GDT 8/9/23 Washington Nationals (Gore) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Lorenzen)

[bkox]

Ummm, who was that last one again? I think I missed that team

Milwaukee Cream Citys

[DurhamBull]

"Bumpus Jones" and the "Milwaukee Cream Citys" are great baseball names.

Interesting that Lorenzen pulled an old pitch out of storage!

[Austinfan]

Lorenzen must have been running on adrenaline, 121st pitch hit 95 MPH.
If he's adding a changeup to his repertoire, he's got a chance to be effective well into his mid-30s when he loses a MPH or two off his FB.
The changeup to me is the killer pitch b/c a good one fades away from opposite side hitters, balancing a good slider.

[andyb]

Credit to @StrangedeBill1 :

4 pitchers, and 4 pitchers only, have played in the majors after attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton CA, and now all 4 have thrown an MLB no-hitter. This is a simply incredible baseball fact—most amazing ever. pic.twitter.com/96VdAjCvj4

— High Heat Stats ( @HighHeatStats ) August 10, 2023

He does have a shot at being the second best pitcher from his high school.

[BostonRoss]

The Wikipedia article indicates that the Cream Citys disbanded in 1876, before Cushman's no-hitter. The 1884 Milwaukee team was called the Brewers, but according to Wikipedia was referred to in the press as the Cream Citys (a name I personally would have stuck with).

1884 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1884 Brewers were apparently a minor league team (Northwestern League) that joined the then major league Union Association in late September to help replace two teams that folded in September (one of which was based in Wilmington, Delaware). Cushman's no-hitter was the second game for the Brewers/Cream Citys in the UA and therefore Cushman's first major league appearance for Milwaukee. He had played the previous season in the NL, though; so it was not his first major league game. Milwaukee finished 8-4 in the UA, which folded after the season. St. Louis won the pennant and moved to the NL next season (the current Cardinals).

There were later Milwaukee teams known as the Cream Citys or Creams. One of them is now the Baltimore Orioles.

[Philsmania]

Here's a question I've been thinking about. I'm sure Lorenzen didn't want to come out of the game. Twenty years ago, when Randy Wolf threw a 133 pitch shutout at Wrigley Field and which may have thrown him off the rails for the rest of that season, I doubt Wolf wanted to come out of that game. At what point does a manager let the players do their thing or put his foot down and take the pitcher out?

[zambonir]

Nice piece of writing and good analysis of Lorenzen's shifting approach as the game wore on.

[zambonir]

Well, they had a reliever warming up in both the 8th and the 9th so it was certainly on the table. And Thomson was talking to him about it, and telling him he only had a certain number of pitches left (though that number still could have gotten him to 131 I think). The rotation and off-days were certainly a factor as well. Take away both of those factors - maybe even just one of them - and he might not have even pitched the eighth.

Whether there is any real science to any of it, who knows - including simply pitch count being a measure of anything out of context. What was weird about last night is he threw 53 pitches in three innings and then 71 in the next 6. Had he pitched like he did in the first three innings in the middle innings - even with a lower early pitch count - he probably wouldn't have gone the distance either.

[bkox]

Depending on how this 6 man rotation thing runs the rest of the season.. wonder if we could resign Lorenzen and Nola and run it from the start of next season.

[RolenRules]

Or instead of Nola, sign Ohtani who thrives in a 6 man rotation!

[zambonir]

Lorenzen keeps getting more expensive! He's got the best ERA in baseball since July 1, ahead of Snell.

I'd still be happy to have both of them in a five-man rotation though. As I suspect will be the case in a couple of weeks.

Stark: Michael Lorenzen's no-hitter in second Phillies start was baseball poetry

Thomson on last night:

“After the seventh (inning), I went down the tunnel,” Thomson said. “I asked him, ‘How are you doing?’ And he said, because he was at 100 pitches (through) seven. He said, ‘I’m good.’ And I asked him, ‘Are you strong?’ He said, ‘I’m strong. I’m good.’ I said, ‘All right, I’m giving you 20 pitches. And that’s it.’ So I said, ‘You’d better get quick outs.’ And he did. He said, ‘I will.’ And he did. So. It was a great, fantastic moment.”

[Dirk41]

Lorenzen seems like he's on the upswing and Nola will be paid for what he's done in the past. Would love to have both, but what are the odds that someone overpays Nola? Could totally see Middleton giving the OK for both guys, though

[andyb]

Or instead of Nola, sign Ohtani who thrives in a 6 man rotation!

The Phillies really can't do this because Ohtani needs to DH.

And frankly a 6-man rotation is hard to sustain. There is not a lot of evidence that it allows pitchers to go deeper in games. It is a nice idea now in the dog days of the season when every pitcher is straining a bit, but the fundamental problem is you don't get an extra pitcher so the bullpen can easily be overworked when there is one less arm out there.

[zambonir]

It will be interesting to see if and when the Phillies do go back to five, and where that leaves Sanchez. Assuming Alvarado is back they may prefer to option him to keep him on turn for rain-outs/spot starts. As good as they've been Suarez and Lorenzen are also candidates for the playoff bullpen given they've both done it before.

Of course right now it also looks like Nola wouldn't necessarily start Game 2 of a wild card series, and maybe not even Game 3. But we'll see. Also a good problem to have. If the race for the #1 seed goes down to the wire they don't have to worry about setting up the rotation. Ditto for having a good NLDS Game 1 starter available.

[bkox]

Johan Rojas caught the final out last night. He had 9 putouts. @EliasSports said 9 putouts are the most by an outfielder in an official no hitter since 1900. The previous high was 7: Hank Bauer on 7/12/1951 (NYY, Allie Reynolds) and Luis Gonzalez on 9/8/1993 (HOU, Darryl Kile). https://t.co/c5TQNMiWek

— Todd Zolecki ( @ToddZolecki ) August 10, 2023

[julio]