TWiB Notes - July 27 thru August 2

[Frayed Knot]

Phillies are in Miami starting tonight in a match of two stumbling NL East teams competing for WC (and/or division) playoff slots.

Nationals host the Blue Jays

And the Yanx will spend the entire week in Chicago: Monday thru Thursday will be spent on the south side, and then Friday thru Sunday visiting the north-siders. And they'll do it without Cody Bellinger who is out 'four to six weeks' with a hamstring. That's a lot of punch missing without Judge, Stanton, and now Bellinger.

[Frayed Knot]

Wheeler got smacked around to the tune of 5 earned in the first two innings vs the Marlins, but later got off the hook as it's now 7 - 5 Phils in the 8th

[Frayed Knot]

Marlins score thrice against Philly closer Duran in the 9th (making only one out) to break their dozen game losing streak.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

A black squirrel interrupted the Tigers-Orioles game last night, running around the outfield and eluding a small army of grounds crew members for a bit. 

I am very excited that he stopped for a while in front of our sign, and that we are getting some national run out of this! 

 

[whippoorwill]

That’s so cute!

 

groundskeepers attempting to chase down wildlife is always a riot

[Frayed Knot]

Why does it have to be identified as a Black squirrel, as if plenty of white, gray, and orange squirrels haven't interrupted games also?

Let's keep race out of this, mmm-Kay?

[Frayed Knot]

Leftover news from Monday night:

Max Scherzer came off the IL to pitch against the Nats in Washington. Got a big hand in a game the Blue Jays eventually won 3 - 2 although Max was gone by that point [2.2 IP, 1 R, 4 H] and didn't figure in the decision.

Curtis Mead, the RH bat Boston acquired from the Nats, got hit by a pitch just one day and two ABs into the Red Sox career and is now on the IL with a broken wrist.

 

From tonight: Marlins 1 - Phillies 0 is your phinal.

 

[Edgy MD]

Curtis Mead: Future Australian Met.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

11 hours ago, Frayed Knot said:

Curtis Mead, the RH bat Boston acquired from the Nats, got hit by a pitch just one day and two ABs into the Red Sox career and is now on the IL with a broken wrist.

LUIS ROBERT JR TRADE VALUE ++++++++++

[Frayed Knot]

It's only 3:30 PM EDT and already TWO six-run leads have been blown.

- Phils were up 6-0 by the top of the 5th but lost the game to the Marlins 8 - 6

- and the 'Do we hold or do we sell?' Tigers led 7 - 0 after six but are now batting in bottom 7th tied 7 - 7 with the O's

[Frayed Knot]

The Yanx didn't blow a six or seven run lead last night, but they did blow a 4 - 0 lead in the 7th and eventually lost. And it wasn't just that they lost it's how. The game was tied after the ChiSox scored once in the 7th and thrice in the 8th. Neither team scored in the 10th but the Yanx notched one in top 11 . The Sox then got their ghost runner to 3rd but made two quick outs. The Yanqui catcher thought this would be a great time to end the game by picking the runner off 3rd ... except that he threw it into LF, game tied.

Yanx didn't score in top-12, Sox walked it off in the bottom half.

 

 

This afternoon, the Sox walked it off in the 11th (bases-loaded walk). Those two split the four game series 2 - 2. Incredibly, given the White Sox performance in the last couple seasons decades, this could be a playoff preview.

[Edgy MD]

11 minutes ago, Frayed Knot said:

The Yanqui catcher thought this would be a great time to end the game by picking the runner off 3rd ... except that he threw it into LF, game tied.

Yiminy!

[Frayed Knot]

The Yanx finish up their week in Chicago with a weekend series at Wrigley. And, being Friday, the opener was played this afternoon with the Yanx winning 2 - 0. Not surprisingly their two runs came on solo HRs (Amed Rosario & Spencer Jones) because HRs are basically the only way they score. They had just five hits, the Cubs just four.

- the Phils travel all the way to Baltimore

- the Nats and the Braves play each other in Atlanta

And Texas @ Houston is the big rivalry series for the weekend as the Rangers lead the 'Astros in the division by just 1/2 game (SEA = 2-1/2 back) at the start of today's action.

[Frayed Knot]

Prior to this season, Pete Crow-Armstrong had a walk rate of 4.9% over his two+ year ML career. This season it's 11.3% (ML avg = 8.9%). Not coincidentally his OPS+ has risen from 88 in 2024 over 410 PA, to 115 ('25/647), to 152 this year (484 PA). Kind of stunning to see that kind of dramatic transformation in such a short time from a young player (PC-A still just 24 y/o).

In the 1st inning vs the Yanx today, PC-A walked leading off, went to 2nd on a WP, took 3rd on a GO, and came home on another WP. 1 - 0 Cubs and the ball never left the IF

[Frayed Knot]

The Red Sox were 21 - 4 in July, the best month in franchise history. That's a long history but it's tough to do any better than that. They're also 1 - 0 in August and are on the SNB game in Dodger Stadium trying for a three-game sweep (won 9-4 & 3-2 so far). And they jumped out to a 2 - 0 lead in top 1.

 

Yanx took 2 of 3 from the Cubs to go 4-3 on their week-long tour of Chicago. I was so hoping for an 0-7 trip. Cubs were almost as bad with runners on in today's 2-1 loss as the Mets were this afternoon.