TWiB Notes -- Week of April 23-29

[Frayed Knot]

- After beating Atlanta Monday night and then leading today 5-0 early and 7-3 in the 9th, the Reds cough up 4 runs in the 9th (3 with 2 outs) and they're headed to extras in Cincy.


- and Minnesota is visiting the Bronx so naturally they're in their second night in a row of putting on a totally non-competitive showing.



btw, that Braves/Reds game is seemingly being played in front of a few hundred fans in Cincy. And last night might have been worse.

[Frayed Knot]

Reds wound up winning that game on Scooter Gennet's walk-off HR in the 12th.
Reds pitchers held the Braves hitless for the first six innings but then gave up 3 runs in the 7th and 4 more in the 9th.



- Walk-off HR for Granderson against the BoSox



- Nats down 3-0 early in San Fran

[HahnSolo]

Fuck the Twins.

Really. Can someone in that clubhouse grow a pair?

[Frayed Knot]

HahnSolo wrote: Fuck the Twins. Really. Can someone in that clubhouse grow a pair?

But at least their traditional ineptness vs the Yanx in the regular season gets much worse when October rolls around.



- speaking of the Yanx, in a rarity this weekend they are on the west coast at the same time as the Mets, specifically in SoCal to face the (16-9) Fighting Ohtanis of Anaheim
They won't, however, face the pitching version of Ohtani as, even though he last pitched three days ago, they're keeping him to his once/week pace. They may see him two or three times as a batter though.



- Braves are in Philly for the weekend. Not sure how to root in this one. The Phils are closer to us (-1/2) and could conceivably be in 1st place by tomorrow if things don't go well over the next few hours, but I
fear the Braves more long term.
So far in the opening game, the titular Ace-v-Ace matchup of Nola and Teheran produced 3 runs for each in the 1st inning.



- Nats hosting Arizona where the Snakes touched up Strasburg for 2 in the 1st



- And remember Jung Ho Kang? The Pirate 3Bman last played in 2016 before a drunk driving conviction (not his first) in South Korea kept him from securing a work visa to get back into the U.S.
Well, proper papers now in hand, he is now back with the Pitt org. I suspect he'll need some minor league time before he plays although I have no idea what he's been up to in SK (except boozing a lot that is).

[Edgy MD]

The Yankees extended their winning streak despite getting a big dose of Angel Hernandez last night, with the loose cannon umpire objecting to a C.C. Sabathia grimace and following the Yankee pitcher to the dugout yelling at him. That's not the way rhubarbs are supposed to work, Angel.

Pirate rookie Nick Kingham took a perfect game into the seventh inning in his MLB debut. That damned Paul DeJong broke it up, but the Bucs won handily.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I missed the CC thing but Angel Hernandez went on blowing ball-strike calls through the bottom of the 9th. Also completely incorrectly called a wild pitch by Chapman a foul ball (on Rene Rivera!), which would have advanced a runner (Chris Young!) in a key spot. He's just a bad umpire.

[Frayed Knot]

But it's racial (ethnic?) prejudice, not bad umpiring, that's kept him from getting a crew chief job ... or so his lawsuit claims.

[Frayed Knot]

Also though, to add to Solo's 'Fuck the Twins' rant from earlier in the week: Fuck the Angels too!

Started this past series with a 16-11 record then wound up getting swept at home. And it's not like they can claim to have been Stanton'd, Judge'd, or Sanchez'd to death (well, they did get smacked around in
the middle game).
Instead, they decided it was a good time to score a grand total of 5 runs in the three game set - one of those coming via an Ohtani HR as a DH. Meanwhile Trout (among others) was a total non-factor.