Ronel Blanco lived up to his name, turning in the young season’s first no-hit game as the Astros romped 10-0 over Toronto. Blanco walked the first batter of the game and the next-to-last (both former Astro George Springer) but retired everyone else, as no Blue Jay reached second base. It was the 13th no-hit game by an Astro pitcher (11th at home), and the second time Houston has no-hit Toronto. More after the jump.
Continue readingThis post is for voting and discussion in the 140th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the last of three rounds of balloting adds to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1979. Rules and lists are after the jump.
Continue readingThis post is for voting and discussion in the 139th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the second of three rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1979. Rules and lists are after the jump.
Continue readingSeptember means pennant chases but, until recently, it also meant greatly expanded rosters and the chance for teams not in the post-season hunt (or even some that were) to take a look at some of their top minor league prospects. That is the topic of this post, looking at those players who made the most of a short rookie audition. More after the jump.
Continue readingTo tide us over for the next couple of days, here’s a quick quiz. Not very hard, but some of the names may surprise you. So, what accomplishment can be claimed only by these players?
| Rk | Player ▲ |
|---|---|
| 1 | Richie Ashburn |
| 2 | Rod Carew |
| 3 | Corbin Carroll |
| 4 | Joe DiMaggio |
| 5 | Mark Fidrych |
| 6 | Ron Hansen |
| 7 | Frank Robinson |
| 8 | George Scott |
| 9 | Fernando Valenzuela |
| 10 | Dick Wakefield |
| 11 | Jerry Walker |
On April 23rd this season, Clayton Kershaw pitched 6 innings for the win against the Mets. And, on June 14th, Jose Berrios went 7⅔ against the Orioles and also collected the W. What do these two games have in common? Find out after the jump.
Continue readingThe 118th World Series is underway, the first contested by this season’s league champions. The 19 game difference in the regular season records of the the Astros and Phillies is the largest since the 22½ game spread between the Cubs and White Sox way back in the 3rd World Series in 1906. More after the jump.
Continue readingThe NL is featuring two wildcard teams in its championship series, while the #1 and #2 seeds square off in the AL. More after the jump.
Continue readingWith the wildcard round completed, it’s on to the division series. Three of this year’s division series feature teams from within the same division. So, no secrets and no love lost. More after the jump.
Continue readingThe 2022 post-season is underway and, as in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the first round is a best-of-three wildcard series. This time there are four teams involved in each league instead of the eight that qualified two years ago. The other difference is that this time there are fans in the stadiums. More after the jump.
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