Cubs got swept by the Cards in Wrigley for the first time since 1998.
A wild Nationals at Dodgers game this evening.
The Dodger defense participated in two Alphonse and Gaston (“After YOU”, AKA “I’VE got it, YOU take it”) plays in the top of the fifth. Nationals pitcher Joe Ross led off and hit a pop foul among 2B Chase Utley, RF Yasiel Puig, and 1B Adrian Gonzalez. MLB kindly posted the video here. With two out and runners on first and second in a 2-2 game, Bryce Harper hit a pop foul between third base and the Dodgers dugout. 3B Justin Turner and C Yasmani Grandal ran over to catch it. The easily-catchable ball fell untouched. A costly mistake? Somehow no, because Harper obligingly hit another pop foul, which Turner caught to end the threat.
In the bottom of the ninth, with one out, the bases empty, and the Dodgers behind 3-2, PH Howie Kendrick singled to center. The next batter, Puig, also singled to center. However, CF Michael Taylor took his eye off the ball and it went under his glove to the fence as Jayson Werth futilely scampered over from left field. Kendrick scored – and so did Puig, the “Wild Horse”, scoring with a flying belly-flop. The Dodgers won 4-3. See here.
As for the Nationals leadoff hitter Michael Taylor, he went 0-5, striking out swinging each time, before committing his first error of the season. At least his team remains in first place, 3-1/2 games ahead of the Mets.
In other news: Glad to see that Ichiro Suzuki got another hit (42 of 48 = singles) and is now at 2983 in MLB. Whatever the fans may think of statistics compilers, Ichiro is hitting .350 and has not (yet) committed an error.
“Little League” home run is right! Once Puig rounded first and saw that Taylor had missed that grounder, he was heading home no matter what. The belly-flop at the end wasn’t a slide - it was the only way he could stop short of the dugout!
Yow. If 3 strikeouts is a hat trick, and 4 is the Golden Sombrero, what do you get for 5? The Platinum Pope Hat?
From Wikipedia:
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
The “Olympic Rings” or platinum sombrero applies to a player striking out five times in a game, while a horn (after Sam Horn of the Baltimore Orioles, who accomplished the feat in an extra-inning game in 1991), titanium sombrero or double platinum sombrero is bestowed upon a player who strikes out six times in a single game.
[/QUOTE]
Not mentioned is that Alex Gonzales is the only one who did it in 6 PAs.
Page on Baseball-Reference
Cool stuff, Thudlow…thanks! (I first heard Golden Sombrero used by Mike Krukow but I should’ve known he didn’t coin the phrase.)
Don’t look now, but the hottest* team in baseball is your San Francisco Giants. 20-9 since May 10.
*if they’re not, I’d like to know who’s hotter.
The Rangers, who I read today have gone 25-7 in their last 32?
Whoa. OK…asked & answered. 
Going purely from memory, but I think that Cleveland has been undefeated at home this month.
You’re correct; and they’re on the road for the rest of the month. 8-0 in June at home.
Yes, 11-0 at home, and 15-6 this month overall, which is also a (slightly) better winning percentage than the Giants’ recent 20-9 run. Though of course shorter.
Except you got your numbers wrong. The Giants aren’t 20-9 since May 10.
They’re 30-9.
Until their loss in Pittsburgh the other night, the Giants’ winning percentage over the past month was their best since their arrival in San Francisco.
Jeffry Marte’s bat left his grip in the 9th inning of the Oakland-Anaheim game tonight, and it took out the home plate umpire. It looks pretty nasty:
And the Mariners continue to collapse just like everybody IRL told me they would.
Damn, did the ump have his headgear off or something?
I think it was the second Mariners game I ever saw in person, at the old Kingdome (1993?) … I lucked into “box seats”. I was sitting in the third row, almost directly behind home plate, for a Randy Johnson start against the KC Royals.
A Royals relief pitcher drilled the home plate ump right in the nuts.
Poor guy was on the ground for 20 minutes before the game resumed.
I saw that live, up close, and Emmel’s injury still looks worse.
Remember when the Phillies were 20-15? Well, they’re 11-28 since then. They did win yesterday to end a 9 game skid. But I’d say their season is now toast, like we knew it would be.
The Red Sox were the first team in a long time to not score a hundred runs against James Shields yesterday, but they still pulled out a much needed win.
Cubs still have the best record in MLB, but the Rangers and Giants are closing in.
Fucking even year