Baseball Chatter 08/02

Teams

Over the remaining 30 days of the month, The Diamondbacks will play 28 games in the next 30 days. Fifteen of them are against the best teams in baseball, including five more against the Cubs, six against the Dodgers and four against the Astros.

The Braves have lost 12 of their last 15 and scored three runs or fewer 10 times

Orioles starters have quality starts in six of their last eight games. They have won four straight and if they sweep the Royals tonight, they will be 2 ½ games out of the second wild card in the American League.

The Mets have lost because of a walk-off walk seven times this year. They have lost five of their last six

 

Waiver Wire Pickups

Jesse Winker went 1-for-3 with a walk and his first career home run He would have had two but Starling Marte caught the ball before it went over the fence.

Lucas Sims (ATL-SP) threw 62 of 92 pitches for strikes. He went six innings, allowed three earned runs, walked none and struck out three. His next start is Sunday against the Marlins at home

Jhoulys Chacin tossed seven scoreless innings yesterday, allowing just three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Chacin has allowed two or less runs to score nine times, with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in his past 10 starts

Shane Green made five outs and earned his first save of the season last night

Brad Ziegler earned his first save of the season last night. He gave up two hits in a scoreless ninth

Howie Kendrick went 5-for-5 with a two-run home run. He is playing every day and batting sixth in the lineup. INSERT INSERT

Johan Camargo (ATL-SS) hit home run number three last night, playing every day at shortstop since Dansby Swanson was sent back to Triple-A. If you are in an OBP league, walk away and don’t look back.

Injury Updates

Max Scherzer exited the game with neck spasms after pitching one inning. This could be the beginning of a fast and furious fall out of playoff contention.

Matt Davidson suffered a bruised right wrist after being hit by a pitch from Stroman in the fourth inning and is day-to-day.

It just kind of swelled up pretty good right after, I just didn’t really feel comfortable swinging. We’ll see how it responds [Wednesday]Davidson

Billy Hamilton was removed from the game after the seventh inning last night with an ankle injury – stay tuned

Gregory Polanco could be activated from the disabled list to play today

Matt Adams left the game last night with dizziness, but the honeymoon phase in Atlanta looks to be over, with only one home run over the past 14 games. Freddie Freeman was back at first base.

 

Player News

Carlos Carrasco gave up five runs on six hits, struck out one and walked three over 1 ⅔  innings.

Craig Kimbrel blew his fourth save and then won the game thanks to Christian Vazquez hitting his second home run of the season with two outs in the ninth.

Carlos Martinez has given up runs in the first inning four times since the All-Star break. He has been experimenting with different ways to warm up for games as a result of the first-inning floundering but it obviously isn’t working out so well. Here are his stats in the first inning

 

 

and here are innings 2-9

 

Dallas Keuchel was disappointed that the Astros did not get another top pitcher by the trade deadline.

When asked about Trade Deadline, Keuchel said: “I’m not going to lie. Disappointment is a little bit of an understatement.” pic.twitter.com/hUgk3M45jg

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 1, 2017

Albert Pujols is on pace for his third 100-RBI season with the Angels. He has 68 so far.

Jay Bruce is tied for second with 14 go-ahead home runs this season

Yoenis Cespedes hits .387 with three doubles, four home runs and 10 RBIs in eight games at Coors.

Sean Manaea needed 40 pitches to make it through the first inning last night

Jameson Taillon gave up eight runs on 11 hits and lasted only 3 ⅔ innings. He has been horrible since the break, going 1-3 with a 12.18 ERA and 2.24 WHIP

Clearly, (batters) are too comfortable, and they’re seeing my pitches too well, I don’t know whether it’s a lack of deception or pitch sequencing or something with my mechanics. We’ll have to find out.Jameson Taillon

Yoan Moncada is 4-for-38 with a home run, six RBI and 16 strikeouts, so the concern is that he changes a patient approach that has generally looked good. Guillen also hopes Moncada isn’t too hard on himself.

White Sox Talk Podcast – Deadspin Trolling The Rebuild?

Dylan Bundy pitched gave up one run on three hits over eight innings.

Amed Rosario went 1-for-4 in his major league debut

Jimmy Nelson:

• Quality Starts – Five of last Seven
• 43 ⅔ innings, 3.09 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 56:8 K:BB

Carlos Martinez threw 55 strikes in 102 pitches last night and gave up three runs in the first inning. He has one win in the past eight starts, 46 innings, with a 5.09 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 44:21 K:BB ratio

Brandon Belt hit his 17th homer last night, and is 4-for-11 with three extra-base hits since returning from his wrist injury July 30.

Ozzie Albies (ATL-2B)made his major league debut last night, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Look to Albies to get a few stolen bases and that is about it for now. He is 20.

Wil Myers was benched three days in hopes that he would get his head back in the game, but it may not have worked as he came back last night and promptly picked up where he left off. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Kenta Maeda is trying to keep his job in the Dodgers starting rotation to keep his spot in the rotation. He is 5-1 with a 2.20 ERA over his last six starts.

Aaron Nola has given up no more than two runs in eight straight starts, with a 1.66 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 63:15 K:BB over 54.1 innings in that span. WHOO WHOO GO NOLA

Hunter Pence went 1-for-5 with a three-run homer. Jarrett Parker will be activated from the disabled list on Sunday which will likely eat into Pence’s playing time.

Steven Matz gave up three runs on six hits, struck out two and walked two over five innings. It is safe to say that major league batters have figured him out.