A fan died tonight at Turner Field after falling out of the upper deck during the 7th inning. Some reports suggesting he was drunk. Fortunately, he didn’t land on anyone or there might have been more than one fatality.
Today’s original plan was to go to Rogers Center to see the Jays-Tigers game. Due to it being sold out and tickets being scalped for three times face value, the plan whas bene altered to going to a sports bar and spend our money on beer and wings while watching the game on the big screen. That’s fine too.
The problem of course is that the Jays will lose, because I am making an effort to watch them. If I make an effort to watch them (as opposed to listening on the radio; we’ve cut out cable, you see) they always lose. I think they’re like 0-9 this year if I am in attendance, specifically go to a place to watch them, or stream the game. Place your bets on the Tigers now.
Hard to remember that this was supposed to be another lost year for the Astros - they’ve been in first place for most of the season now, and have the favorites for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. I make Toronto the favorites in the postseason (assuming they don’t crash out somehow) with Kansas City and Houston roughly tied. The Astros probably have the best pitching in the AL at this point, but they are still carrying around three to four sub-.300 OBPs in the lineup, which is not good. If George Springer can come back that will take care of one of those slots, but still.
I read that the guy was leaning over the railing to better scream abuse at A-Rod. What a sad way to go.
It’s too bad there’s no more Rolaids Relief Man award. However this presents a fabulous opportunity for a competitor (Tums or maybe Pepcid) to sponsor the late innings of Mets games.
They could hand out their product to the fans, whose gastric acidity must shoot up whenever a new Mets reliever comes into the game.
Today’s example - Familia comes on in the 9th with a 5-4 lead over the Red Sox, gives up hits to the first two batters, then winds up striking out Betts with men on second and third to save the game.
Always an adventure with the Mets’ bullpen.
And yet, going by current records, if they were still in the NL Central, they’d be only in fourth place (which says more about the NL Central than about the Astros).
For A’s fans it could be Pepto Bismol, to cure the nausea we feel whenever one of our relievers enters the game.
Toronto could only claim to be a favourite if they win the AL East, and yet the Yankees keep up with them. It’s still a race, whereas I am pretty sure KC and Houston are in.
If Toronto and KC were to meet in a series a key factor to consider is that Kansas City could quite conceivableyplay an entire series without ever exposing a lefthanded pitcher to Toronto’s lineup, in which all the dangerous hitters are righthanded. Toronto’s team OPS is .838 against lefties, .773 against righties. .773 is still terrific but that’s a huge swing - it’s one of the biggest team platoon differentials in baseball - that KC gets by just leaving Danny Duffy off the roster.
Arrieta of the Cubs just pitched a pretty no-hitter against the Dodgers.
Bastard.
I seem to be saying that more often this year.
That’s the second time in 9 days that the Dodgers have been no-hit.
And that’s NOT the record. In 1917, the White Sox were no-hit in consecutive games.
So this.
Ahem. Billy Burns and Mark Canha beg to differ.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll be in Toronto next week, and will scratch “take in a Jays game at Rogers Centre” off my plans. Like you, I’ll find a sports bar, and enjoy the game that way.
Depends on your budget. If you don’t mind laying out $50 for a nosebleed seat, go nuts.
I live in Oakville so getting into town is kind of a hassle - realistically it’s dedicating 1.5-2 hours of travel one way, even though it’s only 30 km or so, because Toronto is that hard to get into. If you’re ALREADY downtown, the economics and logistics are very different. If my buddy and I were there anyway we’d have gone.
[QUOTE=Rick Kitchen]
Ahem. Billy Burns and Mark Canha beg to differ
[/QUOTE]
AL rookies by WAR:
Correa, Houston, 2.8
Lindor, Cleveland, 2.7
Travis, Toronto, 2.3
McCullers, Houston, 2.2
May, Minnesota, 2.0
Osuna, Toronto, 1.8
Sano, Minnesota, 1.8
Burns, Oakland, 1.8
Mark Canha’s at 1.0. I am not sure a 26-year-old first baseman hitting .252 with 10 home runs is a very exciting prospect. I think it fair to say Correa is the favourite right now; it is a shame Devon Travis got hurt or he’d be pretty much acclaimed.
Consecutive days, not consecutive games. They were no-hit on May 5 and in the second game of a double-header on May 6.
Still impressive, considering the White Sox won the World Series that year–the last time until 2005.
I know very little about Canha so looked him up: baseball reference has him at 0.6 WAR, which ranks him as the 42nd best rookie (offense ONLY) in the majors this season. That puts him behind, among others, Trayce Thompson, who has played 14 games, and well behind, among others, Stephen Piscotty, who has played 36. He’s 0.2 ahead of Michael Lorenzen, if you only include Lorenzen’s hitting stats and leave out what he’s done on the mound. (I know Piscotty and Lorenzen are in the NL.)
I wouldn’t have said Burns was a particularly strong candidate either, but the numbers suggest that Canha is especially weak. I’m curious about what you see in Canha to tout him as a potential ROY favorite.
(That *you *is Rick Kitchen rather than RickJay.)
Sadly, that was the highlight of the weekend for Giants fans.
Still, heading into LA only 3.5 games back while fielding a team that’s half made up of AAA players, it could be a lot worse. Of course, it may ***be ***a lot worse by Thursday…
I’m predicting a sweep in the series starting tonight. I’m not predicting which team will sweep, though; I have a feeling I’m going to be laughing hysterically at the end of it, but whether with despair or stunned amazement, I’m not sure.
Well, they could’ve won the 1919 World Series, if it was worth their while. 
What is the Giants rotation now? Bumgarner…followed by 4 guys who have been on the DL, should be on the DL, or should be out of baseball? At least we could score runs, until Panik, Pence and Crawford all burst into flames simultaneously. :smack:
Mike Leake has been fair-to-good since he came over…other than the whole ‘going on the DL and missing starts’ thing; that was a bit disconcerting coming from our Big Trade Deadline Signing.
Jake Peavy has been perfectly cromulent since he came back from the DL…which is to say, he’s pitched well enough to keep the team in the games he’s started.
After that, it’s pretty much a tire fire. Vogelsong is doing everything he can, but he was signed to be a long man out of the bullpen, not a starter. Chris Heston gave far more than anyone could ever have expected, but he’s simply run out of gas. Hudson and Lincecum…they’re both really, really nice guys, but neither should ever take the mound in a Major League Baseball game again.
The thing is, the rotation has basically been the same all season long. Some of the pieces have shifted in and out, but the end result was always “one solid starter, a couple guys that are probably at least average, and pray the bullpen can get you through the next two games”…but somehow that was working up until mid-August, when all the position players decided to get hurt at the same time.
Seriously. “Hi, I’m Mike Leake. Really excited to be on the Giants! I’m going on the DL now – I’ll see y’all in a few weeks.”