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We got a Weird & Wild-worthy walk-off overnight in Seattle.
Plus: Does this one weird trick (obfuscating an MRI result) explain Anthony Volpe’s struggles this year? And also: Ken on the Phillies’ come-up, and we have our Baseball Card of the Week. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
While You Were Sleeping: Mariners back in (tie for) first place
On Aug. 12, the Mariners pulled into a tie with the Astros for first place in the AL West. Between then and now, they’ve been as many as four games back. But after last night’s wild finish — paired with an Astros loss in Toronto — the Mariners have pulled even again.
A few notes from last night’s game:
It was not only Seattle’s second extra-innings walk-off in a row — Leo Rivas homered in the 13th inning Wednesday night against the Cardinals — it was also the first time since the ghost runner rules were implemented in 2020 that any team has played 12 innings on consecutive nights. Because if you’re going to have drama, make it good, right?
Last night’s circumstances were exceptional, though. Tied 4-4, the Mariners and Angels took turns dodging bullets from the sixth through 10th innings. In the 11th, both teams scored a run, and in the top of the 12th, the Angels took the lead, 6-5.
The Mariners had already lost their DH, since Jorge Polanco had to go play second base. So in the bottom of the 12th inning, Seattle manager Dan Wilson emptied his bench. It was working — Seattle scored, and had the bases loaded with no outs. But with the pitcher’s spot coming up, the last guy on the bench was backup catcher Harry Ford.
Ford’s big-league experience, at that point: three games. Three plate appearances, none of them in Seattle. The only “hit”? By pitch. He hadn’t even gotten into a game in four days.
Ford swung at the first pitch and lofted it far enough into right field that Polanco was able to tag and score.
That means Ford has a big-league walk-off RBI — one that vaulted his team into first place — before his first …
More Weird & Wild: Ford’s walk-off happened at about 1:30 a.m. ET, so unless Jayson Stark edits his column as this newsletter is going on, it won’t be in there. But it’s still packed full of the sport’s recent oddities, including a cool section on Kyle Schwarber’s historic season.
More AL West: As Chandler Rome wrote before the Mariners win, the Astros’ margin has continued to dwindle. Well, it’s down to zero games now.
Ken’s Notebook: Phillies clicking at the right time
From my latest column:
The Philadelphia Phillies are running away with the NL East, and Bryce Harper is but a supporting actor. Kyle Schwarber is the 50-homer sensation. The starting pitchers are leading men. And two deadline additions from the Minnesota Twins, center fielder Harrison Bader and closer Jhoan Duran, are taking their own star turns.
Some with the Phillies wonder how all this sits with Harper, alpha of alphas, two-time MVP, hero of the 2022 NLCS. Harper is the No. 3 hitter batting behind Schwarber, helping his teammate get better pitches to hit. And while his OPS is .852, not terribly below his .906 career mark, even his manager, Rob Thomson, acknowledges it doesn’t seem like the figure is that high.
So, does Harper still feel like it’s his team? Does it matter to him if it isn’t? Harper, who turns 33 next month, laughed at the questions.
“I think it’s everybody’s team in here,” he said last night after the Phillies completed their four-game sweep of the New York Mets with a come-from-behind 6-4 victory.
“Kyle is obviously having an incredible year, in a contract year as well. He’s going to have that hype around him. Other teams and organizations are seeing what he’s doing, the media is seeing what he’s doing. It’s great for our team. It’s great for baseball as well.
“I’ve never been that type of guy where I wanted it to be my team or someone else’s team. Our main goal is winning. That’s everybody’s mindset.”
Based on the way the Phillies crushed the Mets’ souls, it’s tempting to proclaim them World Series favorites. They outscored the Mets 27-10 without staff ace Zack Wheeler, who is out for the season, and without shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm, who are expected to return. Then again, those tempted to get carried away with one good game or even four are proceeding at their own risk. So many contenders this season have experienced emotional whiplash, good vibes quickly turning into foul moods and then back again.
Two weeks ago, the Phillies were swept by the Mets at Citi Field, reducing their division lead to four games and raising questions about whether they were heading for another dispiriting conclusion. Since then, they’re 11-3. They’ve increased their lead over the Mets to 11 games. And they’ve whetted Harper’s appetite for his favorite time of year: October.
🚩: Anthony Volpe’s struggles, explained?
All season, Anthony Volpe has been a source of agita for Yankees fans. The defensive slump. The multitude of errors. The extended slumps. The .268 OBP. The fact his manager and his GM played better defense than their shortstop.
This headline: “Yankees unsure how to fix struggling Anthony Volpe.”
Yesterday, we learned Volpe has been playing through a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder since May 3, when he dove for a ball and “felt a pop” in his shoulder. At the time, reporters were told that the MRI — as Brendan Kuty put it in July — “didn’t raise any red flags.”
If that was the phrasing the team used, perhaps it meant it literally, rather than metaphorically. A tear in a player’s labrum is not made of nylon or polyester, nor — under normal circumstances — could one wave it at a bull or a race car.
It is, however, kind of a big deal — a red flag, you might say.
Still, the Yankees don’t plan to send Volpe to the IL. In fact, the prevailing thought is that it came from an old injury and won’t require surgery. Manager Aaron Boone also said he did not believe the injury had impacted Volpe at the plate.
Well, if that’s not it, then maybe we’re back to the agita.
More injured AL East shortstops: With Bo Bichette already on the IL, Ernie Clement is thriving at shortstop for the Blue Jays … despite a fracture in his hand.
Baseball Card of the Week: 1995 Score Pedro ‘J.’ Martínez
Back in 1995, Pedro Martínez was just a guy coming off a couple of reasonably good years. The first was in 1993 as a Dodgers reliever, then — after being traded to Montreal for Delino DeShields — he had his first good season as a starting pitcher, going 11-5 with a 3.42 ERA.
You’d think that would be enough to earn him the distinction of being the Pedro Martínez, but there was one problem. The other Pedro Martínez — who debuted in 1993 and carried a 2.73 ERA in 80 games (79 in relief) for the Padres … didn’t have a middle name.
Or at least that’s what I’m gathering from his Baseball Reference page. So for the time being, Pedro Jaime Martínez got the additional letter on his baseball card.
Other Pedro last pitched in the big leagues in 1997, finishing that year with a 9.45 ERA for the Reds (but a career 3.97 mark). That year, Pedro J. won his first Cy Young award for the Expos, going 17-8 with a 1.90 ERA. He would go on to win two more (and finish in the top three on three other occasions).
He was just Pedro Martínez after that.
More Pedro Martínez: I had this entire section written out before I read Tyler Kepner’s “Sliders” column this week, in which he starts with Davey Johnson’s ‘86 Mets, but also gets to a section about players with the same names. Serendipity!
Handshakes and High Fives
C. Trent Rosecrans has a very cool story today about the relationship between Manny Machado and Reds rookie Sal Stewart.
And I also loved this one from Andrew Baggarly about how many gloves Giants catcher Andrew Bailey goes through in a year — and why.
Aaron Judge didn’t stay in fifth place for long. With two home runs last night, he is now tied with Joe DiMaggio for fourth in Yankees history, at 361. The next rung of the ladder will take a little longer to reach — Lou Gehrig is in third place, at 493.
The Orioles have already promoted Mike Elias to president of baseball operations. Now they plan to hire a GM to work beneath him.
The Red Sox and Yankees are both in playoff positions. They’ll face off this weekend as the rivalry slowly regains some of its steam. Speaking of which …
What I’m watching this weekend: I’ll let Steven Louis Goldstein take this one for me. He has more on all the playoff implications this weekend (but Jacob deGrom at the Mets is No. 1 on my list).
On the pods: “Rates & Barrels” discusses the shift from starter to bullpen for some pitchers as the playoff push continues.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Sam Blum’s look at whether Mike Trout can still be a good baseball player.
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(Photo: Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)