Preacher Roe and Ben Wade were teammates for much longer than they were opponents during their respective careers. They would only have had a chance to pitch against each other during August-September, 1954 but, per Baseball Reference, they never did.

With 2 strikeouts today, Eugenio Suarez will reach 100 in his teams 72nd game putting him precisely on pace to catch the immortal Mark Reynolds season season record of 223.

Reynolds finishing 2 HR shy of 300 feels cruel, although at his last season pace it would have cost him about 0.5 WAR.

Someone smarter than me can do the math, but I think Renolds is 2nd in HR per WAR (298 HR and 6.8 WAR = 43.8 HR/WAR) to Dante Bichette I (274 HR to 5.7 WAR = 48
1 HR/WAR).

Roe Skidmore and Wade Blasingame were both active in the National League in 1970, but never faced each other, in part because Roe Skidmore only had one major league at-bat.

My first half-dozen games at Wrigley Field came before the stadium even has lights.
welp, I lived long enough to see this today:

"DraftKings and the Chicago Cubs hosted a beam signing ceremony to commemorate the topping off and soon-to-be completed structural steel addition to the historic ballpark for the DraftKings Sportsbook at Wrigley Field. The two-story sportsbook, slated to be completed in 2023, will be located on the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue at the southeast corner of Wrigley Field."

Is Harry's statue at Sheffield & Addison ... cuz that would seem kinda appropriate.

Will they frame the first laundered dollar and stick it on the wall?

And a reminder to all of our NY fans to be sure to take a nap this afternoon so you'll stll be awake for the end of the Yanks game and the start of the Angels.

Salvador Perez out which will likely lead to the end of Mike Mathenys last managerial job. He cost us 1, if not 2 World Series appearances. He can't be gone soon enough

Mozeliak says Paul Dejong has been Wally Pipped.

Asked whether he now views Dejong as an "asset", Mozeliak says all players are players. Calling them "assets" doesn't go over very well.

Unless they moved it during the last couple years, Harry Caray's statue is outside the CF gate at Waveland and Sheffield.

Holy crap, that sportsbook takes up all that sidewalk space on that corner, what a zoo it'll be to get around that thing at a place where the crowds already bottleneck.

I was 1000% on board with the development of the triangle space, that wasn't being used really anyway, and now it's a really nice public space. This is ... not like that. Also not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt these days anyway, since they decided to take their Marquee windfall and cheapskate the #### out with it. No reason to think this will be any different.

Not the big news Yanks fans might want but Judge and Yanks avoid arb with a 1/$19 agreement that has some MVP incentives in it. In the end, his 3 arb years cost the Yanks about $38 M which is pretty cheap (11 WAR and counting).

where will this sportsbook be relative to Murphy's Bleacher House (which grew exponentially since the 1980s) and the other classic watering holes? haven't been back in a few yeas.

fwiw, FanDuel has a sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack. dozens of large-screen TVs, tables for diners, a bar, etc.

you could possibly go there to watch a ballgame with a pal and ignore the kiosks and betting teller windows. the excitement near the end of a game - it's not so different. it's just that elsewhere, there is an easy illusion that the rooting interests are emotional. at a sportsbook, the "fans" are all about the Benjamins.

#3: the BEST HR to WAR ratio must be someone with 0.1 or 0.0 WAR :)

In Jan. 2021, the Mets traded SS Amed Rosario (age 26, 96 OPS+ in 2022) and now-2B Andres Gimenez (age 23, 138 OPS+ in 2022) for the right to pay $341 million to Francisco Lindor (age 28, 108 OPS+ in 2022) and also add Carlos Carrasco (age 35, 91 ERA+ in 2022).

now:
- Lindor is a big defensive upgrade
- Jeff McNeil has a 143 OPS+ for the Mets at 2B in 2022
- SS Ronny Mauricio, age 21, is one of the Mets' top 3 prospects and is handling AA ball this year

all that said, it is interesting that on a scale of 1 to 10, the Cano/Kelenic trade was rated about a minus 50 and this one was rated around an 8, iirc.

that gap has narrowed, just a tad......

where will this sportsbook be relative to Murphy's Bleacher House (which grew exponentially since the 1980s) and the other classic watering holes?

A block south of Murphy’s, a block east of Cubby Bear.

thanks. so what bar was/is right on that corner? (am now remembering the old McDonald's in Wrigleyville.)

meanwhile, Buck Showalter - playing 4D chess - wins two challenges on the same play.

Mets 1st and 2nd, no one out, grounder to second base. fill-in 2B tags Nimmo with his glove while his ball was in his hand (oops!) as Nimmo slows to the ground to make the play more difficult. then there's also a throw to first which Marte obviously beats.

so the latter fix is a gimme. but what to do with Nimmo? he clearly was not out but the ump clearly told him he was. should he keep running in defiance of the ump's call?

much confusion but they decided Nimmo was deceived by ump so he's placed on second base.

Marlins ace Alcantara utterly rattled, two bad pitches, and here comes a 3-run double by Lindor and a 5-2 lead.

that puts Lindor back ahead of Judge in the seasonal NY RBI race, 56-53 (Alonso leads 'em all with 66).

My MLBtv weirdness continues. AppleTV+ games won't show in NZ but will show in Aus. Unfortunately AppleTV seems clever enough to know that I'm in NZ even when I run through the VPN. MLBtv itself may have finally caught onto the VPN too but also won't let me log in through my TV in NZ. But it will let me log in through my computer or phone so I have been chromecasting to the TV. Today the Cubs are on Apple again. I figured I've got nothing to lose, pulled up the phone, clicked on the apple link and it worked (even though I don't run my phone through a vpn). Then I tried to cast it ... and it shuts it down.

Howie, the sportsbook is part of Wrigley itself, not replacing anything but sidewalk.

Am I wrong in remembering an OTB across the street on Addison in the 80s or 90s?

thanks, Walt.

I just liked some of the expansiveness of Wrigleyville compared to similar setups in other cities. this extension surely won't make any of the field's corners outside larger.

Tonights' HP ump in the Cubs-Cardinals game is giving Hendricks a couple inches outside, a couple inches inside, the calls below the zone, and the calls above the top of the zone.

Meanwhile the Cards' rookie pitcher just has a normal zone to work with.

I wish I was being hyperbolic.

This one drives me crazy, I assume this is a nerd thing too. Runners have Cubs on 2nd and 3rd, one out. Ground ball to Edman, Contreras breaks home, he's going to be obviously out ... but Happ never broke for 3rd. So Cards get Contreras easily without giving up a base. I know runner on 2nd vs 3rd with 2 outs is not a big deal but no reason not to take the free base. I've seen that many times the last couple of years where the runner gets caught up between 3rd and home but the guy on 2nd dawdles.

You never saw that before -- if the guy on 3rd breaks, the guy on 2nd breaks. If the guy gets thrown out at home so be it, at least the other guy is on third. Is there data that teams mess up the rundown often enough that you want to leave third open? (If so, that is a whole different problem.) Did the guy on 2nd mess up so often that the defense turned a DP?

Mets lead, 5-3, runner on 1st, 1 out.

for reasons I have never understood, MLB teams seem to give that runner the "defensive indifference" move to second base - even though it mostly eliminates the possibility of a game-ending DP.

well, occasionally the man bites the dog: runner Jon Berti - who does have an absurd 17 SB this month and no I am not kidding - figures he'll take the "gentleman's base."

except Mets C Nido wasn't feeling genteel - and after a replay review, Berti is out at second base.

teams like to give the Mets breaks this year - and they usually take them.

one single and one groundout later, the Marlins lose......

Marlins ace Alcantara utterly rattled, two bad pitches, and here comes a 3-run double by Lindor and a 5-2 lead.

Even so, he still managed to go 7+ innings for the 9th consecutive start. He's averaging over 7 IP per start on the season. The next best is Joe Musgrove at 6.5 IP/GS.

News to me: Craig Counsell is the longest tenured manager in the NL (8th season).
And is the winningest manager in Milwaukee history (just passed Phil Garner.)

Hendricks is my favorite non-Cardinal pitcher. Just throws slop and no one can touch it

Cubs reliever gets a key out by fielding a groundball with his ass

Another reason to like Oli Marmol, he switched out the catcher mid game. For the record I hate how sacred the catcher position is, that teams almost never ever switch out the catcher, for fear that they might have an injury. Live with the decision. (well not mid game, 8th inning but still)

Hendricks completely befuddles STL for an easy win. More importantly, the Apple sideline reporter is wearing a crop top. Well done Apple

Cards limp off into the night. I get losses happen, but men on second and third and no outs in a 3-0 game, should have garnered one run at least, and of course that is what you need to do, tick away.

CFB the Jays just took out their catcher Alejandro Kirk in the 7th, who has homered in three straight, is 4-4 in the game, and leads AL catcher in ASG voting by large margin.
So credit to Charlie Montoyo? Kirk had been hit in the catching hand by the backswing of the last batter. There was an injury break, and Kirk received three practice throws from the mound.
Allowed to continue, Alek Manoah got the batter but at his highest pitch count of year he was removed instead of facing LHB Yelich a fourth time. During the pitching change, Montoyo asked Kirk again about his hand and didn't like the response. Up 8-2 he said "get out of here, hit the shower, get some ice, we got this." So there was also the rare catcher change.

Cards limp off into the night. I get losses happen, but men on second and third and no outs in a 3-0 game, should have garnered one run at least, and of course that is what you need to do, tick away.

Did you catch Yepez's AB to end the game? With a man on first, he saw four pitches, including three strikes---none of them borderline---and never took the bat off his shoulder. I think you have to have some inclination to swing at a good pitch in that situation.

Did you catch Yepez's AB to end the game? With a man on first, he saw four pitches, including three strikes---none of them borderline---and never took the bat off his shoulder. I think you have to have some inclination to swing at a good pitch in that situation.

Didn't see any of the game, it's apple, the next time I support an Apple product will be the first.

So there was also the rare catcher change.

And that is great, catcher changes are rare outside of during the 40 man call up time. It's absurd that it's rare but it's rare. (heck most of the time they just move the catcher to first or third base to ensure a backup)

Same night, in June, two mid-game catcher changes.
Seems as rare as two no-hitters, or two cycles, on same day.

Did you catch Yepez's AB to end the game? With a man on first, he saw four pitches, including three strikes---none of them borderline---and never took the bat off his shoulder. I think you have to have some inclination to swing at a good pitch in that situation.

Have to amend this comment---just went back and looked at the GameDay play-by-play, and Yepez did swing at one pitch: he fouled off an 0-2 pitch that was several inches inside after taking two straight pitches over the heart of the plate, then looked at a third called strike, also over the heart of the plate.

Someone smarter than me can do the math, but I think Renolds is 2nd in HR per WAR (298 HR and 6.8 WAR = 43.8 HR/WAR) to Dante Bichette I (274 HR to 5.7 WAR = 48
1 HR/WAR).

You have to put a minimum for WAR, because players with .1 WAR who hit 25+ HR will beat this.
For >0 WAR, it's Matt Mieske - 56 HR/0.1 WAR (560 HR/WAR).
For 1+ WAR, it's Mikael Franco - 127 HR/1.2 WAR (106 HR/WAR).
For 2+ WAR, it's Lee Stevens - 144 HR/2.0 WAR (72 HR/WAR).
For 3+ WAR, it's Dante Bichette - 274 HR/5.7 WAR (48 HR/WAR).
For 6+ WAR, it's Mark Reynolds - 298 HR/6.8 WAR (44 HR/WAR).

Edit: And I don't know how you handle zero or negative WAR for this.

Missed posting this yesterday:

This Day in Chicago Sports @ChiSportsDay


The Cubs throw the first combined no-hitter in franchise history!

They're 55-102 since

Kimbrel closed out that no-hitter against the Dodgers last year. Anyhow, Hoyer knows what he's doing, right?

Is Harry's statue at Sheffield & Addison ... cuz that would seem kinda appropriate.

They've moved some around - I think when they introduced Billy Williams's this year they have moved at least the players ones to the Triangle Park area, which is Clark/Waveland. Harry's statue was always by the entrance to the bleachers at Sheffield/Waveland, I haven't been yet this year so not sure if that was moved also or not. IIRC, it was Santo's that was at Sheffield/Addison.

Tonights' HP ump in the Cubs-Cardinals game is giving Hendricks a couple inches outside, a couple inches inside, the calls below the zone, and the calls above the top of the zone.

Meanwhile the Cards' rookie pitcher just has a normal zone to work with.

I wish I was being hyperbolic.

There were some really obvious misses, but all in all it really wasn't that bad - just some calls in big moments that happened to be the wrong ones.

Hendricks is my favorite non-Cardinal pitcher. Just throws slop and no one can touch it

He's been very hittable the last couple of years. But for some reason, he still has it against the Cards and especially in St. Louis. He appears to just own them for whatever reasons.

There were some really obvious misses, but all in all it really wasn't that bad -

I guess the obviousness of the misses---all against the Cardinals---made them stick out, especially when the announcers were talking about the calls as they happened. I think it's also that the misses weren't consistent: he missed inside, outside, up and down.

Matt Mieske is a name I haven't thought of in 20 years.

Strangely, if you Google him, his Google says "bat-and-ball player" instead of baseball player. I wonder how Google categorizes former baseball players.

I guess the obviousness of the misses---all against the Cardinals---made them stick out, especially when the announcers were talking about the calls as they happened. I think it's also that the misses weren't consistent: he missed inside, outside, up and down.

Only one was up, more than half were outside, and the third most impactful hurt the Cubs, but other than that... seriously though, only 7 missed calls is pretty good.

Only one was up, more than half were outside,

Sorry I wasn't specific---I was focusing on missed ball calls (pitches outside the zone that were called strikes).

Christian Javier, no-hitting the Yanks thru 6.

His longest start of the eyar so far in 9 previous is... 6 innings.

Of course the NYY are likely one swing away from tying (or even going ahead in) the game.

The Phillies are selecting the contract of Mark Appel. I had not realized he was having success at AAA.

The Phillies are selecting the contract of Mark Appel. I had not realized he was having success at AAA.

There was an article about it on MLB, kinda cool, he seems stoked about it, has been turned into a reliever, and it wouldn't be a shock to me to see him have sustained success in that role.

Yankees being no-hit [JINX!] through 7 by Cristian Javier, and trail 1-0, but he’s at 114 pitches, and should be done for the day. Michael King coming in for Garrett Cole, who also pitched pretty well.

Cardinal pitchers are really struggling the second and third time through the order after dominating for a bit. at least it feels like it.

Yankees manager gives up on real no-hitter and brings in relievers.

Astros no-no at Yankee Stadium is in the 9th inning....

Loving the Cardinal announcers talking about Rowan Wick, he was part of a chapter in the book The Cardinals Way by Howard Megdal. It's guys like that, that as a fan you remember a bit in the background of a book.

Astros no-no at Yankee Stadium is in the 9th inning....

8 1/3rd so far... but having to face Rizzo, Donaldson and Stanton is about as difficult of a task as you can expect.

jeez Cardinals, 2nd and 3rd one out and you get called looking for... (oh and the Yankees with 2 outs in the ninth)

(Cardinals again pull the catcher for a pinch hitter, this time in the 6th... I have to say I love Oli Managerial style... whether it works or not)

No hitter achieved, against the best team in baseball, not a bad day at the ball park as visitors.

With the wife out of town, I entertained the thought of going to the Yankees game, but decided against it. So, the no-hitter is my fault, somehow. (I didn't even watch it on TV!)

Just because I want to remember the stat for tomorrow. Mikolas came into the game with a 2.1 war, a 2.64 era.... just curious how much war a 6 inning, 1 run allowed performance is rated. (my guess is roughly .3 but we'll see)

At some point in time you think Goldy has to cool off, the reality doesn't seem to be that.

Generous scorecall to give Arenado a third hit of the game,

For 2+ WAR, it's Lee Stevens - 144 HR/2.0 WAR (72 HR/WAR).

This rang a bell -- I thought he'd been a bit better than that but he was a worse hitter than I recalled. An interesting "classic" late bloomer career. He got a bit of a shot with the Angels early, bounced to Toronto where he was just OK in AAA at age 25. So he went off to Japan for two years -- where he wasn't dramatically good. Came back, signed with Tex and tore up AAA (325/404/643) which got him a cup of coffee again at 28 and a near-starting role at 29.

And he puts up a line of 300/336/514 ... but it's 1997 and it's Texas so that's just a 114 OPS+. Solid, probably slightly above-average for a 1B but he's not good defensively and it's 1 WAR, -0.6 WAA. He stays at that level for the next 3 seasons. Along the way he's part of one of the odder 3-way trades you'll see: Stevens to the Expos, Brad Fullmer to the Jays, David Segui to the Rangers. A trade of 3 average-ish 1B -- Stevens a mix of average bat, poor glove; Fullmer a better bat and a worse glove but younger; Segui probably the best player here but also the oldest and I assume most expensive.

After that trade, Fullmer added 7 WAR, -1 WAA (last season age 29); Segui 5 WAR, 0 WAA (last at 37); Stevens 0 WAR, -5 WAA with Montreal making the rather obvious mistake of making him true full-time at age 33 (-0.6 WAR).

Anyway, Stevens did what he needed to do to hang at the fringes of MLB and finally managed to hold his shot and get over 3700 PA, 1000 games and somewhere around $16 M in earnings.

Ortega!

damn freaking Cubs.... For a supposedly great bullpen, the Cardinals seem to constantly blow tight games.

And sadly, you can't blame the manager.

I'm not getting Bader, refusing to swing at anything.

On that note, might as well provide a Cub season summary. Coming into the year, we had several questions:

1. Contreras: our #1 asset, would he be blah or his usual good self? He's been better, just smoking the ball, trade value maximized.

2. Happ: Has established himself as at least a solid MLer, having his best season. He might be building some real trade value (incl 2023).

3. Wisdom/Schwindel/Ortega: 3 journeymen with good 1/3 seasons, were they true late bloomers? Wisdom and Ortega have continued with solid production, Schwindel has had his moments but not enough of them. 2 out of 3 is very good for such a bunch.

4. Hoerner: Didn't know what to make of the bat, not sure where the glove belonged. He's established himself as a MLer too now (or very close to it). The bat has been league average but the revelation is the glove. Moved to SS, he's been excellent, #3 in runs saved at statcast (DRS agrees). If both the bat and glove are real, he's a 4 WAR player; if the bat's real but the glove's not as good as it's been, that's still at worst an average 2B; if the glove's real but the bat is more a 80 OPS+ then that's still a 2-3 WAR SS.

5. Suzuki: Jury still out, hopefully this season's fragility is a one-time thing.

6. Madrigal: Disaster. Fortunately Morel has been very good.

7. Gomes, Villar, Simmons: Hoping for average-ish vet bench production, this is mostly a disaster.

All in all, the offensive side of the ball has been fine, better than expected. 100 team OPS+, 12th in R/G but only 0.25 runs below average. It's not a lineup for the future of course but Morel and Hoerner should be around for a while.

The pitching though:

1. Hendricks: Jekyll and Hyde but more Hyde than Jeckyll
2. Stroman: Jekyll and more Hyde and injury-prone
3. Miley: Just 4 very good starts
4. Smyly: Solid, injured at the moment
5. Keegan Thompson: A revelation
6. #6+ starters: terrible with flashes
7. Bitty Shullpen: They were great until 2-3 weeks ago.

For April we gave up about 4.5 R/G; in May about 4.5 R/G so that was league-average-ish. League average offense and defense (-7 run differential) should be about 500 but we were 9 games under. A lot of that was the crazy 21-0 over the Pirates but still exactly what Jed's plan was except the bit about being about 4 wins worse than pythag. Then in June reality came creeping in and we've given up 7 R/G while scoring less than 4. All the blowouts in the wrong direction have brought the real and the pythag records together (just one game worse than pythag now).

Bringing on Mark Leiter Jr in the 8th of a tie game against a good team is not likely to help the real record.

wow... that looked a lot better than it ended up being, but still a sacrifice.

Edman is destroying his war with just one game.

and he instead makes it up
..Single and a stolen base.

100 mph+ pitches, you need to swing at those.

Helsey losing a bit of his control, his plan is just to throw heat, which is fine, if you can put it in the strike zone.

Boring way to win the game... but it's a win.

I saw on Twitter that this was just the third time the Yankees had ever been no-hit at home. Can that be true?

I saw on Twitter that this was just the third time the Yankees had ever been no-hit at home. Can that be true?

The more interesting part is that it's the second time the Astros have combined no hit the Yankees, The Yankees have been no hit 8 times, which by odds isn't too bad (316 no hitters in baseball history) so 3 of them being at home isn't really unusual... the interesting part is the last two have been combined no hitters by Astros pitchers.

I saw on Twitter that this was just the third time the Yankees had ever been no-hit at home. Can that be true?

I was there. Pretty lousy game. Would have at least been interesting if they left the starter in.

That was an acceptable performance by the Astros pitching staff. Well done.

Yankees also no-hit at one of the Yankee Stadiums in 1952 by Detroit's Virgil Trucks (5-19 that year but two no-hitters!) and Bob Feller in 1946, as well as the two Astros no-nos there.

The Yankees franchise also was no-hit at home by Cleveland's Ray Caldwell in 1919 (Polo Grounds) and by Boston's Cy Young in 1908 (Hilltop Park, home of the New York Highlanders).

Being by far the best team in the AL for about half its history helps keep the no-nit numbers down. I'd imagine the old enormous LF was great for singles (not so great for HRs). How many no-hitters have the Yanks thrown at home.

The Cubs went nearly 50 years (-3 months) between being no-hit (Koufax to Hamels), home or road. They threw 5 (with a 36-year drought in there) in that period, plus one right after and 3 more (one combined) since then.

In fact this breaks a tie between the Cubs and Yanks for no-hit against,** so the Cubs the best of the original AL and NL franchises. The best franchise percentage-wise is the Royals with just 2 no-hit against in 53 seasons and counting. They've only thrown 4 in that time. The Cubs at 17-7 have the biggest positive gap; the Astros at 14-5 have the best percentage; the Padres are a woeful 1-10. The Dodgers at 26 have the most no-hitters but also tied with the Phils with the most times no-hit at 20. The Yanks have been around almost twice as long as the Angels and both are 12-7.

** according to the Wiki list.

Braves lead the Dodgers, 3-0 in the 7th but LA gets first and 3rd, nobody out.

MGR comes to mound, as Fried has thrown 91 pitches - and he lets Fried talk to keep him in the game.

with 2 out, Fried goes just over 100 pitches in a battle with Bellinger - who hits an upper-deck bomb that lands foul by about 5 feet so no tie game. Announcers talking about how Bellinger can't handle the truth - check that, they said he can't handle the 100 mph fastball.

3-2 pitch, low fastball and Bellinger rips a single up the middle for 3-1.

now Fried exits - which is fine.

we did do a lot of carping here in April, tis true.

but that's because this is what we wanted to see - rather than a rando reliever. Fried is a great young pitcher, and he got a chance to try to gut out the end of the inning. very, very watchable.

catching up a bit: nice ovation for Fried, who clears 100 pitches for the third straight game.
and Will Smith not a "rando" replacement, to be fair.
Barnes slaps a single to make it 3-2...

Rooting against Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded is a weird, weird feeling. I suppose I'll get used to it someday.

Will Smith is terrible, but that strike three pitch to Freddie was nasty.

haven't kept up with the Freeman-returns-to-Atlanta storyline - how has the reception been?

seems like these range from "torches-and-pitchforks" to "we'll give you one ovation and that's it" to "aw, we can't stay mad at you..."

fascinating at-bat in the 9th, as the announcers note that Muncy's .168 AVG is the NL's lowest - but his walk rate is MLB's highest.

this fellow really, really knows the strike zone. and he also knows well the Braves closer - former teammate Kenley Jansen.

so 5-3 Braves, 1 out in the 9th, 3-2 pitch, incredibly disciplined hitter who knows exactly the scenario - that a walk could be critically helpful, that he's hitting .168, that he knows 100 pct that Jansen will throw him a fastball, and that the pitch will be well above the top of the strike zone.

a perfect storm for a walk, if I ever saw one.

and yet - Muncy whiffed on the high cheese. just tells you how hard it is for hitters to resist that pitch - even when you know it's coming, so you could literally just drop the bat and walk to first base the moments before and after the pitch.

btw, the first out was caught looking for Bellinger on the worst ball/strike call I have seen all year. not even close to the plate.

is that you, Bucknor?

haven't kept up with the Freeman-returns-to-Atlanta storyline - how has the reception been?

I think very positive overall. There were chants of 'Freddie' during the WS ring ceremony and he got a standing ovation during his first AB. Freeman himself got choked up several times this weekend, which was tough to watch.

I get the feeling he's still pretty loved here, and though the split wasn't perfect, it also wasn't particularly acrimonious - more awkward than anything. And of course, he went out on top in a town that doesn't have a lot of sport high notes. That helps. He'll be in the Braves HoF someday, and possibly Cooperstown as well.

Mets highly-regarded catching prospect Francisco Alvarez, at age 20, has 13 HR in his last 98 AB in AA ball.

if he pans out - well, that would be two homegrown C success stories in more than 60 years.

here are the top 25, most games started by Mets catchers:

Jerry Grote 1105 - obtained from Astros
Mike Piazza 814 - obtained from Marlins/Dodgers
Todd Hundley 657 - homegrown
John Stearns 651 - obtained from Phillies
Ron Hodges 369 - homegrown, backup C
Travis d'Arnaud 360 - obtained from Blue Jays
Duffy Dyer 275 - homegrown, backup C
Paul Lo Duca 229 - obtained from Marlins
Chris Cannizzaro 202 - chosen in Mets original expansion draft
Kevin Plawecki 193 - homegrown, backup C

Charlie O'Brien 189 - obtained from Brewers
Mackey Sasser 183 - obtained from Pirates
Vance Wilson 167 - homegrown, backup C
THOMAS NIDO 155 - homegrown, backup C
Wilson Ramos 151 - FA signing
Brian Schneider 140 - obtained from Nationals
Barry Lyons 129 - homegrown, backup C
Jesse Gonder 125 - obtained from Reds
Todd Pratt 122 - FA signing
Sammy Taylor 112 - obtained from Cubs

Rene Rivera 109 - FA signing
Choo-Choo Coleman 108 - chosen in Mets original expansion draft
Mike Fitzgerald 108 - homegrown, traded to Expos after one season as starter
Kelly Stinnett 104 - Rule V pickup from Indians
JAMES MCCANN 103 - FA signing

I remember that the last complete game no-hitter against the Yankees was by Hoyt Wilhelm in 1958; so, I just looked up Wilhelm's record and noticed that he was acquired by the Orioles from the Indians in the middle of that season. Wondering who he was traded for, I found that he was picked up on waivers by Baltimore, the Indians not realizing that Hoyt had fourteen more good years ahead of him in the Big Leagues. (Apparently, Cleveland was unimpressed by Wilhelm's 2.49 ERA as an Indian.) I wonder if any other Hall of Famer ever was sent away in a non-trade waiver deal a third of his way through his MLB career? Kind of goes with the fact that Wilhelm hit a homer in his first Major League at bat and then played twenty-one seasons and never hit another. Grist for Jayson Stark's mill.

here are the top 25, most games started by Mets catchers . . .

Gary Carter requests a recount, full forensic audit & a Congressional investigation.

Gary Carter requests a recount, full forensic audit & a Congressional investigation.

I read Howie's post and thought, now I know there's another HOF catcher other then Piazza who played quite a bit behind the dish for the Mess. I thought maybe I misread his post and he left Carter out for some reason...

wow

repost. premise remains the same. did this list in the COVID era, noticed I had missed Carter, fixed it - but pulled up the wrong archived email so thanks for that

here are the top 26, most games started by Mets catchers:

Jerry Grote 1105 - obtained from Astros
Mike Piazza 814 - obtained from Marlins/Dodgers
Todd Hundley 657 - homegrown
John Stearns 651 - obtained from Phillies
Gary Carter - 550 - obtained from Expos
Ron Hodges 369 - homegrown, backup C
Travis d'Arnaud 360 - obtained from Blue Jays
Duffy Dyer 275 - homegrown, backup C
Paul Lo Duca 229 - obtained from Marlins
Chris Cannizzaro 202 - chosen in Mets original expansion draft

Kevin Plawecki 193 - homegrown, backup C
Charlie O'Brien 189 - obtained from Brewers
Mackey Sasser 183 - obtained from Pirates
Vance Wilson 167 - homegrown, backup C
THOMAS NIDO 155 - homegrown, backup C
Wilson Ramos 151 - FA signing
Brian Schneider 140 - obtained from Nationals
Barry Lyons 129 - homegrown, backup C
Jesse Gonder 125 - obtained from Reds
Todd Pratt 122 - FA signing

Sammy Taylor 112 - obtained from Cubs
Rene Rivera 109 - FA signing
Choo-Choo Coleman 108 - chosen in Mets original expansion draft
Mike Fitzgerald 108 - homegrown, traded to Expos after one season as starter
Kelly Stinnett 104 - Rule V pickup from Indians
JAMES MCCANN 103 - FA signing

.........

re Wilhelm:

he won the NL ERA title as a rookie in 1952 with a 2.43 ERA. rare, but also
- age 29
- all 159 IP that year were in relief
- he only qualified for the ERA title once more in his career
- that was 1959 at age 36, when he had a 2.19 ERA in 27 starts and 219 IP
- he won the AL ERA title that season, too - so 2-for-2
- he had a 1.99 ERA, all in relief, in 1964 at age 41 in 131 IP - only Dean Chance and Joel Horlen beat that number as ERA qualifiers
- he had a 1.81 ERA, all in relief, in 1965 at age 42 in 144 IP - lower than any qualifiers
- he had an ERA under 2.00 each year from 1964-68, age 41-45, before settling for a 2.19 ERA in 1969 at age 46

I was perusing various leaderboards and saw the leaders for total bases. It lists total bases and the number of plate appearances for their career.

Of those 1000 players, 5 averaged 1 base every other plate appearance. The first 3 aren't surprising:
Ruth
Gehrig
Foxx

The last 2:
Juan Gonzalez
Turkey Stearns

Bryce Harper fractured his thumb on a HBP last night. Probably season-ending, or very close to it. A bad break, as they say.

Cardinals playing yet another day game. Is everyone else playing a lot of day games this year ?

Mets-Marlins is on Peacock so no one is watching

It's the Mets-Marlins, nobody was going to be watching anyway. :)

Cardinals making a couple of defensive mistakes, man on second, one out, one bouncer to the pitcher, and the Cardinals have the runner at second dead to rights with any decent throw, but as usual for pitchers fielding the ball, Flaherty throws it away... Runner advances to third and for some reason Bader throws it to third instead of just getting the ball into the infield, so the batter advances to second. This is Pirate level bad defense.

It's the Mets-Marlins, nobody was going to be watching anyway. :)

Mets entered the game with the NL's best record and they play in the country's largest TV market. but sure, let's go with that.

Flaherty does a good job of getting out of a self created jam. He looks to have good stuff today, but it feels like he's making bad decisions on pitch selection. It's only two innings of course, so it could be anything.

Just because I want to remember the stat for tomorrow. Mikolas came into the game with a 2.1 war, a 2.64 era.... just curious how much war a 6 inning, 1 run allowed performance is rated. (my guess is roughly .3 but we'll see)

Moved the needle to 2.2. I was completely wrong in my estimate of how a decent game would affect his war...

Now it looks like there is a potential that Flaherty is now injured.... Maybe. Cardinals bullpen is getting a call, and the dugout is full of activity.

Cardinals young catcher gets a single for his first major league hit (Ivan Herrera).

Bote with a great play, but the Cubs weren't able to turn it into a double play, still great play, and with Wittgren coming in, it's likely the Cubs offense will get a chance to do some damage going forward.

Right shoulder stiffness is the official story for Flaherty. I'm hoping that they are just being more cautious than necessary.

Cubs activate David Bote, DFA Jonathan Villar who surely will reject the assignment if he's not traded. Villar's been terrible this year but I'm not sure he's actually any worse than Bote and am surprised Simmons has hung onto his job. Cubs would probably be happy with cash or a spare 29-yo AAA reliever. He's nothing exciting but over the last 5 seasons, he's had 8 WAR, 1 WAA and was average last year in 505 PA, he's a fine bench IF bat.

Also recalled 23-yo OF Nelson Velasquez the other day. 2017 5th rounder, he was tearing up AA (288/394/700), promoted to AAA where he struggled (211/291/414), got a brief callup for a double-header, sent back down where he continued to struggle (208/288/415) ... so back up and off to a hot start over his last 12 PAs.

Cardinals offense rallying behind Wittgren. Back to back homeruns to leadoff the 3 making it 4-0 (Of course Goldy put one over the fence, not sure he is a viable candidate for player of the month again, but a .310/.420/.595/1.015 isn't a bad case, just not sure who is having a great month. (And I'm sure there is someone having a better offensive month, and maybe even a better pitching month, but I think it's harder for pitchers to get player of the month nowadays)