And That Happened

Yankees 9, Red Sox 6: All of the fireworks. All of the intrigue. All of the A-Rod. But this game really came down to the bullpens. The Yankees’ was fresh and effective, the Red Sox’ wasn’t. Our more thorough write-up can be read here. For now the Red Sox probably need to think less about which rats they want to punish and more about how to get guys out and how to protect a division lead which has been cut in half since Tuesday.

Marlins 6, Giants 5: Hero of the game, Jeff Mathis. He homered and hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth that just eluded Andres Torres’ dive. Worst part: The home run sculpture in the outfield in Miami got jammed and did not go off after Mathis’ home run. Which, jeez, if I had to play for that owner and that team the least I’d want is that sculpture to spin around and fart all over itself.

Tigers 6, Royals 3: Chalk up another win for Max Scherzer — his 18th — and another homer for Miguel Cabrera, his 40th. I’d be rather shocked if this wasn’t your Cy Young -MVP combo in the American League this year. The Tigers won three of five in this rare five-game series and I feel like that’s enough to put any hope of anyone in the AL Central challenging them to rest.

Phillies 3, Dodgers 2: That’s the end of the Dodgers’ 10-game winning streak thanks to not one but two ninth-inning errors from Hanley Ramirez. For the Phillies it was the first win — and first runs scored — of the Ryne Sandberg Administration.

Orioles 7, Rockies 2: Chris Davis went 4 for 5 with a double, a homer and a couple driven in. The homer was his 45th. Adam Jones had three hits including a two-run homer. So weird that last year they needed all the runs but had an awesome bullpen, this year they have been scoring just fine but have needed better relief. Baseball, man. Baseball.

Braves 2, Nationals 1: Julio Teheran tossed six scoreless. The Braves won two of three and now have a 15.5 game lead. All of this stupid beanball crap has reflected poorly on the Braves in my view — and Braves fans booing Harper like they did here is dumb — but it’s not going to amount to the stuff of rivalry until next year, it seems.

Rays 2, Blue Jays 1: Jose Lobaton hit a walk-off home run in the 10th. This goes with his walkoff triple on Friday. Now all he needs is the single and double for the walkoff cycle. That’s a thing, right?

Diamondbacks 4, Pirates 2: Sixteen innings. The D-backs held the Pirates scoreless in the last 13 of those. Adam Eaton had four hits including the go-ahead double in that final frame. The Pirates dropped two of three — Saturday’s game in ugly fashion allowing 15 runs on 20 hits, this one with no punch at all — and have lost three straight series. Their division lead is down to one game. They need to find a way to stop the bleeding.

White Sox 5, Twins 2: Alexei Ramirez homered and had three RBI. Hector Santiago pitched in and out of trouble but got the win. After the game his manager, Robin Ventura, said it was like a root canal watching him pitch. He really did. Which, well, thanks, skip.

Reds 9, Brewers 1: Homer Bailey allowed one run in eight innings. Not that he needed to be so good, as Wily Peralta fooled no Reds batters and coughed up seven runs on eight hits in four and a third. Ryan Hanigan drove in three.

Mariners 4, Rangers 3: Kyle Seager with a go-ahead double in the ninth on a pitch from Joe Nathan at which he probably had no business swinging. The M’s take two of three from Texas.

Cardinals 6, Cubs 1: Adam Wainwright struck out 11 in seven innings to snag his 14th win. Jon Jay drove in four with a homer and a double. After a rough stretch St. Louis has now won five of seven and is only a game behind the Pirates. Now the Cardinals get the pleasure of facing the punchless Brewers for three games. After that, though, 17 straight against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

Astros 7, Angels 5: Matt Dominguez hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Astros take two of three. They took two of three from the A’s before that, so that’s a pretty nice stretch for them. Mike Trout left the game with some hamstring tightness, but he doesn’t think it’s serious.

Padres 4, Mets 3: A walkoff homer for Will Venable to lead off the ninth. He also drove in a run in the fifth. He now has a 15-game hitting streak.

Athletics 7, Indians 3: Chris Young and Alberto Callaspo homered in the fifth inning. Josh Donaldson drove in three. Lots of good defense from the A’s too.  Oakland is now only a half game behind Texas. Cleveland has lost six of its last seven in the Coliseum.


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Will H.
10 years ago

I know good, smart Braves fans, and liked how Kimbrel recognized the demeanor and attitude from the Nats fanbase when they played here in DC, but there were also a ton of really obnoxious ATL fans there who, I don’t know, feel wronged for not being picked as the preseason favorites or something? I hear them, but cheering on guys getting hit is disgusting, and you’d think being up over 15 games would be enough to not have to root on beaning a gamer of a player over and over, etc.

Paul G.
10 years ago

The walkoff cycle would make a great article.

Dave Cornutt
10 years ago

There was a lot of discussion of the whole brouhaha on the Talking Chop game threads over the weekend, and the general concensus is tha there was less here than meets the eye.  Bryce Harper stands in pretty close to the plate.  I think he realizes that he’s going to get plunked some and he’s OK with that.  Alex Wood hit him with a 78-MPH curve ball.  Harper himself didn’t regard it as a big deal. 

I don’t think that Luis Avilan was trying to hit Harper, and I don’t think that Stephen Strasburg was trying to hit Andrelton Simmons.  Avilan’s fastball tails sometimes, and in that situation he certainly wasn’t deliberately putting the go-ahead run on base.  As for Stras, his wildness against Simmons (for a few pitches he was looking like Mark Wohlers) resulted in a wild pitch that allowed a run to score.  Pitchers don’t give up runs just to prove a point. 

The opinion of the Talking Chop regulars is that the Friday and Saturday games in Atlanta attract a lot of fair-weather fans and people who just come to the game to have an excuse to drink.  (Personally, I don’t need an excuse to drink, but…)  So yeah, the cheering when Harper got hit was disgusting.  No excuses on that one.  Did it bother Harper?  Not a bit.  I think being hated by the opposing team’s fans gets him pumped up.  He relishes it.  He has some things to learn, but he’s a fun player to watch. 

Atlanta and Washington are developing a good rivalry.  As long as they don’t let things get out of hand, it’s going to be fun to watch these two teams play for years to come.

Dave Cornutt
10 years ago

One other bit I meant to add: As far as being “wronged”, there’s a definite sense among Atlanta fans that the Braves are ignored or disparaged by a lot of the media.  The assumption is that the media wants to see large-market teams dominate the playoffs every year.  (A lot of long-time Braves fans still recall the media discussion from the 1991 World Series.)  So there seems to be some sort of assumption among the media that the Braves will collapse and the Nationals will pull off a miracle comeback, hence the Braves can be discounted.  Also, and this has nothing to do with Washington as such, but a lot of Braves fans are still steaming over the blown infield-fly call in the play-in game against St. Louis last year.  Braves fans have long memories.