On a day that saw Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw pitching in the same ballpark for an early-season premier matchup, we ended up getting two performances that overshadowed their presumptive pitchers’ duel before they even toed the rubber for their game in Los Angeles. That’s because Jason Hammel and Tyson Ross both stole the show during Friday’s action with performances that were both excellent and filled with hard luck at the same time.
Both Tyson Ross and Jason Hammel deserved better after Friday starts
Tyson Ross and Jason Hammel both pitched excellent games on Friday. Unfortunately, neither of them had much to show for it at the end of the day.
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For starters, Jason Hammel took to the mound in the first game of a doubleheader for the Royals against the Tigers and was looking to stop the bleeding for a team that was going into that game having lost eight straight. Hammel must have figured that it was time to put the team on his back because he ended up making it through nine innings against the Tigers. This was Hammel’s first nine-inning outing since 2012 but it wasn’t a complete game because he gave up two runs in the fifth inning and he left the game with things tied 2-2. JaCoby Jones hit a walk-off dinger in the 10th inning to give Kansas City their ninth straight loss and also make sure that Hammel’s excellent performance went for naught.
Later on, Tyson Ross embarked on a pitching quest that saw him come close to being the one to write his name in San Diego’s history books as the first Padres pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Ross was four outs away from turning the Padres’ timeline from “Before No-No” to “After No-No,” but Franchy Cordero ended up misplaying a fly ball that would have sent the no-hit bid into the ninth inning. Instead, the ball ended up going over Cordero’s head and to the wall to tie the game and continue the Padres’ never-ending saga of being without a no-hitter.
Even though the Padres still won their game, Tyson Ross ended up getting the ultimate reminder that sometimes luck is a major factor in this sport. The same goes for Jason Hammel as well — both Ross and Hammel had days to remember but will ultimately be forgotten due to some rotten luck.
- Even though Friday was a rough day for him, Fernando Rodney still deserves our appreciation and Grant Brisbee laid out all of the reasons why you should pay homage to the veteran reliever.
- There’s an old baseball adage that if you tune in to a game or show up at a ballpark, there’s always a chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before. I guarantee that you have never seen a 1-3-4-2-5-8-7 double play before, which is the nonsense that the Phillies got themselves into here.
- Michael Baumann of The Ringer wrote at length about how MLB has made the conscious decision to contniue underpaying minor leaguers when they could absolutely afford to pay them a living wage.
- When the Braves signed Jose Bautista, word quickly got out that Joey Bats actually took less money to go to Atlanta. It turns out that one of the teams he spurned was Cleveland.
- Jim Riggleman is now the interim manager of the Reds and the crew at Red Reporter took a look at Riggleman’s past to see what the immediate future holds for the Reds.
- Despite the double TOOTBLAN, the Phillies won yet again on Friday night and now The Good Phight is feeling very optimistic about their chances for postseason baseball.
- Gleyber Torres is still waiting in the wings to be called up by the Yankees. Pinstripe Alley is wondering whether or not now is the time to call him up.
- Victor Martinez has been in the bigs for 16 seasons now and there are rumblings that the 16th season could be his last one.
- According to Twinkie Town, Ryan LaMarre is already the “best” Bat Right/Throw Left player to ever play for the Twins. It was a very low bar to clear but he has still cleared it!
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