# MLB: August 2021 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [August 1, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783 "2021-08-01T18:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/141 "2021-08-24T02:32:17Z")
I’ve wondered if David Ross can expect a similar fate. Yeah, the Cubs were disappointing during the first half. But after their fire sale, and the club’s subsequent tanking, I wonder what kind of leeway they’ll give a first-year manager when the owners essentially sold the roster out from under him. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/142 "2021-08-24T02:44:23Z")
Wish I could award you SDMB Silver ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/143 "2021-08-24T02:46:41Z")
Yanks have won 10 straight! 2.5 game lead in Wild Card and 4 behind Tampa in the AL East race. (Who is also leading the Home Field Advantage race). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/144 "2021-08-24T02:47:42Z")
As an Angels fan we have the beginnings of an all Sushi team…Tim Salmon, Mike Trout, Hank Conger. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/145 "2021-08-24T03:04:18Z")
I had no idea a conger was a fish. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/146 "2021-08-24T03:14:33Z")
An eel. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/147 "2021-08-24T12:35:53Z")
TIL I learned that a conger eel is indeed a fish. Unfortunately, [Mike Carp](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carpmi01.shtml) didn’t play for the Angels. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/148 "2021-08-24T14:37:20Z")
They should also get Kevin Bass out of retirement. Sadly, Bobby Sturgeon has been dead for years. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/149 "2021-08-24T14:45:13Z")
If we can extend the theme to marine animals that aren’t technically fish, I’d nominate two former pitcher with excellent nicknames: - Rick “The Whale” Reuschel - Antonio “El Pulpo” Alfonseca (“El Pulpo” is Spanish for “the octopus”; Alfonseca had an extra finger on each hand, and an extra toe on each foot) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/150 "2021-08-25T11:43:53Z")
11 straight for the Yanks but boy was that a nail biter last night. The 9th was insanely long and bases loaded with full counts. Yanks extend Wild Card cushion to 4.5 games and remain 4 behind Tampa for best record in AL, tied for 2nd best. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/151 "2021-08-25T12:20:35Z")
I just wish Boone would let whoever does a good job in the 8th come back in the 9th. Chapman is just so unpredictable. Plus it’s hard to watch him, it looks like he’s hooked up to the same sweat machine that Robert Hays used in Airplane! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/152 "2021-08-25T12:22:05Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > it looks like he’s hooked up to the same sweat machine that Robert Hays used in Airplane! Damn Skippy, I was thinking the same thing last night. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/153 "2021-08-26T07:32:17Z")
15 innings and still no winner in LA/SD. Was 3-1 Dodgers in 15th, then Tatis hits 2-run homer. On to the 16th. (Yawns) 🥱 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/154 "2021-08-26T13:12:31Z")
Has a team ever wasted more great individual seasons than the Angels of the last ten years? How do you have a losing record with Shohei Ohtani on your team? The Orioles finally won. They had the least noted 19-game losing streak you can possibly imagine, though at this point I guess people just expect that of them. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/155 "2021-08-26T15:17:17Z")
And back to my team; Robbie Ray now leads the AL in pitching WAR. I don’t think that’s an illusion. He has been absolutely stellar. Whatever pitching coach Pete Walker has been working with him on, it’s been sensational; his career was in jeopardy with control issues when he come over from Arizona last year. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/156 "2021-08-27T03:33:05Z")
can the Mets get any more pathetic? 4 runs in the series against the Giants against the back end of the rotation. What about next year? No upgrades in the free agent class in LF and 2B, but if they could get Castellanos in RF AND Arendo at 3B, could live with Dom/JD in left and McNeil at 2nd, batting 6th and 7th. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/157 "2021-08-27T12:27:11Z")
The current Nats are now officially the worst major league team I’ve ever seen play (and I grew up watching the Senators). They are especially inept at routine fielding plays, Carter Kieboom probably being the worst offender in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/158 "2021-08-27T15:04:24Z")
Yanks on longest win streak since 1961. Chapman improving, the tying run in the 9th only got so far as second base last night. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/159 "2021-08-27T16:09:02Z")
Last night in a game in Seattle, Royals starter Brad Keller left the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth with an apparent elbow injury. He had just given up a solo homer which increased the Mariner lead to 2-0. Joel Payamps came in from the bullpen and finished the inning, but not before he allowed 3 hits, including a 2-run homer, which made the score 4-0 after five. The Royals then scored five in the top of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead; they added another run in the seventh and the final score was 6-4, KC. Richard Lovelady came in to pitch a scoreless sixth inning after the Royals took the lead. Ervin Santana pitched the seventh and eighth innings, also allowing no runs. Scott Barlow pitched a perfect ninth for the save. Santana was awarded the win, even though Payamps was the pitcher of record when KC took the lead for good. And Lovelady pitched before Santana. But the official scorer has discretion in a case like this, although it’s not used very often. From [mlb](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/win#:~:text=Definition,to%20qualify%20for%20the%20win.): > There is also a rarely used clause where an official scorer can deem a relief pitcher’s appearance “brief and ineffective.” (For example, if a reliever relinquished a one-run lead by allowing three runs, but was still in line for a win after his team scored four runs in the following inning – that may qualify.) If that’s the case, the scorer can award the win to a pitcher who followed that “brief and ineffective” pitcher. Which relief pitcher earns the win specifically is also up to the judgment of the official scorer. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783/160 "2021-08-27T18:42:03Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > 15 innings and still no winner in LA/SD. Was 3-1 Dodgers in 15th, then Tatis hits 2-run homer. On to the 16th. (Yawn.) It ended in 16, which is by far the longest game of the auto-runner era. (Previous record was 13.) The really amazing thing is that they played five scoreless extra innings from the 10th through the 14th. To go through ten consecutive auto-runner half-innings with no score, that is some stud relief pitching. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-august-2021/947783.md?page=9)