Pedro goes 2-for-four against the Mets with a double and his 13th homer of the season. His long one was a rocket shot that left the park in about two seconds and landed deep in the right field seats. It had to be 415-420 feet. Just launched it. El Toro now hitting .241 with 13 homers and 42 RBIs. His average has just kept climbing over the past month and a half. Would love to see Pedro hitting close to .300 by the end of the season. Pirates moved to 42-40 on the season. They’ve been playing excellent ball lately. Bucs eight back of the Brewers. Off today, then host ‘Zona for three before the Phillies come to town. Love where El Toro is right now. Watched a video last Thursday of Corbs talking about his recruitment of Pedro. It was incredible. Pedro’s dad is a cab driver, but his parents firmly believed in their son getting a top rate education. They did an incredible job. Pedro’s dad had a batting cage in the basement of their apartment complex and would throw to his son every night when Pedro was growing up. They lived in a dangerous part of NYC, but they held firm to their commitment to excellence for their son and it has paid off. Amazing what parents can do. If you get a chance, go to www.vandysports.com and watch Corbs’ videoed speech talking about Pedro, Sonny and David. It’s incredible stuff. Corbs made the speech in 2013. I’ll try to find the link and put it up. It’s worth a watch.
Also, Ryan Flaherty hit a three-run shot yesterday for the Orioles when he came in as a sub at shortstop against the Rays. Ryan also made a nice play at short to throw a guy out at first. I wish Showalter would really give Ryan a shot. Watching Ryan in 2007 as shortstop on our awesome ’07 team, he was a big league player then. Ryan can be an elite performer in the major leagues if given the opportunity. Rays did defeat the O’s, 12-7.
Dave on the hill tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium against Hiroki Kuroda (5-5,4.23). Dave now 6-7 with a 3.63 ERA. The most amazing stat maybe in the major leagues right now is David’s walk to strikeout numbers. David has only walked 14 guys and has struck out 144. That’s just astounding. Against the Bucs last Thursday, Dave was stellar. He went 8.1 innings, gave up five hits, one run-a homer to the awesome Andrew McCutchen, walked one and K’d 12. Dave is just sensational. Would love to see Dave get it done tomorrow night and the Rays sweep the Yanks. Rays took three of four from a very good hitting Baltimore team over the weekend at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Amazingly, as tough a first half as it’s been for the Rays, they are only 10 games back of first at 34-48. They’re really starting to hit their stride. In New York for three tonight through Wednesday, then go to Detroit for four beginning Thursday. Huge week for the Rays if they want to get back into the race in the AL East.
Mike on the hill for the Braves tomorrow night against the Mets and Dice K (Daisuke Matsuzaka). Mike now 2-5 with a 4.50 ERA with 20 walks and 65 strikeouts. Mike needs a good performance tomorrow night at home. Braves now 44-38, a 1/2 game in front of the Nationals. Dice K pitching pretty well. He’s started 6 games and is 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA. He’s walked 35 and struck out 49. Braves swept the Phillies in four over the weekend at Philly. Mets in for three tonight through Wednesday then the D’backs come to the Ted Friday through Sunday.
Sonny on the hill Thursday versus the big bats of Toronto. Sonny now 7-3 with a 3.20 ERA with 37 walks and 90 K’s. Had kind of a tougher outing against the Marlins at Miami Saturday. He pitched five gave up seven hits, five earned with three walks and four K’s. Pitched OK. Not his best, but he’s been very good this season and the A’s are playing awesome baseball. A’s swept the Marlins over the weekend at Miami and are now 51-30, 5.5 games ahead of the LA Angels. They’ve got a very interesting club house with a ton of free spirits. There was a great article in Sports Illustrated about them two weeks ago. They’ve got some characters. GM Billy Beane goes for the high value guys. Man, they don’t spend a lot of money and they get incredible results! Beane is incredible.