Recaps, Write-Up for Yesterday: 

Write-Up For Yesterday: April 8th, 2015

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(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.

Happy opening day! Today the MiLB season kicks off, meaning baseball expands to dozens more towns and cities across America and your org’s favorite prospect is THAT MUCH closer to the show*!

 

*Some restrictions may apply. See service time and eligibility requirements for details. Your organization’s favorite prospects are not guaranteed playing time or production

STORY LINES AND NEWS CYCLE EPHEMERA

Adrian Gonzalez hit 3 home runs yesterday. Adrian Gonzalez now has the record for most home runs hit in the first 3 days of the season, with 5 total. Remember a couple years ago when Andre Ethier started the season with a bunch of hits and people started wondering if he would break the hit streak record? This isn’t like that because Adrian Gonzalez is good and he already has a record now. The Dodgers defeated Andrew Cashner and the Padres, 7 to 4, in a game that saw each team get 11 hits.

 

 

Frenchy the WPA Snake. WPA chart courtesy Fangraphs

This cute lil guy here is what Jeff Francoeur did to the WPA chart for the Boston/Red Sox game. After the walloping the Phillies took on Monday with their ace on the mound, it was no surprise the players showed up in disguise today

But Aaron Harang pitched 6 and 1/3, striking out 8 and only walking 1. And then Jeff Francouer hit a bomb off Rick Porcello and drove in 3 runs. It was a cold and rainy night in Philly but the “Porcello’s contract!” hot takes certainly kept the Boston portion of the press box warm. By the 8th, Ken “The One Phillie You Thought You Would Want To Watch This Season” Giles looked horrid, raising concerns that he may be injured. Papelbon was brought in to finish the 8th and would have allowed a grand slam to Hanley Ramirez if the weather hadn’t kept it inside the park. Papelbon closed the 9th for his first save of the season. 6 more and he will be the Phillies’ all time saves leader.

 

79 runs is the all time low record for runs scored on a 15-game day. In the end, a total of 101 runs were scored Wednesday so if baseball is going to do this low-offense thing it’s time to commit and break the record I say! 6 teams got shut out, but the A’s and the Tigers decided to run up the score and scored 10 and 11 runs, respectively. If they had the decency to score 2 runs apiece, they could still have gotten their wins and we’d be that much closer to the record.

For the A’s, 4 of those runs were produced by Mark Canha, who was playing 1b. Raise your hand if you knew that the A’s 1b depth chart included someone named Mark Canha. Now put your hand down, Billy Beane. Ok both of the rest of you get the prize. The prize is watching Mark Canha recite the “God willing” speech from Bull Durham in his post game interview.

The Tigers’ 11 hits came off the hapless Twins, who still have not touched 3rd base or scored a run across 3 games. The Tiger’s positive jam turned Target Field into a party pit as they walked around and hit some more, including 4 hits for Jose Iglesias. Iglesias was the benefactor of extreme BABIP in his time in Boston, and Ricky Nolasco was basically throwing batting practice, but at least one fantasy writer is already hoping some of that magic might be coming back. Cheer up, Twins fans. There’s always other sports, and you can make them like you.

Modern Box Score- 4/8/2015 Mil vs Col This is the modern box score for yesterday’s Col/Mil matchup. See that black diamond at the top bar? That’s Wilin Rosario’s pinch hit home run to win the game for Colorado in the 10th. See that 2nd diamond? That’s CarGo mashing one 461 feet out of the park for the longest home run hit so far this season. This is what happened after CarGo ruined Jonathan Broxton’s day:

Minor League Giveaway of the Day

nothing says baseball like mittens!

 

West Michigan Whitecaps vs Dayton Dragons

For the Whitecaps home opener, the weather forecast currently calls for rain and a high of 66 around the expected start time. If you can collect enough mittens you can fashion them into a poncho.

TWEETS WE LIKED

 

 

ARTICLES WE LIKED

Jeremy Horton on Josh Hamilton’s successful sobriety

 Stacey Gotsulias on need for baseball blogs and publications to bring on more women

Shea Serrano underrates Bertram from the Sandlot

TODAY’S THREE BEST PITCHING MATCHUPS

Only one night game is scheduled for Thursday, April 9 and it’s the Phillies and David Buchanan vs the Red Sox and Justin Masterson. Chances are you’ll be watching that game, but I can’t in good conscience list it as one of the best matchups of the day for any reason other than convenience.

Matt Harvey (NYM) vs Stephen Strasburg (WAS) – 10:05 AM PT

The Mets and Nationals face each other 19 times this season. Barring significant injury to both teams, maybe 15 of these games have a good shot to be one of the day’s 3 best pitching matchups. It’s entirely likely both Strasburg and Harvey read this article and missed the [SATIRE] tag on Facebook.

Trevor Bauer (CLE) vs Asher Wojciechowski (HOU) – 11:08 AM PT

Two interesting names, and potentially interesting pitchers too! This start will be Wojciechowski’s major league debut as the 26 year old looks to be the next unheralded Astro SP to turn heads like Collin McHugh and Dallas Keuchel before him. Both Wojciechowski and Bauer have some fly ball tendencies, which could make this more of a hitting matchup with both Cleveland and Houston carrying some exciting bats.

A.J. Burnett (PIT) vs Anthony DeSclafani (CIN) – 9:35 AM PT

Even if some people think maybe the matchup here should have been Burnett vs Tony Cingrani, DeSclafani will make his Cincinnati debut after coming to the Reds via the Latos trade. He had some success as a starter in the AFL last fall, sitting between 91-94 mph with his fastball and a decent slider. Burnett has finally learned to embrace the shift. Let’s see if he means it.

Tyler Baber is an occasional contributor at Banished to the Pen and Web Manager at TheDynastyGuru.com. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, two children, two cats, and seven fantasy teams.

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