.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

They say that Boeing 747's have wings that can withstand three times the stress they'll ever face.  Supposedly you could mount a 747 by its wings onto 100-foot high boxes under either wing and they wouldn't bend.  No idea whether they actually did that test or where they got the big cardboard boxes.  Somewhere in here we were getting at the idea of a really extreme "road test."

Here was the M's little bullpen that could, against the freight train of Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and David Robertson.  Tie game.  Low SCORING tie game.  In New York.  The outcome had an inevitable feel for it.

Well, it had an inevitable feel once Nick Vincent came in.  What's the spiritually-correct way to joke about his making a deal with the 43 deities of the Shinto pantheon?  I dunno.  The last time I saw a guy throw 87-89 pitches with those kind of swingthroughs was Gaylord Perry.

...

Edwin Diaz got his 30th.  He amazes also.  What was it, a year ago about, when they were saying "Erasmo Ramirez with a couple miles an hour" at AA?

...

James Pazos is throwing the ball right by people and then he's pulling the string on a -14 MPH slider. ... this is a random thought, but aren't they all at SSI.  Two years ago I used to muse, "If we could only get Tony Sipp.  A scary left hander would be so nice."  Looking it up now, Tony Sipp gets 10 strikeouts a game and he walks 4 per game.  Check James Pazos.

...

Youse guys were telling me Emilio Pagan is the real deal.  Real enough to come into the Bronx in a 1-0 game, apparently.  Other relievers included Jerry Dipoto's crowd-sourced lefty Zep and included David Phelps.  That's like six guys or something ...

... and the point is, they stared down the New York Yankee$ in the Bronx as if they were Conor McGregor and couldn't wait for the fight to start.  Normally you would say that a win like this would --- > jell a team's belief in itself.  But wait a minute.  Did these relievers need belief in themselves?  Did not look like it.

.

ARIEL MIRANDA

A very, verrrrry deceptive 4.2 IP stat.  He reminded me of what we all like about him.  When he keeps his change and slider down, they're putaway pitches.  When he brings his fastball inside as well, he's capable of beating playoff teams.  Not pitching in games the M's win.  BEATING playoff teams.  If Ariel Miranda could get right that would be pretty big.

Miranda allowed only 2 hits in those 5- innings because his stuff was live and he was staying out of danger.  But he did rack up 4 walks and 99 pitches.  Hey, if he's out early, who cares.  We got Nick Vincent.

.

WC2 RACE

Maybe we shouldn't even concede the WC1, what?  Only -3.0 behind the Yankees with five-six weeks left.  They got +123 runs diff and a teamwide ERA+ of 119.  But, hey, Fangraphs gives them a 20% chance of missing the playoffs entirely.  Now THAT would be SWEET.  Okay, back to serious conversation .....

√ The pesky rodent Angels scored in the bottom of the 1st... and then never again vs. Colin McHugh.  Astros win 2-1.

√ The stRangers lost to the A's despite outhitting them, 9-4.

√ The Royals were shut out by a rookie pitcher we can safely guarantee you've never heard of, even IF you play roto.

√ The Twinkies win comfortably behind Bartolo Colon and his 6.05 ERA.  As y'know this is precisely the team we'd like to "chase," possibly excepting the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

So:

• Twins +4
• Mariners +3
• Royals +1
• Angels +1
• Rangers =

And no matter what, the Mariners get out of New York in great shape.

BABVA,

Dr D