(with apologies to Ogden Nash)

Hi, everyone! And welcome to Write-Up For Yesterday, BttP’s guide to what the heck happened yesterday in baseball. We’re not gonna just hand you some scores here, because we trust you know how to type the letters E-S-P-N into your internet machine. Instead, we hope to give you a fuller and richer understanding of important goings on from yesterday in baseball. The big stories, and the noteworthy performances-good and bad.

I spent some (read: way too much) time on my iPad this weekend playing MLB Manager 2015, the latest edition mobile baseball manager/GM game from Out Of The Park Developments (highly recommended, btw). In four seasons, my Cubs have played in 4 Wild Card or one-game playoffs and…have lost them all. In happier simulation-related news, this happened at some point in 2017.

BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE:

Have you listened to the latest Banished to the Pen podcast? It has Matt Trueblood and Andrew Patrick joining Ryan this week. Hit it up.

Now, on to real things, and real Cubs:

STORY LINES AND NEWS CYCLE EPHEMERA

The big news of the weekend was that KRIS BRYANT IS HEEEEEEEERRRE. On Friday he went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, but on Saturday he went 2-3 with 3 walks (and had a double on Sunday). Not a bad turnaround for the kid.

JON LESTER THROWS [glove] TO FIRST

I was considering just posting this .gif 20 times and then calling it a wrap[up] but nah, there’s more.

ALSO, here’s Terry Mulholland doing the same thing:

Or maybe I like Orlando Hernandez’s version since he throws it overhand. (h/t Padrick Brewer in the EW Facebook group)

Carlos Rodon has been called up and will be joining the White Sox for Monday’s game. #ServiceTimeImplications

Hey Mike Redmond, *Wobble wobble.*

The Mets have won 8 straight but had Travis D’Arnaud and Jerry Blevins go down to fractures in the same inning.

The A’s and Royals had a weekend-long kerfuffle in their series. Let’s not go too deep into it around these here parts, mostly because Matt, Ryan and Andrew discussed it in the BttP Podcast, and Sam and Ben had a fun discussion on Effectively Wild today (and I’m sure there will be plenty of takes, both hot and otherwise, in the Facebook group).

Kevin Pillar (not Millar) made an incredible catch, which you can check out here with all the Statcast bells & whistles. More Statcast is coming on Tuesday night on MLB Network for Cardinals vs. Nationals.

TWEETS WE LIKED

Kind of scary looking. Rubber Duck Longoria! pic.twitter.com/mHsHiSmy0E

— IONTB.COM (@IONTB) April 19, 2015

My god, what have they done to Evan Longoria (but also when is there going to be a Kevin Quackenbush rubber duck promotion?)

Apparently my @BanishedToPen piece is the top google result for (without quotes): mike harkey future star

— Mike Carlucci (@mikecarlucci) April 19, 2015

It worked for me, too!

In RF Bryce Harper stared down fan who took ball he tossed to little girl. Pointed at the girl until fan gave it to her.

— The Nats Blog (@TheNatsBlog) April 19, 2015

https://twitter.com/HPJoker/status/589894953834283012

Also, Mike Carlucci put together a Twitter list of Effectively Wild FB group members. Thanks Mike!

LINKS WE’RE READING

A Mediation on Baseball Fandom: Henry Druschel from the Fangraphs community blog wrote about baseball fandom, and advocates for a shift from team centered fandom to player centered fandom.

The Last Pick: Here at BttP, Tyler Baber on getting your guy (for your own reasons) in the last round of your fantasy draft.

An Inside Look at Baseball Scouting: Ryan Sullivan interviews CJ Wittman, Jr. from the Baseball Prospectus Prospect Team. What do scouts do to prep? What do they look for during a game? How do they evaluate afterwards? Fun read.

The Museum of Nice Players: Joe Posnanski writes about players who aren’t Hall of Fame worthy, and also don’t quite make the Hall of Very Good.

Something old: Joe Posnanski’s obituary of Buck O’Neil (h/t the Baseball Books group on Facebook)

TODAY’S “BEST” PITCHING MATCHUPS:

Slim pickings today.

Bruce Chen (BAL) vs. Justin Masterson (BOS)

Odrisamer Despaigne (SD) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (COL)

Gotta love a couple of first place vs. second place matchups, even early in the season, and that’s what we have during the Patriots Day game in Boston (10am Central Time first pitch) and in Colorado later tonight.

Trevor Bauer (CLE) vs. John Danks (CHW)

Not necessarily for the starting pitchers, but maybe we’ll see some Rodon in the Cleveland/White Sox game.