The New Summer Season

[bmfc1]

Today's BAL-WSH game has been suspended as the field is unplayable following the failure of the ground crew to get the tarp down in a timely manner. It's in the 6th inning but apparently when a ground crew messes up the game is suspended and not ended (they'll resume on Friday in Charm City).

https://twitter.com/CharlieRicker24/status/1292542561186467845https://twitter.com/CharlieRicker24/status/1292542561186467845

[Benjamin Grimm]

The St. Louis Cardinals have played five games. If they're going to play their full 60-game schedule, they'll have to play 55 games over 44 days.

[LWFS]

I don't know what's more disturbing: the continued string of COVID-positive suspended games (Reds-Pirates this weekend), or the ridiculous simulated-video-crowd thing they're doing in the MFY-Red Sox game on Fox.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Mets next 13 scheduled games (four series) will all be against either the Marlins or the Yankees, assuming, of course, that the schedule holds up. The earliest deGrom might next pitch would be this Wednesday against Miami, having been definitively ruled out for today and tomorrow.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Dark Knight returns to the majors. The Royals activate Matt Harvey for tomorrow's game.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Trevor Bauer is your NL Cy Young Award winner if the season ended today. Bauer hasn't allowed more than three hits in any of his starts.



deGrom is one of this year's 10 best, stats-wise.

[Fman99]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=44120 time=1597789794 user_id=68]
The Dark Knight returns to the majors. The Royals activate Matt Harvey for tomorrow's game.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Trevor Bauer -- hits allowed per nine innings -- 2.734.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Bauer's also leading the league in strikeouts per nine innings with 14.013 -- the only pitcher over the 14 mark.



https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2020-pitching-leaders.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2020-pitching-leaders.shtml

[Benjamin Grimm]

I looked at the standings this morning for the first time since the Mets went on hiatus. They're only percentage points behind the Giants for the eight playoff spot. The Giants, in fourth place in the NL West, are 14-16, .467 and the Mets are 12-14, .462.



If the Mets can take three of four against the Marlins, they'll move into second place.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Trevor Bauer is human after all. He allows seven hits and four runs and takes the loss last night. Bauer's ERA skyrockets to 1.65.



And this, from Zach Greinke:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy5L4L5Q0nYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy5L4L5Q0nY

[Frayed Knot]

A quick look at how each division is faring in this oddest of seasons.

Since each team is only playing the teams of their own division plus one other, and that the result of all intra-division games has to net out to .500 overall,

we can instantly know the source of how each division got to be either over or under .500



Turns out that the East is the most balanced at this point: AL East = 4 games over .500, NL East 4 games under

The Central battle sees the AL kicking the NL's butt: +13 for ALC, -13 for the NL with much of the credit there going to the Pirates: 13 games under .500 overall (11-24) including

a pathetic 1-11 vs ALC teams

The West is just the opposite where the NL is 13 games over and the AL 13 under.



And obviously this means that overall the AL is +4 vs the NL in inter-league this season 95-91 with runs scored at a virtual dead heat 890-887 going into today's action.







I don't have any kind of point to make here, I was just curious how things were going so I looked it up and figured I'd share/inflict this information with/upon you folks.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ex-Mets in the news:



Pittsburgh Pirates placed RHP Tyler Bashlor on the 10-day injured list. Lower back inflammation.

Atlanta Braves placed LHP Tommy Milone on the 10-day injured list. Left elbow inflammation.

Philadelphia Phillies designated 1B Neil Walker for assignment.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Conforto, Dom Smith and McNeil are four, five and six, respectively, in the NL Batting Average race --- and there's still enough season left that any of those three Mets, but especially Conforto and Smith, could still win the batting crown.

[batmagadanleadoff]

It's looking like soon, the Mets will have had two first place finishes in 32 seasons.



This will be the Wilpon legacy.

[G-Fafif]

Tim Kurkjian on the void of 2020.

A dear friend, a baseball purist in his late 70s, called recently. He was distressed. "For the first time in 70 years,'' he said, "I don't care about baseball.'' He wasn't angry. He was hurt and sad that the game he loves wasn't delivering -- it had somehow let him down. I tried to explain that this wasn't the fault of the game; COVID-19 was to blame. It has changed everything in and around baseball -- it has changed how we play, watch, perceive and consume the game. It has changed how we all write, report and broadcast the game. "Everything is hard now,'' said Indians manager Tito Francona, who is as gregarious as it gets. So is Rays manager Kevin Cash, who said of the experience this year, "This isn't fun.'' They are not complaining. And you'll get no complaints here, no sympathy required. I remain the luckiest man on earth. I get paid to write about baseball and broadcast games a couple of nights a week. I am so grateful that I get to watch 15 games a night instead of another episode of "Succession" -- which is brilliant and depressing. But Cash is right. It hasn't been nearly as much fun. No fans in the stands, players who have opted out of the season, the many others who have been injured, the mangling of the schedule due to coronavirus outbreaks (mostly notably with the Marlins and the Cardinals), making up rules on the fly and the threat that the season could end any day, perhaps without warning. And having to cover all of this from home has made it so much more difficult. Most players would rather play at home. I am longing for a road game. There is no substitute for being at the ballpark. The things you see there, the things you learn there, can't be found watching on TV, on your computer or even in the beloved box scores. It's just not the same without fans in the stands; we have underrated and understated their importance to the game. The energy, the atmosphere that a crowd brings is clearly missing, and it has affected many players, including the Reds' Eugenio Suarez and the Brewers' Christian Yelich, who, like many, feed off the passion of the fans.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29898470/this-fun-how-everyone-baseball-navigated-very-different-seasonhttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29898470/this-fun-how-everyone-baseball-navigated-very-different-season

[MFS62]

Happy 100th Birthday Roger Angell - his love for the game knows no bounds.

(paywall may pop up) https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/roger-angell-turns-one-hundredhttps://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/roger-angell-turns-one-hundred



Later

[bmfc1]

There was something in Jeff Passan's column today about the draft order for 2021 and whether it would be based on this season alone or this season and all or part of last season. He speculated that it would just be this season. If it's just this season that the defending champions get a Top 10 pick while the Mets are around #10.

http://www.tankathon.com/mlbhttp://www.tankathon.com/mlb

[Frayed Knot]

Re: that Kurkjian article above



It IS less fun this season. It's more fun than NO season would be so I can't complain too much.

But I find myself less interested in what other teams are doing even though more of those O-o-T games theoretically mean more to the Mets. Late night scores

are going unchecked during my morning computer check and I'm watching fewer O-o-T games when they're available. I'll probably get into the odd post-season

we're about to embark upon although with the fear inside my head that the powers that be will mistake the quirkiness of this season for for a sign of what the

game needs going forward on a permanent basis.

[Frayed Knot]

Home team winning pct in 2019: 52.5%

Home team winning pct in 2020 w/no fans: 55.17%





Just sayin'