TWiB Notes -- Week of April 13 thru 19

[Frayed Knot]

From the 'Things Could Be Worse' file: at least none of the Met pitchers have had a game as bad as the one put forth on Monday night by Boston's Garrett Crochet of all people.

Bottom of 1st inning (vs Twins): FO, 2B, WP, 2B, 1B, FO, BB, HBP, IF 1B, PO [9 batters faced, 4 runs, 4 hits]

Bottom 2nd: 1B, BB, BB, 1B, 2B, HR, GO, FO, HR ... and then pulled. [9 batters faced, 7 runs, 5 hits, 2 BB]  

In all, 18 betters, 11 scored, 5 retired. (1-2/3 IP) 2 LOB. Sawx are now 6-10 (much worse than our 7-10)

[Frayed Knot]

Dom Smith is 3/4 tonight including an 8th inning/two-out/3-RBI 2B to put the Braves ahead 6-5.  This should put his BA at right around .400 and push his OPS to 1100. OK it's just 38 ABs, but still ... 

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx have given up 21 runs to the Angels in three games (they have a fourth game Thursday afternoon) but won two of the three with both wins coming by scoring three times in the bottom of the 9th.

Tonight it was bases-empty/one out in B-9th when Jazz Chisholm  popped up in the IF. But the SS & 3B played I-got-it/you-take-it and it fell untouched. The Angels never got another out.

About the only positive thing for LAA is that Trout has homered four times in the three games so maybe the 34 y/o (35 in August) has some juice left in the tank yet ... until the next injury occurs anyway.

[whippoorwill]

Today is Paul Skenes Day in Pittsburgh. 
 

he’s pitching and it’s his bobble head giveaway. They started a half hour early because they’re expecting 18  inches of rain 

[whippoorwill]

Oh yeah now it’s pouring 

[Frayed Knot]

Take a picture of the current standings cuz, thanks in part to the first two debacles in Wrigley, the entire NL Central is over .500 right now. And if that isn't enough of an oddity, Cincy & Pitt are leading the way.  It's all pretty bunched up so things can change quickly but I'm betting that no one was betting on that at any point in the season.

[whippoorwill]

After a rain delay the Pirates pulled Skenes, who was doing just fine of course, and put in a just called up reliever who promptly pooped the bed. 

[Frayed Knot]

Well, it was a 2-1/2 hour delay so you're not going to re-start a pitcher after that much down time and already 64 pitches under his belt for the day, particularly not one as valuable as Skenes.

The Pirates eventually lost it in the 13th inning after scoring just two runs over four innings of ghost-runner ball. Their final batter, Joey Bart (who should be playing for San Francisco), K'd with the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 2nd to end the game. The loss dropped them from tied for 1st all the way down to 4th place just 1/2 game out of last ... but that's what happens when all five NLC teams are separated by just 1-1/2 games in the standings.

[whippoorwill]

Yeah, the Pirates have been fun to watch and it's sad that the division is so close because they've worked very hard to keep competitive after being so, well, sucky for so long.

[Frayed Knot]

Well the Rockies figured out how to not only score against the Dodgers (OK, the series was in Denver, but still ...) and even how to win as they took two of three this weekend [1-7, 4-3, 9-6] from the defending champs.

Edwin Diaz did his part as he came in for the 8th inning of what was then a one run COL lead but never recorded an out [1B, SB, Bunt 1B, 1B] and wound up being charged by three earned. This now pushes Sugar's season ERA up to 10.50 through 7 games/6 innings.