MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Seems nearly impossible, but at the same time, baseballs attendance is down in alarming fashion. This might be indicative of the fact that its not fake stuff, fluff and just the HR that puts butts in the seat. This might be a clear example how people think they can change the game and still get the same results.

 

LOS ANGELES -- The Phillies have completed a trade for Mariners outfielder Jay Bruce.

On Sunday, the outfielder himself said he had been traded to Philly, and Philadelphia announced the transaction a few hours later.

The Phillies sent Seattle Minor League third baseman Jake Scheiner and cash in exchange for the three-time All-Star. The Phillies have been motivated to find a replacement for outfielder Odubel Herrera and add a more potent bat for the bench.

 

That's the 1st round of the MLB draft. Glad the Tigers went offense.

 

Cleveland places Carlos Carrasco on the IL with a blood condition ...

 

Big Papi was shot in the back for apparently having an affair with a DR druglords wife.
Six hours of surgery.

 

Jake Bauers hits for the cycle...

It’s been a slow road to major-league success for Indians infielder-outfielder Jake Bauers, who showed up to Friday’s series opener against the Tigers batting a lackluster .209/.294/.396 in his first 63 games of the year. So, when he rounded out his first career cycle with a two-run, 405-foot homer off of Detroit’s Blaine Hardy in the eighth inning, he was all smiles.

Bauers collected his first hit in the second inning with a line drive double to right field, advancing Roberto Pérez and scoring Jason Kipnis to put the Indians on the board. In the fourth, he knocked a single off of the list and scooted around the bases to score on Leonys Martín’s subsequent three-run shot.

The most difficult hit, however, Bauers saved for the fifth inning. He worked a 1-2 count against right-hander Buck Farmer, then skied a ball to deep center field and sprinted over to third base to land a triple — his first of the year. The speedy 23-year-old didn’t wait nearly as long for his fourth and final hit of the night, plucking the first pitch he saw from the top of the strike zone and returning it to the right field bleachers to complete the cycle in the eighth.

Per MLB.com, he’s the first Indians player to complete the feat since Rajai Davis hit for the cycle in the summer of 2016. His incredible four-run output — more runs than he’s managed to scrape together in all but one of his 160 MLB games to date — helped boost Cleveland to a 13-4 finale and a 35-33 record overall. (NBC's HBT)

 

WASHINGTON -- The ball left a sizeable imprint around Max Scherzer’s right eye, the blue one, now marked with a large bruise to go along with his swollen nose. Fluid had built up from the swelling underneath his eye, and it took him some time pregame to get used to his face “jiggling” around as he warmed up. This was the face staring back at Phillies’ hitters as they stepped into the box Wednesday night -- already one of the most intimidating pitchers in baseball, pitching with a black eye, a broken nose and an unflinching, irritated scowl.

At no point after suffering those injuries during a bunting incident the day before did Scherzer ever entertain the idea of missing this start. But while he was on the mound, it was as if the injury seemed to anger him. And the Phillies paid the price for being in the way.

Scherzer struck out 10 and tossed seven scoreless innings to lead the Nationals to a 2-0 victory at Nationals Park, completing the sweep in Wednesday’s doubleheader over the Phillies and authoring an outing that undoubtedly will be remembered among the gutsiest in what is shaping up to almost certainly be a Hall-of-Fame career.

“It really is one of the most impressive things I’ve seen in awhile,” said second baseman Brian Dozier, who hit a solo homer to give the Nats a 1-0 lead in the nightcap after also homering in the first game. “He’s probably the best pitcher in our generation, and you don’t get that status unless you take the ball every fifth day no matter if you’re doing good, doing bad, got a broken nose -- you always want the ball.” (MLB.com)