MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Hopefully more than offset by the death of the shift.

 

I can’t think of a worse season to sit through than the Reds this season. It started with the owner’s son putting his foot in his mouth and ended with a really bad Cubs team smacking them around, 15-2.

 

The Reds finished 62-100. It's their first 100-loss season since 1982, and only the second in 140 years.

 

Not that I watched a minute of it, but somehow this season would have been more insulting if the Reds didn’t pay it off with triple-digit losses. This clunker deserves the full reproach of history.

 

These retirements have been incredible. I saw Kurt Suzuki's last night and Vogt's this afternoon. Suzuki caught the first pitch, then Nevin went to the mound, so did Suzuki. Soon, all of the infielders and outfielders were gathered at the mound to salute him. He walked off the field to an ovation. He stopped to tap his heart toward the A's dugout and to all areas of the stands. Today, Suzuki presented the lineup card and Nevin let him manage the game. Vogt homered in his final at-bat and that stood up as the winning run in a 3-2 game. He danced around the bases and was mobbed in the dugout. I admit getting a little weepy-eyed at these events.

 

Given the way they started -- 3-24 or something like that -- I thought they did a decent job of avoiding ineptitude of historical levels. The Washington Nationals Baseball Team LLC was several games worse.

 

You’re welcome

And apparently with the win, this was the first time in team history (like 1883 team history) the Giants finished perfectly.500. Thanks to the win.

 

So Hack Wilson’s NL home run record is still intact then?

 

And prevented the Padres from win No. 90, when we had them under 89.5.

 

Not being snarky, but is there a reason to get weepy over the retirements of a couple of journeymen like Kurt Suzuki and Stephen Vogt?

 

No.
Vogt, apparently and incredibly, was a two-time All-Star. I thought he was best known as the actor who played Milton in "Office Space," but that's Steven Root.

 

Matheny out in KC to finish off that housecleaning