Click the above image to view clickable stats in a separate tab. I upload an update each time my team begins a new series with a new opponent.
As a Yankees fan, I really enjoyed my team's performance in 2017. Most exciting for me were the playoffs, particularly being one game away from beating the Houston Astros for the American League pennant. For my replay, I will attempt to do better than the real Yankees. This season I will chase the stars and try to catch the Astros like the real-life Yankees almost did in seven games.
This replay uses my settings. I modified all teams' starters and setups/closers to make them more challenging. However by the World Series I realized the game had a 15-pitcher limit for all teams that prevented certain pitchers from being used at all (for example, NY NL's Noah Syndergaard). Thus, the game unfortuately did not utilize all starting pitchers the way I intended. I now know a workaround to fix that problem. Future leagues will have starters at their maximum and be more challenging for batters!
Anyway, I am posting all results, pre-game notes, newspaper recaps, League Notes summaries of interesting autoplayed games, recaps provided by my Events settings, and my own Manager Notes for what went through my head during each Yankees win and loss. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I did playing Strat-O-Matic and writing my thoughts.
Click the above image to view clickable stats in a separate tab. I upload an update each time my team begins a new series with a new opponent.
See all the summaries below
Manager's Notes
Nope Scherzer felt better after the day off. I forgot about his 7*. However we have the next best thing to Luis Severino to counter his start - Sonny Gray. Seves would be available to pitch a Game 7 but he would be a little tired.
Sonny kept the Nats hitless for the first three innings. In the bottom of the 3rd Chase Headley was able to make a sacrifice hit to score Ronald Torreyes, who had hit a triple. Unfortunately in the top of 5th Sonny gave up a 2-run single to Wieters for the Nats to lead 2-1. Fortunately in the bottom Toe hit a homer to tie the game! Dare I dream of a World Series cycle?
Zimmerman showed he enjoys hitting at Yankee Stadium, bringing back Game 1 nightmares with a solo homer in the top of the 6th for 3-2 lead. Headley was again the RBI hero in the bottom of the 7th, stretching a double into a triple to score Starlin Castro to tie the game at 3-3. We were able to force Scherzer out of the game but couldn't take the lead. Sonny was solid for us the rest of the way, pitching 7 innings total.
Great relief pitching kept both teams' batters at bay for the end of the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 10th Brett Gardner batted leadoff against a tired RP Romero, who relieved Scherzer. The pitch. The swing. Deep to center field. HOME RUN!!! THE YANKEES WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!! What an ending to a dream season!!!
Aaron Judge has won the game's playoffs MVP. He had a .261 average, 6 hits, 4 walks, 4 homers, and 8 RBIs in the last 10 days. For all of the playoffs he batted .203 with a .365/.627/.992 line, totaled 19 RBIs (tops in the playoffs), and 7 homers (also tops). He also walked 14 times (1st), was tied for 2nd in runs with 11 (only Ryan Zimmerman had more, 12), and tied for 1st in Total Bases (with Zimmerman, 37). That is a well deserved award for Aaron to go with his World Series ring, especially after a very, very slow start to the season.
I need to go sleep soon and travel out of town this weekend. I will wrap up the regular season properly when I get back. For now I got to put on my ski goggles and go celebrate with my players and personnel in our champagne shower!!!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Chase Headley got thing started in the top of 2nd with a RBI single. In the next inning, aron Judge hit his 6th homer of the postseason with a 2-run shot for a 3-0 lead. Poor fielding in the bottom half gave the Nats a run but still, a 3-1 lead after one third of the game. Judge hit his seventh homer in the top of the 5th for a 4-1 lead!
Amazingly, in the next inning, the manager stubbornly kept Roark, who loaded the bases with two outs. Aaron "Reggie Jackson" Judge was up next!!! He got the white 1 column!!! Unfortunately he thought better than to swing and took a walk, so we scored one more run instead of four. Didier Gregorius immediately hit a 2-run single off RP Romero to make me feel better. We loaded the bases yet again and Starlin Castro launched one to LF... but it was easily robbed by Taylor. Heck of a play.
For the rest of the game we used RP Grace for batting practice, getting 4 runs off him. Luis Severino ran out of gas after 5.1 innings, but Dellin Betances, Tommy Kahnle, and Aroldis Chapman finished the game for us. Hmm, if there is a Game 7, we may see Scherzer vs. Severino again!!! For now Seves got a very much well deserved World Series win. We have a 3-2 lead and head back to Yankee Stadium for hopefully one last game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Our batters had a huge start against Scherzer - just what we needed to get back in this series. Brett Gardner beat the shift with a single and Aaron Judge hit a double past LF Kendrick. Didier Gregorius singled and stretched it into a double as both baserunners scored. Ronald Torreyes hit a clutch single to get Didi to hustle home. The Nationals responded with two well-hit runs to trail 3-2.
In the top of 2nd, Toe made a key fielder's choice to get a man on 3B out at home plate in the bottom of the 2nd. Jordan Montgomery pitched poorly but escaped with only one run given up for a 3-3 tie. Chase Headley followed up in the bottom frame with a big 2-run double.
The Nats' manager ran out of patience with the 5-3 deficit in the top of 4th and pulled Scherzer out for Werth to pinch hit. Unfortunately for us Werth saw a pitch he liked and sent it to the center field stands for a solo homer. Jordan kept bleeding up baserunners so I took him out for Chasen Shreve to get Harper to fly out to Judge and end the inning with a 5-4 lead. It would be up to our relievers now.
We got a couple more runs. PH Matt Holiday rewarded me for pulling out Shreve with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 5th. Didi Gregorius hit a monster homer to center field the next inning. The Nats gave up a couple more runs. Our relievers gave up no runs and helped us to take Game 4 to even the series 2-2 with one last game at Nationals Park.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
We just got shelled at Nationals Park. Washington hit 4 doubles (2 by Zimmerman) and 3 home runs (2 by Murphy). C.C. Sabathia gave up 5 earned runs and we used our B-team relievers so our strongest relievers will be good to go for Games 4 and 5. The Nationals now lead 2 games to 1.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge launched a solo blast in the bottom of the 1st to start us off. The Nationals tied it the next inning, but Judge responded with another homer, a three-runner, in the bottom of the 5th.
Both Sonny Gray and Strasburg ended the night with 8 strikeouts. Overall a good game, but we were outhit 4 to 6. We will see what we can do in Washington without a D.H. This season we are 7-3 at National League ballparks.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Scherzer vs. Luis Severino more than lived up to its billing. Both starters went 7 innings and gave up only one run between them. Unfortunately for us, it was a solo Zimmerman blast in the top of the 4th. The Nats totaled only 5 hits and we managed only 3. Washington takes Game 1.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Cleveland started with a 2-0 lead thanks to a Bruce homer in the top of the 2nd inning. We countered with a Todd Frazier 3-run homer in the bottom of that inning. Just like that, Clevinger got yanked from the game. Let's hope we can continue to score runs against the Indians' relievers.
In the top of the 3rd inning Cleveland tried to tie the game with a double by Ramirez to LF. Brett Gardner rolled a 20 to gun down Lindor trying to score from 1B! Starlin Castro scored a RBI and sacrificed himself at 2B to ensure that Didi Gregorius would score to extend our lead to 4-2.
We traded runs soon after to make the lead 5-3. Didi finally showed his true power with a grand slam in the bottom of 6th!!! 9-3 lead!
The power display did not end right there. Toe homered for his second consecutive game in the bottom of 7th, a solo blast. Aaron Judge added a big 3-run blast. 13-3. It took us until Game 7 for our offense to show up! Todd Frazier hit a RBI double to make it 14-3.
Dellin Betances had a masterful relief performance, striking out 7 Indians in the last 3 innings to earn his first save of the postseason. The Indians did not make it easy at all, but after seven games, the A.L. pennant is ours!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Sonny Gray gave up a silly wild pitch in the top of the 2nd for Cleveland's first run. However, Carrasco got knocked out of the game early by a surprise 3-run homer by Ronald Torreyes in the end of the 2nd inning.
Gray pitched well for most of the game, but we tried to win using relievers. It did not work well tonight. Chad Green gave up two runs in the 8th inning to allow the Indians to tie the game. Chasen Shreve gave up the game-losing RBI in the top of the 9th inning. The series is now tied 3-3.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Washington Nationals 3 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 2 (11 innings)
Stephen Strasburg struck out 12 Dodgers to keep the game low socring. The Dodgers, down 2-1, rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th with a Kike Hernandez solo homer. In the top of the 11th Daniel Murphy hit a single to score Bryce Harper. RP Enny Romero stayed for his second inning to secure his win and a World Series trip for the Nationals! The Nats win the National League pennant 4 games to 1.
Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
C.C. Sabathia just doesn't want to make things easy for us. He loaded the bases again in the bottom of 1st, but managed to strike out Bruce, who was swinging for the fences.
Brett Gardner managed to squeeze in Matt Holliday in the top of the 3rd for a 1-0 lead.
C.C. Sabathia was pulled after 4.2 innings with men on 1st and 2nd for RP Chasen Shreve. He gave up a RBI double to Bruce, but Jacoby Ellsbury, with his +1 arm, barely managed to gun down Santana trying to score at home plate for the lead. 1-1 tie. Unfortunately the next inning a Kipnis S= gave the Indians a 2-1 lead.
Our offense finally woke up in the bottom of 8th. We loaded the bases with no out and forced Kluber out of the game. RP Miller gave up a 2-run single to LF by Brett Gardner to a 3-2 lead! Gardner stole second, and C Gomes' throw sailed into the OF for another run!!!
We took advantage of our very well rested bullpen and pulled off a win when we needed one the most. Ellsbury was the star going 4 for 4 against righty Kluber, helping to balloon his ERA to 6.33 for the playoffs. Gardner was no slouch, driving in three runs and triggering a 4th run with his steal.
I wish we could win without drama, but the Indians made it to the A.L.C.S. for a reason. We have the day off tomorrow to fly back to the Bronx and try to capitalize on our 3-2 lead and home field advantage.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Washington Nationals 11 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 6
The Nationals exploded for 6 runs in the top of the 7th inning to extend their lead to 11-3. The lead was too insurmontable for the Dodgers to come back from. The Nationals lead 3-1 and will try to close out the series tomorrow.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge is definitely out of his slump now. He hit a homer for his second consecutive game. In the top of 1st he got us ahead 2-0. Unfortunately in the next inning Luis Severino gave up the tying two-run homer to Kipnis.
Seves had another good game going until the bottom of the 6th, when he gave up another 2-run homer, this time to Bruce.
We were awful today, getting only two hits total thanks to Salazar's brilliant 10-strikeout performance. The series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 tomorrow at Cleveland, where we seem to be struggling. The good news is that CL Allen just pitched again today, so he will likely be too tired to pitch tomorrow if there is another close game. In addition, Severino went the distance, so our relief pitchers will be very well rested and ready to go as needed.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Washington Nationals 2 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 3 (10 innings)
The Nats looked on their way to winning Game 3, leading 2-0 early on. Austin Barnes hit a 2-run homer to tie the game in the 5th inning. The low scoring held up until the bottom of the 10th. The Dodgers were able to load the bases to set up Justin Turner's walk-off single. The Nationals still lead 2 games to 1.
Manager's Notes
C.C. Sabathia picked the worst possible night to have a bad start against his former team. he went only one inning before falling behind 4-0 and loading the bases with no out. Fortunately Adam Warren threw two strikeouts and induced a grounder go get us out of the jam.
In the top of 3rd Brett Gardner swung instead of bunted with men on 2nd and 1st and no out, which is my usual strategy. That led to a double play, which hurt even more when the next batter, Aaron Judge, hit a homer that scored us only two instead of three runs. 4-2 deficit.
A wild pitch with Todd Frazier at 3B gave us another run. 4-3 deficit instead of 4-4 tie.
We had our best chance at a comeback in the bottom of the 8th when PH Matt Holliday and Chase Headley forced walks with two outs. However CL Allen was able to get Todd Frazier to pop out to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 8th I put in my best reliever, Chad Green, to try to get one last out against Gomes. Gomes punished me for stratballing with a two-run home run. We loaded the bases in the top of the 9th with one out but Gary Sanchez struck out and Starlin Castro grounded out, both against non-closing relievers after Allen was too tired to continue. We still lead 2-1 with Game 4 tomorrow.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 @ Washington Nationals 9
The Nationals won again to take a 2-0 NLCS lead. They simply had more hits than the Dodgers, 13 to 5, as Clayton Kershaw was unable to limit the Nats. Matt Albers got the W for the Nationals instead of SP Stephen Strasburg after the former went only 4 1/3 innings. The latter pitched 3 shutout innings. Don't be surprised to see Strasburg getting another start if the Dodgers manage to pull off another series comeback.
Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
For the start of the game Lindor and Jacoby Ellsbury traded solo homers in the 1st inning. However the Tribe got to Sonny Gray in the next two innings. He gave up a leadoff homer to Bruce in the top of the 2nd and Brantley hit a RBI single in the top of the 3rd for a 3-1 lead.
Our batters struggled to find a rhythm all game as Carrasco pitched brilliantly. He did give up another solo homer, that time to Starlin Castro, in the bottom of the 7th.
CL Allen took over for a 2-inning save attempt. We were down to our very last out. Ronald Torreyes barely managed to punch a single into outfield. Todd Frazier was up next. HOME RUN! THE YANKEES WIN!!!
We can't rely on walk-off heroics forever if we want to go to the World Series. I should note that Aaron Judge has been struggling. Other than last night's walk-off single, he has been hitless in 20 ABs this postseason! However for tonight, a win is a win! We head to Cleveland for Game 3 with a 2-0 lead.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 @ Washington Nationals 4
The N.L.C.S. started with a walk off win for the home team too! The Dodgers started off 2-0 with a Justin Turner RBI single. In the bottom of the 6th, Bryce Harper hit an incredible triple that scored two teammates. A sacrifice grounder by Ryan Zimmerman scored Bryce for a 3-0 lead. PH Austin Barnes hit a RBI double in the top of the 9th for a 3-3 Dodgers tie. However, Adrian Sanchez, who batted only once all season for the Nats (blame me for allowing computer minor leaguers to play), hit a walk-off RBI double for the Nationals to start this series with a 1-0 lead.
Manager's Notes
We did not have a good start in Game 1 as Luis Severino gave up back-to-back homers to Ramirez and Kipnis to give the Tribe a 3-0 lead in the top of 2nd.
The bottom of the 4th was unexpected for us. Trailing 3-1 with two outs, after Gary Sanchez hit into a double play seeing his favorite pitch, Starlin Castro singled. Ronald Torreyes accidentally got hit by Kluber. Chase Headley, of all people, rolled a 4 and a 2 6's to hit a homer that barely cleared the RF porch!!! 4-3 lead!
The Tribe rallied in the 5th and Seves' wild pitch gave men in scoring position with Bruce up at bat. I had no choice - it would have been nice to give Luis another playoff win, but Bruce already hit a double off him. Chasen Shreve fooled him with a change-up that caused him to roll a 1 and 2 6's... pop out to CF Aaron Hicks!
The Indians made it exciting in the top of 6th. Aroldis Chapman took over for Shreve, but he gave up a wild pitch with the bases loaded and one out to give the Indians a run. Fortunately the inning before Brett Gardner hit a solo homer, so we still led 5-4. A fielder's choice to home plate and a left fly got us out of that jam.
Aaron Hicks, who had a red Extreme Matchup against Kluber, came through huge with a S2 that rolled past 2B Kipnis and scored both men in scoring positions.
Dellin Betances came through with a huge top of 7th, giving up a solo homer to Encarnicon... but also striking out everyone else.
Unfortunately in the top of the 9th David Robertson blew his first save in a long, long time by giving up the game-tying 2-run HR to Brantley. Fortunately Brett Gardner beat the shift with a double hit on the left foul line. Aaron Judge rewarded that effort with a single to CF Zimmer that gave Gardner a 65% chance of being safe from 3rd... and Gardner rolled a 9! A great win for us. Kluber did not make it easy for us by pitching the entire game until Gardner's double. He has a 7.53 ERA this postseason so far.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 4 @ St. Louis Cardinals 2
The Dodgers started off hot with a RBI double by Corey Seager and a sacrifice fly by Yasmin Grandal to lead 2-0 in the top of the 1st. The Cardinals made it a new game with consecutive solo homers by Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham. Unfortunately for the Red Birds, they couldn't muster much of an offense after that. In the to of the 3rd, Yasmin Grandal knocked in an unearned single due to an error and Curtis Granderson singled in another run. Good pitching took over for the rest of the game. Alex Wood earned the win and Kenley Jansen recorded his third consecutive save. The Dodgers completed their comeback from a 2-0 deficit to earn a trip to the N.L. Championship Series against the Washington Nationals.
Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 3 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 4
Clayton Kershaw redeemed himself with a tough 6-inning performance. He gave up 3 runs, but in the bottom of the 5th Cody Bellinger hit a 2-ruun HR to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead, one that they would not relinquish. Kenley Jansen saved for the second consecutive game. Now the series is tied 2-2 and will return to Busch Stadium for a deciding Game Five.
Washington Nationals 3 @ Colorado Rockies 2
Coors Field could not help the Rockies or hurt Max Scherzer. Max struck out 10 batters and nearly pitched a shutout. However the Rockies had two consecutive 2-out solo homers - one by Nolan Arenado and another by Ryan Hanigan. Sean Doolittle forced Mark Reynolds to ground out for the save and to eliminate the Rockies 3-1.
Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
I decided to make Jordan Montgomery the Game 4 starter. Jaime Garcia had been red-hot since being called up but Montgomery had been very consistent. The Sox started Rodriguez, who had a 12-3 record in the regular season and a .800 winning percentage - even better than Sale!
We were able to score quickly in the top of the 3rd. With the bases loaded and no out, Gary Sanchez hit a single and stretched it into a double, scoring two teammates. In the next inning, with Todd Frazier on 3B, Aaron Hicks hit what looked like a 3rd out to RF Betts, but chasing down the F3 caused Betts to roll a 14... a E2!!! Frazier scored!
To the Red Sox's credit, they fought back and scored a run in the 5th and 7th innings, including two consecutive doubles off Aroldis Chapman in the 7th. Boston played bravely, but they could not get a hit against the one-two pitch of Chad Green and David Robertson.
Yes I do rag on the game's computer manager from time to time. However, the manager did nothing to lose the series against me, and I definitely feel like it was a challening series. I must say winning the ALDS 3-1 against the hated Sox on their home field is sweet!!! Now to go back to Yankee Stadium to host the Cleveland Indians for the A.L. Championship!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 2 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 3
The Cardinals looked like they were going to sweep the Dodgers when they led 4-0 in the bottom of the 7th. However the Dodges got to work. After RP Tyler Lyons hit Chase Utley and walked Yasiel Puig, Kike Hernandez hit a huge three-run HR to put the Dodgers ahead 3-0!!! Kenley Jansen saved Rich Hill's strong start. The Cardinals still lead 2-1.
Washington Nationals 7 @ Colorado Rockies 0
The Nationals look to be in the driver's seat for the series. Gio Gonzalez threw a 5-hit shutout. Matt Wieters hit a three-run HR and a RBI double to lead the Nats' offense on Coors Field. Washington now leads 2-1.
Manager's Notes
With Sale starting at home for the Red Sox, every run became important. In the bottom of 4th, Benintendi got beaned by C.C. Sabathia. Betts advanced him to 2B and Ramirez doubled him home. In the next inning, Nunez singled and stole a base, and Pedroia singled him home.
We were able to finally score a run in the top of the 6th when Hicks, who reached 1B on a Vazquez catcher's error, scored on a Gary Sanchez sacrifice fly. In the top of the 7th inning Sale got yanked after walking Matt Holliday as the computer manager decided to trust his relievers. The trust paid off as we were unable to get any further hits in the game. The Red Sox cut the series deficit to 2-1.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Houston Astros 3 @ Cleveland Indians 7
I guess we are not chasing the stars anymore as the Astros were unable to prevent the Indians from sweeping them. The Tribe once again scored early in the game and gave Justin Verlander a 0-2 record for this year's playoffs. Jay Bruce led the Tribe offense with two hits and 3 RBIs.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 0 @ St. Louis Cardinals 1
The Cards go 2-0 for the series when Luke Weaver outdueled Alex Wood in a pitcher's duel. Dexter Fowler tripled and Tommy Pham doubled him home in the bottom of the 3rd for the game's only runs.
Colorado Rockies 1 @ Washington Nationals 2
Stephen Strasburg dazzled with a 3-hitter today. Bryce Harper hit a RBI single in the bottom of the 6th and Anthony Rendon added a solo homer in the bottom of the 7th for the Nats. Charles Blackmon hit a solo homer for the Rockies in the top of the 8th but that was the last hit Strasburg gave up. The Nationals have tied the series 1-1.
Playoffs recap.
Manager's Notes
Sonny Gray had a fantastic start tonight, throwing three no-hit innings. Unfortunately he gave up his first two hits in the 4th with the second one being a three-run HR for Moreland.
We had the bases loaded and no out in the bottom of the 6th. Aaron Judge and Didier Gregorius each hit a B grounder to the middle infielders, enabling our men from 3rd to score twice. We cut the deficit to 3-2.
I made a risky pinch hitter in the bottom of 7th by putting in Ronald Torreyes against a righty for DH Matt Holliday, who starts against lefties. Toe made a huge S= to tie the game for us, but possibly at the expense of a reliable defensive sub later in the game.
Just like that, our offense blew up!!! Judge patiently forced a bases loaded walk from RP Barnes to give us the 4-3 lead! Didi followed up with a S= for two more runs! Todd Frazier and Aaron Hicks got RBI singles too. Gary Sanchez hit a 3-run homer. 9 runs in the bottom of the 7th!
In the end of the day, it was Gray who was the star of the game. The Red Sox could get only those two hits and three runs off him - nothing else. 8 strikeouts added to Sonny's dominant performance today. We head for Boston for Game 3 with a 2-0 lead and hope for a sweep.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Cleveland Indians 4 @ Houston Astros 2
The Tribe won again today to take a surprising 2-0 series lead on the road at Minute Maid Park. Brad Peacock had a huge 14 K in 7 innings day, but the 'Stros could not maintain the 2-2 tie in the top of the 8th inning. Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana each had RBI singles to push the Indians ahead for good.
Colorado Rockies 4 @ Washington Nationals 3
The Rockies stayed hot tonight, taking a surprising Game 1 victory over the Nats. Trevor Story broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 9th by tripling home Gerardo Parra.
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 @ St. Louis Cardinals 6
In another two-hitter, but of the team effort variety, Carlos Martinez struck out 12 Dodgers. Yadier Molina hit two homers for the Red Birds. Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw couldn't keep the Cards at bay in the first three innings. The Cardinals now enjoy a 1-0 series lead.
Manager's Notes
Game 1 started off as a tense pitcher's duel between Luis Severino and Price. On the top of 3rd Pedroia nearly singled home Bradley, Jr. from 2B, but RF Aaron Judge rolled a 20 to gun him down at home plate!
In the bottom of 3rd with 2 outs, Gary Sanchez hit a key double to score Austin Romine from 2B. In the next inning we loaded the bases but unfortunately Aaron Hicks popped out to CF. The Sox made us pay in the next inning when Devers hit a leadoff homer. Seves had men in the corners and Benintendi up, but struck him out to end that inning.
Matt Holliday hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th to make the score 2-1. Seves locked in for the rest of the game and we were able to hold off the Red Sox 2-1 to take Game 1.
Full game report. · Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Cleveland Indians 12 @ Houston Astros 4
Astros SP Justin Verlander had a very bad start and the Indians took advantage of it. The Tribe scored 8 runs off him, including a Jose Ramirez grans slam in the 1st inning. Corey Kluber enjoyed the cushion and struck out 10 Astros. Joe Smith picked up a 3-inning save with a 5 strikeouts performance. Cleveland takes the 1-0 lead.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Colorado Rockies 5 @ Miami Marlins 3
In a very exciting game, Charlie Blackmon and D.J. Lemahieu had two huge RBI hits to push Colorado ahead of Miami 4-3 in the top of the 5th. In the bottom of the 7th J.T. Riddle was thrown out at home plate on a fielder's choice that preserved the lead for the Rockies. Jonathan Lucroy added a solo shot late in the game to make it 5-3. Miami fought hard in the bottom of the 9th but Greg Holland held on for the save. Colorado will play at Washington on Friday for the N.L. Divisional Series.
Playoffs recap.
Playoffs Scores and Notes
Minnesota Twins 0 @ Boston Red Sox 6
The Twins were simply no match for Chris Sale. He threw a three hitter complete game to ensure the Red Sox will earn a trip to Yankee Stadium on Thursday. The Twins manager left SP Ervin Santana on for way too long but his teammates' bats could not do anything against Sale.
Playoffs recap.
League Notes
Arizona Diamondbacks 6 @ Colorado Rockies 7 (10 innings)
Today was a classic example of the computer manager screwing things up. Diamondbacks SP Randall Delgado was lights-out until the bottom of the 7th inning. He was out of gas and loaded the bases with two outs and a 6-0 lead, but the D-Backs manager stubbornly kept him in. By the end of the inning it was 6-4. Fernando Rodney blew his 15th (!) save of the season and let the Rockies tie the game at the bottom of the 9th thanks to a Mark Reynolds RBI double. The manager was in love with him and kept him for the bottom of the 10th. The D-Backs paid the price when Nolan Arenado hit the walk-off single to score Raimel Tapia, who had hit a triple earlier in the inning.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
We were not able to win our last home game of the season. SP Jordan Montgomery, auditioning for the #4 roster spot for the playoffs, pulled off a Houdini act by escaping the top of the 2nd with men in scoring positions and no out. He went the opposite end of the spectrum in the top of the 3rd, throwing two consecutive wild pitches to give the Blue Jays their first run.
Montgomery eventually stopped the bleeding and pitched better, but our batters could get nothing going except for a Brett Gardner homer.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Oakland Athletics 4 @ Texas Rangers 2
2B Chad Pinder totaled 3 home runs and 4 RBIs, including the game-winning two-runner in the top of the 9th.
·Full game report.
So this is what happens when you don't limit computer player usage. :-D Max Scherzer struck out 13 batters for the Washington Nationals in their easy 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He ended the regular season at 170% usage, 341 innings pitched, and 500 strikeouts!!!
In wild card news, the Colorado Rockies had two big home runs by Charlie Blackmon, including a grand slam. Greg Holland pitched a 2-inning relief to ensure the Rockies won 6-4 over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Arizona Diamondbacks played badly enough to lose the wild card spt against the Kansas City Royals, but Jake Lamb saved the D-Backs with a 2-run home run in the top of the 9th inning with two outs! This will set up a tiebreaking 163rd game tomorrow at Colorado between the D-Backs and the Rockies.
Manager's Notes
We started well as Jacoby Ellsbury hit only his third homer of the season in the bottom of 1st off Happ. Gary Sanchez added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 3rd for a 2-0 lead. Ellsbury added a RBI single in the bottom of the 5th. Ronald Torreyes, starting in place of Didier Gregorius because the latter struggles against Happ, hit a bases-clearing double in the bottom of 6th to extend the score to 6-0.
Sonny Gray enjoyed his best start of the season by far. He struck out 15 Jays in 7.2 innings to make himself the clear #2 starter for the Divisional Round next week.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Baltimore Orioles 1 @ Tampa Bay Rays 0 (11 innings)
Alex Cobb and Chase Whitley combined for only two hits in 10 innings for the Rays, but their offense did nothing to help their cause. Whitley's sole hit was a game-losing leadoff homer given up to Chris Davis in the top of the 11th. Zach Britton held on in the bottom of 11th to win the game for the O's.
·Full game report.
In another great pitching performance, the Cleveland Indians' Carlos Carrasco went the distance and struck out 13 Chicago White Sox for a 8-1 win.
In wild card news, the Minnesota Twins clinched the final A.L. playoff spot with a crushing 11-2 win over the Detroit Tigers as Bartolo Colon picked up his 7th win of the season. The Miami Marlins overwhelmed the Atlanta Braves 8-2 to clinch the first N.L. wild card spot. One spot remains and it is down to the wire between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona got embarrassed by the Kansas City Royals today 8-2. The Rockies pulled off a thrilling bottom-of-the-9th comeback victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2. The bases were loaded with two outs and Mark Reynolds hit a 2-run walkoff single off closer Kenley Jansen for the win.
Manager's Notes
Despite the score, our pitching was pretty bad today. We gave up 13 hits in 9 innings. Stroman had the opposite day that C.C. Sabathia had. He gave up 3 hits in 6 2/3 innings to end the season 23-12 and we managed only 4 hits total and an Aaron Judge solo shot. Smoak enjoyed a 2-HR day.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Corey Kluber ended the regular season 24-6 for the Cleveland Indians. He struck out 13 Chicago White Sox and won the game 9-4.
Manager's Notes
Starlin Castro stayed hot against the Rays. In the bottom of the 2nd he hit a double to Souza, Jr. Souza badly booted the ball, allowing Castro to touch the final two bases for our first run. Brett Gardner followed up in the next inning with a double that scored men from 2nd and 1st.
The Rays were awful today. They committed 4 errors. Aaron Judge had a solo homer (his 40th of the season), Didier Gregorius a clutch RBI single, and Castro hit a homer for his third consecutive game to balloon our lead to 7-0. One more run made it 8-0, but a Ramos homer off Jonathan Holder ruined our team shutout chance.
Jaime Garcia got the start today and made his case for the postseason roster by going 6.2 shutout innings to ower his ERA to 1.05. We enjoyed a 4-game sweep at home over the Rays. We have one last regular season series at home coming up, against the Toronto Blue Jays.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Pittsburgh Pirates 4 @ Washington Nationals 9
Bryce Harper went 5 for 5 today in a big win for the Nationals. He hit a solo homer, two doubles, and two singles.
·Full game report.
In another standout performance, the St. Louis Cardinals' Luke Weaver struck out 12 Chicago Cubs en route to a 1-0 three-hitter.
Manager's Notes
The Rays batted well tonight against Luis Severino, but we slugged in runs twice. Gary Sanchez batted a grand slam in the bottom of 1st and Didier Gregorius hit a 2-run double in the bottom of 4th. Aaron Judge immediately followed Gardner with a two-run homer.
Starlin Castro made a big solo homer for his second consecutive game. He did that in the bottom of the 5th. Seves ran out of gas and Chasen Shreve gave up a Ramos grand slam in the top of the 7th to make the score 9-8 in our favor. The bullpen buckled down and David Robertson picked up his 55th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Today was a huge day for starters. Dallas Keuchel struck out 14 Texas Rangers and threw a complete game. The Astros batters rewarded his persistence by breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of 9th for a 7-2 win. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw fanned 13 San Diego Padres in an easy 4-0 victory. Finally, Max Scherzer struck out 14 Philadelphia Phillies in 7 innings, but his Washington Nationals' bats woke up too late and he took the loss, 5-2.
Manager's Notes
Jacoby Ellsbury with a level 3 Extreme Matchup against RHP Archer, got the start. It paid off when he singled in the 1st and then forced a bases loaded walk to tie the game for us 1-1. Brett Gardner got beaned next for another run. Didier Gregorius then hit a bases-clearing double. Just like that Archer's night was done. In the top of 3rd the Rays tried to rally with a Hechavarria solo homer and what looked like another dinger courtesy of Morrison, with a favorable Extreme Matchup, but Ellsbury robbed it at the left CF wall. 5-2 Yankees.
Unfortunately Sonny Gray had issues and gave up a 2-run homer to Ramos in the top of 4th to cut the lead to 6-4. He had men on the corners, one out, and Longoria up at bat again but convinced me he could minimize the damage. Longoria flied to LF, and Gardner just barely gunned down Dickerson trying to score form 3B for an inning-ending double play!
We traded homers late in the game and the score was 7-5 with David Robertson in to save the game. He gave up a critical RBI double to PH Rausmus with no out. However he threw a strikeout to Ramos, intentionally walked Kiermaier, and struck out Espinosa and Dickerson (who swung for the fences and missed a big HR by one digit). That was a thrilling save by David.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Aaron Nola had a good 12-strikeout effort for the Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately they could not score a single run in that game and totaled only 5 hits. Bryce Harper got only the 3rd hit for the Washington Nationals but it was a big one, a leadoff home run for a 1-0 win.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
I lost another W for a starter when Jordan Montgomery got men on 3B and 2B with no out. I pulled him for Tommy Kahnle, who got us of the inning with only a 1-1 tie. Our offense played aggressively but didn't get another opportunity to score until Aaron Judge hit a 2-out single to the outfield that scored Starlin Castro (3 for 3 so far) from 2B. The manager took out Happ for Loup but Greg Bird made things worse with a RBI S=. A wild pitch scored Judge from 3B. We had some batting practice and won today to clinch the A.L. East pennant!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Washington Nationals 12 @ New York Mets 0
Stephen Strasburg was dominant today. He gave up only one hit and struck out 10 Mets. Not to be outdone, 3B Anthony Rendon totaled 6 RBIs to contribute towards the Nats' rout.
·Full game report.
In another standout pitching performance, Robbie Ray helped the Arizona Diamondbacks crush the Miami Marlins 10-1 with a 14-strikeout performance. 3B Jake Lamb starred with a RBI single and a grand slam to total 5 RBIs.
Manager's Notes
Today started as a low-scoring game. Somak smoked C.C. Sabathia in the bottom of the 1st with a solo homer. Ronald Torreyes was able to tie it for us in the top of 4th with a sacrifice fly that scored Aaron Judge from 3B. In the next inning, Todd Frazier swung for the fences for a solo homer and a 2-1 lead.
Good infield hitting - a couple of gbB's that scored men from 3rd twice - knocked C.C. out of the game early and the Jays took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 5th. I should held the winning run at 1B when I had the chance. Good pitching by both teams prevented another run from scoring. Torreyes got to 3B with one out in the bottom of the 9th but we couldn't capitalize. We went 0 for 6 tonight.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cleveland Indians clinched the A.L. Central and the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the N.L. Central today. No thanks to the Boston Red Sox, we are the only team left who have not captured a regular season pennant. In non-pennante news, the San Diego Padres' Dinelson Lamet struck out 13 Colorado Rockies batters, but Brad Hand blew the save off Nolan Arenado's S=. Left fielder Matt Szczur hit a single to score Dustin Coleman in a walk-off ending in the bottom of the 12th inning for a 3-2 final score.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of the 1st, Luis Severino gave up Donaldson's 64th home run of the season and got himself in a bases-loaded one-out jam. However, he was able to induce a gbB and gbC to escape with only one run given up.
We were rewarded in the next inning when Matt Holliday hit a 2-run homer to give us the 2-1 lead. Aaron Judge immediately followed with a homer of his own. Greg Bird grounded out, but Aaron Hicks resumed the power surge with another homer. Jacoby Ellsbury singled and stole second, and then Gary Sanchez hit our 4th homer of the inning!!!
For the rest of the game, we used the Jays' relievers for batting practice. Hicks hit his 2nd homer of the game. Starlin Castro finished a homer shy of a cycle. Great hitting performances all around. Luis Severino made the Jays 0 for 11 with runs in scoring position and racked up 10 strikeouts to balance 6 walks.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Angels 3 @ Houston Astros 11
George Springer clobbered two home runs for the Astros. However, Jose Altuve closes in on the N.L. batting crown by going 5 for 5 with 2 runs. He currently has a .368 batting average!
·Full game report.
League Notes
The Houston Astros dominated the Chicago White Sox 10-3 today. Astros 1B Yuli Gurriel launched two dingers. SP Charlie Morton struck out 12 Sox batters.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of the 3rd we started with a 2-0 lead thanks to an Aaron Hicks homer. He hit a second homer in the bottom of 6th to make it 3-0.
Sonny Gray was simply electric. He had a no-hitter for 7.1 innings. Unfortunately Sano got double off him. A RBI double by Ronald Torreyes and later a two-run homer by Gary Sanchez extended our lead. With a day off tomorrow, we went ahead and used Aroldis Chapman and Chad Green in relief to make it a team one-hitter.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Oakland Athletics 6 @ Detroit Tigers 0
Oakland SP Andrew Triggs did one better than our pitchers did today. He blanked the Tigers with a masterful no-hitter. He made exactly 100 pitches, walked only one batter (pinch hitter John Hicks) with one out in the 9th inning, and struck out 7 Tigers. Hats off to Triggs for a special day!
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of 1st Gary Sanchez got thrown out trying to stretch a S=, but it scored Jacoby Ellsbury from 2B for a 1-0 lead. Minnesota nearly tied the game in the top of 3rd when Mauer hit a DO along the 1B line, but I had Guard Lines enable and Greg Bird was able to make the out.
That was all the offensive action we had today. Jamie Garcia picked up his first win of the season and our usual 4-man closing team ensured the Twins pulled off no heroic comeback.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Arizona Diamondbacks 9 @ San Diego Padres 2
Diamondbacks 3B Jake Lamb went 5 for 6 with 4 RBIs in a big offensive day for his team. They totaled 16 hits. Zack Greinke picked up his 21st win of the season.
·Full game report.
In other news, the Washington Nationals clinched the N.L. East. The Boston Red Sox had a great game today, crushing the Baltimore Orioles 17-5. Mookie Betts hit 2 homers: a 3-run and a grand slam. Drew Pomeranz struck out 13 Birds.
The more interesting game today was the Toronto Blue Jays' 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals in... 21 innings! In the top of 9th Alex Gordon hit a single to score Jorge Bonifacio and tie the game at 2-2. It looked like the game was going to be mercifully over after Paulo Orlando hit a solo HR in the top of the 21st for a 3-2 Royals lead. Devon Travis had other plans, hitting the walk-off 2-run HR to send the very tired Toronto fans home happy.
Manager's Notes
In the top of 1st Sano got a 2-run HR off C.C. Sabathia to start the Twins up 2-0. In the bottom of 4th Gary Sanchez countered with a RBI double. That was all the scoring both teams managed. We went 1 for 8 with RISP and that doomed us today.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Arizona Diamondbacks were too much for the San Diego Padres, winning 13-0 today. Randall Delgado struck out 12 Padres. LF David Peralta hit two HRs and totaled 6 RBIs.
Manager's Notes
The first four innings were scoreless and we each only had one hit. In the bottom of 5th, Starlin Castro was able to hit a deep double to easily score Aaron Judge from 2B to start us ahead 1-0. Aaron Hicks added a solo shot in the bottom of 6th. Judge scored another run with a 2-run blast. Ronald Torreyes hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of 7th.
What can I say about Luis Severino? After he gave up a hit to the first batter of the game, he was almost perfect the rest of the way! Didier Gregorius committed an error in the top of 3rd but that was the only other baserunner the O's had. Seves racked up 11 strikeouts and needed only 92 total pitches.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Two other pitchers had shutouts, but not as impressive as Luis Severino's. Jhoulys Chacin did it for the San Diego Padres' 6-0 win over the Colorado Rockies. Cole Hamels also did it for the Texas Rangers' 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
For the American League, riding a 7-game winning streak, the Boston Red Sox have clinched a playoffs berth.. and so have we. The Houston Astros have locked down the AL West as well. The New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians' magic numbers are both at 5 to clinch the AL East and AL Central divisions, respectively. The Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels are in a dead heat for the final playoffs spot with both teams sporting 81-68 records.
As for the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals just clinched the NL Central division pennant. The Washington Nationals' magic number is down to only 1. The Los Angeles Dodgers' magic number for the NL West is down to 8. It is close at the wild card with the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks tied. The Miami Marlins are 1.5 games back.
Manager's Notes
Our bats were well and alive in the bottom of 1st when Didier Gregorius hit a solo homer to start us off. Gary Sanchez nearly had a 3-run HR, but missed his HR roll by one number and struck out swinging instead.
In the 2nd inning Ronald Torreyes hit a triple and had a 25% chance of reaching home with two outs, so the 3B coach told him to stay. The next batter, Aaron Hicks hit a ball to CF that Jones couldn't rob to get Toe home. 3-0. We then loaded the bases as SP Gausman couldn't get anyone out. Greg Bird forced a bases loaded walk for another run. Unfortunately Sanchez struck out again, preventing us from doing further damage.
*Checks game settings* Yep the O's are managed by the computer, and Gausman still doesn't get pulled after a RBI double by Aaron Judge in the bottom of 4th. In the next inning, with one out and runners on the corners, I decided ot have Hicks swing instead of squeeze Chase Headley home. He unfortunately hit a lmax to Machado to end the inning.
In the bottom of 6th Aaron Judge and Bird hit back-to-back jacks off RP Hart. Sanchez, who had been struggling in the clutch all afternoon, made it back-to-back-to-back!!! The Orioles manager put in Ynoa and he was able to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately in the bottom of 7th Brett Gardner hit a HR off him to extend our lead to 11-0.
With all the hitting on display, it is easy to forget that Jordan Montgomery had another masterful start for us. He went the distance and struck out 7 Birds in a 5-hit shutout.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Diego Padres 2 @ Colorado Rockies 8
Charlie Blackmon had 4 singles before his 5th hit of the game came as a 2-run home run.
·Full game report.
Kansas City Royals 2 @ Cleveland Indians 9
Trevor Bauer was unstoppable today, striking out 18 Royals in a complete game. Carlos Santana led the offense with 4 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We started off by giving up a solo HR to Mancini in the top of 2nd. However, with a green Extreme Matchup, Starlin Castro responded in the bottom half with a 2-run homer. Two infield Orioles error resulted in a RBI double by Brett Gardner to get us a 3-1 lead.
The O's added a run later and our offense continued to struggle, but pitching (SP Sonny Gray and RPs Chad Green and David Robertson) ensured we broke our three-game losing streak.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
There were two 12-strikeout starters today. Aaron Nola did it for the Philadelphia Phillies in their 2-1 win over the Oakland Athletics. Zack Greinke picked up his 20th win of the season for his Arizona Diamondbacks in his 3-0 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Manager's Notes
5th starter Jamie Garcia pitched a gem for us today, pitching a complete game and giving up only two hits. Unfortunately we committed 4 errors today and the first one in the first inning led to a hit that scored the only run of the game. Our offense also got 4... hits... and no runs. We left 10 men on bases and went 0 for 11 with RISP. In an odd result closer Britton got the win as starter Miley did not last five innings.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Corey Kluber struck out 12 Kansas City Royals as he led the Cleveland Indians to a 4-3 win. The Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer was even better, striking out 14 Atlanta Braves in only 7 1/3 innings. Unfortunately his Nats could only score two runs as they lost 3-2.
Manager's Notes
I have to tip my hat to the Rays' catcher Ramos. In the top of the 2nd, with Chase Headley on 1B and no out, an attempted Todd Frazier bunt resulted into a force out to 2B from the catcher's throw. Two innings later, Starlin Castro was able to get Headley home with a RBI double.
C.C. Sabathia had a no-hitter until the 5th inning and 2nd out. He walked two batters and gave up a RBI single to let the Rays tie the game. A two-run single by Dickerson knocked C.C. out of the game, unfortunately. Our bats were lifeless tonight and the Rays enjoyed a rare series win against us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
DH Greg Bird continues to make the most of his big league opportunity by hitting a RBI double in the top of the 3rd. A Brett Gardner squeeze play caused SP Odorizzi to commit an error and add another run for us. Unfortunately in the same inning, Dickerson hit a 2-run homer to tie the game.
Luis Severino pitched poorly in the bottom of 5th and the Rays were able to score three runs to lead 5-2. We fought back in the top of 7th and were able to load the bases with one out. A wild pitch by RP Hunter scored one run. Unfortunately Aaron Hicks and Gardner struck out in succession to protect the Rays' lead. Two double plays hit by us did a lot to help the Rays, too. CL Colome closed a 5-3 victory to pick up his 39th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The New York Mets won 6-4 over the Chicago Cubs. Jacob de Grom struck out 12 Cubs and Yoenis Cespedes was a single shy of a cycle. The San Diego Padres' Dinelson Lamet also had 12 K's in his 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Manager's Notes
SP Jordan Montgomery started well, giving up no hit for 3.1 innings. We had a 1-0 lead thanks to an Aaron Judge 1st inning RBI, but in the 4th inning Robertson hit a sacrifice fly with a teammate on 3B to tire the game. Dickerson added a RBI double in the bottom of 5th when Gary Sanchez couldn't block the plate in time to stop Bourjos.
In the top of 6th it turned into a tie game again thanks to a Sanchez solo homer. Unfortunately the first batter in the bottom of 6th, Morrison, hit a solo homer to regain the lead. The Rays got an insurance run in the bottom of 7th, but we were able to load the bases with one out in the top of 8th. PH Ronald Torreyes cut the deficit to 1 with a single. I removed DH Greg Bird for Chris Carter for the matchup against CL Colombe, but the computer manager put in lefty Alvarado. I put in Jacoby Ellsbury, the best hitter against lefties for us. Ells hit a huge bases-clearing double to change the score from 3-4 to 6-4! Chad Green and David Robertson closed the door on the Rays.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
Todd Frazier hit a RBI single in the top of 2nd to get things started. In the next inning Gary Sanchez added a RBI double, and Chase Headley singled him home. We continued to use SP Perez for batting practice when Todd Frazier added a solo HR in the 4th inning.
Sonny Gray pitched a shutout until the bottom of the 5th. He was almost able to escape a bases-loaded jam with no outs, but threw a wild pitch trying to get his 3rd out. The batter, Andrus, hit a deep single to RF to score one more run, but Chirinos got gunned down by Aaron Judge trying to get a 3rd run.
In the 7th inning, PH Brett Gardner successfully bunted a squeeze single for another run. Another PH, Chris Carter, hit a sacrifice grounder for another run. Chase Headley hit a 2-run HR that barely got past CF Gomez. Up 8-2. The Rangers could get only one more run after that, allowing us to secure our 100th win of the season!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
It took Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins 143 games to hit 60 home runs. The 60th occurred today separate of the Marlins' 9th inning comeback win against the Atlanta Braves, 6-5. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers won their 9th consecutive game to seize control of the N.L. West by defeating the Colorado Rockies 4-1. The Dodgers are now 4.0 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and 5.0 ahead of the Rockies. This is the only close pennant race we have this season. The wild card races are a little bit closer.
Manager's Notes
The first four innings was a good pitcher's duel between C.C. Sabathia and Cashner. Andrus ended the shutout with a 2-run homer in the bottom of 4th. We couldn't score anything on a one-out bases loaded situation the following inning.
We finally got a run thanks to a Ronald Torreyes double to deep center field. Gary Sanchez scored but Chase Headley was thrown out from CF by Gomez's (-2) arm. We'll see if that bites us later in the game.
In the bottom of 6th, Andrus hit a second homer to extend the Rangers lead 3-1. LF Brett Gardner robbed Napoli of a two-run homer. In the 7th, Didier Gregorius cut the deficit to 3-2 with a RBI double. We couldn't score any more runs that inning.
Aaron Hicks couldn't stop a Chirinos homer in the bottom of 7th. However the next inning we were able to load the bases with no out. Toe hit another RBI to cut the deficit to 4-3. A wild pitch by newly inserted RP Marinez scored PH Greg Bird home from 3B to tie the game! Hicks scored Toe with an outfield single. The manager put in RP Martinez but Aaron Judge responded with a 3-run homer, his 35th dinger of the season.
Big Bird added a solo shot in the 9th - his first hit of the season! RP Adam Warren shut down the Rangers for the last three innings to go 5-0 so far in the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Philadelphia Phillies 0 @ Washington Nationals 1 (12 innings)
Max Scherzer set what would sort of be a MLB record in real life... 21 strikeouts in a game!!! However, he actually pitched 11 innings and struck out 18 Phillies in 9 innings. All that considering that my replay has all pitching fatigue turned on. Even more amazing, Scherzer's had a perfect game until the top of the 9th. He gave up a single and then struck out the remaining batters in order. Unfortunately he couldn't get what should have been a W as both teams really couldn't hit for most of the game. The Nats finally won with a bases loaded walk-off single by Matt Wieters. I'll be honest... this is probably the best single player performance I have seen all season and I have read every single news story.
·Full game report.
Baltimore Orioles 0 @ Cleveland Indians 11
Corey Kluber continues to catch up to Chris Sale in the A.L. Cy Young race. He struck out 17 Birds and threw a 2-hit shutout today! Carlos Santana led the high-powered Tribe offense with 3 hits and 4 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Angels 13 @ Seattle Mariners 3
Angels 3B Luis Valbuena totaled 3 home runs and 5 RBIs in the Angels' rout of the Mariners.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We got on board quickly in the top of 2nd. A weak Todd Frazier grounder to SP Hamels scored a man from 3B. Aaron Judge immediately followed with a RBI double. In the bottom half of the inning, Chirinos was able to single home a run to cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the next inning, Jacoby Ellsbury countered with a deep RBI double. In the 5th inning, Gary Sanchez added a RBI single to score the former from 2B. Luis Severino could not hold onto the lead in the bottom half Gomez tied the ame with a 2-run RBI single.
Texas had a golden opportunity to win the game in the bottom of 8th when Chirinos launched what looked like a left field HR, but Aaron Hicks was able to rob it. However, the Rangers perserved and won the game on a 3-run walk-off home run by Odor off Aroldis Chapman's first pitch of the game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Angels 4 @ Seattle Mariners 0
SP James Paxton pitched a brilliant complete game, striking out 15 batters. Unfortunately, he was the Mariners pitcher. The M's could not get anything going against the Angels today.
·Full game report.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 7 @ Atlanta Braves 8 (10 innings)
To be fair, Freddy Freeman needed 10, not 9, innings to get a recognition-worthy three-HR game, but the third one was a walk-off dinger to win the game. So there. He totaled 6 RBIs.
·Full game report
Colorado Rockies 3 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 8
Yasiel Puig also hit 3 HRs in one game, but the Dodgers had an easier time winning today than the Braves did. Puig had a 2-run shot and a couple of solo ones.
·Full game report
Cleveland Indians 0 @ Chicago White Sox 5
Carlos Rodon picked up a 2-hit shutout for the ChiSox. He struck out 12 Indians and did not walk a single batter. Not bad for a nearly 6.00 ERA pitcher against the strongest team in the A.L. Central.
·Full game report
Manager's Notes
Ronald Torreyes hit a big RBI double in the top of 2nd for our first score of the night in the 2nd inning. In the next inning, Aaron Judge made up for narrowly missing a HR swing in the 1st by rolling a 12 in a HR12DO for a two-run dinger. The very next batter, Gary Sanchez, hit a solo shot.
While our batters were busy using SP Bundy for batting practice (11 hits and 3 HRs off him), Jordan Montgomery put to together his finest performance of the season. He completed a 4-hit shutout by tossing 108 pitches, walking only one Bird, and striking out 6 batters. With a day off tomorrow our relievers will be doubly rested and ready to clinch the A.L. East.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cleveland Indians prevailed over the Chicago White Sox in an incredible 17-inning marathon, 3-2. SP Carlos Carrasco actually pitched 11 innings - possibly the deepest a starter went this season??? Jay Bruce finally put the Tribe ahead for good with a solo HR and Cody Allen picked up his 42nd save of the season. In another impressive SP performance, Dinelson Lamet struck out 13 St. Louis Cardinals for the San Diego Padres. Unfortunately, his batters couldn't score runs in his 2-1 loss.
Manager's Notes
We had a good start in the top of the 3rd when Didier Gregorius hit a 3-run HR in the top of the 1st. Unfortunately Davis did the exact same thing in the bottom half to tie the game. Mancini immediately after put the O's ahead with a solo homer.
In the top of 4th Ronald Torreyes, battling a bad slump, made a big RBI single to tie the game for us. Aaron Judge had men in scoring positions and two outs but couldn't take advantage of his Extreme Matchup 3 against the SP Gausman. In the bottom of 4th the O's overcame our Corners In defense to score Trumbo off a Beckham sacrifice bunt. Aaron Judge couldn't throw out Castillo scoring from a Smith single and the score was 6-4.
SP Sonny Gray nearly pitched 8 innings, but giving up too many long balls did us in tonight. The O's got one more homer and a solo shot by Brett Gardner in the top of 9th was all the scoring we could manage for the rest of the game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The New York Mets pulled off a thrilling bottom of 9th 5-run comeback to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6. The Amazin's walked off thanks to a Kevin Plawecki walk-off... walk. Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs flexed their muscles in a 8-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 10th straight W for the Cubbies. Closer Wade Davis picked up his 45th save of the season.
Manager's Notes
Baltimore started with an unearned run in the bottom of 1st when C.C. Sabathia committed an error that sent an Oriole home from 2B. However, Aaron Hicks tied the game with a RBI double in the top of 3rd. The next batter, Brett Gardner, took the lead with a RBI single.
Didier Gregorius made the lead 4-1 in the top of 5th with a 2-run home run. Unfortunately the very next inning Machado took advantage of a green Extreme Matchup to club a 2-run homer off Sabathia for a 4-4 tie game.
We got a 5-4 lead in the top of the 7th inning thanks to a successful squeeze play by Gardner. Unfortunately Aroldis Chapman loaded the bases with two outs and Starlin Castro booted a grounder that gave the O's two runs and a 6-5 lead. I often sub out Castro in situations like that, but I didn't want to do it so early. Oh well.
We were able to tie the game in the next inning thanks to an Aaron Judge triple (he rolled a HR17TR but unfortunately got a 20 split) and a Gary Sanchez sacrifice fly. With two outs LF Mancini made a costly E2 after letting a PH Matt Holliday single roll past him. The error didn't matter because the next matter, Todd Frazier, rolled a HR11fb and rolled a... 11. Mancini couldn't rob that homer and we got the 8-2 lead.
Setup man Chad Green was able to solve the 4-for-4 Machado in the 8th inning to earn the win. David Robertson secured his 50th save of the season. Congratulations to both late inning maters!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Minnesota Twins 4 @ Tampa Bay Rays 0 (10 innings)
Twins SP Ervin Santana sort of pitched an amazing complete game. He pitched 9 innings of 1-hit ball (carried a no-hitter into the 6th) and on only 86 pitches. Brian Dozier hit a grand slam in the top of 10th to ensure that Santana got a W for his effort.
·Full game report.
There were a few other big games today. The Cleveland Indians crushed the Chicago White Sox 15-1 behind Michael Brantley's 2 HRs and 6 RBIs, and also Corey Kluber's 12 strikeouts. The Boston Red Sox stopped their 7-game losing streak by winning over the Toronto Blue Jays 11-4. The Jays swept the Red Sox last week to start Boston's losing streak. Finally, the Chicago Cubs won their 9th consecutive game by downing the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3.
Manager's Notes
A Starlin Castro error in the 1st inning led to a 2-run HR by Benintendi to start the Red Sox ahead 2-0. However, Castro made up for it later in the inning with a RBI double. Right after that, Matt Holliday launched a 3-run HR. Just like that SP Rodriguez was yanked out of the game even though there were two outs. Aaron Judge was a few digits shy of a split HR, but we ended the first inning with a 4-2 lead.
In the bottom of 5th we used the Sox's relievers for batting practice and scored 3 more runs, including a 2-run homer by Gary Sanchez. 7-3 lead. That ended up being the final score and a huge 4-game home sweep. The A.L. East is definitely ours to lose now.
I have to say today's pitching performance by Luis Severino was the best I have seen him all season long. 130 pitches, 5 hits, one walk, and 13 strikeouts. Our relievers certainly enjoyed the day off he gave them! Congratulations to Luis for his 20th win of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays SP Chris Archer had one more strikeout and 2/3 less innings pitched than Luis Severino today. The Rays won easily over the Chicago White Sox, 7-3.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Chase Headley repeated his green Extreme Matchup heroics by slugging a 3-run home run against starter Pomeranz. Catcher Leon made a 2-base error on an Aaron Judge sacrifice bunt in the bottom of 2nd that scored one more run. Aaron Hicks added a squeeze play for another run. Gary Sanchez hit a RBI double. Pomeranz was pulled with the Sox behind 1-0.
Jamie Garcia, making his season debut, threw 3 no-hit innings before giving up a double to Betts. Betts scored off a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1. Garcia gave up two more runs and loaded the bases twice in the top of 5th. With a green Extreme Matchup for Ramirez against Garcia, one out, and the bases loaded, I had seen enough. I called upon Tommy Kahnle and he got us out of that wild inning with a fly out and a strikeout. Kahnle caught fire and struck out three consecutive Sox in the top of 6th. He struck out 6 Sox in all in three full innings.
The Sox came back in the top of 2nd against Adam Warren. Ramirez, 0 for 4 until that at-bat, hit a 2-run double to cut the deficit to 7-5. David Robertson was called in with two outs and two Sox batters later, he earned another save and we earned a big series win.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Milwaukee Brewers survived a late comeback by the Washington Nationals to win 6-5. The Nats' Stephen Strasburg struck out 12 batters in 6 innings before he left with only a 2-1 deficit. Things got out of hand for Washington after that. In another notable contest today, the Los Angeles Angels scored 4 runs in the top of 9th inning for a thrilling 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers. Mike Trout hit a two-run homer with two outs in the inning that put the Halos on top.
Manager's Notes
Today I follow the 40-man roster rule until the playoffs (even though I've been letting the computer managers do it all season). We started the game tied 1-1. The Red Sox had a deep RBI single in the top of 1st and we had the same in the bottom of 1st thanks to a Starlin Castro hit that scored Jacoby Ellsbury from 2nd.
SP Jordan Montgomery managed to get six full innings before I checked his fatigue and put in Dellin Betances for the 7th inning. He gave up a triple to Bradley, and Pedroia was able to punch in a RBI single past Tommy Kahnle to put the Sox ahead 2-1.
In the bottom of 7th, SP Sale was tiring and had men in scoring positions with one out. He struck out Jacoby, but Chase Headley, with a green Extreme Matchup against Sale, rolled a huge 8 in a HR8TR roll! 4-2, Yankees! Sale was pulled but RP Reed gave up a HR to the next batter, Gary Sanchez. Aaron Judge added a 2-run homer in the bottom of 8th. 7-2 score.
Chad Green stayed for the 9th inning to pick up his 5th save of the season. The Red Sox will have their best chance of winning tomorrow afternoon when Jamie Garcia makes his season debut as a SP.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
It was a good pitcher's duel between Price and Sonny Gray. Sonny gave up a 1st inning lead-off HR to Betts. After a few missed chances, in the bottom of 5th we managed a 2-run S= by Jacoby Ellsbury. Give credit to 3B Devers for committing a 2-bases error on what was supposed to be an Aaron Judge sacrifice bunt. Didier Gregorius added a solo shot in the bottom of 6th to extend our lead to 3-1.
Unfortunately Sonny gave up one baserunner too many in the top of 7th and we couldn't prevent the Sox from tying the game at 3. Price was tiring in the bottom of 8th but had us down to our last out. DH Matt Holliday hit a huge 2-run blast to give us the lead. David Robertson took advantage of a double play and a grounder to seize his majors-leading 48th save of the season.
Funny stat of the day - Aroldis Chapman got the W but only threw one pitch for 2/3 of an inning. He induced an inning-ended double play. :-D The Sox hit into three double plays tonight.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The New York Mets' Seth Lugo had a 3-hit shutout in his 7-0 win over the Cincinnnati Reds. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants' 10-win streak stopped against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Red Birds' Aldemys Diaz hit a walk-off solo HR in the 11th inning to win the game 3-2.
Manager's Notes
In a great SP matchup, today was the 2nd-best starter in the A.L., Kluber, against our #2 starter, former Indian C.C. Sabathia. We drew first blood in the bottom of 1st when Brett Gardner doubled home Aaron Hicks. Kluber got out of a bases loaded jam with one out.
After giving up an early run, Sabathia could not keep the game tied for us. Gomes hit a 2-run HR to give the Tribe a 3-1 lead in the top of 4th. Bruce hit a 2-run shot in the next inning to extend their lead to 5-1. The next inning yet another 2-run HR, this time by Kipinis, made it 7-1. I should have pulled Sabathia right before he came up but I was hoping he could survive the lefty-lefty matchup. If it is any consolation (it's not), Santana added a 3-run HR in the top of 9th to make the score 10-3.
We had a nice rally going in the bottom of 3rd but couldn't score any run. Hats off to Kluber for his 14-strikeout performance. He was not at all easy to score against tonight. Our next four games in this homestand will be against the Boston Red Sox, but I think we will do fine.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Washington Nationals' 10-game winning streak ended with a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins. However, the San Francisco Giants won their 10th consecutive game. Buster Posey had 4 hits and 5 RBIs. He single-handedly led the offense in a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres.
Manager's Notes
The first inning saw a 1-1 tie as Cleveland had a RBI double, but we countered with a leadoff HR by Aaron Hicks. Encarcion got the lead back in the top of 4th with a solo homer - his 30th dinger of the year. Bruce immediately got his 30th of the year right after!!!
We were able to get another run in the same inning when Chase Headley hit a gbB that scored Aaron Judge from 3B. The next inning Didier Gregorius hit a big double to score Brett Gardner from 1B. Aaron Judge narrowly missed a great pitch for a HR - he walked instead. Fortuntely Gary Sanchez split into a 3-run HR and we led 6-3.
Cleveland had a massive opportunity to tie the game in the top of 6th. Bruce was at bat with two men on bases and I decided to let Luis Severino try to get that last out after he told me he was feeling fine. Bruce got a great roll, but lined out on a S*14lo roll.
Severino took advantage of the good lead to finish the game. He was helped by three double plays. Indians SP Clevinger also pitched the entire game and struck out 11 Yankees. Our bullpens will be very rested for what should be another good game tomorrow.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes The Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants can't stop winning. The Giants won their 9th straight by defeating the San Diego Padres 11-4. The Nats won their 10th straight by defeating the Miami Marlins 4-2. The Nats should easily win the N.L. East pennant. The Giants, on the other hand, are 25 games back in the very competitive N.L. West.
Manager's Notes
As the Indians recently swept the Boston Red Sox, beating the Tribe was a big priority of mine. If we can take two games from them, we would be in excellent shape for the playoffs.
We started well by having Brett Gardner hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning 3B Ronald Torreyes guarded the line to rob Ramirez of a double that would have scored Lindor from 2B. Unfortunately we could not hold onto the shutout with SP Jordan Montgomery tiring and no rested lefty in the bullpen.
RP Adam Warren gave up a WP, then a big split triple to Santana to allow the Indians to jump ahead 3-2.
The Indians manager decided to bring CL Allen up for a two-inning save with Aaron Judge at bat. Bad move. Judge launched a solo HR off his Allen's card to tie the game at 3.
We had a few good pitches to swing at but couldn't get the winning homer. The Indians threatened twice in the 9th and 10th inning, but Dellin Betances and Chad Green barely got us out of those innings. Finally, a tired Allen threw a wild pitch with Gardner on 3B to give us an unusual 4-3 walk-off win.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
James Paxton likely won't win the Cy Young award, but that isn't going to stop the 18-6 Seattle Mariners starter from trying. He struck out 13 Baltimore Orioles en route to a 7-3 win. In another unusual 10th inning walk-off tonight, the Los Angeles Angels won over the Oakland Athletics 5-4 after Brandon Phillips was hit by a Blake Treinen pitch with the bases loaded.
Manager's Notes
This has to be our worst game of the season. Sonny Gray imploded in the top of 3rd, giving up 4 runs. We also had 4 errors and the game wasn't even half over! Gary Sanchez hit a solo HR in the bottom of 4th, but it looked like we had let the Mariners get too far ahead.
In the bottom of 6th we responded with 3 runs, in part thanks to an E2 error on 1B Alonso by badly slumping Ronald Torreyes. The Mariners then committed another error when 3B Seager bobbled a 2-out grounder by fellow 3B Chase Headley. All of a sudden, we were tied, 5-5!
I was too overconfident in the bottom of the 7th with Aaron Hicks' 65% stealing success and he got caught. However, with two outs, Aaron Judge broke out of a HR drought by hitting a solo blast to give us the 6-5 lead. Didier Gregorius, who has been on fire lately, immediately hit a solo blast.
Chasen Shreve, who relieved Sonny in the 4th inning, did not at all pitch as if we were in the hole. He went 2 2/3 innings, gave up only one hit, one walk, and struck out three Mariners. Our four close-win relievers (Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, and David Robertson) frustrated the Mariners' batters late in the game. After getting 6 hits off Sonny, our 5 relievers combined to give up only three.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
How about Kyle Hendricks? He was only one out away from a no-hitter!!! The Chicago Cubs starter gave up a double to Cesar Hernandez for the Philadelphia Phillies' first hit of the afternoon. The Cubs manager badly wanted Hendricks to finish the game, but he gave up two more doubles and all of a sudden the Phillies were behind by one run, 3-2. Wade Davis induced a groundout for his 41st save of the season, best in the N.L. On another note, there are a few good winning streaks right now. The Oakland Athletics have won 6 straight, the San Francisco Giants 7, and the Washington Nationals 8.
Manager's Notes
SP Michael Pineda started poorly against his former team, giving up two 2-run homers (to Gamel and Alonso) in the top of the 1st inning. He settled and pitched okay for the three innings until a Cano 3-run HR knocked him out of the game.
Didier Gregorius hit his 3rd homer in two games. Unfortunately that was the only run we scored today. We totaled only 5 hits as SP Ramirez did a good job of quieting our bats. Pineda's spot as our #5 starter isn't looking good right now and I am thinking of giving our Triple-A starter Jaime Garcia a try.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Los Angeles Dodgers' Yu Darvish pitched a 4-hit shutout over the Milwaukee Brewers for a 7-0 win.
Manager's Notes
It didn't take us long to score as Didier Gregorius hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of 1st to start us up 2-0. He made the exact same roll, 3-4 against righty SP Leake, to hit a solo blast in the bottom of 3rd.
Seattle threatened late in the game trailing 4-1, so I went with my usual Chad Green/David Robertson. Robertson was a bit sloppy closing this one out as he gave up a run, but we still won 4-2. Gregorius was the star tonight by going 4 for 4.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Atlanta Braves' Mike Foltynewicz carried a no-hitter into the 8th inning today. He gave up a single to the Colorado Rockies with only one out to go for the 9th inning. He ended the day with 10 strikeouts and 8.1 innings pitched in the Braves' 1-0 win. The sole run came from a Freddy Freeman homer - his 37th of the season. In another one of many good pitching performances tonight, the Milwaukee Brewers' Chase Anderson struck out 12 Los Angeles Dodgers as the Brew Crew won 3-0.
Manager's Notes
We fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of 1st inning when a Luis Severnio wild pitch put a Tiger on 1B and he scored on a sacrifice grounder. However, in the top of 3rd, after Aaron Hicks hit a double off a HR/DO split, he made up for it with a solo HR off a HR/FO split.
In the top of 6th we took the 2-1 lead after a bases loaded situation with one out. Didier Gregorius hit a gb(SS)B that scored Todd Frazier from 3B. Hicks extended the lead by one with a RBI single to CF. Aaron Judge launched his 30th homer of the year in the top of 8th to make it 4-1. Hicks hit a 2-run HR, his second dinger of the game, to extend the lead to 6-1. Starlin Castro bashed a 3-run homer.
In the top of 9th we loaded the bases with one out and DH Matt Holliday coming up to bat. The computer manager had enough of RP Bell (he gave up those three HRs in the 8th) and "wisely" put in Sanchez, who has an Extreme Matchup disadvantage against Holliday. Matt punished the Tigers with a S= that scored two more runs for us. Chase Headley then barely splitted into a grand slam. Two 6-run innings for us resulted in a 15-1 lead!
The huge lead gave Seves an easy 5-hit complete game. What helped his cause quite a bit were 3 double plays off the Tigers' bats. The Boston Red Sox lost yet again to the Cleveland Indians, and our A.L. East lead has been extended to 7.0 games after sweeping the Tigers.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
It was a shutout pitcher's duel between Detroit's Fulmer and our Jordan Montgomery. Both pitchers gave up only one hit in 4 innnings. In the top of 5th, Gary Sanchez hit his 34th home run of the season to end that shutout. We managed to load the bases with two outs, but unfortunately Aaron Judge struck out. In the bottom half, Kinsler tied the game with a RBI single, but ended the inning by getting caught stealing.
Detroit's SS Iglesias made a critical error with two outs to let Gary Sanchez on 1B. Yesterday's hero, Starlin Castro, punished the Tigers with a 2-run HR for a 3-1 lead.
Montgomery and RP Chasen Shreve got us in a bases-loaded jam with no out in the bottom of 6th. Tommy Kahnle pulled off a Houdini with a strikeout, a line out, and a foul out to keep the lead 3-1.
We used 6 relief pitchers total just to hold onto this win. David Robertson gave up a solo HR to PH Candelario (his first of the season), but got the next three batters for his majors-tying 45th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Washington Nationals crushed the Houston Astros today, 9-0. Gio Gonzalez enjoyed a 3-hit shutout.
Manager's Notes
We started by leading 2-0 in the top of the 2nd inning thanks to a Starlin Castro RBI single and a wild pitch that scored a man from 3rd. Unfortunately Sonny Gray immediately gave up a two-run HR to Castellanos to allow the Tigers to tie the game.
By the way, the Tigers' first run was scored by Martinez, who was hit by Gray. The next time they squared off, Gray hit him again, LOL. They must have some bad blood. Fortunately the third time Martinez grounded out and life goes back to normal.
Castro hit pay dirt again with another RBI single in the top of 6th to push us ahead 3-2. Todd Frazier added an insurance solo HR in the top of the 9th inning.
Other than that HR and two hit batters, Gray pitched brilliantly today, limiting the Tigers to only three hits and no walk in 8.2 innings. Unfortunately that annoying Castellanos rolled a split HR/TR to put himself on 3B with 2-for-3 Mahtook up next. Those were the only two Tigers to get a hit in the entire game! CL David Robertson made a silly wild pitch to score Castellaos. However, the 44th save was secured after RF Aaron Judge narrowly avoided a E2 roll to pull down Mahtook's F3 popup and win that game for us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 0 @ Philadelphia Phillies 1
Phillies SP Aaron Nola threw a fantastic one-hit shutout and struck out 11 Marlins. He even doubled and then scored the game's lone run thanks to a RBI double by CF Odubel Herrera. The Marlins' only hit was a Christian Yelich double with two outs in the 1st inning.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 8 @ Houston Astros 4
Ryan Zimmerman had a 3-HR game and totaled 6 RBIs. Stephen Strasburg struck out 7 Astros to pick up his 12th win of the season, and Sean Doolittle made his 26th save.
·Full game report.
In another notable pitching performance today, Jeff Samardzija fanned 12 Milwaukee Brewers and was only one out shy of a complete game shutout in the San Francisco Giants' 3-0 win.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 4 @ Cleveland Indians 14
Indians 2B Jason Kipinis hit 3 home runs and drove in 6 runs. Now the Sox are 4 games behind the New York Yankees in the A.L. East standings.
·Full game report
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
It was a great pitcher's duel between Sale and C.C. Sabathia until the bottom of 5th. Nunez was able to take advantage of our Guarding Lines to hit a single past 1B Todd Frazier and score a man from 2B.
Sale handcuffed our offense for most of the game. He threw a 3-hit shutout until the top of 8th, when the computer manager pulled him for Kimbrel. We just couldn't get anything going for the rest of the game. The Red Sox won the series to pull within 3.5 games of us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Texas Rangers won their 9th consecutive game today. They defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-2 thanks to Joey Gallo's walk-off homer. Max Scherzer struck out 12 San Diego Padres for the Washington Nationals' 3-2 win. The Atlanta Braves' Julio Tehran also enjoyed 12 strikeouts today in a 7-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Manager's Notes
Boston started well by scoring two runs off Luis Severino in the bottom of the 1st. However, Matt Holliday tied the game for us with a 2-run homer in the top of the 4th. In the top of 8th PH Ronald Torreyes, who has turned into a hit machine against righties all of a sudden, hit the go-ahead RBI off RP Barnes. Didi Gregorius added an insurance home run in the top of 9th. Chad Green and David Robertson were able to preserve Seve's 17th win of the season, and now Robertson is only one save behind Kimbrel for the majors lead. Tip of the cap to Rodriguez, who struck out 10 Yankees in 6 2/3 innings.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Arizona Diamondbacks 9 @ Minnesota Twins 1
D-Backs SP Robbie Ray struck out an incredible 16 Twins. The Snakes cruised to a very, very easy win.
·Full game report.
Milwaukee Brewers 4 @ Colorado Rockies 7
Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon went 5 for 5 with two home runs, 3 RBIs, and 3 runs. He single-handedly beat the Brew Crew today.
·Full game report.
Miami Marlins 12 @ New York Mets 1
Edinson Volquez pitched a 2-hitter. He actually carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He struck out 5 Mets and gave up only one walk and one run. Marlins 1B Justin Bour hit two home runs (a grand slam and a three-run) and totaled 7 RBIs for the day.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
With five green Extreme Matchup advantages over SP Price, it didn't take long for us to get to a good start. Gary Sanchez launched a 2-run HR. Unfortunately the next inning the Red Sox countered with a 2-run HR by Devers off SP Pineda. Bradley hit a three-run shot in the bottom of 4th. Our offense just could not do any better. We ended up with 0 for 9 RISP.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 3 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 5
Pirates RF Gregory Polanco hit 3 home runs (two solos and a 2-run) today. They produced enough runs for the Bucs to win over the Red Birds.
·Full game report.
The Cleveland Indians' Danny Salazar struck out 14 Kansas City Royals in 7 2/3 innings. Pitching was the focus of the game as the Tribe won 1-0.
Manager's Notes
Didier Gregious hit for his 10th consecutive game with a 2-run HR in the top of 1st. Cespedes tried to get a homer of his own in the bottom of the 1st, but Brett Gardner robbed him to end the Mets' inning scoreless.
We really put the pressure on SP Gsellman in the top of 4th. Chase Headley came to the plate with the bases loaded and no out, and walked. After Sonny Gray struck out (ugh, AL pitcher batting in a NL game), Aaron Hicks hit a sacrifice fly. Brett Gardner hit a potential RBI single, but Starlin Castro got thrown out with a 75% safe chance. Let's home my impatience doesn't bite me later in this game.
Sonny Gray pitched incredibly well today to make up for his bad outing two nights prior. He had a no-hitter until the 6.1th inning, when Conforto hit a double. Gray maintained his shutout until the 7.1th inning, when d'Arnaud hit a solo homer. Speaking of homers, Aaron Judge hit a solo blast in the top of 7th and a two-run shot in the top of 9th to pretty much put the game out of reach of the Mets.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 6 @ Minnesota Twins 4
Well, that didn't take long for another one to happen. Indians 3B Jose Ramirez hit for the cycle. He hit a single, a home run, a double, and a 9th inning triple that broke the 4-4 9th inning tie.
·Full game report.
There were a couple other strong pitching performances today. The San Francisco Giants won over the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 thanks to Jeff Samardzija's 4-hitter. The Washington Nationals' Gio Gonzalez did one better, pitching a 3-hitter in a 11-0 rout of the San Diego Padres.
Manager's Notes
Now we play the next two games of the Subway Series at Citi Field after taking the first two at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Judge didn't miss a beat in Queens as he started us off with a 2-run homer off de Grom. C.C. Sabathia may have had an even better start by holding the Mets hitless for the first three innings.
Gary Sanchez has been quietly making the case of being the team's MVP. He hit his 31st homer of the season in the top of the 6th to extend our lead to 3-0.
Unfortunately C.C. unexpectedly ran out of gas in the bottom of 6th. He loaded the bases with one out. RP Tommy Kahnle managed a strikeout, but walked Cespedes. Sanchez unfortunately committed a passed ball for the Mets' next run. Flores hit a 3-run HR. Just like that, C.C. was cruising to a shutout and now we are losing this game.
In the top of 9th Chase Headley led off by rolling a DO1fB... and rolling a 1!!! PH Todd Frazier doubled Headley home. A passed ball by d'Arnaud moved Todd to 3B with no out and our #1 to #3 batters coming up! Aaron Hicks took advantage of the drawn in infield for a RBI single. Brett Gardner singled and stole a base to make it two men in scoring position with no out and "court in session." Unfortunately the Judge struck out. Didi Gregorius fouled out. RP Smoker threw a WP that scored Hicks and put us in a 6-5 lead.
Unfortunately all that hard work went to waste when CL David Robertson gave up a triple to Rivera with a man on 1B to tie the game. Reyes narrowly averted a strikeout and was able to hit a ball to Starlin Castro, who got nervous and committed the game-losing walk-off error.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays 6 @ Toronto Blue Jays 8
The Blue Jays' Josh Donaldson hit 3 solo HRs. The Jays' relievers were able to hold off a late game comeback and hold on to win the game.
·Full game report.
Baltimore Orioles 0 @ Seattle Mariners 6
King Felix Hernandez pitched a dominant 2-hit shutout today for the Mariners. He was perfect for 5.1 innings and struck out 8 Orioles.
·Full game report.
Chris Sale struck out 13 St. Louis Cardinals, but it wasn't enough to make up for a bad start. His Boston Red Sox lost today 8-2. Boston remains 4.0 games behind us in the A.L. East.
Manager's Notes
Sonny Gray had his worst outing of the season, giving up six runs in the first two innings. RP Adam Warren gave up two more in the top or 4th for the Mets to rout us 8-0. Game over, right?
Bottom of 4th - 2-run sacrifice fly by Ronald Torreyes dropped by LF Cespedes that scored men from 3B and 2B. RBI double by Chase Headley to make it 8-3.
Bottom of 5th - 2-run homer by Didier Gregorius. 8-5.
Bottom of 7th - 2-run homer by Gary Sanchez. 8-7.
Bottom of 8th - solo homer by Chase Headley. We somehow came all the way back to tie the game.
Brilliant pitching by five of our relievers ensured the Mets did not score any more runs. Finally, in the bottom of the 12th, Toe smashed a S= to score Aaron Judge from 2B and win the game for us!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Atlanta Braves 4 @ Colorado Rockies 15
Rockies SS Trevor Story singled, homered, tripled, and doubled (and also walked) to hit for the cycle - the first time I have seen it happen on Strat-O-Matic! He and teammate Nolan Arenado both finished the day with 5 RBIs each as the Rockies routed the Braves. Poor Story - Arenado's 2 HRs and 5 RBIs overshadowed the cycle in the Strat-O-Matic news summary.
·Full game report.
Chicago White Sox 4 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 7
If the cycle wasn't enough, the Dodgers' Rich Hill racked up probably the most strikeouts I've seen in a Strat-O-Matic game so far. He struckout 17 White Sox in 7 2/3 innings. Kenley Jansen pitched the rest of the game for his 33rd save.
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Angels 0 @ Washington Nationals 1
The Nats' Stephen Strasburg had "only" 15 strikeouts today. To make up for that, he drove in the game's only run!
·Full game report.
We were four outs away from a no-hitter, by the way! Jose Urena went 7.2 no-hit innings for the Miami Marlins, who were able to hold off the San Francisco Giants' late rally to win 5-3. This may be the best single day of a season replay I have ever seen out of SOM.
Manager's Notes
Today was a good shutout duel until the bottom of 4th. Aaron Judge scored from 2B on a RBI single by Gary Sanchez. The Mets fought for and got their first run when Luis Severino got himself in a bases-loaded jam with two outs. Cespedes hit a deep single to RF to score Reyes from 3B, but Judge gunned down Aoki trying to get the lead.
The next half inning we got the 2-1 lead after Aaron Hicks doubled to score Chase Headley from 2B. I wisely kept him from scoring in the next single because I knew the next batter, Sanchez, was great against lefties (like the Mets' RP Smoker). I was right, Gary got a 2-run single.
We used Smoker for batting practice the rest of the game and got some more run. Severino pitched a 4-hitter and fanned 9 Mets.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Toronto Blue Jays outlasted the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in seventeen innings! Kendrys Morles had his 4th hit of the game and it was a signle that scored Josh Donaldson in walk-off fashion.
Manager's Notes
Today we got an opportunity to try to win the series against a guy we have many good Extreme Matchups against, Price. We forced a bases loaded situation with no out in the bottom of 2nd, but unfortunately the next three batters all struck out!
Michael Pineda made his season debut and handled the Sox well until the top of 4th, when he gave up a solo HR to Devers. Fortunately in the bottom half Austin Romine, making a rare start in place of Todd Frazier, blasted a solo HR to tie the game. The next inning Gary Sanchez (luckily Romine can play 1B) hit a solo HR of his own to give us the 2-1 lead.
Pineda pitched very well, but I decided to try to have Dellin Betances get the last out of the 7th inning. Unfortunately he gave up a 2-run RBI double to PH Nunez.
In an exciting chess match in the bottom half of the inning, we had the bases loaded with Matt Holliday facing off against RP Barnes. I put in Brett Gardner for the PH spot, knowing I would not have his defense if needed later. The Red Sox countered with RP Abad. I then took Gardner out for Todd. He crushed a double that scored all three Yankees! 5-3 lead!
The Red Sox tried to come back in the top of 8th with a 2-out double RBI roll by Devers, but I had Guarding Lines enabled and Romine was able to score a groundout. In the top of 9th Vazquez hit a solo HR to cut the deficit to 5-4 with no outs, but a strikeout and an induced double play by David Robertson secured the 42nd save of the season for him and a big series win at home. It was a great effort today by the team all around.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Justin Bour hit two 3-run home runs to total 6 RBIs for his Miami Marlins in their 8-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Manager's Notes
Jordan Montgomery worked his magic in the top of 2nd inning, getting out of an ugly bases-loaded jam with no out to somehow retire the next three batters without giviing up a run.
The closest we got to hurting Sale early on was when Aaron Judge nearly hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 5th. He rolled a HR15fb, but unfortunately got a 17 split. The very next batter, Pedroia, hit a solo HR to get the Red Sox ahead 1-0.
In the bottom of the 6th I had a man on 3B and Chase Headley, with a green Extreme Matchup, was at bat with one out. I had a 42% squeeze play chance, but figured I would have better odds if I let him swing. Unfortunately he got struck out and the next batter ground out to Sale, ending our best scoring threat of the afternoon.
Fortunately I didn't have to second-guess myself, as Chasen Shreve gave up two solo homers in the top of the 8th. We just couldn't touch Sale and Kimbrel picked up an easy save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Max Scherzer struck out 13 San Francisco Giants in 8 1/3 innings. The Giants threatened Scherzer's Washington Nationals 2-1 in the top of the 9th, but Doolittle blew the save and allowed the game to go into extra innings 2-2. Trea Turner ensured the Nationals got the W with a walk-off single in the 12th inning.
Manager's Notes
Boston hit well in the first inning and led 1-0. We countered in the 3rd inning with a RBI double by Gary Sanchez assisted by Jacoby Ellsbury's dramatic steal of 2nd base.
C.C. Sabathia pitched very well today after that 1st inning. He pulled off a Houdini act in the top of 6th by escaping from men on 3rd and 1st with no out.
Aaron Judge refuses to stop making clutch homers. With left-handed SP Pomeranz tiring, Judge hit a 2-out 3-run home run to give us the 4-1 lead in the bottom of 6th. The other Aaron, Hicks, immediately followed with a solo HR. Matt Holliday added a solo blast in the 7th.
Sabathia ended a brilliant complete game with 10 strikeouts and only one walk. I had him as our #5 starter in the start of the season and tonight he updates his W-L to 14-4 and dominated our biggest rival. You can't predict those things, but I'm not going to complain!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Danny Salazer struck out 14 Tampa Bay Rays today in a complete game for the Cleveland Indians' 6-1 win. The Oakland Athletics' Andrew Triggs had a 4-hit complete game shutout to lead the A's to a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Manager's Notes
Toronto started 1-0 with a RBI single, but we countered in the 3rd inning after I had Aaron Judge swing for the fences instead of doing my usual sacrifice bunt to advance the runner on 1st with 0 out. Home run and 2-1 lead. Starlin Castro hit a nice 2-run HR in the 4th inning to extend our lead to 4-1.
Sorry but that lead didn't last long. Sonny Gray couldn't get anyone out in the 4th inning and Toronto continuously pounded him with hits to tie the game. We narrowly missed a RBI single by Matt Holliday to score a man from 3rd with 2 outs in the top of the 6th.
A Starlin Castro error put two Jays in scoring position with no out in the bottom of 8th. Chasen Shreve got the first out and intentionally walked to load the bases. Chad Green got a big strikeout and forced a groundout to keep the game tied.
In the top of the 11th Gary Sanchez hit a deep double to CF. Chase Headley immediately rolled a S= for hopefully the game-winning run. Yep, David Robertson easily picked off the tired Blue Jays hitters one by one for his 41st save of the season and to secure another series win for us. Bring on the Red Sox!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 3 @ Philadelphia Phillies 2
With his 5.72 ERA, Zack Wheeler isn't going to win the Cy Young this season. However today he pitched like one with an amazing 2-hit shutout. The highlights were 14 strikeouts and only 2 walks. Yoenis Cespedes' solo homer and Jose Reyes' two-run home run ensured Wheeler got his 8th win of the season.
·Full game report.
There were other outstanding pitching performances around the majors today. Jose Urena pitched a 4-hit complete game for the Miami Marlins, who won over the Washington Nationals 2-1. Marlins 1B Justin Bour hit the game-winning homer in the top of the 9th. In addition, Zack Greinke struck out 12 Los Angeles Dodgers for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dodgers closer Kenley Jensen couldn't close the game with the score 4-3. Jeremy Hazelbaker led off with a triple and David Peralta hit the walk-off two-run homer for the 5-4 win.
Manager's Notes
Our hitting was much better tonight. We started well, with Didi Gregorius getting a S= with the bases loaded to start us off 2-0. In the 4th inning we got a solo HR by new DH Chase Headley (Ronald Torreyes has gotten good enough to start against righties) and a RBI single by Aaron Judge to score Toe. Ronald finished the night with 3 hits, by the way. The very next batter, Starlin Castro, got a RBI single to score the man from 2B too. 5-0 by the end of the top of the 4th.
Toronto did not get a hit until the first batter of the bottom of the 5th. Smoak hit a solo HR off Luis Severino. Carrera did the same thing to cut the deficit to 5-2. I decided to pull Seve in the bottom of 7th when he had to face Smoak (green Extreme Matchup) with a man on 1B. Aroldis Chapman gave up a RBI single but we were still in the driver's seat with a 5-3 lead. Chad Green and David Robertson finished the job, and the latter secured his 40th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Pittsburgh Pirates 12 @ Detroit Tigers 0
The Bucs' Gerrit Cole pitched a 2-hit shutout as the Pirates crushed the Tigers. Cole had a no-hitter for 6.1 innings. He ended the day with 9 strikeouts and 3 walks.
·Full game report.
There were a couple of marathon games! The Boston Red Sox won their 8th consecutive game by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in 16 innings. Not to be outdone, the Houston Astros won over the Chicago White Sox 11-10 in 18 innings!!!
Manager's Notes
Jordan Montgomery continues to improve as our #4 starter. He no-hit the Blue Jays for the first 3.2 innings.
Starlin Castro had a sacrifice fly in the top of 4th. Montgomery wore out faster than I expected even though he was under his pitch count and only gave up maybe 4 singles. He gave up a single with two outs and got knocked out of the game after 66 pitches. I'll have to give it some thought if I want him as the #5 pitcher instead.
Our offense could not get anything else going. Our relievers worked hard to keep the Jays' batters at bay. Unfortunately Martin, with a negative Exteme Matchup against Aroldis Chapman, managed to hit the walk-off solo home run with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros and Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox both struck out 14 batters. Verlander pitched a 6-hit shutout as the Astros crushed the Chicago White Sox 8-0. Sale pitched 9 innings, but his teammates needed the top of 10th for Mookie Betts to hit the game-winning solo homer over the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2.
Crunch time for us is coming up. We will play daily until August 20 We have the Blue Jays and Mets coming up, but two series with the Red Sox will determine if we are good enough to hold onto our A.L. East lead.
League Notes
Wade Miley, he of a 2-13 record as a Baltimore Orioles starter this season, pitched a 5-hit shutout as the O's crushed the Los Angeles Angels 9-0. Catcher Wellington Castillo finished the day a triple shy of a cycle.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge paced our offense in the start of the game. He had a RBI single in the 1st inning and forced a bases-loaded walk with two outs to give us a 2-0 lead.
The Indians turned up their offense in the bottom of 4th, capping it off with a 3-run HR by Santana to lead 4-2. However, the next inning Judge stayed hot by launching a deep double that scored men on 2nd and 1st to tie the game. Gary Sanchez got himself thrown out trying to stretch a RBI single into a double to ensure Judge made it home for a 5-4 lead. A deep sacrifice fly by Aaron Hicks extended that lead to 6-4.
C.C. Sabathia ran out of gas and gave up a big 2-run double to Jackson to give the Tribe a 7-6 lead.
We kept trying and trying and could not get any good hits off their relievers. In the bottom of 8th, the manager decided to put in closer Allen with Judge on 1B, two outs, and negative Extreme Matchup Didier Gregorius at the plate. I just wanted a stinkin' home run and put in Ronald Torreyes. Amazingly, Allen threw an awful pitch and Toe launched a dinger in center field for his first home run of the season!!! 8-7, us.
Unfortunately all that hard work went to waste in the bottom of the 8th inning when Lindor hit a homer off setup man Chad Green. The next batter, Ramirez, hit a home run too. Ugh, what an awful way to lose a game!
Hold on. Allen couldn't take advantage of that win opportunity. Matt Holliday hit a RBI double to put men in scoring position with one out. 9-9 tie. Bases loaded. Two outs. Aaron Judge. No! He rolled a HR11fb, but split a 13. Extra innings.
In the top of 10th we loaded the bases, but a very tired Allen managed to get the last two outs via strikeouts.
In the top of 11th Allen ran out of gas and Judge, already having a monster game, snuck in an RBI single through the drawn-in infield to score Brett Gardner, after the latter stole two bases thanks to a wild throw by catcher Gomes. Torreyes hit for the clutch again, scoring Judge with a double. A wild pitch by Goody sent him home. Starlin Castro shook off an awful 0-5 start to launch his second consecutive hit... a home run!
Can we hold on a 13-9 lead? With the day off tomorrow anyway, I put in my second to last reliever, David Robertson, to finish things off. The Indians bat would not relent and they scored one more run, but eventually they ran out of outs. What a difficult and crazy win! Judge finished with 5 RBIs and Torreyes was the star off the bench with a 2-for-3 2-run 3-RBI effort.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Milwaukee Brewers 3 @ Tampa Bay Rays 11
Blake Snell had 5.0 no-hit innings. After he was pulled for giving up 3 runs, his relievers 1-hit the Brewers for the game's final 3.1 innings. Rays LF Corey Dickerson went 5 for 5 with a homer, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, and one double shy of a cycle.
·Full game report.
The Chicago White Sox pounded the Boston White Sox for 14 hits in 9 innings. Unfortunately, Chicago managed only 2 runs. Even more unfortunate, Boston rallied to win in walk-off fashion thanks to consecutive RBI singles by Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, 3-2. In another walk-off win, the Colorado Rockies outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8. Mark Reynolds hit in his 23rd consecutive game and scored the walk-off run. That game has 20 hits total for Colorado and 14 for Philadelphia - quite high for a 10-inning game.
Manager's Notes
I decided to rest Aaron Hicks against SP Carrasco (bad Extreme Matchup) and started Jacoby Ellsbury (good Extreme Matchup). It paid off quickly. In the 1st inning Ellsbury got a single, but got himself thrown out trying for a lead. The very next time up, he rolled a 8 in a TR8DO to score Matt Holliday from 3B to help us tie the game 1-1. The next batter, Brett Gardner, singled Ellsbury home for a 2-1 lead.
Cleveland quickly tied the score in the bottom of 3rd, but we answered in the 4th with a 2-run single by Starlin Castro. Matt Holliday hit a deep fly out for a 2nd out, but I wisely held 55% safe chance Castro at 3rd. Ellsbury was next up to bat and Carrasco got nervous and uncorked a wild pitch, giving us an easy run and extending our lead to 5-2.
Sonny Gray fell apart and gave up a 2-run double in the bottom of 5th, but by some miracle, a sure RBI single had a 20 roll and turned into a pop out to Didier Gregorius. However, Gray pulled himself back together and was able to finish with 7.0 IP tonight.
A 3-run HR in the top of 9th by Gary Sanchez made it 8-4. Chad Green couldn't hold on for the two-inning save, so David Robertson forced a double play and struck out the last Indian for his 39th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 21 @ New York Mets 0
The Dodgers really walloped the Mets today. Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig both totaled 7 RBIs. Turner hit two homers, including a grand slam, and Puig added one of his own. Rich Hill had a very, very easy 6-hit shutout.
·Full game report.
Texas Rangers 6 @ Minnesota Twins 5 (10 innings)
Rangers RF Nomar Mazara had only 3 hits today. All of them were home runs, including the game-winner in the top of the 10th.
·Full game report.
The Washington Nationals easily cruised by the Chicago Cubs 10-3 behind the Nats' 13 hits and Stephen Strasburg's 13 strikeouts. The Boston Red Sox remained 3.0 games behind us with a 14-strikeout performance by Drew Pomeranz and a walk-off three-run HR by Hanley Ramirez in a 7-5 comeback win over the Chicago White Sox. Finally, the Houston Astros had an easy 5-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays thanks to Charlie Morton's 3-hit shutout.
Manager's Notes
Tonight was our turn to start strong. In the 1st inning, Aaron Judge hit a sacrifice grounder and Didier Gregorius hit a one-run double.
Having hit a homer against us yesterday, Zimmmer continued his hot hitting for the Tribe by smashing a 2-run shot in the bottom of 2nd to tie the game. It would have been a solo shot if not for an infield error by us. An infield sacrifice by Encarcion in the bottom of the 5th pushed the Indians ahead 3-2.
Thanks to Kluber's pitching (10 strikeouts), we managed only 4 hits the entire game. Luis Severino gave up a few too many doubles, but Aroldis Chapman did a great job in relief. We'll try to split the series in the next two games before getting a day off.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Mike Trout hit two HRs today, including the walk-off 2-run homer, as his Los Angeles Angels rallied from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Oakland Athletics 6-5. Trevor Williams pitched a 5-hit shutout for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres. The Pirates themselves had only 4 hits, but won thanks to David Freese's 2-run shot in the bottom of 4th. Finally, Michael Fulmer pitched a 10-inning shutout for the Detroit Tigers against the Baltimore Orioles. His consistency paid off in the top of 11th when Nicholas Castellanos hit the game-winning two-run homer. Shane Greene finished the game for his 17th save of the season.
Manager's Notes
This wasn't a good start to a 4-game away series between two #1 teams in the A.L. Masahiro Tanaka had a very rough start, giving up three homers, and I am seriously considering sending him to the minors and calling up Michael Pineda. However, give the Indians some credit. Trevor Bauer struck out 14 Yankees and Cleveland finished with 17 total strikeouts. Francisco Lindor starred tonight with two homers and 5 RBIs.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
There were some good pitching performances today, but the best one belonged to the Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta. He struck out 12 Diamondbacks in 8 innings for a 3-1 win. In the hitting department, the Houston Astros' Yuli Gurriel and Colorado Rockies' Mark Reynolds are both leading their respective leagues with 20 consecutive games with a hit.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge hit a RBI single to start us 1-0. Jordan Montgomery pulled off a brilliant Houdini act with the bases loaded in the top of 3rd and no out. He was able to get Kinsler to line out to 2B Starlin Castro and Castellanos to ground into a 6-4-3 double play!
Despite one more double play to get him out of the 4th inning, our luck couldn't hold up when Andrew Romine hit a 2-run HR to move the Tigers ahead 2-1 in the top of 5th.
In the bottom of 6th with Aaron Judge on 1B and no out, I decided to trust Gary Sanchez to swing for the fences rather than my usual sacrifice bunt to hope for an eventual tying run. It paid off as Sanchez hit a perfect pitch over the CF wall to give us a 3-2 lead! RP Bell couldn't find the plate and Aaron Hicks took a bases loaded walk with 2 outs to extend the lead to 6-4.
David Robertson gave us another adventure in closing. He loaded the bases with one out (the computer manager took out Romine for Presley, even though Romine hit a big HR earlier in the game). Presley hit a RBI single to LF, but Brett Gardner's -3 arm easily gunned down Mahtook trying to score for the 2nd out. A groundout secured a series win and Robertson's 38th save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 11 @ Colorado Rockies 7
In a usual high-scoring game at Coors Field, the Mets' 3B Wilmer Flores totaled 4 RBIs and Yoenis Cespedes went 5 for 6. The Rockies' LF Gerardo Parra also notched 4 RBIs for the home team.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Detroit got the best of C.C. Sabathia early in the game with a 2-run HR in the top of 1st and a RBI single in the 2nd. A RBI single in the next half inning by Brett Gardner made it 3-1, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Aaron Judge struck out on a perfect pitch (white dice roll) for him and unfortunately we couldn't do further damage.
We were able to tie the game in the bottom of 6th when Starlin Castro hit a 2-run single with the bases loaded and one out that was stretched into a double. Gary Sanchez sacrificed himself to let Aaron Judge score form 2nd. Todd Frazier hit a big S= to score Castro from 2B and give us the lead.
In the next inning Aaron Hicks hit a huge 2-run HR to make it 6-3. Aaron Judge hit a solo HR a few batters later. We piled on some more runs in the next inning and finished the game scoring three consecutive runs in three consecutive innings. Adam Warren picked up an easy long save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Lance McCullers, Jr. pitched an amazing 10-inning complete game for the Houston Astros. He struck out 13 Tampa Bay Rays. Marwin Gonzalez hit the walk-off home run for the 3-2 win.
Manager's Notes
The Tigers jumped to a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning in part thanks to 2-run HR by Castellanos. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Chase Headley, Starlin Castro, and Matt Holliday gave us three double consecutive to tie the game just like that, 3-3!
Most of the game after that was a good pitching duel between Sonny Gray and Daniel Norris. We kept the game at 3 runs and 3 hits each until the bottom of the 6th inning. After two walks for us, Starlin hit another big RBI to push us ahead 4-3. Todd Frazier got a RBI of his own to make it 5-3.
Unfortunately Gray faltered in the top of 7th and gave up two baserunners with no out. A Tommy Kahnle HBP loaded the bases with no out. Our defense made a couple of good force outs at home plate, but we couldn't prevent a game-tying double.
We were able to pressure the Tigers pitching and defense into a passed ball with a man on 3B to push ahead 6-5. With David Robertson resting today, Aroldis Chapman did not make the save opportunity easy at all, but managed a 3rd out strikeout with men in scoring position for the save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays 3 @ Houston Astros 2
Charlie Morton racked up 15 strikeouts for the Astros, but the bats couldn't produce enough runs to get him the W. Rays LF Corey Dickerson hit a 3-run HR in the top of 3rd that proved to be the deciding runs of the game.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
It was a low scoring contest until the 4th and 5th innings, when Aaron Judge hit an RBI double (got himself thrown out to ensure Brett Gardner scored) in the 4th and Todd Frazier belted a 2-run HR in the bottom of 5th to make it 3-0.
Luis Severino tried to make it a shutout, but a pinch hit solo HR by Dickerson in the top of the 8th spoiled that plan. We played it safe with our usual Chad Green/David Robertson combo for the save, the win, and the 4-game sweep.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Houston Astros 10 @ Detroit Tigers 1
In a great team effort today, Justin Verlander pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts. Evan Gattis went 4 for 5 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs total. Lost in the shuffle was CF Jake Marisnick, who hit THREE SOLO HOMERS to add to the Astros' lopsided victory.
·Full game report.
Despite a 3-run threat in the top of the 9th inning by the Colorado Rockies, Max Scherzer was able to finish his game with 12 strikeouts for his Washington Nationals to win today, 5-4.
Manager's Notes
This was a well-pitched game. We got a sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge (1st inning) and a 1-run double by Brett Gardner (5th inning). Jordan Montgomery gave up only one hit the first five innings, but a triple by Dickerson forced me to put in my only rested lefty, Chasen Shreve. He got two consecutive strikeouts to keep our shutout intact. I'm glad I called him up - he has been great so far.
Dellin Betances (pitching in the 7th for a resting Aroldis Chapman), Chad Green, and David Robertson no-hit the Rays for the rest of the game. Once again, a great pitching effort by both teams.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Colorado Rockies 0 @ Washington Nationals 3
The Nats' Gio Gonzalez pitched a brilliant game today. He had eight no-hit innings and struck out 9 Rockies. In the bottom of 9th he had two consecutive strikeouts, but a single by Mark Reynolds ruined the no-hitter. By the way the Marlins' Marcell Ozuna didn't get a hit yesterday to snap his 25-game hitting streak, and Reynolds is now the majors' leader with 16 consecutive games. Funny how things worked out in the end. The Nats manager wouldn't even let Gonzalez get the shutout. Sean Doolittle only needed one out to get his 21st save of the season. 1B Ryan Zimmerman was the offensive star by going 4 for 4 with a run and RBI.
·Full game report.
Cincinnati Reds 0 @ Miami Marlins 10
Let's get something out of the way: Giancarlo Stanton is a MONSTER. He launched FOUR home runs and totaled 6 RBIs as the red-hot Marlins dominated today's game with their offense and pitching.
·Full game report.
There were other great games today. The Los Angeles Dodgers crushed the San Francisco Giants 13-4 thanks to Clayton Kershaw's pitching AND batting - he hit two doubles and a triples to total 5 RBIS!!! The Seattle Mariners stopped their 8-game losing streak by winning a close one over the New York mets 3-2. David Price pitched a 5-hit shutout to ensure the Boston Red Sox stayed 3 games behind us in their 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals. The Philadelphia Phillies won a strange one over the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in the bottom of 12th when Daniel Nava was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded! The Texas Rangers won 7-6 over the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the 11th inning thanks to a wild pitch that scored Nomar Mazara. The best game, thought, had to be Detroit's 3-2 win over Houston in 11 innings. Michael Fulmer pitched the entire game for the Tigers!!! Nicholas Castellanos hit the walk-off homer for the Tigers.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of the 1st inning Jacoby Ellsbury started us off with, of all things, a leadoff home run. Unfortunately in the top of 3rd the Rays' own #1 batter, Dickerson, got a solo HR of his own to even up the game 1-1.
Sometimes I swear the computer messes with my dices. After Aaron Hicks hit a solo HR in the bottom of 3rd, Masahiro Tanaka loaded the bases in the top of 5th after Dickerson rolled a S2lo and then rolled a 1 split. Duda hit a 2-run single to score two runs and lead 3-2.
After the Rays ran the score up to 5-2, we had two consecutive RBI doubles by Matt Holliday and Aaron Judge. The manager left a tiring Snell on the mound and Didier Gregorius took advantage with a big RBI single to score the speedy Judge and tie the game.
In the top of 6th I decided to pull Tanaka (10 Ks today, but kept giving up series of hits) in favor of Dellin Betances. However, Dellin loaded the bases with one out. Aroldis Chapman gave up a 2-run double that appeared to put the game out of reach for us.
In the bottom of 9th with one out, Chase Headley made up for a 0-for-4 day by hitting a RBI single to make the score 7-6. Gary Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to score Gregorius and tie the game. In the bottom of 10th Judge was once again the team hero by doubling home pinch runner Clint Frazier for a big walk-off win!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Atlanta Braves 0 @ Philadelphia Phillies 2
Phillies SP Aaron Nola pitched a 2-hit shutout and SS Freddy Galvis scored both of the game's runs. Nola carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning.
·Full game report.
There were some big bats today. The New York Mets' Brandon Nimmo totaled 2 3-run HRs and 6 RBIs today in the Amazins' 12-10 win over the Miami Marlins. In addition, there were two walk-off grand slams! Ryon Healy did it for the Oakland Ahletics in their 7-3 win over the Minnesota Twins. The St. Louis Cardinals prevailed over the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 thanks to Luke Voit's blast.
Manager's Notes
We got in a 1st inning jam with C.C. Sabathia pitching. We gave up a RBI single, but prevented a RBI double after CF Aaron Hicks gunned down Morrison trying to score from 2B. 1-0, Rays. Gary Sanchez tied it for us in the next inning with a solo HR.
In the top of 4th Robertson hit a 2-run HR for the Rays. We countered with another solo Sanchez HR the same inning.
The Rays got another run to make it 4-2 in the 5th. In the next inning Sanchez, with a man on 2B, hit a THIRD home run to tie the game at 4!
Unfortunately I pulled C.C. after 7.1 innings because the next batter, Longoria, had an Extreme 4 Matchup advantage. I put in Aroldis Chapman and tried to shift against him. Unfortunately Longoria hit a big solo HR to undo all our hard work.
However the next inning Jacoby Ellsbury pinch hit a double and Aaron Judge deep singled him home. An error by the Rays put Judge and Starlin Castro in scoring position with no out. Sanchez saw a pitch he really liked, but hit a double instead of a 4th HR to score both teammates and get us ahead 7-5. We scored one more run and David Robertson closed the game. Sanchez was the star, totaling 6 RBIs for the night.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Arizona Diamondbacks 9 @ St. Louis Cardinals 3
Robbie Ray nearly had a complete game for the D-Backs. He went 8.2 innings and struck out 12 Red Birds. LF David Peralta went 5 for 5 with 3 runs, 2 homers, and 5 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We actually played very, very well today. It was a good game. Unfortunately we couldn't get that 8th consecutive win as Sonny Gray gave up 4 home runs: Duvall, Votto, and twice to Gennett. The relief pitchers were great and our offense had some great rallies, but it wasn't enough. We split the two-game series.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 9 @ San Diego Padres 5
In a great team effort, Asdrubal Cabrera went 5 for 6, Yoenis Cespedes totaled 6 RBIs out of two homers, and Jacob de Grom nearly went the distance, striking out 10 Padres in the process.
·Full game report.
Oakland Athletics 1 @ Toronto Blue Jays 7
Josh Donaldson had only three hits today. They were all home runs to total 4 RBIs for the day. Marcus Stroman threw a 3-hit complete game and struck out 9 Athletics.
·Full game report.
Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays had two homers today. The better of the two took place in the bottom of 9th, when he launched a walk-off solo shot to edge the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3. By the way, the Miami Marlins' Marcell Ozuna is halfway to immortality with his 23rd consecutive game with a hit. Today his Marlins beat the Texas Rangers in 10 innings, 4-3.
Manager's Notes
Tonight was an excellent pitcher's duel between Luis Severino and Romano. We gave up solo HRs apiece. In the bottom of 7th Gary Sanchez hit a solo HR of his own to give us a 2-1 lead. We held the Reds to only 3 hits total and held on to win. Severino ended the day with 7 innings and 10 strikeouts. We are on our 7th consecutive win.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Marcell Ozuna hit for the 22nd consecutive game. Unfortunately his Miami Marlins lost a close one to the Texas Rangers 8-7.
League Notes
There were many, many individual stars today. The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 9-3 behind Miguel Cabrera's 2 HRs and 5 RBIs and Michael Fulmer struck out 12 Royals. For the New York Mets, Yoenis Cespedes led the way with 4 hits and 6 RBIs as the Amazin's rallied in the top of 9th to beat the San Diego Padres 9-8. The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 thanks to Jeff Samardzija's 5-hit shutout. Alex Cobb of the Tampa Bay Rays three-hit the Baltimore Orioles 2-0, and J.A. Happ did the exact same thing for his Toronto Blue Jays over the Oakland Athletics 10-3.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
As we were trying to get a 4-game road sweep behind our #5 starter Jordan Montgomery, a good start became crucial. In the 2nd inning, Didi Gregorius hit a sacrifice grounder to score Starlin Castro from 3B. Todd Frazier shook off his negative Extreme Matchup against SP Miranda to get a solo HR.
After Todd got his 2nd solo HR of the game in the 4th innning, Jordan's 3.1 perfect innings got broken up by a Haniger single to CF. The next inning Gary Sanchez punished the M's for ruining his well-called game behind the plate by hitting a 2-run HR to extend our lead 5-0. In the very next at-bat, Chase Headley hit a HR right over the LF wall that Gamel couldn't rob. 6-0.
In the bottom of 6th Jordan was able to get two outs but ran out of gas and loaded the bases. Aroldis Chapman struck out Cruz to end the scoring threat. Aroldis, Dellin Betances, and Chad Green easily finished the game and shut out the Mariners. Not only did we get that 4-game west coast sweep with a day off tomorrow, we won our 6th consecutive game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cleveland Indians' 12-win streak got snapped today due to a 8-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. However, if you like streaks, we have six and counting, the best current streak in the majors. The Miami Marlins' Marcell Ozuna has hit safely in 20 consecutive games and counting.
Manager's Notes
Another night, another game with us starting with a lead as Brett Gardner, taking advantage of a good Extreme Matchup against Hernandez, hit a 3-run HR in the top of 3rd. Unbelievably that caused the manager to pull him! No wonder his ERA is so high this season. It looks like he doesn't get the chance to shut down his opponent the rest of the games. While I pondered that very, very hard, Aaron Judge followed up with a solo HR to make it 4-0.
Masahiro Tanaka pitched two no-hit innings, but got himself into a silly bases-loaded jam with one out. Fortunately he was able to get out of it unscathed. The next inning Haniger doubled deep to CF and Alonso tried to score, but CF Aaron Hicks was able to throw the ball to give Gary Sanchez just enough time to block the plate and stop that run.
The Mariners were able to force Tanaka out of the game by loading the bases with one out in the top of 5th. Chasen Shreve pitched well, giving up only two earned runs for Tanaka for a 5-2 score that held up as the final. Aroldis Champan set up in place of a resting Chad Green and David Robertson got his 33rd save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The New York Mets' Jacob de Grom had another outstanding game, striking out 12 Oakland Athletics to pick up his 13th win of the season, 3-1. The Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer did just enough to pick up yet another win and 13 Arizona Diamondbacks struck out for a 3-2 win. Finally, the Cleveland Indians got their 12th consecutive win. They prevailed over the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1.
Manager's Notes
In the 1st innning, we hit three consecutive RBI singles to start with a 3-0 lead. Brett Gardner hit a solo shot the next inning to make it 4-0.
The next inning the Mariners refused to go down easily. They had some key hits and were able to cut the deficit to 4-3 as C.C. Sabathia struggled to keep the hot hitters at bay.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg struck out an amazing 12 Arizona Diamondbacks in only 6 innings, but he couldn't stop the D-Backs from rallying in the bottom of the 6th inning to take a 3-2 lead. Fernando Rodney picked up his 35th save, best in the N.L. That was the Diamondbacks' 6th consecutive win. The Cleveland Indians, however, continue their winning streak as they picked up their 11th today over the Toronto Blue Jays 9-7.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge refuses to cool off, which is perfectly fine with me. In the top of 1st after Didi Gregorius was one dice digit shy of a 2-run HR (he struck out), Judge launched one to score himself and Aaron Hicks.
We were almost able to get out of a men-in-scoring-position no-out jam, but for the 3rd out Judge booted a F3 by Seager, resulting in an E2 and two runs scored. Tie game.
Matt Holliday got a RBI single in the 2nd for a 3-2 lead, but a Sonny wild pitch in the 4th allowed the Mariners to score another unearned run. The next inning Judge hit a deep one to LF for a split HR/fly out attempt. LF Gamel would have robbed it with a 4 to 20 roll, but Judge rolled a 2! All Rise! We got back ahead 5-4. Starlin Castro continued his own hot run with a solo HR in the very next at-bat.
Unfortunately Gray just could not stop giving up extra bases hit. Another wild pitch helped the M's tie the game 6-6 in the 5th inning.
The next inning Judge was one dice roll digit away from a 3rd HR of the game - and a 3-run HR at that! However his roll was a passed ball that put men in scoring position with two outs. The M's took no chance and intentionally walked him. Unfortunately Castro struck out to end the inning. However, the next inning Matt Holliday hit a 3-run HR to give us the 9-7 lead.
Unfortunately Chad Green fell apart in the 8th inning. He threw two consecutive wild pitches and gave up a single to allow the Mariners to tie the game at 9.
In the top of 10th Brett Gardner had a 80% chance to reach 3B from 1B with two outs after a Didi Gregorius single, but I made him stay. I knew. Next batter. Aaron Judge. All Rise. 3rd homer of the game, 7 RBIs total, and a 12-9 lead for us. David Robertson, who had not pitched in a while, locked up his 32nd save of the season.
Let's be honest - that was an ugly game. 5 total errors (3 on us) and the pitching by both teams tonight will not win any awards. But it sure was fun to manage and fortunately it went our way!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Texas Rangers 11 @ Baltimore Orioles 3
Aaron Judge wasn't even the best home run hitter TODAY. The honor goes to the Rangers' Mike Napoli. He went 4 for 4 and all 4 hits were home runs. He totaled 6 RBIs and 5 runs (the only other at-bat was a walk).
·Full game report.
Atlanta Braves 5 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 0
Sean Newcomb pitched a 2-hit shutout for the Braves and struck out 10 Dodgers. Nick Markakis helped the offense by going 5 for 5 with two RBIs.
·Full game report.
There were a couple of good pitching performances tonight despite all the hitting. The San Francisco Giants' Jeff Samardzija three-hitted the San Diego Padres 6-0, striking out 13 Friars. The Arizona Diamondbacks also scored 6 runs in their 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Randall Delgado struck out 12 Red Legs.
Manager's Notes
The Twins softened up Luis Severino by scoring a couple of home runs, including a 2-runner by Sano, in the first two innings. However, in the 3rd inning Aaron Hicks hit a 2-run HR of his own to keep the game close, a 3-2 deficit.
After many, many missed opportunities, Starlin Castro finally tied the game for us with a single that scored Brett Gardner from 2B in the top of 7th.
After escaping a jam in the bottom of 7th, we were able to take the lead thanks to a Brett Gardner RBI single with the bases loaded and no out. Castro put the game away, way away with a grand slam with two outs. GET THIS! The Twins could not get that final out and we loaded the bases yet again with Chase Headley up at bat... and he hit a grand slam too!!!
I had Chasen Shreve finish the last two innings to save Aroldis Chapman for the 4-game series at Seattle. 3B Headley had a couple of errors that resulted in two Twins runs, but fortunately we were too far ahead anyway. That was a great series win at Target Field.
By the way, Starlin Castro, who didn't even get voted to the All-Star Game, now has a .343 batting average, third in the A.L. Let's see if he can continue that for the rest of the season. The real-life Castro finished 2017 with a .300 average.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Philadelphia Phillies 2 @ Miami Marlins 12
Giancarlo Stanton went 4 for 4 with 3 home runs and 6 RBIs. If that weren't enough, SP Edinson Volquez struck out 12 Phillies. What an impressive game for the Marlins.
·Full game report.
The Milwaukee Brewers' Jimmy Nelson pitched a 7-hit shutout and struck out 12 Pittsburgh Pirates for a 4-0 victory. Speaking of victories, the Cleveland Indians look poised to challenge their real-life A.L. record winning streak from the same season after they won their 10th consecutive game. Today they edged the San Francisco Giants 1-0 thanks to clutch pitching by starter Corey Kluber and closer Cody Allen.
Manager's Notes
Our offense came back to life tonight. In the 1st inning, Didi Gregorius hit a 1-run double. With the bases loaded, Todd Frazier was hit by Colon's pitch for another run. Matt Holliday walked for another easy run. Chase Headley WALKED too! Aaron Hicks singled to put Colon out of his misery. 5-0 start with our #5 starter Jordan Montgomery on the mound.
Jordan Montgomery seemed more comfortable thanks to that big lead we started with. He gave up two solo HRs, but was able to pitch 6.2 innings.
We scored more runs late in the game - 2 in the 7th and 4 in the 9th (including a 3-run HR by Aaron Judge... off another left-handed reliever). Dellin Betances had a strong 2.1 inning stint as his ERA continues to drop. It is at 1.29 now. It is always nice to get an easy win once in a while.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Diego Padres 4 @ Colorado Rockies 5
Padres CF and leadoff hitter Manuel Margot went 5 for 5 with one run, but the rest of the offense came up short in a 2-run 9th inning comeback attempt.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 3 @ Los Angeles Angels 1
Max Scherzer is now 16-2 after pitching a complete game 2-hitter. His only major mistake was a solo HR given up to Luis Valbuena. He totaled 11 strikeouts.
·Full game report.
There were a ton of other strong performances today. Chris Sale had yet another win as he struck out 14 Toronto Blue Jays for his Boston Red Sox en route to a 6-1 win. The Kansas City Royals won over the Detroit Tigers 7-2 thanks to Danny Duffy's 12-strikeout performance. The New York Mets' Jacob de Grom pitched a 3-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Finally, the Cleveland Indians enjoyed their 9th consecutive win by defeating the San Francisco Giants 5-1.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka kept giving up hits and runs in the first two innings... then he was lights out for the rest of the game. He completed all 8 innings and struck out 12 Twins. Unfortunately, despite outhitting the Twins, we could not score enough runs. Minnesota took the first game of the series.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Boston Red Sox got back to where they think they belong - 1st place - with a dominant 6-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched a 3-hit shutout. In another complete game shutout, the Atlanta Braves' Mike Foltynewicz threw a 6-hitter and struck out 12 Chicago Cubs en route to a 6-0 win.
Manager's Notes
The final score looked bad, but both teams pitched great for 8 innings. Unfortunately it fell apart for us in the bottom of 8th and our two relievers kept giving up extra base hits to let the Red Sox run up the score. Pomeranz finished with a 4-hit shutout and 13 strikeouts.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Arizona Diamondbacks' Robbie Ray struck out 12 Atlanta Braves in only 7 innings for a 4-3 win.
Manager's Notes
Today we have a stacked plus Extreme Matchup against Price and quickly took advantage of it in the top of 1st. Starlin Castro hit a S= to score Jacoby Ellsbury from 1B. The next inning Aaron Judge continued his hot hitting with a RBI double for another run.
Sonny Gray has been trying very, very card to convince me to make him our #1 starter. He stumbled in the bottom of 4th by loading the bases with no out. However some excellent defense got him out of the inning with only one run given up. 2-1, us.
Aaron Judge hit another RBI double to make it 3-1 in the top of the 9th. David Robertson picked up his 31st save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Francisco Giants 3 @ San Diego Padres 1
Giants SP Jeff Samardzija had a no-hitter for 7.1 innings. He ended up with a 1-hit shutout, 8 strikeouts, and no walk.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
In a new battle for A.L. East supremacy, we were not scoreless for long. In the top of the 3rd inning, we scored on a squeeze play by Aaron Hicks for our first run. A S= by Chase Headley extended the lead to 2-0.
We added one more run the next inning thanks to a Didier Gregorius deep sacrifice fly to CF. However, the Red Sox were able to get on the board with two consecutive singles to deep RF to score two runs.
Luis Severino was able to outduel Sale and he lasted 7.2 innings to Sale's 7. Both SPs struck out 9 opponents.
In the top of 9th, a Pedroia error loaded the bases with one out. I put in Aaron Judge to bat against RP Barnes, but the manager countered by putting in lefty Scott. I would have been happy if Judge, who has been struggling against lefties, could hit a sacrifice to pad our 3-2 lead. To my excitement he launched a grand slam!!! We take the first game of the series.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 8 @ Oakland Athletics 1
Corey Kluber had a great first day back from the All-Star Break. He struck out 16 Athletics in one of the best pitching performance this season.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Congratulations to Yankees Gary Sanchez (CA), Luis Severino (SP), Sonny Gray (SP), and David Robertson (CL) for being chosen as American League All-Stars.
The game was a SP duel, but I tried to use up all available batters on my end just for fun. The A.L. finally got a run in the top of 8th when Jose Abreu hit a sacrifice grounder to score Mike Zunino from 3B.
With the bases loaded and Max Scherzer relieved by Brad Hand, two outs, Jose Altuve hit a huge triple to score all the baserunners.
Chris Sale pitched a three-hit shutout and racked up 9 strikeouts. He's my pick for the MVP simply for dominating the N.L. All-Star lineup. Max Scherzer was no slouch either, striking out 14 American Leaguers.
· Full game report.
2017 A.L. All Stars
2017 N.L. All Stars
Here are the leaders for the All-Star Break. Click on the image to see all the WebBuilder stats in detail.
Manager's Notes
This game was another pitching shootout, this time between Suter and Sonny Gray. Milwaukee had the best chance to score first at the top of the 6th. With Walker on 2B, Shaw launching a S= to left field. However, Brett Gardner gunned down Walker trying to score.
In another HUGE defensive play, in the top of 8th, Milwaukee had pinch runner Villar (subbed for Thames) on 1B. Walker hit a very deep double to CF. Jacoby Ellsbury with his +1 arm barely managed to get a throw to give Gary Sanchez a chance to block Villar, and he was able to do just that!
We just could not score a run until the top of the 15th inning. Unfortunately by "we" I meant both teams, and Vogt hit a solo HR right after I had checked in David Robertson and he said he was fine. Aguilar got a solo HR of his own off Tommy Kahnle.
Down to our last out against RP Hader, Matt Holliday took advantage of his strength against lefties to hit a solo HR to cut the deficit to 2-1. Todd Frazier forced a pitch-around attempt into a walk. A RP change later, Didier Gregorius flied out to CF to end the game.
Those solo HRs really cost us. On the other hand Sonny Gray shut out the Brew Crew for 8 innings, and our relievers did it for another 6 innings! We kept Gardner and Aaron Hicks for the whole game for their defense, but they both went 0-fer and it really hurt us. It was disappointing to not get our 60th win of the season before the All-Star break. We finish the first half of the season tied with the Boston Red Sox for the All-Star break.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Three pitchers threw 11 strikeouts today. The Boston Red Sox's Chris Sale just had to be better than them, though. He threw 12 of his own as the Red Sox crushed the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1.
Manager's Notes
We had many, many chances to tie or lead the game after giving up a solo HR in the top of 1st. Aaron Judge finally hit a RBI single in the top of 5th.
Today's game felt just like a heavyweight prizefight. Both teams just could not get that game-winning 2nd run, and lost many scoring opportunities. Milwaukee had men on 2B and 1B on the top of 10th, but I set my defense to Guard Lines and D=9S= roll turned into a force out to 2B. In the end, we prevailed with a walk-off S= by Todd Frazier to score Starlin Castro (4 for 5 today). Boston just lost in walk-off fashion, so we now have sole possession of 1st place for the first time this season!
In the end Milwaukee was 0 for 8 with RISP. We went 4 for 18!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 9 @ San Francisco Giants 2
Giancarlo Stanton went 5 for 5 with 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, and 4 runs to single-handedly crush the Giants. Miami has won six consecutive games.
·Full game report.
In a good pitching performance, the Cleveland Indians' Corey Kluber had a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He completed the game in a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.
Manager's Notes
Milwaukee started hot, but an Aaron Judge RBI double gave us a 2-1 lead. Starlin Castro got a RBI single and SP Davies got yanked in the bottom of 3rd with 2 outs. We couldn't get any more runs, but anything to get their SP yanked early and bullpen worn out in the first game of the series.
Masahiro Tanaka continues to give up hits. He loaded the bases with two outs in the top of 4th, but managed to strike out Thames.
Unfortunately our bullpen couldn't hold on. RP Dellin Betances gave up the tying run in the top of 6th and Chasen Shreve gave up a 2-run HR to Santana to give the Brewers a 5-3 lead.
The Brewers eventually won 6-3. What doomed us wasn't the relief pitching. It was the fact we managed only two hits after Davies was yanked. Hopefully we can take the next two games to go into the All-Star Break with another home series win.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cleveland Indians' SP Danny Salazar struck out 12 Minnesota Twins en route toa 4-2 victory. In addition, the Washington Nationals won their 6th consecutive game with a walk-off 2-run HR by Ryan Raburn to defeat the Atlanta Braves 5-3. Max Scherzer finished the game with 10 strikeouts.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 11 @ St. Louis Cardinals 6
Marlins 1B Justin Bour went 5 for 6 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs to contribute to Miami's 22-hit night.
·Full game report
· League recap.
In an incredibly long game, the Cleveland Indians outlasted the San Diego Padres 8-7 in 16 innings. Francisco Lindor hit a walk-off solo HR for the win. By the way, we are now back in a tie for 1st place after the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 10-8 in 11 innings. Jesus Sucre hit a walk-off 2-run HR, his first homer of the season.
Manager's Notes
In a great pitching duel, we managed to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of 8th thanks to Chase Headley's 2nd RBI of the day. He earlier hit a sacrifice fly. Our bullpen was excellent. We gave up only one hit, one walk, and struck out 7 Jays for the sweep before a well-deserved day off tomorrow.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 11 @ Texas Rangers 0
The Red Sox got mad and clobbered the Rangers, getting 20 hits and scoring 11 runs. 3B Rafael Devers went 5 for 5 with 2 runs and RBIs. Chris Sale threw a 5-hitter and struck out 12 Rangers.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
In the top of 3rd, Toronto loaded the bases with one out. Donaldson tried to squeeze in the first run of the game, but popped out to 1B Todd Frazier. Unfortunately Bautista launched a grand slam!
Gary Sanchez hit a 2-run HR in the next inning to cut the deficit. Starlin Castro nearly did the same thing, but in a 1-15 HR split, he rolled a 17 to fly out to deep left field.
In the next of inning, I strategized my baserunning to get men on bases and try to get an extra-bases hit to score more runs. Sanchez came up again with men on 2B and 1B, two outs. He made the strategy pay off with a 3-run HR! 5-4 lead.
We got one more run and Sonny Gray was brilliant, giving up only two hits total in 8 innings. David Robertson came in to pitch an immaculate inning (3 strikeouts in 9 pitches). Happy 4th of July!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 0 @ Texas Rangers 6
Thanks to Cole Hamels, we are now a half game behind the Red Sox. He pitched a 2-hit shutout, and that included taking a no-hitter into the 6th inning. Catcher Robinson Chirinos hit 3 RBIs.
·Full game report.
In another strong pitching performance, the Cleveland Indians' Carlos Carrasco also threw a 3-hit shutout in his 9-0 win over the San Diego Padres.
Manager's Notes
It was a good game for Luis Severino and our offense. We led 4-2 in the top of 7th, but I didn't want to risk a 2-run HR off Luis Severino and went for a more favorable matchup - 7th inning man Aroldis Champan against Hernandez. It worked - Chapman struck out all three batters he faced.
Amazingly in the next inning, all three Jays batters rolled white 6's, giving Chad Green three consecutive strikeouts. In the bottom of 8th, Aaron Judge and Matt Holliday both had HRs to extend our lead to 8-2. Oh what the heck, I'll let Green stay to get another save. He insanely threw three consecutive strikeouts. We won the game on nine consecutive strikeouts!!!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Max Scherzer threw a 3-hit shutout - his 7th shutout of the year - as the Washington Nationals crushed the New York Mets 10-0.
Manager's Notes
Houston jumped to a 4-1 lead thanks to two consecutive HRs off SP Jordan Montgomery. However, we came back thanks to a squeeze play and a RBI single to tie the game. Starlin Castro had a bases loaded situation with two outs but couldn't get us the lead.
Correa got his 2nd HR off Montgomery to give the Astros a 5-4 lead. We had favorable Extreme Matchup Didi Gregorius at bat the next inning with one out and Aaron Hicks on 3B, but he rolled a lmax. Houston added 2 more runs to win the series.
Ahh, I just realized that I forgot to adjust my default lineups for this series. At least I got one win out of it.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Two pitchers threw 13 strikeouts today. Jacob deGrom did it as his New York Mets shut out the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0. Martin Perez also did it for the Chicago White Sox, but unfortunately they didn't score enough runs to back him up and lost to the Texas Rangers 6-3. In an interesting game, the Arizona Diamondbacks totaled only 4 hits, but hit pay dirt in the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings, scoring 2 runs each. They won over the Colorado Rockies 5-3 thanks to Paul Goldschmidt's walk-off 2-run HR.
Manager's Notes
The Astros threatened early with the bases loaded, one out, and Springer at bat. It looked like Gary Sanchez made a costly mistake by dropping a pop foul behind home plate. However, in the next dice roll, Springer grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to keep the game scoreless.
In the next inning, aron Judge continued to be on a tear against righties in the next inning by hitting a 2-run HR to make it a 2-0 start for us. Unfortunately, Altuve hit his own 2-run HR to tie the game. Two innings later, Brett Gardner squeezed home Chase Headley with no out to make it 3-2, but we couldn't score Aaron Hicks from 3rd.
Late in the game Didi Gregorius had men in scoring position and one out. He launched a deep fly to RF that Reddick robbed (HR 1-7, I rolled 8). Great play by him - it prevented a bigger Yankees lead, which became 4-2 after Hicks scored from 3rd. Hicks extended the top of 9th after Verlander finally exited the game by hitting a 2-run HR to make it 6-2.
Chad Green stayed on the mound after his usual 8th inning setup duties to pick up his 3rd save of the season. We finally got our first win over the 'Stros.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 11 @ Detroit Tigers 0
The Indians' Corey Kluber struck out 13 Tigers en route to a 4-hit shutout. Indians DH Edwin Encarcion had a great game too, launching three HRs and totaling 4 runs and 5 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Chicago Cubs 0 @ Cincinnati Reds 13
The Reds' RF Scott Schebler also hit 3 HRs and he finished the day with 7 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Philadelphia Phillies 9 @ New York Mets 4
The Phillies' CF Odubel Herrera went 5 for 5 today to help Philadelphia win over the Mets.
·Full game report.
The Boston Red Sox just won't lose when we win. Chris Sale struck out 12 in 8 innings and Craig Kimbrel picked up his majors-leading 34th save as the Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge started the game with a 2-run HR but the Astros quickly evened it up with some small ball. We had a great opportunity to retake the lead in the top of 4th with Matt Holliday on 3B and Chase Headley having a 42% success at the safety squeeze, but Chase popped up and Matt got doubled off to end the inning.
Houston inched ahead 3-2, then somehow the computer manager decided it would be a great idea to pull Charlie Morton after Todd Frazier walked with one out. We couldn't score a run, though. We had another good opportunity in the top of 7th with 1 out and a man on 3rd, but Didier Gregorius grounded into a double play.
We did score one more run in the top of 9th, but a bad night by Chasen Shreve enabled Houston to extend their lead from 3-2 to 6-2 in the bottom of 8th. It will be tough to win the next two games as our two worst starters are up next.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 0 @ Toronto Blue Jays 4
Our rivals, the Red Sox, are also going through a tough spell. They were no-hit for 7 innings by the Jays' J.A. Happ. He left the game after giving up his first hit, but the Sox could not do anything else for the rest of the game.
·Full game report.
In other games, the Chicago White Sox's Lucas Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout to win over the Texas Rangers 8-0. The Tampa Bay Rays won their 7th consecutive game thanks to DH Lucas Duda's 3 doubles. Finally, the New York Mets' Seth Lugo struck out 13 Philadelphia Phillies to help the Amazin's win 7-4.
Manager's Notes
Our pitching and offense started well, particularly in the top of 2nd when Gary Sanchez hit a 2-run double. However, Luis Severino got himself in a jam and after giving up a 1-run double, had Abreu at bat with a man at 3rd. Fortunately he pitched a strikeout to end the inning. Unfortunately, Sevrino let Abreu tie the game with a solo HR in the bottom of 6th.
After that HR Severino fell apart and ended up loading the bases with no out. Tommy Kahnle and Aroldis Chapman struck out two White Sox, but the Sox's #9 batter Engel, who batted .166 in real life and was batting .179 in my replay, got a huge 3-run triple.
We kept trying, outhitting the Indians 13-9 and had two men on bases with no out. After two outs, Sanchez, 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, was up. Unfortunately he couldn't come through for us, grounding out to end the game.
The game could have been 5-5, but Abreu hit another solo HR and I decided not to risk a 3rd out late in the game by holding Brett Gardner from advancing to home from 2nd. The night could have gone Severino's way. He struck out 11 Sox in 5 innings.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Houston Astros won their 7th consecutive game today. They crushed the Oakland Athletics 13-6. We will try to halt that streak at Minute Maid Park in the next three days. The Tampa Bay Rays are riding a winning streak of their own, by the way. They shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 to win their 6th consecutive game.
Manager's Notes
Early in the game we traded solo HRs, but Sonny Gray had a great start. He did not give up a single hit after that 2nd inning HR until the 6th inning.
An offensive highlight was Chase Headly narrowly rolling a triple, and then stretching that into an inside-the-park HR! That happened in the top of 7th and we led 3-1.
We both traded runs late in the game, but Aaron Judge pretty much put it out of the O's reach in the bottom of 8th with a huge grand slam for his 14th home run of the season. After putting him in the bottom of 8th to preserve a 4-2 lead, I left Chad Green in the game to pick up his 2nd save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Chicago Cubs 2 @ Washington Nationals 1
In a duel between two big-name pitchers, Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter for 7 innings for the W. He is having a terrible first half of the season, as he has 2 wins and 8 losses! Stephen Strasburg lost by giving up two runs, but he did strike out 13 Cubs.
·Full game report.
Philadelphia Phillies 6 @ Seattle Mariners 8
Being 2nd in batting average, 3rd in home runs, and 2nd in RBIs, the Mariners' Nelson Cruz is a serious threat to win the A.L. Triple Crown. Today he hig 3 home runs and batted in 4 RBIs, helping the M's to win this high scoring game.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We started well with a leadoff HR by Jacoby Ellsbury - only his first home run of the seaosn. Unfortunately Masahiro Tanaka gave up some runs to make it 5-1 in the bottom of 1st. A second 3-run HR for the White Sox in the bottom of 2nd knocked Tanaka out of the game.
We came back swinging in the top of 4th. Chase Headley hit a solo HR and Todd Frazier added a 2-run HR to help cut the deficit to 8-5. Unfortunately the early barrage of White Sox runs was too much to overcome. Our batters had many good swings, but not enough of them produced RBIs.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cincinnati Reds gave an even worse beatdown to the Milwaukee Brewers, winning 18-0. SP Luis Castillo pitched a 3-hitter and 2B Scooter Gennett was a double shy of a cycle.
Manager's Notes
Early in the game Jordan Montgomery kept giving up key hits for the White Sox. The Pale Hoses led 1-0, but in the top of 3rd Aaron Judge stayed hot by hitting a 2-run HR to give us the lead. While he may have had that hitting streak snapped, Starlin Castro continued to bat like a star by launching a 2-run HR of his own in the top of 5th.
Montgomery totally fell apart in the bottom of 5th. He couldn't get one last out and threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded to lose his chance for a W. RP Tommy Kahnle then gave up a double. Just great. Down 6-4 now.
Kahnle gave up a 2-run HR in the bottom of 6th. However Gary Sanchez was able to hit a 3-run HR in the top of 8th to make it 8-7. In the top of 9th, Castro made another HUGE hit, singling home Aaron Hicks, who was able to get past the blocking catcher Smith. RP Ynoa only had one out left, but he threw a wild pitch to score Didi Gregorius from 9th! Every time I give those Yanks up for dead, they find a way to get back in the game. David Robertson struck out all 3 batters he faced, and on only 10 pitches total, to pick up his 28th save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
We blasted off in the bottom of 2nd with three consecutive extra base hits by Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Chase Headley to make it 2-0. Brett Gardner hit a sacrifice grounder for 3-0.
The Rangers almost scored their first run in the top of 3rd, but Aaron Judge gunned down Chirinos trying to score from 2nd on a deep single with two outs.
The 4th inning had a RBI double by Aaron Hicks and a squeeze play by Chase Headley to widen the lead to 4-0.
C.C. Sabathia had a shutout until the top of 8th inning. Choo, with a positive Extreme Matchup against C.C., annoyingly went 4 for 4 and launched a solo HR. He did a great job today, pitching 8.1 innings. I decided not to risk a loss and took him out. The only disappointment was that Starlin Castro snapped his 16-game hitting streak, but I'm sure he would rather we have that W.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Houston Astros 8 @ Seattle Mariners 2
Hey, remember when the Mariners won 11 consecutive games? Me neither. The Astros capped off their sweep of the M's with a 15-strikeout complete game performance by Lance McCullers, Jr. Jose Altuve led the high-scoring offense by going 4 for 4 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Milwaukee Brewers 8 @ Atlanta Braves 0
The Brew Crew's SP Chase Anderson threw a 2-hit shutout over the Braves.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Luis Severino wanted another shot, but started poorly again. He loaded the bases with one out, but escaped with only a RBI single.
Both teams' SPs (Severino and Hamels) had a great duel going until the Texas manager got spooked and put in Claudio. With the bases loaded and 1 out, 0-for-3 Jacoby Ellsbury was up. I put in Clint Frazier because Claudio dominates lefties. The Rangers countered with RP Bush, but apparently I am allowed to put in a different PH without a pitch being thrown. I put in Gardner. He hit a huge 3-run double to make it 3-1! One out later, Gary Sanchez hit a RBI double to make it 4-1.
Severino had a much, much better start today, but ran out of gas in the top of 8th by giving up a solo HR to Andrus to make it 4-2. The usual combination of Chad Green (22 holds so far this season) and David Robertson (27th save) secured the win. Severino picked up a well-deserved 10th win of the season. Props to Brett Gardner for making the most of his PH opportunity with that 3-run double.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Oakland Athletics 3 @ Chicago White Sox 5
The Sox's DH Matt Davidson, hitting .185 for the season, hit 3 HRs and single-handedly won the game for the Sox with 4 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Don't look now, but the Boston Red Sox are now only 1.5 games ahead of us in the A.L. East after losing a second consecutive game to the Los Angeles Angels, 10-5.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge started us ahead 2-0 with a 2-run HR in the bottom of 2nd. Gary Sanchez did it as well in the bottom of 4th. Fun fact: ahead of both homer hitters, Matt Holliday scored the 2nd run both times.
Good pitching by SP Sonny Gray and some nice fielding kept the Rangers' hitters at bay. Exteme Matchup helped - both Andrus has a negative 4 rating against Gray and Andrus has negative 3. A cool RP in the top of 5th saw a line drive ricochet off Gray and caught by 3B Chase Headley, who fired to 1B to get Choo out.
Aaron Judge was denied a second HR in the 6th thanks to the Rangers' shift (got a double instead), but he got it later in the bottom of 9th, a solo shot. Hopefully this 2-HR performance tonight will mean many more HRs this season are to come.
Gray only needed one more inning for a 2-hit shutout, but ran out of gas by giving up a solo HR to Mazara. However, he ran on fumes for the 9th inning to secure the complete game and rest our bullpen. He finished the day with 11 strikeouts. If only he carried that form to the real life 2018 season!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 3 @ San Francisco Giants 5
Giants C Buster Posey went 5 for 5 and scored 2 runs for himself. Those runs proved to be the difference in today's game. Posey is 3rd in the N.L. in batting average with .340.
·Full game report.
Cincinnati Reds 0 @ Washington Nationals 9
The Nats got another standout pitching performance, this time by Gio Gonzalez. He picked up his 10th win of the season with a 2-hit shutout. The 10 wins ties for 2nd in the N.L. He can't complain, as 1st place belongs to teammate Max Scherzer (13) and all those wins means the Nats keep on winning.
·Full game report.
There were two 14-inning games yesterday. The Arizona Diamondbacks won over the Philadelphia Phillis 6-5 thanks to Rey Fuentes' walk-off single with the bases loaded. The score was the same for the Cubs at the Marlins, with the home team celebrating after J.T. Realmuto's solo walk-off homeer. Finally, it was a nice run while it lasted, but the Seattle Mariners' 11-game winning streak ended today after they rann into a brick wall that was the Houston Astros. The M's lost 10-4.
Manager's Notes
It looked like the Angels were picking up where they left off by jumping to a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning. A 2-run HR in the bottom of 2nd by Starlin Castro and a solo HR in the 4th inning by Chase Headley tied the game.
Unfortunately SP Masahiro Tanaka couldn't protect that tie and gave up 2 runs in the next inning. It looked like another loss until the bottom of 9th.
Matt Holliday hit a solo HR with no out to make it 5-4. After two outs, Todd Frazier hit a sharp grounder to RF. Didier Gregorius was up next. Angels CL Bud Norris served a big and fat pitch on the middle of the plate that Didi liked. HOME RUN! WALK-OFF WIN!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Punching bag no more: the Baltimore Orioles' Wade Miley, after starting 0-12, finally got his 1st win of the season over the Cleveland Indians 4-0. Speaking of wins, the Seattle Mariners extended their team winning streak to 11 games with a win over the unfortunate Detroit Tigers 10-1. It was the Tigers' 7th consecutive loss, tying the Indians for the current worst losing streak.
Manager's Notes
Luis Severino had the worst start of the season, giving up 8 runs, including a grand slam that knocked him out of the game. Most of the mop-up pitchers weren't great either and our bats were quiet. We only managed two runs so it wouldn't have made a difference if Severino had given up 3 or 11 runs.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 5 @ Philadelphia Phillies 0
Cardinals SP Lance Lynn threw a 2-hit shutout. OF Tommy Pham led the Cards' offense with 3 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 2 @ Miami Marlins 0
Not to be outdone by Miami's SP Dan Straily yesterday, Nats SP Max Scherzer threw his own 2-hit shutout and fanned 12 Fins.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We had a dominant win tonight against the Angels. The highlight was a 6-run 5th inning when we basically throttled the Halos with our bat. Todd Frazier hit 2 HRs and Starlin Castro showed us his hitting streak wasn't luck when he went 4 for 5. C.C. Sabathia was only 3 outs away from a complete game, but he was exhausted and I only left him on the mound to see if he could get that shutout - he had a few close calls in earlier innings. Upton hit a 3-run HR so that was that.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 6 @ Kansas City Royals 4
Red Sox 3B Eduardo Nunez went 5 for 5 with 2 RBIs and SP David Price went 8 innings and struck out 10 Royals.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 0 @ Miami Marlins 6
Marlins SP Dan Straily had an even better pitching performance. We threw a 2-hitter and struck out 12 Nats.
·Full game report.
In another high-strikeout performance, the Los Angeles Dodgers won over the New York Mets 4-1 behind Clayton Kershaw's 13 K's.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 0 @ Baltimore Orioles 3
The O's SP Kevin Gausman pitched a 2-hit shutout today. Indians SP Carlos Carrasco wasn't so bad himself, pitching all 8 Baltimore innings and striking out 11.
·Full game report
There were a couple of other games with pitching gems. Three Tampa Bay Rays pitchers combined to 1-hit the Cincinnati Reds today for a 3-0 win. Two pitchers for the Seattle Mariners did that too in their 1-0 win over the Detroit Tigers. The Mariners have won their majors-best 8th consecutive game. Oh, there was also the Kansas City Royals' 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. Chris Sale has his usual great game but the offense couldn't back him up that time. Now we are only 4.0 games behind.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
It was a pitcher's duel with only two hits for us and none for the A's for 5.1 innings. Sonny Gray had a very effective start, but one too many walk and the first hit being a double resulted in two A's in scoring position and one out. 2B Starlin Castro snagged a big line drive and Sonny struck out Davis to keep the game scoreless.
Chase Headley had only one HR entering this game. The second one was a big one as he launched a solo in the top of 8th.
I hated to do this to Sonny, but I wanted to win so I put in setup man Chad Green for the bottom of 8th. Unfortunately his aim was off and he loaded the bases with one out. Lowrie hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Davis hit a two-run double for the lead. Oh well, one bad game.
We tried to come back in the top of 9th. Down to our last at-bat, 0-for-3 Starlin Castro got a hit to keep his streak alive. We had men on 2nd (Torreyes with another clutch hit) and Castro and Todd Frazier at the plate. Todd walked and that left Gary Sanchez, 1 for 2 today. Gary got a pitch he liked and rolled a S=! Tie game! Headley got a great pitch too but unfortunately struck out swining at it.
The extra innings were exciting as we both had great opportunities but out batters couldn't make the key hits. Davis looked like he had a single past sub 2B Torreyes, but he rolled a RP and tried to break for 2nd, and Torreyes nailed him returning!
In the top of the 12th our patience rewarded us as Brett Gardner hit a 2-run HR with two outs to give us a 5-3 lead.
Aroldis Chapman had a fantastic long relief stint and it looked like he had earned that W. He had run out of gas, but fortunately we had one last closer, Dellin Betances. 3 of the A's next 4 batters were lefties, but the rightie Betances is stronger against lefties anyway. After 2 K's, Betances gave up two baserunners, but got a 3rd strikeout for a very, very hard earned win and sweep. Our players will enjoy tomorrow's day off for sure!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 6 @ Houston Astros 0
Mitch Moreland starred today with 3 HRs and 5 RBIs. However SP Drew Pomeranz was almost as impressive as he notched his first complete game shutout of the season. Pomeranz has passed teammate Chris Sale as the A.L. leader for ERA. I doubt Sale will be too upset as long as their Red Sox keep winning.
·Full game report.
Kansas City Royals 1 @ Los Angeles Angels 7
Mike Trout totaled 6 RBIs, including 2 HRs, as the Angels won easily over the Royals.
·Full game report.
In another highlight game, The Washington Nationals routed the New York Mets 15-0. SP Tanner Roark pitched a 3-hit shutout and OF Jayson Werth totaled 6 RBIs, including 2 HRs.
Manager's Notes
We traded solo HRs early in the game to make the score 1-1. Oakland got a 2-run double in the bottom of 3rd, but we immediately countered with solo HRs by Aaron Judge (who rolled a 5 for a HR5FB) and Todd Frazier.
A poor pitch by Jordan Mongtomery in the bottom of 4th resulted in a solo HR for the A's and a 4-3 lead. In the next inning the A's lost their composure, committing an E2 and also a wild pitch to score Matt Holliday from 3B and put Brett Gardner on 3B with only one out. Unfortunately Gardner was thrown out at home by Didi Gregorius's grounder.
With the game tied in the bottom of 4th and an Athletic on 2B with no out, a tiring Montgomery beaned Lowrie, forcing me to go to my relievers early. Unfortunately Tommy Kahnle gave up a 3-run HR to Davis.
Oakland's manager wanted to leave SP Triggs for the entire game, but he was super exhausted in the top of 9th. Another wild pitch put Yankees in scoring position with no out and leadoff HR hitter Brett Gardner up. He popped out, but Aaron Hicks managed a deep sacrifice fly to CF to make the game 7-5.
This is where the A's totally fell apart. Didi Gregorius was next, but Triggs is excellent against lefties and Didi had been 0-4. I put in Ronald Torreyes and he had another clutch hit. He rolled a double to RF Joyce, but Joyce rolled an E2 and Torreyes got an unearned inside-the-park 2-run HR! 7-7 tie! Aaron Judge looked like he had grounded out to end the inning, but 2B Pinder made an error to keep our inning alive! The manager finally put in CL Casilla to try to kill us. Starlin Castro, 0-4 so far, but I left him in there to try to keep his 9-game hitting streak alive. He did it! RBI double to score Judge! ALL RISE! We got one more run to make it 9-7.
David Robertson got his 26th save and we are one win away from a 4-game sweep and a day off. Triggs was upset in the locker room, according to the news report, but the computer manager gave it away. I got to play against humans someday...
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Zack Greinke threw a 3-hit shutout today. His Arizona Diamondbacks scored 11 runs over the Philadelphia Phillies, and that was also how many strikeouts he had! The Chicago White Sox's Lucas Giolito enjoyed a shutout of his own in a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Finally, the Washington Nationals were ahead of the New York Mets 3-2 in the bottom of 9th when CL Sean Doolittle came up to pitch. He was not able to get an out as Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto hit back-to-back solo HRs for a dramatic walk-off win.
Manager's Notes
With two outs in the bottom of 1st, Oakland's Davis rolled a S*6gbA and got a 6 for a RBI single. Fortunately we already had a run of our own thanks to an Aaron Judge sacrifice fly.
The game was a pitching and fielding duel. We had many opportunities to score again - the best one being the top of 7th when we loaded the bases with one out, but RP Treinen put out our fire.
With Chase Headley going 0 for 3 today, I put in Ronald Torreyes with 2 men on bases. He hit a deep OF single and Starlin Castro, who nearly went 0 for 4 today to snap his hitting streak, scored from 2nd to give us a 2-1 lead! That ended up being the final score, as Torreyes was again the hero by fielding a G1 and forcing a double play to get David Robertson his 25th save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Seattle Mariners 9 @ Texas Rangers 2
Mariners CF Jarrod Dyson went 4 for 5 with 3 HRs and 5 RBIs to give SP James Paxton an easy win.
·Full game report.
There were several other good performances today around the league. The New York Mets' Jose Reyes hit 2 HRs and got 6 RBIs in a high-scoring 13-11 win over the Washington Nationals. The Pittsburgh Pirates' Gerrit Cole struck out 12 Chicago Cubs for a 5-1 win. The Arizona Diamondbacks' Robbie Ray did one better for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game at the Philadelphia Phillies was tied 5-5 into the 10th inning, but the D-Backs' J.D. Martinez won the game with a solo HR. Finally, the Toronto Blue Jays won their 7th consecutive game by beating the Chicago White Sox 8-1.
Manager's Notes
In the top of 1st, Aaron Judge backed off from a potential HR ball to walk with a teammate on 2B. However, the next batter, Starlin Castro, got a hit for his 8th consecutive game with a RBI S2. In the next inning, Matt Holliday barely got that 2-run HR we wanted and we started 3-0. Brett Gardner got a solo HR for our next at-bat.
Masahiro Tanaka didn't start great, giving up a 2-run HR in the bottom of 2nd after failing to get the batter before out for the final out. He had a bases-loaded jam in the 4th inning with two outs, but a foul out and a line out bailed him out.
It was an adventure for a bit with our relievers as we used up four of them to get through 2.2 innings. However, our bats caught on fire and we totally overwhelmed the A's relievers and fielders in the end.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Carlos Rodon struck out 13 Baltimore Orioles for the White Sox's 7-1 win. The Cleveland Indians' Danny Salazar also had 13 K's in a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager's Notes
Our offense came back to life tonight. We small-balled two runs (the second one being a wild pitch) in the first three innings. In the top of 4th, we got two men on base with two outs, then Didi Gregorius rewarded us with a 3-run HR. Until then Aaron Hicks had three consecutive walks!
In the bottom of 6th, L.A. looked like they were going to get on the board with a huge triple by Cron in deep CF. He decided to go for the inside-the-park HR, but Hicks launched a 20-roll cannon to preserve C.C.'s Sabathia's shutout!
The Angels threatened to score with two men on and 2 out, but Trout rolled a RP: his sure single bounced off the mound and into the hands of Gregorius, who threw to 1B for an out. Exciting play!
Sabathia was brilliant tonight. He pitched a shutout and struck out 8 Angels. He is well on his way to becoming our #3 starter.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Baltimore Orioles' Wade Miley had a nice game today, maintaining a 1-1 tie against the Chicago White Sox. Unfortunately Avisail Garcia hit a big RBI triple to score Jose Abreu, giving the Sox a 2-1 win and Miley his 12th loss. He is now 0-12! In a stronger pitching performance, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Godley struck out 14 Detroit Tigers and his D-Backs got the same number of runs for an easy 14-5 win.
Manager's Notes
The 1st inning was exciting, as Trout robbed a possible two-out HR by Todd Frazier. The very next batter hit a HR. Unfortunately it was the Angels' Phillips. The next batter, Trout, got a HR too.
After a Pujols solo HR in the bottom of 7th, we finally got our offense going by getting men in scoring positions and no out. Aaron Judge hit a sacrifice fly for the first run and out. Unfortunately two consecutive strikeouts by RP Petit, who also gave us a hard time last night, killed that potential rally.
Our SP was much better tonight. Heck, Sonny Gray pitched the entire game! He kept us close by giving up only 3 solo HRs, but our offense was slumping. Hopefully we can prevent a sweep tomorrow.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Cleveland Indians' S Carlos Carrasco had a great game, striking out 14 L.A. Dodgers in 6 1/3 innings. Unfortunately for him, the Dodgers eventually won that game, 7-3.
Manager's Notes
It was an offensive slugfest early in the game. Both teams used small ball in the first two innings to tie 2-2. In the bottom of 3rd Valbuena hit a 2-run HR with 2 outs to bring the Halos up 4-2. Simmons did it too - Masahiro Tanaka really has a tough time keeping the ball in the ballpark this season. For probably the first time this season, my starting pitcher couldn't last five innings and I pulled him after an Upton home run made it 7-2 against us.
We didn't get a hit from the 3rd to the 7th or 8th inning, I think, and even then it was just a double by Matt Holliday. So we lost because of our cold offense, although all those HRs Tanaka gave up didn't help. We have our second-best starter (Sonny Gray) tomorrow so hopefully the next game will be better.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
SP Gausman was much better today and no-hit us for 3.1 innings. A Didi Gregorius solo shot broke that up and tied the game for us, 1-1.
The game continued to be a pitcher's duel until the top of 6th, when Davis hit a 2-run HR to give the O's a 3-1 lead. However, in the bottom of 6th, Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge both got on bases. Then just like that, Didi hit another homer to give us a 4-3 lead. Gary Sanchez then hit a two-run HR to extend that lead 6-3.
With a 7-4 lead, CL David Robertson gave up a 2-run HR to give the O's a 7-6 deficit with Machado up to the plate. Machado was 0 for 4 and keen on getting a hit to keep his majors-leading hitting streak going. Robertson struck him out and we swept the Orioles!
Looking back at the bottom of the 7th, Didi was only one dice digit away from a 3rd homer! However, he did hit a RBI single in that at-bat. Didi finished the day 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 5 RBIs. We likely would not have won today if not for him. Right now he and Sanchez are tied for the A.L. lead in hitting streak with 10 games each.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
There were some great pitching performances today. The Boston Red Sox's Chris Sale struck out 14 Detroit Tigers for a 5-2 victory. The Cleveland Indians' Corey Kluber had a no-hitter for the first 5.1 innings and the Tribe held on to beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2. The Oakland Athletics' Kendall Graveman picked up his first win of the seaso with a 2-hitter over the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2.
Manager's Notes
The Game Note is so interesting to read for tonight. The O's SP Miley is 0-10 in 12 starts. It would be a tragedy if he beat us tonight! Machado is riding a 22-game hitting streak... the best so far in the majors this season, I think. All 5 of the hottest batters are from the Yankees - last night's game must have helped. Speaking of last night, since Gausman only went 1/3 of an inning last night, he is apparently starting tomorrow. Anyway, let's see if we can get another easy win tonight.
Early in the game we came out slugging. Gary Sanchez got a solo blast in the 1st inning. In the 2nd inning, Todd Frazier played the Extreme Matchup advantage to perfection, launching a two-run HR to make the score 3-0.
The bottom of 3rd saw Miley load the bases with two outs. Didi Gregorius hit a big two-run double and the 3rd base runner, Starlin Castro, had the plate blocked on him, 1-10 safe, and he unfortunately rolled a 11. Still, two more runs and a 5-1 lead.
The O's chipped away at our lead by hitting two solo HRs in the top of 6th inning, knocking SP Jordan Montgomery out of the game. The Orioles kept trying to come back against our relievers, but they held their ground and got holds. In the end, David Robertson struck out three Birds to earn his 23rd save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Angels 2 @ Houston Astros 7
Jose Altuve, the only Astros starter with over .300 batting, went 5 for 5 to help Justin Verlander have an easy game. The latter pitched a complete game and struck out 14 Halos.
·Full game report.
The Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen displayed the best single-game RBI total so far this season, batting in 7 thanks to two three-run homers. His efforts helped the Bucs win a high-scoring game over the Miami Marlins 13-8. On another note, don't look now, but one of my favorite punching bags, the Tampa Bay Rays, just won their 8th consecutive game. Today they defeated the Oakland Athletics 3-2.
Manager's Notes
Oh, that Orioles computer manager. In the bottom of 1st we jumped to a 3-0 lead with an Aaron Hicks single HR and a Didi Gregorius 2-run HR. SP Gausman got yanked quickly. It got much worse for the O's in the 2nd inning, as we scored 5 more runs, including a 2-run HR by Aaron Judge.
Our batters would not stop. Again and again, they assaulted Baltimore's pitching the entire game. Today's star was Didi with 2 HRs and 6 RBIs tonight. C.C. Sabathia did not do too shabby himself. He threw a complete game and struck out 10 Birds.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Colorado Rockies 11 @ Chicago Cubs 5
Charlie Blackmon had 5 hits (3 singles and 2 triples) and fellow outfielder Ian Desmond had 5 RBIS as their Colorado Rockies easily won over the Chicago Cubs.
·Full game report.
Texas Rangers 0 @ Washington Nationals 8
Max Scherzer threw another masterpiece for his Nats. He had a 2-hit shutout and struck out 15 Rangers. He also tied Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy for the team lead tonight with 2 hits.
·Full game report.
In another great pitching performance, the Cleveland Indians' Mike Clevinger earned his second shutout of the year by besting hte Chicago White Sox 7-0. In addition to that, today there were three 1-0 games. In addition, the Pittsburgh Pirates won in unusual fashion over the Miami Marlins, 6-5, when Josh Bell drew a bases loaded walk-off walk.
Manager's Notes
We started with yet another pitcher's duel. This time it was between our Sonny Gray and the Red Sox's David Price. Austin Romine got to start in place of Todd Frazier today due to his favorable Extreme Matchup. That is what I really enjoy about the newest SOM game... the Extreme Matchup really keep things interesting.
Aaron Hicks started us off with a leadoff HR, but both teams' bats were quiet until the bottom of the 5th. We loaded the bases with no out and Gary Sanchez was able to bring Romine home with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Price ran out of lifelines at the 2nd out when Didi Gregorius batted a S* to send Hicks home and increase our lead to 3-0. The manager decided to keep Price in the game... BIG MISTAKE! Chase Headley slammed a 3-run HR, his first homer of the season, to make it 6-0! It was not a pitcher's duel anymore.
In the top of the 7th inning, the Sox annoyed me by loading the bases with 1 out. Gray's control fell apart. RP Tommy Kahnle gave up singles to score all of Gray's runners, but was able to induce a double play to stop the bleeding. 6-3, us.
Setup man Chad Green had a rare hiccup by giving up a 2-run HR to Moreland. We still led 6-5. We couldn't afford any more mistakes, but Green got the next batter to strike out to end that threat.
With Price gone, and with Todd Frazier being a better 1B, I took Romine out when his turn to bat came up. It paid off, as Frazier hit a double and Aaron Judge stretched into home for a 7-5 lead. David Robertson got an easy save and we won that series against the Red Sox. Now only if they would stop beating up other teams so we can take 1st in the A.L. standings.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
In a fun game, the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies were 0-0 until the bottom of the 9th inning. The Cubs' SP Kyle Hendricks stayed the whole game and earned the shutout after Ben Zobrist's walk-off double scored Anthony Rizzo. In another superb pitching performance, the Tampa Bay Rays' Jake Faria struck out 4 Chicago White Sox in an easy 13-4 win. Rays LF Corey Dickerson helped out with 4 hits and 5 RBIs.
Manager's Notes
I finally got to see Chris Sale this season up close tonight. He and Masahiro Tanaka had no-hitters in the first two innings. However, in the top of 3rd, Tanaka got himself into a bases loaded jam with 1 out. A huge 6-4-3 double play bailed him out. He was not as fortunate in the top of 4th, when a solo HR by Ramirez put the Sox ahead 1-0.
Gary Sanchez has a red Extreme Matchup against Sale, and Sale was carrying a no-hitter through the 5th inning. Both meant nothing after Sanchez jacked a solo HR to tie the game 1-1.
The top of 7th took a turn for the dramatic. With two outs, the Sox had a man on 1B. Devers rolled into the 1 column. 9, 10, and 12 are HRs. He rolled a 11, 3-20 lineout. Tanaka is incredibly holding his own tonight.
The computer manager stupidly yanked Sale when he gave up only his 2nd hit of the game! It was a Chase Headley double, and to be fair, Chase was the only Yankee on the starting lineup with a green Extreme Matchup. No wonder Sale's ERA is so low. Unfortunately, we could not capitalize.
Again unfortunately, Bradley, Jr. overcame his red Extreme Matchup against Tanaka to hit a 2-run HR in the top of 8th. Masahiro wasn't tired, but I couldn't give up any more HRs with our batters that held back tonight.
The good news for us in the bottom of the 8th inning was that Didi Gregorius hit a home run. The bad news was that Todd Frazier hit into a double play before that, so we couldn't tie the game 4-4.
We totaled only 3 hits, and all were described above. Craig Kimbrel picked up his A.L.-leading 26th save as the Sox won 4-2.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Chicago Cubs' SP Mike Montgomery had an interesting game today against the Miami Marlins. He got the win and also hit a 3-run home run that helped towards the 6-4 final score. In another game, the Houston Astros' Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, and Evan Gattis all had solo HRs each in a span of 4 batters. This was in the top of 10th inning and helped the Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2.
Manager's Notes
This is it... are we good enough to dethrone the Red Sox yet? Both teams are red-hot right now. Only 3 pitchers out of both teams were NOT hot in the past 10 games entering tonight.
Matt Holliday started us off with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of 2nd inning. Luis Severino pitched into trouble in the top of 3rd, loading the bases with one out. A line out and a strike out saved us.
Unfortunately the game got tied on the top of 5th. Benintendi took advantage of an Extreme Matchup 3 against Luis to launch a solo HR with two outs.
In the bottom of 7th we got two men on bases with two outs to force SP Pomeranz out of the game. Aaron Judge took advantage of the vs. righty matchup by hitting a RBI double.
In the bottom of 8th Didier Gregorius hit a RBI single to make it 3-1. That was the difference for us. David Robertson gave up two baserunners, but induced a RBI double play and got a strikeout. We beat the Red Sox for the first of (I hope) many times! Holliday was huge for us tonight. He went 3 for 4 and scored two runs.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 5 @ Colorado Rockies 2
The Rockies led 1-0 for most of the game. However they never really felt in control against the Indians' Corey Kluber, who totaled 16 srikeouts! In the top of 9th Francisco Lindor helped to push the Tribe on top with a 3-run double. Kluber ran out of gas after 8 1/3 innings, but Cody Allen gave up only Kluber's inherited run and got his 20th save of the season.
·Full game report.
In other games, the Los Angeles Angels' Parker Bridwell pitched an easy 5-hit shutout. The Halos blanked the Detroit Tigers 10-0. The Seattle Mariners' James Paxton twirled a gem today, taking a no-hitter into the 6th and struck out 9 in 8 innings. The Mariners won over the Minnesota Twins 3-0. Finally, the Arizona Diamondbacks' LF David Peralta had three singles, and scored a run after all of them. This was the difference in the 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
With things settled down a bit in real life, I have taken a look at the Events I usually post results for here. 5+ RBI games are way too common. The month of May had 34 5+ RBI games posted here - an average of one per day of the month! I am trying to reduce the amount of real time I spend per day on this replay project so I can finish it sooner and perhaps have time to play and post 2 games per day instead of one. This season has been a lot of fun, but there are several other seasons I have been dying to replay! So, I will turn off 5+ RBI reporting and try to catch newspaper stories for 6+ RBIs in a game, which are much more rare. It seems to be too easy to get 5 RBIs in a game - you only need to get two hits with 2 or 3 men in scoring positions. The other six Events I post here (5+ hits, 2 or 1 hitters, 15+ strikeouts, 3+ home runs, hit for cycle, and no-hitters) are much more individual and harder to achieve.
League Notes
The Washington Nationals recovered nicely from yesterday's loss as Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 Los Angeles Dodgers and was only one out away from a complete game. The Nats won 6-2. On another note, we will play the Boston Red Sox startng tomorrow. This will be our big chance to cut down the 7.5 games we are behind the Sox in the A.L. East standings.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Hot hitting in the 1st inning got us ahead 2-0. C.C. Sabathia pitched two strikeouts to get out of men on 2nd and 1st, then 3rd and 2nd.
In the top of 4th, we took advantage of Chase Headley and Starlin Castro's Extreme Matchup over SP Happ. We loaded the bases with two outs with Chase and rolled a S= with Starlin.
The Blue Jays got a couple of runs, but our offense was too hot. All 9 of our batters had at least one hit, and we totaled 14 hits for the day.
We have been playing daily since May 16 and we will finally have a day off toomorrow to rest everyone. We went 15-5! We will have another long stretch with no day off starting June 6, so we will try to keep the momentum going.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 3 @ Chicago Cubs 7
The Cubs' Kyle Schwarber hit 3 HRs today to lead the Chicago offense over the Red Birds. Little wonder Schwarber is one of the top 5 hottest N.L. batters over the last 10 days.
·Full game report.
In other news, SP Paul Blackburn pitched a complete game as his Oakland Athletics won over the Washington Nationals on Matt Chapman's walk-off double. The 3-2 win snapped Washington's 9-game winning streak.
Manager's Notes
The Blue Jays pounded on Sonny Gray with three doubles in the early innings and led 1-0 until the top of the 4th. Gary Sanchez made sure we did not waste men on scoring positions by hitting a three-run HR.
DH Matt Holliday continues his hot streak. Every time he gets a bad pitch (what I call rolls to columns with maybe only 1-2 safe chances), he finds a way to make himself a baserunner. He walked the first two times, then he hit a RBI double in the top of 6th to extend our lead to 4-1. Aaron Hicks scored Matt and himself with a two-run HR.
In the top of 7th we keep on assaulting the Jays' pitchers. The computer manager had a red Extreme Matchup for RP Loup when Chase Headley came to the plate, but yanked him anyway due to Starlin Casro's 2-run double. There were two outs and Loup wasn't that tired - I would have pitched him. Anyway RP Valdez got Headley to ground out to end that half inning.
A tired Gray gave up a few runs late in the game, but kept it together to give us another complete game. Today's highlight was Gray preventing the Jays' Tulowitzki from hitting in his 16th straight game. Our batters totaled 15 hits today.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Colorado Rockies' SP Kyle Freeland took a no-hitter into the 7th innning and won oer the San Diego Padres 9-2. The Boston Red Sox's Chris Sale struck out 12 Baltimore Orioles in 8 innings to squeak by with a 1-0 win. Finally, the Washington Nationals won their 9th consecutive game today. They defeated the Oakland Athletics 13-5.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka did not start well. He got out of trouble in the 1st and 2nd innings, but loaded the bases with no out in the 3rd. He induced a 6-4-3 double play, but the Jays broke out of the resulting 1-1 tie with two-run HR by Smoak.
In the top of 4th our offense got going again. Starlin Castro rolled a HR1DO with a 1! to get a 2-run HR and us a 4-3 lead (Chase Headley previously scored from a S= by Matt Holliday, getting a hit in his 6th consecutive game).
Holliday continued his resurgence in the top of 5th, breaking up a 4-4 tie to launch a 3-run HR. He earned his way into playing every day and showed why tonight.
Tanaka caught second wind in the 5th inning and became a strikeout machine, totaling 10 in the end. We added a few more runs and I took the opportunity to rest our bullpen so they will be firing at all cylinders for our last two games of the series before a long-awaited team day off. Tanaka got the CG and his 7th win of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays 7 @ Seattle Mariners 9
Nelson Cruz continued his RBI heroics for the M's. He hit 2 HRs and totaled 5 RBIs to help Seattle come from behind late in the game to beat the Rays.
·Full game report.
Houston Astros 0 @ Texas Rangers 4
The Astros' Justin Verlander, struggling this season with a 7-5 record and over 4.00 ERA, shone tonight with an 8IP 7K performance against the Rangers. Unfortunately for him he had no offense behind him and the Rangers' Cole Hamels had a better start. The Hammer threw a 10-strikeout 2-hitter shutout.
·Full game report.
In another excellent pitching performance, the Miami Marlins' Dan Straily took a no-hitter in to the 6th inning. He finished with a 3-hit shutout, which was a 4-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Manager's Notes
Luis Severino had a rare rough start. The top of the Blue Jays' lineup kept getting hits and walks and were able to punch in two runs.
We countered in the top of 3rd with a big TR3DO (3 roll) by Jacoby Ellsbury, starting in the #1 spot for Brett Gardner due to the latter's bad Extreme Matchup. Aaron Hicks squeezed Ellsbury home safely. Todd Frazier soon afterwards hit a big double to score two more men to give us the 3-2 lead. Didier Gregious rolled a DO4fbB and got a 4, perfect roll, for another RBI. When all was said and done SP Estrada was knocked out of the game and we ended that half with a 5-2 lead.
Ellsbury got another triple in the top of 5th and we padded our lead to 7-2. Unfortunately Severino wasn't having his best night and gave up a 2-run HR before he stumbled out of the 5th inning with only a 7-5 lead.
Poor E. Carrera. He had a big HR against Severino, but was unceremoniously yanked when facing Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of 7th due the the Carrera's awful stats against lefties. Aroldis rewarded the Jays' manager for his lack of confidence by striking out the PH, Travis.
In the top of 8th, the Jays threatened RP Chad Green with a leadoff double. However Donaldson rolled a ssplit grounder and 1B Todd Frazier's error rolls range was 10-16 with only 14 being no error. He got exactly that for our second out. Batuista's strikeout ended that threat.
Our usual 7th-8th-9th combo of Champan-Green-Robertson silenced Toronto's hot bats. All the Blue Jays starters had a hit and the team totaled 14 to our 10, but our 5 for 12 RISP tonight was the difference.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Colorado Rockies 2 @ Seattle Mariners 12
Nelson Cruz had an interesting game for the Mariners. He had "only" 3 hits, but those 3 hits drove in 2 runs each, giving him a total of 6 RBIs. SP James Paxton, who may have a real-life no-hitter in him one of those days ;-), took advantage of the huge lead to throw a complete game.
·Full game report.
For some reason this didn't trigger my game's automatic Events saving, but the Oakland Athletics won over the Cleveland Indians 10-3 today. Andrew Triggs struck out 12 Indians in only 5 1/3 innings! Matt Olson hit 6 RBIs. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox just wouldn't stop winning, going 9-1 in their last 10 games with a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Manager's Notes
We started the game by being no-hit for 2.2 innings. DH Matt Holliday, starting instead of Jacoby Ellsbury in the #9 spot due to the latter's bad extreme matchup against SP Gausman, belted a solo HR to start us off 1-0.
Unfortunately that same inning C.C. Sabathia has bad extreme matchups against back-to-back O's, Jones and Machado. He was exposed with repeated S= hits and the like. By the time we got out of the 3rd inning thanks to a bases-loaded strike out, the Orioles had jumped ahead 3-1.
Unfortunately we could not get that sweep at Camden Yards. Gausman was brilliant, giving up only 5 hits and striking out 9 in 7 innings. Baltimore totaled three double plays, including one where Chase Headley got gunned down by Jones trying for 3B on a 1-19 safe chance and 20 roll!, and they stifled all our attempts at rallies.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays 10 @ Texas Rangers 2
Rays CF Kevin Kiermaier hit a grand slam and finished the day with 5 RBIs.
·Full game report.
There were a couple of impressive three-hit shutouts pitched today. R.A. Dickey struck out 9 Los Angeles Angels for his Atlanta Braves' 4-0 win. The Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer did two better, striking out 11 San Francisco Giants for the Nats' 4-0 win. His 1.60 ERA is the best in the National League right now.
Manager's Notes
SP Jordan Montgomery struggled to limit baserunners early in the game. We started by falling behind 1-0. However, a big home run by Aaron Hicks in the top of 3rd made the game 2-1.
SP Bundy pitched a great game, but got yanked after only 4 innings after giving up his 4th hit of the game. This after 7 strikeouts and 69 pitches. Yeah, makes perfect sense. Starlin Castro, moved up to the #4 spot due to his Extreme matchup against Bundy, rewarded the O's manager by launching a double to score Aaron Hicks and make the game 3-1.
Jordan was tiring in the bottom of 5th (which is part of the reason why he is only the #5 starter) but he managed to put down a potential O's rally to get out with a 3-2 lead. He had a very good game, striking out 10 Birds.
RP Tommy Kahnle, being a righty with 6R balance, made mincemeat out of the O's all-righty lineup in the 6th through 8th inning, with 1B Davis being Baltiore's only lefty batter. Closing for a fatigued David Robertson, Aroldis Chapman was a little shaky but shook off two baserunners to strike out Machado and secure yet another win for us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Boston Red Sox showed why they are still 7.5 games ahead of the Yankees despite our winning ways. They won their 7th consecutive game today by easily handling the Chicago White Sox 7-0. SP Rick Porcello pitched the complete shutout and struck out 11 Pale Hoses.
Manager's Notes
Today started with a 3-0 lead for us at Camden Yards. The highlight was in the top of 1st when Gary Sanchez hit a S= to score men from 3rd and 2nd. DH Matt Holliday had his own RBI single that proved to be the difference today.
We were able to keep the O's scoreless until the bottom of 5th inning. Baltimore got men in scoring position and a tiring Sonny Gray facing Machado. 2B Ronald Torreyes, starting for #9 hitter Starlin Castro due to Castro's bad extreme matchup against SP Miley, converted two split grounders into sacrifice outs, and we got out of that inning with the lead 3-2.
Sonny lasted 7.2 innings before giving up a double with Machado coming up again. Setup man Chad Green was able to get Manny to hit a deep fly to LF for Aaron Hicks to make a leaping catch, ending that threat. In the bottom of 9th we let Baltimore put two men on bases thanks to silly errors, but CL David Robertson (who committed one of the errors) got the game-ending strikeout for the save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Seattle Mariners 7 @ Colorado Rockies 11
The Rockies' Mark Reynolds totaled 5 RBIs on two hits with two home runs in a high-scoring game.
·Full game report.
Houston Astros 13 @ Minnesota Twins 9
Astros 1B Yuli Gurriel had an excellent game, hitting a grand slam and a triple to total 7 RBIs. The Astros started with such a big lead that Justin Verlander actually threw 170 pitches to try to get the CG, but couldn't finish the job in the bottom of 9th.
·Full game report.
Chicago Cubs 13 @ San Diego Padres 8
Where was the pitching in those league games today? LF Kyle Schwarber had a double and a grand slam for the Cubs, totaling 5 RBIs for the day. The Padres' Hector Sanchez had a productive days as a backup catcher, going 2 for 2, both home runs.
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Dodgers 9 @ St. Louis Cardinals 7
The Cardinals' 3B Jedd Gyorko launched 2 HRs and totaled 5 RBIs, but SP Luke Weaver couldn't hold the Dodgers' batters at bay to get a win for his team.
·Full game report.
Tampa Bay Rays 3 @ Texas Rangers 7
Elvis Andrus went 5 for 5 and totaled 3 RBIs for the home team, who kept the Rays under control for most of the game for a 7-3 win.
·Full game report.
If you want to hear about good pitching, here's one: the Boston Red Sox win their 6th consecutive game by defeating the Chicago White Sox 5-3 in 12 innings. Chris Sale got 13 more strikeouts to his season total and he actually pitched 10.2 innings, 173 pitches total. The winning two runs were batted in by defensive substitute 1B Sam Travis, driving home teammates Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka had a bad 1st inning, falling behind 1-0. After that, he was locked in, and our four pitchers today did not give up a hit for the rest of the gaem!!! I would have kept Tanaka in longer but he walked an Athletic and the game was too close for me to risk one of his HRs.
We came back in the bottom of 3rd. Jacoby Ellsbury bunted to advance Chase Headley from 1B, but Oakland decided to throw to 2B and Chase was safe. Brett Gardner then bunted and beat the throw to 1B to load the bases. Aaron Hicks canceled a squeeze play attempt to force the walk to tie the game 1-1. Didi Gregorius launched a deep sacrifice fly that advanced everyone. Unfortunately two straight popups ended the inning with us leading 2-1.
We had similar opportunities in the bottom of 4th, but Jacoby Ellsbury fouled for strike 3 and Brett Gardner popped up.
Oakland's SP Mengden didn't do too badly, giving up only 4 hits at around 110 pitches in the bottom of 7th. Unfortunately his manager left him in too long. With 2 outs, Didi hit a solo HR to make the score 3-1 and Aaron Judge hit a split double. However Mengden found a strikeout to stop us from scoring further. A Todd Frazier solo HR to center field (455 feet) on the 126th pitch in the bottom of 8th finally knocked him out.
The relievers were a fantastic bunch this afternoon. Aroldis Chapman's two outs were both strikeouts. Two out of Chad Green's three were strikeouts. David Robertson struck out all three batters he faced for his 18th save.
In the real world, tomorrow I will be going on a short vacation without my Strat-O-PC. I expect to resume this season next Wednesday or Thursday.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
St. Louis Cardinals 1 @ Colorado Rockies 9
The Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez hit a grand slam in the 1st inning and ended the day with 5 RBIs. SP German Marquez coasted to a complete game with 10 strikeouts.
·Full game report.
New York Mets 2 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 11
In a similar game to the Cards-Rockies one, the Pirates' 2B Josh Harrison finished with 2 HRs for 5 total RBIs. SP Ivan Nova took advantage of the high-scoring Bucs offense to pitch a complete game.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Well, having Luis Severino among the A.L. leaders in ERA was nice while it lasted. He gave up two HRs in the 1st inning to start us behind 3-0. We came back quickly and loaded the bases in the bottom of that inning, but Gary Sanchez flied out to end that threat.
There was another good piece of offense. With two outs in the 2nd inning, Jacoby Ellsbury rolled a HR on a HR10fbB, but due to his W power, he only got a single. He stole 2nd, then got 3rd due to a passed ball. Brett Gardner rolled a HR10fbB himself, but his split card was a 15 so that ended another potential rally.
Severino gave up another 2-run HR in the top of 5th. We did not get a run until the bottom of 7th inning, when Gary Sanchez hit a 2-run HR with no out. Luis ended the day with 12 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Unfortunately the 3 HRs will overshadow that performance.
We tried one last rally. With two outs in the bottom of 9th, Sanchez walked and Todd Frazier was hit by CL Treinen's pitch. Chase Headley hit a big double to score Sanchez. Even though he had a 90% chance of being safe due to LF Davis' +3 arm, my 3B coach told Frazier not to advance because we couldn't afford to have him thrown out. Jacoby Ellsbury took advantage of CF Brugman losing the ball in the sun to knock the remaining two runners home with a double, and we had a tie game all of a sudden! Backup LF Clint Frazier struck out and we went into extra innings.
Man, this is just so frustrating. With two outs left in the top of 10th, Oakland hit flies to Clint twice. The first time he committed an E2, and the second time it was a narrowly rolled S2. I had replaced Brett Gardner with Clint as I was trying to get something going in the 8th inning with Brett going 0-3. We lost a hard fought contest 6-5.
Note - it looks like I accidentally forgot to save the game in a text file, thus the program did not save it in .htm, either. I remember selecting the file type but I don't remember hitting Save or renaming the file in the usual folder, like I usually do. I thought the .html was supposed to be automatic. Anyway, if you want to read more about that specific game, go to today's league recap. The play-by-play is there but not the dice rolls. Today was definitely a hard loss to take LOL.
·Pre-game notes. · League recap.
League Notes
In yet another dominant performance, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals pitched a 4-hit shutout for a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres. He struck out 13 batters and walked only 2.
Manager's Notes
In the bottom of 2nd, Chase Headley doubled after Todd Frazier singled. We signaled Frazier home and Headley attempted to stretch to 3B. CF Canha threw the ball away, enabling Headley to come all the way back home! A few batters later, Didier Gregorius launched a 3-run HR to start us with a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of 6th Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks had successive successful squeeze plays to bring men on 3B home. Gardner's had an error and Hicks was earned. 7-1 lead into the 7th inning. Oakland committed 3 errors tonight.
C.C. Sabathia pitched a fine game! He started with a perfect game for 4.1 innings. Healy's 5th inning solo HR spoiled what would have otherwise been a shutout for C.C., and Sabathia threw 10 strikeouts as well.
Thanks to C.C.'s complete game, our bullpen was able to get much, much deserved rest after working 10 consecutive days. We still have 9 consecutive days to go before the entire team can rest. So far we are 8-3 in this stretch.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Atlanta Braves 5 @ San Francisco Giants 9
Giants 1B Brandon Belt hit a grand slam and a 1-run single to total 5 RBIs today. Madison Bumgarner pitched one out shy of a complete game.
·Full game report.
In other games, Tanner Roark struck out 11 San Diego Padres for his Washington Nationals in the Nats' easy 16-1 win. Luis Castillo did one better with 12 K's and Zack Cozart added 2 HRs as their Cincinnati Reds won over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-1. The Arizona Diamondbacks' Robbie Ray struck out 10 Milwaukee Brewers and his teammate J.D. Martinez hit two homers for the D-Backs' 7-4 win. Finally, poor Jake Arrieta couldn't catch a break today, as his Chicago Cubs lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 despite 10 strikeouts by him.
Manager's Notes
The game was 0-0 until K.C. scored 4 runs off Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman in the top of 6th. Gray left 2 men on bases after giving up a run but Chapman gave up a 3-run HR to the first batter he faced, Moustakas.
We were down 4-1 in the bottom of 8th. Some clutch hitting brought us up to 4-3 with two outs. I decided to leave DH Matt Holliday against a righty, again. It looks like he has finally snapped out of his righties slump as he launched a 3-run HR to give us a 6-4 lead!
Former Yankee Cabrera nearly had his own heroics in the top of 9th, rolling into a HR split with 2 outs and a man on 1B. Fortunately Brett Gardner was able to chase and catch his deep fly to preserve David Robertson's 17th save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Texas Rangers 1 @ Boston Red Sox 21
OK, I think this is the biggest blowout I've seen all season. Chris Sale threw a complete game with 14 strikeouts. Hanley Ramirez led a Red Sox offense that knocked the Rangers' starter Cole Hamels out of the game in only 1.1 inning. Ramirez finished the day with 5 for 5 and 5 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Pittsburgh Pirates 10 @ Atlanta Braves 7
In another high-scoring game, the Bucs' 1B Josh Bell was a single shy of a cycle and batted in 5 runs.
·Full game report.
Cincinnati Reds 11 @ Cleveland Indians 6
Reds 2B Scooter Gennett hit 2 HRs for 5 RBIs total in a battle of Ohio teams.
·Full game report.
Arizona Diamondbacks 6 @ Milwaukee Brewers 9
Brewers CF Keon Broxton hit a 3-run HR and a 2-run single to finish the day with 5 RBIs in the Milwaukee's victory over Arizona.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
The Royals' SP Duffy had a perfect game for 4.1 innings, until Chase Headley broke it up with a single to LF.
Almost 2 months into the season, DH Matt Holliday finally got a hit against a right-handed pitcher! That was in the bottom of 8th, with us behind 2-0. We got an infield sacrifice for a run, but I tried a squeeze play with Brett Gardner to get Holliday home with 0 out that didn't work out. There was a 42% success chance but unfortunately the Royals were ready this time and threw Holliday out at home. Two outs were left but we couldn't score that 2nd run.
The guy I have pretty much been benching against lefties, Aaron Judge, launched a solo HR off left-handed CL Minor in the bottom of 9th to tie the game 2-2!
In the top of 11th I took out Dellin Betances for my best reliever, Chad Green, with a Royal on 2B. Unfortunately pitching around to Merrifield did not help and he hit a S= to score his teammate and get them up 3-2.
With men on 2nd and 1st with no out, I made the decision to have Todd Frazier try to swing something instead of my usual strategy (sacrifice bunt). It cost me big time as he hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Gary Sanchez could not repeat last night's heroics andflied to RF for the final out. In hindsight I should've bunted because Hicks could have scored from 3B on that Sanchez fly. I was trying to keep the momentum going.
Despite the result, tonight was a fun game to manage. Our players have a day game tomorrow so they badly need rest after two extra-inning games.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Francisco Giants 16 @ Chicago Cubs 10
There wasn't much in the way of pitching in this high-scoring contest. Giants SS Brandon Crawford totaled 5 RBIs, but even so, his team was behind 10-9 in the top of 8th. The Cubs' RP Strop blew the save as Crawford and his teammates kept getting hit after hit.
·Full game report.
Iron Man Dallas Keuchel went 10 1/2 innings for the Houston Astros against the Detroit Tigers. The score was 0-0 after 10 innings! The Tigers' Michael Fulmer also pitched a 9-inning shutout and he gave up only 3 hits. The Tigers rested him after that and RP Alex Wilson pitched the last two innings to preserve the shutout. Mikie Mahtook hit a 2-out single to bring teammate Ian Kinsler home for the game's only run. In another fantastic pitching performance, the St. Louis Cardinals' Carlos Martinez threw a 3-hit shutout for a 8-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager's Notes
The Royals' SP Junis was brilliant today and we could get nothing going against him until he ran out of gas in the bottom of 8th. Unfortunately, Masahiro Tanaka had already given up 2 HRs and we were being 5-0 at the time. Didier Gregorius had a RBI double and Starlin Castro loaded the bases with a RBI single to make it 5-2. Bases loaded, 2 outs, and Aaron Judge... hit a G1 grounder. :-(
We tried for a dramatic comeback in the bottom of 9th. A E2 by CF Cain gave us men on 3B and 2B and no out. Ronald Torreyes hit a sacrifice grounder. I took advantage of PH Matt Holliday against LP Minor to walk, and Aaron Hicks knocked in one more run. 3B and 2B, one out! Didi single Holliday home but Hicks was thrown out trying to score from 2nd. One out later, the game went into extra innings.
Since I was hoping to win in the bottom of 9th, I took out my LF Brett Gardner for Holliday, so I had no OF left and had to stick Holliday in LF and pray that no one would hit to his direction. Fortunately Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman did a great job keeping the ball away from the outfield. With Didi on 2B in the bottom of 12th, K.C. walked Aaron Judge to face Gary Sanchez instead. Gary launched the walk-off HR over the LF fence. What a fun ending, but the game was such a struggle for us for the first seven innings!!!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Francisco Giants 11 @ Chicago Cubs 5
The Giants' Buster Posey went 5 for 6 with 4 RBIs as his Giants routed the Cubs.
·Full game report.
Chicago White Sox 5 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 10
The D-Backs' LF David Peralta went 4 for 4 with 5 RBIs. CF A.J. Pollock went 4 for 4 with 4 runs.
·Full game report.
Seattle Mariners 4 @ Washington Nationals 8
The Nats' 2B Daniel Murphy totaled 5 RBIs to help Max Scherzer pick up his league-leading 9th win of the season.
·Full game report.
San Diego Padres 12 @ New York Mets 6
Probably the most productive batting day today went to the Padres' RF Hunter Renfoe. He had a grand slam and a 2-run HR to total 6 RBIs for the night.
·Full game report.
There were several close games - too many to list here so check out the league recap. One game that was not at all close, however, was the Houston Astros' 20-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.
Manager's Notes
In the top of 1st Luis Severino pitched himself into a 1-out jam with men on 3rd and 1st, but struck out a batter and then Perez grounded into a split to 1B Todd Frazier. With only #14 not an error out of #10 to #16, Frazier rolled a... 14! to secure the last out.
Severino had a 2-0 lead but a sacrifice grounder in the 6th and a solo shot in the 7th blew his chance for a W.
In the bottom of 8th PH Ronald Torreyes rolled a HR on SP Gaviglio's card, but due to his W power, it was a single. Jacoby Ellsbury beat out a sacrifice bunt. Brett Gardner put both men in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Aaron Hicks hit a DO2 to right field and Merrifield rolled an E2, enabling Hicks to round the bases for a run of his own!
With David Robertson fatigued from closing the past two games, real-life closer Aroldis Chapman got his chance and he delivered. All his three outs were strikeouts to secure his 2nd save of the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Chicago White Sox 4 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 6
Catcher Chris Herrmann had two 3-run home runs to back up Randall Delgado's 11-strikeout performance.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We played good small ball offense with Aaron Hick and Brett Gardner each bunting singles with a man on 1B and no out, in the 1st and 3rd innings respectively. Didi Gregorius rolled a G2# but the Rays had drawn the infield and he singled two runners home to give us a nice 3-0 start.
Sonny Gray started very well, but unfortunately gave up a 3-run HR to allow the Rays to tie the game. The very next half-inning, Didier Gregorius launched his own 3-run HR to make it 6-3. He ended the day 3 for 4 with 5 RBIs.
I am very down on Dellin Betances in real life, but when used situationally against lineups with lefties, he shines. A runner-held effect caused the Rays to threaten with men on 3B and 1B and 2 outs, but Betances notched his 3rd strikeout of the bottom of the 7th to keep the game 6-5 (the two runs by the Rays as a result of a 2nd HR given up by Gray).
We scored 2 more runs (2-run single by Chase Headley) and Chad Green and David Robertson were able to keep the Rays from scoring. Our four pitchers today totaled 19 STRIKEOUTS!!! Sonny got 9, Dellin totaled 4, and Chad and David had 3 each.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Rich Hill struck out 13 Miami Marlins en route to a 6-2 win for his Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition, the Seattle Mariners' Nelson Cruz hit a 2-out solo HR in the bottom of 9th to win the game 2-1 over the Chicago White Sox.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Hicks rolled a 1-6 two consecutive times and split into HRs. Unfortunately in the top of 1st the shift changed it to a double. In the top of 3rd, with two men on and 2 outs, he got the HR his rolls deserved to break a 1-1 tie. Max Rules robbed him of a Triple roll, but he scored from 2B anyway thanks to a double from Starlin Castro for our 7th run of the game in the top of 7th.
C.C. Sabathia couldn't keep our lead 6-2 and I had to take him out in the bottom of 6th with the score 6-5 after he gave up two HRs. However, Chasen Shreve performed well and Aroldis Chapman recovered from yesterday to keep the Rays' run count at 5 into the 8th inning. Chad Green and David Robertson finished the job with the latter securing his 15th save of the season. The third out was a Web Gem diving catch on the LF foul line by Brett Gardner that secured the 1-2-3 9th inning.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Minnesota Twins 13 @ Kansas City Royals 3
1B Joe Mauer went 5 for 6 with 5 RBIs and both DH Robbie Grossman and Brian Dozier scored 4 runs to make the complete game an easy one for SP Ervin Santana.
·Full game report.
The Arizona Diamondbacks now have the longest winning streak in the Majors (7 wins) after they held off the San Diego Padres 2-1. Fernando Rodney got his 19th save, tied with Craig Kimbrel for the most in the Majors. Another winning team is the Washington Nationals, going 8-2 recently with a 9-1 win over the Atlanta Braves today.
Manager's Notes
Jordan Montgomery escaped two men in scoring positions with 0 out in the bottom of 2nd inning, but not before giving up a RBI single in the 1st inning to start us behind 1-0.
In the next inning, I took advantage of an Extreme Matchup by Starlin Castro over SP Archer to launch a 2-run HR.
Unfortunately in the bottom of 7th my usual 7th inning man, Aroldis Chapman, gave up consecutive doubles with 2 ours to tie the game 2-2. Longoria got a S= to give the Rays a 3-2 lead. Pretty frustrating. We started a small rally in the top of 9th but a double play secured the loss.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Colorado Rockies 9 @ Cincinnati Reds 4
Nolan Arenado went 4 for 5 and netted 5 RBIs. He finished a HR shy of a cycle in an easy win for his Rockies. Arenado is leading the N.L. in batting average with his .367.
·Full game report.
In a firefight between two A.L. powerhouses, the Cleveland Indians came from behind in the top of the 8th inning, scoring 7 runs to give them a 9-4 lead over the Houston Astros. They held off two rallies to win 9-8. In another exciting game, the Boston Red Sox scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th to change a 1-1 tie with the Oakland Athletics to a 4-1 win. It was the Sox's Majors-leading 7th consecutive win. They keep burying us in the A.L. East standings!
Manager's Notes
Early in the game, our defense bailed Masahiro Tanaka out twice with double plays. The Royals tried to return the favor with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of 4th, but Didi Gregorius hit to 2B Merrifield and Whit muffed the split chance G1 and threw 1B Hosmer off the bag, allowing Jacoby Ellsbury to score. A 2-run double by Chase Headley and a RBI single by Brett Gardner made the score 5-0.
Tanaka was only 1.1 inning away from a shutout, but gave up a few too many hits. It was nice to win a series again tonight.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Washington Nationals 4 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 0
Max Scherzer had yet another monster game, striking out 18 and giving up only 4 hits.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Tonight our batters could not get anything going against the SP Junis, who gave up only 3 hits in 8 full innings before giving away for Minor's 3rd save of the season. Luis Severino gave up a bunch of hits but the only one that hurt us was Moss' solo HR in the top of the 4th.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Another strong pitching performance came from the Boston Red Sox's Eduardo Rodriguez. He struck out 13 Oakland Athletics in 7.2 innings for a 5-2 Red Sox victory.
League Notes
Tampa Bay Rays 1 @ Cleveland Indians 2
Indians SP Corey Kluber pitched a two-hit CG. With 13 strikeouts and only one walk, Kluber's only big mistake was a solo HR to the Rays' Duda in the top of the 9th that made the game 1-0 in Tampa Bay's favor. However, Edwin Encarnacion ruined the Rays' combined 3-hitter by launching a 2-run HR to give the Indians an exciting walk-off win.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 12 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 5
The Nats' Daniel Murphy went 5 for 5 with 3 RBIs and Bryce Harper went 4 for 5 to help the Nationals rout the Pirates today.
·Full game report.
There were plenty of great pitching around the league today. Chris Sale struck out 13 Cardinals in the Red Sox's easy 8-0 win. The Chicago Cubs' Jose Quintana struck out 12 Cincinnati Reds for a 3-2 win. The White Sox's James Shields pitched a 3-hit CG and CA Omar Narvaez scored the game-winning single to in the top of 8th to overcome the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
Manager's Notes
We started well with two consecutive HRs - a 2-run HR by Todd Frazier (Extreme Matchup 1 vs. Duffy) and Gary Sanchez. Unfortunately K.C. took advantage of good hitting and 3 errors by us to lead 5-3 in the top of 4th.
Duffy started to lose control and beaned Jacoby Ellsbury and Frazier, the latter with the bases loaded and two outs, to score a run for us to cut the deficit to 5-4. Sanchez took advantage of a bad pitch by Duffy in the 6 column to lace a 2-run single to give us the 6-5 lead and knock Duffy out of the game.
Awful fielding reared its ugly head again in the top of the 7th inning. Starlin Castro made another error for K.C.'s first baserunner of the inning. It resulted in a run to tie the game 6-6 when a RF single and throw by Aaron Judge couldn't get Gary Sanchez to block enough of the plate.
We got a lucky break on the bottom of 9th when Merrifield singled through 1B Frazier, but rolled a RP and got thrown out changing his mind and returning to 1B for the 2nd out.
Frazier was the hero with the bases loaded in the top of 10th, hitting a LF single that scored Castro but Aaron Hicks got thrown out trying to score from 2nd. David Robertson was brilliant, rolling a 3-8 strikeout to Hosmer with #6-7 and #9-10 being singles. He had a strikeout before that and a popout to Brett Garder gave him his 14th save of the season and a much-needed win for us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
In an interesting game, led by LF Adam Duvall's grand slam, the Cincinnati Reds scored all 9 of their runs in the top of the 7th inning. They held off late rallies by the Chicago Cubs to win 9-6.
League Notes
Atlanta Braves 9 @ Toronto Blue Jays 5
Blue Jays 1B Justin Smoak went 4 for 4 with 5 RBIs, 2 HRs, and a double shy of a cycle. Unfortunately for his team the Braves blew the game wide open in the 6th and 7th innings for a high-scoring win over the Jays.
·Full game report
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka was simply awful tonight. He gave up 4 HRs in the first two innings. I was ready to yank him in the 4th inning with the score 5-0, men on 3B and 2B, and no outs, but 2B Starlin Castro made a lmax catch and doubled off the 3B runner for a double play to keep Tanaka in the game.
That must have fired up our batters. Green Extreme Matchups Castro got a RBI single off Morton and Todd Frazier followed it up with a 3-run HR to make it a 5-4 game. Unfortunately a 2-run HR given by by Chasen Shreve in relief of Tanaka deflated us and the Astros won 7-5 to complete an embarrassing 4-game sweep at our home, and on national TV no less. We have a ways to go just to even win one game against the Astros. The won their 7th straight game tonight and now have the 2nd-best record in the A.L. (28-11), just behind the Boston Red Sox (29-9).
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Philadelphia Phillies 0 @ Washington Nationals 9
The Nats' Max Scherzer had another monster game, this time a 2-hit shutout over the Phillies. Scherzer tallied 12 strikeouts walked no one, and threw exactly 100 pitches to lower his season ERA to 2.03.
·Full game report.
New York Mets 2 @ Milwaukee Brewers 11
Brewers 2B Neil Walker hit a 3-run HR and a 2-run single to finish with 5 RBIs total in an easy win over the New York Mets.
·Full game report.
In an exciting game, the Atlanta Braves led the Miami Marlins 4-0 entering the 9th inning. The Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton capped a thrilling comeback with a walk-off grand slam with two outs to give the Fins a 6-4 victory.
Manager's Notes
Verlander racked up 10 strikeouts, including 3 against Aaron Judge. C.C. Sabathia had an off day and gave up two crucial homers - a 3-run HR in the 4th and a 2-run in the 5th. That seemed to be the tone of the game with a 7-2 Houson lead, but a two-run HR by Aaron Hicks and timely extra base hits, as well as good relief performance, enabled us to catch up 7-6. That was how the game ended. It is too bad about those two HRs we gave up. We will have one last game against the Astros tomorrow to try to get that W against them.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Oakland Athletics 14 @ Texas Rangers 2
A's 3B Matt Chapman had 5 hits total to keep the Oakland offense going in its lopsided victory over the Royals.
·Full game report.
There were quite a few very long games. The Washington Nationals had a walk-off win after 16 innings with the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5. The Miami Marlins walked off in 15 against the Atlanta Braves 6-5. The visitor Baltimore Orioles prevailed in 15 innings over the Kansas City Roylas 8-7. Finally, Eric Thames hit a solo HR to walk the Milwaukee Brewers off against the New York Mets in 13 innings, 10-9.
Manager's Notes
It appeared to be a good pitcher's duel, but in reality Dallas Keuchel dominated us and Luis Severino struggled to hold his own. By the time I put Aroldis Chapman in for the 7th inning, Severino had given up 9 hits and Keuchel only 2. Severino gave up a solo shot to McCann that stayed fair of the right field pole. In the same inning, the 4th, Chase Headley doubled and immediately after Gary Sanchez doubled to the outfield. The outfielders ran into each other and enabled Chase to score to tie the game.
Chapman had a bit of an adventure. He gave up a Bregman stolen base, then threw a wild pitch to get Bregman to 3B with no outs and the Astros' first three hitters up. Fortunately, Springer struck out, Reddick popped out, and Altuve struck out.
Don't you hate it when you desperately need a solo HR, have Starlin Castro roll a HR9DO, and roll a 10??? With Gardner facing Keuchel next in the top of 8th, I opted to sit him for Aaron Judge. Judge hit a huge S= that resulted into Castro scoring and giving us a 2-1 lead.
Unfortunately David Robertson couldn't save the game for us. We gave up too many base runners and Houston wore out our defense with singles to the outfield to score two runs. We were able to send PH Austin Romine with a double, but our bottom of the order couldn't bring him home. Great game by Keuchel. He was so dominant tonight but at least we took the W away from him.
I will be making my first minor league move of the season. I need another lefty reliever, so I am sending down Bryan Mitchell for Chasen Shreve.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
There were a couple of good pitching performances today. Corey Kluber struck out 13 Minnesota Twins in a complete game for the Cleveland Indians, 7-1. The San Diego Padres' Dinelson Lamet pitched fewer innings but struck out almost as many, 12, in his 11-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Manager's Notes
We had our opportunity to catch the 'Stros tonight. Unfortunately our batters couldn't get anything going except for a solo HR by Didi Gregorius. Sonny Gray pitched well but gave up two HRs. Our mop-up guys couldn't keep the game close and combined to give up a grand slam to Carlos Correa. Chase Headley had his league-leading 14-game hitting streak snapped.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Kansas City Royals 3 @ Tampa Bay Rays 8
The Rays' Bradley Miller, hitting .171 this season, hit two homers and a RBI double to total 6 RBIs for the win over the Royals.
·Full game report.
Pittsburgh Pirates 13 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 2
The Bucs overwhelmed the D-Backs with pitching (Ivan Nova threw a complete game) and batting (Josh Bell had 5 RBIs and Francisco Cervelli hit 2 HRs).
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Dodgers 10 @ Colorado Rockies 4
The Dodgers' Justin Turner took advantage of the thin mountain air to launch a two-run HR and a grand slam. He finished the day with 7 RBIs. Rich Hill struck out 12 Rockies in 7 innings.
·Full game report.
League Notes
The Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer improved to 6-1 with a 14-strikeouts win over the Baltimore Orioles 3-2.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
C.C. Sabathia did not start well, falling behind 3-0. However, he got better after the 2nd inning and our batters backed him up. We managed to load the bases with two outs. I put in Jacoby Ellsbury to bat for Sabathia, but the Reds put in a lefthanded reliever (Garrett) and I countered with my lefty-only pinch hitter, Matt Holliday. He rolled a HR16DO and rolled a... 16! for a grand slam and a 6-3 lead!
If there is a letdown for this game, I had two batters who popped out bunts and got the runner doubled off by the catcher. A bit unrealistic as real-life players would have been more careful about taking too big a lead for bunts after the first time, but whatever. For a silver lining, Chase Headley has now hit safely in a current-MLB-best 14 consecutive games. His second hit of the game was a big single that kept everyone safe right before Holliday's grand slam.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Francisco Giants 2 @ New York Mets 1
The Mets' Jacob deGrom had a no-hitter for 7.1 innings. However he ran out of gas and gave up a solo HR, a walk, and a run-scoring double . The Giants didn't hit again but the Mets couldn't come back.
·Full game report.
Kansas City Royals 1 @ Tampa Bay Rays 0
In what is either an amazingly pitched game or a horribly batted game, the Royals scored on a wild pitch in the top of 3rd and never looked back. Both teams combined for 2 hits and used 3 pitchers each.
·Full game report.
There were more fine pitching performances around the league. Marcus Stroman took a no-hitter into the 6th inning in the Toronto Blue Jays' 2-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. Chris Sale did one inning better but Milwaukee forced a 2-2 tie in the bottom of 9th. The Red Sox won it when Jackie Bradley, Jr. tripled, then reached home on an error. Finally, the Minnesota Twins' Jose Berrios fanned 13 but didn't stay for the shutout, pitching 7 innings total in his 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka had a very mixed start today. While he struck out 8, he also gave up 4 HRs to allow the Reds to come back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game 6-6. However, he made up for it by batting a double off his hitting card to score Todd Frazier from 2nd and give us a 7-6 lead. Later in the game Didi Gregorius hit a solo HR to make it 8-6. Reds speedster Hamilton made it 8-7 by stealing 2nd, then stealing 3rd and reaching home on a Gary Sanchez throwing error. 7th inning man Aroldis Chapman got the necessary outs for a hold and Chad Green and David Robertson completed a high-scoring victory for us.
Credit goes to our batters. They kept us competitive throughout Tanaka's homer-happy game. We had four homers of our own. Six different batters got RBIs and all the starters except for Aaron Hicks (0 for 5) got a hit today.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Chicago Cubs 1 @ Colorado Rockies 13
The Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez had 5 RBIS - a solo HR and a grand slam - to lead today's high-scoring Colorado offense in an easy win over the Cubs.
·Full game report.
In an exciting game today, the hometown Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Kansas City Royals on a walk-off... walk. Corey Dickerson forced a 1-out walk with the bases loaded to score his teammate Kevin Kiermaier.
Manager's Notes
We were denied our third consecutive sweep on a nationally televised Sunday night game. Luis Severino was fantastic, going 7 2/3 innings and striking out 10 batters. Unfortunately one of the 5 hits he gave up was a solo HR to Zobrist and that made the difference. We left 7 men on base and went 1 for 10 with RISP tonight. Tip of the hat to the Cubs' SP Quintana for the 11 strikeouts performance and CL Davis for his two-inning save.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Miami Marlins' Edinson Volquez threw a 3-hit shutout in an easy 10-0 win over the New York Mets.
Manager's Notes
Sonny Gray cruised tonight with 12 strikeouts and one hit in 8 innings. A John Jay double forced my hand with a 2-0 lead and I called in David Robertson to close the game. A Bryant single to LF result in Gardner gunning down Jay trying for home. A diving catch by Aaron Judge in RF and a strikeout by Robertson ensured Sonny's great game resulted in our 8th consecutive win, the best current streak in the Majors.
There was not much hitting today with the bad weather tonight. We hit several balls that would have been home runs instead of fly outs with better weather. We had a sacrifice fly in the top of 4th. In the top of 6th we loaded the bases with 1 out to knock SP Hendricks out of the game, but Gary Sanchez grounded into a double play. Brett Gardner hit a solo HR in the top of 8th to give us a little more breathing room.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Houston Astros 0 @ Los Angeles Angels 6
Angels SP Alex Meyer has a masterful no-hitter over the Astros. He struck out 13 and walked 3. Congratulations to him!
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 7 @ Philadelphia Phillies 2
Another pitcher that had a big game today was Washington's Max Scherzer. He had a 16-strikeout complete game. 12 hits total by the Nats kept him loose and productive on the mound. Bryce Harper's 2 HRs and 4 RBIs certainly helped.
·Full game report.
Miami Marlins 2 @ New York Mets 8
The Mets' Yoenis Cespedes had his second consecutive 5+ RBI game. He had only one hit today but it was a big one - a grand slam. Earlier in the game he also had a sacrifice fly.
·Full game report.
San Francisco Giants 16 @ Cincinnati Reds 5
Giants SS Brandon Crawford went 4 for 5 with 5 RBIs today to lead San Francisco in a rout over Cincinnati.
·Full game report.
In the most lopsided victory of the season, the Minnesota Twins won over the Boston Red Sox 21-2. The Twins totaled 21 hits while the Red Sox managed 10.
Manager's Notes
an inside the park HR. Jacoby Ellsbury was able to gun him down from CF to keep the game 0-0.
On the top of 4th, SP Lester unbelievably walked C.C. Sabathia with the bases loaded and two outs! C.C. rolled a 1-2! I won't complain as it sent Todd Frazier home and improved our lead to 2-0. In the 2nd inning Todd hit a HR to make it 1-0. Brett Gardner got a great pitch next but unfortunately lined out.
The Cubs had good pitching after Lester left the game in 5 innings, but the damage had been done. Chase Headley hit for his 10th consecutive game, David Robertson got his 10th save of the season, and we won our 7th consecutive game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 8 @ Minnesota Twins 2
Chris Sale struck out 12 Twins and Hanley Ramirez had 5 RBI's (grand slam and 1-run double) today. The Sox continue to stay 4.0 game ahead of us in the A.L. East standing, despite our winning streak.
·Full game report.
Miami Marlins 9 @ New York Mets 18
Yoenis Cespedes had 6 RBIs total with all but 2 coming from small-ball hits. That helped his Mets trounce the Marlins at home.
·Full game report.
A good team effort today was by the Atlanta Braves. They rallied from a 8-3 deficit to lead 9-8 in the bottom of 8th. That ended up being the game result. 3B Jace Peterson starred with RBIs, including the go-ahead HR.
League Notes
Chicago White Sox 5 @ Kansas City Royals
Royals CF Lorenzo Cain had two HRs and totaled 5 RBIs, including the game-winning two-run single in the bottom of the 8th inning.
·Full game report
New York Mets 8 @ Atlanta Braves 6
Mets 3B Wilmer Flores had a two-run double and a three-run HR to total 5 RBIs for the day.
·Full game report
Oakland Athletics 3 @ Minnesota Twins 2
Oakland SP Andrew Triggs had 7 no-hit innings until he gave up a solo HR with no out in the bottom of 8th.
·Full game report
Probably because it was a three-hit game, an outstanding pitching performance that didn't generate an event box score for me was the Arizona Diamondbacks' 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. D-Backs SP Zack Greinke had 7 no-hit innings and finished the day with 2 hits and 8 strikeouts after 1/3 additional inning. Fernando Rodney earned his N.L.-leading 14th save.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Monster hitting in the first inning for us tonight. Todd Frazier launched a 3-run HR and before long Gary Sanchez hit a 2-run HR. Stroman got yanked in record time!!! Too bad, since Aaron Judge had an Extreme 3 advantage over Stroman and I was looking forward to exploiting that.
The Blue Jays had a nice home run of their own in the top of 3rd by Donaldson. CF Aaron Hicks nearly robbed it. With a 8-20 out, Hicks rolled a 7. :-( For another :-(, Donaldson hit a solo shot in the top of 5th with two outs to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Now I have a :-) after Aaron Judge hit a two-run HR to extend our lead 7-4 and give our relievers some breathing room. Even more fun was when Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury bunted in two straight fielder's choices, and the lead runner (Gary Sanchez) was safe each time. They must have been mad about his HR earlier in the game. SS Tulowitzki got his revenge by fielding a Brett Gardner gb(SS)B and nailing Sanchez at home. We almost blew a 0-out bases loaded situation, but Didi Gregorius made a 2-run single to increase our lead to 9-4.
Sanchez got his revenge in the bottom of 7th by hitting his 2nd HR of the night, a solo shot, to match Donaldson's feat. Tommy Kahnle, Aroldis Chapman, and Chad Green took advantage of tomorrow's day off to easily finish what SP Jordan Montgomery started. We got our second consecutive sweep and sixth consecutive win. That almost makes up for being swept by Boston last week. Almost.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Milwaukee Brewers 5 @ St. Louis Cardinals 14
Cardinals SS Paul DeJong had a monster day at the plate. He went 5 for 5, batted in 5 runs, and scored 3 of his own. He finished a triple shy of a cycle. He has now hit safely in 13 consecutive games and is tied for 3rd in the N.L. with a .358 batting average.
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Angels 2 @ Seattle Mariners 10
The Angels could not stop Robinson Cano. He went 3 for 5 and all three hits were HRs. Cano ended the day with 8 RBIs. That made Felix Hernandez's 8 strikeouts and 4 hits in 8 innings almost an afterthought.
·Full game report.
Chicago White Sox 4 @ Kansas City Royals 2
White Sox SP Lucas Giolito managed to stop the entire Royals team today. He gave up only one hit - and it didn't even score a run for the Royals. The Royals scored one run on two consecutive ground outs, and the other run on two consecutive force outs. DH Matt Davidson won the game for the Sox by hitting a two-run double in the top of the 8th inning.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
In a well pitched game, we got on board in the bottom of 4th thanks to a Brett Gardner RBI single. It would have been two runs but Didi Gregorius got thrown out at home plate after Matt Holliday scored.
Luis Severino showed signs of fatigue by walking the first two batters in the top of 7th, but a double play and a strikeout got him out of that jam. He had 9 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. Severino exited having given up only two hit. Chad Green threw a struckout and David Robertson pitched a perfect 9th for his 9th save of the season. Our defense was aided by bad weather that turned two likely HRs for the Blue Jays into left field outs.
We had a dumb play in the bottom of 7th when Starlin Castro bunted a popout, and Gardner got caught not returning to 2B in time. Fortunately in the bottom of 8th PH Aaron Judge (who doesn't start against lefties) had a big double to score Chase Headley from 1B to improve our lead to 2-0.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 1 @ Atlanta Braves 5
The Braves' Sean Newcomb threw a 16-strikouts complete game. The Braves' three best hitters, Matt Kemp (.311), Nick Markakis (.354) and Ender Inciarte (.398, best in the N.L.) each contributed 3 hits for a team total of 12 hits.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
SP Sonny Gray was out of control tonight in the first few innings. He hit three Blue Jays batters!
Aaron Judge had a nice two-run homer in the bottom of 2nd. In the bottom of 3rd, Aaron Hicks rolled into a split HR, but unfortunately the Jays' shift hurt his power and it was caught by LF Carrera at the wall. Actually, that is what the play-by-play said, but apparently it is actually a double by Hicks. I'll contact Tech Support but keep that double. :-)
A highlight in the bottom of 4th: Gary Sanchez laid down a 0-out bunt and beat the throw to load the bases. Jacoby Ellsbury rewarded the hustle with a two-run-scoring single.
In the next inning, Todd Frazier stole 2nd base. We were really having our way with RP Bolsinger and C Martin with his +1 throwing arm. We keep hitting and scoring all night and had a 11-2 lead in the bottom of 9th inning. Sonny was exhausted from his 12 strikeout performance and gave up four consecutive walks, including two with the bases loaded. We needed his CG to fully rest our bullpen for the last two games before our day off. He was able to get Morales to strike out after Morales nearly hit a grand slam that curved foul.
Hicks was the star batter today, going 5 for 5 with that home run, a double, two stolen bases, and a double. He leads all Yankees with a .323 batting average for the season.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
The Yankees were helped in the standings by Baltimore. The Orioles recovered from a disastrous sweep at Yankee Stadium last weekend to defeat the Boston Red Sox 3-1. The Sox's Chris Sale had 13 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings. However, the O's were able to keep the Red Sox batters under control thanks to SP Dylan Bundy and closer Zach Britton. The Yankees are now 3.5 games behind Boston.
Manager's Notes
In the top of 2nd inning, Brett Gardner easily robbed Mancini of a HR. Unfortunately, in the bottom of that inning, it was our turn to be denied a run when we had a man on 3rd and no out but couldn't capitalize.
Baltimore made it exciting with in the top of 5th with men on 3B and 2B. Adam Jones launched a line drive that would have scored at least one go-ahead run, but Didi Gregorius managed to catch it for the third out.
We finally got on board in the bottom of 8th with Chase Headley squeezing home Didi Gregorius. C.C. Sabathia had been cruising all game (4 hits, no walk, and 6 K's), but with only a 1-0 lead and Machado, Trumbo, and Davis coming up, I couldn't take any chances. David Robertson had a 1-2-3 9th inning save, but Chase Headley was one split digit from making an error off a Davis grounder. That was a great confidence-boosting sweep for us. Let's aim for one more.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Diego Padres 11 @ San Francisco Giants 2
Padres SP Luis Perdomo pitched a complete game. He was assisted by a strong Padres offense led by catcher Austin Hedges, who had 5 RBIs from a single, a solo HR, and a 3-run HR.
·Full game report.
Pittsburgh Pirates 9 @ Miami Marlins 4
Josh Bell had 5 RBIs total, including 4 from the top of the 11th inning when he hit the game-winning grand slam.
·Full game report.
In other news, the St. Louis Cardinals' bats went cold today. They managed only two hits against the Cincinnati Reds in their 4-1 loss. That snapped a 11-game winning streak for them. If streaks make you happy, note that the Texas Rangers' Elvis Andrus now has a MLB season-leading 16 game hitting streak.
Manager's Notes
Our batters were able to contribute to the effort of Masahiro Tanaka today. We were able to pressure SP Asher out of the game and take advantage of a bases loaded with one out situation. We walked twice and had an infield single where Todd Frazier beat out RP Givens' throw to 1B Davis. Aaron Judge, who has been hitting so badly that I now sit him against lefties, finally comes through with a double out of a Double-HR split to score two more runs.
Baltimore's bats woke up in the top of 7th to hit two home runs. Tanaka and Dellin Betances got pressured in a one-out bases loaded situation with Machado as the tying run in the plate. I no longer use Betances against righties (too easy to roll a walk, like he did to the previous lefty batter). Fortunately Chapman was able to get a big double play grounder to stop the O's from tying the game, or worse. He stayed for the rest of the game and picked up his first game of the season, walking one, giving up one hit, and throwing two wild pitches in 2 2/3 innings.
In the end of the day, all of our nine batters had at least one hit apiece. Being 5 for 11 with RISP and turning in two double plays helped us a lot. As long as we keep playing like that then we can at least make the wild card.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Colorado Rockies 10 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 5
Rockies SP German Marquez had a no-hitter all the way into the 8th inning with two outs remaining. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks' PH Jeremy Hazelbaker. batting .417 in 12 plate appearances, hit a solo homer to stop that no-hit bid. Colorado was leading 5-0 at the time, but Arizona added two more 2-run HRs in the bottom of the 9th off closer Greg Holland to tie the game. Determined not to have Marquez's big day spoiled, Nolan Arenado hit the go-ahead three-run HR in the top of 10th for the win. Another star Rockie today was 2B D.J. Lemahieu. He went 5 for 5, had 4 RBIs, and is batting at .361 for the season.
·Full game report.
Another standout pitching performance was the Seattle Mariners' James Paxton striking out 12 Texas Rangers en route to a 3-2 victory. An interesting stat that stands out right now is that the top 4 ERAs in the American League, in order, are three Red Soxs and one Yankee: Eduardo Rodriguez (1.01), Drew Pomeranz (1.53), Chris Sale (1.75), and Luis Severino (1.77).
Manager's Notes
You should have seen my rolls in the bottom of the 5th. Chase Headley and Aaron Hicks both rolled a 4-9 against SP Gausman's card in consecutive at-bats. Headley split into a double and Hicks hit a HR to give us a 2-0 lead. Gausman was otherwise pitching well, but he got yanked for a reliever anyway.
It was a great pitching performance by both teams. SP Jordan Montgomery did a fantastic job with 8 strikeouts. The setup-closer combination of Chad Green and David Robertson prevented the O's from capitalizing on baserunners. The pitching was good in the final two games against the Red Sox, but our offense need to come out of the teamwide slump soon, like next game soon.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
New York Mets 6 @ Washington Nationals 11
The Nats' LF Jayson Werth was 5 for 5 with a 2-run HR and Bryce Harper hit two HRs of his own as the Nationals routed the Mets today. This is the first time I have seen an autoplayed single player's 5+ hit game so it must be pretty rare compared to single players' 5+ RBI games.
·Full game report.
There were good pitching performances today. The San Diego Padres won 3-2 over the San Francisco Giants thanks in part to Padres SP Dinelson Lamet carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning. Mark Leiter threw a 3-hit shutout for the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-0 victory over Clayton Kershaw and the L.A. Dodgers. Finally, Robbie Ray struck out 13 Colorado Rockies to pace the Arizona Diamondbacks to an easy 14-1 win.
Manager's Notes
In a matchup of two of the A.L.'s best starters, Chris Sale and Luis Severino, both pitchers did not disappoint at all. Sale struck out 12 in 7 innings. Severino carried a 1-hitter to the 7th inning.
In a big defensive play in the bottom of 6th, Aaron Judge caught a Benintendi fly. Betts tried to get to 3B from 2B but Judge rolled a 19 and gunned him down for a huge double play. In another great play in the bottom of 7th, CF Jacoby Ellsbury with his +1 arm rolled a 20 to gun down Devers trying to score from 1st on a Vazquez double for a 3rd out. Unfortunately, Bogaerts had scored from 2B.
In this Yankees fan's opinion, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman are vastly overrated both in real life and in this game. They proved me right by combining to give up two walks, a wild pitch, and two runs in the bottom of 8th to pad the Sox's lead to 3-0. Our bats were again dormant. We were 0 for 9 in RISP, including a golden opportunity in the top of 8th when we had men on 3B and 2B with no out. Our lefty matchup looked good in the beginning of this season, but going up against the Sox's lefty starters really exposed us. Let's hope for series wins for the next six games before we get a day off.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 10 @ San Francisco Giants 5
Today was a good day for the Dodgers. How good was it? CF Enrique Hernandez, batting .136 for the season, had 5 RBIs. He had a 1st-inning grand slam and also batted into a double play that scored a man from 3rd. Yu Darvish had a mixed bag today. He gave up 5 runs but struck out 10 in 7 innings.
·Full game report.
The St. Louis Cardinals won their 9th straight game thanks to a walk-off 3-run HR in the bottom of 12th inning courtesy of Jedd Gyorko.
Manager's Notes
Our bats were useless against Eduardo Rodriguez today. He had a 4-hit shutout. SP Sonny Gray did not settle down until the 5th inning, but by then the Red Sox were too far ahead. If this keeps up all season then we will need to focus on securing the wild card.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Minnesota Twins 2 @ Texas Rangers 10
Elvis Andrus had a HR and two doubles to total 5 RBIs for the day. SP A.J. Griffin went the distance to get his first win of the season.
·Full game report.
In other news, Carlos Martinez had a complete game and 11 strikeouts for the St. Louis Cardinals' 10-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Cardinals have won 8 consecutive games and show no signs of slowing down.
Manager's Notes
Man, I hate the Red Sox's computer manager. In the top of 2nd SP Price was yanked with bases loaded, two outs, and us playing small ball to take a 3-2 lead. Not only that the computer manager gave up too easily, but also because my next batter up was Matt Holliday and he hasn't been able to get a hit against righties all season. True to form, Matt grounded out on a split to the shortstop.
I love SOM's new shift defensive strategy. A Betts HR roll turned into a single in the bottom of 2nd. Next batter Pedroia grounded into a double play. In addition, in the bottom of 3rd, guarding lines robbed Bogaerts of a RBI double when 3B Chase Headley caught the grounder and threw him out at 1B. I use guarding lines a lot in close games and so far this season I haven't been punished for using it yet. I can't say the same for holding baserunners, and sometimes the computer manager gets punished for drawing his infield in.
In the bottom of 5th, both Gary Sanchez (dropped foul pop) and Todd Frazier (misplayed grounder) resulted in me walking Ramirez to face Moreland with no outs and the bases loaded. Moreland rewarded me with a double play. We came into that half with a 5-2 lead and escaped with a 5-4 lead.
Unfortunately SP Masahiro Tanaka couldn't maintain the lead. Bradley, Jr. doubled to score Vazquez (who advanced on a wild pitch). Pedroia's single got Bradley, Jr. to score to lead us 6-5. Benintendi doubled and an ambitious Pedroia tried to score against LF Aaron Hicks' arm. Pedroia lost - Gary Sanchez blocked the plate to get him out.
Reliever Tommy Kahnle did a great job in the last 2 2/3 innings of the game, surrendering no run of his own. Unfortunately the Sox's closer Craig Kimbrel blew us away with a two-inning save. He now leads the A.L. with 9 saves. With Price knocked out of the game early, we really blew an opportunity to wear out the Sox's relievers and get a win. Let's hope for a better game tomorrow night.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Oakland Athletics 5 @ Los Angeles Angels 6
Angels catcher Martin Maldonado hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 2nd inning and the game-winning single in the bottom of the 9th inning. He totaled 5 RBIs today.
·Full game report.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 8 @ Philadelphia Phillies 9
The Phillies' 3B Maikel Franco had the most RBIs in this high-scoring game. He launched two 2-run HRs and also hit a sacrifice fly.
·Full game report.
League Notes
San Diego Padres 6 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 8
The Diamondbacks' J.D. Martinez hit a three-run HR, a two-run HR, and a two-run double to end the day with 7 RBIs. He single-handedly beat the Padres, relatively speaking.
·Full game report
Washington Nationals 8 @ Colorado Rockies 9
The Rockies' Nolan Arenado was the star of today's game. He hit two three-run HRs, including one in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, to lead Colorado to an exciting comeback victory over the Nats. Arenado finished with 6 RBIs for the day.
·Full game report
The Yankees will play 9 consecutive days, starting with three games at the Boston Red Sox. We will do our best to win at least two of those games to cut the Red Sox's A.L. East lead. It looks like the Sox's next three starters will be Porcello, Price, and Rodriguez. Let's see what our batters can do.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Our pitching could not back up our batters' hard work. We had three hit batters and a wild pitch. McCutchen hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 3rd and Marte hit a two-run HR in the bottom of the 6th. Brett Gardner had a double and triple and both Didi Gregorius and Starlin Castro added their own solo home runs.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers 0 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 1
Arizona SP Randall Delgado pitched a shutout and gave up only two hits. The combination of the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Brandon Morrow were able to shut out the Diamondbacks as well. David Peralta hit a two-out walk-off single to score teammate Jake Lamb from 2B.
·Full game report.
San Francisco Giants 5 @ Colorado Rockies 0
Giants SP Chris Stratton had a two-hit shutout of his own. He took a no-hit bid into the 6th inning. He ended up striking out 11 Rockies.
·Full game report.
Washington Nationals 0 @ New York Mets 1
How about a game where BOTH teams only had two hits each??? The Nats' Max Scherzer (7 innings) and the Mets' Jacob deGrom (8 innings) both pitched two hitters. Scherzer struck out 8 and deGrom had 10 strikeouts. The Mets' Michael Conforto hit a solo HR off Scherzer that was the difference in today's game.
·Full game report.
The Boston Red Sox's Chris Sale was at it again. He struck out 14 Baltimore Orioles in 7 2/3 innings to lead the Red Sox to a 9-3 win. In addition, the St. Louis Cardinals won their 6th consecutive game, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2.
Manager's Notes
Today was a good pitcher's duel between former Yankee Ivan Nova and current Yankee Luis Severino. Both SPs threw 7 innings. Nova struck out 8 and Severino fanned 9. We took advantage of a two-base throwing error that scored Aaron Hicks from 2nd. The very next at-bat, Didi Gregorius hit a homer to score himself and Brett Gardner, and to get us up 3-0. The Pirates had some good hits off splits, but being 0 for 9 in RISP killed them this afternoon.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 3 @ Baltimore Orioles 1
Drew Pomeranz had a no-hitter for the Red Sox all the way to the first out of the bottom of the 9th. Seth Smith ended that dream with a single. Pomeranz was out of gas by then, so Craig Kimbrel picked up his A.L. leading 8th save of the season.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
Three doubles resulted into a driven run each for us. We started with a 3-0 lead.
SP Sonny Gray had a great start, holding the Pirates hitless (but with a threatening number of walks) until the bottom of the 6th inning. Harrison broke it up with a bunt and beat the throw to 1B by two steps. The Pirates batters pressured Sonny into a 3B and 2B runners with no out situation. A strikeout and two fly outs enabled us to escape that inning with only a sacrifice run.
The top of the 7th inning was exciting. Pittsburgh's batters fought hard and forced me to use my Betances/Chapman/Green combination with each reliever picking up one out each. Chad Green struck out McCutchen with the bases loaded to help us preserve a 3-1 lead.
Once again the Pirates picked at our lead in the 8th by getting one run off Green for a 3-2 deficit. In the bottom of 9th, David Robertson nearly rolled into a split HR swing but narrowly struck out Bell. Unfortunately with 2 outs in the bottom of 9th, Robertson fumbled a throw to 1B, resulting into an extra base error, and the game was tied 3-3. A successful pitch-around strikeout sent the game into extra innings.
It didn't take long for our batters to stop fooling around and get us a win. Pinch hitter Jacoby Ellsbury walked. Aaron Hicks made a sacrifice bunt. Brett Gardner hit the game-winning single to send Ellsbury home. With no true closer available for us, Adam Warren labored to pick up his first save.
I did not manage that game well. I was too aggressive when up 3-0 and hit into a few double plays when I could have made more sacrifice bunts to run up the score and put the game out of reach of the Pirates. We underestimated the Pirates' tenacity. I'm just glad we won tonight.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Atlanta Braves 1 @ Philadelphia Philllies 6
The Braves' Enger Inciarte went 5 for 5 to increase his MLB-leading batting average to .449. Unfortunately his teammates did not do enough to help the Braves win today against the lowly Phillies.
·Full game report.
League Notes
Baltimore Orioles 4 @ Cincinnati Reds 8
Scott Feldman struck out 11 Orioles. His win was assisted by the offense of Eugenio Suarez, who had a grand slam and a solo HR for 5 total RBIs today.
·Full game report
Cleveland Indians 10 @ Minnesota Twins 15
Minnesota's Jason Castro knocked in three runs twice with one swing of a bat. He had a bases-clearing double and a three-run HR. His 6 RBIs total helped the Twins overcome the Indians in a high-scoring contest.
·Full game report
Kansas City Royals 2 @ Texas Rangers 13
Nomar Mazara, struggling in the #3 spot with a .182 batting average, hopes he has broken out of his early-season slump with a three-run HR and a two-RBI single to end up with 5 RBIs in the day. Martin Perez had little trouble with the Royals batters as he pitched a compete game.
·Full game report
With 23 ABs, 7 Hits, 11 RBIs, 4 BBs, 4 HRS, and a .304 average, Todd Frazier has been one of the hottest batters in the majors in the last 10 days. I look forward to his continuing production on the field. In unrelated news, the Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper has hit safely in all 15 Nationals games this season.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Our batters faced a lefty starter today, which has been very rare so far this season. Todd Frazier gave his patented thumbs-down celebration twice, launching two 2-run homers to give us all the runs we needed. It would have been three homers, but he had a RF HR/flyout split that didn't go his way in between the two homers he hit. With a day off tomorrow I didn't risk leaving Masahiro Tanaka on for too long. He had been taking advantage of bad White Sox batting all night. Chad Green picked up a save for two innings of work, including striking out three consecutive batters to preserve our shutout.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 2 @ Toronto Blue Jays 4
The Red Sox's Chris Sale had a 2-1 lead until the bottom of the 4th inning. Kendrys Morales got the 3-2 lead with a two-run HR, and Troy Tulowitzki immediately followed with another HR. The Sox's offense couldn't back up Sale to prevent his first loss of the season, but he still finished the game with 16 strikeouts in 8 innings.
·Full game report.
In other games, Yadier Molina hit a two-out solo walk-off HR to break a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the 10th for his St. Louis Cardinals to prevail over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jacob deGrom struck out 13 Philadelphia Phillies in 8 innings to help the New York Mets win 4-1.
Manager's Notes
It was a very bad night for our batters. We did not get a hit until the 5th inning. At the top of the 6th inning, Abreu launched a solo HR and immediately after Garcia made a triple. With one out, I made the decision to keep SP Jordan Montgomery in against Davidson due to a favorable card matchup. Unfortunately, Davidson hit a single to left field to score Garcia. That proved to be the difference. Our bats woke up in the 8th inning when Aaron Judge was able to single Gary Sanchez home. In the bottom of 9th with one out, Aaron Hicks hit a single. Aggressive baserunning (stole 2nd and advanced to 3rd on a balk) gave us a chance, but our remaining batters were not able to get him home to tie the game.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Los Angeles Angels 2 @ Houston Astros 12
Marwin Gonzalez had a grand slam and 6 RBIs total to back up Justin Verlander's 8.2 innings of strong pitching.
·Full game report.
Manager's Notes
We used a combination of small ball and a two-run homer by Todd Frazier to start with a 5-0 lead. Luis Severino had an uneventful outing until the top of the 6th. We had to intentionally walk Abreu to load the bases with two outs, but Seveino threw two strikeouts to keep the game out of reach of the White Sox. In the end he threw a 5-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. That was a fantastic game by Luis. Us having 11 hits total helped to keep him relaxed and focused.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Miami Marlins 10 @ Seattle Mariners 20
The Mariners' Mike Zunino led the high-scoring charge with two home runs and a double. He launched a three-run HR even after getting applause from the home crowd, which showed even with a huge lead his focus was on his craft. He ended up with 8 RBIs.
·Full game report.
The Boston Red Sox had yet another win and yet another huge complete game. This time it was Drew Pomeranz going the distance and striking out 14 Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox had a 3-2 walk-off victory after Jackie Bradley, Jr. singled home Xander Bogaerts to break a 2-2 tie. Not to be outdone, the Cleveland Indians' Corey Kluber also got 14 strikeouts, but needed one less inning. Two relievers were able to complete a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Manager's Notes
Aaron Judge had a great defensive play in the top of the 1st inning. He rolled a 17 to gun down Fowler trying to score at home from 2nd base off a Molina single to keep the Cardinals shut out early on.
In his season debut, starter C.C. Sabathia wasn't so lucky in the top of the 3rd inning. He walked three consecutive batters after recording the first out. You can't do that with a good hitting team like the Cardinals. A B grounder enabled the man on 3rd to score but we escaped with only a 1-1 tie.
That 1-0 lead previously came from a leadoff home run by Brett Gardner. It inspired our batters to put in a team effort. We scored by a sacrifice fly by Didi Gregorius, a huge 2-run triple by Todd Frazier, a 2-run HR by Gardner, and a 2-run HR by Frazier. The offensive explosion on Sunday night national TV was fun to show off! It certainly made up for only two runs in each of our previous two games.
As for the pitching side, After Sabathia was done in 5 2/3 innings, the relievers combined for 3 1/3 no-hit innings and only two walks. Adam Warren finally got something to do and he easily retired the last two innings' worth of Cardinals to secure the win.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Texas Rangers 12 @ Seattle Mariners 4
Joey Gallo led a high-scoring Texas offense over the Mariners. He hit a solo HR, a grand slam, and added one more run to finish the day with 5 RBIs.
·Full game report.
Baltimore Orioles 7 @ Toronto Blue Jays 4 (17 innings)
In an exciting team effort, SP Dylan Bundy went 9 2/3 innings and struck out 12 Blue Jays in 154 total pitches. Unfortunately the game was still deadlocked 4-4. Jonathan Schoop capped a 5-for-7 day by slamming the game-winning three-run HR in the top of the 17th inning. He is currently among the league leaders with a .383 batting average.
·Full game report.
Today was a good day for baseball around the league. Asher Wojciechowski, starting his first game of the season as the #5 pitcher in the Reds rotation, had a 14-strikeout performance as his team won over the Milwaukee Brewers 13-6. Stephen Strasburg had 12 strikeouts in 6 innings to help the Washington Nationals defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2. In what I hope won't be a series preview for us Yankees for the next three days, the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins in a high-scoring affair 11-10. There was a good number of close games and walk-off victories around the league today.
Manager's Notes
SP Sonny Gray was not able to maintain a 2-0 lead and had runners in scoring position and 1 out or less in the top of the 4th and 5th innings. He gave up a two-run single in the 4th, but for both innings, double plays saved him from further damage. Another double play got him through the 6th inning after I visited him to make sure he was okay.
I pulled Gray after the 7th inning, but the relievers could not maintain the lead and gave up a run. We had the bases loaded with two outs but Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner were both struck out looking by closer Rosenthal. We lost today, again by a score of 3-2. The 5 double plays made our pitchers look better than they really were today. Being 2 for 10 in RISP and leaving 12 men on bases did not help our cause at all. We will try to prevent a sweep at home tomorrow.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Philadelphia Phillies 0 @ Washington Nationals 4
Max Scherzer nearly took a no-hitter into the 9th inning and he struck out 17 Phillies total. I have a good feeling he will get a no-no this season. Dominant stuff.
·Full game report.
New York Mets 5 @ Miami Marlins 0
Jacob deGrom also had a brilliant pitching performance, nabbing a two-hit shutout and striking out 12 Marlins.
·Full game report.
Another strong pitching performance came once again from Chris Sale. He gave up 5 hits and no walks and struck out 12 in a 9-0 complete game victory for the Boston Red Sox over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Manager's Notes
Masahiro Tanaka gave up two costly home runs to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. Other than those he was solid and finished one out short of a complete game. Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez had solo HRs each. Matt Holliday got a nice and fat pitch over the plate right after Sanchez's HR in the bottom of the 8th that could have been the game-tying HR, but he was caught on a checked swing. We had Didi Gregorius on 1st in the bottom of 9th two outs, but Chase Headley narrowly struck out. The Cardinals' Gyorko was rightfully recognized as the hitting star by smacking that "game-winning" solo home run in the top of the 5th inning. Martinez did not give our batters an easy night and his ERA is now at 1.75.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
We started well with a three-run HR by Didi Gregorius and a two-run double by Aaron Hicks. It would have been three runs but Souza gunned down Brett Gardner trying to score from 1st. Ramos blocked the plate to stop further damage. Prior to that, Gardner made a great bunt advancing men on 2B and 1B and getting himself safe.
The Rays did a good job in the top of the 7th inning loading the bases with no out, knocking Jordan Montgomery out of the game, and forcing me to use three different relievers. We gave up two runs charged to Montgomery but a lineout and two strikeouts stopped their rally. Dellin Betances, Chad Green, and David Robertson combined for 7 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings to preserve the win for us.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Texas Rangers 2 @ Los Angeles Angels 1
Cole Hamels of the Rangers took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. It was a good pitcher's duel with only five hits total. Behind 2-0 in the bottom of 9th, Mike Trout got things going with a triple and scored a run, but closer Matt Bush was able to earn the save with three ground outs.
·Full game report.
League Notes
Chicago White Sox 1 @ Cleveland Indians 6
Cleveland's Mike Clevinger had only one hit in six innings, giving up a solo home run to .118 batter Matt Davidson. Andrew Miller pitched three no-hit innings for the save. When Clevinger was relieved it was a 2-1 Indians lead, but 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th convinced the manager to just let Miller finish the game.
·Full game report.
In other news, the Miami Marlins' Jose Urena pitched a shutout to stop the New York Mets' 7-game winning streak by a score of 7-0.
Manager's Notes
Luis Severino had a bad start by his standards, giving up three home runs in the first three innings, including consecutive solo HRs to give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead. However, it was our bats' turn to catch fire as home runs by red-hot Aaron Hicks and Didi Gregorius helped us tie the game by the bottom of the 5th inning. From there SP Faria fell apart and issued a bases-loaded walk to Todd Frazier to give us the lead.
Unfortunately the joy was short-lived. Severino gave up yet another home run, a two-run shot by Morrison, to give the Rays a 6-5 lead. The Rays another run off Aroldis Chapman and a solo home run by Ramos, the first batter faced by reliever Bryan Mitchell this season. Our batters were great today but the home runs killed us this afternoon. People will say it is because we left 10 men on bases and were 2 for 13 in RISPs, but with a defense as reliable as ours we can't give up those home runs and expect the batters to rescue us later in the game.
Chase Headley did a nice job going 1-1 with three walks. Starlin Castro also enjoyed a 4 for 5 performance with two runs and a RBI to push his batting average to .448, 4th in the American League. Hicks is second in the A.L. with .464. Headley has improved to .286. None of our other batters are that close. Hopefully we can catch the Rays' SP on a bad day tomorrow and go 2-1 for the series.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cincinnati Reds 5 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 0
Luis Castillo took a no-hitter into the bottom of the 6th inning. He finished the game with a 2-hit shutout. He struck out seven and only walked one batter.
·Full game report.
I enjoy going through the autoplay newspaper recaps because being able to choose only 10+ or 15+ strikeouts by a pitcher for Strat-O-Matic events, I don't want to overlook great performances below 15 strikeouts. One example was Corey Kluber today. He struck out 14 to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 7-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. What makes the performance so remarkable is that Kluber did it in only 6.2 innings pitched! See the league notes link above to access the box score.
The hot Houston Astros had their winning streak snapped when they were humbled by the Seattle Mariners 12-5. A new team to watch is the New York Mets. They have won 7 straight games and easily manhandled the Philadelphia Phillies today 12-2.
League Notes
Minnesota Twins 15 @ Detroit Tigers 12 (10 innings)
The Twins' Max Kepler had 5 hits (a triple shy of a cycle) and 7 RBIs to get his season average up to .545. However, it was Miguel Sano who broke the 12-12 extra innings tie with a two-run HR to help the Twins win.
·Full game report
Baltimore Orioles 2 @ Boston Red Sox 6
Chris Sale had another stunning individual performance by striking out 15 O's in 8 2/3 innings pitched.
·Full game report
New York Mets 2 @ Philadelphia Phillies 0
As a Red Sox hater, I am happy to report that a New York pitcher actually had a better game than Chris Sale today. It was Jacob deGrom. He struck out 16 Phillies and went the distance for a 7-hit shutout. deGrom was very humble after the game by telling the Strat-O-Matic reporter that the important thing was that his team won. Yep, winning is the most important thing to the Mets team and it shows. They share the best record in the N.L. with the L.A. Dodgers, starting 7-1.
How good is deGrom right now? In the league recap link below, he is one of the five hottest pitchers in the N.L. in the last 10 days. 27 IPs (3 complete games in 10 days!!!), 22 hits, only 2 ERs, 7 walks, 2 HRs given up, and 41 strikeouts.
·Full game report
With there being no unbeaten teams left, all eyes, including mine (Chasing the Stars, remember?) are on the Houston Astros. SP Dallas Keuchel and CL Ken Giles combined to defeat the Seattle Mariners 4-3, giving the 'Stros their 7th consecutive victory and a 8-1 overall record, best in the A.L. The Yankees are the only other team in the league with only one loss.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
In the top of the 3rd inning, there was a good defensive play by Jacoby Ellsbury in CF. Not known for his strong throwing arm, he rolled a 17 to gun down Hechavarria trying to score from 1st base after Dickerson hit a double. Unfortunately I intentionally walked Duda with 2 outs to get men on 1st and 2nd and face Longoria instead. The latter took advantage of his green Extreme Matchup to knock both teammates in home with a double. I only play Ellsbury in CF because he platoons against lefties. Brett Gardner has a stronger throwing arm but for now I am sitting him against lefty starters.
Good hitting in the bottom of 5th. Double by Ellsbury (he rolled a 1), singled home by Aaron Hicks, and Aaron Judge hit a home run to left field to give us the 4-3 lead. At long last Judge hit his first home run of the season! After an out, Todd Frazier hit a home run. After another out, it was Matt Holliday's turn to hit a solo home run. Just like that, a 6-3 Yankees lead.
In the top of the 7th, the Rays were able to get men on 3rd and 2nd with one out thanks to a Tommy Kahnle wild pitch. He had just replaced SP Sonny Gray. Kahnle struck out the next batter (Rausmus) and Aroldis Chapman got the next batter (Dickerson) to ground out. The middle relievers (Kahnle, Chapman, and Chad Green) did enough to limit damage. Closer David Robertson gave up a solo HR but we had built a high enough cushion that as long as he got three outs we had the game won.
The batters did a great job today. Didi Gregorius was the only Yankee to not get a hit. Ellsbury not only had that big OF assist, but he also had a double, a triple, and scored three runs. He was definitely our difference maker this afternoon.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
Manager's Notes
Baltimore drew first blood with a Machado 2-run home run at the bottom of the 3rd inning. We grounded into a double play sacrifice to score Starlin Castro from 3rd base. Unfortunately Gary Sanchez got a nice and fat pitch, to hit into a home run (righty pitcher, 2nd column) but rolled a 7, the only out, and grounded out.
The Orioles extended the lead 3-1 in the bottom of 7th with a Trumbo solo HR. That and Machado's HR did Masahiro Tanaka in today. Other than those two he was able to strike out 8 batters and got himself out of a couple jams. Unfortunately we grounded into two double plays and were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. There were a lot of close dice rolls that did not go our way. Oh well. That's Strat-O-Matic Baseball. Tomorrow we will head for our home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. Let's hope for another sweep!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cleveland Indians 7 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 4
Francisco Lindor had a great game with two home runs (his only two hits), three runs, five RBIs, and drove his batting average up to .423.
·Full game report.
Atlanta Braves 16 @ Pittsburgh Pirates 5
In a high-scoring team effort Matt Kemp was a hitting machine today. He had three home runs, two other hits, four runs, and 6 RBIs total.
·Full game report.
Toronto Blue Jays 5 @ Tampa Bay Rays 0
J.A. Happ carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He finished with a 9-inning shutout, surrendered only two hits, and struck out ten. I hope that is a good sign for our starting pitchers for the homestand against the Rays tomorrow.
·Full game report.
There were other notable pitching performances were Jordan Montgomery having the same game as Happ, but only one more hit. His Chicago Cubs won over the Milwaukee Brewers 11-0. In addition, Justin Verlander struck out 12 in 8 innings to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. Mike Trout almost hit for the cycle for the L.A. Angels. He had a triple, a double, and two home runs in the 8-6 win over the Seattle Mariners. I have never understood why hitting for a cycle would be so great when the single could have been substituted for a home run like Trout's second one, but I guess that is baseball.
Manager's Notes
There was a good pitcher's duel in the beginning between Jordan Montgomery and Baltimore's Asher. Brett Gardner easily robbed a Schoop solo HR attempt at left field in the bottom of the 2nd inning.
In the top of the 4th inning, we covered all three bases thanks to walks. Didi Gregorius, a recent grand slam hero, intimidated SP Asher too much and he threw a high wild pitch, causing Aaron Judge to score. No grand slam this time??? That's OK. Didi connected with the next pitch for a three-run home run to score everyone. That was just as good as a grand slam!!!
Very good hitting in the bottom got the O's two runs. They had men on 3rd and 2nd with two outs and Beckham batting. I rolled a 2 - Beckham's lefty strength column on his card - and I perfectly rolled a 7. Jordan Montgomery struck him out looking! Any other roll of 3 to 10 are all guaranteed or likely on base rolls. Yes, 7 is the most common red dice roll in the game, but rolls like that are why I love playing this game. :-)
Okay, I spoke too soon. The next inning a tiring Montgomery (his SP stamina is 5) walked Machado, then gave up a HR to Trumbo to even the game up 4-4.
In the top of the 9th inning we took the 5-4 lead thanks to Chase Headley rolling a 1 on the fielding chart against LF4 Mancini to score Aaron Hicks from 1B. Clutch hitting right there. Gary Sanchez rewarded Headley by singling him home to make it 6-4.
With Castillo on 1B and 1 out, David Robertson made the same great 2-7 roll Montgomery made earlier in the game to catch Beckham looking again. One more strike out, against Adam Jones, gave Robertson his 3rd save of the season and us a great 5-0 start. Considering that we had only ONE hit until the 7th inning, it was an exciting win for us. Boston finally lost today, giving us sole possession 1st place.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Cincinnati Reds 7 @ St. Louis Cardinals 9
LF Adam Duvall two home runs and had 5 RBIs total for the Reds. St. Louis countered that with 17 hits total and outscored the Reds.
·Full game report.
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 @ Colorado Rockies 0
Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers flirted with a no-hitter for 7.1 innings. Ian Desmond hit a single. Kenley Jansen got his 3rd save of the season to complete the team 1-hitter.
·Full game report.
An interesting game that wasn't an Event was Texas defeating Oakland in 13 innings 4-3. Joey Gallo homered twice, a two-run dinger in the 7th and a leadoff walk-off HR in the 13th. Oakland managed only 4 hits total for 13 innings, not counting two Texas errors.
Manager's Notes
It was bedtime when I managed this one. I accidentally put Todd Frazier in the minors and called up Tyler Wade. I really wish I didn't have to edit the minor leagues every time I play a game, but that is the price I pay for going 25-man with all the other computer managers having unlimited minor leaguers in their lineup.
Fortunately Luis Severino not only covered for me, he pitched brilliantly. He threw a complete game 4-hit shutout (probably my first CG shutout playing Strat) with 14 strikeouts!!! The highlight was the bottom of 4th with the bases loaded and no out. Severino struck out Davis, then got Mancini to hit to a 6-4-3 double play!
Aaron Hicks had two consecutive doubles. The first one scored Gary Sanchez on 2nd and the second one was rewarded with Chase Headley singling him home in the next at-bat.
Tonight's low point was Aaron Judge striking out in all 4 at-bats. We need our bats more consistent for those nights where our starters won't have their sharpest stuff.
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Boston Red Sox 10 @ Detroit Tigers 2
Chris Sale pitched a brilliant 3-hitter and struck out 16 Tigers. He is now 2nd in the AL in strikeouts with 23. Ahead of him is our own Luis Severino with 24.
·Full game report.
San Francisco Giants 1 @ San Diego Padres 0
Jeff Samardzija rebounded from a bad season debut by giving up only 2 hits in 8 innings. His teammates rewarded him by breaking up the 0-0 tie in the top of the 9th inning. A Brandon Crawford sacrifice fly scored another Brandon, one named Belt, home. The Giants took no chances in the bottom of the 9th inning, giving the ball to Sam Dyson for a 1-2-3 9th and his first save of the season.
·Full game report.
Strikeouts seemed popular today. Max Scherzer had 11 (Nats over Phillies 1-0), Jacob deGrom had 13 for the Mets (7-2 over the Marlins), and Corey Kluber had 14 as the Indians beat the Diamondbacks 5-3.
League Notes
Dallas Keuchel pitched a 4-hit shutout as the Astros beat the Mariners 6-0. Carlos Correa enjoyed a 2-HR day.
· League recap.
Manager's Notes
Didi Gregorius finally got his first hit of the season on the top of the 5th inning. Starlin Castro, with a favorable Extreme Matchup against Archer, rewarded Didi by singling him home.
Sonny Gray made a fantastic play on the bottom of 5th by fielding a pop-up bunt by Kiermaier, then firing to 1B to get Ramos out too.
Once again the skittish manager pulled his SP early. Archer was pulled after Gary Sanchez singled with 0 out in the top of the 7th inning and slow-starter Didi on the plate. Didi made a sacrifice bunt, then Aaron Hicks launched a great double to send Sanchez home to tie 2-2.
Aaron Judge missed swinging at a great pitch but walked to load the bases with one out ont he top of 8th and us behind 3-2. Sanchez singled to tie us up but two consecutive pop-ups ruined our chance to take the lead.
Things looked bad in the bottom of the 9th inning when the Rays had a man on 2B with no out. Chad Green intentionally walked, struck out, and induced a 5-4-3 double play to get us into extra innings.
Dellin Betances had a big season debut by getting our last two outs of the bottom of 11th, including a strikeout with men in scoring position and two outs. Miller picked a bad time to earn his silver sombero in front of the tired home fans, with it being a night game and all. He would later pick up a 5th strikeout! Tough night for him.
Dellin had a fantastic game tonight, striking out 5.
Didi is officially out of his early season slump! He launched a grand slam with two outs in the top of the 14th!
Luckily we have the day off tomorrow. I put in my usual closer David Robertson to make sure the Rays didn't make any heroic comeback. A groundout and two strikeouts secured the sweep for us!
·Pre-game notes. · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
Amazingly there was another 14 inning game. The Cardinals won over the Cubs 6-5 in a similar fashion: the winning team had much more hits than the losing team. However, the Cardinals were the home team so Matt Carpenter was the walk-off hero by singling Jose Martinez home from 3rd.
Now that the Astros has Justin Verlander for the entire season in my league, he will be fun to watch. Today he pitched eight shutout innings, giving up only two hits. However, the manager went for Ken Giles to close the game with a slim 1-0 lead for Houston. Oh well.
Manager's Notes
It was a good performance by Masahiro Tanaka. In the bottom of 3rd, he got out of a 1-out jam with men in scoring position. Duda and Longoria both grounded out. Aaron Judge rewarded us the next at-bat with a solo home run to put us ahead 2-1. In the top of the 5th, again the Rays' manager yanked his starter Cobb with a Yankee on 1B and 1 out. Again we made the reliever pay by driving in another run.
Brett Gardner was fantastic at the plate tonight with two triples, both driving teammates home.
In the bottom of the 8th I had to pull Tanaka. I tried Aroldis Chapman with mostly lefty matchups but he struggled a little bit. Chad Green got the last out and we escaped with a 5-3 lead. David Robertson finished the game for his 2nd save of the season. I wish Tanaka could have gotten that CG - he was not that tired. On the other hand, I love our team's bullpen depth. I don't want to manage a long season and not make the playoffs, so team wins need to take precedence over individual achievements.
Starlin Castro got the day off due to his extreme matchup against SP Cobb. That is what I like about the newer computer games, that it prevents me from using the exact same lefty/righty lineups the whole season and keeps things interesting. Fortunatley Castro was supposed to bat 9th. I tend to think a little more if the extreme matchup happens in the heart of the lineup. However if my #2-#5 batter is amazing, then I trust his skills enough to leave him where he is.
·Pre-game notes · Full game report. · League recap.
League Notes
San Francisco Giants 3 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 15
Jake Lamb had a triple, two homers, one more run of his own, and 6 RBIs. He led the charge in a big win for the Diamondbacks over the Giants. Zack Godley took advantage of the lopsided victory to go the distance, notching 10 strikeouts along the way.
·Full game report
League Notes
Seattle Mariners 11 @ Houston Astros 12 (10 innings)
Jean Segura had 5 hits, 2 runs, and 2 RBIs. However, the Astros outlasted the Mariners for an exciting home victory thanks to Jake Marisnick singling to score Cameron Maybin from 2nd. There were two other games that were walk-offs in extra innings.
·Full game report · League recap.
Manager's Notes
It was a strong game by Luis Severino. He gave up a solo HR to the second batter (Duda). After that, his only other bad pitch was a double in the bottom of 8th that made me go to setup man Chad Green. David Robertson was sloppy (gave up a solo HR) but got the save. Our batters started slowly but pressured three TB relievers into a 1-out bases loaded situation. Cishek's error and then a wild pitch got us the 2-1 lead and we scored just enough afterwards to win. The 4th and 5th holes had 0-4 days, but everyone else got hits and sacrifices when we needed them the most. The Rays' manager pulled Faria too soon (they were leading 1-0 in the start of the 7th) and hung onto their relievers for too long. Still, a win is a win.
·Full game report. · League recap.
My 25-man roster
My starting, set up, and closing pitchers
My default lefty lineup
My default righty lineup
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