OoTS

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Was at Cubs-Cardinals last night.

Bryant-- awesome. Hits everything hard.
Lackey -- terrible. Took the crowd right out of it working slow, throwing too many pitches, then gave up a couple bombs.
Contreras -- awesome. Rookie catcher who hit a HR in 1st MLB AB the day before, had a double, hustles like crazy
Albert Amora Jr. -- moronic. Caught trying to advance to 3rd on a ball in the dirt with 2 on, 1 out in the 9th and Cubs trailing by 1 vs. Rosenthal. effing Molina. Zobrist follows with what easily have been have been game-tying double. F Zobrist and all, but he's pretty good.

Oh, Hayward -- SUCKS.


With Mets going as they were figured whatever gets St. Loo further from the Wild Card was good with me.

Blazing hot day in the 90s turned breezy mild moonlit night. Sent a message to a Cub fan I've known only online since 1999. Sure enough he was at the park: Same section, same seat, 2 rows behind.

[Frayed Knot]

Late last night the Nats dropped their 3rd straight on their west coast swing, this time to the Dodgers in what was supposed to be a Strasberg/Kershaw matchup but Strasberg was pulled prior to the game with "upper back soreness". Yusmiero Petit subbed in and did all right but was undone by HRs from Myna Turner (his 4th in 4 games) and Joc Pederson.

Also, both the Marlins and the Phillies were finishing up 'wrap-around' series at home
- Marlins were trying for a four-game sweep but lost to Colorado thus pulling them back to a tie with us
- while the Phils did complete theirs by getting swept by the DBags and scoring just 5 runs combined in 4 games. That's now 7 losses in a row by the (not)Phightins' and 11 of their last 12, 4-15 in June overall. Geez, even we don't suck that much!

... so it turns out our best day in the last half-week was the one where we didn't even suit-up.

[Frayed Knot]

Several other day games today:

- Braves 6-game winning streak is ended by the Marlins, a 3-0 shutout for Adam Conley & help.

- Yanx jumped out to a 4-run lead on a Chase Headley 2nd inning Grand Slam but Sabathia, who had been pitching well recently, gave it all back and more by the 4th: 5-4 Rox after 4.

- Cubs & Cards finishing up their series after the Cards have taken the first two. Wacha vs Arrieta, just underway at Wrigley.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: - Yanx jumped out to a 4-run lead on a Chase Headley 2nd inning Grand Slam but Sabathia, who had been pitching well recently, gave it all back and more by the 4th: 5-4 Rox after 4. .

oof. CC had been unhittable so I picked him up in fantasy.

[Frayed Knot]

Ceetar wrote: - Yanx jumped out to a 4-run lead on a Chase Headley 2nd inning Grand Slam but Sabathia, who had been pitching well recently, gave it all back and more by the 4th: 5-4 Rox after 4. . oof. CC had been unhittable so I picked him up in fantasy.

Serves you right for relying on Yanquis.

Now 8-4 Rox in the 7th. 6 runs (5 earned) for CC over 4.1

[Frayed Knot]

So now it's 8-7 Rox on account of Beltran's 7th inning 3R HR - his 19th!!
He hit 19 & 15 over the last two seasons and is 39 freakin' years old.


and now it's 8-8

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: So now it's 8-7 Rox on account of Beltran's 7th inning 3R HR - his 19th!! He hit 19 & 15 over the last two seasons and is 39 freakin' years old. and now it's 8-8

I started him too.

[Frayed Knot]

Yanx went on to win that game after both teams blew 4-run leads ... and it wasn't even at Coors!

Nats down 1-0 early in LA trying to not get swept by the Dodgers.

Cubs got thumped by the Cards - and with Arrieta on the mound no less. First time Cubs were swept all year.

[bmfc1]

LA "walks off" WSH. This is a thing of beauty: http://m.mlb.com/video/v847912183/wshlad-dodgers-walk-off-on-puigs-little-league-hr/?game_pk=447950

[Lefty Specialist]

Daniel Murphy double-clutched and never made the throw home.

Maybe they're starting to find out what 'Oh, Murph' means.

[Edgy MD]

I think that play would have left them saying, "Oh, Tay-Tay!"

[Frayed Knot]

What's more unusual, that the CF/leadoff hitter had five Ks and the game-losing error, or that Yasiel Puig was actually hustling on the play? ba-dum-ching!


Nats not faring too well on their first west coast swing of the year. They started out taking the first two in SD but have lost five straight since.
Today they get a travel day en route to a weekend series at Milwaukee in advance of our matchup with them next week.

[bmfc1]

The ESPN feed described it as "Tragedy in the Washington outfield".

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: The ESPN feed described it as "Tragedy in the Washington outfield". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxbsl-Izx5w

Fuck that, I want the Carpenter/Santangelo feed.
Even FP couldn't spin that one in the Nats favor.

[Ceetar]

bmfc1 wrote: The ESPN feed described it as "Tragedy in the Washington outfield". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxbsl-Izx5w

ESPN is such a pathetic network. Besides our schadenfreude, was zeroing in on Taylor's walk of shame all the way from the outfield to the clubhouse really necessary?

Scully of course was great. "The Wild Horse had a chance to run, and run he did."

[MFS62]

I think the last time the Twins beat the MFYs, Tony Oliva was in their outfield.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: I think the last time the Twins beat the MFYs, Tony Oliva was in their outfield.

Twins actually won today - hitting 5 HRs off Eovaldi including 3 back-to-back-to-back with 2 outs.
Expect a previously unscheduled solar eclipse later today.

By my count that's a 24-54 record for the Twins vs the Yanx over the last ten years, and even that doesn't include their 2-12 tally during 4 separate post-season series.