Thursday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in RBI:
82— Rafael Devers, Bos
81— Shohei Ohtani, LAA
80— Vladimir Guerrero, Tor
75— Jesus Aguilar/Jose Abreu
71— Austin Meadows, Manny Machado
69— Fernando Tatis
Quote of the Day.
“This is the first move in what should be a succession of moves over the course of this week that I think will result in the present team looking deeper, and the future team looking deeper, and that’s been the goal throughout.”
Jerry DiPoto, talking about Tuesday’s trade with Houston
Thursday’s quiz
Nolan Ryan pitched in major leagues for 27 years; who did he break into the majors with?
Wednesday’s quiz
Lebron James was #1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft; Carmelo Anthony was the 3rd pick, Dwayne Wade the 5th pick. Pistons took Darko Milicic with the #2 pick; it didn’t go well for him.
Tuesday’s quiz
Michael Jordan was the 3rd pick in the 1984 NBA Draft; Hakeem Olajuwon was the first pick, Sam Bowie the #2 pick.
***************************
Thursday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..
13) Baseball needs to market itself better; they need an NFL Films-type group to go behind the scenes of front offices and locker rooms to show us what happens during spring training, at the trade deadline, before/during the amateur draft.
MLB’s leaders are arrogant/entitled; they need to sell the game to younger people, and the way to do it is to show us how interesting a business it is, both on and off the field, you know, the way the NFL does.
Tuesday night around 6:30, they announced the Phillies were acquiring P Tyler Anderson from Pittsburgh, for two minor leaguers. 90 minutes later, the trade was off; one of minor leaguers failed his physical. Around 10pm, Anderson was traded to Seattle for two other prospects.
Would be great TV to hear how those phone calls went down, to see how the GM’s reacted when their trade fell apart, and when the new trade was put together.
Baseball needs to do this; they need to promote their sport better.
12) Houston-Seattle made a trade late Monday/early Tuesday; the thing is, Astros were in Seattle at the time- they blew a 6-0 first inning lead and lost 11-8 to the Mariners Monday night.
Seattle traded its closer to Houston, which is weird, seeing how the Mariners are very hot and are playoff contenders. Mariners’ GM Jerry DiPoto says there will be other trades that will make the first trade understandable.
Once again, this would’ve been great TV, to see everyone’s reactions.
Tuesday night, Abraham Toro, traded by the Astros to Seattle that morning, hit a home run against Houston in the last inning; quite a moment. Would’ve been good TV to see how his new teammates greeted him and how he reacted after the game.
Toro homered again Wednesday, by the way.
11) Oakland A’s pulled the trigger on a big trade; they acquired Starling Marte for Jesus Luzardo; Marte is a free agent in two months, Luzardo is a young pitcher who broke his hand punching something during a clubhouse video game back in May.
I had been wondering if the A’s brass was ticked off with Luzardo; his rehab starts haven’t gone that smoothly, but they were in the PCL, mostly at high altitude. His injury put the A’s in a bad spot; good starting pitchers are obviously hard to find.
A’s started this season 1-6, then went on a 44-24 run, before slumping to 11-16 in their last 27 games- they beat San Diego 10-4 Wednesday, after the deal was announced. Sometimes making a deal loosens everyone up, shows that the front office is behind the team. Hopefully this is one of those times.
10) Detroit 17, Minnesota 14:
— Twins homered 7 times, Detroit didn’t homer, but they won.
— All nine Tiger starters got a hit, scored a run, knocked in a run.
Tuesday’s Detroit-Minnesota game was first time in MLB history both catchers hit a grand slam in the same game.
9) San Diego starting pitchers have lasted 5+ innings in only 57 of 104 games. Blake Snell has lasted five innings in only 8 of 18 starts.
8) Odd Stat of the Day: Tampa Bay leads MLB in this category; 49.2% of their home runs have come with at least one man on base, highest %age in MLB.
7) Pittsburgh 2B Rodolfo Castro is 5-21 this year, with five home runs; he is the first major leaguer in over 100 years whose first five hits were all home runs.
Speaking from personal experience, this is a sad week to be a Pirate fan; you trade two of your best players for prospects. If those prospects become really good players, you realize those guys will eventually get sold down the river, too.
Being a fan is fun when your team wins, disappointing when they lose, but when they don’t even TRY to win, it is depressing/annoying. Thats what’s going on in Pittsburgh now.
6) Four Washington National players, eight staffers tested positive for COVID Wednesday; they postponed Wednesday’s game to today, as part of a doubleheader.
5) This is how much baseball has changed since I was a kid:
In 1973 and 1974, Nolan Ryan threw 26 complete games, that’s 52 complete games in two years.
Today, there is no active big league pitcher with more than 26 career complete games, Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright.
4) Can any NFL team trade for Deshaun Watson? What would the public relations fallout be? What would they have to give up, for a young man who may/may not have a lot of legal issues in front of him? Watson is a good young QB; the Texans have a hard decision to make.
Watson is at training camp; it would cost him $50,000 a day if he wasn’t there, but he isn’t practicing with the first team.
3) College football trend; under Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M is 15-6 ATS as a favorite.
2) Not many movies were made during the pandemic, so actors are getting creative to rake in some cash; is odd seeing Liev Schreiber doing a mattress commercial these days.
1) NBA Draft is tonight; Oklahoma City/Houston both have three first round picks.
Major league leaders in RBI:
82— Rafael Devers, Bos
81— Shohei Ohtani, LAA
80— Vladimir Guerrero, Tor
75— Jesus Aguilar/Jose Abreu
71— Austin Meadows, Manny Machado
69— Fernando Tatis
Quote of the Day.
“This is the first move in what should be a succession of moves over the course of this week that I think will result in the present team looking deeper, and the future team looking deeper, and that’s been the goal throughout.”
Jerry DiPoto, talking about Tuesday’s trade with Houston
Thursday’s quiz
Nolan Ryan pitched in major leagues for 27 years; who did he break into the majors with?
Wednesday’s quiz
Lebron James was #1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft; Carmelo Anthony was the 3rd pick, Dwayne Wade the 5th pick. Pistons took Darko Milicic with the #2 pick; it didn’t go well for him.
Tuesday’s quiz
Michael Jordan was the 3rd pick in the 1984 NBA Draft; Hakeem Olajuwon was the first pick, Sam Bowie the #2 pick.
***************************
Thursday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..
13) Baseball needs to market itself better; they need an NFL Films-type group to go behind the scenes of front offices and locker rooms to show us what happens during spring training, at the trade deadline, before/during the amateur draft.
MLB’s leaders are arrogant/entitled; they need to sell the game to younger people, and the way to do it is to show us how interesting a business it is, both on and off the field, you know, the way the NFL does.
Tuesday night around 6:30, they announced the Phillies were acquiring P Tyler Anderson from Pittsburgh, for two minor leaguers. 90 minutes later, the trade was off; one of minor leaguers failed his physical. Around 10pm, Anderson was traded to Seattle for two other prospects.
Would be great TV to hear how those phone calls went down, to see how the GM’s reacted when their trade fell apart, and when the new trade was put together.
Baseball needs to do this; they need to promote their sport better.
12) Houston-Seattle made a trade late Monday/early Tuesday; the thing is, Astros were in Seattle at the time- they blew a 6-0 first inning lead and lost 11-8 to the Mariners Monday night.
Seattle traded its closer to Houston, which is weird, seeing how the Mariners are very hot and are playoff contenders. Mariners’ GM Jerry DiPoto says there will be other trades that will make the first trade understandable.
Once again, this would’ve been great TV, to see everyone’s reactions.
Tuesday night, Abraham Toro, traded by the Astros to Seattle that morning, hit a home run against Houston in the last inning; quite a moment. Would’ve been good TV to see how his new teammates greeted him and how he reacted after the game.
Toro homered again Wednesday, by the way.
11) Oakland A’s pulled the trigger on a big trade; they acquired Starling Marte for Jesus Luzardo; Marte is a free agent in two months, Luzardo is a young pitcher who broke his hand punching something during a clubhouse video game back in May.
I had been wondering if the A’s brass was ticked off with Luzardo; his rehab starts haven’t gone that smoothly, but they were in the PCL, mostly at high altitude. His injury put the A’s in a bad spot; good starting pitchers are obviously hard to find.
A’s started this season 1-6, then went on a 44-24 run, before slumping to 11-16 in their last 27 games- they beat San Diego 10-4 Wednesday, after the deal was announced. Sometimes making a deal loosens everyone up, shows that the front office is behind the team. Hopefully this is one of those times.
10) Detroit 17, Minnesota 14:
— Twins homered 7 times, Detroit didn’t homer, but they won.
— All nine Tiger starters got a hit, scored a run, knocked in a run.
Tuesday’s Detroit-Minnesota game was first time in MLB history both catchers hit a grand slam in the same game.
9) San Diego starting pitchers have lasted 5+ innings in only 57 of 104 games. Blake Snell has lasted five innings in only 8 of 18 starts.
8) Odd Stat of the Day: Tampa Bay leads MLB in this category; 49.2% of their home runs have come with at least one man on base, highest %age in MLB.
7) Pittsburgh 2B Rodolfo Castro is 5-21 this year, with five home runs; he is the first major leaguer in over 100 years whose first five hits were all home runs.
Speaking from personal experience, this is a sad week to be a Pirate fan; you trade two of your best players for prospects. If those prospects become really good players, you realize those guys will eventually get sold down the river, too.
Being a fan is fun when your team wins, disappointing when they lose, but when they don’t even TRY to win, it is depressing/annoying. Thats what’s going on in Pittsburgh now.
6) Four Washington National players, eight staffers tested positive for COVID Wednesday; they postponed Wednesday’s game to today, as part of a doubleheader.
5) This is how much baseball has changed since I was a kid:
In 1973 and 1974, Nolan Ryan threw 26 complete games, that’s 52 complete games in two years.
Today, there is no active big league pitcher with more than 26 career complete games, Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright.
4) Can any NFL team trade for Deshaun Watson? What would the public relations fallout be? What would they have to give up, for a young man who may/may not have a lot of legal issues in front of him? Watson is a good young QB; the Texans have a hard decision to make.
Watson is at training camp; it would cost him $50,000 a day if he wasn’t there, but he isn’t practicing with the first team.
3) College football trend; under Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M is 15-6 ATS as a favorite.
2) Not many movies were made during the pandemic, so actors are getting creative to rake in some cash; is odd seeing Liev Schreiber doing a mattress commercial these days.
1) NBA Draft is tonight; Oklahoma City/Houston both have three first round picks.
