Welcome to another edition of Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. It’s an incredible time to be a baseball fan, particularly one who isn’t tied to a single team or division. There are three tight division races, and both wild cards hold some intrigue. Some of the brightest stars of the game are playing incredibly well right now. The A’s are on a kelly-green-clad respectability streak that is both improbable and delightful. The White Sox are fun to watch for their ever-evolving pursuit of futility (more on that below). There’s no time for August doldrums when the games are this exciting. So no more talking vaguely about what a great week this was; let’s get right to it. And thanks, as always, to ESPN’s Zach Lowe for the format I’m borrowing here.
1. Barry Would Never
Perhaps the least likely story of the season, on an individual level, is Tyler Fitzgerald, who has turned into one of the great offensive forces in the game overnight. After putting up average offensive numbers as he climbed through the minors across four seasons plus the lost COVID year, he has established an everyday role on the Giants and unexpectedly caught fire this season. He’s now hitting home runs faster than I can count and getting his name in Giants history next to Barry Bonds for his power feats. (As an aside, this clip of Bonds and Greg Maddux discussing an old at-bat is amazing, and I highly recommend it.)
Fitzgerald launched his 13th homer of the season in the third inning Tuesday night to make it a one-run game. Later, the Giants rallied to tie the score in the eighth, and after the Braves scored one in the top of the 10th, Fitzgerald led off the bottom half. But wait! What was he doing? No, don’t do it Tyler! Don’t do — oh:
There are so many things wrong with this play. Casey Schmitt didn’t get a good jump because he didn’t expect a bunt. The bunt was abysmal, traveling maybe three feet. Fitzgerald got in the way of Travis d’Arnaud, who still had an easy throw to third for the out. Schmitt slid like he was a fan who won the chance to run the bases in a major league game, rather than an actual major league player. The whole play was so bumbling, in fact, that the Giants caught a “break” of sorts. Fitzgerald was called out for batter’s interference, which stopped the play dead and meant that Schmitt went back to second. It still cost them an out while they were trailing in extra innings, but hey, at least they still had a runner in scoring position, right?
You shouldn’t bunt in the last inning of the game when you’re trailing. I’ve written about the math before, and major league managers have their own number crunchers who agree with me. That was only the ninth bunt all year from a home team trailing in the ninth inning or later when trying to advance a runner from second to third. The other hitters who have done it are all below average; Ceddanne Rafaela is having the best season of the group, and he’s hitting a disappointing .265/.298/.417 (92 wRC+). Also, these bunts have worked out poorly; three of them didn’t advance the runner, and only Derek Hill reached base safely. Not to get too results oriented on you, but only three of the bunts led to a run scoring that otherwise wouldn’t have. Those teams went 1-2. Playing for a tie in extra innings is a sucker’s game. It’s especially a sucker’s game when the batter is one of the team’s hottest hitters. The bunt was called from the dugout, which is absolutely baffling; the Giants have only eight sacrifice bunts all year, one of the lowest totals in the majors. This was just a disaster all around.
2. When the Yankees Are Clicking
The Yankees are battling with the Orioles for first in the AL East (and with the Guardians and Dodgers for the best record in baseball). They’re doing so on the back of the two best hitters in baseball, plus some other guys who are pretty alright. Things haven’t been rosy on the injury front, to say the least. But when the supporting cast is clicking and the stars are being their normal selves, it’s an incredible sight to see.
Now, I’m about to tell you what they did against the White Sox, so take this with a grain of salt. But after getting absolutely shellacked on Monday, the Yankees put on the kind of power show that only they can manage. First, on Tuesday, Juan Soto did it all by himself, crushing three homers to account for all four runs in a 4-1 victory. (Aaron Judge had a pedestrian day by his standards: 2-for-3 with two walks.) The next day, things really got interesting.
Soto launched another homer in his first at-bat of the game. The White Sox managed to slow the onslaught for a bit after that, but the Yankees turned the last half of the game into an exhibition. In the sixth, Soto and Judge both walked to lead off the inning, but the Sox ended up wriggling out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. In the seventh, Oswaldo Cabrera scored (from second!) on a sac fly to tie the game and leave the bases empty with two outs. Then Soto walked, Judge doubled, and Austin Wells singled them home.
By the eighth, Chicago was deep into its bullpen, and the Yankees poured it on again, stringing together three hits to score two runs and put a man on second for Soto. Then – and wow, I never thought I’d type this sentence – the White Sox decided they’d rather face Aaron Judge. They intentionally walked Soto to get a better platoon matchup (I guess?), and he gave them exactly what they deserved by launching his 300th career home run. Judge, who was playing in his 955th career game, reached the milestone faster than any player in history. The next fastest player to 300, Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, needed 1,087 games to get there.
For three innings in a row, Soto and Judge batted every inning and reached safely every time. They’re each getting on base so frequently that the lineup turns over shockingly quickly when the other Yankees can string a few hits together. It feels like Groundhog Day; opponents try to deal with the dynamic duo, fail, then let their guard down and give up a few walks and singles to the rest of the lineup. Then it’s time for Soto and Judge again, and after trying to deal with them, the rest of the lineup claws together a few walks and singles. Rinse and repeat until the Yankees put 10 runs on the board. This isn’t what their offense looks like every day – it was the White Sox, after all – but still, what a display.
3. The Best Double Play of the Year So Far
I haven’t watched every baseball game this year, not by a long shot. But out of the games I’ve watched, nothing has topped this:
I’m sorry, what? The first two legs of that double play were both outrageous, and combined they almost seem impossible. I was surprised that Jorge Polanco was even able to knock that one down, and his body was both prone and pointed into left center field, so it’s not like he had much ability to direct the ball. His improvised backhand glove flip had an incredibly high degree of difficulty, especially when you consider the fact that he wasn’t that close to the bag:
Leo Rivas’s part was a little easier, but hardly a walk in the park. He was ready to collect Polanco’s flip, either in his glove or around his midsection, and make a turn. But the flip went high, and Rivas just went with it, turning a stationary play into a running, off-platform throw:
I don’t have a lot of brilliant analysis to add to this one. So instead, please enjoy a reverse angle of this absolutely outrageous catch, transfer, and turn:
Bravo, Leo and Jorge. I don’t give out awards, but if I did, your trophy would be in the mail.
4. A Wild 10th
Remember up above in the section on Tyler Fitzgerald’s terrible bunt, when I mentioned that Derek Hill laid down an extra-innings bunt single? His bunt was absolutely magnificent:
No notes on that one. If you can do that, go for it. When Kyle Higashioka looked up instead of charging forward immediately, there was just no chance of getting Hill out. Don’t bunt, but if you do, make it one like that. Definitely do not bunt the way that next batter Cristian Pache did, though:
Two strikes is never a good time to bunt, but this one was especially awful. Pache had already popped up two bunt attempts in this at-bat, both foul. Over on third, Vidal Bruján was playing it safe, so Pache would’ve needed a very good bunt to score him. And let’s be real; the Padres probably weren’t going to contest second base if Hill decided to steal, because Higashioka’s arm strength is below average and Hill can fly. In fact, Hill stole on the first pitch of the at-bat after Pache was retired, and the Padres didn’t throw down.
But for whatever reason, Pache kept bunting, and kept popping up. The Marlins caught a break that no one was covering first to turn that into a double play, but oof, what an ugly one.
That’s not even my favorite play of this inning, though. That would be the next one. Xavier Edwards tapped to third, and then Manny Machado got to work:
At first, you might think that’s just a routine play. Ho hum: The runner didn’t get a good break, so the third baseman gunned him down. But there was just no space to fit this ball:
Going into fair territory probably wouldn’t have gotten the out. Higashioka would’ve had to take a step or two that way to field the throw, and backhand it to boot, before swiping a tag down in time. Given how far down the line Brujan was already, the timing was just too tight. So Machado decided to go through the runner instead of around:
Kids, don’t try this at home. There’s no space to fit that ball. I’m not even sure he did that intentionally or just had the ball sail on him. But it was the only place he could have put the ball to record an out, and he hit the spot exactly. The Padres held on to win, but this was an eventful half-inning.
5. Not a Double Play
The Cardinals are flailing at the moment, 3-7 in their last 10 and below .500 for the first time since the middle of June. Everything’s been just a beat off for the last few weeks, and that’s no way to win baseball games. If you have a defender as spectacular as Masyn Winn, this should really be a double play:
I don’t think that was ever supposed to be Nolan Gorman’s play. Winn’s momentum was headed in the right direction, while Gorman was flat-footed and standing still. The batter, Spencer Steer, can get down the line; the only way to turn a double play here is for the shortstop to charge and fire himself, like Winn did. He had to take a few extra choppy steps to let Gorman clear out, though, just enough time for TJ Friedl to get in safely.
That kind of play typifies the rut the Redbirds have been in. But don’t overlook how outrageous Winn’s one-out play was. It’s hard to tell in that initial angle, but that throw was impossibly difficult:
Gorman was interfering with Winn’s sight line. Friedl’s slide took Gorman right into Winn’s path – it was a perfectly good slide, to be clear – which added to the degree of difficulty. Winn’s tardy arrival at second meant he had to get airborne just to make the throw, and then hurdle Friedl in his follow-through. He actually clipped Friedl’s helmet with his left leg, so heavily was he focused on getting his right leg out of the way to avoid a big collision. He also had to put some mustard on the throw, but that’s no problem, because he has one of the strongest infield arms in the game.
On a slightly different day, that play could have been truly spectacular, a beautiful high-flying double play turned by a transcendent defender. Instead, the next batter hit a home run to drive in Friedl, St. Louis never mounted a challenge, and the Reds were on their way to a sweep. That’s how it goes when you’re scuffling, but it doesn’t take away from the delightful nature of the play.
