July 30 at The Stadium The Texas Rangers Play In in Arlington, TX
Fox Sports Southwest
Game 196 - Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins
July 30 at Marlins Park in Miami, FL
MASN
Max Scherzer was excellent, tossing seven shut out innings and Ryan Zimmerman launched a lead off, solo home run in a 1-0 Washington victory, but the story any time you listen to a Nationals game on MASN is F.P. Santangelo. And by "story" I mean "the thing you dislike the most."
Santangelo is like something that fell out of Vin Scully's ear.
The worst part about Santangelo, besides the fact that his name is "F.P.", is that he tries to be funny and just isn't.
For instance, after Bryce Harper doubled with two outs in the top of the first, F.P.S. said "there goes the no-hitter."
* He's also about as corny as commentators get, and commentators get really, really corny. Let's check out a young man I like to call Corn.P. Santangelo:
"It's like horseshoes and hand grenades (chuckle)"
(To the kids watching at home): "Get your uni dirty, make your parents wash it."
(On a long foul ball by Harper into the upper deck behind the first base dug out): "If that wall wasn't there, that's all the way back to the hotel."
* F.P.S. loves to use the word crossfire when talking about Scherzer's throwing motion. During a Christian Yelich at bat in the second he said: "he's a crossfire guy," "the crossfire affect," and "uphill crossfire affect."
Total "crossfires" - 5
* And finally, this was said: "I had nightmares of a zombie Kenny G coming to get me with a saxophone last night."
Pardon?
* Play-by-play man Bob Carpenter does not get to skip along to tomorrow's pre-game media meal without discussing his actions Thursday afternoon. First, Carpenter said the following after Zimmerman's HR: "that ball was hangin', and that ball was bangin', and later Bobby added this about Michael Taylor: "Michael's ability to get on base out of the 8-spot in the order will really help the Nats."
Taylor on-base percentage this season: .286.
MASN
Max Scherzer was excellent, tossing seven shut out innings and Ryan Zimmerman launched a lead off, solo home run in a 1-0 Washington victory, but the story any time you listen to a Nationals game on MASN is F.P. Santangelo. And by "story" I mean "the thing you dislike the most."
Santangelo is like something that fell out of Vin Scully's ear.
The worst part about Santangelo, besides the fact that his name is "F.P.", is that he tries to be funny and just isn't.
For instance, after Bryce Harper doubled with two outs in the top of the first, F.P.S. said "there goes the no-hitter."
* He's also about as corny as commentators get, and commentators get really, really corny. Let's check out a young man I like to call Corn.P. Santangelo:
"It's like horseshoes and hand grenades (chuckle)"
(To the kids watching at home): "Get your uni dirty, make your parents wash it."
(On a long foul ball by Harper into the upper deck behind the first base dug out): "If that wall wasn't there, that's all the way back to the hotel."
* F.P.S. loves to use the word crossfire when talking about Scherzer's throwing motion. During a Christian Yelich at bat in the second he said: "he's a crossfire guy," "the crossfire affect," and "uphill crossfire affect."
Total "crossfires" - 5
* And finally, this was said: "I had nightmares of a zombie Kenny G coming to get me with a saxophone last night."
Pardon?
* Play-by-play man Bob Carpenter does not get to skip along to tomorrow's pre-game media meal without discussing his actions Thursday afternoon. First, Carpenter said the following after Zimmerman's HR: "that ball was hangin', and that ball was bangin', and later Bobby added this about Michael Taylor: "Michael's ability to get on base out of the 8-spot in the order will really help the Nats."
Taylor on-base percentage this season: .286.
Game 195 - New York Yankees at Texas Rangers
July 29 at The Stadium The Texas Rangers Play In in Arlington, TX
Fox Sports Southwest
Fox Sports Southwest
Game 194 - New York Yankees at Texas Rangers
July 28 at The Stadium The Texas Rangers Play In in Arlington, TX
Fox Sports 1
The Yankees scored 21 runs and had a number of players with fantastic nights at the plate, but the real story was a guy who was called up from Triple-A just hours before the game began.
Diego Moreno came on in relief of Chris Capuano in the bottom of the first and in his second big league appearance proceeded to throw 5 1/3 no-hit innings in a 21-5 victory. Moreno was outstanding, permitting just a single walk while retiring 16 of the 17 batters he faced. But the reason Moreno entered the game at such an early stage is because Capuano was horrifying (2/3 IP, 5 BB, 5 ER).
I used to like Moreno only for the fact that he was part of the trade that sent A.J. Burnett away from New York forever, but now there's a second thing to like.
Anyway, the Yankees responded to the Rangers' five-run first with an 15-batter, 11-run top of the second and they led for the remainder of the night.
Some big offensive nights for several Yankees:
* Brett Gardner reached base six times, including a two-run home run against position player Adam Rosales in the ninth. Looking forward to Gardner-Rosales II, whenever it happens.
* Chris Young hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs.
* Didi Gregorius had four hits, including a three-run triple in the second & Brendan Ryan added two doubles in one inning and drove in three runs on the night.
* Alex Rodriguez reached base five times, including an RBI-double in that ridiculous second inning.
And completely lost in all the offense was Adam Warren, who tossed three perfect innings to close out the blowout win.
Baseball Phrases!
The broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt & Tom Verducci had a fine night as well:
"Ground ball specialist:"
"Grand salami"
"Up for a cup of coffee"
"The hit parade continues"
"Nugget"
"Stopper"
"Mound presence"
"Derek Jeter's shadow"
"Glove doctor"
Fox Sports 1
The Yankees scored 21 runs and had a number of players with fantastic nights at the plate, but the real story was a guy who was called up from Triple-A just hours before the game began.
Diego Moreno came on in relief of Chris Capuano in the bottom of the first and in his second big league appearance proceeded to throw 5 1/3 no-hit innings in a 21-5 victory. Moreno was outstanding, permitting just a single walk while retiring 16 of the 17 batters he faced. But the reason Moreno entered the game at such an early stage is because Capuano was horrifying (2/3 IP, 5 BB, 5 ER).
I used to like Moreno only for the fact that he was part of the trade that sent A.J. Burnett away from New York forever, but now there's a second thing to like.
Anyway, the Yankees responded to the Rangers' five-run first with an 15-batter, 11-run top of the second and they led for the remainder of the night.
Some big offensive nights for several Yankees:
* Brett Gardner reached base six times, including a two-run home run against position player Adam Rosales in the ninth. Looking forward to Gardner-Rosales II, whenever it happens.
* Chris Young hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs.
* Didi Gregorius had four hits, including a three-run triple in the second & Brendan Ryan added two doubles in one inning and drove in three runs on the night.
* Alex Rodriguez reached base five times, including an RBI-double in that ridiculous second inning.
And completely lost in all the offense was Adam Warren, who tossed three perfect innings to close out the blowout win.
Baseball Phrases!
The broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt & Tom Verducci had a fine night as well:
"Ground ball specialist:"
"Grand salami"
"Up for a cup of coffee"
"The hit parade continues"
"Nugget"
"Stopper"
"Mound presence"
"Derek Jeter's shadow"
"Glove doctor"
Game 193 - Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco Giants
July 27 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA
NBC Bay Area
Mike Krukow Baseball Phrases
"A good sniff of that baseball"
"Defensive pearl"
"Makes the lineup longer"
NBC Bay Area
Mike Krukow Baseball Phrases
"A good sniff of that baseball"
"Defensive pearl"
"Makes the lineup longer"
Game 192 - New York Yankees at Texas Rangers
July 27 at Global Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, TX
Fox Sports Southwest
Let me quickly get one thing out of the way - Global Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, Texas?
No.
I'm not going to call it that. I'm calling the stadium the Rangers play in The Stadium The Texas Rangers Play In (In Arlington).
Couple other thoughts from New York's 6-2 victory:
1. The Texas announcers talked about Robinson Chirinos' four-game hitting streak. There is no such thing as a four-game hitting streak. You just got a hit in four consecutive games; that's one long series, or one three-game series and then you singled in the first game of the next series. I think a player has to get to about eight games before we start talking about "streaks".
2. Yankees' catcher Brian McCann, a former Atlanta Brave, came up to the plate in the sixth and eighth innings and you could hear Braves Tomahawk chants from somewhere in the stands. The last place I expected not only Braves fans, but Brian McCann fans? Arlington, Texas. Second-to-last place? Atlanta.
Fox Sports Southwest
Let me quickly get one thing out of the way - Global Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, Texas?
No.
I'm not going to call it that. I'm calling the stadium the Rangers play in The Stadium The Texas Rangers Play In (In Arlington).
Couple other thoughts from New York's 6-2 victory:
1. The Texas announcers talked about Robinson Chirinos' four-game hitting streak. There is no such thing as a four-game hitting streak. You just got a hit in four consecutive games; that's one long series, or one three-game series and then you singled in the first game of the next series. I think a player has to get to about eight games before we start talking about "streaks".
2. Yankees' catcher Brian McCann, a former Atlanta Brave, came up to the plate in the sixth and eighth innings and you could hear Braves Tomahawk chants from somewhere in the stands. The last place I expected not only Braves fans, but Brian McCann fans? Arlington, Texas. Second-to-last place? Atlanta.
Game 191 - Rockdale Post 77 (GA) vs. Covington Post 32 (GA)
July 26 at Bobby Boss Stadium in Loganville, GA
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2015/jul/26/rockdale-post-77-wins-state-baseball-championship/?sports
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2015/jul/26/rockdale-post-77-wins-state-baseball-championship/?sports
Game 190 - New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
July 25 at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN
YES Network
This was probably my favorite Yankees game of the last three years. Alex Rodriguez homered three times, including the tying solo shot off Glen Perkins in the top of the ninth, and later in the inning backup catcher J.R. Murphy hit an opposite field, three-run home run off Perkins to give the Yankees an 8-5 victory.
Oh, and New York trailed 5-0 early and 5-1 heading into the seventh. And it was Murphy's first home run of the season. What a win.
After seeing it live, I then watched the Murphy home run seven times later in the evening/early morning. I may have danced after a few of the replays. I call it the J.R. Murphy Dance.
I'm going to watch it several dozen more times over what could be several weeks, so let's keep a running count.
Murphy HR - total: 19
Watched live: 1
Replays:
July 25-26: 7
July 27: 4 (afternoon), 3 (evening/pre-game for Monday's game)
July 28: 2 (evening)
August 2: 2 (afternoon)
YES Network
This was probably my favorite Yankees game of the last three years. Alex Rodriguez homered three times, including the tying solo shot off Glen Perkins in the top of the ninth, and later in the inning backup catcher J.R. Murphy hit an opposite field, three-run home run off Perkins to give the Yankees an 8-5 victory.
Oh, and New York trailed 5-0 early and 5-1 heading into the seventh. And it was Murphy's first home run of the season. What a win.
After seeing it live, I then watched the Murphy home run seven times later in the evening/early morning. I may have danced after a few of the replays. I call it the J.R. Murphy Dance.
I'm going to watch it several dozen more times over what could be several weeks, so let's keep a running count.
Murphy HR - total: 19
Watched live: 1
Replays:
July 25-26: 7
July 27: 4 (afternoon), 3 (evening/pre-game for Monday's game)
July 28: 2 (evening)
August 2: 2 (afternoon)
Games 188-189 - Bunting!
July 24
Rockdale Post 77 (GA) vs. Albany Post 30 (GA)
Covington Post 32 (GA) vs. Leesburg Post 182 (GA)
Bobby Boss Stadium in Loganville, GA
Rockdale and Covington, two American Legion teams separated by about 15 miles, each stayed unbeaten in the Georgia state tournament and will meet Saturday in the winner's bracket final. Based on the first two days of this double-elimination tournament, 77 and 32 are clearly the top two teams in the state, and regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game, I fully expect to see a repeat match up for the title a day later.
Of course, the loser will have to win once in the loser's bracket, then beat its area rival twice to win the championship.
Leesburg, which lost 21-10, trailed 11-4 in the bottom of the fifth when Robbie Feagans led off with a single. Carlton Ogletree was then asked to sacrifice Feagans to second, and he was successful. Here are all of my problems with this strategy:
1. Leesburg had 15 outs left and they chose to just give one to Covington.
"Here you go, Covington, take one of our outs, we don't need, want or care about them," said someone.
2. Leesburg trailed 11-4. They were down seven in the fifth inning and PLAYING FOR ONE RUN.
3. If you think Covington is all finished scoring at 11 runs, then playing for one run per inning means you trail 11-9 after nine innings.
4. Games only last nine innings.
5. Covington certainly wasn't finished scoring runs, because they are
- the defending state champions
- very good again this year and scoring a ton of runs (and about ready to add 10 more runs over the next four innings)
Anyway, guess which team didn't score in that inning?
I don't think bunting is a completely terrible strategy, it has its moments, But none of those moments are "down 7 with 15 outs left".
Rockdale Post 77 (GA) vs. Albany Post 30 (GA)
Covington Post 32 (GA) vs. Leesburg Post 182 (GA)
Bobby Boss Stadium in Loganville, GA
Rockdale and Covington, two American Legion teams separated by about 15 miles, each stayed unbeaten in the Georgia state tournament and will meet Saturday in the winner's bracket final. Based on the first two days of this double-elimination tournament, 77 and 32 are clearly the top two teams in the state, and regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game, I fully expect to see a repeat match up for the title a day later.
Of course, the loser will have to win once in the loser's bracket, then beat its area rival twice to win the championship.
Leesburg, which lost 21-10, trailed 11-4 in the bottom of the fifth when Robbie Feagans led off with a single. Carlton Ogletree was then asked to sacrifice Feagans to second, and he was successful. Here are all of my problems with this strategy:
1. Leesburg had 15 outs left and they chose to just give one to Covington.
"Here you go, Covington, take one of our outs, we don't need, want or care about them," said someone.
2. Leesburg trailed 11-4. They were down seven in the fifth inning and PLAYING FOR ONE RUN.
3. If you think Covington is all finished scoring at 11 runs, then playing for one run per inning means you trail 11-9 after nine innings.
4. Games only last nine innings.
5. Covington certainly wasn't finished scoring runs, because they are
- the defending state champions
- very good again this year and scoring a ton of runs (and about ready to add 10 more runs over the next four innings)
Anyway, guess which team didn't score in that inning?
I don't think bunting is a completely terrible strategy, it has its moments, But none of those moments are "down 7 with 15 outs left".
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