Royce Lewis was pulled out of the game after coming in lame to third base. Ugh - he really turn led it on at the end of year last year, and his injury-plagued career seemed to be behind him. I hope he’s okay, and not just because he’s on one of my fantasy teams!
Crazy Yankee game so far. Cortez settled down but Valdez was pulled in the 5th with bases loaded. Seth Martinez walks the kid to walk in a run.
4-3 now, still Astros ahead.
Earlier the Yanks loaded the based twice with 1 out and proceeded to GIDP to end both of those. Then in the 5th loaded again but with no outs. But two strikeouts later, thought they would waste another great opportunity. Thankfully this time they came through.
Baltimore up 11-1 now in the 8th and Reds over Nationals 7-0 in the 6th.
Never really got to see the Brewers play so I’d not seen much of him, but Corbin Burnes is every bit as good as advertised. 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 ER, 11 Ks. That is a proper ace right there.
If baseball ran like politics, the Astros would have suspended their season and endorsed the Rangers.
The Yankees deal Rortvedt to the Rays for Jon Berti. They’ve exhausted the number of times they could move Rortvedt to the minors and the Yanks are loaded with catching prospects so this comes as no surprise.
It was a typical Angels game. Mike Trout hit a bomb to put them up 1-0. They lost 11-3; Trout was the only player in the Angels starting lineup to get a hit.
The worst beatdown of Openng Day, however, was a 16-1 shellacking of the Rockies by the defending NL champ Diamondbacks. The snakes put up 14 in one inning, an Opening Day record.
Only 2 games but a great start for the Yanks. They scored 7 off the vaunted Houston bullpen in the last 3 innings and Soto is walking, hitting and fielding up a storm to start his Yankee career. Volpe is also off to a good start of his sophomore season. Meanwhile, not even suppose to be starting, Oswaldo Cabrera is 6 for 9 with a homer a double and 4 RBIs to start the season.
If Judge and Torres start hitting, it would really be great.
Minor trade: Yanks acquire JT Brubaker from the Pirates with international signing bonus $ for a player to be named later. Brubaker is on the 60 day IL and is targeting the All Star Break to return. I’m not sure what this one is all about. It seems to be a minor salary dump by the Pirates.
O’s send Jackson Holliday back to AAA to get more experience against lefties. His first AB in Norfolk he crushes one over the right field wall, off a leftie.
If they’re trying to manipulate service time, the Os better hope they can figure out the Super Two date (and justify holding Holliday down that long) AND that Langford or Caminero win the ROY. Winning Rookie of the Year guarantees the player a year of service time now.
Yanks go to Houston and kick their Astros. Four straight wins on the road to start the year. Just hoping Judge gets on track. Otherwise Soto, Cabrera, Rizzo, and Volpe are off to fine starts. The offense looks strong and the pitching, even without Cole, seems enough.
I know, that sounds strange coming from a life-long Dodger fan, but my hatred of the Yankees is more institutional - it’s part of Dodger history and lore and must be respected and maintained. My hatred for the Astros, OTOH, is visceral and immediate. The team, its players, owners, facilities and history should have been purged from the Book of Baseball with Extreme Prejudice.
So the Athletics leave Oakland at the end of the season and will spend 3 years playing in Sacramento.
I feel sorry for A’s players who will spend several seasons in purgatory, sharing facilities with the Sacramento River Cats (hopefully playing entirely night games to avoid the worst of the 100 degree-plus summer heat).
Attendance might be a bit better than in Oakland though, since the River Cats draw about 10,000 fans a game.