobar each hit two-run homers — Longoria drove in three in all — and James Loney had a two-run double. Terry Francona got ejected. I feel like veteran managers get ejected during Sunday day games more than any other games. Especially when they’re at home. They’re probably dragging a bit for the day games after night games and would like some time on their couch.
Rangers 3, Royals 1: Seven shutout innings for Yu Darvish and a tie-breaking homer for Jurickson Profar in the eighth. And to this day I still get people asking me how the Rangers win games without Josh Hamilton and C.J. Wilson.
Pirates 5, Reds 4: Of course you stretch one of your lesser relievers to three innings rather than go to your best reliever when you’re in a tough spot in extra innings. I mean, what would you have Dusty Baker do? Use Aroldis Chapman in a non-save situation? That’s crazy talk. On the bright side for the Reds: Chapman is REALLY well rested for tonight’s game.
Diamondbacks 8, Cubs 4: Patrick Corbin wins his ninth game. Edwin Jackson, meanwhile, falls to 1-8. Carlos Marmol walked the ballpark again and got booed. Remember when he was supposed to be a trade chit at the deadline? Yeah.
Astros 5, Angels 4: If you think the Marlins winning three straight is a big deal, know that the Astros have won five straight. Jordan Lyles continues to be impressive, allowing two runs in five and two-thirds and striking out five.
Rockies 7, Dodgers 2: Matty McGill/he stood on the hill/pitched like he was drunk and looked like some roadkill, so … he went way … back to Triple-A … people down there/really like to get it ON … get it ON!
Athletics 2, White Sox 0: Chris Sale’s scoreless innings streak stops at 28 and Jarrod Parker tossed six and a third scoreless himself. The A’s are winners of 14 of 16.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0: one hour and 58 minutes of game time, two hours seven minutes of rain delays. And a complete game shutout that lasted five innings for Clay Buchholz. Homers for Jose Iglesias and David Ortiz. Seven losses in eight games for the Yankees.
Blue Jays 7, Padres 4: Mark DeRosa hit a two-run homer in the 11th and the Jays bullpen allowed just two hits and no runs in nine innings of work after Ramon Ortiz left the game with an apparent elbow injury. An elbow injury that, in his case, may very well be career-ending. In other news, does anyone know why they were playing a night game on a Sunday getaway day that wasn’t an ESPN game?
Ian R., just a guess but this may have happened when MLB decided that a nine inning no hitter had to go a complete 9 innings and the winning pitcher had to pitch nine innings. They (MLB) pretty well threw out all weather shortened no-hitters and this may be part of that. No rule, just an edict from King Bud.
Ray Manzarek would be proud of your Rockies/Dodgers writeup. He and Mr. Mojo Risin’ are laughing it up over a cold one right now.
One of my favorite tunes off Morrison Hotel—can’t believe you worked that reference in there…
…well done, sir!
The worst about the Yankees rain delay was that the game start was pushed back 45 minutes or so in preparation of a “rogue cell.” Didn’t rain a drop during the entire pre-emptive delay. Probably cost them a couple of innings. But at least they were right about the cell. When it showed up it suddenly POURED like nobody’s business.
How come the link to your blog doesn’t work?
Toronto has today off and San Diego only commutes to Los Angeles. What would you rather do on a Sunday afternoon – sit on the beach or go watch two sub-500 teams play?
Intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer.
Except there are often Sunday matchups between west coast teams in which neither of them are leaving to go far and it is exceedingly rare for those games to be night games.
San Diego had a marathon on the weekend, traffic concerns I guess.
The box score for the BOS-NYY game fascinates me. First of all, although Buchholz gets credit for a complete game, he’s not the only listed pitcher on the Red Sox side. Andrew Miller is there as well, but because he didn’t actually face a batter, it’s still a complete game for Buchholz.
Second, although he pitched a complete game without allowing a run, he’s not actually credited with a shutout. Presumably that’s because the game was only five innings long, although I can’t find an actual stipulation in the rules that says a shutout must be at least nine innings.
Didn’t know you posted this here, Craig. Ande passed the link along. I might just come here instead. Lots of yahoos on HBT these days.