Edgy MD

Cincinnati Freds also idle, which gains them a half-game on that tasty 12th place slot. Anything can happen if they can just join that pack. You certainly can't expect San Diego to hold on to that last spot.

Crawford did a heck of a job going down to get that changeup and depositing it in short center. A stealth key play was the pinch-hit walk from Vientos after falling behind. It's good to see him laying off pitches away.

Good to see Alvarez smile. He's got his fertility on the line.

I'll take it.

Shmendrick. Gotta get Crawford.

Realmuto can still get down the line a bit.

And yet, Weavy Wonder is unstoppable.

Minter should still be out there.

Bichette should've bunted. His whole purpose should have been staying out of the double-play to get Soto up.

CarBen now has an OPS over .700. that's pretty impressive considering it was .504 on May 1.

Let's burn a few more relievers.

Waggy's played a lot of first! I'm looking at his profile and he led the league in errors there last year! In only 117 games!

Doesn't matter if they both score! Vegas is right. Mendy put all his chips on the table.

Is Waggy that bad with the glove? The guy you want to run for is Vientos.

And Waggy breaks on through! Now Short in to pinch run ... for Waggy, not Vientos. So Short to short, Bo to third, Baty to right and Benji to center?

Wagaman for Ewing is some kind of call. Mendoza going all in on the top of the seventh.

Run, Benji, run.

Surprised Manaea Steamroller even went out there for the sixth.

And Manaea squeezes through five. Good time to grab the lead back here. I'm looking at you, Brett Baty.

This is looking like the front end of a battle of attrition. Both teams trying hard to keep their starter out there.

And yet, a leadoff triple from Edmundo is not.

A one-run lead is a start, but 41 pitches from Nola through two innings is also encouraging.

And Young gives a hustle lesson.

But the yard DOES NOT hold Soto.

Worth noting that the song also features a direct LL Cool J reference with "Don't call it a comeback — I've been here for years." Some background on the song from songwriter John Darnielle: "Old wizards and old athletes are the same: they were once magic and they were everyone’s hero and they could do anything. […] But they sacrifice their entire bodies to what they do – so do wizards. There are actually three real-world ex-wizards on the record: Doc Gooden, Ozzy Osbourne – who’s my personal totemic wizard – and then there’s the guy on 'Waylon Jennings Live!'" And elsewhere: "When you meet wizards in fiction, they’re often declining. Their powers are often fading, their influence over the court is often waning. And popular figures, I mean, you can be into them when they’re famous but, to me, it’s always the stuff the artists do when they’re running of time that is actually very interesting to me, and I consider athletes artists in this sense. That, like, you know, older boxers, looking for the last perfect fight before they collapse, these are exciting fights. You think of the magic in the world, and how time seems limited. That was the kind of thought I was having when I was working."