They say to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, which is why for most of my adult life I’ve hung out with people who I don’t really like. Tonight, starter Dean Kremer proved why that maxim is not just a magazine, spinning a gem against his former club in a shiny 7-inning, one-hit start.

It was something I’m calling “no cookies” tonight from Kremer, who drove a perfect first trip through the Orioles’ lineup, then only allowed a fourth-inning hit — the lone base knock against his ledger today — on a squib shot that went maybe ten feet in front of home. That hit would put runners on the corners (a Gunnar Henderson walk had made its way into scoring position already), which would allow Baltimore to tie the game on a designed delayed double-steal.

The fact that this tied the game came courtesy of Austin Martin, who took offense to my subtle jab at him in the pregame, and chose to put up eight total bases across four hits tonight. He’d gotten Minnesota on the board with a third-inning line-drive homer, after already having roped a double to lead off the game.

The Twins would add another in the home fourth, reclaiming the lead from Baltimore almost immediately; Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch to set the table, and Brooks Lee doubled him over to third; this allowed Kaelen Culpepper to earn an RBI on a sacrifice fly, the only distraction from the golden sombrero he would later be wearing.

After Kremer completed 7 full innings, the Twins exploded for five in the 7th and two more in the 8th. The barrage included a two-run single from Ryan Jeffers and a three-run shot off the bat of Josh Bell (16.) (Homers, he’s older than that.) Jeffers would add another on an RBI double in the eighth, and would score on a Royce Lewis single.

The insurance proved necessary, as a combination of Travis Adams and Taylor Rogers allowed six hits and four earned runs in the final two innings. Nevertheless, she (the Minnesota Twins) persisted, and claimed the series opener on a nice evening at Target Field.

STUDS:

SP Dean Kremer (7 IP, H, R, ER, 1 BB, 7 K)

LF Austin Martin (4-for-5, 3 R, RBI, 2B, HR)

C Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B)

DH Josh Bell (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI, HR)

3B Brooks Lee (2-for-4, 2B, BB)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

Even with almost one-third of their big-league roster shipped out of town ahead of last week's MLB trade deadline, the Mets continue finding ways to win ballgames.

The offense has been clicking on all cylinders, the starting pitching continues to deliver, and the new-look bullpen has stepped up tremendously over the past two series. 

That was again the case during Monday's series-opener in Atlanta. 

New York jumped all over Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, striking for seven runs on 10 hits over the first three innings to establish a commanding early lead. 

They received contributions from up-and-down the lineup, but Brett Baty was accountable for the big blow, launching his first career grand slam as part of a five-run top of the first. 

“It was really cool,” Baty said. “First homer here, now my first grand slam here -- I haven’t hit many grand slams in my life too, so it’s definitely pretty cool.” 

Christian Scott faltered a bit, allowing the high-powered Braves to scratch their way back in the game, but the Mets’ bullpen again delivered some big innings to get the job done down the stretch. 

Jonathan Pintaro allowed a run behind Scott, but then Nate Lavender and Daniel Duarte combined for three scoreless frames, before handing the ball to Kodai Senga, who was terrific to secure his first career save. 

“It’s been next man up,” Andy Green said. 

“We lost a lot of guys in this bullpen, but we also gained a lot of talent,” Scott added. “Not enough credit goes to those guys, they’ve really done an unbelievable job.”

Just like that, New York improves to 6-1 with just two games remaining on their nine-game road trip. 

“The boys are swinging some hot bats, the bullpen is doing their thing and the starters are always going to do their thing,” Baty said. “It’s been fun, we’re rallying around each other and we’ve just been playing some really good ball.”

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the hippest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and cool off with us. We’re so glad to see you. There’s no cover charge. We’ve saved a special table for you. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week I asked you what the best Cubs’ Deadline trade ever? I should have been more specific because I meant the Cubs adding players for a title race and not selling players. Obviously the Javy Báez for Pete Crow-Armstrong deal would be among the best if I meant the Cubs selling players for prospects. And as hard as it is to believe now, the Cubs acquiring Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop in 2014 was about the Orioles adding Scott Feldman at the time.

Having said all that, 40 percent of you said the Aroldis Chapman deal was number one. That makes sense, since it was the only one that resulted in a World Series title. Another 30 percent of you went with the Rick Sutcliffe deal in 1984.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. You can skip that if you want. Or you can read that and skip the baseball stuff. Or you can read it all.

Tonight we’re featuring Welsh vocalist Judith Owen with a music video of hers from this past April “To Your Door.” John Maestas is the guitarist.

There’s been renewed interest in Cape Fear because of the new television series, which stars Javier Bardem and Amy Adams. I’m going to confess that I’ve seen none of it. But what I have seen is the 1962 original movie, directed by J. Lee Thompson, and the 1991 Martin Scorsese remake. So I thought I’d take this week to do one of my favorite exercises, which is comparing the original film to the remake.

Tonight, we take on the 1962 original, which stars Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. Mitchum plays Max Cady, who has just been released from a Georgia prison after serving an eight-year sentence for rape. (more on that later.) He immediately tracks down Sam Bowden (Peck), a prosecuting attorney who witnessed the attack and testified against him. Cady blames Sam for his eight years in prison and the fact that his wife and daughter left him. Later in the film, he confesses he spent every day in prison dreaming about his revenge.

Cady immediately starts stalking Sam and his family, although he’s very careful to keep his interactions to within the letter of the law. See, Cady is very smart and very cunning and has had eight years in prison to read law books. When he does cross the line (as when he poisons the Bowden family dog), he makes sure that no one can pin it back on him. When Max Cady rapes a local girl (Barrie Chase), partially as a warning to Sam and partially because he’s a serial rapist, he brutalizes her so badly that she refuses to testify out of fear and flees town.

Mostly, Cady just shows up wherever Sam, his wife Peggy (Bergen) or his 15-year-old daughter Nancy (Lori Martin) go and look menacingly at them. As a prosecutor, Sam has a lot of connections with the police department and he goes to them for help. But every legal trick that Sam and the police come up with—charging him with vagrancy and not registering as a felon—Cady has already thought of and foiled. Sam tries to buy off Max, but Max can’t be bought.

Sam escalates to increasingly desperate and illegal activities to get Cady to stop harassing his family. These activities backfire on Sam and now he’s the one in legal jeopardy. That causes Sam to set up a trap for Cady on a houseboat on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.

The overarching themes of Cape Fear are not deep. The Bowden family are the epitome of American wholesomeness. Before Max Cady breaks him down, Sam Bowden is a fine, respected member of society. He’s basically auditioning for Atticus Finch, although that part was still about eight months in the future when Peck made Cape Fear. Peggy is the loving, supportive and fairly passive wife. Daughter Nancy is 15 and is played by the 15-year-old Lori Martin, but Martin was short and comes across as much younger and much more innocent than 15. They are the ideal Eisenhower family.

Cady, on the other hand, is pure evil, but it’s an evil combined with superior intelligence and calm and cool control. Peck is great as the upstanding man broken down to raw savagery to save his family, but there were a dozen actors in Hollywood that could have played that part. I can’t imagine anyone other then Mitchum being able to play Max Cady in 1962.

So you have the good America threatened by an evil force with a legal system that protects the criminals more than the victims. If you’ve seen American crime films from the sixties to the eighties, you’ve heard this story before. But certainly the way that Peck’s noble character breaks down over the course of the film (only to regain it before the end, naturally), gives Cape Fear a bit of a different direction.

There’s one other thing that makes the 1962 Cape Fear different from the “thin line between civilization and savagery” films that would come later is that Cape Fear was still made under the rules of the Production Code. And while the Code was cracking in 1962, it still held some weight. Max Cady is a serial rapist, yet the word “rape” can’t be mentioned at all during the film. They have to work with euphemisms and “you knows,” especially when discussing Max’s threats to the 15-year-old Nancy. The film is also very violent for something that came out in 1962, something the critics noticed at the time. Many found the whole thing distasteful, even though they praised the acting jobs and the way Thompson brought the story to the screen.

Of course, none of that can compare to violence in Scorsese’s 1991 version, but that’s for next time.

Overall, Cape Fear is a solid psychological thriller with enough action in it to keep the danger-factor high. It has a star-studded cast and a Bernard Hermann score. It’s not an all-time classic, but it’s a very good film and you can see why people keep wanting to remake it.

The trailer for the J. Lee Thompson original version of Cape Fear.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies

I’m not conceding the National League Central to the Brewers. Fangraphs puts the Cubs’ chances of winning the division at just 16 percent coming in to tonight’s Brewers/Padres game. I think the Cubs chances are better than that. I think they’re twice as good as that. Of course, that means I think the Cubs have a 32 percent chance of winning the division and the Brewers have a 68 percent chance. So yeah, a five-game or more lead in early August isn’t easy to overcome. Milwaukee is the clear favorite.

So assuming the Brewers win the NL Central for the purposes of argument, the Cubs are, in my mind, the overwhelming favorite to win the first Wild Card spot and host a best-of-three series against the second Wild Card team. But who that team will be is up in the air.

Currently, as I type this, the Cubs have a six-game lead of the Phillies and Diamondbacks, who are tied for the second and third spots at 63-56. Right behind them is the Padres at 62-57. Fangraphs gives the Marlins, who are 60-59, a little better than a ten percent chance. No one has a double-digit chance with the Cardinals and Pirates both in the seven percent range.

So which one of those teams do you think will play the Cubs in the Wild Card Series if the Cubs can’t catch the Brewers? Let’s leave the Cards and Pirates out of it for now. That means there’s the Phillies, Diamondbacks, Padres and Marlins to chose from.

The Phillies seem formidable on paper with all of those power hitters and strong starting pitching. But their hitting is slightly below average and their pitching is just average in the all-important runs per game category. They’re over-performing their Pythagorean number and their defense is fairly dreadful. Can they hang on and claim that second Wild Card?

The Diamondbacks are one of those teams that everyone forgets about but they are a lot better than you probably think. They don’t have many names that wow you, but honestly, that’s probably on you. But their runs per game, both on offense and defense, are very similar to the Phillies. They are also over-performing their Pythagorean number. Arizona’s defense is much better than Philadelphia’s, but their bullpen is much worse. They just released their closer, Paul Sewald, who had 24 saves abut a 6.23 ERA.

The Padres have been playing great baseball lately and have gotten back into the race. But they’ve been a weird team all season. They have a lot of big names on offense—Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill—and so far this year their best hitter has been Ty France, whom they signed on a minor league deal this past winter. The Padres definitely have a below-average offense when it comes to this year’s stats, but there’s a lot of potential for more if those veterans get untracked.

The Padres do excel at run prevention, although their starting pitching isn’t that great either. Instead, they have one of the best bullpens in recent memory. While I haven’t gone down the rabbit hole to see if this is true, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had one of the best bullpens of all-time. But the Padres are outperforming their Pythagorean numbers by even more than Philadelphia and Arizona.

Finally there are the Marlins, who, as per usual for them, are flying under the radar. Their offense is below average, although shortstop Otto Lopez is having a season that should earn him significant MVP votes. But their pitching is outstanding, ranking fourth in the National League in ERA behind the three division leaders. Sandy Alcántara is most of the way back to his former Cy Young form. Eury Pérez is very good and while Max Meyer is on the injured list, he’s expected back before the end of the season and he’s an emerging star. Their bullpen isn’t as good, but they’re a sneaky good team. Miami is underperforming their Pythagorean record, but by only one game.

So which one of these four teams do you think will be the second Wild Card?

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We always enjoy hosting you. We hope you cooled off some. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.

Monday’s game against the Cardinals almost felt like a scheduled loss. With the bullpen badly overworked recently, it seemed like the plan was to have Andrew Painter and Alan Rangel cover the majority – if not all – of the game, which didn’t fill anyone with much optimism.

But as they say, you can’t predict baseball. Andrew Painter turned in an encouraging 5.1 innings, Rangel did…just enough, and Jonathan Bowlan pitched a scoreless ninth. Combined with big offensive nights from Kyle Schwarber and Edmundo Sosa, the Phillies escaped with a 6-5 win.

After Luis Arraez’s double play in the first ruined a scoring opportunity, the Phillies got some help from the Cardinals in the second. Brandon Marsh led off the inning with a single, then Derek Hill hit a ball back to pitcher Dobbins who committed a throwing error which allowed Marsh to score and Hill to reach third. He would then come home on Sosa’s single.

The offense went quiet for a couple of innings until the fifth when Schwarber and Bryson Stott started the frame with singles. The Phillies scored a run on Bryce Harper’s ground ball double play, but the promise of a bigger inning was ruined.

Painter has looked much better since returning from the minor leagues, and on Monday, he held the Cardinals without a hit for the first five innings. Unfortunately, those five innings weren’t particularly efficient, and by the time the sixth rolled around, he was clearly tiring. He recorded the first out of the inning, but a walk, single, and double cut the lead to 3-2.

That brought on Rangel who escaped the jam, and things were looking promising when Schwarber doubled home Sosa to make it 4-2 in the seventh. When the next two batters walked, it looked like a big inning might be at hand, but Arraez’s second double play of the game ended the threat.

The Phillies added some insurance in the eigth when Sosa doubled home two runs.

For a second, it looked like Schwarber was going to get them a couple more, but his fly ball died at the fence.

Side rant: At this point, Don Mattingly removed Schwarber – playing first base – from the game in favor of Alec Bohm. It’s not like Bohm is all that great defensively, and they’re counting on Rangel to cover at least another inning. It seemed entirely possible that they might need more offense, so why would you take a suddenly hot Schwarber out of the game?

Sure enough, Rangel faltered in the eighth. He was leaving pitches over the plate, and the Cardinals weren’t missing them. The Cardinals had five hits in the inning to cut the lead to 6-5 with the tying run at third. But Rangle rebounded to record the next two outs and keep the Phillies ahead.

Despite dealing with a heavy workload of his own lately, Jonathan Bowlan was asked to close it out in the ninth. Somewhat surprisingly, he did so with little difficulty, pitching a clean inning for his first career save.

After the ugliness of this past weekend, it was great to see the Phillies somehow win a game that they usually lose. And with Cristopher Sanchez scheduled for Tuesday and most of the bullpen getting a day off, the prospects for the rest of the series are looking better as well.

The process of making Anthony Volpe more defensively versatile — and perhaps more useful to the Yankees — is underway.

Volpe played second base Saturday night at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his first game at a position other than shortstop since 2021, and cleanly fielded all three balls hit to him.

The Yankees are easing Volpe into the new position, as he played shortstop Friday and Sunday after reporting to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following his demotion when the club called up top prospect George Lombard Jr.

During his time in the big leagues this season, Volpe had been taking occasional ground balls at second base on days he was not in the lineup.

But it did not make much sense for the Yankees to try him there in games without doing so in the minors first, especially because they had José Caballero capable of moving over to second if Jazz Chisholm Jr. needed a day off.

Barring injuries, Volpe’s path back to the big leagues this season is unclear, especially with Lombard hitting the ground running on both sides of the ball in his first week as a big leaguer.

But in the meantime, the 25-year-old Volpe is at least giving himself some more flexibility to get back if he can play another position besides shortstop while trying to rediscover some of the offensive consistency that made him a top prospect not long ago.

Second base, where his arm figures to be a better fit, could potentially provide Volpe a lane to play for the Yankees next season, with Chisholm set to become a free agent and unlikely to be re-signed.

The Yankees have been starved for offensive production from their catchers this season, but over the last month, Austin Wells has started to provide it.

Since July 9, Wells has hit .269 with a .935 OPS in 21 games — the highest OPS of any Yankee not named Lombard during that stretch.

And while it comes at a time when the Yankees are not getting enough from some of their key bats like Ben Rice, Trent Grisham and Chisholm, they have been encouraged by Wells beginning to move the needle, especially after failing to add a catcher at the trade deadline.

“I feel good,” Wells said Sunday after going 1-for-3. “Always want more. I try not to put too much pressure on trying to score runs and trying to do too much. So taking the knocks when you can get them and hopefully extending the lineup allows for guys to come up at the end of the game with good matchups.”

Prior to Monday night's series opener against the Braves, Mets interim manager Andy Green wasn’t ready to commit to one specific player taking over the closers’ role with Devin Williams sidelined.

Kodai Senga seemed like the most logical candidate with his recent move to more of a one-inning high-leverage relief role, and just a few hours later, he was indeed the man for the job. 

Senga came on in the bottom of the ninth and cruised his way through the heart of the Braves’ lineup to put the finishing touches on an 8-5 Mets win which also went down as his first career save. 

The right-hander came out pumping 99 mph on the gun with his fastball, then struck out lefty sluggers Matt Olson and Michael Harris II with a pair of nasty forkballs in the dirt.

He issued a two-out walk to Ozzie Albies, but was able to get Mauricio Dubon to fly one weakly to right just two pitches later, locking up the series-opening victory over the division rivals. 

“Really good stuff,” Green said. “His first two punchouts were sensational -- those were some of the best hitters in the league and he threw really good forkballs to punch them out -- I thought he was great tonight.”

This continues what’s been an extremely smooth transition for Senga into this high-leverage role following a brutal start to the season that forced him out of the big-league rotation. 

Mainly leaning his pumped up fastball and signature forkball, he now struck out five batters while allowing just two baserunners over his last three appearances. 

“Those are two sensational pitches,” Green said. “He doesn’t have the need to expand the arsenal -- those two pitches are his bread and butter right now, and he was able to plow through two of the best hitters in the league.”

With Williams facing at least a short stint on the IL, Senga appears likely to have a shot at holding onto the ninth-inning role at least for the next few weeks. 

It's a situation he feels comfortable with, and appears ready to embrace. 

“I think it’s a great environment for myself,” Senga said via an interpreter. “I will continue to go out there and do my best no matter what situation I am put in.”

The Dodgers needed a vibe shift on Monday.

And they had to look to someone else besides Tarik Skubal to get it.

In his Dodger Stadium debut on Monday, Skubal grinded through his first start with the team in home colors, giving up three runs in five innings before exiting the game with the Dodgers facing a deficit.

It was not the performance a near-sellout crowd of 51,799 had envisioned, nine days removed from the blockbuster trade that brought the reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner over from the Detroit Tigers.

It was not, as Skubal put it himself afterwards, “up to my standards” either, after he allowed seven baserunners and needed 95 pitches.

But for a Dodgers team that had lost eight of its last nine and was six games under .500 the last month, what mattered most was what followed later: A come-from-behind, hold-on-for-dear-life 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals to open a pivotal seven-game homestand.

“I thought we fought well,” manager Dave Roberts said, hours after imploring his team to play with more urgency and focus in his pregame address. “Tarik didn’t have his best stuff. You could see the fastball command wasn’t there. But he didn’t relent. He kept going. He gave us what he had for tonight. And it was just good to see our offense really bear down.”

“I saw that urgency tonight,” Roberts added, “which we gotta build on from here on out.”

Entering the night, all eyes were on Skubal. Leading up to first pitch, his mere presence at the ballpark instantly energized Chavez Ravine.

The left-hander got a nice ovation when he emerged from the dugout to begin his pregame warm-up, then several more as he traversed from the outfield to the left-field bullpen.

“It felt like there was 40,000-50,000 [fans here], 40 minutes before the game, in their seats,” Skubal said. “When I walked out there, that was so special.”

Hours before that, Roberts had only added to the billing, describing a pregame “buzz in the clubhouse” while predicting it was “gonna be an electric night.”

Instead, as soon as the beats to Skubal’s entrance song –– “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z –– stopped thumping at game time, the 29-year-old struggled to find a rhythm in his second Dodgers start.

He gave up one run three batters into the game, after a pair of singles were sandwiched around a stolen base. He faced more traffic in the second and third innings, lacking command as he grew outwardly frustrated with his stuff.

“I kinda sprayed the ball a little bit,” he said. “That’s kinda unusual for me, especially with fastball command and stuff like that.”

Still, the night might have been different if not for one mistake pitch with two outs (and two strikes) in the third inning –– when, with a chance to put Royals slugger Jac Caglianone away, Skubal instead hung a slider that was launched out to right for a two-run homer.

“I do think that first home start, there’s some emotions that bleed into it,” Roberts said, sensing an “overexertion” from his newest staff ace. “I think we’re going to see a different guy as far as performance [in his next start] on Sunday.”

For the rest of Monday, Skubal was better, finishing with six strikeouts and no further hits allowed.

But, he failed to pitch into the sixth for the only the fourth time in 18 starts this year because of a high pitch count and more command problems in the fifth, when he hit a batter and walked another with two outs.

And at the time of his exit, the Dodgers were down 3-2, having managed a two-run third-inning rally but nothing more against Royals left-hander Noah Cameron.

“I thought I competed well and gave our team a chance to win,” he said, before later adding: “But I’ll be better going forward.”

For one night, the Dodgers could live without that –– eventually turning the game thanks to a big swing from Max Muncy and some aggressive base-running from Shohei Ohtani.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, Muncy came up and christened his bobblehead night with a three-run double that snuck just inside the right-field line; setting off a raucous scene at Dodger Stadium that culminated with loud chants of “Mun-cy! Mun-cy!” well after the inning had ended.

The Dodgers’ lead would last only three batters, with Jack Dreyer yielding a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the seventh.

However, the Dodgers would battle back again, thanks to a leadoff single and stolen base from Ohtani in the seventh (only his seventh steal all season, and first since May 16) that set up Freddie Freeman for an RBI single (his third hit and second RBI of the night).

“It felt like the fans were trying to will us to win tonight,” Freeman noted.

Electric scenes after all, just later than expected.

The rest of the way, the Dodgers held on. Tanner Scott worked around an eighth-inning walk by getting a double-play grounder. Then struggling closer Edwin Díaz worked a scoreless ninth for only his second save in four tries since coming back from injury last month.

In the end, it meant Skubal was back on the field, going through a victorious high-five line for only his second time since joining the team.

By then, it didn’t matter that his home debut was forgettable. Only that, after a couple weeks of mounting frustration, the Dodgers had finally found a way to salvage a win.

“I’m sure all he cares about is winning the game, which we did,” Roberts said of Skubal. “We’re gonna have plenty of time to lean on him and be great.”

This game had an eventful first inning that saw the Mets plate five on Bryce Elder and the Braves, and then a valiant-but-doomed comeback attempt over the rest of the game. The main things that stood out to me: Bryce Elder with poor command is a nightmare, and the Braves really needed some homers in this one but couldn’t find ‘em. Will the Phillies gain a game on the Braves by the time I finish this recap? Who knows.

Boy, that first inning, though. The game started with an A.J. Ewing double off Elder. The ball rolled under the padding in right field, and Ronald Acuña Jr. threw up his hands to signal a ground rule double. Ewing stopped running midway between second and third. For some reason, the Mets challenged the call, and this resulted in something absurd like an eight-minute delay of game… only for the umpires to rule that while the ball was not “lodged,” Ewing would nonetheless be “awarded” second base. Pace of play, am I right?

Anyway, would that that was the only excitement in the first, but alas. A single later scored Ewing, and then a key play happened on a 3-2 Elder pitch to Carson Benge. The pitch was clearly a strike, but Sean Murphy came up throwing and had the runner dead to rights… except that it was ruled a ball and Murphy didn’t challenge, turning a 1-0 deficit and a half-inning break into a 1-0 deficit, runners on first and second, and one out. After a short liner single to load the bases, Elder got a punchout… and then hung a first-pitch slider to Brett Baty, who slammed it for a grand… slam. The Mets actually collected two more hits before Elder finished the frame, but the score remained 5-0.

Then, the Braves mounted a rally of their own against Christian Scott. Unfortunately, their rally didn’t have a homer, so it wasn’t as productive. Drake Baldwin led off with a double, Matt Olson later singled, and Ozzie Albies had a crazy 11-pitch plate appearance that ended with a 3-2 pitch barely clipping his uniform to load the bases. Mauricio Dubon then came through with a seeing-eye bouncer that plated two. Austin Riley ended the rally by watching two of three pitches in the zone (and fouling off the second). Oops.

The Mets continued tearing into Elder and the Braves’ defense. Francisco Lindor, whose small-sample lifetime stats against Elder are murderous, led off the second with a double, and then scored on a two-out bloop. Another single and a walk loaded the bases, but the frame ended at 6-2. Sean Murphy collected a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, but was left stranded. Lindor then tagged Elder for a two-out solo homer in the third, and yeah, that’s kind of how this one was developing for a while.

Christian Scott and the Mets’ gloves had a 1-2-3 third, but Elder and the home team matched that in the fourth, setting up another rally. A one-out single by Riley, a walk by Jim Jarvis, and another seeing-eye single, this time by Drake Baldwin, made it 7-3. Acuña followed with a hard ripped single to left that highlighted something crazy for me: just how deeply everyone plays him in the outfield, as the ball rolled forrr-eeee-veeer before the left fielder got to it. The scored was 7-4, and Olson came to the plate as the tying run. A homer would’ve been great, but Olson struck out on a half-swing on a sweeper that came pretty close to his shoes.

Elder and a double play combined for another 1-2-3 frame in the fifth, meaning that he actually outlasted Scott. It was a pretty awful outing — a 4/3 K/BB ratio with two homers allowed is not what anyone’s looking for. On the flip side, Scott was really good again (6/1 K/BB ratio), but the Braves managed to plate four in four frames against him thanks to the almighty grounder-through-the-infield.

So, it was a battle of the bullpens for the second half of the game, and honestly, it was uneventful. There was a point where it looked like the Braves would just immediately wheel the game around with Scott gone: Jonathan Pintaro came on and was greeted by a Michael Harris II single, and then walked Albies. Unfortunately, Dubon hit into an easy double play, and though Harris scored on a wild pitch, that was all the Braves would get off any member of the Mets’ relief corps.

Brent Suter did his designated Brent Suter work in this one, throwing three frames with a 3/1 K/BB ratio to keep the game close. The Braves, meanwhile, just couldn’t get the homer or other big hit they needed. Olson again came up as the tying run in the sixth after Acuña walked with two outs, but grounded out to first. Harris had an excuse-me swing turn into a roller of a double to start the seventh, but the next three batters all made field outs. In the eighth, it was pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s turn to give the team a glimmer of hope by drawing a one-out walk, but again, no joy without dingers, and there were no dingers. Acuña hit a 100 mph screamer to center that was caught on a dive.

Victor Mederos relieved Suter in the ninth and handed the Mets an eighth run as Lindor singled, and then Mederos walked a guy and hit another. A sac fly capped the scoring. The Braves got eaten up by Kodai Senga, closer-I-guess (since actual closer Devin Williams hit the shelf today with a shoulder strain), as Olson and Harris both struck out, and Dubon had a weak flyout to end the game after Albies walked (again, somehow).

It was a weird game in the box score, as the Braves got nine hits, but only three for extra bases. They also had six walks and the hit-by-pitch(ish), but to little avail. The Phillies just wrapped up their win over the Cardinals, so the division lead is down to 7.5, and the Braves will hope to actually get a big hit that hopefully leaves the yard tomorrow as this series continues.

With the loss, the Braves lose the season series to the Mets for the first time since 2017. It’s the end of an era, sorta. And we thought 2025 was an ignominous season…

If obtaining a high pitch count early in the game was the goal, Hunter Dobbins succeeded spectacularly. To his credit, the St. Louis Cardinals starter battled through a less than ideal start to keep Monday night’s game with the Phillies close while the Philadelphia starter Andrew Painter showed no signs of the hamstring trouble he had recently. A tight game early would turn into a wild game late, but a furious Cardinals rally would fall short.

By the top of the 2nd inning, Hunter Dobbins pitch count was in the 50’s. That’s also the inning that his troubles cost the Cardinals a couple of runs. Brandon Marsh led off the Phillies 2nd with a single, but it was the next play that would be costly. Derek Hill chopped a ball up high to Hunter Dobbins who caught the ball and then sailed a show over Alec Burleson at first base into right field which allowed Marsh to score all the way from first base for a 1-0 Phillies lead. Edmundo Sosa followed that with a RBI single doubling the Philadelphia lead to 2-0.

The Phillies would add to their lead in the top of the 5th inning when Kyle Schwarber led off with a single that Jordan Walker turned into a double by mishandling the ball in left field that the official scorer correctly changed to a single and an E9. Stott then singled to right which moved Schwarber to third with no one out. Hunter Dobbins got Bryce Harper to ground into a double play, but that scored Schwarber giving the Phillies a commanding 3-0 lead.

I would not normally call a 3-0 lead “commanding”, but the St. Louis Cardinals absence of offense made it feel that way. Andrew Painter, who has been recovering from hamstring issues, looked like Cy Young for the first 5 innings of the game as he held the Cardinals hitless and hadn’t allowed a runner until he walked José Fermín in the bottom of the 5th.

The Cardinals would FINALLY break up the no-hit bid in the bottom of the 6th inning when Iván Herrera ripped a double into the left field corner after JJ Wetherholt walked to give St. Louis runners at 2nd and 3rd with just one out. Alec Burleson then came through with a clutch single up the middle scoring both Wetherholt and Herrera and suddenly we had a baseball game as the Phillies lead was just 3-2.

With Jordan Walker up next, the Phillies decided Andrew Painter had been in the game long enough and went to their bullpen to bring in Alan Rangel. Walker unfortunately time traveled back to the Jordan of last year as he struck out on an 85 mph slider for the second out. Nathan Church managed to swat a single into right-center to keep the Cardinals rally alive with runners on first and second, but Masyn Winn was unable to come through as he struck out, but St. Louis was back in the game.

While the Cardinals bats were waking up, Luis Gastelum was keeping the Phillies quiet as he pitched an uneventful 6th inning and stayed in the game until there was one out in the top of the 7th when the numerous Philadelphia lefties came up in the lineup. Manager Oli Marmol decided to bring in lefty Caleb Ferguson who promptly walked Stubbs and then grooved a 91 mph sinker to Kyle Schwarber who ripped it to the right-centerfield wall for a double scoring Stubbs and increasing the Phillies lead to 4-2. After Ferguson walked Bryce Harper to load the bases, Marmol hit the eject button on him in favor of Gordon Graceffo who was tasked with bailing the Cardinals out of a bases-loaded with one out jam. He came through like a champ getting Arraez to hit into an inning-ending double play keeping St. Louis within striking distance.

That “striking distance” would get extended in the top of the 8th inning when Graceffo walked Marsh to start the inning. Two batters later, Crawford would connect on an 84 mph Graceffo curve for a double giving Philadelphia runners at second and third with just one out. Former Cardinal Edmundo Sosa would convert that scoring opportunity when he ripped an 85 mph slider into the left-centerfield gap scoring both Phillies runners and giving Philadelphia a 6-2 lead.

St. Louis did not go quietly into that good night as the red hot Iván Herrera led off the bottom of the 8th inning with a double into the left field corner. Alec Burleson said “ditto” and clobbered his own double into the right field corner scoring Herrera and getting the Cardinals a little closer at 6-3.

Jordan Walker, who had been 0-3 on the night, connected on a two-strike 93 mph fastball and drilled it up the middle advancing Burleson to third giving the Cardinals runners at the corner with no one out. After Nathan Church popped out to short, it was Masyn Winn’s turn. He rocketed a ball off of the pitcher into right field which scored Burleson bringing St. Louis closer at 6-4. Winn got a break as he was hustling into second where it appeared the throw would beat him, but the ball got away from Sosa leaving Masyn safe at second.

Jose Fermin kept the rally going as he singled into center scoring Walker and advancing Winn to third cutting the Phillies lead to just 1 at 6-5. Jimmy Crooks was unable to lift a sacrifice fly to tie the game as he struck out, but pinch-hitter Bryan Torres still had a chance to come through. Unfortunately, Torres would fly out to center to end the Cardinals 8th, but they had pulled close enough to hang onto at least a little hope.

Justin Bruihl entered the game in the top of the 9th with one singular mission. Keep the game a 1-run affair to give St. Louis a fighting chance in the bottom of the 9th with the top of the Cardinals lineup waiting. Stott tried to foil that plan as he led off with a single. Bruihl was able to nurse a weak pop fly out of Bryce Harper for the first out. The Phillies started the runner which saved them from a double play when Arraez grounded out for the second out. Justin Bruihl then struck out Marsh to give the Cardinals one more shot at the Phillies.

St. Louis had the right guys coming up in the bottom of the 9th, but would they get the right result? JJ Wetherholt was first up against Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan. JJ failed on an ABS challenge and then struck out on a changeup for the first out in the Cardinals 9th. Iván Herrera was next up and all he could manage was a weak fly to centerfield. Alec Burleson hit a ball right on the screws, but it was directly at the Phillies right fielder Hill for the final out of the game. Bummer.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies will tangle again Tuesday night as Andre Pallante will try to earn his 13th victory for the Cardinals while the Phillies will send LHP Cristopher Sánchez to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium and the game TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.

ATLANTA — Almost everybody is getting involved. 

For so many stretches this season, the Mets were a one- or two-man show offensively, with Juan Soto carrying the load with whichever player happened to be hot for a stint. 

These days the exception isn’t the one or two players who are hitting, but the ones who are not. Runs are plentiful. 

Monday night, the Mets used Brett Baty’s first-inning grand slam as the propeller in their latest strong offensive showing, an 8-5 victory over the Braves at Truist Park. 

The Mets won for the sixth time in seven games on this road trip and have topped five runs in each of those victories. Overall, they are averaging 7.1 per game on the trip. 

“I can’t pinpoint one [theme], but I just think guys are having really good at-bats,” Baty said. 

For a team dreaming of a surge that can close the gap to .500 (the Mets are still 14 games under), such performances will be a must, especially with the unpredictability facing the pitching staff after it was stripped at last week’s trade deadline. 

Only adding to the improbability of this latest surge is the fact the team’s best hitter, Soto, has been sidelined by a quad strain since last month and isn’t expected back until September. 

“It’s nice to get contributions one through nine and see guys thrive in what they do,” interim manager Andy Green said. 

Devin Williams, who was placed on the injured list Monday with a shoulder strain, is another player not expected back before next month. Kodai Senga assumed the closer’s role on this night and fired a scoreless ninth for his first MLB save. 

Christian Scott slogged through four innings and surrendered four earned runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts. It was a second straight uninspiring start for the right-hander, who allowed three earned runs over five innings last week against the Guardians. 

Baty’s first career grand slam highlighted a first inning in which the Mets sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs against Bryce Elder. 

After Jared Young’s RBI single gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, Elder struck out Marcus Semien for the second out. But with the bases still loaded, Baty pounced on a first-pitch slider and hammered it over the center field fence for his eighth homer this season. 

“I hit my first homer here, and now my first grand slam here,” said Baty, whose major league debut was in this ballpark in 2022. 

Before the Mets could get too comfortable, Scott got nicked for two runs in the bottom of the inning: Mauricio Dubón stroked a two-run single that pulled the Braves within 5-2 after Scott surrendered two hits in the inning and plunked Ozzie Albies. 

Scott downplayed the idea that the Mets’ extended top of the first inning was a factor in his early struggles. 

“I just don’t think I threw the ball very well,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of quality strikes. They made pretty good contact there, especially late in counts.” 

Young’s second RBI single of the game gave the Mets a 6-2 lead in the second. Francisco Lindor’s leadoff double started the rally. 

Lindor took the count full with two outs in the third inning before launching a 420-foot homer to right field. Lindor’s homer was his 11th this season and second on the road trip. 

Scott allowed RBI singles to Drake Baldwin and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the fourth inning that shrank the Mets lead to 7-4. 

Jonathan Pintaro’s wild pitch in the fifth allowed Michael Harris II to score the fifth Braves run. Pintaro walked two batters in the inning. 

Daniel Duarte entered with nobody out in the seventh with a runner at second base and recorded three straight outs without the run scoring to keep the Mets lead at 7-5. 

Young’s sacrifice fly in the ninth gave the Mets an insurance run after they loaded the bases with nobody out.

The San Francisco Giants added another name to the list of injuries that derailed their season.

Giants third baseman Matt Chapman will likely miss the remainder of the season with an abdominal strain that he suffered in the sixth inning of an 8-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 30.

Chapman saw a specialist Monday, Aug. 10 in Philadelphia, who confirmed the core muscle injury, the team announced. The 33-year-old will have surgery Tuesday, marking an official end to his 2026 season as he joins Harrison Bader, Casey Schmitt and Trevor McDonald as players whose seasons ended early to injury.

Chapman finished the year batting .235 with 72 hits, seven home runs, 42 RBI and 35 runs in 84 games.

Matt Chapman contract

Chapman is in the midst of a six-year, $151 million contract extension he signed with the Giants in 2024. He is owed $25.1 million per year through 2030, becoming a free agent in 2031.

Red Sox 0 (in reality) Blue Jays 2

All that’s worth talking about happened in the top of the seventh. Red Sox down 2-0. Game is going along quickly. All is well.

Anthony Seigler singled off Simeon Woods Richardson to lead off the inning. Connor Wong also singled. Nick Sogard lined one at Vladimir Guerrero, who got the ball on a hop and got the first out on a force at second.

Then…..true weirdness. The scoreboard, apparently showed two outs. Truly that’s really neither here nor there, as my dad would say. It is a none issue.

Ceddanne Rafaela hit a fly ball to center field. Both the runner on first and the runner on third took off before the catch. Brett Bateman threw the ball in to second, and, after a bit of confusion, the Jays threw to first to double up the runner that left first. Everybody left the field. Sportsnet went to commercial.

When they came back from commercial, the umpires were talking to the managers. And then they called ‘New York’, to get a ruling from ‘the Gods above’.

Apparently the Gods decided that the Red Sox deserved a run because the Jays took the out at first, but the runner from second crossed the plate first. It didn’t matter that he ‘tagged up’ before Bateman made the catch, which, of course, is illegal.

So the Jays couldn’t appeal because they left the field after the called third out. They didn’t know they should have stayed on the field through the commercial break, so that they could appeal a run that wasn’t put on the board until ten minutes after the inning ended.

If you can give a team a run, ten minutes after the inning ends, the other team should be able to appeal the run ten minutes later.

Umpires is so stupid (as Yosemite Sam would say).

I’m a fan of playground justice and that wasn’t playground justice. No kids would come up with that crap.

Anyway, Jameson Taillon started and looked good, until he left the field after the end of the fourth, and told Pete Walker and John Schneider that he had a pain in his forearm. Words you don’t want to hear from a starter. Taillon allowed one hit, with three walks and three strikeouts in his four scoreless innings. I don’t think we’ll see him on the mound in again in five days.

Simeon Woods Richardson pitched the next three innings, and he was very good too. Allowed four hits, one walk, with two strikeouts and got the earned run against, which really isn’t fair. He got the win.

Tyler Rogers pitched a quick eighth, allowing a walk, and getting a strikeout.

Louis Varland got the ninth. He gave up a leadoff double and I was worried. A sac bunt move Jarren Duran to third. But Varland got a strikeout and a ground out (nice play Vlad) to get his 25th save.

On offense we got just seven hits. We scored:

• One in the fifth: Charles McAdoo led off the inning with a home run.
• One in the six: George Springer had a one-out single. And he stole second (we needed to challenge the play to overturn the umpire’s bad call). With two outs, Andrés Giménez singled to right and Springer scored. Thankfully, the Red Sox catcher, Connor Wong, couldn’t handle the throw from right, or George would have likely been out.

Jays of the Day: Taillon (0.21 WPA), Varland (0.16), McAdoo (0.13), SWR (0.12) and Rogers (0.12).

Other Award: Nathan Lukes (-0.09).

Tomorrow we have Patrick Sandoval (1-0, 3.38) vs. Dylan Cease (7-5, 2.28). It is another 7:00 Eastern start. What will happen that will piss us off in that game?