Category: Sports News

In Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror flick Drag Me To Hell, a woman makes a mistake at work and is eventually condemned to eternal damnation for it. This is highly relatable for the Nationals’ bullpen arms, who made a mistake at work and were sentenced to hell for it. Well, surrendering a pinch-hit go-ahead homer to a team down to their final strike isn’t quite hell, but it’s close enough; I’m fairly certain Dante mentioned it somewhere in his Inferno, somewhere between the guy who’s eternally having his head bitten and the guys who are eternally trees.

But before the drama of a last-ditch comeback repeated, a less appealing narrative recurred: Aaron Nola’s struggles with the long ball continued, as Luis García Jr. took a sinker that hung up in the middle of the zone to center for a 1-0 Washington lead in the first. An inning later, Jorbit Vivas took a curveball that did the same and did the same. 2-0, Nationals. Meanwhile, the Phillies struggled through three against opener Carson Palmquist, putting only one baserunner aboard in the form of Brandon Marsh, who promptly got picked off.

Marsh was also the Phillies’ second baserunner, singling up the middle to lead off the fourth. Afterwards, Palmquist’s opening job was over, and Miles Mikolas took his turn. He quickly found trouble. Alec Bohm reached safely on a grounder when Nasim Nuñez booted it, and Bryson Stott hit a fly ball that found its way over James Wood’s head in right for a double. The Phillies had their first run of the night. They had their second on a sacrifice fly from J.T. Realmuto, and their third on a single from Gabriel Rincones Jr. Nola kept the good vibes going with a three up, three down fourth. Only a potential injury to Bohm, who came up limping while running the bases on the fourth, still needled the Phillies, and given that he remained in the game, this turned out not to be a big issue. The Nationals seemed like they might have a big issue though: the pitching of Mikolas, who gave up singles to Trea Turner and Marsh in the fifth. He fought his way through it without further damage, but the tilt of the game still seemed to favor the Phillies.

Kyle Backhus took over in the sixth, with Nola’s final line standing at 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Backhus faced the minimum of three, getting two out and allowing a baserunner, and was pulled for Jonathan Bowlan as Don Mattingly played the matchup game, pitting righty against righty. It did not go as planned. The first pitch to Curtis Mead went flying into deep left, towards the foul pole, remaining fair and ending the Phillies’ lead.

José Alvarado took the seventh. He got the first two batters out, but faced trouble with José Tena, who hit a shallow fly to left that Marsh dove for and missed. The result was a triple. CJ Abrams was up next; the duel between him and Alvarado saw a quartet of fouled off 3-2 pitches , and finally a walk. But Alvarado got the next batter out to keep the deficit at one.

But the Phillies offense remained stagnant, unable to put a runner aboard in the eighth. Seth Johnson was tasked with the ninth and keeping the game within reach of more last-ditch heroics. A simple 1-2-3 inning set the Phillies up well for the sequel to yesterday’s fireworks. Realmuto, Rincones, Jr. and Edmundo Sosa were the trio tasked with setting them off. Their opponent was Orlando Ribalta. He shares his name with the great knight of both myth and history (also known as Roland); unfortunately for the Phillies, the game took place at Nationals Park and not Roncevaux Pass. Realmuto grounded out, Rincones Jr. struck out. But then, high drama: Kyle Schwarber, who was left out of the starting lineup thanks to back tightness, was called in to pinch hit for Sosa. He took the first pitch for a ball, swung and missed at the second, took the third, but saw it called for a strike. Once more, the Phillies were down to their final strike. A poorly-advised challenge from Nationals backstop Drew Mills on ball 3 brought some levity to the proceedings, but soon enough it was tense again. He fouled off some pitches, one of which got enough air to stop some hearts, momentarily. He ended up walking, bringing Garrett Stubbs to the plate as a pinch-hitter, and as the winning run. But he didn’t stay there long: the Nationals swapped pitchers (to Richard Lovelady, less useful for references to epic poems) , Stubbs was swapped to the pinch-runner role, and Derek Hill got the call to bat.

When the Phillies traded for him, I noted that whoever got the first recap in which he did something notable would get the glory of the Running Up That Hill pun title. Last night, writing the question of the day post, I got impatient and wasted the pun on the subhead. As Hill sent a poorly-placed fastball over the wall in right-center, I sincerely regretted this. Thank god Kyle Schwarber had been more patient than me. Once more, the Phillies had gone down to their last strike and struck back.

Thus, Jhoan Duran was called in to bring it home. He did, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of strikeouts. The final strike was a close one on the corner; the Nationals challenged. Or tried to. They were out of challenges, and so all they had was a plaintive head-tap. The Phillies had crested the Hill, and found victory on the other side.

The Phillies are 44-36. They’ll conclude the series against the Nationals tomorrow at 6:45.

Christmas came six months early for the Astros.  After Joey Loperfido tripled with 1 out in the 8th, Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman inexplicably  attempted to pick him off at third base.  His errant throw would send him home, making Loperfido the hero for the second straight day.   

Gifts continued in the bottom of the 8th when Luis Urias would get doubled up off of second base, after a sensational play by Cam Smith, thwarting any threat for Toronto.    

The final gift would add an insurance run, as Brice Matthews scored when Guerrero was pulled away from first on a sloppy throw.   The combination of miscues would make the final score 3-1.   

Not only were the Astros beneficiaries of Toronto’s charity, but they would also retire the opening batter in all nine innings, a rare feat for this staff.    Mike Burrows brief flirtation with the bullpen has already paid dividends.  Burrows’ lone mistake would be a solo shot to Nathan Lukes, but after that, he’d finish strong.   

In the 6th inning, Burrows would retire Springer, Lukes and Guerrero with relative ease.     Burrows would go six, strike out three and only walk one runner.   By contrast, his counterpart, Trey Yesavage issued five walks on the night.    

Issac Parades would start the scoring with a double which brought home Jeremy Pena who was the first runner of the night after drawing a walk.    

Two weeks ago in Anaheim, Joe Espada summarized what every Astros fan was feeling stating “We’ve got to start winning some series”.    After taking the rubber match from the Jays, Houston has now won their last four series, and in total have won 8 of their last 12 games.    

Steven Okert would notch the win, his first of the season.  Josh Hader would record his 6th save of the season.     He’s now 6 for 6 in save opportunities. 

Houston now heads to Detroit for a 4 game series with the Tigers beginning tomorrow night.    

The Astros are now 39-43, 4 games under .500. They are even in the win column with Toronto, and trail the Jays by 1 game in the Wild card race.

Houston is 2.5 games behind Seattle in the AL West.

When the Milwaukee Brewers came to town, we talked about their Famous Racing Sausages as a tradition they could leave behind to inspire a new mascot race at Coors Field.

With the Colorado Rockies taking the series today and sending the Boston Red Sox back to Fenway, it feels like a good time to discuss Boston’s historic home and chat all things ballparks.

Along with the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field, Fenway Park comes up frequently as being at the top of people’s bucket lists for MLB parks they are most excited to visit. Getting to step into the oldest cathedrals of the game is truly a treat. They’re a blast from the past and capture the heart of baseball.

On top of those, there are so many wonderful modern classics with stunning backdrops, fun features, exciting fan bases, and amenities that are worth a visit. Thanks to some work travel, I had the chance cross off Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, the new Yankee Stadium, and Fenway over the span of a few months last year. It was an incredible stretch of stadiums, views, and experiences that I feel lucky to have gotten.

I’m currently at 12 of 30 MLB ballparks visited (in addition to a handful of minor league stadiums) and I’m excited to get to more. While nothing will overtake the Coors Field-shaped space in my heart, I loved the bay views in San Francisco, the delicious food in Seattle, the history of Chicago and Fenway, and the aforementioned mascot race shenanigans in both Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.

Which brings us to tonight’s chat! We want to hear about all the places you’ve been or hope to get to.

• Are you “Chasing 30”, on a mission to visit every team’s ballpark? How many have you been to so far?
• Which park are you visiting next?
• Of the ones you’ve been to, which is your favorite?
• Any favorite features, traditions, snacks, or hidden gems from the ballparks you’ve gotten to check out?

Whether it’s in the majors or minors, give us all of your ballpark hot takes, memories, and hopes below!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks! 

Like most San Francisco Giants fans, I remember May 25, 2011 vividly. But it’s been more than 15 years since that fated day in which a young blossoming superstar, the budding pillar of the franchise, fractured his fibula and tore multiple ligaments in his leg during a collision at the plate. So some of the features of that memory have grown blurry.

I don’t remember who was pitching, or who hit the ball that sent Scott Cousins barreling around third base and straight into Buster Posey. I can’t recall the outcome of the game, or the Giants’ place in the standings at the time.

What I do remember is this: in the face of excruciating physical and emotional pain, Posey remained stoic. Years before the hundreds of millions of dollars in salary and investments would roll into his bank account, and before countless dreams had been checked off his personal to-do list, Posey sat on the plate at his home ballpark, knowing that not just his season, but his entire career was in jeopardy. His eyes were dry and his jaw was strong. He took in the scene, refused to call for a cart to wheel him away, and, with he help of the training staff, stood up and slowly hopped off the field, tall and upright. Beat and battered, but never broken.

318 days later, he was back on the field for Opening Day. 523 days later, he hoisted a World Series trophy over his head. 541 days later, he was honored as the league MVP.

That year-and-a-half sequence defined Posey as one of the toughest athletes of his era. Staring at the utmost adversity, Posey refused to blink.

It set the tone for the rest of his career. He was talented and selfless and a tireless worker, yes, but above all else he was tough. And in turn, the Giants were.

Which makes his latest turn all the more confounding, concerning, and infuriating.

On Tuesday, Posey — no longer the face of the roster, and now the face of the front office — met with the media. It was Posey, as he so often did in the batter’s box, calling his own number. It wasn’t a media session mandated by the league, or demanded by the reporters. It was just Posey, leader of a team in turmoil on and off the field, making himself available.

And looking weaker than I ever could have imagined he would.

Posey opened with a milquetoast statement regarding the team’s Pride Night debacle, and the subsequent fallout within the queer community, one that had about as much substance as a Jack Harlow song played in reverse. At best, it was a “there are good people on both sides and I care more about baseball” deflection; at worst, it was a child placing his head in his hands and screaming “mom I don’t want to.”

“I’d like to recognize that the organization has shared its response to Pride Night, and I understand that there’s strong feelings on this topic,” Posey said, the prevarication only just revving up. “There’s differing perspectives, and out of respect to everybody involved, it’s not something that I’m going to revisit. I understand that some fans are upset and frustrated, and I promise you this is something we’ve talked about a lot internally, and we’ll continue to do so. Our focus is on the team right now, the upcoming draft, the trade deadline, and trying to win games. So anybody that has baseball questions, I’m happy to take baseball questions from you now.”

It was bland and corporate, and a little spineless. But if that was leaning back at a pitch high and tight, what followed was Posey watching a fastball down the middle, and turning around to walk away before it even made it to the catcher. Calling off the at-bat after two pitches. Unwrapping his protective gear, walking out of the ballpark, and driving home in the fifth inning.

The reporters in attendance, to their credit, pushed back. Fairly, I might add. And even gently at first. Softballs initially, perfect for someone who used to be able to square up a 100-mph fastball with ease.

But Posey tucked his tail and tucked his head. In a staggering display of weakness, at the team’s lowest moment in decades, Posey stuck his fingers in his ears, squeezed his eyes closed, and sang, “la la la la I can’t heeeaaaaaarrrrrr youuuuuu.”

It was genuinely difficult to watch.

Did you object to Pride Nights as a player, and did anyone explain the importance to Tony Vitello and the players?

“If you want to ask baseball questions, I’ll answer baseball questions.”

Will you reach out to the gay community about what has unfolded?

“If you want to go to baseball questions, I made my statement, I’ll answer baseball questions.”

Do you have a response to the commissioner throwing the Giants under the bus?

“I’ll answer baseball questions.”

Why will you only answer baseball questions when the team is embroiled in something so important?

“I’m gonna only answer baseball questions.”

Is this not your job? Should we speak with Larry Baer?

At that point, Posey was beyond answers, and looked pathetically around for help, until a poor communications director was forced to repeat the same line: “We just need to keep it baseball related.”

You made this a baseball issue by hosting Pride Night, and letting players take the field having violated MLB’s rules.

“Buster made his statement. If you guys have any baseball questions, he can answer those, or we’re gonna be done.”

Cowardice. Weakness. Spinelessness.

And broken.

All hidden behind the vacant face of a man who clearly would rather face Clayton Kershaw 1,000 times over before having to spend another 10 seconds being asked for accountability over a blatant lack of inclusion and failure of leadership.

It’s clear that the Department of Justice’s hogwash meddling with the situation has spooked the Giants, and it’s fair to think that Posey’s hands were slightly tied by an unwanted political presence hovering over the entire situation. It also does essentially nothing to cover up the immeasurably pathetic display that took place at Oracle Park.

Posey could have no-commented questions about the hats that Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker defiled. He could have no-commented the team’s communication with its players, the involvement of the DOJ, and Rob Manfred harshly criticizing the team.

Here, I wrote him a statement he could have said. I’m writing this on the fly. I didn’t take any time to think it over. I’m not going to edit it. I’m improvising here. Let’s see what I’m about to come up with.

I, along with the entire Giants organization, support and celebrate San Francisco’s vibrant and historic LGBTQIA+ community. We are aware that many in the community are hurting based on the actions and response of our team, and we are dedicated to making sure that every Giants fan feels at home at Oracle Park. We will meet with local leaders in the community to see how we can learn and grow from this year’s Pride Night, and I personally will be donating $100,000 to the SF LGBT Center. Unfortunately, for legal purposes, I can’t currently comment on the hats, our communication with the commissioner’s office, or anything regarding the DOJ’s investigation. We’re going to keep our discussions with players internal.

See how easy that was? It’s not a perfect statement because, again, I wrote it on the fly. It took 45 seconds. It probably has a spelling error in it. It features an organization I just learned about when I googled “LGBTQ youth centers San Francisco.”

But it does the important thing: it makes it clear where Posey stands. It makes it clear where the organization stands. It takes the absolute bare minimum level of accountability. It does nothing to interfere with the commissioner or the Department of Nonsensical Whining.

In the absence of that tiny act of accountability and inclusion, why do anything at all? Why hold a media session? Why face the cameras and reporters at all, if you can even call what Posey did “facing?” Why write a test that didn’t need to be written just to get all the answers spectacularly wrong?

A stable of unforced errors, buried beneath a cascade of cowardice. The antitheses of meeting the moment. The polar opposite of what the fanbase deserved and needed.

There was a time when I never would have dared to utter the word “weak” in association with Buster Posey. Now I fear I need a stronger word.

Facing off against Tarik Skubal, the Yankees were going to need a strong start to best the reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner. They got just that, and though Skubal managed to look a lot more like his old self and shut down the lineup for long stretches, the offense made their moments count and cashed in most of the hits they got for runs.

Paul Goldschmidt set the tone immediately, working a 3-0 count before finding a fastball up and in the zone that he could crush — 372 feet later, it landed in left field for a 1-0 Yankees lead. Skubal rebounded quickly though, retiring the next three Yankees in just seven pitches, and outside of a seven-pitch battle with Jazz Chisholm Jr. the second inning gave him little trouble as well.

In the bottom of the second, the Tigers’ bats responded against Ryan Weathers. Riley Greene led off with a fly out, but Spencer Torkelson crushed a middle-middle fastball for a double out to left, and Hao-Yu Lee worked a four-pitch walk to put runners on with one out. Weathers managed to strike Ben Malgeri out to get an out away from escaping without any damage, but Zach McKinstry jumped on a 2-1 sinker that caught too much of the plate for a line drive single back up the middle that tied the game at one. Weathers evaded further problems by striking out Jake Rogers, his third of the night already, but the offense would have to pick him back up.

Luckily, Goldschmidt was up to the task.

Goldschmidt’s second blast of the game was still just the second hit the Yankees had, and spoiler alert: they wouldn’t get another one for a while. Still, the Bombers were making Skubal pay on the few mistake pitches he made, making a night where he otherwise looked like the dominant ace he has been not feel too frustrating.

The Tigers weren’t out of this one yet, and they got some help to tie the game back up in the fourth inning. Torkelson led off with a walk, and Lee worked a 3-0 count before getting a fastball near the middle of the plate to drive. Jasson Domínguez couldn’t field the ball cleanly, allowing Torkelson to advance to third on the single, and Malgeri lifted a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to cash in the runner and knot us up at two.

Weathers buckled down, getting the next two outs to close the inning without incident, and he worked around a leadoff double in the fifth to turn in a relatively strong outing for the second consecutive turn through the order. Weathers lasted six innings, allowing the two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with six punchouts. After a shaky streak of starts saw his ERA jump north of four during this month, Weathers has calmed things down and managed to secure his first start without a home run allowed since May 24th against Tampa Bay. And thanks to his offense finding one more spark on a night that they otherwise struggled, he walked away with the win.

After Goldschmidt’s second homer in the third, the entire lineup turned over without a batter getting on board. With two outs in the sixth, Ben Rice jumped on a first-pitch changeup to slap a single out to right breaking up Skubal’s rhythm and forcing him into the stretch for the first time all game. Perhaps that made the difference as Domínguez stepped up to the plate and fought through a nine-pitch at-bat where Skubal just couldn’t put him away despite jumping ahead 0-2, eventually leaving the third and final mistake pitch of his night: a changeup right over the heart of the plate. Domínguez pounced on it, and drove it out to left.

Now in the driver’s seat, the Yankee bullpen was tasked with holding the lead and they were very successful. Camilo Doval entered for the seventh and walked Rogers to lead off, but then got two straight pop-ups before handing the ball over to Fernando Cruz who struck out all four batters he faced. David Bednar got the ninth inning as usual, and got to two outs before he allowed a single to Kevin McGonigle that brought the tying run to the plate. Thankfully, Dillon Dingler jumped at the first pitch and lofted a fly ball right into Domínguez’s glove for the final out.

The Yankees secured themselves a series win after looking rather lackluster to start off, and now they’ll take that momentum into Boston for a four-game set with their archrivals. Cam Schlittler will open that series off and face off with Connelly Early, first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. EST.

Box Score.

Everything was going smoothly for Tanner Bibee and the Guardians through six innings. Bibee was 89 pitches into his outing, looking to salvage a win and avoid a sweep on the South Side. Then, as has been the norm, Stephen Vogt takes Bibee out, in line for a victory, opting to go to the bullpen. This is when the fun began.

First things first, though, and that’s Kahlil Watson. Watson provided a spark all series long, and without Watson today, Cleveland gets swept. Watson set the table for a Bibee win with a bases loaded 2-RBI single, taking an Erick Fedde sweeper the other way. Watson, who entered the series 0-for-12 to start his MLB career, went 5-for-9 in this series with two massive hits in this game, including this single.

Now back to Bibee. Bibee’s pitch mix has seen some pretty major alterations. His 4-seam usage is down substantially while he’s leaning more on his sinker/cutter/slider combo. In doing so, Bibee is seeing more swing and miss in the zone and better quality of contact against him. He’s now running a 1.71 ERA in June while throwing his 4-seamer under 15% of the time in that span.

Vogt went to the Guardians’ magic 8-ball bullpen in the 7th, going to Erik Sabrowski fresh off the injured list, and Chicago immediately broke the seal, tallying a run and cutting the lead in half. Sabrowski has struggled upon return, getting tagged with earned runs in both outings. Holderman cleaned up, getting the final out.

The Guardians put together a scoring threat again in the 8th inning, and with the bases loaded and two out, Joe Rock walked Patrick Bailey, bringing Halpin in to score. A Kwan strikeout ended the threat, but Cleveland was up 3-1. Gaddis and Herrin covered the bottom half, but it was not without struggle as the White Sox got two more baserunners on before the threat was ended. Cleveland failed to add anything in the top of the 9th, and with Cade Smith coming on, all hell broke loose.

In a 1-1 count with two outs, Smith left a 4-seam fastball over the heart of the plate, and rookie Braden Montgomery did not miss it. 411 feet later, Chicago was within a run, and before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, Smith hung a sweeper right down broadway to Randal Grichuk, and just like that, Cade had blown his first save in two months, and Cleveland was staring down the barrel of a sweep and two game deficit in the division. Smith then surrendered a single to Jacob Gonzalez and walked Sam Antonacci, leading to Vogt yanking his potential All-Star closer for Shawn Armstrong. Somehow, this was Kyle Manzardo’s fault (iykyk).

Armstrong got the final out, but now it was on to extras.

Chicago brought in Grant Taylor who had already not been having the best series. After getting Manzardo to strike out, Taylor gave up a single to Rhys Hoskins.

Kahlil Watson, have a day! Watson, just like in the 6th, sliced a single to the opposite field, this time off of a 100 mph sinker from Taylor. Guards back up, 4-3.

Armstrong stayed on for the bottom half, and hooooo boy was this not good for the ol’ ticker! After a Luisangel Acuña sacrifice bunt moved Vargas to third, Armstrong walked Kyle Teel, then walked Colson Montgomery, and if not being able to find a grip wasn’t enough, the rain started falling on the South Side of Chicago. Thankfully, Armstrong got Chase Meidroth to ground out on a pitcher’s pitch down and in, and then Braden Montgomery grounded out to Manzardo with Manzo stretching out full extension to tag the base, mercifully ending this game with a badly needed W.

Cleveland, with this win, slots back into a tie for 1st place in the AL Central with Chicago, now sitting at 42-39.

After a day off tomorrow, the Guards head back home for a nice long home stand, starting with three against Seattle, three against Texas, and then a four game set against these same White Sox.