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[Tosses lede casually into the air, snags it barehand before I post it] Well, that was an eventful day for baseball. The Mets’ hole crashed, two historic franchises asked for patience amid slow starts to the season, and hey — would you like to read about a cryptic image of what appears to be a prophetic iPad? Of course you will. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal – Welcome to The Windup!
The underdog bully can win
On paper, a three-game series in Detroit was supposed to be an outing for the Mets. Instead, it looked like they were trying to walk on a real cake, skating like some Nickelodeon show from the ’80s.
After hard-hitting Adam Ottavino blew the lead in the eighth inning of Game 1 en route to a 6-5 loss, Max Scherzer came back from his shutout and knocked out six runs on eight hits in just 3 1/3 innings in Game 2, and Detroit won 8 -1.
Eric Haas hit one home run per game, bringing his total for the season to…two.
Kane touched on it yesterday, but you can’t help but wonder if multiple doubleheaders are starting to catch up with the Mets. Or, in Scherzer’s case, is it time to ask if there was more to it than that? After all, he just came back from a 10-game timeout for using the sticky stuff.
Now they’ll be counting on Justin Verlander to be sharp in his first start as a member of the Mets after a Terris muscle injury cost him the first month of the season.
The two losses dropped the Mets to 16-15 for the season, tied with the Miami Marlins. For more information on the NL East, here’s Kane.
Kane’s Corner: The Braves keep rolling
While the Mets fret Max Scherzer and the Phillies about their rickety bullpen, the Braves react to their irritating developments as if they’re picking lint from a sweater.
The Braves’ latest setback came in the third inning on Wednesday, when Miami starter Kyle Wright left with a sore right shoulder. The Braves did lead, 8-3. They went on to win, 14-6. And if Wright has to be shut down for an extended period with the same problem that required him to start the season on the injured list, they’ll figure out something else.
Dylan Dodd, a surprise member of the Opening Day rotation, was called up from Triple A early Thursday. Jared Schuster is still at Triple A, and Mike Soroka is working his way back into the majors on a rehab assignment. There is no equal to Wright, who led the majors with 21 wins last season and ranked 21st with a 3.19 ERA. But at least they can be reasonable alternatives.
The Braves, 21-10, lead the Mets and Marlins by five games and the Phillies by 6 1/2 even though they’ve played the entire season without their closest quarterback, Raizel Iglesias. They lost catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a concussion on April 8, and micro-fractured Orlando Arcia in his right wrist four days later. And not to be forgotten by anyone, they’ve bid farewells in the past two seasons to first baseman Freddie Freeman and relative Dansby Swanson.
It’s as if the brave would hardly notice.
Vaughn Grissom performs adequately in place of Arcia, Swanson’s initial understudy. The first-string catcher, Shaun Murphy, is playing at a near MVP level in D’Arnaud’s absence. Wednesday’s bullpen entered the sixth major OPS competition.
Did we mention that the Braves roster includes MVP frontrunner Ronald Acuna Jr., perennial Cy Young nominee Max Fried and two of the game’s most consistent stars, first baseman Matt Olson and third baseman Austin Riley? The Braves will have their bad moments, just like all clubs. They seem more willing to deal with them than most.
Look what I found, look what I found
Until I read Grant Brisbee’s story about a mysterious photo, purportedly of an iPad on a plane in 2015 that laid out 12 possible rule changes for Major League Baseball, I had no idea what this piece of baseball lore was. Seems legit, nine of the rules implemented.
Grant, of course, takes a look at that one It was not.
The league seems to be generally letting the right elements fall by the wayside. Moving the bottom of the strike zone a little higher, for example, will only result in more tedious walking and three real hits, which seems counterproductive to the “more strikes, more action” results of the shift block and pitch clock. The lineup reset in the ninth inning would be, as Grant describes it, “Calvinball”
But while I’m with Grant in opposing the mercy rule, I firmly believe (and I’m on record here) that managers should lose more in explosive games. You save your runs, and if you’re down by more than nine runs, you save your home run lead, too—losses are officially recorded in the record book as a 9-0 loss.
Also, if the goal is to piss off the opponent and make their victories less enjoyable, imagine undoing the whole thing in a no-hitter you lose by 14?
In any case, you should always read Grant. How else would you be reminded of the time Matt Holliday got stuck in his ear?
don’t be afraid don’t be afraid (be afraid)
Here’s a phrase that never works as intended, no matter how many times we keep trying it as sex: “Calm down.”
Cardinals principal owner Bill DeWitt Jr. did not use any of the rules. Nor does Yankees general manager Brian Cashman make that dreaded phrase this week, but the fact that they both answer questions amounting to, “Hey, what the hell’s going on?” is a pretty accurate sign of how their teams’ seasons are going.
• The Yankees, who Cashman called a “championship-caliber operation,” showed some life this week, hauling two of the three Guardians, including a come-from-behind win on Wednesday. Willie Calhoun made a great debate in Tanner Baby’s outing by tying him in a 3-single in the ninth off Guardians mega-close Emmanuel Clase, then in the tenth (after an Isiah Kiner-Falefa sac bunt), Jose Trevino walked it off with a single. (I Tell You shouldn’t count the 2021 Texas Rangers).
• “Don’t give up on us, that’s all I can say,” Cashman told reporters Wednesday as part of a 30-minute media briefing that continued the gamut, from injuries to lack of movement during the break. Cashman acknowledged the difficulty of meeting the team’s needs in April, which was also shown when…
• DeWitt (and his son, team president Bill DeWitt III) spoke to the media on Tuesday, also noting that they remain optimistic about their team, despite a 10-19 record at the time.
“I still feel really good about the team and the roster,” said the younger DeWitt. “I mean, you don’t have a situation where there are glaring points. Of course, you’d love the show to be a little better, but I think you’re just seeing a number of seemingly unusual, one-off situations in April. At least I hope so.”
• The Cardinals lost to the Angels on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, dropping to 10-21.
Handshakes and high fives
If you’re wondering where I stand in the big Wanderer Franco’face ballFrom Wednesday, let’s get this out of the way: Wanderer Franco Rules. Sure, the Buccaneers were upset about it, but they lost 8-1, their second straight loss to the Rays. When a basketball player breaks loose and gets overwhelmed by a windmill, we all cheer. How’s that? Different?If you make the game easy for the opponent, don’t get upset when he fights off boredom by giving himself a small extra task as a treat.
When I said Bryce Harper might need some time to re-adjust to a big-league show, I guess I meant someday? He went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two walks on Wednesday, but the Phillies still lost 10-6 to the Dodgers on a grand slam by Max Muncie.
On The Pulse today, I spoke to Chris Branch about the Twins’ refusal to participate in the 2023 Great Stolen Base Boom. One of the main reasons? The Twins are being careful with Byron Buxton (and it pays off).
The Giants took two out of three Astros this week, and I wouldn’t make this Andrew Baggarly story any better than he did himself.
Oddly enough, Anthony Rendon still doesn’t have a home run yet – maybe he should take a left hander?
The White Sox are experiencing a small renaissance. Not only have they won three straight games (including two straight against the division-leading Twins), but now Liam Hendrix is close to making a comeback after being diagnosed with cancer last year.
Hey, stories about multiplication mechanics Can be interested. This is one of Zach Nieto’s leg kicks.
(Photo: Duane Burleson/Getty Images)