On the evening the team celebrates the 20th anniversary of the World Series, time for a Tankapalooza update.
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:
- Recalled RHP Humberto Castellanos from Triple-A Reno. He will start tonight’s game.
- Optioned RHP Matt Peacock to Triple-A Reno following last night’s game.
It has been very tight around Tankapalooza of late. Of the four teams battling for supremacy, the Orioles, Diamondbacks and Pirates are all 3-7 over the last ten, with the Rangers just one game better at 4-6. So, not much movement there, with Baltimore still holding a 21⁄2 game edge over the Diamondbacks, who sit three ahead of Texas. The worst team in baseball in their last ten games are the 2-8 Nationals, who have moved into fifth place, but there’s a big gap (eight games) between them and the top four, so they seem unlikely to climb any higher. Here are the full standings, going into play today.
- Baltimore Orioles 41-92
- Arizona Diamondbacks 45-91
- Texas Rangers 47-87
- Pittsburgh Pirates 48-87
- Washington Nationals 55-78
Torey Lovullo notes
Last night Madison Bumgarner complained that the balls were too slick. The Mariners pitchers also complained about it. But Torey said he did not yet have a chance to discuss with Bumgarner or any of his other pitchers. He’s aware of it and will get to the bottom of it today.
No injury updates today.
Torey spent an hour and a half with Theo Epstein while he was in town for FundRaising event. Among the many topics they discussed was the use of a pitch clock in some leagues. Where they use the pitch clock, both walks and strikeouts were down, and the pace of play was much improved. I’ve written about this benefit of more balls in play being the likely result of a pitch clock implementation for years. It was gratifying to hear there is now data to support that hypothesis. Bring on the pitch clock!