TWiB Notes - Sept 7th thru 13th

[Frayed Knot]

So the Nats just lost 3 - 2 out in SD putting the Mets & Nats in a virtual 4th place NL East tie 5- 1/2 games behind Miami. The Nats [now 67 - 79] have played two extra games compared to the Mets [66 - 78] which gives the Nats a slight edge in win pct (.4589 vs .4583)

 

Phils/Braves finished their four game series winning two each as the Phils won today 1 - 0 on an 8th inning Kyle Schwarber HR (his ML leading 43rd) and a CG / 109 pitch / 2 hit / 1 walk / 12 K performance by Jesus Luzardo. The way the Philly bullpen has been lately I would have sent him back out in the 10th  and probably the 11th if the Braves tied it up. But, as good as that win was for Philly, a split favors the Braves here as they maintain the same 4-game lead they had coming into the series and have erased four games off the schedule. These two teams have a three-game set in Atlanta this coming weekend.

 

It's Labor Day and eight teams are idle.

[Edgy MD]

Not only did the Reds lose despite sending Chase Burns to the mound against the defending world champs, but they lost by pulling him after three no-hit innings.

Baseball is getting weirder and weirder every week.

[Frayed Knot]

Some news involving some pretty prominent players:

- Yanx activate Judge off the IL list. He last played on May 31st

- Ohtani "unlikely" to pitch again in 2026 although he's expected to return to the lineup tonight after sitting out four of the Dodgers' seven games so far in September.

[Edgy MD]

That certainly appears to include the playoffs.

That's a heck of a bargain with fate, considering he's 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA.

[Gwreck]

5 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

That certainly appears to include the playoffs.

That's a heck of a bargain with fate, considering he's 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA.

Yamamoto, Skubal, Glasnow, and Snell would still be the best rotation of any playoff contender, though?

[Edgy MD]

1 hour ago, Gwreck said:

Yamamoto, Skubal, Glasnow, and Snell would still be the best rotation of any playoff contender, though?

Probably, but I still don't want to enter the competition leaving any of my horses in the barn.

[Frayed Knot]

Philly, down 5 - 0 early in their game tonight vs Houston, has climbed back to 6 - 5 and had the tying run on 2nd with no outs in the bottom of the 9th. Well now there are two outs and Kyle Schwarber is at the plate. Josh Hader dealing for the Astros.

 ... and Schwarber pops-out to end the game. On the plus side for the Phils, Atlanta is losing 6 - 1 to Tampa who, in turn, need the game as the Yanx have opened up a 6 - 1 led vs Colorado.

[Gwreck]

33 minutes ago, Edgy MD said:

Probably, but I still don't want to enter the competition leaving any of my horses in the barn.

I would think there has to be some sort of calculus involved in whether trying to use him as a pitcher jeopardizes his effectiveness as a hitter.  My sense is that Ohtani is more important to that team in the batting order than on the mound. 

[Frayed Knot]

The bottom line is that Ohtani has some nagging (though not debilitating) injuries that are keeping him off the mound and, at least occasionally, also out of the lineup. Shohei was NOT in tonight's lineup for the Dodgers.

[Edgy MD]

I'm sure there's a calculation.

[Frayed Knot]

Jazz Chisholm to the 10-Day IL, sprained thumb (diving into a base) so we won't be seeing him this weekend.

[Frayed Knot]

The Nats didn't wait until the late innings to blow a lead today, they've just been blowed out from the git-go in their afternoon tilt in Sandy Eggo.

[whippoorwill]

5 hours ago, Frayed Knot said:

Jazz Chisholm to the 10-Day IL, sprained thumb (diving into a base) so we won't be seeing him this weekend.

Dang and he’s just so jaunty 

[Edgy MD]

Baltimore pitcher Albert Suarez is 36 years old, gray-bearded, and tired of getting caught in the DFA trap.

Baltimore DFA'd him one more time this week, and after he cleared waivers, he declared himself a free agent instead of taking the AAA assignment.

He might come in handy against the Yankees this weekend.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

who

[whippoorwill]

Test

[whippoorwill]

Yep didn’t work. If you get a chance go watch the Pirates/White Sox scuffle…Cruz beside some little coach 

[whippoorwill]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19Q5rCzXZP/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[Edgy MD]

28 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

who

Sorry.  Somebody (I'm not saying who!) insisted on talking to me whilst I was typing, and I left the name out altogether.

The man is big, beefy Venezuelan righthander Albert Suarez.

[Gwreck]

2 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

Baltimore pitcher Albert Suarez is 36 years old, gray-bearded, and tired of getting caught in the DFA trap.

Baltimore DFA'd him one more time this week, and after he cleared waivers, he declared himself a free agent instead of taking the AAA assignment.

He might come in handy against the Yankees this weekend.

He might, but I’d be in favor of giving that opportunity to Dylan Ross first.

[Frayed Knot]

Cubs got swept by the Brewers this week (after splitting four last week) dropping them to TEN games back in the Central and killing any faint hopes of winning the division. But more than that this puts them in danger of not making the playoffs at all. They're still WC #2 (1.5 G behind PHI) but only 2.5 & 3.0 G in front of SDP & ARZ.

With both the West & Central decided, it's looking like the Cubs, DBacks, Padres and the non-winner of ATL/PHI fighting for three slots.

[Frayed Knot]

Rays walk-off the Astros on a 2R walk-off HR by Junior Caminero, his 40th of the season.

[whippoorwill]

So, Milwaukee scored 20 runs last night

[Frayed Knot]

The Guardians have crawled to within 1/2 game of the White Sox in recent days ... but just dropped one to Minnesota as AJ Minter closes out the Twin win. ChiSox, temporarily back to a full game lead, start in a few minutes in StL

And just a minute later, the Dodgers lose a one run game to the Marlins preventing the Mets from sneaking up on 3rd place. Earlier in the week Shoehei finally agreed to an assignment to the IL. Interestingly he goes on the 15-day list rather than the 10-day list reserved for pitchers, so this will cover just about the remainder of the regular season.