2024 Regular Season- First Half

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Cubs at Padres: 2nd inning & Darvish doesn't seem to have his usual command.

[C. John]

C. John wrote: "Jerry Grotesque has passed away."

That should have been Jerry Grote. Sometimes I have to wonder about this computer's spell-checker.

[C. John]

Card Corner is a name I recognize, Victor Cruz.
https://baseballhall.org/discover/car...

[C. John]

Article on Phil Weintraub.
https://infinitecardset.substack.com/...

[Brina]

Peggy, you are lucky that Cubs used their worst reliever last night. This is the second game that he blew and he’s got to go. Tonight is an emergency starter. It’s only April and I’m already panicky.

[Lance]

RJ must have been happy last night. I didn't question removing Ober after 5 innings of mostly solid pitching, but the Dodgers sure got to the Twins bullpen in a hurry. I didn't like that mainly because it was the bullpen that was the most consistent part of the team in the early going.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Brina wrote: "Peggy, you are lucky that Cubs used their worst reliever last night. This is the second game that he blew and he’s got to go. Tonight is an emergency starter. It’s only April and I’m already panicky."

Wow; Brina....Went to bed early. Shocked to see score this morning. Try to stay positive..it's a long season.

Don't know how you & others in midwest and east coast stay up when your teams are playing on West coast!

[Lance]

In my case, with mlb.tv, I can access the game up to 2 years later. There is also a condensed game or highlights. For West Coast games, I usually watch the condensed game in the morning - I see the important parts.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Lance wrote: "RJ must have been happy last night. I didn't question removing Ober after 5 innings of mostly solid pitching, but the Dodgers sure got to the Twins bullpen in a hurry. I didn't like that mainly bec..."

Yeah, Ober looked solid out there. No one in Dodger Blue was sad to see him come out. It was nice to see Outman come out of his slump with that right field blast. Ohtani looks more comfortable at the plate too after his first week was a little shaky.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Well Brina... here we go again. 6th inning & Cubs are up 5 zip. Padres need to adopt the lyrics from hubby's fav Grateful Dead song "I Need A Miracle Every Day"!

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

No miracle for Padres tonight. Padre radio announcers impressed with Cub's rookie pitcher Brown's debut.

[C. John]

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Well Brina... here we go again. 6th inning & Cubs are up 5 zip. Padres need to adopt the lyrics from hubby's fav Grateful Dead song "I Need A Miracle Every Day"!"

Maybe I should stick that song on my next Baseball-oriented Spotify playlist.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

C. John wrote: "Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Well Brina... here we go again. 6th inning & Cubs are up 5 zip. Padres need to adopt the lyrics from hubby's fav Grateful Dead song "I Need A Miracle Every Day"!"

Maybe I..."

Yes you should!

[C. John]

We shall see. I never know in advance what songs are going to appear on one of my playlists, at least those I create myself, as I never know what I am going to find. I do know nothing from The Baseball Project's first album will be on it as everything on that album is labelled "E" for Explicit.

[Lance]

No baseball for me last night - saw the Timberwolves instead and on the crawl, saw Dodgers won 6-3, Glasnow had 14 K’s (What? The Twins struck out a lot? What a surprise) and Kepler is on the IL. All I needed as I made the right choice - Wolves won, still #1 in the West. They keep this up and I’ll be missing many Twins games into mid-June

[Brina]

Considering Bulls haven’t been relevant since 1998, that’s not me. I will watch some playoff hockey and some premier league football but neither will take me away from baseball much. Thankfully today the Cubs play at 6:40 and tomorrow off and Sunday is 4:10. These nights are tough.

[Ashley Marie]

With CWS's win over Cleveland last night, I have to say I'm not thrilled with Scott Barlow's performance thus far; I know it's hella early but jeesh dude.

[C. John]

Julio Urias is facing some domestic violence charges. Since he isn't playing this season, yet, MLB is taking no action. Should he sign a contract with someone then they will.
https://larrybrownsports.com/baseball...

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Per Padres radio announcers today is Siblings Day. Brothers Josh & Bo Naylor (Guardians) BOTH hit homeruns bottom of 4th! Gotta love this!

[Ashley Marie]

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Per Padres radio announcers today is Siblings Day. Brothers Josh & Bo Naylor (Guardians) BOTH hit homeruns bottom of 4th! Gotta love this!"

Keeping Cleveland in this game, together!

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Ashley Marie wrote: "Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Per Padres radio announcers today is Siblings Day. Brothers Josh & Bo Naylor (Guardians) BOTH hit homeruns bottom of 4th! Gotta love this!"

Keeping Cleveland in this game..."

I didn't realize this was 2nd time for Naylor Brothers. Per MLB they accomplished this last year in Texas. MLB had a list of brothers doing this since 1900. Special for those families!

[C. John]

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Per Padres radio announcers today is Siblings Day. Brothers Josh & Bo Naylor (Guardians) BOTH hit homeruns bottom of 4th! Gotta love this!"

There is a third brother, Myles, who is currently in the A's farm system. They are from Canada by the way.

[Ashley Marie]

And, as it turns out, winning this game together! Our radio commentators were worried the ChiSox would walk Josh again in the 10th after doing it on his previous at-bat, but he smacked an RBI double and moved things along, and a few batters later Bo came through with the walk-off! Pleased with the outcome (especially against the White Sox) but I wouldn't mind a bit of less-stressful ball this early in the season lol

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

C. John wrote: "Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Per Padres radio announcers today is Siblings Day. Brothers Josh & Bo Naylor (Guardians) BOTH hit homeruns bottom of 4th! Gotta love this!"

There is a third brother, Myle..."

I remember Josh's MLB debut with Padres in Toronto vs Blue Jays. Must have been exciting for his family. Watched the game with Mom although don't remember the score. San Diego fans were very upset when he was traded to Cleveland!

[C. John]

Item on Negro Leaguer Frank Sykes, who was a dentist as well as a ballplayer.

https://infinitecardset.substack.com/...

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

C. John wrote: "Item on Negro Leaguer Frank Sykes, who was a dentist as well as a ballplayer.

https://infinitecardset.substack.com/......"

Fascinating article!

[Harold]

Ashley Marie wrote: "And, as it turns out, winning this game together! Our radio commentators were worried the ChiSox would walk Josh again in the 10th after doing it on his previous at-bat, but he smacked an RBI doubl..."
Cleveland is playing good ball. I'm not sure why-I haven't seen them, but they lost Bieber and Aaron Civale last year. Who is picking them up?

[Harold]

MLB investigators and the feds think they know how Ohtani's interpreter managed the theft. https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articl...

[Ashley Marie]

Harold wrote: "Cleveland is playing good ball. I'm not sure why-I haven't seen them, but they lost Bieber and Aaron Civale last year. Who is picking them up?"

The bats woke up earlier this year than they have in recent times, and the bullpen is really stepping up.

[Harold]

Ashley Marie wrote: "Harold wrote: "Cleveland is playing good ball. I'm not sure why-I haven't seen them, but they lost Bieber and Aaron Civale last year. Who is picking them up?"

The bats woke up earlier this year th..."
I hope it continues.

[C. John]

Some baseball news that might cheer some people up.
https://larrybrownsports.com/baseball...

[Brina]

I had 3 kids come home last night, doubling the amount of people in the house. It will be hectic here the next few weeks, not counting the 4 extra days I’m offline for Passover, so I’ll try to carve out time each day to come on here when I can. Not much to report, Cubs were off yesterday. They shipped their weakest link in the bullpen back to the minors. Could really use an extra arm in the pen and a serviceable starter but with the rash of injuries I don’t think anyone is jumping to make a trade at the moment.

[Beth]

Interesting article in The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...

[Ashley Marie]

Thanks for the good wishes Harold! Tonight’s CLE/NYY game is rained out, meaning a doubleheader tomorrow and night #2 of no baseball, so I’m sneaking off to a DND session for a few hours.

[Beth]

Brina wrote: "I had 3 kids come home last night, doubling the amount of people in the house. It will be hectic here the next few weeks, not counting the 4 extra days I’m offline for Passover, so I’ll try to carv..."

Chag Pesach sameach, Brina.

[Brina]

Same to you, Beth. I’m getting there with my teenaged cleaning crew. I hope to take some baseball breaks but at this point that’s not even a given. Ten days to go!

[C. John]

Fritz Peterson has passed away. It says something when a baseball player may be better known for something he did off the field than what he did on the field. As far as I can determine Mike Kekich is still alive. I do have one question. Wikipedia gives his full name as Fred Ingels Peterson so where does Fritz come from?

[C. John]

This morning's Buzzer from CBC Sports leads off with an item on the Montreal Expos first game, which was 55 years ago.

https://subscriptions.cbc.ca/newslett...

[Harold]

Beth, I wasn't allowed to read the whole article, but MLB NETWORK discussed the same thing today. In 2008, the average fastball was 91.9 mph. There were 212 pitches thrown at 100 mph. By 2018, the average was 93.2, and there were 1,336 pitches thrown 100 mph or more. Last year, the average was 94.2, and there were 3,880 pitcht wases of 100 mph or more. Also, spin rates have also grown, and that puts extra stress on the arm. In 2015, the average was 2,193. Last year, it was 2,464.

[Harold]

Fritz Petetson had alzheimer disease. He had announced it on Facebook a few years ago.

[C. John]

For the Fans' Ballot part of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame they have just released the current standings. As things stand now here are the top seven
1. Dave Matthews Band
2. Foreigner
3. Peter Frampton
4. Ozzy Osbourne
5. Cher
6. Lenny Kravitz
7. Kool and the Gang
Since this makes up just a small part of the total voting for the HOF it will be interesting to see who makes it in this year and in what order.

[Lance]

Twins have been having several off days thanks to weather and their local paper is blaming the rust from the extra time off for their slow start. Last night was another Timberwolves or Twins decision - easy enough and I picked the right one. I know it’s only mid- April, but there just seems to be no life in the team. Did Lewis’s injury on Opening Day suck the life out of the team?

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "For the Fans' Ballot part of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame they have just released the current standings. As things stand now here are the top seven
1. Dave Matthews Band
2. Foreigner
3. Peter Fra..."

Like 6 of the 7 - can’t stand the #1 choice but all the others are very good to great.

[Lance]

Chalk this up to “never seen that before” - Twins won 11-5 in the 1st game in 12 innings. Twins scored 7 runs in the top of the 12th on ONE hit! A walk, a sacrifice in which the batter was safe and a costly error by the third baseman where 3 runs scored. After that, a couple more walk and the one hit, a 3 run Homer by Wallner

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Lance wrote: "Chalk this up to “never seen that before” - Twins won 11-5 in the 1st game in 12 innings. Twins scored 7 runs in the top of the 12th on ONE hit! A walk, a sacrifice in which the batter was safe and..."

Wow! Great 1st game for your Twins! Never know how games will play out which is why baseball is SO fun. Hope I'm not jinxing the Twins but per Gameday they're ahead in the 7th inning of 2nd game.

[Lance]

No jinx. Peggy - Twins win game 2 4-1, and Simon Woods Richardson, the pitching prospect they got in the Jose Berrios trade, got his first MLB win.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Lance wrote: "No jinx. Peggy - Twins win game 2 4-1, and Simon Woods Richardson, the pitching prospect they got in the Jose Berrios trade, got his first MLB win."


Twins are creeping up on Tigers :)

Padres@Dodgers in rain delay before even 1st pitch.

[Harold]

The Braves are suddenly losing, including a 5-1 loss to the Marlins. And Spencer Strider has officially announced he is done for this year. It now looks like the Braves are no longer going to walk away with the division.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

Harold wrote: "The Braves are suddenly losing, including a 5-1 loss to the Marlins. And Spencer Strider has officially announced he is done for this year. It now looks like the Braves are no longer going to walk ..."

Harold; Good news for Phillies! Have had a huge "dislike" (try not to use the word hate) for Braves since 1984.

[Harold]

I'm with you, Peggy.