I’m not even sure I can imagine how angry I would be if I lost a perfect game in the ninth inning. Over the years I have broken my fair share of tennis rackets, thrown golf clubs and smashed video game controllers. One might say I have a tiny bit of a temper when things don’t go my way. If I were an MLB pitcher I’d prefer to lose my perfect game bids in the first inning, getting it over with early. I’m no math genius or anything like that, but I’ve got to imagine that the odds of pitching a perfect game are about the same as finding a needle in Josh Hamilton’s haystack. Wait, that’s not how it goes. Those are the odds for getting a base hit. Last night Mike Leake took a perfect game into the ninth inning only to have Luis Rengifo leadoff with a single. I’m not even sure I’ve ever heard of this guy who’s 53rd career hit crushed Leake’s dreams. Leake also walked a guy in the ninth, but held on to finish off his complete game shutout, striking out six. A week after being no-hit by the Angels, this would have been quite the reversal of fortunes had they been able to pull of the perfercto. The last Mariners perfect game was pitched by King Felix. I remember that game vividly as I earned over a one hundred points from that performance which saved my week and was the reason I ended up in the playoffs. Long life the king.
Go ahead and tell me this wouldn’t drive you mad.
https://www.facebook.com/LakeEffectizzy/videos/2580063952037690/
Dan Vogelbach – More like Vogelbach to back as he homered in both the 4th and 5th innings, ending the night with six runs batted in.
Ryan Lavarnway – “Hey Vogelbach, I see your two homers and six RBIs and raise you a double,” said Lavarnway, whose giant effort was wasted in the Reds 11-10 loss to the Cardinals. This was a game that saw the Reds take an early 7-0 lead.
Paul DeJong – Paul went two for four with a home run and a double. It was his second homer in as many games with seven runs batted in over that same span. It’s not delivery, it’s DeJong-o.
Manny Machado – He also went two for four with his 24th home run. He still feels very pedestrian this season. In other words, I’m glad I didn’t spend an early round pick drafting him.
Anthony Rizzo – I grew up with an Anthony Rizzo, although everyone called him Tony. His dad’s name was Frank and he was an extremely abrasive, foul-mouthed blue-collar Italian-American New Yorker. Pretty sure it was a different Anthony Rizzo. The one on the Cubs hit a grand slam last night. He also had a single and a walk.
Christian Yelich – Dude launched his league leading 35th ding dong last night. That would be: ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. Stop ringing the bell already and come in.
Marcus Semien – It semiens to me that Marcus missed a cycle by a single. The easiest leg. I guarantee he is thinking about that today. Probably not as much as Leake is thinking about his near miss, but they both have similar thoughts.
Ramon Laureano – Ramon hit two doubles last night and now has five doubles in his last four games. I will call him Double Laureano.
Adam Haseley – Haseley now has homers in back to back games.
Edwin Encarnación – One Encarnación, under Edwin with liberty and justice for all. Edwin’s 29th home run of the year was a grand slam as he is well on his way to his 8th consecutive 30+ homer season. That’s an Ed for the win.
Aaron Judge – Judge Aaron hit a two-run shot for his 11th of the season. That’s 11th homer, not 11th two-run homer. In case there was any confusion.
John Means – It seems that nearly every time I cover the Saturday roundup Means pitches another quality start. He’s not hurling gems, but who wouldn’t take a six-inning, two earned run win? Sure he only struck out one, but this is John Means after all. You know what I means. He’s now 8-5 with a sub 3 ERA.
Anthony Santander – There something about Santander hitting a three-run homer off of Price that screams “potential advertisement for a bank”, but I can’t quite put the pieces together.
Leury Garcia – “Hey Ramon, I see your two doubles and I raise you another double,” said Leury after hitting his third double of the night. He added a single and two RBIs.
Brendan McKay – Or as I like to refer to him as Dylan Walsh, took a beating last night giving up five earned and nine hits over three and third. Hope he doesn’t drive his Porsche into the Peach Pit. Will the 90201 lines ever end? Nope.
Marcus Stroman – Stroman threw a strong seven inning shutout performance. He gave up six hits, but struck out five. Did you know his dad was Abe Stroman, the sausage king of Toronto?
Teoscar Hernandez – Teo hit a home run and now has four in his last four games. I think Grey calls that a hot tamale or something like that.
Oscar Mercado – This little Oscar went to the market. This little piggy stayed home. Mercado went 5-5 last night with four singles, a double, two runs scored, two driven in and a stolen base. Not a bad trip to the market.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – I’ve got to be honest. It’s rather disappointing when you see that Vlad Jr. went 3-5 and all three hits were singles. After 91 homers in the derby you think he’d throw us a bone. Still, I’ll take 3-5 with three singles any day of the week and twice and Fridays. Does that mean I get six singles last night? No. Ok.
Whit Merrifield – He put the hit in whit with a double and triple last night. Whit now leads the Majors in triples and is second in doubles. He also had three RBIs.
Francisco Lindor – Posted a double double on the night with three runs scored and a stolen base.
Tyler Naquin – The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, aching, coughing, stuffy-head, fever, so you can rest medicine went two for three with a double, a homer, two runs and two batted in.
Victor Robles – “Hey Tyler, I’ll call your double and home run,” said Robles in last night’s game against the Braves.
Ronald Acuña Jr. – Ronald had quite the busy night on the base paths last night. He stole a base, was caught stealing and was picked off. He did go 3-4 with two singles and a double. He drove in one, scored twice and even walked. I wonder if he was walking when he was caught stealing.
Yordan Alvarez – Yordan hit his tenth home run of the season. He now has ten home runs in 27 games (107 at bats). That’s a 60-homer pace over 162 games! He needs to be in the lineup every night.
Danny Santana – Three for five.
Justin Verlander – Six innings, twelve K’s, two earned and his twelfth win (12-4). I would have liked to see him go seven, but who’s complaining.
Ketel Marte – Also had two doubles last night. That deserves a double shot of Ketel One.
Eduardo Escobar – Just a triple and a homer for EE last night. Nothing crazy or anything like that. In his last three games he has three home runs and seven runs batted in. Again, nothing crazy.
Hyun-Jin Ryu – Improved to 11-2 on the season last night, striking out seven over seven while giving up just one earned run. Who Ryu he was going to have such a monster season?
Jacob deGrom – It seems almost par for the course. deGrom pitches seven innings, strikes out ten and walks away with a no decision thanks to zero run support.
Alex Dickerson – And finally the moment you have all been waiting for. Did A-Dick continue his streak of hitting a home run every time I cover the Saturday roundup? Sadly, he did not. In his defense, he wasn’t in the starting lineup. He did however appear as a pinch hitter in the tenth inning where he walked and came around to score the only run of the game. That’s just A-Dick be A-Dick.
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