Major League Baseball: 2019 Season

[Blitz24]

The question is...are the Reds finally doing what they should be doing? Or are the Marlins just that bad? Anyway, it was another shutout pitched by the club. They only gave up single run over the entire 3 game series, the first time they've achieved that feat since 1926 against the Brooklyn Dodgers! And they still shut out the Marlins despite Sonny Gray getting drilled in the leg by a line drive in the 2nd. He managed to make it through 4 innings before exiting with a stiff calf. The bullpen picked up the slack no problem. Hopefully Gray will be okay.

Oh, by the way...the Reds' starting rotation has the lowest ERA in the National League. It shows just how bad the hitting was to have the record they do. It also shows how impressive the pitching has been despite Alex Wood (who was probably going to be the #1 starter) not having made a start this year, sitting with an back injury.

The Marlins are atrocious. They scored more than 5 runs twice this year (lost 1, won 1). Their pitching is so-so but their bullpen is horrible.

Pete Alonso just hit a monster 454 ft HR in Atlanta. His 5th HR since Saturday.

Now it's over. Mets 6 - Atlanta 3.

 

[JohnBM01]

So how are you GTPlaneteers enjoying the 2019 season of Major League Baseball so far?


My Houston Astros didn't play on this Thursday, so this is a chance to run down some of the different results from today/tonight. Here goes...

* Dolph Drago's Reds are red hot! It was a 5-0 victory in beautiful Cincinnati at the Reds' beautiful ballpark. The win for CIN goes to Robert Stephenson. The loss for MIA is tabbed to Pablo Lopez.

* In the ATL, it was Blitz24's New York Mets who doubled up the Braves 6-3. Steven Matz got the win for NYM, and the Save went to Edwin Diaz. Kevin Gausman was ATL's loser.

* The Bman's Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to take down the Chicago Cubs. The Buckos lost 2-0 to the Cubbies in the north side of Chicago. It was a win for Jose Quintana and a Save for Pedro Strop for CHC. PIT's loser was Joe Musgrove.

* Seattle won at Kansas City 7-6, but nine innings didn't solve anything. So 10 were needed to settle this one. SEA won with Brandon Brennan and a Save from Connor Sadzeck. Glenn Sparkman didn't provide much a spark, as he took the loss for KC.

* Did Barra333's Toronto Blue Jays defeat Boston at Fenway Park today? No. It was a 7-6 victory for Boston against the Blue Jays. Marcus Walden picked up the win for the defending MLB champs. Former Astro Ken Giles was the loser for TOR.

* It was 11-7 in St. Louis as the Cardinals took down the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cards' winner was Giovanny Gallegos, and Pedro Baez was the Dodgers' losing pitcher.

* The Detroit Tigers have done pretty well so far this season. Unfortunately, they failed today in MoTown to the Cleveland Indians 4-0. Winning for the Tribe was Shane Bieber. Spencer Tumbull was the losing Detroit pitcher.

* I'd like to buy a vowel... A. I'd like to buy another vowel... O. A's and O's collided in Baltimore. It was the Athletics who defeated the Orioles 8-5. The A's won with Aaron Brooks and the Save went to: Blake Treinen. For Baltimore, Dylan Bundy took the loss.


Of games played so far, here are the current division leaders:

* AL EAST: Tampa Bay (10-3)
* AL CENTRAL: Cleveland (8-4)
* AL WEST: Seattle (13-2)
* NL EAST: New York Mets (8-4)
* NL CENTRAL: St. Louis and Milwaukee (8-5 each)
* NL WEST: San Diego (8-5)


Congratulations to the eventual winners of SD at ARI and COL at SF.

 

[Blitz24]

My goodness Jason Vargas' career is over. He cannot even make it through 2/3rds of an inning before getting destroyed by ineffectiveness. I am honestly hoping the Mets salvage the season by demoting him or outright releasing him as hoping to NOT get blown out every 5 days is not going to win them anything.

 

[JohnBM01]

Cheers to Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles for finally breaking his 54 at-bat hitless streak. And... they ended up winning! They won 9-5 today at the Boston Red Sox. It was his first hit since September 15, 2018.

As for your Mets, Blitz24, I wish Mets broadcaster Ron Darling well as he attends to his health concerns.

I'll do my usual summary report on HOU at SEA, but we won 10-6 on Friday (2 HOU Grand Slams!) and won 3-1 tonight.


Congratulations to all other winners from Saturday's games, including the Milwaukee Brewers extending the Los Angeles Dodgers' losing streak to six games.

 

[Dolph Drago]

The Reds snapped the Cardinals' 5 game win streak and upped their own to 4 games in a 5-2 victory in Monterrey. Technically, the Reds can sweep their second straight series tomorrow since it's only a 2 game affair against St. Louis.

 

[JohnBM01]

The latest series summary involves my Houston Astros at the Seattle Mariners over the weekend. I mentioned two of the three games, so how did the finale go? Find out here:

GM1 HOU at SEA: (10-6; Houston)
GM2 HOU at SEA: (3-1; Houston)
GM3 HOU at SEA: (3-2; Houston)

So after a 2-5 start to the season, the Houston Astros have swept three straight series to improve to 11-5 on the 2019 season. Game 1 involved two Grand Slams by the Houston Astros to pull ahead for good. It was the third-ever time in Astros history that they hit more than two Grand Slam in a game. The offense for both team stagnated in the next two games, but the Astros still won both games to complete the sweep of the equally hot Mariners. We are now 11-5 on the season, 2nd Place in the AL West behind the aforementioned now 13-5 Seattle Mariners by one game.

Up next for the Houston Astros... this Astros' road tour of awesomeness continues in Oakland after an off-day on Monday. A quick two-game series in Oakland is coming up starting on Tuesday.


Congratulations to all recent series winners and those who won today/tonight. That even includes the New York Mets at the Atlanta Braves, which recently started as of the time of this post.

 

[JohnBM01]

My Houston Astros don't play tonight, but I do remember mentioning earlier in this thread seeing how the Mets will do against the Phillies. Well, Blitz24's Mets will try and entertain the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia. In fact...

Blitz24's New York Mets look pretty good so far. As far as the NL East goes, I surely will want to see how the Mets/Phillies matchup go. I think the NL East will come down to the Mets and the Phillies. Not sure who my third favorite would be between Washington and Atlanta. Part of me wants to go with Atlanta.

The game is going to air tonight on ESPN at 7:00 PM EDT. Both NYM and PHI have nine wins each. The Mets have six losses while Philadelphia has five losses. Philly leads the NL East, and both the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are tied for 2nd in the NL East. Pitching probables for each:

GM1 NYM at PHI: Noah Syndergaard (NYM) vs. Aaron Nola (PHI)
GM2 NYM at PHI: Steven Matz (NYM) vs. Nick Pivetta (PHI)
GM3 NYM at PHI: Zack Wheeler (NYM) vs. Jake Arietta (PHI)

My source for all of this was Yahoo! Sports. Good luck to NYM and PHI, as well as all other MLB teams playing tonight.

 

[JohnBM01]

How about a quick two-game series in Oakland? The Houston Astros' tour of awesome takes them to Oakland. Did they rock the show? Summary:

GM1 HOU at OAK: (9-1; Houston)
GM2 HOU at OAK: (2-1; Oakland)

After winning three straight series, we only manage a series split. And that 10-game winning streak we had? Yeah. It be gone after Wednesday's fail. Houston couldn't bring that firepower they stymied the Athletics with from Tuesday on Wednesday. In the end, it's a split for the Astros.

Up next for the Houston Astros... Thursday is a day off, but we're back in Texas to entertain the Texas Rangers for a three-game weekend series. This will be the end of our road trip. Last time, the Rangers took the series. The Astros will try to return the favor and get a modicum of revenge.


Congratulations to all recent series winners as well as others who won on Wednesday.

 

[Dolph Drago]

After taking the first game against St. Louis in game 1 of their 2 game series in Mexico, the Reds haven't won since. They had won 4 straight, and now have lost 4 straight. Lost game 2 to the Cards, then proceeded to get swept by the Dodgers. They can't win on the west coast. Never have. Apparently never will.

And oh, by the way, two of the losses to L.A. were by 1 run. I know I mentioned it earlier this season, but their horrendous, seemingly impossible record in 1-run games last year have continued into this one. I think they're 1-7 or 1-6. You'd THINK the law of averages would play itself out. Evidently not.

 

[JohnBM01]

Sorry about your Reds, Dolph Drago. Tough times for sure. I do still think the Reds will turn it around and play better.


While my Houston Astros didn't play, several other teams played. Let's see what the other teams did today and tonight...

* It was 4-1 in Atlanta as the Braves succumbed to the venom of R1600Turbo's Arizona Diamondbacks. In this NL West meets NL East match, the win for ARI went to Luke Weaver and a save from Yoshihisa Hirano. Losing for ATL was Mike Soroka.

* The Washington Nationals doubled up the San Francisco Giants 4-2 in Washington, D.C. Patrick Corbin was the winning WAS pitcher, and the Save went to Sean Doolittle. The loser for SF was Drew Pomeranz.

* How about the Detroit Tigers? Well, these cats from MoTown put on quite a show in an offensive shootout. The Tigers won 9-7 against the visiting Chicago White Sox. DET's winning pitcher was Drew VerHagen and a Save from Shane Greene. For the south side of Chicago's boys, Carson Fulmer was the loser.

* Let's stay in the Midwest and check in with the Minnesota Twins. The Twins fell at home to Barra333's Toronto Blue Jays 7-4. Joe Biagini was the winner with a Save from ex-Astro Ken Giles. Michael Pineda was MIN's loser.

* The Bronx Bombers appeared to be duds today as the Kansas City Royals hammered the Yankees 6-1 in the Bronx. It was Homer Bailey winning for KC. Losing for the Yanks was Domingo Germán.

* Tampa Bay must still be suffering after their Lightning of the National Hockey League got swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tampa Bay is suffering a little more after today, losing at home 6-5 to the Baltimore Orioles, in a game that couldn't be settled in nine innings. This one needed 11 innings. And when those 11 innings were done, John Means picked up the win for the O's. The Rays' loser was Diego Castillo.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers won 3-1 at the Milwaukee Brewers. The winning combination for LAD was a win for Julio Urias and a Save from Kenley Jansen. Former Astro Matt Albers was the loser for the Brew Crew.

* In Denver, the Colorado Rockies were three times better than the Philadelphia Philiies. It was a 6-2 victory for the boys in purple. COL's winner was Kyle Freeland. PHI's loser was Zach Eflin.


Congratulations to the eventual winners of SEA at LAD and CIN at SD. As of the time of this post: SEA leads LAD 10-2, Top of the 7th. CIN currently leads SD 3-1, Bottom of the 7th.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Battle for the Silver Boot continues! Here's what happened in this weekend series:

GM1 HOU at TEX: (7-2; Houston)
GM2 HOU at TEX: (9-4; Texas)
GM3 HOU at TEX: (11-10; Texas)

Last series, the Texas Rangers got us. This series... the Texas Rangers got us. The Astros were down 10-1 during Game 3 of this series but staged a decent rally to bring the game close. Sadly, we have yet to defeat Texas this season. This is how the road trip ends. I believe we are currently 13-7, still 2nd in the AL West behind Seattle.

Up next for the Houston Astros Baseball Club... back home to host the Minnesota Twins for a three-game set starting on Monday. This actually will be one of two AL Central teams we will host in this upcoming home stand, because we host the Cleveland Indians after our Twins series.


Congratulations to all other series winners as well as those who won today/tonight.

[UPDATE][/B} Forgot to mention the MIN at HOU series starts on Monday.

 

[Dolph Drago]

After taking a sweep from the Dodgers, the Reds almost swept the Padres in 4 games. They won the first 3, but fell short in the final of the 4 game series by, you guessed it...1 run.

I was curious, so I looked up the Reds' record in 1-run games (last 3 seasons):
2019: 2-7
2018: 10-29
2017: 13-22
Unreal.

The years before that were not much better:
2016: 22-27
2015: 18-29
2014: 22-38(THIRTY EIGHT!)

 

[JohnBM01]

The Cincinatti Reds must be star-crossed when it comes to close games. Almost as if the baseball deities don't want you to win. It is like that feeling of being so close... yet so far. I mean, you guys should be knocking down more wins if you continually come short in one-run games. Heck, even my Astros rallied yesterday from being down 10-1 (or something) at the Texas Rangers to eventually fall short 11-10 yesterday. But- that's baseball.


I forgot to mention the MIN at HOU series starts tonight here in Houston. I wish your favorite teams well with their next series.

 

[Dolph Drago]

The Cincinatti Reds must be star-crossed when it comes to close games. Almost as if the baseball deities don't want you to win. It is like that feeling of being so close... yet so far. I mean, you guys should be knocking down more wins if you continually come short in one-run games. Heck, even my Astros rallied yesterday from being down 10-1 (or something) at the Texas Rangers to eventually fall short 11-10 yesterday. But- that's baseball.


I forgot to mention the MIN at HOU series starts tonight here in Houston. I wish your favorite teams well with their next series.

Just imagine how much better their record would be if they simply split the 1-run games.

I was unaware of what your Astros did last night. That's gotta be frustrating to mount such a comeback and fall just short.

 

[JohnBM01]

My Houston Astros won 10-4 last night at home against the Minnesota Twins. Series summary will be complete once the series finale happens.

Elsewhere, the New York Mets throttled the Phillies 9-0 last night in Flushing, New York. I really popped into this thread to discuss the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Atlanta Braves 7-6. So this time, the Reds were on the WINNING end in one-run game.

Here is a lighthearted post now. Watching one Twitch stream of "MLB: The Show 19," the streamer failed to advance in the postseason in the Minor Leagues. During that simulated season, imagine this- the World Series came down to the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees. And guess who won the World Series in that simulated season? It was... the Cincinnati Reds! Imagine that!


Anyhow, enjoy this Wednesday of baseball!

 

[Dolph Drago]

My Houston Astros won 10-4 last night at home against the Minnesota Twins. Series summary will be complete once the series finale happens.

Elsewhere, the New York Mets throttled the Phillies 9-0 last night in Flushing, New York. I really popped into this thread to discuss the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Atlanta Braves 7-6. So this time, the Reds were on the WINNING end in one-run game.

Here is a lighthearted post now. Watching one Twitch stream of "MLB: The Show 19," the streamer failed to advance in the postseason in the Minor Leagues. During that simulated season, imagine this- the World Series came down to the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees. And guess who won the World Series in that simulated season? It was... the Cincinnati Reds! Imagine that!


Anyhow, enjoy this Wednesday of baseball!

The Reds winning the Series...

And yes, the Reds were on the winning end of a 1-run game for once. That's nice. As of this post, they are down 2-1 in the 8th tonight against the Tribe. Wouldn't surprise me if that ends up being the final.

Edit: the Braves added a run. The Reds failed to score again. So it was a 2-run final.

 

[Barra333]

Aaaaaand the winning date in the "When will Vlad Jr debut?" sweepstakes is..... 26 April!!!

Maybe the media and fans around here will talk about something else for a while. Maybe keeping starting pitchers out of rundowns.

 

[JohnBM01]

Time for another series summary. This time... Minnesota at Houston:

GM1 MIN at HOU: (9-5; Minnesota)
GM2 MIN at HOU: (10-4; Houston)
GM3 MIN at HOU: (7-1; Houston)

And Twiiiiins!!! The Minnesota Twins came into H-Town as the leaders in the AL Central. Twins just weren't going to make life easy for the Astros. So, uh... the Houston Astros ddecided to do something about losing the series opener on Monday for Tuesday and Wednesday. Houston takes 2 out of 3 to win the series. Because of bad weather, I didn't get to see most of the latter portions of Game 3. Oh, and did I mention we still have only one home loss so far this season? HOU's record is now 15-9. Even though the Seattle Mariners have one more win than us, they have 11 losses compared to our nine. So we're now the AL West leaders.

Next up for the Houston Astros... our home stand continues when we host the Cleveland Indians for a four-game set here in Houston. Last time the Astros matched up with the defending AL Central champions, we swept them in our ALDS match. Now the Tribe will try to take down the Astros. The action begins Thursday night.


Congratulations to all other series winners as well as those who won today/tonight.

 

[JohnBM01]

Allow me to share my summary of the Houston Astros hosting the Cleveland Indians:

GM1 CLE at HOU: (2-1; Cleveland)
GM2 CLE at HOU: (6-3; Cleveland)
GM3 CLE at HOU: (4-3, 10 innings; Houston)
GM4 CLE at HOU: (4-1; Houston)

We managed a series split between ourselves and the defending AL Central Champions. The bats were rather silent for the Astros during the first two games of this four-game set. A few jacks helped our cause in Games 3 and 4. Tony Kemp on the Astros is known for his "Hugs for Homers" cause. Well, Kemp was the walk-off hero on Saturday afternoon's game (Game 3 of 4). The Astros still managed to take the second half of this series after doing so poorly in the first half of it.

Up next for the Houston Astros Baseball Club... we begin a tour of awesomeness taking us to two countries. We won the series against the Minnesota Twins on this home stand; now, we're AT the Twins for a four-game series starting Monday. After that, we head to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico for a two-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a weekend series. First things first, though- four games in Minneapolis against the Minneapolis Twins.


Congratulations to all recent series winners and those who won on Sunday, including the Chicago Cubs winning in a 15-inning marathon at the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

[JohnBM01]

Time for musings and more important stuff. Heading into May, I figured it's time to update how every team is doing so far. So this is the first Standings Update for this season's thread. Correct me on anything I may screw up on. Now if you're new to my posts, I usually spell out the leading teams in each Division followed by using some shorthand code for others in the running. Having said that, here are how each of the 30 teams are doing so far...


(Source: Yahoo! Sports)

--- AMERICAN LEAGUE ---
AL EAST: Tampa Bay (18-9), NYY (17-11), TOR (14-14), BOS (11-17), BAL (10-19)
AL CENTRAL: Minnesota (16-9), CLE (15-12), DET (12-14), CHW (11-14), KC (9-19)
AL WEST: Houston (17-11), SEA (18-13), TEX (14-13), OAK (14-16), LAA (12-17)

--- NATIONAL LEAGUE ---
NL EAST: Philadelphia (16-12), NYM (14-13), ATL (13-14), WAS (12-14), MIA (8-20)
NL CENTRAL: St. Louis (17-10), CHC (14-12), MIL (15-14), PIT (12-14), CIN (11-16)
NL WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers (19-11), SD (16-12), ARI (16-13), COL (13-15), SF (11-17)

Folks, there is still a LONG way to go. Remember we play about 162 games a season. Winning teams can stay winning teams or fall off the map. Losing teams can improve or remain a bunch of losers. This is only the beginning.

Upon some further observations, the Los Angeles Dodgers currently have the longest winning streak, winners of four straight games. The current longest losing streak is Pittsburgh, who have lost eight straight games. The Los Angeles Dodgers are at the San Francisco tonight for their next series. The Pittsburgh Pirates are at the Texas Rangers starting tomorrow.

We have a little inner-forum rivalry series with Dolph Drago's Cincinnati Reds at Blitz24's New York Mets. Hope you two have a great little series.

Something I kind of omitted from my last post... I remember when I was watching the Long Beach Grand Prix earlier this month, I heard something about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim perhaps moving to Long Beach. I am not sure how that is going to work (if it does).


That's all. Thanks for reading! And as always... good luck to your favorite team(s).

 

[Blitz24]

@Dolph Drago the Mets might give you a run for your money with their pitching ineptitude. If you combine Mets pitching and Reds hitting, you will end up with a team deserving to be contracted out of baseball.

 

[Dolph Drago]

@Dolph Drago the Mets might give you a run for your money with their pitching ineptitude. If you combine Mets pitching and Reds hitting, you will end up with a team deserving to be contracted out of baseball.

The Mets tried to blow it tonight with the Reds somehow tying it with 2 outs in the 9th. THEN the Reds' hitting ineptitude came in and we lost by 1...again.

 

[Blitz24]

The Mets tried to blow it tonight with the Reds somehow tying it with 2 outs in the 9th. THEN the Reds' hitting ineptitude came in and we lost by 1...again.

You were facing our mascot of ineptitude who for some reason the Mets paid 30 million to re-acquire after trading him for peanuts last trade deadline. Although what's more glaring is the ineptitude of the Mets manager.

 

[JohnBM01]

Cincinnati won 5-4 on Monday at the Mets, then the Mets returned the favor by dropping the Reds 4-3 in 10 innings. I thought this would be a three-game series, but it's a four-game series. So this CIN-NYM series is tied 1-1. And I see Cincinnati is going to have another four-game series coming up after this one, but back home against San Francisco. The Mets will be at Milwaukee for three after this CIN-NYM series.

I curiously looked around on Yahoo! Sports about one-run games. Heading into tonight, I saw Cincinatti's record in one-run games so far is 4-8, and the Mets are 5-3 in one-run games so far. And if case you're wondering about my Houston Astros in one-run games, we're 6-4 (lost 1-0 on Monday at Minnesota). I will judge best and worst records in games decided by one run based on how many games played were decided by one run and how many of those games were won/lost by one run. So...

The best record in one-run games so far is held by San Diego at 8-3. The worst record in one-run games so far is 1-4, held by the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The most number of wins in one-run games is 8 and held by the following teams: Seattle (8-5) and San Diego (8-3). The most number of losses in one-run games is also eight, by the Cincinnati Reds (4-8).


Hope your favorite team(s) is/are doing well. Have a great month of May!


[UPDATE] I mistakenly said Tampa Bay is the AL CENTRAL leading team; they are AL East. Changes made. This is why I keep early drafts of posts before posting, even long after I make those posts.

 

[Barra333]

Just bought a ticket to CWS-BOS tomorrow night. Thought about trying to get to Wrigley on Saturday too, but not at $53+ tax+ fees for the back corner.
Now, the rain needs to stay away.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Another 1-run game. This time the Reds come out on top with 9th inning, 2 out heroics by Jose Iglesias with a bomb to left. Final: 1-0 Redlegs. (sorry, @Blitz24)

 

[Blitz24]

Another 1-run game. This time the Reds come out on top with 9th inning, 2 out heroics by Jose Iglesias with a bomb to left. Final: 1-0 Redlegs. (sorry, @Blitz24)

Amazing managerial skills (by that, I mean, none existing) by the Mets manager. If the Mets tied the game, he would have ran out of pitchers by the 11th inning.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Amazing managerial skills (by that, I mean, none existing) by the Mets manager. If the Mets tied the game, he would have ran out of pitchers by the 11th inning.

Bell was making pitching changes left and right for the Reds, too. I mean, he pulled Disco in the 6th when he had only thrown around 85 pitches and allowed 3 hits (with 1 BB and 8 K's) all game! Why?? The bullpen has been overused for the past week and a half. Thankfully they've pitched well thus far, but they're going to be gassed half way through the season at this rate. And the odd thing is the rest of the starting pitching has been great (especially Castillo, the Reds' first "ace" since Cueto), but they get pulled earlier than needed, putting strain on the pen.

As for the offense...still bad while occasionally showing signs of life. We need to bring up Senzel pronto to take Schebler's spot in the outfield. God knows he isn't producing. Puig's been pretty terrible. Winker has been hit and miss, though getting much more consistent. Kemp got shelved after managing to break a rib jumping into the wall on Easter in San Diego. And Ervin can't get into a rythm, constantly bouncing between Cincy and Louisville. As for the infield, Votto has not been Votto, though he appears to be heating up. Suarez is warming up. Peraza finally came out of a horrendous slump. The aforementioned Iglesias from my last post is actually hitting extremely well. Dietrich, in limited play, has had a knack for hitting some timely bombs, but his average is below the Mendoza line, not unlike others on the team. I wonder how much it has hurt having Scooter out. Would he be hitting or slumping like everyone else? Finally, Barnhart has been great behind the plate, but struggling at it. And his backup, Casali, has been the opposite.

Not that anybody here cares, but here are the players' averages:
Votto: .235
Peraza: .196
Iglesias: .313
Dietrich: .196
Suarez: .221
Winker: .234
Schebler: .132
Ervin: .200
Kemp: .200 before injury
Puig: .184
Barnhart: .200
Casali: .289
Farmer: .192

Team overall:
.210, last in the Majors

Pitching ERA's:
Starters:
Castillo: 1.45
DeSclafani: 3.48
Gray: 3.64
Roark: 4.08
Mahle: 4.50

Bullpen:
Peralta: 0.90
Lorenzen: 1.08
Garrett: 1.42
Stephenson: 2.45
Hernandez: 4.05
Hughes: 4.97 (he's looked a lot better than that number)
Duke: 10.80 (a "lefty specialist" who specializes in giving up runs evidently)

Pitching overall:
3.28, 2nd best in the Majors


Edit: 1 last interesting fact:
The Reds have only given up 21 homers on the year, 6 fewer than the next best in all of baseball. This after giving up franchise highs in two of the past three years. What a turnaround.

 

[Blitz24]

Bell was making pitching changes left and right for the Reds, too. I mean, he pulled Disco in the 6th when he had only thrown around 85 pitches and allowed 3 hits (with 1 BB and 8 K's) all game! Why?? The bullpen has been overused for the past week and a half. Thankfully they've pitched well thus far, but they're going to be gassed half way through the season at this rate. And the odd thing is the rest of the starting pitching has been great (especially Castillo, the Reds' first "ace" since Cueto), but they get pulled earlier than needed, putting strain on the pen.

As for the offense...still bad while occasionally showing signs of life. We need to bring up Senzel pronto to take Schebler's spot in the outfield. God knows he isn't producing. Puig's been pretty terrible. Winker has been hit and miss, though getting much more consistent. Kemp got shelved after managing to break a rib jumping into the wall on Easter in San Diego. And Ervin can't get into a rythm, constantly bouncing between Cincy and Louisville. As for the infield, Votto has not been Votto, though he appears to be heating up. Suarez is warming up. Peraza finally came out of a horrendous slump. The aforementioned Iglesias from my last post is actually hitting extremely well. Dietrich, in limited play, has had a knack for hitting some timely bombs, but his average is below the Mendoza line, not unlike others on the team. I wonder how much it has hurt having Scooter out. Would he be hitting or slumping like everyone else? Finally, Barnhart has been great behind the plate, but struggling at it. And his backup, Casali, has been the opposite.

Not that anybody here cares, but here are the players' averages:
Votto: .235
Peraza: .196
Iglesias: .313
Dietrich: .196
Suarez: .221
Winker: .234
Schebler: .132
Ervin: .200
Kemp: .200 before injury
Puig: .184
Barnhart: .200
Casali: .289
Farmer: .192

Team overall:
.210, last in the Majors

Pitching ERA's:
Starters:
Castillo: 1.45
DeSclafani: 3.48
Gray: 3.64
Roark: 4.08
Mahle: 4.50

Bullpen:
Peralta: 0.90
Lorenzen: 1.08
Garrett: 1.42
Stephenson: 2.45
Hernandez: 4.05
Hughes: 4.97 (he's looked a lot better than that number)
Duke: 10.80 (a "lefty specialist" who specializes in giving up runs evidently)

Pitching overall:
3.28, 2nd best in the Majors


Edit: 1 last interesting fact:
The Reds have only given up 21 homers on the year, 6 fewer than the next best in all of baseball. This after giving up franchise highs in two of the past three years. What a turnaround.

Takeaways:
Votto is getting up there in years, no shock if he's slowing down.
Winker should be confined to the bench today after his antics yesterday (not saying he did anything really wrong, but fans don't forget (see Chase Utley).
Castillo reminds me of Yordano Ventura.
Lorenzen REALLY reminds me of Micah Owings.

EDIT: Winker started, went 0-4 and was ejected. The rest of the Reds (and all but one Met) did nothing in the 1-0 win for the Mets today. Noah Syndergaard pitched a CG 4 hitter AND hit a solo HR. This is the first instance in Mets history where a pitcher's HR was the only run scored in a winning effort for the team. Oh, and the game took 2 hours and 10 minutes.

 

[JohnBM01]

The first time the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins met, the Astros took the series 2 out of 3 in Houston. What happened when the same two teams met in Minneapolis? Series summary:

GM1 HOU at MIN: (1-0; Minnesota)
GM2 HOU at MIN: (11-0; Houston)
GM3 HOU at MIN: (6-2; Minnesota)
GM4 HOU at MIN: (8-2; Minnesota)

So... things didn't go well after our Game 2 performance. Twins take the series 3 to 4. The only good news about Game 3 was that we scored in the 9th inning to avoid getting blanked. They were still mostly inconsequential runs in the end. We are now 18-14 on the season and leading the AL West over (18-15) Seattle.

Up next for the Houston Astros Baseball Club... we take a rare Friday off before our next series (maybe for soul searching). Afterwards, we leave the United States of America. Usually when the Astros leave the USA, it's to face the Toronto Blue Jays on the road; but this time, it's for the Astros to take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico in the Mexico Series. It will be a quick two-game set before the Astros return to Houston.


Elsewhere...

* Dolph Drago's Cinncinatti Reds, Blitz24's New York Mets. Not a good day in Queens for the Redlegs at the Metropolitans, losing 1-0. ONE. RUN. GAME. It was a win for Noah Syndergaard for NYM and a loss for Tyler Mahle for CIN.

* San Diego throttled Atlanta 11-2 in Atlanta. Whacking the Braves and getting the win for the Padres was Matt Strahm. A great thing about the Internet is being able to copy-and-paste stuff you can't spell it on your own, so losing for Atlanta was Mike Foltynewicz.

* 11 runs was also for Colorado, as the Rockies rocked the Mets' next opponent- the Milwaukee Brewers- 11-6. It was Jon Gray who got the win for COL. Losing for the Brew Crew was Freddy Peralta.

* 3-1 was the final in Kansas City, Missouri, as the Tampa Bay Rays downed the last-place AL Central Kansas City Royals. The Rays' winner was Adam Kolarek along with a Save from Diego Castillo. Another Peralta was a loser today as Wily Peralta took the loss for KC.

* St. Louis at Washington is delayed as of the time of this post. Maybe even postponed.


Congratulations to all recent series winners including the eventual winners of BOS at CHW, and TOR at LAA.