Welcome to this day in baseball Daily rewind my name is Tom Hannon and I am your host. Thank you so much for joining me today as we back step our way through July 29 – August 4. Our format has been changing a bit and just to give you a quick recap, we are…
The Nationals set a franchise record for runs by crushing the Mets, 25 – 4. It is also the largest margin of defeat in Mets history. The Nats score 7 runs in the 1st, chasing Steven Matz, then add 3 runs in each of the next four innings and have a 26 – 1 lead in the 9th, when New York scores 3 to make the final tally slightly less humiliating. Daniel Murphy homers twice and drives in 6, Anthony Rendon drives in 4, and Trea Turner has 4 hits, while Tanner Roark, who hits a three-run double himself, is the beneficiary of the offensive largesse.
It’s a busy final day before the trading deadline with a dozen trades being announced. The Dodgers steal the show by landing three pitchers, Yu Darvish, Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson, in separate deals, costing them six minor league prospects and veteran OF Scott Van Slyke. The other big acquisition goes to the Yankees, who pry SP Sonny Gray from Oakland for three prospects, two of whom – Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian – are out with injuries for the remainder of the season. Also changing teams are Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Liriano, Addison Reed and Joe Smith, among others.
With the winning run on third with only one out and the team tied at 6 with the Mariners in the bottom of the 12th, Cubs skipper Jon Maddon goes to the bench, sending up poor-hitting pitcher Jon Lester to pinch hit. The left-hander, a 083/.138/.125 hitter in 216 career at-bats, doesn’t disappoint when he lays down a perfect squeeze bunt, giving Chicago a dramatic 7-6 walk-off victory at Wrigley Field.
Wilmer Flore is honored by the Brooklyn Cyclones with a bobblehead, commemorating his emotional roller coaster at the end of July last season. The 23-year-old Venezuelan infielder, falsely believing the Brewers had traded for him, cried on the field, but three days later, hit a walk-off homer to lift the team in a jubilant victory over the division-leading Nationals, beginning a sweep that will put the Mets in first place for the rest of the season.
For the second time in a week, the Yankees trade a top-rank relief pitcher in return for four players. After trading Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs on July 25th, today they send Andrew Miller to the Indians for OF Clint Frazierand Ps J.P. Feyereisen, Ben Heller and Justus Sheffield. The Indians also work out a tentative deal with the Brewers for All-Star C Jonathan Lucroy, but Lucroy invokes his no-trade clause to nix the trade, which falls through. In a separate move, the Orioles acquire P Wade Miley from Seattle for prospect Ariel Miranda.
The Cubs’ 7 – 6 win over the Mariners can be credited to a series of brilliant moves by manager Joe Maddon. Trailing 6 – 2 in the 6th, he sends in P Travis Wood in relief of Joe Nathan, and he gets out of a runners on second and third with nobody out situation without allowing a run. Maddon then moves Wood to left field in the 7th as Pedro Strop takes the mound, and Wood robs Franklin Gutierrez by crashing into the ivy at Wrigley Fieldto snag a line drive. With two outs in the 8th, Wood replaces Strop and picks off Shawn O’Malley at first base to end the inning. The Cubs score three runs off Steve Cishek in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings, then in the 12th, Maddon asks P Jon Lester to pinch-hit with Jason Heyward on third base, and the otherwise awful hitter lays down an excellent squeeze bunt to drive in the winning run against Cody Martin.
The trading deadline frenzy of activity continues as in the early hours of the morning, the Reds send P Mike Leake to the Giants for prospects Adam Duvall and Keury Mella. There are no other blockbuster trades today, but players on the move include OF Yoenis Cespedes, from Detroit to the Mets; P J.A. Happ, from Seattle to Pittsburgh; OF Ben Revere, from the Phillies to Toronto; P Mark Lowe, from Seattle to Toronto; OF Gerardo Parra, from Milwaukee to Baltimore; and P Jonathan Broxton, from Milwaukee to the Cardinals. There are also a couple of minor trades between contenders, with Pittsburgh swapping OF Jose Tabata with the Dodgers for OF/1B Mike Morse and Baltimore sending P Tommy Hunter to the Cubs for utility player Junior Lake.
After having made every European Championship since 1962 (the longest run of any country), Sweden is on the verge of missing out on the 2016 European Championship. They trail Israel 5-4 going into the 9th, having gotten moderate offense against Dean Kremer. Against Israel’s bullpen, though, they score five times in the 9th. Israel strikes back against a tiring Jakob Claesson (going the distance with 145 pitches) for 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th and puts the tying run in scoring position but Nate Fish grounds out to end the game. Sweden will then rally in the 9th again tomorrow against host Austria to win the Vienna round of the 2015 B-Level European Championship and retain a spot in the Euros. Veteran Björn Johannessen is named the MVP of the qualifier.
On Facebook, 29 year-old Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball captain living with ALS, challenges The Howard Stern Show and a number of his friends to participate in the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge.’ The post will become one of the catalysts that spark a viral call to action that will be taken up by celebrities, including Matt Lauder, Ethel Kennedy, Martha Stewart, and former Red Sox captain Jason Varitek, to raise funds and awareness for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.