Did you start Scooter Gennett of the Cincinnati Reds in your daily fantasy league last night? Better yet did you start Gennett in any of your fantasy leagues? I’ll be honest; I saw Gennett for $2000 on FanDuel last night, but didn’t use him. If I would’ve used him or if you had him in your line up you would’ve gotten points for a player going 5 for 5 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI’s. It’s the first time since 2012 that a player has had a 4 homer game and the 17th player to do it in baseball history. Gennett had just 3 home runs coming into last nights game. He had 38 career home runs and one 2 home run game in his career.
Now Gennett doesn’t even play on a regular basis for Cincinnati. Just last week when the Atlanta Braves came into town former Reds player Brandon Phillips was unhappy that Cincinnati had issued Gennett his old #4. I believe Phillips used the term “slap in the face” to describe the way he felt about Gennett getting issued #4.
Gennett’s night started off without a lot of fanfare as in his first at bat he hit a bloop single to leftfield off St. Louis cardinals starter Adam Wainwright to drive in Billy Hamilton. Gennett came up against Wainwright again in the 3rd inning this time with the bases loaded. With a 3 & 2 count Gennett hit a grand slam to left center for his first home run of the night. Gennett came back up to the plate in the 4th inning again with the bases loaded, but this time against Cardinals reliever John Gant. The count again went to 3 & 2 before Gennett hit his second home run and grand slam of the night to centerfield. Gennett came up against Gant again in the 6th inning and this time he hit a 3 & 1 pitch the opposite way into the leftfield seats for his third home run of the night. Gennett final at bat came in the bottom of the 8th inning against Cardinals reliever John Brebbia. Down in the count 0 & 2 Gennett hit a line drive into the rightfield bleachers for his fourth home run of the night.
The Reds picked up Gennett in spring training after the Milwaukee Brewers surprisingly cut him. Gennett was the Brewers starting 2nd baseman in 2016 playing in 137 games for them.
The Reds face the Cardinals again tonight with Lance Lynn starting. Do you think Gennett will be in the Cincinnati starting line up tonight?
The Washington Nationals picked up a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, but after the Nationals ended up having another heated exchange with an N.L. West team.
With runners on 1st and 2nd Washington;s closer Koda Glover struck out Yasiel Puig to end the game. After getting the strikeout Glover shouted in the direction of home plate which Puig took exception to. Puig attempted to towards the mound and it appeared as though he was trying to ask Glover what he said.
In response Glover took off his cap and tossed aside his glove as players from both teams quickly intervened to keep the two separated. Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman pulled Glover away, and nothing escalated before the squads headed off the field.
“Tempers flared a little bit,” Glover said. “It is what it is. I don’t have any hard feelings toward him. He was staring at me, and I didn’t like it.” While Puig did not speak to reporters after the game.
Remember just last season the Dodgers took a tense divisional round playoff series between the teams last year. The series went five games before the Dodgers advanced.
The Nationals have won both games between the teams so far this season, with the finale of their current series set for Wednesday afternoon. Steven Strasburg is scheduled to make the start for the Nationals while it will be Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers.
Washington is still holding a huge lead (12 1/2 games) in the N.L. East while the Dodgers have dropped 2 games back of the Colorado Rockies in the N.L. West.
It’s time for organized team activities or OTA’s in the NFL. While I’ll never understand why these just aren’t called practices the bigger stories from these are the players who don’t show up for them. While they are voluntary NFL teams like to have all of their players attend.
Now the big player missing at New York Giants OTA’s was wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (OBJ) who is looking for a new contract. Beckham has no financial bonuses in his contract tying him to any OTA appearances.
Now back in May Beckham did say that he would attend mini camp with the Giants when the time comes. Beckham was actually quoted as saying “for sure” when asked about being at mandatory minicamp; which starts next Tuesday.
Beckham has clearly out played his contract as he is scheduled to make $1.8 million this season under the terms of his rookie contract. The Giants recently picked up his fifth-year option for 2018 at what is likely to be around $8 million.
Beckham, a three-time Pro Bowler who had 101 catches for 1,367 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Don’t forget he also was fined at least six times for a variety of infractions. Through three NFL seasons Beckham has caught 288 passes for 4122 yards; averaging 14.3 yards per catch with 35 touchdowns.
Beckham pretty much re-wrote the Giants record book as a rookie, but has now went on to be the first Giants receiver to have 75+ receptions, 1200+ yards and 10 or more touchdowns in three straight seasons.
While Beckham gets a lot of negative attention for some of his antics it’s clear that he is one of the top receivers in the NFL. When Beckham’s $8 million dollar contract kicks in that would make him tied for 20th among wide receivers in pay. He’d be tied with Kenny Stills of the Miami Dolphins and Marvin Jones of the Detroit Lions. Out of those three receivers; which one do you want your quarterback throwing to? At $17 million a season Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the highest paid wide receiver coming into the 2017 season.
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