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Post by kaybli on May 26, 2024 14:43:02 GMT -5
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:45:36 GMT -5
Trying to avoid getting swept at home, the Padres send out Joe Musgrove to start. Drafted by the Jays as a supplemental 1st round pick (#46) in 2011, the Jays traded Musgrove to the Astros along with reliever Francisco Cordero and 4 other prospects for pitchers David Carpenter, J.A. Happ and Brandon Lyon. He worked his way up the Astros chain, pitching very well every season, but also suffering a significant injury every season, starting just 3, 13, and 14 games in the 2013-14-15 seasons, never pitching more than 100 2/3 innings in any of them. He pitched very well in AAA in the 1st half of the 2016 season, then was called to the majors in early August. He pitched OK down the stretch, going 4-4 with a 4.06 ERA in 11 starts, but didn't appear in the post-season for the Astros. In, 2017, he split time between the rotation and the bullpen, making 15 starts and 23 relief appearances and was mediocre for an excellent Astros team that won its first title. He didn't do well in 7 relief appearance in that post-season, four of them in the World Series.
That winter, he was the key player of four dealt to Pittsburgh in the trade with the for Gerrit Cole. He pitched OK for the Pirates in 2018 and 2019, and better than OK in the COVID-shortened season of 2019. At that point he had four seasons of service time and was about to become (via arbitration) too expensive for the notoriously cheap Pirates, so they traded him to the Padres as part of a 3-way deal that included the Mets, with the Pirates getting back five prospects, the most important of which became their closer, David Bednar. Joining the Padres at age 28, Musgrove finally achieced the success for which he had been ticketed as a prospect with Houston. In 2021 through 2023 with San Diego, Musgrove is 31-19 in 78 starts with a 3.05 ERA, averaging 153 innings, 129 hits, 47 runs, 52 earned, 18 HR, 30 BB and 161 K, with an outstanding WHIP of 1.094. He made the NL All-Star team for the first time in his career in 2022. Right now, he's in the top 10 among active starters career K/BB ratio, H/9 innings, and BB/9 innings (though oddly enough not in WHIP). In short, he's been a very, very good pitcher the last 3 seasons.
This season, Musgrove got off to a terrible start. In the 2-game series in the bandbox in Korea, he got knocked out in the 3rd inning, and got hit hard in 3 of his next 6 starts, culminating in a beating he took at the hands of the white-hot Phillies late last month. At that point, Musgrove was 3-3 with an ERA of 6.94. He pitched a solid game aginst the Reds the next time out, but before he could make his next start, he was put on the IL for elbow inflammation. Re-activated 5 days ago, he made it through 66 pitches and 3 innings against the Red in the Great America Launching Pad, giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, with 2 BB and 3 K, but did not give up a HR. This will be his 2nd start since coming off the IL. On the season, he's 3-4 with a 6.14 ERA. In 44 innings, he's allowed 52 hits, 31 runs, 30 earned, 10 HR, 15 BB and struck out 39. Healthy, Musgrove is a formidable starter, but I'm not sure he's completely healthy, and he might not be sure, either.
This will be his 2nd career start against the Yanks. His previous outing against the Yanks came last season exactly one year ago today, and he was outstanding: 6 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 1 run (earned), 0 HR, 0 BB and 6 K. He got the W in a 5-1 Padres win. Oddly enough, he was off to a bad start last year as well. Coming into the game he was 1-2 in 5 starts with an ERA of 6.75. That great start started a streak of 12 good-to-outstanding starts, he didn't have another bad one the rest of the season, but that season was cut short at the end of July when he was shut down with a right shoulder capsule injury. He tried rest and rehab, but it didn't work, and in mid-September, the Padres ended his season for him. It's just 25 PA, but the Yankee team quadruple slash line vs. Musgrove is .240/.240/.280/.520.
Repertoire: Musgrove is a tall, 5-pitch "kitch sink" righty, and all five of his pitches are used every game. This year, there's a minor change to his pitch mix; he's throwing the slider somewhat more and his change and curve a bit less. The mix so far this season: FB averaging 92 about 30% of the time, slider 82-3 about 22% of the time, curve 81 about 21%, cutter 90 about 19% and change 86-7 about 8%.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:46:15 GMT -5
Playing the name game...there are about 800 Joes in MLB history; is the Yanks' Joltin' Joe the best and most reknowned? Probably, but I'm not looking through the list to check. There are no other Musgraves in major league history but Harrison Musgrave pitched for the Rockies in 2018 and 2019, and a pitcher named Dennis Musgrave threw 16 innings for the Mets in 5 games in 1965, put up an ERA of 0.56...and never pitched in the majors again. He must have suffered some sort of injury because he pitched just 4 games in the minors the next year, and the A-ball level. He spent another 5 years in the minors after that before calling it quits after the 1971 season.
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Post by chiyankee on May 26, 2024 14:46:39 GMT -5
I'm going to a family outing, so I'm going to miss this one. I hope you guys bring home the sweep!
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:46:47 GMT -5
The Yanks send Clark Schmidt out to make his 11th start, and it looks like he's finally turned the corner to become an effective rotation pitcher. He still throws a ton of pitches all over the place; one of the reasons for his success this season is that his stuff is good, and the batters never know what pitch is coming next or where it will located. Watching Schmidt work, I still get the impression that he doesn't know, either. Nonetheless, the results have been outstanding so far this year: 5-2 with a 2.59 ERA, good for 6th in the AL in wins, and 8th in ERA. In 55 2/3 innings, he's allowed 46 hits, 17 runs, 16 earned, 6 HR, 17 BB and struck out 61, the last good enough to be top 10 in the AL in K's per 9 innings. Today will the first appearance or start of his career vs. the Padres.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:47:15 GMT -5
Yanks' lineup vs Musgrove:
Volpe is 1-3 with a K
Soto is 3-9 with 1 2B, 1 RBI (a sac fly) and 2 BB
Judge is 1-3 with 1 2B and 2 K
Verdugo is 4-8 with 1 2B, 1 RBI and 1 BB
Stanton is 1-3 with 2 K
Rizzo is just 2-19 with 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, and the inevitable 1 HBP
Torres is 1-3 with a K
Trevino 0-3 with a K
Cabrera has never faced Musgrove.
On the bench: the only two non-starting players who have faced Musgrove are pitchers Stroman, 0-2 with a K against him, and Weaver, 0-1 with a K
Padres lineup vs. Schmidt: even those he's never faced the Padres, 3 of their hitters have faced him. In the lineup:
Profar is 0-2 with 1 K and 1 HBP
Peralta is also 0-2 with a K, and also with 1 HBP
On the bench, Tyler Wade is 0-2 with a K as well, but without the HBP.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:48:10 GMT -5
Last night, the Yanks got a 2-run HR from Judge in the 1st and got two more in the 4th on a briliantly executed single by Rizzo and a sac fly by Torres, while Marcus Stroman, Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes bamboozled the Padres, allowing just 4 hits and 3 BB in a 4-1 win that put the Yanks 20 games over .500 for the first time, 37-17 at the 1/3 mark of the season.
In other AL East games, Reese Olsen of the Tigers, 2nd in the AL in ERA, finally got his first win of the year as the bullpen did its job the last 2 2/3 and hung on grimly for a 2-1 over the Jays. The O's were down 3-0 to the White Sox through 7, but rallied for their 3rd straight win over Chicago by hitting 3 HR in the 8th off two relievers including their closer Kopech, good for 5 runs, and held on to win 5-3. The Brewers knocked out Nick Pivetta early, using a 5-run 3rd inning, then held on late to beat the Red Sox at Fenway, 6-3. The Sox had the tying run at the plate in the 9th whent Brewers' closer Trevor Megill whiffed David Hamilton to lock down the win. The Royals and Padres fought a see-saw battle in Tampa for 10 innings, but the Royals broke through with 3 in the 11th on a double and 3 singles to beat the Rays for the 2nd straight game. Royals have now won 8 in a row, the Rays have now lost 6 in a row.
Entering today's play, the Yanks continue to lead the O's by 3, but gained a game on the other 3 teams for the second straight day: the Red Sox, Rays and Jays are now 10, 11 1/2 and 12 1/2 games back, respectively.
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Post by kaybli on May 26, 2024 14:50:26 GMT -5
I'm going to a family outing, so I'm going to miss this one. I hope you guys bring home the sweep! Have fun Chi! Hope you eat a bunch of good food! |
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:56:25 GMT -5
Elsewhere in the AL East today: Wild game in Detroit. The Tigers jumped out to big leads of 5-0 and 8-3, then the Jays rallied for 8 in the 6th, 7th and 8th, and to take an 11-9 lead. But the Tigers struck back for two in the 8th to tie it up and won it on a walkoff 3-run HR by Matt Vierling, giving the Tigers the series win. Quite a different story in Tampa where Taj Bradley had a scoreless duel with Mike Wacha through 5. The Royals broke through with a run in the 6th, the Rays struck back with 4 in the 7th. If they can hold the lead, that will end both the Royals' 8-game win streak that the Rays 6-game losing streak. The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 8th on a RBI single by Jarren Duran, and are top 9, trying to close out a win to avoid getting swept. The O's and White Sox are still being delayed by rain in Chicago. The O's will be looking for the 4-game sweep, and they will try like heck to get the game in, because this is the day the O's are scheduled to be in Chicago this season. If/when it does start, Kyle Bradish will start for Baltimore and White Sox "ace" Garrett Crochet pitches for Chicago.
And later this afternoon, it's Schmidt vs. Musgrove in San Diego.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 14:59:28 GMT -5
I'm going to do the rest of the weekly Sunday Standings™ right now, because I'll be trying to follow the Rangers between innings, and won't have time to load each division seperately during the game. So, starting in the AL Central...
the Guardians and Royals continue their vicious dogfight atop the standings. The Guardians are white-hot having won 8 in row and 11 of 12, but haven't gained ground on the Royals, who've also won 8 in row. Still 1 1/2 games between them with Cleveland in the lead. The Twins lost 7 in a row, but have bounced back to take their last 4. They're now 5 games over .500, 6 1/2 back of the Guardians and 5 back of the Royals. The Tigers sank below .500 by losing 5 in a row, but have taken the last two from the Jays. They're 2 games under, 3 1/2 back of the Twins, 8 1/2 back of KC, and 10 games out of 1st. The White Sox have resumed being the worst team in MLB, having lost 4 in row and 8 of 9 after a 3-week period of competency in which they went 11-8. They're 10 1/2 back of the 4th place Tigers, 14 behind the Twins, 19 behind the Royals and 20 1/2 game out of 1st at the 1/3 mark of the season.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 15:00:14 GMT -5
Out West, The Mariners rose to the top of the division by going 21-12 in a 5-week period that ended after they beat the Yanks twice, but have now lost 4 straight, keeping the supposedly better teams behind them in the race. They're just 1 game over .500 now. Last year's champs, the Rangers, continue to go through a dreadful slump. They've lost 6 in a row and 12 of 14, have sunk to 5 games under, but thanks to the M's losing streak and the Astros' own poor play, are still in 2nd, just 3 games back of Seattle. The Astros made a strong move, winning 7 in a row and 9 of 10, but are treading water lately, losing 4 of their last 7. They remain within striking distance 6 games under, 1/2 game behind the Rangers and 3 1/2 out of first. I can't shake the feeling that they'll eventually figure things out, and the two teams ahead of them will, by season's end, rue their shoddy play so far. The A's their moment in the sun, going 16-10 in April and early May, but have resumed being a tear-down/rebuild, losing 8 in a row at one point and now 10 out of 13. They're 10 games under, 2 behind the Astros, 2 1/2 behind the Rangers and just 5 1/2 out of 1st, but it's hard to believe they'll get any closer than that. The Angels have played slightly better lately, winning 5 of 9, but are somehow worse than the A's, 12 games under. They're 1 back of Oakland, 3 behind the Astros, 3 1/2 behind the Rangers and just 6 1/2 out of 1st, but I think they're playing just to get out of 5th and wind up ahead of the A's.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 15:02:05 GMT -5
In the NL East, the Phillies continued playing historically great ball, even without Trea Turner, who's finally ready for a rehab assignment. They've won 7 of 8, 12 of 15, 19 of 23, 23 of 28 and 30 of 37. They have the best record in MLB, 1 1/2 games better than the Yanks, and at 23 games over .500, have opened up a 7 game lead in the division. The Braves have slumped lately, losing 7 of 10 and though they're still an outstanding team, the Philles' insane long hot streak leaves them well in 2nd at 9 games over .500. Still time to catch the Phils, but they have to get going again. The Nationals lost 7 of 8 at one point, but have won their last 2. They've moved into 3rd at 4 games over, 6 1/2 back of the Braves and 13 1/2 out of 1st The Mets' bullpen keeps blowing leads left and right, and they've now lost 10 of 12 to fall out of the race. They're now 9 games under, 2 1/2 back of the Nats, 9 behind the Braves and 16 games out of 1st. The Marlins are no longer playing historically bad baseball. They've won 8 of their last 12, and now, instead of being famously bad, they're just...bad. 17 games under, 4 behind the Mets, 6 1/2 behind the Nats, 13 behind the Braves and 20 games out of 1st.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 15:02:55 GMT -5
In the NL Central:
The Brewers continue to plod forward, and after winning two game in Fenway, remain in 1st, 9 games over .500. The Cubs are struggling, losing 3 in a row and 8 of 11, but they're still in 2nd, just 2 games over and 3 1/2 back. The Cards have come off the mat, winning their last 4 and 9 off 11. They've risen to 3rd, 2 games under, 2 behind the Cubs and 5 1/2 out of 1st. The Central teams had their shot to bury them, and didn't do it. They're likely to regret that. The Pirates are playing better lately, winning 6 of 9, but have fallen into 4th, 3 games under, 1/2 back of the Cards, 2 1/2 back of the Cubs and 6 games out of 1st. The Reds have maybe started to arrest their shocking plummet, winning two in a row after losing 16 of 20. Or it may be a "dead cat bounce". They're in last, 8 games under, 2 1/2 back of the Pirates, 3 behind the Cards, 5 behind the Cubs and 8 1/2 out of first.
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Post by JEGnj on May 26, 2024 15:03:11 GMT -5
I think a bunch of us are going to get pizza or sandwiches and hang out on the beach. Will be listening but maybe not watching.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 26, 2024 15:04:09 GMT -5
In the NL West, the Dodgers freight train has come to a stop, losing 4 in a row after winning 20 of 26, and allowing the Giants to make a small move. The Dodgers remain 12 over and on pace for 99 wins. The Giants have won 8 of 9, surging into 2nd, a game over .500 and 5 1/2 back of LA. The Padres continue to tread water, losing the first two to the Yanks, they're 2-2 in their last 4, 5-4 in their last 9, and 6-7 in their last 13. They're in 4th, a game under .500, 1 behind SF and 6 1/2 back of the Dodgers. The Diamondbacks are playing slightly better, winning 3 of their last 4, but are also treading water. They're in 4th, 2 games under, 1/2 game behind the Padres, 1 behind the Giants and 7 games out of 1st. The Rockies continue to Rockie; they've lost 6 of 8 to fall 17 games under .500. Firmly lodged in the West basement, they're 7 1/2 back of the D'backs, 8 back of the Padres, 9 back of the Giants and 14 1/2 out of 1st. Their season is essentially over.
And that concludes The Sunday Standings™ for this week.
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