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The 7 Best MLB Moments from Monday

Position players pitching, milestones, crazy plays and more!

Matt Goodwin
Best MLB Moments 4/20/2021

There is one day each year that haunts many a fantasy baseball player. It is always on a Monday and causes lineups to lock around 8:00 am on the left coast because the Boston Red Sox always play an early game on Patriot’s Day on the right coast. There is no mercy for weekly leagues, either, and it can be somewhat devastating for a matchup before it even really begins.

This game is actually steeped in tradition and usually coincides with the Boston Marathon, another ginormous athletic event in the city that day, that this year is postponed due to COVID. Of late, it has taken on special meaning because of the way the Red Sox, the city, and, most notably, David Ortiz responded after the 2013 Marathon bombing. The two things, already connected to one another, became inextricably intertwined so much so that Nike, in creating the Boston City Connect jerseys, paid homage to the Marathon itself:

 

 

Confusing for people who don’t get it? Yes. But now you know and, according to the authority on knowing, G.I. Joe, that is half the battle. It’s weird to see the completely different color scheme, but these uniforms are undoubtedly dope.

And they were designed to honor the Boston Marathon which traditionally occurs on Patriot’s Day in Boston. Which was yesterday. So the Sox obviously wore these:

 

 

We will get back to Boston soon enough because the game with White Sox was a bit bananas, but there were a few other moments worth noting here before we get into the nuts and bolts of this thing.

Vin Scully and his World Series ring:

 

 

Rod Carew was back in Angels stadium:

 

 

Cubs relievers wore these shirts on Sunday:

 

 

Willians Astudillio officially announced his Cy Young candidacy:

 

 

And Marcus Stroman called out a guy:

 

 

From now on, “Poo-poo take sir!” is my go-to phrase for all things I disagree with and, to be honest, I’d be okay with “Take poo-poo, sir!” as well.

With that, here are the 7 Best MLB Moments from yesterday.

 

“L”ucas Gio”L”ito

 

Look, I know he only got one “L” today, but once I commit to a bit, I have to see it through. I take no pleasure in what happened to Lucas Giolito today except for a small amount as a Red Sox fan and also a fantasy manager with no shares to worry about. His line for the day included a single inning-pitched, eight hits, two walks, two home runs, and eight runs with seven earned. As Daniel Powter might say, he had a bad day:

 

 

Position Players Pitching

 

In this very same game, which I promise we will move on from after this, Tony LaRussa decided to deploy one of his hottest hitters, Yermin Mercedes… on the mound:

 

 

And then, just to drive the point home that he had no faith in his team mounting a comeback and had totally given up on them, brought in another position player to pitch:

 

 

There just isn’t time or space here for all the fun Twitter had with this one, admittedly mostly about his name which is just mean, but I do have time to show you Yermin admiring his performance in the dugout:

 

 

Maybe he was just checking Twitter. Where maybe he saw Astudillo’s announcement. And got some ideas…

 

 Brandon Belts a Homer

 

My super clever wordplay aside, Brandon Belt hitting a bomb, while being cool and all, is not all that particularly noteworthy. So why, you may wonder, have I included here in the super formal, illustrious list? Excellent question, reader. Watch to the end:

 

 

Here’s the same clip, but with a user calling the baseball hunter out by name:

 

 

And Zack confirmed it:

 

 

Get better soon, Zack Hample, wherever you are.

 

Milestone Mania! 

 

Here are some cool things that happened, in no particular order.

Danny Duffy got his 1,000th strikeout:

 

 

Jean Segura motors for his 200th career double:

 

 

Gabe Kapler got himself his 200th career managerial win:

 

 

Jack Flaherty with some Ks:

 

 

And Nick Maton earned his first career hit in his MLB debut:

 

 

Congrats to all the winners (and especially to Jean Segura for making sure he got that baseball)!

 

Mickey Moniak Mania!

 

So maybe you’ve heard of him, or perhaps, like me, you had not. He wears number 16 for the Philadelphia Phillies and he had himself a bit of a strange night. Here we see him getting absolutely hosed on a Kevin Gausman pitch:

 

 

You might be surprised to realize that this umpire is CB Bucknor, famous for his accuracy behind the plate. Or maybe not, since he is not famous for that at all.

Then this happened (or the other happened first, I’m not 100% sure of the order so let’s just roll with it):

 

 

Good thing he doesn’t play for the Mets, because it would have bounced off his shoulder and over the fence for the strangest dong in all the land. As it turns out, he’s a Phillie and Brandon Crawford was out.

 

A “Cucumber” in D.C.

 

As you will notice, I do not deserve credit for the coin-a-phrase here, but this was a run-down to-be that never pickled. In a star-studded put-out, Goldschmidt gets hung up but finds safety back at third only to leave Arenado hung out to dry:

 

 

Just the ol’ 5-6-2 put-out you see all the time. If Alexander Joy Cartwright hadn’t messed with the rules (read a previous article to learn more about this), they could have just pegged both Goldy and Arenado and had a double play. To quote me, “That’s hilarious! I mean dangerous. Thank goodness that didn’t make it in.”

 

Some Shade in Tampa Bay

 

Normally, finding a little respite from the sun in Florida is a good thing, but the Tampa Bay Rays social media got a little passive-aggressive here with this from the Tampa/Kansas City game:

 

 

I mean, they’re not wrong, but ouch. Let’s check in with Taylor Trammell:

 

 

He does not seem happy.

I’ll see myself out.

 

 

Photo by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)

Matt Goodwin

Husband. Dad. Teacher. Writer. Podcaster. Baseball Fan. Quippy. Makes up words. FSWA. IBWAA.

3 responses to “The 7 Best MLB Moments from Monday”

  1. Will says:
    April 20, 2021 at 10:53 AM

    These are fun articles, but I’m confused as to why Lucas Giolito’s rough outing is considered one of yesterday’s best moments.

    Reply
    • Matt Goodwin says:
      April 20, 2021 at 10:59 AM

      Thanks for checking these out, and totally fair point! It is partially because it was pretty newsworthy and partially tongue-in-cheek as I made such a big deal of being a Red Sox fan. But totally legit critique!

      Reply
  2. Bobbo says:
    April 20, 2021 at 11:10 AM

    Albert Pujols stole third base!

    Reply

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