TWiB Notes -- July 21 thru 27

[Frayed Knot]

Phils beat Boston in the 10th: Ghost Runner - Walk - Wild Pitch - IW - Catcher's Interference



Blue Jays beat the Yanx again!! Now 4.0 G up and 6-2 vs NYY on the season including Ws in the last five straight.

[Frayed Knot]

45 y/o Rich Hill, who pitched in four games (3.2 IP) last season for Boston and in just ten (5 starts) in 2023 for San Diego, has signed with the Royals and will pitch tonight.

KCR will be his 14th different club and he will face one of his former employers (because of course he will) when the Royals face the Cubs in about an hour.





Can you name all his teams? Of course you can't, because he probably can't either.

CHC, BAL, BOS, CLE, LAA, NYY, =#00BF00]BOS, OAK, LAD, MIN, TBR, NYM, =#FF0000]BOS, PIT, SDP, =#0000FF]BOS



[1st time=#00BF00]2nd time =#FF0000]3rd time =#0000FF]4th time]

[Frayed Knot]

Schlittler (for the Yanx) vs Scherzer in Toronto tonight. Consonants Ahoy!! (18 combined letters, 4 vowels)

Or, as Nixon's old braintrust (Haldeman, Erlichman, Kissinger) once got labeled: The Teutonic Plague (alternately: The Berlin Wall)







3-1 Yanx in the 3rd via a Jazz Chisholm 3R 1st inning HR

[whippoorwill]

I saw more plays at the plate in last night's Pirates game than I have in a few years! Very exciting

[Frayed Knot]

Pirates wound up sweeping the Tigers who have suddenly lost 9 of their last 10, though still lead the AL Central by 8 G over a recently hot Cleveland team.





In Philly, the Red Sox erased 0-5 hole by putting up 6 in the 6th and lead 6-5 as the Phils bat in bottom 7





Oh, and Aaron Boone is all red in the face because the HP ump dared to call strikes again NYY batters and so he'll watch the rest of the game via the clubhouse TV

6 - 4 Jays, top 7. Winner of tonight's game takes the series 2-1. TOR starter Chris Bassit is asking for one more inning.

[Centerfield]

One of the underrated pleasures in life is watching your division rival play an extra inning game after you've already banked a day game win.

[Centerfield]

Red Sox take a two run lead in the 11th on a Narvaez HR. The play goes under review and the ESPN booth doesn't feel compelled to tell us if the HR line is the fence or the sign.



Just terrible announcers.

[Centerfield]

Boston holds on. The Phillies blow a 5-0 lead and drop out of first place.

[Centerfield]

Stupid Fucking Yankees.



I hate rooting for them and I hate that Philly is winning.

[Centerfield]

Jordan Romano in. So MFYs have a chance.

[MFS62]

From the game highlights:

Anthony Volpe homered (90 ft.) to shallow right center

I realize that place is a bandbox, but still ...



Later

[Centerfield]

Omg. This fucking Yankee bullpen.

[Frayed Knot]

=whippoorwill post_id=198901 time=1753291594 user_id=79]
I saw more plays at the plate in last night's Pirates game than I have in a few years! Very exciting

[Centerfield]

You're not missing anything. Stupid Yankee bullpen can't get anyone out.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

"Big Amish" Nick Kurtz of the As is the 1st rookie to hit 4 HRs in a game tonight in Houston. Only 20th overall

[Edgy MD]

Off of four different pitchers, too.



Along the way, he tied the record for most total bases (19) in a game.

[The Hot Corner]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: "Big Amish" Nick Kurtz of the As is the 1st rookie to hit 4 HRs in a game tonight in Houston. Only 20th overall

He threw in a double and a single as well, for a 6-6 night and a MLB record tying 19 total bases. That would be a nice series, but it is one hell of a game.

[MFS62]

Yeah, but what does he do for an encore?

Later

[MFS62]

=MFS62 post_id=199114 time=1753493056 user_id=60]
From the game highlights:

Anthony Volpe homered (90 ft.) to shallow right center

I realize that place is a bandbox, but still ...



Later

[Frayed Knot]

Aaron Judge to the IL due to an elbow strain he got while making a throw.

The team claims it is Not going to require UCL surgery but that he'll likely to need to DH for a time when he returns.

Whither Giancarlo?





Yanx held the Phils to a mere 9 runs this afternoon [4 from Stroman in 3.2 IP, then 5 more from the pen] so an improvement from yesterday.

But 9-3 Philly is your final so still 1/2 G ahead.

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx got to Wheeler for four runs in the 2nd (mainly cuz Wheels started the inning: 1B - HBP - HBP) then held on for a 4-3 win to salvage the final game of the three-game set.

Sio, if nothing else, the upside to a Yanqui win is that we're guaranteed to end the night still in 1st place.







The A's plastered the Astros 5-2, 15-3, 5-1, and (just now) 7-0 for a four game sweep of the AL West leaders.

It won't do ATH (apparently their official name right now) a lot of good as the sweep brought them from 19 to 15 G out of 1st, but I bet the Mariners enjoyed those results

as they won two of three from LAA and are looking to go 3-of-4 this afternoon (scoreless in 5th). If they win their weekend will see them go from 6.0 G back to just 3.0







Brewers just walked off the Marlins to sweep that series 3 - 0.

But the Cubs win minutes later so those two will remain in a dead heat atop the NLC going into their three-game series starting tomorrow in Milwaukee

[Frayed Knot]

The Braves, who got swept by the Rangers this weekend and are now a stunning 16 games below .500 (44 - 60),

traded with StL for starter Eric Fedde today with the always popular 'PtbNL + cash' headed in the direction of StL.



And they're trading for pitching because they put RH Grant Holmes on the IL which means that the team's season opening five-man rotation are now ALL on the IL:

Chris Sale (60 Day IL), Reynaldo Lopez (60), Spencer Schwellenbach (60), AJ Smith-Schawver (60), and now Holmes on the 15-Day IL (at least for now).

They do still have Spencer Strider active although he didn't debut until Game #18 of the season this year due to injuries from last year.

[Frayed Knot]

Cal Raleigh is the 7th catcher with 40 or more HRs (with two months to go!) although 8 of his 40 have come while batting as the DH.



Roy Campanella - 1953 (41)

Johnny Bench - 45 (1970) 40 (1972)

Todd Hundley (41) 1996

Mike Piazza - 40 (1997) 40 (1998)

Javy Lopez (43) 2003

Salvatore Perez (48) 2021 -- 15 of his 48 were hit as a DH





Also, not only does Cal Raleigh join the 'All State Capitals' team but, being a North Carolina native, his name is the same as his Own state capital.

Can Daryl Boston (b. Cincinnati, OH) say that? I don't think so!

[Centerfield]

Frayed Knot wrote: The Braves, who got swept by the Rangers this weekend and are now a stunning 16 games below .500 (44 - 60), traded with StL for starter Eric Fedde today with the always popular 'PtbNL + cash' headed in the direction of StL. And they're trading for pitching because they put RH Grant Holmes on the IL which means that the team's season opening five-man rotation are now ALL on the IL: Chris Sale (60 Day IL), Reynaldo Lopez (60), Spencer Schwellenbach (60), AJ Smith-Schawver (60), and now Holmes on the 15-Day IL (at least for now). They do still have Spencer Strider active although he didn't debut until Game #18 of the season this year due to injuries from last year.

I have a tough time understanding this one. Why bother?

[Gwreck]

Is it just a “we need a warm body here” move? Like when the Mets picked up Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2013.

[Frayed Knot]

=Centerfield post_id=199332 time=1753671501 user_id=65]
I have a tough time understanding this one. Why bother?