The Crane Pool Forum

'bout time we had a proper TWiB thread for the ongoing week.

- Padres scored three in the top of the 10th in Pittsburgh and lead 9 - 6
But the Pirates have loaded the bases with no one out ... so don't count them chickens yet

Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2024 10:30 pm - Padres scored three in the top of the 10th in Pittsburgh and lead 9 - 6
But the Pirates have loaded the bases with no one out ... so don't count them chickens yet

A walka nd a Wild Pitch have it down to 9 - 8
Now one out, 1st & 3rd

Morton can't get out of the 3rd inning this afternoon - 83 pitches - as the
BrewCrew is takin' it to Los Bravos 8-sniffle...

12-3 now. Brewers just hit their 6th HR of the day

Shades of Harvey's Wallbangers.
Later

kcmets wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 1:30 pm Morton can't get out of the 3rd inning this afternoon - 83 pitches - as the
BrewCrew is takin' it to Los Bravos 8-sniffle...

We bombed Morton in the 3rd inning also. That was probably two or three starts ago for him so this isn't a good trend line for him.

Morton is one of those guys whose second half of his career has been better than his front half ... but he is almost 41 y/o (Nov).

So if the season ended today (and I don't think it does, but play along anyway) the Braves would be on the outside looking in.
The last time they didn't qualify for post-season was 2017* and I wasn't expecting a break in that streak this year.
Thinking about that possibility after dropping in on a local Braves telecast earlier this season and hearing their announcers
dismissing the Mets as a serious contender is kind of cool, even if it was a pretty sane conclusion at the time.

* Braves went 72 -90 that year, a record they flipped the very next season. So since 2018 (in full seasons) Atlanta has won 90, 97, 88, 101, and 104 games.
The year of their WS title? The 88-win season of course.




Also, big movin' and shaking' in the wild wild (NL) west:
At the conclusion of action on July 27, less than two full weeks ago:
- the Dodgers held a 7.5 G lead in the division. They're 4 - 7 since and that lead in down to just 3.0 G
- the Padres, who were 7.5 back, have gone 10-2 since and are now just 3.0 G back
- the Diamondbacks were 8.5 back then and are also 3.0 G out thanks to their 10-2 stretch
- the Giants were a whopping 13 G out but have run off a 10-3. Still 8.5 G back with two teams in between but they're
staying within touch of the WC certainly.

Today's wins by SFG, ARZ, and SDP are included in the above. The Dodgers are idle.

Yanx losing at home 9-3 in the 9th to Anaheim in the rain.
And just when I thought this day couldn't get any better.

Padres come from behind once again.
One in the 8th, then one more in the 9th to tie it, then four in the 10th

Padres not only won their 7th straight today but for the fourth game in a row they scored late to win.
8/7 - 1 in the 9th to tie, then 3 in the 10th to win
8/8 - 3 in the 9th
8/9 - 1 in the 8th, 1 in the 9th, 4 in the 10th
8/10 - With the Marlins up 7-2, Padres scored 2 in the 7th, 3 in the 8th, 1 in the 10th


This one was the Marlins fault though.
In the home half of the 10th they bunted the ghost runner to 3rd AND beat out the bunt for a hit.
So then they decide to bunt the next guy too (with the infield playing in all around): Foul, Foul ... and tried it again w/2 strikes and popped to the pitcher?!?!
A grounder to 3B resulted in a tag out at home, and then a K ended it.
I could justify the first bunt, but was less cool w/the second ESPECIALLY after 2 strikes.

Padres rising while the Mets are falling

Down 8-2, the Rox scored seven in the bottom of the 8th to top the Braves 9-8 ... so, y'know, there's that.
ML teams down by 6 or more runs entering the 8th inning had lost the last 1,409 straight games.