It used to be the Home Run was the most exciting play in the game of baseball, but at this pace, the 2019 MLB season is becoming so much of a routine event that it’s like “an intoxication of eating too much candy”. Last season, there was a total of 5,585 home runs hit among all 30 teams, but that is not the record for a single season. The record for a single season was established in 2017 with 6,105. Today, we are on a pace for 6,514 or more.
On Sunday, the Washington Nationals hit four straight home runs off of pitcher Craig Stammen. It was the ninth time in MLB history a team has hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers. On Monday, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies hit 13 home runs at Citizens Bank Park. The D-Backs finished with eight home runs while the Phillies hit five for the new major league record.
A major league ball is supposed to weight between 5 and 5 1/4 ounces. Nowadays, pitchers throw harder than ever, and hitters have the launch angle mode, which is the perfect storm as managers really do not have to use a lot of strategies. It is all about Earl Weaver’s favorite play, the three-run homer. The game has changed and the ball has also “changed”.
#1 How key has Golden State’s Draymond Green for this Golden State team? He has been called the quarterback of the team.
#2 Green was called for a foul on the Toronto Raptors’ Pascal Siakam. It was Green who said he would stop Siakam after he scored 32 points on Green in Game 1 and got an earful from rapper Drake on the way back to the dressing room after the game.
#3 What happened to the A’s? They’ve lost five straight games after winning 10 straight and are in Anaheim vs. the LA Angels for three straight games the A’s snapped the losing streak with a win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
#4 The Philadelphia Phillies’ Jay Bruce was added to their lineup for some power, but low and behold former San Francisco Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who tore his ACL and will be out for the rest of the season. The Phillies, who are in first place by a half game over the Braves, will miss McCutchen’s bat out of the lineup.
#5 Back to basketball, how does Golden State handle the absence of a couple of their key players Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant?
Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:
#1 The Golden State Warriors, who had lost four of their last six games, got a stunning win in Philadelphia against the 76ers 120-117. The Warriors needed the win to stay on top in the Western Conference. They now lead the Denver Nuggets by 1 1/2 games who the Warriors play on Friday. They also struggled against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night and play the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.
#2 Was it stupid or did it make sense for the Philadelphia Phillies to sign Bryce Harper to a 13-year, $330 million deal?
#3 How much of a measuring stick will San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner be and how effective will he be for the Giants?
#4 Down to 45 players on the spring roster, the Oakland A’s need to cut 20 more players before the regular season starts. How much confidence do you have Bob Melvin’s selections when the regular season nears?
#5 The A’s haven’t given up on Kyler Murray. They feel he will come back to baseball and it’s their hope he will play ball for them. What are the chances?
#1 Does Kyler Murray’s decision to leave the Oakland A’s for the NFL Draft or will he be a two sport player much like Bo Jackson and Dieon Sanders?
#2 How serious are the Philadelphia Phillies about pursuing Bryce Harper and does Amaury think they’ve got the best chance of acquiring him?
#3 How much does it take out of ball clubs when they open the season in Tokyo because of the distance the A’s open this season in Japan. Do the players enjoy the trip and do they find it productive and challenging?
#4 San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is still in the shopping sweepstakes. No deals yet, but plenty of interest.
#5 Manny Machado has an seven-year deal on the table that could be as huge as 13 years at $325 million from the Chicago White Sox. Will it be too good to pass up?
#6 White House treated the Clemson Tigers to lunch with hamburgers boxes from Wendy’s, McDonalds, and Burger King on silver platters with paper napkins and plastic containers of mustard, mayo, and ketchup. Could Trump have served better food for lunch.
The season, A’s fans, has just thirteen games left to play.The A’s who have not been playing well since the big trade on July 31st have no chance of winning the AL West division. The division will be won by the Los Angeles Angels who have the best record in baseball(93-56). The A’s however can make the playoffs as either the first wildcard or the second wildcard. The A’s won the last two games played in Seattle and with Kansas City losing to Boston Sunday, have given themselves a little breathing room over the Royals who trail the A’s by 1.5 games for the top wildcard slot. The Royals have a game lead over Seattle for the second wildcard spot and Seattle is now 2.5 games behind the A’s and one game behind the Royals. The team with the top wildcard spot will host the one game playoff to decide which team advances to the AL Division Series.
The A’s, as mentioned above ,have thirteen games left to play. Nine of the games will be at home and the last four will be on the road at Texas. The A’s start the nine game home stand against the aforementioned Rangers. The Rangers have had a season of turmoil. Their pitching staff has been decimated by injury and they also lost Prince Fielder, who was their big off-season acquisition, to injury and he was lost for the year. Their manager, Ron Washington, has resigned for personal reasons.
Washington won two AL Pennants and had made the Rangers into a very good time during his tenure as manager.The A’s cannot take the Rangers lightly and the Rangers would love to knock the A’s out of the playoffs. A’s manager Bob Melvin has adjusted his pitching rotation so that Sonny Gray will pitch game three of this series and Gray will pitch again against Texas in the last game of the regular season. What this means is that Jon Lester will be pitching in the one game playoff for the A’s. Jon has a reputation as a big game pitcher and has two World Series rings to show for it. Also, Lester was named AL player of the week as he went 2-0 with an ERA of 1.29.
The pitching match ups for the Texas series will be Scott Kazmir (14-8,3.32) going against Nick Tepesch(4-10,4.47) on Tuesday. Wednesday’s pitchers will be Jeff Samardzija (4-5,3.41) against Derek Holland(1-0, 0.86). Holland was a regular starter for Texas but he missed almost all of the season due to injury but be can be one tough customer and the A’s know it. They know beating Holland will not be easy. The Thursday game will feature Sonny Gray (13-8,3.18) against Nick Martinez)3-11,4.93.)
The A’s then play three inter-league games with the NL East last place Philadelphia Phillies. The Philies are 69-80 for the year but they would love nothing better than to come here and beat the A’s and knock them out of the playoffs. The A’s then finish the home stand against the Angels who, by the time the three games series will be played, should have the clinched the division crown. The A’s the travel to Texas to play a four game series and finish the season.
The A’s have been on a roller coaster ride this season. They had the best record in baseball the first four months of the season but they stopped hitting in late July and have not played well the last six weeks. They have played a lot of one run games during that span and lost most of them as they could not buy a key hit or get anything going to turn the slide around. They took two out of three from Seattle over the weekend and they did not get beat by Felix Hernandez. Hernandez pitched well but the A’s won the game after his departure. Hopefully, they will not have to face him in the one game playoff. What the A’s need is for the team to step up their game. Do the little things that win games. Small ball if necessary,for sure. Good defense is a must. The A’s have been making costly errors during the downturn and that has to stop. Good pitching is a must. The starters must get their “A” game going and the bullpen has to do its job when called upon and lastly clutch hitting. If they can put all those ingredients together, they can go far in the playoffs. If not, it will be a long winter wondering about what might have been. It’s time for the fans to come out to the park and back the team with all the support and noise that they can provide and let’s hear them chant “let’s go Oakland.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.–The struggles for the Giants continue as they were defeated Friday night 5-3 in ten innings by the slumping Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants entered the night looking to get two consecutive wins at home for the first time since they went on a five-game winning streak to begin June. San Francisco has lost six of their last seven and 14 of their last 20 games, while Philadelphia was coming into the contest losing five of their last six.
The Giants had high hopes early on, as Madison Bumgarner started the game hot, striking out four of the first six batters. Bumgarner had a perfect game into the fourth inning, until Jimmy Rollins broke it up with a bloop single right over the head of Joe Panik, whose diving attempt wasn’t good enough, as it tipped off of his glove. Bumgarner would be able to get out of the inning fairly quickly after a controversial call at 3rd when Rollins broke for 3rd, but Bumgarner picked him off. Review would confirm the call.
Cole Hamels was the starting pitcher on the other side, and he came into the contest being one of the hottest pitchers in all of baseball, coming into the contest throwing 7 or more innings while only giving up one earned run over his last five starts. He gave up three hits in the first three innings, but the Giants weren’t able to do anything about it.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning when the Giants got on the scoreboard. Buster Posey started off the inning with a single. He would be moved to third when Pablo Sandoval hit a ground rule double to left-center field. This would bring up Michael Morse, who in his first at-bat stroke one 400 ft to right, but it was to the deepest part of the ballpark. Morse would get a hold of another one, as he sent a moon shot to left that landed ten rows up the bleachers over the 382 mark. Giants’ Manager, Bruce Bochy praised Morse “He had some great At-Bats for us tonight”. The Giants were up 3-0 at the end of the 4th.
Bumgarner’s only hiccup out his outing came in the fifth inning, when the very first batter, Maron Byrd, would get one back for the Phillies on a solo shot to left field bringing the Giants’ lead to 3-1. It was Byrd’s 23rd home run of the year, leading the Phillies and is third in the National League. Bumgarner would buckle down not allowing another run the rest of his outing. Bumgarner had a line of seven innings pitched, surrendering one run on four hits while striking out nine. Eight of the nine strikeouts were earned from swinging strikes. He earned just his third quality start of the season at home and the first since June 10. “It feels nice to throw good at home, it’s been a while,” commented Bumgarner. Bochy added “Bum, what a great job”.
The Giants had a couple of chances to add to their lead, their most promising was in the sixth inning, when Brandon Crawford was up with Gregor Blanco on third. San Francisco tried to play a safety squeeze that went wrong. A bad bunt from Crawford plus bad base running from Blanco took away their chance. Blanco read the play wrong and tried to break for the plate, when he relalized that he wouldn’t make it, he tried to get back to third where he was thrown out by Hamel. “ There needs to be a fine line between being aggressive and being smart,” said Bochy.
The Phillies took advantage of the two-time all star leaving the game, as they tied the game up in the eighth inning. Jeremy Affeldt gave up a base hit to Darin Ruf to start the inning, and Cody Asche followed up by hitting his first home run of his career at AT&T Park driving it just over the right field wall to the first row of the arcade. Bumgarner mentioned that “It looked like his foot slipped on that pitch”, to which he added “it would have affected me”. For Affeldt, it was the first home run he’s given up in over a calendar year (June 28, 2013 vs. San Diego) and the first one to a left-handed batter since April 24, 2011.
The score was tied heading into the eighth where the Giants had yet another chance. This time with two outs and Sandoval on second base. Panik lined one to right field for the base hit, but the Giants took the chance to bring home Sandoval, where he was embarrassingly thrown out by ten feet. “We haven’t been scoring that much lately, so we took the chance, and he (Byrd) made a perfect throw,” added Bochy.
The Giants wouldn’t receive another great scoring chance, as the Phillies took the lead in the tenth inning when Chase Utley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give the Phillies the lead. Ryan Howard would extend the lead to 5-3 on a sacrifice fly that went to the warning track in left field.
The Giants hope to turn this terrible streak at home around, where they have gone 8-23 in the last 31 home games. This compares to their 22-9 record at home for their first 31 game at home. Even with Friday night’s loss the Giants didn’t lose any ground in the playoff race, as both the Dodgers (5.5 back of NL West) and Pirates (0.5 back of 2nd Wild Card) lost.
Tomorrow the Giants will try to get revenge on the Phillies in the second game of the three game set, where Tim Hudson will take the bump facing off against Kyle Kendrick.
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