18 Comments
May 9, 2023Liked by Craig Brown

I thought that Garcia's barehanded play on that bunt was even more impressive than MJ's fine catch near the right field line. I just wish that MJ would stop fielding ground balls off to his left side. Sooner or later another one is going to get under his glove as happened earlier this season. That's much less likely to happen if he positions himself directly in front of the ball.

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Mr. B, Speaking of derailments, that '17 trade for the three SD pitchers cost the team a shot at the postseason, IMO. Only Buchter was halfway decent. Cahill, in particular, and Maurer were abominable.

As abominable as Gonzalez's calls. Speaking of abominable, haven't heard much from the grievous Angel Hernandez. Is he still active?

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May 9, 2023Liked by Craig Brown

Just a question on pitching depth. I thought Austin Cox looked pretty good in his 2 innings the other day. Why did they send him back down so quick? Garcia's play was beauty.

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May 9, 2023Liked by Craig Brown

Couldn't agree with you more about Garcia. But you're more optimistic than I am about BWJ's play at SS. Sure, the spectacular plays are there but the routine plays are still a bit of a crapshoot. That shouldn't be the case with a legit MLB SS. I suspect that he'll end up in CF where he can take full advantage of his magnificent athleticism. That would be my plan, anyway.

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I'm not going to condition it with any "but"s or point out that it was by no means a perfect game. Last night's game was fun, maybe the only truly fun game I've been able to catch all season. So I'm just going to accept it and enjoy, and hopefully tonight, though the odds may be long, they can do more of the same and win 3! games in a row.

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May 9, 2023Liked by Craig Brown

Some props to Castillo too, who managed to throw a fairly constant stream of strikes (except for the time when I said out loud how nice it was to see pitches in the zone, at which point he promptly walked the next hitter) and looked like the kind of long reliever one could come to love. That said, it's possible Chicago was just over it by the time he came in the game. Also, usually righties (no matter how good of a hitter they actually are) don't have the kind of aesthetically pleasing swing that great lefties feature, but Garcia definitely has a bit of that lefty vibe, where his swing is just pretty to watch.

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May 9, 2023·edited May 9, 2023Liked by Craig Brown

Do you think there's any sort of a decent chance that Nate Eaton ends up at 3B, assuming that he can actually hit MLB pitching? Or was all that talk about his great defensive skills at 3B just vapid PR BS?

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