[ayaghmour2]

September 1st, 2023: Happy Roster Expansion!

This was the first month I didn't get Rookie of the Month, as the Nats 3B Tanner Kohlhepp won instead of Seth Beer or Cole Roederer.

Down in AAA, I swept the awards, with 2B Reizo Honda and SP Tim Cate winning. Both would be up with the club later this month. Honda hit .397 with 7 homers, 36 RBI's, and 23 runs scored.

Callup time: Max Povse, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Montgomery have all been added to the active roster. AAA ends on the 4th, AA the 11th, A+ the 10th, A the 11th, and A- the 11th. For some reason AAA ends a lot earlier then usual, but we're going to make the playoffs.

We opened the series in Atlanta with Jordan Mongtomery (6-2, 3.44 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) facing Sean Newcomb who was making his 2018 debut. I'm hoping we can at least win 2 of 3. Moniak loves hitting against Newcomb, 6-fot-11 in his career while he was with the Phillies. We took the opener 6-4 to tie things up at the top of the East.

Monty had a short stsart, 3.1 innings with 4 hits, 3 runs, and 4 strikeouts. Corbin Burnes got the win, 1.2 innings out of the pen with a hit and 2 strikeouts. Tyler Jay, Ben Popkin, Phil Maton, and Luiz Gohara earned holds, while Yasukazu Shiotani got the save. Maton allowed a run in 0.2 innings with 2 hits and a walk before Gohara finished the 8th.

Jose Ramirez was 2-for-5 with a run scored, 2 RBI's, double and homer. Nick Gordon was 2-for-4 with a double, homer, 2 RBI's, and a run scored. Adam Haseley was 2-for-4 with a double and run scored. Moniak was 1-for-5, but doubled and got a steal.

September 2nd, 2023: Montgomery asked again for an extension, and I think we finally reached a deal, 5-years, $24,000,000 per year. It's a big commitment, but I have the room and top starting pitching is tough to come by. He'll end the contract at 35, but I'm confident in him staying effective. And it helps that he's a clubhouse leader.

We looked to take first of ourselves with A.J. Puckett (7-6, 4.53 ERA, 1.63 WHIP), taking on Joey Wentz (11-8, 4.34 ERA, 1.35 WHIP). I had to give the tired Thomas Dillard a day off for Nick Feight. I love Boone so far, but sometimes his lineups are weird looking, but they usually work, so I can't complaing. Just like today, we won 3-2.

For example, hitting Brendan Rodgers 4th doesn't make too much sense, but he was 2-for-3 with a walk and clutch RBI.

This is a weird one, Puckett went just 4 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts, before Shoehi Ohtani went to pitch. He allowed 2 runs in 0.1 innings with a hit and walk. Edward Cabrera, Phil Maton, Luiz Gohara, and Joe Jimenez earned holds while Yasukazu Shiotani got the save.

Cole Roederer was 3-for-5 with a double, 2 runs scored, RBI, and steal. Adam Haseley was 0-for-3, but waked and stole a base. Mickey Moniak was 0-for-4, but walked, scored, and stole a base.

September 3rd, 2023: The Phillies will be without Aaron Nola for the rest of this year and most of last year with a torn labrum. It happened against us in his first start of this year after a torn UCL a year ago. Nola looks like a shell of himself, and his 7-year, $241,500,000 contract he signed prior to the 2022 season is starting to look like it's going to be an awful investment.

We looked to finish the road sweep, yes road sweep, with Walker Buehler (10-6, 3.61 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) taking on Mike Soroka (11-8, 3.14 ERA, 0.98 WHIP). Soroka hates facing us, and is 0-3 with a 7.24 ERA this year against us. We extended our lead to two with an 8-1 win, going to Atlanta and sweepping the Braves.

Buehler went just 4 innings, with 5 hits, a run, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. A little shocked about the short hook, but we still won. Burnes got the win, pitching a perfect 5th.

Thomas Dillard was 3-for-5 with a homer, a steal, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI's. Seth Beer was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, and a hit by pitch. Micket Moniak was 1-for-4 with a walk and 3 run homer. Nolan Gorman was 2-for-5 with a double and RBI. Cole Roederer was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored, and RBI. Jose Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a walk and double.

After sweeping our now trailer, we're off to face the 70-66 Reds for three. We'd see Huner Greene (10-9, 4.48 ERA), Bobby Stiles (8-7, 4.77 ERA), and our old friend Zach Davies (7-9, 3.90 ERA).

September 4th, 2023: We're up to 3rd in the Power Rankings, with Atlanta fallling down to 7th, one behind the Mets.

Jake Florence (10-10, 4.04 ERA, 1.41 WHIP) opened the series against Hunter Greene (10-9, 4.48 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) at Great American Ballpark. Speaking of Boone's lineups, one thing I really like is Thomas Dillard hitting 2nd. He had another great game, and we extended our win streak with a 5-0 shutout.

Florence was brilliant, despite just 2 strikeouts. He went 6.1 innings, allowing just 3 hits and a walk. Luiz Gohara finished the 7th and got a hold, but we extended the lead to 5 in the top of the 8th.

All five of our runs came via the homerun. Dillard was 3-for-4 with a pair of homers (solo and two run). Seth Beer was 1-for-4 with a solo shot. Brendan Rodgers was 2-for-3 with a wlk and solo homer.

September 5th, 2023: We looked to win our 5th straight (all on the road), with Jameson Taillon (6-5, 4.73 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) taking on Bobby Stiles (8-7, 4.77 ERA, 1.45 WHIP). Another good pitching outign lead to a 7-1 win as we won our 81st game of the year. One more and we'll finish over .500 for the 3rd straight year.

Taillon was great, 7 innings with 5 hits, a run, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Corbin Burnes and Max Povse both got an inning, the former with a walk and 2 strikeouts, the latter with 2 hits and a strikeout. I think Burnes will move back in the rotation next year, especially if injuries hit, but he's adujsuted well to the pen. It all rests on Taillon's player option and if Montgomery agrees to the extension.

Micket Moniak had a great game, 3-for-5 with a run, 2 RBI's, and a double. Seth Beer was 3-for-5. Jose Ramirez was 1-for-3 with a walk, homer, 2 runs scored, and an RBI. Brendan Rodgers was 1-for-4 with a three run homer.

But here's the most interesting statline of the da: Taillon was 0-for-3, but scored twice and stole a base. Not too sure what happened their, but hey, that's pretty cool!

The D'Backs Brice Turang was 5-for-6 in a 15-4 win over the Dodgers. Funny thing about Arizona, they aren't bad, 70-68, but they're 6-1 against us.

September 6th, 2023: Lewis Brinson suffered a setback and will miss another 4 weeks, and he may not be ready come playoff time.

Jordan Montgomery officially agreed to the extension I offered him. He'll make $120,000,000 for the duration of the contract, and the fans are thrilled. In 5 years in Miami and 2 in New York, he's 60-43 with a 3.48 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 851 strikeouts with just 245 walks in 992.1 innings.

We looked to make it back-to-back road sweeps with the newley extended Montgomery (6-2, 3.58 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) taking on his former teammate Zach Davies (7-9, 3.90 ERA, 1.34 WHIP). We pummelted our former pitcher to finish the sweep with an 11-2 win. I could not have expected a better end to the 9 game road trip!

Montgomery was brilliant, showing the baseball world why he deserved that extension, tossing 6 shutout innings with just 2 hits, a single walk, and 5 strikeouts. Edward Cabrera allowed 2 runs in 2 innings off 4 hits, a walk, and 3 strikeouts.

Jose Ramirez had a monster game, 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored, 6 RBI's, and was a triple away from the cycle. Brendan Rodgers was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI's and a double. Shoehi Ohtani was 2-for-5 with a double and steal. Cole Roederer was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI's, a sac fly, and a double. Seth Beer was 1-for-4 with a double, walk, and 2 runs scored.

Our road record is now a more respectable 32-39, and we'll head home with an off day tomorrow. At home, we're an impressive 50-18, the best in the league.

September 7th, 2023: Today, the first team was eliminated from postseason contention, as the 53-88 Yankees can no longer make the playoffs. Aaron Boone's former employer's have a $206,684,250 payroll, the 6th highest, which is almost double ours.

The last place Phillies will come to town for three as we start a long stretch of baseball. At 58-81, they sit 24 games out of first. We'd see Sixto Sanchez (5-10, 4.71 ERA), Ross Stripling (6-6, 4.31 ERA), and Cole Bellinger (1-2, 6.10 ERA).

Looking back at the division, the Braves continued their fall all the way down to third, and our 4 games out of first, but have a 4 game lead over the Dodgers for the 2nd Wild Card spot. The new 2nd place Mets are 3.5 out of first at 79-61. We sit a top at 82-57. Only the Padres have a better record then us, and we share the same record as Oakland. Don't forget, we did sweep the Friars who have one 8 of their last 10.

Down in the Minors, it looks like New Orleans will be the only team representing us in the postseason. They're up 1-0 in the first round against Colorado Springs. Young SP Tim Cate was diagnosed with an injury, and may not be able to play in the bigs despite being on the 40-man roster. He played in 51 games with 6 starts last year for the Mariners, but spent all of this year in AAA.

Another thing to now, obviously, every GM will have his fair share of bad trades, and the ones that stick out the most are with the Mariners. They were rebuilding, but are a shocking 73-67 this year, mostly because of there top two starters Juan Villasenor and Mitchell White. I mentioned Villasenor a little while back, but I also traded them White. Now a 3.5, I sent him and Javier Garcia to them for Evan White and Max Roberts. White would've helped in the rotation so much, and despite White being a solid player, I could really have used White, especially since I traded White back to them after getting him from the Dodgers. White went back in the James Pazos trade, and Pazos made just 1 spring apperaence before tearing his rotator cuff and has dropped from a 5 to 3. Make that three trades the Mariners and good ol' Jerry Dipoto has bested me in, although the Lane Adams trade where I finessed 4 big leaguers from them.

I looked at all the trades with the Mariners, and the rest include Drew Steckenrider for Tim Cate (wash currently), Pavin Smith for Reizo Honda (mega steal for me), Joe Dunand for Griffin Roberts (wash), Alex Cobb for Dan Atlavilla (loss for both sides), and Johnny Giavotella for Nathan Bannister and J.J. Hardy (slight win).