TWiB Notes -- July 24-29

[Frayed Knot]

So the first run in the Rays eventual 7-6 Monday night win over the Yanx comes with two outs in the bottom of the 1st when a runner [u:36z9v3x5]scores from 2nd on a passed ball[/u:36z9v3x5] because catcher Gary Sanchez loafed
after the ball as it rolls part way towards 3rd base. He belatedly realized what was happening but rushed a bad throw to the pitcher covering.

Now we fast forward (or 'slow forward' as it were) to top 9th: 7-6 Rays, bases loaded, 2 outs, Gary Sanchez at the plate
- hits a grounder to SS who flips to 2B (or the other way around, who can tell with shifts these days?) for the game-ending force, but the confusing shift means that his other half is actually further from the
base than him so the runner from 1st beats him to the bag and the game is going to be tied!!
- eh, no worries, it's Gary Sanchez (not) running so there's still plenty of time to throw to 1st and nail him by two strides. Rays win, THAAAAAA Rays win.

Tough night on the field for the Yanqui backstop. But at least he went 1-for-5 with a GiDP and 6 LOB at the plate

[Guest 41Forever]

So here's a tough call for a manager about a week into his tenure.

Pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon making his Major League debut, 15 months after a line drive fractures his skull, goes 7 innings without giving up a hit. The last inning was a little shaky, but he got out of it.

Manager Mike Shildt lifted him, and the bullpen goes on to lose the no-hitter then the game.

Pretty cool name, though. Imagine having someone's entire name as your last name. Like being named George Tomseaver.

[seawolf17]

41Forever wrote: Pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon making his Major League debut, 15 months after a line drive fractures his skull, goes 7 innings without giving up a hit. The last inning was a little shaky, but he got out of it.

The true baller move would be for him to retire after the game. Doesn't get much better than that, Daniel.

Frayed Knot wrote: Gary Sanchez loafed after the ball as it rolls part way towards 3rd base. He belatedly realized what was happening but rushed a bad throw to the pitcher covering.

This is an "I Miss Old George" moment. He would have traded Sanchez first thing this morning for scraps.

[Edgy MD]

Or demoted him to Charleston.

[Edgy MD]

It's not a classic Steinbrennerarian tag like "Fat Pussy Toad," but clearly a LOT of thought went into The New York Post's headline here, even if does confirm that Post headlines are written for people over 50.

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Guest 41Forever]

And, for good measure, they threw in some faith-bashing in the deck head about Tebow at the top of the page.

[Frayed Knot]

41Forever wrote: Pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon

... has got to play for one or both of the Florida teams at some point in his career.




The Gary Sanchez 'solution' now involves him going to the DL 10-Day DL, because everyone knows that non-hurt Yanquis are too classy to loaf (ignore Cano, Giambi, etc.) so apparently his groin is the culprit here.

[Frayed Knot]

A second Cardinal rookie, 24 y/o Austin Gomber, took a no-hitter into the 7th. But this time he blew it on his own: 1B then HR to tie the game at 2 in Cincy

[Edgy MD]

As last names of no-hit-bidding rookies go, Poncedeleon > Gomber.

[Frayed Knot]

Oakland keeps rolling.
Down 10-2 in Texas after 6, they score 3 in the 7th, 4 in the 8th, get a leadoff HR (Steve Piscotty) in the 9th to tie it, then 3 more in the 10th for a 13-10 win!!
Oh yeah, and Familia racked up his second 'W' in two outings after a perfect 8th & 9th innings.
A's are now 13-5 in July, 30-15 since June 1, and 1.5 behind Seattle for the #2 WC spot




The Dodgers got themselves into a relief bind in Philly - at one point using four arms to get six outs after the Phils tied the game in the 7th.
So by the time the 16th inning rolled around and the Phils were sending starter Vince Velazquez to the mound, LA turned to OF/IF Kike Hernandez. The result was Walk - Walk - 3R walk-off (Trevor Plouffe)
Was a tough day for Kike as he was also 0-7 at the plate. And having previously played RF & 2B, Hernandez became the first guy to play the IF, the OF, and allow 3 runs in a game since some guy named Ruth back in 1921.
At least after that 5 hour and 55 minute marathon those two teams don't have a 12:35 start today ... oh wait, they do!!
Phils now 1.0 game in front in the NL East while the Dodgers are just 1/2 game ahead of Arizona who were off beating the Cubs

[Edgy MD]

The Orioles fall behind 5-0 to the Red Sox by the second, but get a rainout. NICE!

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: The Orioles fall behind 5-0 to the Red Sox by the second, but get a rainout. NICE!

Why is that nice? We want the Red Sox to win right?

[Edgy MD]

Nice in the ironic sense that pulling off a swindle is "nice." The nice-work-if-you-can-get-it sense.

It was pretty tumultuous here yesterday. But whatever they chose to do, I don't believe in deleting scores.

[Frayed Knot]

* Wednesday's Oakland comeback vs Texas merely involved erasing a 5-1 deficit after six innings rather than Tuesday's 10-2, but they still did it.
This time it was a 3R Khris Davis HR in the 7th and then a 2R Khris Davis HR in the 9th




* Twins were batting in the top of the 11th inning of an (obviously) tied game in Toronto Wednesday afternoon.
Their first two hitters made quick outs ... but before the Jays could get the 3rd out the Twinkies put up DOUBLE, WALK, WALK, HBP, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SINGLE, SINGLE and hung a six spot on the home team.



* Steven Strasburg (neck) and Kris Bryant (shoulder) each go to the DL
Strasburg just came off the DL after the ASB meaning that he'll have started just one game between June 8 and at least sometime in mid August



* After Sergio Romo got the final two outs of the 8th inning vs the Yanx on Wednesday, they moved him to 3rd base to start the 9th while they brought in a left-hander to face the lefty-hitting Greg Bird.
Bird grounded out to (alas) 2nd base in his AB at which point they returned Romo back to the mound where he recorded the final two outs for the save of Tampa's 3-2 win.
Given Tampa's recent trend of starting relievers in games, this made Romo the 5th and 7th pitchers of the game for the Rays.

[Edgy MD]

Orioles fan tricks Steve Pearce into letting the ball drop.

[youtube:2n2ap1k6]JFGiA38_zcI[/youtube:2n2ap1k6]

[Frayed Knot]

Greg Holland, who was part of the KCR bullpen trio that they rode to the WS in 2015, then missed the 2016 season with TJS, then bounced back nicely with an AS year in Colorado in 2017 (led league
in GF & Saves), and then sat around until March 31st before landing a $14 million FA contract with StL ... had his 7.92 ERA / 2.24 WHIP butt DFA'd by the Cardinals 36 appearances/102 games into the
season.

[Edgy MD]

Josh Hader, greeted by a standing ovation in his return to the mound in Milwaukee.

[TransMonk]

“Loyal” Brewer fans making me shake my head again.

Re-embracing Ryan Braun after he cheated and then deliberately lied to them was one thing, but giving a racist homophobe a standing ovation for being discovered as a racist homophobe is stupifying.

[MFS62]

Listening to PA Pinstripe during the recap of the MFY game today,
"It is HIGH! It is FAR! It is caught at he wall.
Stanton hit a line drive caught at the wall".

Um, a HIGH line drive, John?
I laughed out loud when I heard that.

Later

[MFS62]

Is this guy f'n kidding?
https://sports.yahoo.com/braves-broadcasters-calls-chase-utley-142010666.html

The player is a "true professional" and "he's had respect for him his entire career?"

Then the guy who said it isn't a professional, and I have no respect for his opinion. What he wore isn't on the list of the most offensive things he's done.
What ca-ca.

Later