Washed away
A rainy night in Cleveland shortens the series by a game.
I had expected this edition of the newsletter to be about how the Royals responded to a bad loss, but a rainout in Cleveland means the team needs to wait another day before they get back on the field and wash away any lingering unpleasantness. At least Thursday’s game is a matinee.
The combination of a rainout and day baseball means today’s newsletter will be brief.
Let’s start with a reminder that I’m targeting the month of June to bump the subscriber numbers at ItF headquarters. Your support is always appreciated, the newsletter is free and the emails come once a day during the week. And it’s simple to subscribe. All you have to do is hit the button below, you get some sort of boilerplate welcome from me and then you’re off to the newsletter races.
I’m of the mind that when it comes to the schedule, timing plays a huge role. No team stays hot for an entire year. Unless it’s the Dodgers. Although the argument could be made that you want to catch the Dodgers in October. Likewise, no team stays cold. The White Sox are currently testing that axiom. With the rainout and the idleness that tends to cause the mind to wander toward weird thoughts, I found myself thinking that Wednesday’s game getting washed away and pushed to the next time the Royals visit Cleveland in August, might not be a bad thing.
Sure, you want to get back on the field as quickly as possible after a loss like the one they experienced on Tuesday. Any chance to erase the unpleasantness of the day before is welcome in baseball. But maybe, just maybe, the Royals caught a break with the rainout.
We do know that Cleveland is looking like the team to beat in the AL Central. They’re off to one of the best starts in the history of their franchise. But two-plus months is a long time in this game. They may not be the same force by the time the summer is drawing to a close. Plus, you’d certainly hope that by then the Royals will have addressed their two glaring issues that threaten to put a damper on any successes they’ve experienced to this point—the bullpen and the offensive production from the outfield.
Maybe it’s a good thing that this brutality of a June schedule lessens by a game. Maybe the Royals will be on a run when they return to Cleveland in August. Maybe the Guardians will be stumbling. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Dunno. Idle rain day thoughts here.
Brady Singer will be pushed back a day and pitch on Thursday. Coming off an illness that saw his last start skipped, this is also probably a good thing. First pitch is at 12:10 Central.
With no Royals to watch or follow, how did you spend your evening? I took advantage by tuning in to the Dodgers and Pirates to watch Paul Skenes pitch. He made certain that was time well spent by uncorking something like seven pitches at 101 MPH or greater in the first inning as he was overpowering Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani got the best of Skenes the second time around as he turned on a 100 MPH four-seamer and dropped it over the fence in center. What a battle.
Overall, Skenes went five innings, throwing 93 pitches. In addition to the home run to Ohtani, a two-run shot, he also gave up a dinger to Andy Pages in the fifth. It was just an incredibly fun outing to watch with the Pittsburgh crowd buzzing on every pitch and then amping up the energy when there were two strikes on the batter. Skenes finished with eight punchouts.
I’m happy for Pittsburgh that they have a couple of young stud arms in Skenes and Jared Jones, who shut these Dodgers out for six innings the night before. They have a good core of hitters to compliment the pitching, a great stadium, some quality history and, as a bonus, what I consider to be plus uniforms. The Pirates have hovered around .500 for much of the season and are currently in fourth in a tight NL Central. Baseball is better when the Pirates are relevant.
All-Star voting opened on Wednesday. Or at least what they call “Phase One” of All-Star voting opened on Wednesday. I realize this is going to be old-man-yelling-at-clouds, but it just seems to me that MLB goes out of its way to convolute things that should be straightforward, like voting for All-Stars.
Anyway, the battle to watch is at shortstop in the American League. Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the early favorites, but Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson is having a fine season. If you hit the Fangraphs leaderboards, you’ll see that Witt has a slim lead in fWAR (if that’s your thing). If bWAR is your Wins Above Replacement jam, Henderson is currently ahead of Witt. They both have to contend with Corey Seager who has positioned himself in the conversation with a hot month of May.
It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks watching the votes roll in.
I would imagine that Salvador Perez runs away with the honor of starting catcher in the AL. Not only is he having an amazing season and deserving of the selection, but he has the All-Star pedigree which seems important in these kinds of things. If he’s elected as a starter, it would be his seventh time starting for the AL All-Stars and his ninth time on the All-Star squad.
MLB.com tells me that eight players have made at least seven All-Star Game starts as a catcher. Hall of Famers such as Ivan Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter, along with Del Crandall and Bill Freehan. That’s some impressive company.
Vote early, vote often.
Central Issues
Twins 5, Yankees 9
That’s a perfect five-for-five if you’re counting when it comes to the Twins losing to the Yankees this season. At least they scored more than a single run. Progress! Is it weird to say that Royce Lewis has homered in every game he’s played in 2024? He has. Yet you’ll recall he hurt himself on Opening Day in Kansas City and just returned to the lineup this week. Still impressive, though. Three home runs in three games. Carlos Santana also homered for Minnesota but the Yankees broke through early with four runs in the first against Chris Paddack, with three of them coming with two outs. Can the Twins play the Yankees every day?
White Sox 6, Cubs 7
When I checked in on this game, the Sox held a 5-1 lead. Hmmm, I thought to myself, I wonder how the Hapless White Sox are going to blow this one. Erick Fedde balked in a run. Michael Soroka walked in another. And there were a couple of productive outs and singles and other foolishness. The Cubs took the lead in the seventh but gave it back an inning later when Paul DeJong homered for the Sox. That just set the stage for a walk-off in the ninth. Mike Tauchman had the honors. The White Sox have lost 13 in a row.
Tigers 1, Rangers 9
Starter Kenta Maeda threw two pitches and then exited with an abdominal strain. That was probably not what the Tigers were looking for. Joey Wentz was the first out of the bullpen and served up a couple of home runs and the rout was on.
With the top two teams in the division sidelined with the rainout, the rest of the Central took the collective “L”.
Yes this rainout might be just what the Royals need. Having an extra day off at a time when it looks like they have hit the wall a little bit. Pushing Singer to a day game where he has a 1.68 ERA helps. Having Lynch pitch at the K rather than on the road feels better and now Lugo will open the Yankees series.
Not sure how baseball is better when the Pirates are relevant.