Issue #614
The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!
⚾ Welcome! ⚾
[Note: The below are some appetizers from today’s full Baseball Buffet newsletter. Paid subscribers receive the full edition. Upgrade now for just 14 cents a day!]
Yesterday featured a full slate of Sunday games (15). Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
NYM 1, CHC 2 (10) - CHC SP Javier Assad pitched well (5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), allowing a solo HR to MJ Melendez in the fifth. The Mets used both Tobias Myers (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) and David Peterson (3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) early in this one, and then three other relievers kept the Cubs from scoring through eight. They brought in Devin Williams to try to close the game out in the ninth, but Ian Happ singled and then Michael Conforto hit a one-out double that tied the game and forced extra innings. Caleb Thielbar kept the Mets from scoring in the tenth. Craig Kimbrel threw a wild pitch that allowed Pete Crow-Armstrong, the automatic runner, to advance to third. With one out, Nico Hoerner then hit a sacrifice fly for the win. Tough way to lose any game, but especially when it is your 11th consecutive loss. Ouch.
STL 7, HOU 5 (10) - STL SP Matthew Liberatore pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) and the Cardinals built a 4-1 lead through seven innings. But Houston scored three in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game, including Yordan Alvarez hitting his MLB-leading 10th HR. Neither team scored in the ninth, so it went into extras. St. Louis loaded the bases in the tenth, and Masyn Winn hit a one-out double that drove in three. The Astros scored one in the bottom of the frame, but Gordon Graceffo was able to get Christian Walker to ground into a force out to close out the game.
CIN 7, MIN 4 (10) - The Twins scored three runs early, while MIN SP Bailey Ober had 10 K over 6.1 IP (3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB). The Reds scored three in the ninth to take a 4-3 lead, but then closer Emilio Pagán allowed doubles to James Outman and Austin Martin and the score was 4-4, forcing extras. Minnesota kept Garrett Acton, who had finished the 9th inning, in for the tenth as well. A fielding error by 3B Tristan Gray allowed a run to score, followed by Rece Hinds hitting a 2-run double to put Cincy up by three. Graham Ashcraft pitched a scoreless bottom of the tenth, securing his first save of the year.
SDP 2, LAA 1 - SDP SP Michael King pitched well (5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K), but so did rookie LAA SP Walbert Urena (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K). A 2-1 lead in the ninth isn’t much, but it’d all you need when Mason Miller is your closer, as he struck out two to secure his MLB-leading 8th save. He now has 27 K against only 2 BB and 2 hits in 11.1 IP this year, and has a 32.2 scoreless innings streak going.
TBR 3, PIT 6
SFG 0, WSH 3
KCR 0, NYY 7
BAL 4, CLE 8
MIL 3, MIA 5
LAD 6, COL 9
CWS 7, ATH 4
TEX 2, SEA 5
TOR 10, ARI 4
DET 6, BOS 2
ATL 4, PHI 2
Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Don Mattingly. He had 53 doubles in 1986, the single-season record for the Yankees. Who are the other two Yankees players to have had 50+ doubles in a season? For bonus points... Mattingly also had 48 doubles in 1985, which is tied for fourth all-time for the Yankees. Which Yankees player is he tied with? (He actually had 48 doubles for the team twice.)
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Don Mattingly, Heavy Johnson, Dave Bancroft, Brandon Belt
Currently active players who were born on April 20 include TEX Kyle Higashioka and MIA Adam Mazur.
Today’s Matchups
Some teams are travelling today, or otherwise have the day off, so we have a partial slate of 10 games only. Here are a few interesting matchups (see also full list):
DET Jack Flaherty vs. BOS Sonny Gray - two capable starters, with Flaherty having done well in his past two outings, while Gray was roughed up by the Twins on April 14th.
ATL Bryce Elders vs. WSH Jake Irvin - both the Braves overall (15-7), and Bryce Elders in particular (0.77 ERA in 4 starts), are off to strong starts this year
CIN Rhett Lowder vs. TBR TBD Pitcher - game one of an interesting inter-league series between two teams doing surprisingly well so far (Reds are 14-8 and Rays are 12-9).
Also throwing today are KCR Seth Lugo, PHI Aaron Nola, and TOR Dylan Cease.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Don Mattingly, so here are a few quotes from him:
"His (Dwight Gooden) reputation preceded him before he got here."
"Has he (Rickey Henderson) ever been here (Spring Training) the first day? You have to say Rickey's consistent. That's what you want in a ballplayer - consistency."
"Honestly, at one time I thought Babe Ruth was a cartoon character. I really did, I mean I wasn't born until 1961 and I grew up in Indiana."
"I like being close (moved his locker) to the bats."
"If you don't second-guess yourself, then you are not trying to get better."
"When I gave up me, I became more. I became a captain, a leader, a better person and I came to understand that life is a team game...And you know what?...I've found most people aren't team players. They don't realize that life is the only game in town. Someone should tell them. It has made all the difference in the world to me."
"Good teams I played on... just the tone that they play with, the energy they play with, how they go about it. When you get it going the right way, you get everyone going in the same direction and it's a powerful thing."
⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
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The above was just some highlights from today’s full Baseball Buffet. Paid All Star subscribers receive all of the following, every day:
Game summaries for every game
Current MLB standings
Notable player transactions… injuries, call-ups, free agent signings, trades, etc.
Rotating statistical leader lists
Current hitting streaks of seven or more games
On this day in baseball history…
Career summaries for each of The Birthday Boys
Daily Hitter Watch and Pitcher Watch lists - who has historically done well or poorly against their matchup today?
Good Reads… my favorite recent baseball articles from other writers
… and the answers to the daily trivia questions!
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Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.
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