— Brewers’ rookie P Jacob Misiorowski has started only five major league games; he is 4-1, 2.81 in those starts, a solid start to his career, but when he was named to the NL All-Star team this weekend, it ruffled some feathers, especially in Philadelphia.
First of all, in my opinion, five games doesn’t make you an All-Star, it just doesn’t.
Then when you consider that Cristopher Sanchez is 7-2, 2.59 in 18 starts, Ranger Suarez is 7-3, 1.94 in 13 starts, and you understand why people in Philadelphia are steamed.
— Sanchez has a $200,000 bonus in his contract for making the All-Star Game; the Phillies have apparently paid him $50,000 of that bonus, a solid gesture on their part.
— The ball/strike challenge system will be used at the All-Star Game Tuesday, as commissioner Rob Manfred continues to push the system to become activated for next season. It worked well during spring training, everyone seemed to approve of it.
— When the Bronx baseball team DFA’d DJ LeMahieu this week, they ate almost $22M that was left on his contract.
— Time flies: Red Sox SS Trevor Story, Mets OF Brandon Nimmo both played in their 1,000th career game this week. I remember trading for Story in our fantasy league when he was a rookie.
I was in Las Vegas and my team needed a shortstop; I was trying to trade for Story, who went on a heater that first week, hitting six home runs in his first four games. Every time he hit one I upped my offer via text and finally got him, but he was more expensive than I wanted him to be. He turned out to be really good for a few years.
— Detroit Tigers are doing really well, they’re 59-37, lead their division by 11.5 games, but a weird stat is that Detroit is only 6-12 when Jack Flaherty starts on the mound, and Flaherty is their #2 starting pitcher.
— Things have changed a lot over the years: Mets have already used 36 different pitchers this year, in 96 games; when the Mets won the World Series in 1969, they used 15 pitchers the entire regular season.
— Earlier this week, Orioles P Brandon Young threw an immaculate inning, striking out all three batters in one inning, on nine pitches- that doesn’t happen very often.
Young is only the 5th Orioles’ pitcher ever to throw an immaculate inning.
When the inning ended, Orioles’ catcher Jacob Stallings threw the ball down to first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, who tossed it into the stands (as players often do) without realizing that it was an important baseball.
An 11-year old kid got the ball; couple innings later, an Orioles’ employee approached the kid and asked him if he would trade the baseball for one of Ryan O’Hearn’s bats; the bat was signed by O’Hearn, and the trade was made, and everyone was happy.
— Riddle me this: How is Juan Soto not an All-Star?
— Famous birthdays, July 13th:
Harrison Ford, 83
Danny Abramowicz, 80
Stu Lantz, 79
Cheech Marin, 79
David Thompson, 71
Bill Caudill, 69
Spud Webb, 62
Ken Jeong, 56
Yadier Molina, 43
DJ LeMahieu, 37
Ty France, 31
Cody Bellinger, 30
— Twins 12, Pirates 4
Byron Buxton hit for the cycle on his bobblehead day.
This was the first hit ever in the 16-year history of Target Field.
Pirates have lost eight games in a row.
— Astros 5, Rangers 4 (11)
Zack Short had the walk-off single for Houston.
Texas tied the game after trailing 3-1 in 8th inning.
Jose Altuve homered for the Astros.
— Padres 5, Phillies 4
Jackson Merill homered twice for San Diego.
Merrill hadn’t hit a home run since May 27th.
Five San Diego relievers combined to get the last 13 outs.
— A’s 4, Blue Jays 3
Brent Rooker hit a two-run homer for the A’s.
This was only the 2nd loss for Toronto in their last 13 games.
Mason Miller recorded his 18th save for the A’s.
— Brewers 6, Nationals 5
Milwaukee scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk it off.
Brandon Woodruff struck out 10 in 4.1 IP (81 PT), giving up two runs.
Washington is 1-4 since they fired their GM/manager.
— Red Sox 1, Rays 0
Garrett Crochet allowed only 3 hits in his 100-pitch complete game.
Red Sox have won nine games in a row.
Carlos Narvaez knocked in the game’s only run, with a 4th inning single.
— Braves 7, Cardinals 6
St Louis led 5-3 after seven innings.
Sean Murphy hit his 7th home run in his last 11 games.
Cardinals lost Erick Fedde’s last four starts, giving up 33 runs.
If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
AL: Blue Jays, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Mariners
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Brewers, Phillies, Padres
