More Cy Morsels

The reason you program this stuff up is to have something to say the next night. After having faced two reigning Cy Youngs as starters in two consecutive games, we can ask about other teams that have faced Cy Young winners for multiple games in a row. There are lots of ways we can answer this question. Here are a few:

  • Most Cy Youngs faced in a game: Excluding All Star Games, the record is 3. But most of these include pitchers who had not yet earned their Cy Young awards. Three times, though, the 3 pitchers had already won their Cy Youngs; all three times were for the 1958 Dodgers in games in which Don Newcombe, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax all pitched. The Dodgers lost all three. In all three games, Newcombe got lit up early and Walter Alston emptied the pitching tank, but the most remarkable was this game in which Koufax entered the game with two outs in the 9th of a tied game and gave up a single and a homer to take the loss. That was pretty remarkable, but the most amazing thing is that he was sent in two days after he threw a no-hitter. Yep, baseball has changed.
  • Most consecutive games facing a former Cy Young winner: The record here is held by the Mets in the 1999 NLCS against the Braves when the Mets faced a pitcher in every game who had already won a Cy Young award: Maddux, Smoltz (in relief), Glavine, Smoltz (as a starter), Maddux, and Smoltz (once again in relief) in the clinching game. We won’t talk about the World Series that year.
  • Most consecutive games facing a former or future Cy Young winner: The record here belongs to the 1975 Milwaukee Brewers, who at the start of the season faced 10 former or future Cy Young winners consecutively, starting on April 11 when they beat Cleveland and Jim Perry. They won again the next day with Dennis Eckersley getting an inning and two-thirds in relief. The day after that Cleveland won behind a complete game from Perry’s brother Gaylord. They then went on the road and lost to the Orioles’ Jim Palmer and Mike Cuellar. Then they traveled to Cleveland and beat Gaylord Perry (Henry Aaron hit a homer), lost to Jim Perry and the next day once again saw Eckersley in relief. At that point Baltimore came into Cleveland and split a pair with Palmer and Cuellar again. That’s 10 straight games facing a Cy Young winner, though they played a home-and-home with only two teams over that stretch, which made it somewhat easier to do.

Jaunty Muldoons

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Boston and it is unquestionably one of the American cities least affected by the homogenization of culture wrought by mass media for the last 50 years. Kevin Williamson once described an Evacuation Day party (and the celebration of Evacuation Day is a sign of something about Boston from the start) with an open bar at 7 a.m. populated by “jaunty muldoons listing amid the Jameson’s fumes,” singing Charlie on the MTA. (Y’all are free to differ of course, but I think I’m a pretty good writer of light amusing stuff, and I will never create a noun phrase as good as “jaunty muldoons.”) It was good to see that ordinarily ornery group welcome Chris Sale back last night. I’m sure they haven’t mellowed, and the near-simultaneous Celtics’ disaster probably muted their response somewhat, but they seem genuinely appreciative of what Chris gave them in 2018, and it was nice of them to enjoy the return with him. The Braves do the same thing with Freddie Freeman, but Atlanta is, after all, “the city too busy to hate,” something no one ever said about Boston.

The Game

So I found out today that Lucas Giolito‘s grandfather played George Costanza’s would-have-been father-in-law, Mr. Ross. Somehow that changes everything, but I don’t know how. Giolito has parlayed a lot of early success, including a no-hitter (against the Pirates, but it still counts) into an injury-ridden twilight at age 30. I am by no means certain that Giolito doesn’t have a comeback in him, but he has had arm trouble since high school with Max Fried and Jack Flaherty. He’s on his third UCL now. After this year, he will have made over $60MM throwing baseballs. As long as it’s what he wants to do, and as long as teams are willing to pay him to do it, he’ll get nothing but respect for the effort from me.

But he didn’t have it tonight. He gave up 3 homers in the first three innings and was quickly behind 5-0. The third one, from Drake Baldwin, may or may not have been a homer — nobody could tell because it was hit so high above the Pesky Pole. Alex discussed in the comments yesterday how quirky Fenway is. I’ve sat down the right field line before and the seats all face the center field bullpen so that you have to crane your neck to see home plate. (My view the last time I was in Fenway is pictured above.)

But this is the 2025 Braves, so 5-0 leads are only temporary. A two run homer from Duran Duran (yes, I’m keeping up the pretense of counting his at-bats this way) off Grant Holmes which might have led to two more but-for a nice play by Michael Harris II. But that was all Sherlocks gave up, exiting after 6 innings with a 6-2 lead.

Enter The Bummer. He promptly gives up a double to one of the few Curaçaons we never had, even though his middle name is Chipper. After an out and another run scoring hit, he is done. The Saints come in and give up a Monster-aided double, making it 6-4 at the end of the 7th. But the Braves have the advantage because the rules of baseball preclude another visit from Aaron Bummer, and Hector Neris is pitching for the Angels.

The 8th began with Rafael Montero. He got in trouble, and with two outs and men on second and third was replaced with Pierce Johnson to face Duran Duran Duran Duran. I criticized this exact strategy yesterday from Alex Cora, but to be fair, this is slightly different in that Pierce Johnson is ordinarily more trustworthy than Montero. Still, it is not without its dyspepsia induction, and it didn’t work. A single tied the game.

So, for the 125th time this season, we enter tied in the 9th. I had a friend who never liked the NBA because he noted that not only do you not have to watch the first 45 minutes, but whomever scores last wins. (Yes… he said “whomever.”) I am beginning to get the feeling that Braves games don’t start until the 9th.

The Braves mounted a threat against Aroldis Chapman in the 9th, but no joy. The first batter in the bottom of the 9th, Rafael Devers, hit a homer off Johnson and the game was over. The good news is that our extra inning record is still perfect.

Rubber game tomorrow. It’s Shabbos Sunday.