Edgy MD

W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP BB SO 6 3 .667 2.65 14 13 1 3 1 0 88.1 24 48 Tomás Juan in the post-season.

Hearing the name of Mason Miller always puts me in mind of the nutty 19th Century New England Baptist preacher and active Mason, William Miller. Mason Miller always looked like he was holding in a Masonic fart.

Howie Rose speculated on the air that at least a generation and probably more of baseball fans have grown up first thinking that "Tommy John" was the name of a pioneering surgeon, before only later learning that he was in fact a ballplayer, and a hell of a ballplayer. His broadcast partner Keith Raad then chimed in with a small amount of embarrassment that he was one of those fans growing up with that misunderstanding.

Yeah, I don't care if you're 100 points better than average in one season, or one point better than average in 100 seasons — your 100 points gets you my Hall.

Also, I don't disagree with TJ for his rejection of that stratagem. He was a Hell of a pitcher in 1981. He had been an All-Star in three straight seasons before that, and probably should have been one that year as well. He was money down the stretch in the second half and in the post-season up until then also. I don't know what Lemon was thinking, but he tended to manage like he was afraid of Steinbrenner's hot breath coming down his neck. That was two or so days after Steinbrenner's elevator fight, too.

With all the drama around Ike Davis' strange career, I had forgotten that he was Ron's son.

Oh, and Let's Go, Guardians!!

Kodai the Kloser is no longer an experiment, but is kind of a thing.

Always nice to see Senga cover first and walk away in one piece.

LAVENDER POWER!!

Send up the Periwinkle Signal!!

He may not be in the Hall of Fame, but he's sure in my Hall of Fame.

HI, I'm Luis Torrens' contract extension. I'm just dropping in to see how everybody is doing.

TORRENSIAL DOWNPOUR!!!

Brady House in unexpectedly good shape!

A 2-0 deficit is not the plan. Dammit, Abimelic.

Jorge Polanco is not to be stopped.

A perfect first for Scottie. It would be nice if Carson Benge didn't have to smash into a fence to keep it perfect, but that's the way it went down.

Check out Joshua Baez coming in at 27th on that list after ONE GAME!

Here's a broad but incomplete overview for those playing at home. Rk Player Team Age G PA BA OBP SLG OPS HR RBI SB GP GS W l ERA SV IP BB SO bWAR fWAR WPA AVG VAL 1 JJ Wetherholt* STL 23 117 530 .241 .347 .373 .720 16 45 13 4.4 4.1 2.12 3.54 2 Foster Griffin* WSN 30 22 22 12 3 3.06 0 129.1 30 116 3.4 1.8 2.60 2.60 3 Carson Benge* NYM 23 118 488 .275 .338 .419 .757 14 49 18 2.5 2.7 0.20 1.80 4 Sal Stewart CIN 22 122 528 .261 .337 .478 .816 26 91 12 1.9 2.2 1.27 1.79 5 TJ Rumfield* COL 26 120 483 .291 .371 .448 .819 13 59 0 2.8 1.9 0.52 1.74 6 Didier Fuentes ATL 21 43 1 4 1 2.39 2 52.2 15 67 1.7 1.7 1.49 1.63 7 Nolan McLean NYM 24 24 24 8 8 3.42 0 136.2 50 159 1.9 2.6 0.11 1.54 8 Esmerlyn Valdéz PIT 22 55 217 .256 .369 .556 .924 14 41 0 1.6 1.7 1.21 1.50 9 Cole Carrigg# COL 24 55 213 .291 .373 .484 .856 5 31 7 1.4 1.5 1.40 1.43 10 Christian Scott NYM 27 17 17 3 3 3.45 0 78.1 33 98 1.7 1.9 0.55 1.38 11 Brandyn Garcia* ARI 26 41 0 0 1 2.06 4 35.0 7 39 1.2 1.0 1.90 1.37 12 Andrew Alvarez* WSN 27 18 10 2 4 3.72 1 75.0 33 69 1.4 1.7 0.80 1.30 13 A.J. Ewing* NYM 21 83 342 .252 .324 .381 .705 7 28 16 2.3 1.4 0.16 1.29 14 Joe Mack* MIA 23 76 243 .240 .297 .434 .731 12 36 0 1.8 2.1 -0.06 1.28 15 Logan Henderson MIL 24 11 11 6 2 2.88 0 56.1 11 69 1.7 1.4 0.71 1.27 16 Konnor Griffin PIT 20 59 247 .276 .332 .404 .736 5 25 20 1.7 1.2 0.21 1.04 17 Zac Thornton NYM 24 8 8 3 3 2.78 0 45.1 13 29 1.7 0.7 0.68 1.03 18 Bubba Chandler PIT 23 24 23 6 8 4.23 0 121.1 64 108 1.3 1.8 -0.26 0.95 19 Bradgley Rodriguez SDP 22 51 4 3 2 2.09 1 56.0 17 59 1.4 1.4 -0.21 0.86 20 Shane Drohan* MIL 27 24 14 6 4 3.94 1 98.1 31 98 0.6 2.0 -0.25 0.78 21 Pedro Ramírez# CHC 22 48 136 .301 .356 .447 .803 2 15 7 1.2 0.9 -0.26 0.61 22 Cooper Pratt MIL 21 44 159 .272 .352 .368 .720 2 17 10 1.4 1.2 -0.81 0.60 23 Bryce Eldridge* SFG 21 80 326 .246 .337 .435 .773 13 31 1 0.9 0.6 0.15 0.55 24 Rhett Lowder CIN 24 21 18 4 8 5.15 0 94.1 40 77 0.6 1.1 -0.21 0.50 25 Daniel Susac SFG 25 53 161 .243 .289 .375 .664 3 22 2 0.7 1.1 -0.53 0.42 26 Alex Freeland# LAD 24 72 223 .231 .309 .313 .622 3 19 2 0.7 0.4 0.10 0.40 27 Joshua Báez STL 23 1 4 .750 .750 3.000 3.750 3 5 0 0.3 0.4 0.47 0.39 28 Rafael Flores PIT 25 15 43 .297 .395 .649 1.044 4 10 0 0.5 0.5 0.14 0.38 29 Abimelec Ortiz* WSN 24 13 37 .306 .324 .667 .991 4 8 0 0.5 0.3 0.29 0.36 30 Gabriel Hughes COL 24 7 6 0 4 5.61 1 33.2 12 31 0.3 0.9 -0.26 0.31 31 Ryan Waldschmidt ARI 23 58 211 .275 .332 .386 .718 2 16 6 0.8 1.0 -0.89 0.30 32 Harry Ford WSN 23 16 55 .213 .327 .447 .774 2 7 1 0.4 0.5 -0.09 0.27 33 Robert Gasser* MIL 27 14 14 3 5 4.54 0 73.1 19 68 0.4 0.7 -0.45 0.22 34 Wilber Dotel PIT 23 15 0 1 4 4.71 0 28.2 13 31 0.1 0.4 0.04 0.18 35 Kyle Hurt LAD 28 37 1 3 1 4.46 1 38.1 21 46 0.0 0.4 -0.22 0.06 36 Sung-Mun Song* SDP 29 60 131 .207 .313 .270 .583 1 15 12 0.1 0.5 -0.58 0.01

Here's an overview for those playing at home.

He's certainly a candidate, but right now, the clear leader is JJ Wetherholt of the Cardinals. And if you want to back a Met, the smarter money is probably on McLean.

Yes, and that is bad. But it is not an indictment of looking at players who have been playing other positions. It's an indictment of looking to players who have had spotty health history, underwhelming track records, and a healthy affordability relative to Pete Alonso. To a lesser extent it's also an indictment of bad luck. They placed a handful of conservative bets, but almost all of their rolls with regard to first base came up snake eyes. Branch Rickey called luck "the residue of design." That may be so, in full or part, but it's sure been some gross and sticky residue over there this year.

We've got Jorge Polanco, after a big hit late in yesterday's game getting the call again this afternoon. We've got Luis Robert, Jr. making his debut in left. We've got a well rested Jack Weisenburger. If that's not a formula for success, I don't know what is. Ball Launcher Jake Irvin RHP 2-6, 5.79 ERA, 66 SO Lineup CJ Abrams (L) SS Abimelec Ortiz (L) 1B Dylan Crews (R) RF Daylen Lile (L) LF Brady House (R) 3B Jorbit Vivas (L) 2B Andrés Chaparro (R) DH Keibert Ruiz (S) C Jacob Young (R) CF Particle Accelerator Christian Scott RHP 3-3, 3.45 ERA, 98 SO Lineup A.J. Ewing (L) CF Francisco Lindor (S) SS Bo Bichette (R) 3B Carson Benge (L) RF Jared Young (L) 1B Luis Robert Jr. (R) LF Brett Baty (L) 2B Jorge Polanco (S) DH Luis Torrens (R) C

Also, that was the first career win — against zero losses — for Jefrey Yan. Sweet, sweet perfection!