Well, the trade deadline has come and gone, and it was as underwhelming as it could possibly be around these parts. I held off on MLBits on Monday and Tuesday this week because all eyes were on the deadline, and I didn’t want to take away from the spectacular coverage of all the action that Brett and Michael put together. With that in the rearview mirror, we’re back.
Legendary Broadcaster Vin Scully Passes
I planned on leading today’s MLBits with trade deadline winners and losers, but the unfortunate late-night news of the passing of Vin Scully has changed that. Scully was the soundtrack of baseball for Los Angeles Dodgers fans and beyond for nearly seven decades and will go down as the undisputed best to ever do it.
Scully called baseball games with a level of elegance and grace that no one will ever accomplish again; a true classic baseball storyteller. Here are some of Scully’s most memorable calls courtesy of Twitter users remembering his greatness late last night.
Scully’s recall of Madison Bumgarner and his wife saving a baby rabbit by killing a snake during a Dodgers-Giants game was a perfect example of how Scully could seamlessly weave stories into his calls.
Who can forget Scully’s call of Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run against Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series:
It was only fitting that Scully was on the call for Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715th home run:
Scully’s greatness wasn’t limited to the diamond. He also called NFL games, including ‘The Catch’ in the 1981 NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco:
Luis wrote about Scully’s passing and greatness for us late last night. Here it is for your enjoyment this morning:
Jacob deGrom’s Return
I’ve got the Mets and their hesitance to make the big deal as one of the losers of this trade deadline, but they did get Jacob deGrom back on Tuesday, so they’ve got that going for them. deGrom picked up where he left off by firing a 99 mph fastball for his first major league pitch in 391 days against the Washington Nationals last night.
deGrom also fired in a 101.6 mph fastball, the fifth fastest pitch of his career in a 1-2-3 first inning that featured strikeouts of Victor Robles and Luis Garcia and a ground out by Yodel Hernandez.
deGrom struck out Nelson Cruz to open the second and then got some help from Starling Marte who gunned down Keibert Ruiz at second base trying to stretch a single into a double. deGrom then rung up Joey Menses to end the second scoreless.
After another 1-2-3 inning in the third, deGrom surrendered his first and only earned run of the evening on an RBI double by Luis Garcia. All told, deGrom allowed one run on three hits while striking out six and walking none in five innings of work for the Mets.
The Nats would score four after deGrom exited to beat the Mets 5-1, but the Mets have their ace back, and that’s going to be a big boost for their World Series hopes down the stretch.