2024 Regular Season- First Half

[Harold]

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Brina & Lance; There's still a lot of baseball to play. Hope Cubs & Twins can win some series!

Have only been able to occasionally check gameday for Padres box score. So far 3 wins over Braves sin..."
Add me to the moon shot.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Harold wrote: "Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Brina & Lance; There's still a lot of baseball to play. Hope Cubs & Twins can win some series!

Have only been able to occasionally check gameday for Padres box score. So ..."

Thanks; Harold! Wow! Just checked the standings & Phillies have best win/loss in baseball over Dodgers & Braves. Most likely will be in the playoffs :)

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Ashley Marie wrote: "I'm actually surprised the Guardians swept the Twins. The bats have definitely been quieter since Steven Kwan went on the IL and despite continued boneheaded baserunning (and fielding - they wouldn..."

Ashley Marie...Even though Cleveland has had a few off games think they still have the talent to finish strong!

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Final post today: RJ...with Ohtani the Dodgers most likely will make it to WS & if Padres are out of playoffs (I dont have my heart set on that happening!) I told my sister I'd be rooting for Dodgers. After all they were first team her & I followed as kids back in late 1950's & before 1969 when Padres were still minor league team. She's always been a "True Blue" Dodgers fan!

[Lance]

Geez, now Pablo Lopez is struggling. Gave up 7 runs in 5 innings, Twins lose to the Nats 12-3. 7 straight losses now. Wednesday night can’t come fast enough - Timberwolves vs Mavericks in game 1 of the Western Conference finals. Has to be better than these performances by the Twins.

[Ashley Marie]

Another win to start the series vs the Mets. I suppose I’ll stomach defensive miscues as long as Cleveland ends up with the W but man is it nerve-wracking.

[C. John]

Card Corner is a player I know very well, Jesse Barfield.

https://baseballhall.org/discover/car...

[Brina]

I remember him. Not too old for me.

[Brina]

Cubs got worse with stupid personnel decisions and they didn’t even play today sheesh.

[Harold]

Ashley Marie wrote: "Another win to start the series vs the Mets. I suppose I’ll stomach defensive miscues as long as Cleveland ends up with the W but man is it nerve-wracking."
I read about that double play when JD hit got caught in a run-down on a grounder to ben Lively. Ben was a Phillies product. I'm amazed at how well our rejects, for want of a better term are doing. I never expected him to thrive. Nor did I think Cole Irvin would either. And Nick Pivetta has been fairly solid for the red Sox.

[Ashley Marie]

Harold wrote: "Ben was a Phillies product. I'm amazed at how well our rejects, for want of a better term are doing. I never expected him to thrive. Nor did I think Cole Irvin would either. And Nick Pivetta has been fairly solid for the red Sox."

I tend to see this happen with ex-Cleveland players too - we can't figure them out, as much as we want them to do well, and as soon as they're off with another team (often the Yankees) they mash lol

[Matthew]

Hey Brina- I follow the Cubs as closely as possible from New Jersey, but in the end, I don't get much access to the local papers.

What boneheaded decision did they make this time? On the field, the team looks to be heading in the right direction.

[Brina]

Guys came off the DL so they had to option 2 people. One is actually nicknamed Bonehead in my house because his name is Mastrobuoni and it fits. So that was right. The other guy they optioned Crow-Armstrong has no business being back in the minors. He earned the right to be in majors. The guy they should have optioned Madrigal is foil to Bonehead, equally crap. And why Crow-Armstrong shouldn’t be option- because starting lf Happ is legitimately playing like crap. If the reason was more at bats, here’s an idea- send Happ to minors for a week to clear up his head. As to why Madrigal is still on team and PCA is not, fans have no idea and have been tearing up fan websites asking for the GM to change his mind.

[C. John]

I have sometimes wondered about that with the Jays but it usually turns out be be that one guy is out of options and the other isn't. Also if whoever doesn't go down is really only going to get the occassional turn at bat or innings pitch they will sent the better guy down to give him more work than he would have gotten if he had been up.

[Brina]

But guy sent down playing better than cubs everyday players so he should be in regular lineup. I still don’t understand this logic.

[Lance]

Is he fairly new and they are manipulating service time to delay arbitration for a year - like they did with Bryant?

[Lance]

Ex-Twins, for the most part, do well in their new spots. Example #1 this year is Sonny Gray - 6-2 with a 2.87 ERA and that’s with a couple of righ starts in May

[Brina]

He came up last year too. This is example of front office being clueless. Service time manipulation is now sort of illegal according to last CBA.

[Lance]

Well, that was a game the Twins needed - broke the losing streak in a 10-0 laugher vs the Nationals. Offense came alive with 4 homers and Ryan looked terrific- 7 innings with only 3 hits allowed. Not looking for another 12 game winning streak, but some more consistent play would be nice. This streakiness is killing me!

[Brina]

And Crow-Armstrong just homered in first at bat tonight back in aaa whereas cubs outfielders tonight are collectively 1-9.

[Ashley Marie]

The Guardians keep rolling with another win over the Mets. I’m still go smacked by how hot David Fry has been lately 🍟

[Lance]

Twins win the series in Washington. Like how Simeon Woods Richardson has been pitching since his longer call up. Couple more home runs, and Duran gave up a home run but got the save. The home run came on a splitter - which the coaching staff wants him to throw more often. Well, they get the big bucks to do that - but when he was getting guys out with his 100+ mph stuff, why are they asking him to throw more breaking balls?

[Harold]

7th sweep today for the Phillies. 37 and 14. On

[Brina]

Ugh 2-5 on home stand. The entire team has stopped hitting at a time when most of the pitching staff has been lights out. It is agonizing to watch and I wish that the front office would make an old fashioned baseball trade to shake things up.

[Brina]

Checking in. There’s been no activity all day and I was seeing how everyone is doing. Memorial Day weekend is usually viewed as the first benchmark of the year. My team is mediocre as usual and the same can be said about a lot of teams. It should make for some exciting pennant races down the road.

[Lance]

I’m here. Didn’t watch any baseball yesterday. Wrapped up in the NBA playoffs. Although…UNP sent me an interesting (so far) book on Harry Dalton, the former GM of the O’s, Angels and Brewers. Love the title - “Leave While The Party’s Good.”

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Padres are 10-16 at home but are much better on the road 17-10. Teams morale has improved since Arreaz was signed. Bogearts was finally getting hits but now out indefinitely with shoulder fracture. Yankees in San Diego for 3 days. Should be intersting as 1st time Soto's back at Petco.

[Lance]

Arreaz was also very popular in the Twins clubhouse, so no surprise he’s had the same effect for the Padres.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Lance wrote: "Arreaz was also very popular in the Twins clubhouse, so no surprise he’s had the same effect for the Padres."

Arreaz has mentioned during interviews that he's really enjoying playing at Petco. Huge, enthusiastic crowds which is very different from Marlins home games!

[C. John]

I've been about. Was tempted to keep a running commentary going on what albums I was listening to but I didn't. Probably been paying a bit more attention to the Football and politics in England.

[C. John]

Brina wrote: "Checking in. There’s been no activity all day and I was seeing how everyone is doing. Memorial Day weekend is usually viewed as the first benchmark of the year. My team is mediocre as usual and the..."

May also make for an interesting trade deadline as well. There's a school of thought that says if the Blue Jays don't pull themselves out of the funk they are they might just be sellers as the deadline.

[Harold]

C. John wrote: "Brina wrote: "Checking in. There’s been no activity all day and I was seeing how everyone is doing. Memorial Day weekend is usually viewed as the first benchmark of the year. My team is mediocre as..."
There is a lot of talk that Guerrero and Bichette will be up for trade.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Final post today: RJ...with Ohtani the Dodgers most likely will make it to WS & if Padres are out of playoffs (I dont have my heart set on that happening!) I told my sister I'd be rooting for Dodge..."

Aww, Peggy that's so nice! Thank you. And I wish I had the faith in them that you do. It seems like the last few years they've just been lackluster in the playoffs, although they've had a lot of injuries too, so I'm just hoping they are at least competitive this year.

But I wouldn't write off the Padres yet. There is a lot of talent on that team, and they often pull off impactful mid-season trades. Let's see how things look in July.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Harold wrote: "There is a lot of talk that Guerrero and Bichette will be up for trade."

Bo Bichette - or as I prefer to call him: "Boba Chette" (Star Wars fans will appreciate) - always makes me laugh. He's got SO MUCH TALENT but absolutely no plate discipline whatsoever. Like Bellinger in his final years with the Dodgers he just swings wildly at the first three pitches he sees, regardless of location. Supposedly some of the folks around the team have taken to calling him "Bo-and-2" but maybe "Bo-and-3" would be more appropriate.

By the way Howard, congratulations on how the Phillies are playing. Hopefully they aren't peaking too early.

[Harold]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Harold wrote: "There is a lot of talk that Guerrero and Bichette will be up for trade."

Bo Bichette - or as I prefer to call him: "Boba Chette" (Star Wars fans will appreciate) - always makes me l..."

LOL! RJ. The only problem with the 37-15 record is that they played all but three games against teams with a .500 or below winning percentage, Still, I think we will be meeting the Dodgers in the NLCS. I fear that staff, especially when Bobby Miller is healthy and Kershaw comes back. And Ohtani will go crazy when it comes to winning it all.

[C. John]

If the Dodgers do Dodgers things this year then they will choke in the playoffs after spending all their energy compiling the rest record during the regular season.

[C. John]

I have heard rumours about Guerrero being traded but not so much for Bichette. I think management woud get lynched if they traded both. Guerrero doesn't seem to have matched up to all the hype and may simply need a change of scenary.

[Lance]

Twins wi. Continuing the streaky ways - 4 wins in a row. Assured a series win. And…Royce Lewis starts his rehab assignment tonight. DHing for St. Paul in Buffalo tonight. I’d have made a the drive to go there and found a cheap place to stay had I heard that before today’s Twins game.

[Brina]

So not only are the Cubs playing like trash right now, but the Cardinals are up to their tricks- waiting out a rain delay for hours. I’m here waiting and at the rate I’m going will not be watching. They pull this all the time especially against divisional opponents on travel days. How MLB allows it, I have no idea.

[C. John]

Brina, had the game started? Once the game has actually started things such as rain delays are actually under the control of the umpiring crew, rather than the team. The team can only call for a rain delay if the game hasn't started yet. I didn't know that until we got into a rain delay situation in Toronto.

[Brina]

It had not started. The start was delayed and the game just started now. The Reds also do this which is why I no longer buy tickets in advance. I wait for day of game to see how the weather is first.

[C. John]

Probably not a bad idea actually.

[Ashley Marie]

Another sweep for the Guardians. I'll be so glad when they're done with west coast games; today was afternoon but the evening games are all weird start times, if not after 10pm then 9:38 or something like that. Jose Ramirez is on a tear, pitching continues to be excellent, and if I had to pick an underrated bat I'd probably name David Fry. Nobody expected him to roll into 2024 blasting monster homers, but here he is (not today, but he's been crazy good at the plate all month).

[Lance]

Acuna out for then season - torn ACL. Was a strange play where the injury occurred. Acuna was daring the catcher to throw him out on a toss back to the pitcher. When Acuna saw the catcher fired the ball back to the pitcher he twisted the knee trying to get back to 2nd. Looked very painful

[Lance]

Ashley, trying to run away with the division in May? Loss for the Twins yesterday but still won the series. Now to face the other hot AL Central team, KC.

[Brina]

Cubs keep playing like a four letter word. Well not the pitching, just position players. Now have 7 straight divisional games this week after a late night last night and I feel it’s already make or break time.

[Lance]

I’m not as concerned. Despite the streakiness, Twins are in a wild card slot. And the ALWest is looking like last year’s AL Central

[Ashley Marie]

Lance wrote: "Ashley, trying to run away with the division in May? Loss for the Twins yesterday but still won the series. Now to face the other hot AL Central team, KC."

I'm interested to see how Cleveland fares against KC here soon!

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Harold wrote: "...I think we will be meeting the Dodgers in the NLCS. I fear that staff, especially when Bobby Miller is healthy and Kershaw comes back. And Ohtani will go crazy when it comes to winning it all."

I sure wish I shared your optimism. It feels like the last few years everyone's arm has fallen off right before, or during, the postseason. Miller should be back by then, unless he turns out to need TJ surgery. We usually have two starters each year who have to undergo TJ surgery, and Emmet Sheehan has already claimed the first spot.

Kershaw won't be back until at least August, but after shoulder surgery I have no idea what we could expect from him.

As for Ohtani, we'll see. A few years ago everyone thought the same thing about Yu Darvish and look at how that turned out in the 2017 World Series. I think they're still working on getting the poop stains out of his underwear.

C. John wrote: "If the Dodgers do Dodgers things this year then they will choke in the playoffs after spending all their energy compiling the rest record during the regular season."

That would sure make a lot of people happy, and could even be considered poetic justice after their offseason spending spree. I'm not sure they will be able to get a rest record though. Right now they can't beat anyone even without resting a lot of players.

[C. John]

Jays at the bottom of their division and that is a tough division, at least everyone says it is. May make it difficult to climb up and into playoff contention