Casual Diehard

We’re all just racing for second place behind Max Verstappen and Atlanta, aren’t we? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

It wasn’t meant to be for Pete Alonso to win a third Home Run Derby title and tie Ken Griffey Jr. in the house that Griffey built. And while Julio Rodríguez eliminated Alonso with that SoDo Mojo, it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who got revenge for Rodríguez breaking his single-round record by winning the final. So, let’s do Vladito’s home run chain. * Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his first home run off...

We’ve been doing Mets home run chains here, and this weekend, as the Mets’ winning streak came to an end, a new chain began… for Matthew Batten of the Padres, who made his major league debut last season. * Matthew Batten hit his first home run off David Peterson , 7/8/23 David Peterson gave up Joey Wiemer’s first home run in April, so this is another chain flowing from the Johan Camargo homer off...

This one doesn’t come with an extended accompanying newsletter because good gravy we’ve all had to type a whole lot extra this week, what with a new social media platform popping up every 12 hours. We’ve got a slightly less frantic atmosphere over at the Willets Pen server on Discord, where thanks to this episode we’ve created a #vroom-vroom channel — come join us ! Oh, also, Addy came across this...

The other day, with Tommy Pham’s home run chain , an interesting connection emerged. Parson Perryman , who gave up Elmer Smith’s first home run in 1915, gave up only one other major league home run, to Jack Fournier , who is part of Francisco Lindor’s home run chain, which we had not gotten to yet. Lindor hit his 18th home run of the season last night, and 202nd of his career, off Ryne Nelson , as...

Last night, Francisco Álvarez ( check out his home run chain ) became the first Met to hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning of a game since all the way back on May 17, when Francisco Álvarez hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning off Jason Adam of the Rays. This is not normal. Before Álvarez in May, the Mets hadn’t had a two-out, game-tying homer in the...

The Crack Team is real and the Crack Team song is real and Mr. Happy Crack is real. Mr. Happy Crack is real and was once photographed with Cardinals reliever Ray King (“The Gerund”) as the lefty wore a Mr. Happy Crack crop top. And you should read Jordan’s piece on Tim Wakefield and knuckleballs. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...

Happy anniversary to Tommy Pham , who eight years ago went deep for the first time as a major leaguer, a two-run shot at Busch Stadium that gave the Cardinals the lead after a Matt Kemp RBI single for the Padres in the top of the third inning. Scoring ahead of Pham on that first homer was an appreciative Lance Lynn , who’d given up the run to San Diego in the top of the frame, and led off the bott...

Last night, Travis Jankowski hit his first home run of the season, and his first as a member of the Texas Rangers. Last year with the Mets, the speedy Jankowski, who has 82 stolen bases in his career, did not homer in 63 plate appearances, going 9-for-54 with three steals and 11 runs scored. He also didn’t homer in his one plate appearance as a Mariner, last having gone deep on June 23, 2021, as a...

We love Mark Canha around here for Mark Canha Summer and for wearing our Pride Month shirt , but now it’s Wrath Month, and Canha went deep last night to help give the Mets consecutive wins for the first time since June 14 and 16, and on consecutive days for the first time since May 30, 31, and June 1. We haven’t gotten to check out his home run chain yet, so here we go! * Mark Canha hit his first...

Whee! It’s Friday. Brett Baty and Brandon Nimmo homered for the losing Mets last night, and we’ve already done their home run chains, so how about the guy who then pinch-hit for Baty for… reasons? * Danny Mendick hit his first home run off Jaime Barria , 9/8/19 * Jaime Barria gave up his first home run to Ryan Rua , 4/11/18 * Ryan Rua hit his first home run off Huston Street , 9/21/14 * Huston Str...

Fun thing about the home run chains is that they cut both ways. Take any pitcher who pitched long enough, and they gave up home runs. Like, say, an unrepentant domestic abuser and cheater who happened to get 27 straight outs last night against the 21st century Cleveland Spiders, the team you may remember from yesterday’s post about the 1899 Washington Senators finishing 35 games ahead of them, in...

With two homers last night, Brandon Nimmo is an obvious choice for today’s home run chain, so let’s do it… * Brandon Nimmo hit his first home run off Jason Hammel , 7/1/16 * Jason Hammel gave up his first home run to Melvin Mora , 4/11/06 * Melvin Mora hit his first home run off Curt Leskanic , 4/20/00 * Curt Leskanic gave up his first home run to Mike Benjamin , 6/27/93 * Mike Benjamin hit his fi...

The cover art is specifically an homage to the Washington/Wells station in Chicago, which doesn’t really have to do with the episode at all, but how often does a New Yorker get to play with the CTA color palette? While we’re here, if you’re playing Immaculate Grid , come join our channel for it in the Discord ! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or g...

Brewers rookie outfielder Joey Wiemer was the difference last night, his two-run homer off Drew Smith accounting for Milwaukee’s scoring in a 2-1 game in Queens. The homer was Wiemer’s 11th, as he opened his account for both the season and his career on April 5 — also against the Mets. That one was a three-run shot, also giving Milwaukee the lead, 4-1, on the way to a 7-6 triumph over New York. He...

The Mets traded Eduardo Escobar over the weekend, and he’ll surely be missed — a great vibes guy who lost his job to Brett Baty and just didn’t have a place on a team that needs a shakeup. FOGO MODE forever, and let’s bid Escobar farewell with his home run chain. * Eduardo Escobar hit his first home run off Jeremy Guthrie , 4/9/13 * Jeremy Guthrie gave up his first home run to Omar Infante , 9/14/...

In the spirit of the opening of this episode, the Rockies are trailing 23-0 in the fifth inning of a game as these words are written. By the time you read this, you may or may not know the final score. That’s not important. Whats important is that you stay away from Orbit , the Astros’ mascot, who is a creep. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...

With Tomás Nido no longer in Flushing, the player on the Mets with the most plate appearances this season and no home runs is the player who has essentially replaced him, Omar Narváez , currently 6-for-31 with his new club. Narváez has 51 home runs in his career: 12 with the White Sox, 22 in his one year with the Mariners, and 17 with the Brewers. Let’s track it back to his first, and go from ther...

In this episode, Addy, Britt, and Jesse are joined by Tiny Deaths musician and NBA writer for The Guardian Claire de Lune, whose latest piece on Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the new, balanced superstar — is not why she’s a guest, because we didn’t know that she was working on it. No, the reason Claire is here this time is to talk about Kevin Durant tweets, which she has analyzed as rep...

The Mets continue to sputter, but Pete Alonso hit his 23rd home run of the season yesterday, getting back within one of Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead, while the Polar Bear has a two-dinger edge at the moment on Matt Olson and Jorge Soler . So, today’s home run chain is the man who is now halfway to the total of 46 homers that he needs this season to tie Howard Johnson for fourth on the M...

The less said about the Mets’ game in Houston last night, the better. Brett Baty was like the rest of us, watching New York’s bats struggle to get anything going against Framber Valdez . No shame in that, Valdez was phenomenal, but that’s the game the 2023 Mets get pitched against them that the 2022 Mets simply didn’t. They’re now farther out of first place at this stage of the season than they’ve...

We know that Daniel Vogelbach hits his home runs in bunches, and now he’s hit two in four day, doubling his season total after hitting one each in April and May. Vogelbach also has matched his total from 2018, the year that he opened his account in the majors after cups of coffee with the Mariners in 2016 and 2017. Vogelbach only played 37 games for Seattle in 2018, before really breaking out in 2...

Been a while since doing one of these, and they’re always fun, so let’s play the first career home run hit/allowed game with Francisco Álvarez . * Francisco Álvarez hit his first home run off Carl Edwards Jr. , 10/4/22 * Carl Edwards Jr. gave up his first home run to Alemdys Díaz , 6/22/16 * Alemdys Díaz hit his first home run off Eric O’Flaherty , 4/18/16 * Eric O’Flaherty gave up his first home...

We were gonna do an episode of Willets Pod last night, but illness got in the way, so here are some fun facts as the Men’s College World Series gets underway today. Here’s a fun fact about each college team’s products who made it to MLB. This isn’t necessarily what would’ve been discussed on the podcast that we didn’t get to do, but came up in the internet rabbit hole while preparing for it. Oral...

The first time the Mets walked off the Yankees was in the first Subway Series iteration at Shea Stadium, in the second year of interleague play, 1998 — Luis Lopez hit a sac fly off Ramiro Mendoza that brought home Carlos Baerga with the winning run. The next year, Matt Franco singled home Rickey Henderson and Edgardo Alfonzo to lead the Mets to an improbable 9-8 victory over Mariano Rivera . There...