Record: 37-34. Pace: 84-78. Change on 2019: -2.

Work week over. Cigar in hand. Baseball.......baseball?

Whelp, even a good start to a Friday eve can go awry. For as I take the first drag from this fine smoke I discover that the Fox Cigar Bar I’m currently at is suffering from technical difficulties (their interface system for the whole bar is toast). Looks like I’ll be monitoring this game via At Bat. Oh joy.

Luckily the early going is unremarkable with both Scherzer and Ray dealing early on.

Team work makes the dream work folks!!!! After helping the bartender manually change the cable box to the game we’re back in business!!!!!!

Ray’s certainly in business with 3k’s through two. Cron, I swear if he ever gets consistent he’ll be a force in the Majors for a long time.

Carson Kelly opens up the scoring for us in the 3rd with a solo shot, and though I’m bummed Avila is on the IR for a bit I am happy it allows Kelly to get more ABs. Kid can rake. 1-0 Sneks

Ray’s poor throw after fielding a Scherzer bunt puts the Dbacks in danger of giving up a crooked number in the bottom of the 3rd. That fear is soon realized and our one-run lead turns in to a two-run deficit. Like I said, if only Ray could be consistent...

Give Scherzer an inch and he’ll likely take a mile, which I pray to Cron won’t be the case as this game goes on. 1-3 Nats going in to the bottom of the 4th.

Ahmed cuts the deficit back to one in the 5th with a blast of his own. Maybe Scherzer is human after all? 2-3 Nats as we chip away at Scherzer’s armor little by little.

Ray holds sway over the Nats again in the 5th, with blessedly no excitement on his part. My cigar is still operational and my Friday mood is improving steadily as this game gets more and more interesting.

Nothing doing in the top of the 6th so we find ourselves still down by 1, but certainly still within striking distance.

Rendon leads off the Nats half of the 6th with a solo shot, followed by another soon after, and suddenly things ain’t looking so good. 2-5 Nats.

We’re sent packing again in the 7th but it’s starting to look like Scherzer’s night might be over. Silver lining I know, but I’ll take it.

The bottom of the 7th only furthers that gap as the Nats tack on 2 more runs and it looks like we might be out of opportunities for this one y’all.

Indeed we are despite getting a run back, and so Ray’s forgetful outing ends with the final score of 3-7. I hope everyone’s Friday ends better.

Bells and whistles, by Jim

[Click to enlarge, at Fangraphs.com]

Exim 4.92: Carson Kelly, +10.5%

Exim 4.87: Robbie Ray, -27.2%

The above will probably only make sense to Linux system administrators, but if anyone else cares why my week has been so... interesting, this will explain why. Put it this way, I am very keenly anticipating the weekend. Anyhoo... A very light Gameday Thread, ending well under two hundred comments. Fridays always seem to be that way. Thanks to those who were present (which would not include me!), who were: AZPerson, AzDbackfanInDc, BlindSquirrelsFindNuts, DBacksEurope, DeadManG, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Hannibal4467, Imstillhungry95, Jack Sommers, JoeCB1991, Johnneu, Makakilo, Smurf1000, Snake_Bitten, edbigghead and kilnborn. Just the one red comment, from Jack:

Can’t say losing to Max Scherzer really comes as much of a surprise, even if Carson Kelly’s home-run did briefly make hope flower. We’ll be hoping for better tomorrow, though with Taylor Clarke facing Stephen Strasburg, the match-up doesn’t look particularly favorable there either. Still, that’s why they play the games! Me, I’m going to enjoy a beer or two, not dealing with exim vulnerabilities, and a viewing of Bloody Chainsaw Girl with Mrs. SnakePit. Link NSFW, obvs!