WIN, 1-0 (12), 24-7, 1st NL Central Apologies on this recap coming later. The extra innings made things a little tight to get this done, pick up my kids, and then get to the Purdue baseball game today. But Purdue won, took over first in the Big Ten, and now I'm back home to get this finished still under the wire. This just felt like such a classic Squirrels game. Nobody scores until the 12th inning, and it was a scraped together run? We don't have very many (if any) walk-off homers. We just don't hit that many home runs to begin with. That said, I really thought Marvin was going to pull it off. I really thought that would leave the yard off his bat, but he came up just a hair short. It would have been pretty thrilling, but I'll take the W anyway.
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WIN, 1-0, 23-7, 1st NL Central I don't think I can say we're on a major winning streak yet. It's only at six games. But this is starting to feel more like the Squirrels of the past several seasons. It's hard for to quantify why, though. It's definitely more a vibes thing, but I'm vibing. I think maybe the pitching has looked a bit more solid, less back and forth. I'm used to us winning close games, but I'm also used to us winning very low scoring games. The games in April felt higher scoring, which isn't really in our wheelhouse. These sorts of games are. But, you know, it's also entirely possible I'm overreacting here. We did score our lone run thanks to a dropped ball in left. Who knows when that game might have ended otherwise. But we're just going to put that thought out of our mind and move on to tomorrow and try to get the sweep after splitting the series on the road. While putting together the standings, I just have to note that the Brewers have come a long way after being the last team to win a game. They might even find themselves out of the basement soon. The Giants, on the other hand, were in the thick of it in mid-April. Then they just stopped winning games. They might be lucky to hit double-digit wins next week.
WIN, 1-0, 22-7, 1st NL Central You can't get much tighter than that. The whole game came down to one swing of the bat, and Quentin got that one over the right field wall by what felt like the slightest of margins. I'll also admit that I was really worried about Shibuya blowing that one. I don't know that I had any reason to really feel that way, but I certainly did. Thankfully, he put down the Dodgers with very little drama. The biggest drama might have been why the Dodgers didn't pinch hit there. The game isn't great with using pinch-hitters for pitchers, but that is one that it usually knows to do. Maybe because it was only one run? Not trying to defend it. It's definitely a programming error to me. But just trying to understand it.
WIN, 6-2, 21-7, 1st NL Central I have to admit, that one felt good. After splitting in LA and all the games being very close, it felt nice to win one without much stress. Even if it did technically get to a save situation to bring Hermida into the game, I still never felt worried we were going to lose that lead. At this point, I'm more worried Shibuya is going to be rusty when we need him again. Which, based on the last couple season, seems like it will probably be tomorrow. I guess we'll see! On another note, since it's the end of the month, we got the financial statement. We only made 10 points that month. I don't know exactly how points are supposed to translate into dollars, and we've built up a substantial war chest over the last four seasons. But winning three times as many games as we lost and only being 10 in the black seems rough. It's never been a problem in past seasons, so hopefully we'll get that straightened out. On the other hand, if it doesn't, I suppose that's why we've got so much in the bank.
WIN, 7-5, 20-7, 1st NL Central It looked like we were going to win going away, but the Cardinals did not stop fighting. Tip your cap to them. My biggest problem is who do you turn to when your mop-up guy started the game? I opted to go with yesterday's reliever. Jones was not quite as sharp today as he was yesterday, but I guess that's generally to be expected when you pitch back-to-back days like that. Still, we did hold on with another run to spare even. Now we get a chance to take revenge on the Dodgers after only being able to manage a split in our series In LA.
WIN, 8-1, 19-7, 1st NL Central I was slightly worried when the Cardinals scored so easily so early, but those fears were violently put to bed with a seven-run fourth inning. This team doesn't blow teams out nearly as often as their record might suggest, but they are going to win 99% of the time when they put up seven in an inning. I will take that bet every single time.
WIN, 2-1, 18-7, 1st NL Central I cannot lie here. For one because it's just not a nice thing to do. For two because I'm pretty sure I made obvious in the broadcast. I was absolutely convinced Shibuya was blowing that save. I had no doubt in my mind. I was going to let him do it, but I had zero faith he was coming through after that first run scored. But, I'm sure he's thankful I did, because he came up with a great double-play ball that just totally changed the complexion of that inning. If we're going to ever build the sort of lead like we usually have in the division, we have to win games like this and fend off teams making a run at us. We have been floundering by our standards, but this is exactly the sort of game that we need to win to keep our spot.
LOSE, 3-2, 17-7, 1st NL Central Well, the series was a split, but I think you have to agree they were all four great games. I really thought we might have had something going in the ninth, but no such luck. Instead, the game pretty much boiled down to one bad inning from Stittch, and even that you might put more blame on poor defense behind him. I will say that I never thought this team was ever going to be some sort of defensive juggernaut. Joey and Tom have very good arms, but I don't know that either of them are threats for gold gloves. Joey doesn't cover a huge amount of ground at short, but I will admit he erases a lot of problems with his arm. Outside of that, I think everybody else is middling to below average in the field. It hasn't particularly hurt us overall, though. I misremembered a bit on the broadcast as well. We do have the Cardinals next, but it is a home series, not in St. Louis.
WIN, 2-0, 17-6, 1st NL Central That was nearly a carbon copy of yesterday's games. Both starting pitchers putting on clinics before the Squirrels hit a couple homers late to score all the runs. Probably not a coincidence that everybody starts hitting homers once we go on the road. And it's not just the bullpens, you know?
WIN, 3-0, 16-6, 1st NL Central That was a good bounce-back game, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I was pretty sure that game was going to go into extras, and our record in extras hasn't been stellar this year. Especially once you take out the Brewers. Thankfully, for once, the rain seemed to let the runs flow. Terry got a ball just over the right-center gap fence, and then the guys managed to scrape out yet another insurance run later in the 9th. It turned out not to be necessary, as Shibuya handled things just fine today. Even got a walk-off pick-off. I think that's a new one.
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