April Madness: Judgment Day

Heading to New York today for the four-game series with the Twins — on the flight now — so today’s baseball newsletter will have to be quick!

Tampa Bay won again — that’s 12 in a row. They were up by five runs against the Red Sox going into the sixth and then the bullpen bobbled a bit, but they held on for a 9-7 victory. Wander Franco has three more doubles; he now has seven doubles and four home runs in 12 games. That seems a pretty good pace.

I’m still trying to figure out Boston’s Chris Sale. He’s getting a lot of swings and misses on his fastball, slider and changeup — he has 19 strikeouts in 12 innings this year — but he’s also giving up all sorts of rockets. He has already allowed five homers in those 12 innings and the league is slugging .655 against him. I think you can chalk up some of it to rust and the fact that he’s still trying to work his way back, but I’m just not sure how this goes for him. Right now, he’s half Koufax/half Charlie Brown.

Mariners fans have been waiting a little while now for Jarred Kelenic to live up to the mega-hype that has been surrounding him since he was the sixth pick of the draft out of Waukesha West High School in Wisconsin. Maybe now it’s happening. On Wednesday, Kelenic hit one of those home runs that changes lives, a 482-foot monstrosity to straightaway center at Wrigley Field, one that Cubs centerfielder Cody Bellinger just turned and watched like the rest of us. It was Kelenic’s third straight day with a homer, but more than that, it was one of those home runs that, I don’t know, maybe a dozen people on earth could hit? Something to build on, right?

We don’t talk about Franchy, no no no.

There has still been just one complete game in baseball so far this year