TWiB Notes - July 6 thru 12

[Frayed Knot]

We're not the only ones finishing up a 'wrap-around' series as the Phils and Royals had a day game today which consisted of the Royals slapping a 15 - 1 pasting on the Phightins.  The Royals scored in every (eight) inning starting with six in the 1st -- off Christopher Sanchez! -- then scored 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, and 2. In all, 9 runs on 12 hits in 3.1 on Sanchez's tab. KC took two of three -- the series was Sat - Sun - Mon as there was a soccer game on Friday) and it was a day game today since the Royals have to get their asses to NYC tonight in prep for their Tues thru Thurs series in Queens.

Big series of the week is the four game set in Tampa where the struggling Yanx [1 - 9 over their last 10, 2 - 14 in last 16] try to close the gap which has grown to 4.0 G recently.

Braves go to Pittsburgh after this. Phils to Cincy. Marlins host the Mariners while the Nats welcome the Astros

[Frayed Knot]

The Nationals continue to play ridiculous games on a regular basis. Last night they held on to beat Houston 12 - 11

Astros score 1, 3, and 2 to lead 6-1 in the top of the 3rd; Nats counter with 5 in bottom 3 to tie it; then throw up a six-spot in bottom 5 for an 12-6 lead; and then survive allowing one in the 6th and four in the 8th.

23 runs, 25 hits, 2 errors, six Hrs (3 each). Seven earned runs were hung on each of the starters [Mike Burrows for HOU in 4.1 IP, and 6 full innings for Nats starter Miles Mikolas] with Clayton Beeter, who appears to be Washington's closer of the moment [7 saves, most of those recent], playing the hero by getting the final out of the 8th and then a 1-2-3 9th with only a one run cushion. 

Amazingly the game time was just 2:46, nearly an hour shorter than our game (3:42) which wasn't going to be a quick one even without the 10th inning.

[Frayed Knot]

Rays lead 3-0 thru 7 as the Yanx offense continues to sputter w/o Judge. But at least they can brag about only having 6 strikeouts so far considering that the Bombers K'd 17 times in each of the first two games of this series. They won the first game anyway backed by a Schlittler(8)/Bednar(1) 4-hitter.

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx finally broke out the bats today for a 12-4 drubbing of the Rays to salvage a split of the four game series. This puts the teams back where they were when the series started with the Rays holding a 4.0 game edge.

Prior to today, the Yanx had gone 20 games without scoring more than five in a game. They totaled just 56 runs during that time (2.8 RS/G) vs 111 allowed! 

[smg58]

The Diamondbacks cut Pavin Smith, who was a very solid hitter in 2024 and 2025 before he got hurt and the wheels came off.  Given that he would still be under team control, I think he'd make an interesting waiver claim.

[Frayed Knot]

Shohei will miss his start tonight (although will still DH) and will not travel to Philly for the ASG because of "left knee Irritation". It was the same knee that had inflammation causeing him to sit out briefly a few weeks back. Maybe it's nothing but due to the magnitude of Shohei, this bears watching.

 

Out-of-Town weekend series to follow starting tonight: 

Phils @ Tigers; Yanx @ Nats; Braves @ StL; and the hottest team on the planet, the Marlins, [26 - 8 since June 1st - a streak that started right after they got swept by the Mets] host Cleveland.