Bedford & Sullivan Podcast: Talking Baseball with National League Greats, Carl Erskine and Frank Thomas

From the desk of: BEDFORD & SULLIVAN

A SAM MAXWELL PRODUCTION

A Journey Into the Golden Age of Baseball 

with National League Greats

BROOKLYN/LA DODGERS STANDOUT
CARL ERSKINE   
&
PITTSBURGH PIRATES SLUGGER 
and ORIGINAL 1962 AMAZIN' MET   
FRANK THOMAS

A Conversation Between

PITCHER vs. HITTER

Thank you, Sam, for inviting me!

N.Y. Yankees: Bombers Flirting With Historic Start

From the desk of: BLAME CARLOS MAY

JUDGE PUNISHING 

OPPOSING PITCHERS

BRONX BOMBERS OFFERING NO QUARTER

Aaron Judge, like the Yankees, is off to a freakish start.  He is also demonstrating the benefits of the season commencing in July.  Had the season started on time in April, an injured Judge wold not have been in the Opening Day lineup.  Be that as it may, a fully healthy Aaron Judge is presently batting .314 through his first 35 at-bats.  Of his eleven hits, six have gone for home runs.  He is slugging over nine, for Pete's sake.  Meanwhile, the Yankees as a team lead the majors in (20) home runs, slugging, and OPS.

On the mound, off-season acquisition Gerrit Cole is likewise off to a fine 3-0 start with a 2.61 ERA, allowing ten hits and five walks, with sixteen strikeouts, through three starts and 17.2 innings pitched.  As I write, per SNY-TV, Cole is 19-0 with a 1.86 ERA, 0.81 WHiP, and a 13.3 K/9 average over his last 25 starts dating back to last season.

With Monday's victory over former manager Joe Girardi and the Philadelphia Phillies, the Bronx Bombers improve to 8-1.  For the moment no team has lost less games than the Yanks, none except the Marlins, that is, whom are frozen in quarantine with a 2-1 record.  This is the third time in Bomber history they have gotten off to an 8-1 start.  The first time comes in 1988, and the second time occurs to start the 2003 season.

It just so happens the Yankees in baseball history own three of the top five records through the first sixty games of a regular season.

• 1912 - New York Giants; 48-11-1
• 1939 - New York Yankees; 47-13
• 1953 - New York Yankees; 46-14
• 1998 - New York Yankees; 46-14
• 2001 - Seattle Mariners; 47-13

Nine games into the season, the Yankees are presently on course for 45 victories.

Make no mistake: the Evil Empire is once again fully armed and operational.  Just ask Aroldis Chapman, who has been cleared to return.  He should be rejoining the team shortly.

Brooklyn Nets: The Flatbush Three Turn Back Wizards

From the desk of: HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

SUNDAY

Wizards   110

Nets         118

FINAL

Flatbush effectively locks up a playoff spot with Sunday's 118-110 victory over the Wizards.  It gives the eighth place Nets a seven game lead over Washington, with six scheduled games left to play; the Wizards have only five.  Therefore, if nothing else, at least the Nets have math on their side, as they attempt to trudge forward minus the services of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler, and still no Jamal Crawford.

For now, all is well.  Brooklyn's big three - Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Joe Harris - with Sunday's win temporarily mute the obligatory minutia of speculation and doubt.  LeVert leads the floor with 34-points in a game high 39-minutes.  Jarrett Allen goes double-double, scoring 22-points and secures a game high 15 rebounds, with ten coming on the defensive board.  Meanwhile, Joe Harris pours in 27-points (6 for 7 from three-land), with seven rebounds.  Chris Chiozza scores 14-points in 21-minutes off the bench, and distributes a team high six assists.

Flatbush shoots 31 of 37 (83%) from the foul line, where they outscore the Wizards by ten.  Not coincidentally, Jarrett Allen is a perfect 10 for 10, while Caris is 10 for 13 from the line.  Nets win by eight ...

Brooklyn has already let it be known that LeVert, Allen, and Harris, will not be available for Tuesday's game against the Eastern Conference leading Milwaukee Bucks.  My only issue with that is philosophically: if you want to be the best, then you must beat the best.

Otherwise, I try letting pragmatism rule the day.  And with regards to what awaits the Nets beyond these next several games, I have but one thing to say: you can not be disappointed with what you do not expect.  I'm pleased Flatbush will be participating in a second straight post-season.  It means they're doing something right.  But we also know this team is far from being a complete product with all its key components in place.  Therefore, I simply wish to enjoy meaningful games to come.  However, my focus will be fixed on the yet to be determined collective ability of Caris Levert, Jarrett Allen, and Joe Harris, joining together and handling the burden of carrying this team forward.  This is their challenge, but at the very least an invaluable experience that will only serve to improve the aforementioned three, and the Brooklyn Nets as a whole.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

A Mushroom Cloud Rises Over Flushing on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

!! GIMMIE SHELTER !!

DEALING WITH THE FALLOUT

Joined by 

Jeff Cohen from Baseball And BBQ

NEW YORK METS

• First Ten Games: 3-7 (.300)
• Five Game Losing Streak
• 19 for 94 (.202) with runners in scoring position
• Team ERA: 5.52
• YOENIS CESPEDES EXITS STAGE LEFT

And the rant begins...!

Give a Listen

#LGM

100 Years Ago Today 8/3/1920: Brooklyn Robins Complete Series Victory Over Redbirds

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #102: Tuesday, August 3, 1920 - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Robins Rout Redbirds; Take Series Three Games Against One

GIANTS CONTINUE SURGE  

Take Three of Four from Cincinnati Reds

Better late than never is what they say.  The Robins respond to yesterday's loss in resounding fashion, but not before making their trolley dodging fans anxiously mind a tenuous 1-0 lead through five.  Hi Myers in the first inning drives home his team leading 51st run for the season.  Facing Cardinals rookie Jesse Haines in the sixth, Brooklyn finally breaks the tension with four runs on hits by Zack Wheat, Hi Myers, and Ed Konetchy, and an inside-the-park home run by Rowdy Elliot.  St. Louis answers back against starter Leon Cadore with three runs on five hits in the seventh.  Rogers Hornsby puts an end to Cadore's outing with a run scoring single hit back through the box.  Manager Robinson summons from the bullpen Al Mamaux, who extinguishes the fire.  Leading 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth, Brooklyn erupts for another five runs.  Mamaux helps himself with a base hit to right and a run batted in, as the Robins roll to a 10-4 final.  Leon Cadore earns his eighth win, allowing three runs on eleven hits and two walks, with three strikeouts.  Ivy Olson, Hi Myers, and Ed Konetchy, each post three hits and drive in a run.  Meanwhile, the New York Giants rout the Cincinnati Reds, 11-1, at the Polo Grounds, and remain just five games back of the Robins.  Coupled with Brooklyn's victory, the second place Reds fall 2.5 games back.

• RECORD: 58-43 (.574)
• First Place; 2.5 GA

On Monte Irvin: A New Jersey Titan and New York Giant

From the desk of: 100th Anniversary of Negro Leagues Baseball

1919   MONTE IRVIN   2016

INSCRIPTION

"I always felt like I had a mission in life,

I thought I was born to play sports."

A New Jersey Titan and New York City Giant 

NEWARK EAGLES

1938  ~  1948

Monte Irvin is born on February 10, 1919, at Haleburg, Alabama.  His family moves north to New Jersey, where Monte attends and plays ball for East Orange High School, where he concurrently plays semi-pro ball with a negro team named the Smart Set at Hinchliffe Stadium in Patterson, N.J.  There, he is scouted by Abe Manley-1, who signs the young Monte Irvin to a contract with the Negro National League Newark Eagles.

At 19-years of age, Irvin's 1938 professional debut is fleeting.  Still effectively a rookie in 1939, he bats .257, with three home runs and 19 runs batted in, through 31 games and 109 at-bats.  By 1940 Monte begins revealing his true talents.  The shortstop slashes .371/.430/.573, with four home runs and 39 runs batted in, through 38 games and 143 at-bats.  What follows are perhaps the best two seasons of his ten year Negro League career.  In 1941 Monte Irvin led the Eagles in all major offensive categories, slashing .395/.441/.643 in 42 games and 157 at-bats with sixty hits, twelve doubles, eight home runs, and 48 runs batted in.  Monte Irvins then spends most of the 1942 season playing in Mexico (in what is speculated to be a pay dispute between him and the Eagles) and a small portion with Newark.  Irvin nevertheless slashes a prolific .412/.508/.792, with 21 home runs and 90 runs batted in, through 67 total games and 255 at-bats.

Monte spends the next three years (1943-1945) serving with the United States Army overseas in Europe.  Two years before Jackie Robinson integrates major league baseball, Branch Ricky, in 1945, attempts to sign Irvin.2  Monte declines, citing his recent discharge from military service and what he deems a lack of game preparedness.  As one of the greatest "what ifs" in all of baseball and American history, Monte Irvin himself says, "I don't have any regrets."-2

"Monte was the choice of all Negro National and American League club owners to serve as the #1 player to join a white major league team." - Effa Manley 2

Now 27-years old, Irvin returns to Newark in time for the Eagles historic 1946 season.  Allied with second baseman (and fellow Hall of Fame member) Larry Doby, the two are considered among the most extraordinary double-play combinations throughout baseball.  Irvin hits five home runs at the plate and leads the Eagles with a .363 batting average and 53 RBI.  Larry Doby hits a team-leading seven home runs while batting .339, with 47 runs batted in.  On the mound, the Eagles boast an exceptional pair of double-digit winners.  On Opening Day, May 5, 1946, Leon Day throws a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Stars.   He posts an 11-2 record (13-4 overall) with a 2.41 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 123 innings pitched.  Day leads the Negro National League in wins, complete games, innings pitched, and strikeouts.  Max Manning posts a 10-2 record and 2.80 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 109.1 innings pitched.  Complimenting Newark's one-two punch is pitching mate Rufus Lewis, who goes 7-2 with a 2.73 ERA and 49 strikeouts in thirteen appearances and 82.1 innings pitched.  Lewis goes on to play an essential role in the Eagles' post-season to come.

"If we had one game to win, we 
wanted Leon to pitch." - Monte Irvin 3

Newark dominates the Negro National League regular season, soaring to a 50-20 (.714) record en route to a perch atop the standings (and a 54-24 record against all comers).  The Eagles dethrone Homestead as Negro National League champions, snapping the Gray's historic string of nine consecutive pennants.  Newark next braces for the Kansas City Monarchs, as the Negro National League champion is pitted against the Negro American League champion in the fifth ever Negro League World Series.  Newark wins four games against three.  Meanwhile, the veteran Monte Irvin makes the 1946 series a personal showcase, leading all hitters with a .462 batting average, a .533 OBP, three home runs, and a .885 slugging average.  Monte's eight RBI for the series ranks second, two behind Kansas City center fielder Willard Brown.

Two more seasons pass.  After spending his twenties with Newark, Monte's playing days with the Eagles end after the 1948 season.  Newark owners Abe and Effa Manley sell the fabled Eagles.  New ownership relocates the team to Houston, where they become affiliated with the Negro American League.  But far more importantly, Monte Irvin is purchased by the New York Giants National League baseball club.

Monte Irvin's Ten Seasons With Newark, according to Negro Leagues Data Base @ SEAMHEADS

NOTE: In any given year Negro League seasons could have consisted anywhere between 30 to 80 games sans barnstorming.

In 353 career games with Newark Monte posts a career slash .347/.425/.572, with 61 home runs, and 338 runs batted in.  SEAMHEADS translates this into an average 162 game season and this is what they come up with:

• AB: 593
• Runs: 133
• Hits: 206
• Doubles: 32
• HR: 28
• RBI: 155
• Slash: .347/425/.572

Perhaps this is why he is nicknamed Dr. Murder.

Monte Irvin, now 30-years old, debuts for the Giants in 1949, two full seasons ahead of Willie Mays' arrival in Manhattan.  Irvin spends that first season split between the Polo Grounds and the Giants International League affiliate at Jersey City.  By 1950, Monte is giving the National League a good taste of what they've been missing all these years, batting .299 with fifteen home runs and 66 runs batted in through 110 games and 374 at-bats.  In 1951, Monte Irvin, following previous all-time Giants slugging greats, lays siege to National League pitchers.  The 32-year old leads the team with a .312 batting average and .514 slugging average with 24 home runs, 121 runs batted in, and a team-high twelve stolen bases - all of which help elevate the Giants to their first National League pennant in fourteen years.  Monte goes on to bat .458 in the 1951 World Series against the Yankees and successfully steals home.  A broken ankle in 1952 limits Monte to just 46 games, but he returns in 1953 to post a .329 average, 21 home runs, and 97 runs batted in.  The following season, Monte, Willie Mays, and Leo Durocher's New York Giants reach baseball's mountain top when in the 1954 Fall Classic, they sweep four games from the favored Cleveland Indians.  Sadly, the following season abruptly turns into Monte's last with the Giants.  At 37-years of age, he is selected by the Chicago Cubs in the November Rule V draft, and just like that, upper Manhattan's beloved outfielder is gone.  Monte Irvin retires after the 1956 season.  Seventeen years pass until in 1973, he is finally inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, voted in by the Negro Leagues Committee.

PLAQUE AT RENAMED MONTE IRVIN ORANGE PARK

"Monte Irvin was the best all-around 

athlete I ever saw." - Roy Campanella

NEW YORK GIANTS

1949 ~ 1955

1 - The Most Famous Woman in Baseball, Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues by Bob Luke
2 - Monte Irvin Created a Legacy MLB
3 - Leon Day SABR
Monte Irvin SABR
Negro League Stats SEAMHEADS
MLB STATS Baseball-Reference Monte Irvin
Kansas City PBS

100 Years Ago Today 8/2/1920: Brooklyn Robins No Match for Cardinals Rogers Hornsby

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #101: Monday, August 2, 1920 - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Cardinals Bill Doak Delivers Four-Hitter; Rogers Hornsby Takes Care of the Rest

ROBINS 6-10 LAST SIXTEEN GAMES

All anyone could do is sit and watch - Uncle Robbie; Cardinals manager Branch Rickey; players from either dugout; hot dog vendors; especially the 5,000 or so fans in attendance at Ebbets Field - as St. Louis young star second baseman Rogers Hornsby puts on a one man show.  When Tommy Griffith triples off Cardinals starter Bill Doak in the third, scoring Jimmy Johnston, the Brooklyn partisans rise to their feet in roaring appreciation.  But that's when the cheering stops - as Brooklyn manages just two more hits over the remainder of the game - and the exploits of Rogers Hornsby begin.   With two on, and two outs in the St. Louis fifth, Hornsby triples into the left-center gap.  Then with two outs, and a man on second in the seventh, Hornsby lines a double to left scoring Hal Janvrin for a 3-1 Cardinals lead.  In the eighth inning, facing Sherry Smith pitching in relief of Rube Marquard, Rogers Hornsby (.372) singles home the Cardinals fourth and final run of the game.  Hornsby's line reads: 3 for 5, with a double, triple, and four runs batted in.  St. Louis veteran Bill Doak limits the Robins to just one run on four hits and five walks, with two strikeouts, for his twelfth victory of the season.  Making his sixteenth start of the season, Rube Marquard yields three runs on eleven hits and one walk, with three strikeouts, in a seven inning losing effort.  However, Brooklyn retains their 1.5 game lead over the Reds as Cincinnati bows to the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.  After starting 30-34 over the first three months of the season, the Giants have since posted a 19-10 record to move into third place, just five games back of the Robins.

• RECORD: 57-43 (.570)
• First Place; 1.5 GA

N.Y. Rangers: Blueshirts Suffer Category One Loss to Hurricanes

From the desk of: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS

OUT OF QUARANTINE AND INTO THE BUBBLE

ICED UP IN TORONTO

STANLEY CUP QUALIFIER

GAME ONE

Rangers        2

Hurricanes    3

FINAL

SLOW AND SLOPPY LOSES THE DAY

What Blueshirts fan doesn't want to see the Rangers excel against the Hurricanes, and beyond?  That being said, the Rangers in my opinion are still a rebuilding team, and I do not mind seeing the process through, part of which entails learning how to lose as a team.  The collective experience is invaluable. 

With that in mind, please know that I love Henrik Lundqvist; been in love with Henrik since I first laid eyes on him three games into his rookie season.  It's sad and regrettable that he has yet to win a Stanley Cup, nor might he ever.  But truth be told, for sake of moving forward I prefer Igor Shesterkin (or Alexandar Georgiev) in net for the playoffs.  I understand Igor was a late scratch, but stand by my aforementioned reasoning. 

Such is life, and so into the bubble with Henrik we go ...

These are not the Carolina Hurricanes the Rangers remember from the regular season.  Saturday's game makes that crystal clear.  If it takes a game for the Rangers to get their legs back under them, fine.  But they sure as hell better get their heads screwed on a little tighter as well.

Very soon after losing their first face-off since March 11, the Rangers commit one of the cardinal sins of hockey: letting the opposition score inside the first two minutes, or last two minutes of a period.  Sixty-one seconds into the first, Carolina does just that.  First, let's acknowledge Carolina's goal for what it is: a great pinch play by defensemen Jaccob Slavin.  With puck action taking place at Henrik's left, no one sees Slavin rushing in from the blue line on Henrik's right.  But even more troublesome to me is the Rangers inability to gain, much less sustain, possession.  In fact, Henrik stick handles the puck three times within the first sixty seconds alone!  That's an early indication things are off to an ugly start.  It also begs the question: what good is dishing out forty hits if you continually fail to come away with the puck (three takeaways all game), and tally eleven less shots on goal than the guys you're hitting?  Speaking of hits, former New York Ranger Brady Skjei at the 19:30 mark levels a clean open ice hit upon Jesper Fast, whom leaves the ice and does not return.  Add the fight between Ryan Strome versus Justin Williams, and there is your first period of hockey after roughly four and one-half months of quarantine.

Lethargy rules the day.  The Rangers manage just 26 shots on goal all game.  It's a feeble number considering they are on the power play seven times, getting off minimal shots, and coming away empty each time.

Cycling back to laying hits ... take another look at the Martin Necas goal at 10:51 of the third.  The guy is literally loitering in front of Henrik for a full five seconds before anyone (echem...Marc Staal) notices.  Of course, by then it's too late; Canes lead 3-1 with a half period to go.

100 Years Ago Today 8/1/1920: First Place Brooklyn Robins Usher In Dog Days of Summer

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS
1920 National League Champions 

Game #100: Sunday, August 1, 1920 - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

BROOKLYN ROBINS REACH THE 100 GAME MARK ATOP THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

After posting a wildly successful 23-12 record in July, the Robins win their first game of August, and their second straight against the visiting Cardinals.  Starter Burleigh Grimes allows one run late in the seventh inning, otherwise limiting the Redbirds to just four hits and four walks, with four strikeouts.  Grimes improves to 16-6 with a 2.06 ERA.  The Robins inflict the majority of their damage against starter, and former New York Giant, Ferdie Schupp.  Makes one ponder Uncle Robbie's entertainment level.  Ed Konetchy and Bernie Kilduff cross the plate in the second courtesy right fielder Cliff Heathcote and third baseman Milt Stock.  Brooklyn makes it a five run lead in the fifth on a pair of runs batted in from Zack Wheat and another from Hi Myers - his team leading 51st for the season.  Burleigh Grimes caps off Brooklyn's scoring in the eighth with a single through the left side and a run batted in for a 6-1 final margin of victory.  Elsewhere, the New York Giants defeat the Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds.  The third place Giants are just six games behind the lead.

• RECORD: 57-82 (.576)
• First Place: 1.5 GA

Brooklyn Nets: Into the Bubble

From the desk of: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

SEASON RESTART

WELCOME BACK

FRIDAY

Magic   128

Nets      118

FINAL

With just eight games left in order to bring this wacky 2019-2020 regular season to its long overdue conclusion, Brooklyn enters Friday's reopening game sporting a sub par 30-34 record, good enough for seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.  Playing in their first official game since March 10th, the Nets lose by ten against the Orlando Magic.  Thus, they fall to 30-35 and essentially trade places with Orlando, whom now occupy seventh place, and the Nets eighth, six full games ahead of the Washington Wizards.  This now leaves Brooklyn with just seven games with which to defend their standing, and achieve back-to-back playoff appearances.

THE GAME:

I, like many others, am starting anew my familiarization with new head coach Jacque Vaughn.  I still wonder why the front office parted with Kenny Atkinson.  But the difference in floor style is measurably noticeable.  Friday evening, at least, the Nets seize on more mid-range opportunities as they present themselves rather than insisting on three's or bulling through jam packed paint.  Although, their interior size is still a problem.  It's not like Orlando kills them on boards - because they do not - just a mild 39-42 discrepancy.  However, of the Magic's 42 boards, 36 come on the defensive end, i.e., limited second shot opportunities for Brooklyn.  If anyone wrecked Brooklyn on the boards it was Aaron Gordon with a game high eleven.  Otherwise, ball distribution is relatively even.  But despite four more possessions, Brooklyn is 48.4% from the field, versus 52.9% for Orlando.  Thirteen Nets players clock at least ten minutes which is to be expected.  The unexpected comes in the form of Brooklyn's Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who with 24-points ties Orlando's Evan Fournier for game high.  Caris LeVert scores 17-points in 28-minutes with a game high seven assists.  Jarrett Allen and Joe Harris chip in 14-points apiece.

Everyone understands this team is still very far away from the one we still anticipate to come.  But they restart this season compromised as all hell.  Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are understood.  But the Nets are forced to press forward minus Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler, and on Friday Jamal Crawford was likewise unavailable.

The million dollar question is: how far can/will Caris Levert and Jarrett Allen carry the Nets?  Caris LeVert is a burgeoning star, which I believe he's about to confirm to all.  Otherwise, into the bubble they go.

#WeGoHard

100 Years Ago Today 7/31/1920: Brooklyn Robins Defeat Cardinals in Series Opener

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #99: Saturday, July 31, 1920 - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Brooklyn Holds Their Ground With Defeat of Cardinals

The Ebbets Field scoreboard keepers on Saturday are pressed into early action and stay busy throughout day.  The Robins build a 5-1 lead through the third.  When the Redbirds counter with three tallies in the sixth, the Brooks erupt for a pair of runs in the seventh, and another pair in the eighth en route to a 9-5 victory.  Starter Jeff Pfeffer surrenders four runs on eight hits and two walks, with five strikeouts through six innings of work.  He evens his record at 8-8 with a 2.98 ERA.  Sherry Smith allows a run on two hits and no walks over three innings in relief of Pfeffer.  Smith earns his third save of the season.  St. Louis yields three unearned runs.  Otherwise, Pete Kilduff and Rowdy Elliott both drive in two runs apiece, and Hi Myers and Ed Konetchy drive home one run each.  Cardinals second baseman extraordinaire Rogers Hornsby goes 4 for 4 with a double, two runs scored, and a run batted in.  Brooklyn gains no ground, though, as the Cincinnati Reds defeat the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.

• RECORD: 56-42 (.571)
• First Place; 0.5 GA

N.Y. Mets: One of These Starters is Not Like the Others

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

One of these performances just wasn't the same...

With Jacob deGrom's second start of the season underway against the Red Sox at Boston, the Mets starting rotation officially begins its next go-around.

First Time Around:

• Game One vs. ATL: Jacob degrom throws 72 pitch gem through five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with eight  strikeouts.

• Game Two vs. ATL: Steven Matz throws 93 pitches through six innings, while limiting the Braves to one run on just two hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

• Game Three vs. ATL: Rick Porcello does not make it out of the third.  He yields seven runs (six earned) on seven hits, with three walks, before manager Luis Rojas summons relief.

• Game Four vs. BOS: Michael Wacha faces twenty batters, allows one run on just five hits and one walk, with five strikeouts.  Unlike deGrom and Matz whom exit to no-decisions, Wacha earns his first victory of the season.

• Game Five vs. BOS: With injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, Dave Peterson is a victim of baptismal by fire.  The Mets 24-year old first round (20th overall) draft pick makes his major league debut on Tuesday.  He responds with two earned runs allowed on seven hits and just two walks, with three strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched, to earn first major league victory.

All told the rotation's first five starters allow fourteen earned runs, on twenty-two hits and nine walks, with 23 strikeouts, through twenty innings pitched.  That equates to a 3.87 ERA, and 1.551 WHIP, and an average of four innings per start.

But we well realizes these stats are skewed because of what occurred on Sunday.  In truth there is no escaping that out of the aforementioned five starters, one respective performances didn't turn out like the others - one of those five starts just isn't the same (.. if that reference doesn't trigger a childhood memory, then too bad for you).  But the point remains: after a disappointing first start with the Mets, Rick Porcello will soon feel the heat of having all eyes beaming upon him.

100 Years Ago Today 7/30/1920: Cincinnati Reds Upend First Place Robins at Ebbets Field

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

EBBETS FIELD TURNSTILE

ROBINS EXPERIENCING RECORD SETTING TURNOUTS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS
1920 National league Champions

Game #98: Friday, July 30, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Reds Roll Robins in Series Finale; Take Three of Four at Ebbets Field and Close to Within Half-Game of First

The Reds make it crystal clear throughout the Borough just who the defending world champions are, with a methodical double-digit drubbing of the Robins in front a crowd upwards of 8,000 in attendance at Ebbets Field.  With Friday's victory Cincinnati takes the series from Brooklyn three games to one, and leave town back to within one-half game of first place.  After opening the scoring in the third, the Reds erupt for six runs in the fourth, then continue pouring it on throughout the later innings en route to an 11-0 whitewashing of the league leading Brooklyn Robins, whom suddenly appear under serious threat.  The Reds offer no quarter to starter Al Mamaux, and relievers Rube Marquard, and Clarence Mitchell; none escape unscathed.  Al Mamaux falls to 7-7 for the season with a modest 2.47 earned run average.  Reds right-hander Hod Eller stymies the Robins allowing just six scattered hits and three walks in a complete game shutout effort.  With two hits each, Ivy Olson and Hi Myers account two thirds of Brooklyn's hits.  The Robins are 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.  Cincinnati star Edd Roush is 3 for 4 with two runs scored and a run batted in, and  former long time Brooklyn Robin Jake Daubert goes 2 for 5 against his former team with a triple and two runs batted in.  The Reds muster sixteen hits in all.  Tomorrow the Robins welcome to town the sixth place St. Louis Cardinals, whom most recently suffer a four game sweep at the hands of the surging New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.  Meanwhile with a 47-44 record, and a 17-9 record to date in July, the Giants have supplanted the Pittsburgh Pirates in third place, and have quietly creeped 5.5 games behind the Robins.

• RECORD: 55-42 (.567)
• First Place; 0.5 GA 

N.Y. Mets: Tip of the Cap to Dave Peterson

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

DO WE HAVE A NEW HURLER OF THE METROPOLIS?

Well done!  Well done, indeed.

Dave Peterson, the Mets first round selection (20th overall) of the 2017 amateur draft, on Tuesday makes his major league debut against the Red Sox at Boston's Fenway Park.  All it took was 46 minor league appearances, during which he posts a 3.63 ERA through 247.0 innings pitched, before being summoned to the show.  In 2018 he splits the season between Port St. Lucie and Columbia.  Last year he spends the entire season with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies where he posts a 4.19 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 116.0 innings pitched.  That said, with no triple-A experience, here he is.  Staked to an early 3-0 cushion, the 24-year old rookie southpaw faces 23 batters, throws 78 pitches, with 46 (59%) going for strikes, and averages roughly 15 pitches per inning.  For the night Peterson yields two earned runs on seven hits and two walks, with a trio of strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.  I was pleased he lasted five innings, and rather happy he walked back out for the sixth.

Once again, well done, rook.  Congratulations on your first start, and your first ever major league victory.  He joins Michael Wacha in turning in a somewhat surprisingly effective performance at Fenway.

The Mets are 2-0 at Boston.

Thanks guys.

100 Years Ago Today 7/29/1920: Second Place Reds Outlast Brooklyn Robins

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #97: Thursday, July 29, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs, Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Dolf Luque Outlasts Leon Cadore; Brooklyn Wilts in Ninth

Those resilient Reds, leave it up to the defending champs for snatching victory from seemingly certain defeat.  A late inning surge is just enough to get them passed Brooklyn for the second time in three games.  Zack Wheat's first inning triple and run batted in is promptly negated in the second inning by Reds right fielder Greasy Neale's two out base hit and run batted in.  The Robins and Reds once again trade runs, the Robins in the sixth on a Hi Myer's sac-fly scoring Tommy Griffith, and the Reds in the seventh on left fielder Pat Duncan's base hit scoring Jake Daubert.  This game ultimately gains resolution in the ninth.  With starter Leon Cadore still hurling for Brooklyn, Duncan strokes a one out triple, and scores on a Larry Kopf sac-fly to center field.  Reds starter Dolf Luque in the bottom of the ninth retires the Robins in order to close out his seventh victory for the season.  Leon Cadore, making his 19th start of the season, allows three runs, two earned, on eight hits and a walk, with one strikeout.  With the loss he falls to 7-9 with a 2.38 ERA.  The four game series concludes tomorrow.

• RECORD: 55-41 (.572)
• First Place; 1.5 GA